How to Write English Essay

When you study English in high school or university, you will most likely have to write an essay. Writing an English essay seems to be a challenge, but it’s not really that difficult. If you spend enough time planning and developing your essay, you won’t have to stress about it.

Table of Contents

Begin

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Take time to write. You cannot write a quality essay in 10 minutes. It is best to spend a lot of time writing and editing articles. You should try to schedule breaks during your draft. However, if the deadline is approaching, you must make the most of the remaining time.

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Sit down and put the pen to write. While preparation is also important, once you get to this step, you need to start putting your content on paper. Remember that you can always go back and improve your essay – editing is part of the writing process.

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Discuss the proposed topic. This is one of the most important elements of the article. The thesis will summarize the main point or position of the article in just one sentence, telling the reader about the content expressed or proven in the article. All content in the article must be directly related to the thesis. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Instructors will want to see a well-thought-out thesis at the beginning of the essay. Arrange the thesis at the end of the first paragraph.
If you don’t know how to write an essay, ask your teacher. Thesis is an important concept and will often appear in courses that require you to write an essay.

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Open post development. Once you have a compelling thesis, build the rest of your introduction around it. If you’re worried about how to start, you can also write your introduction after you’ve drafted the body. A great opening has the ability to capture the reader’s attention and make them want to continue reading the essay. Here are some effective strategies for writing introductions: ^{[2] X Trusted Source University of North Carpina Writing Center Go to source}

Tell a personal story
Mention a surprising fact or statistic
Overthrow a common misconception
Challenge readers to reconsider their preconceptions

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Prepare an outline for the rest of the essay. Drafting an outline is also developing the basic layout of the article, helping you not to stray from the topic when writing drafts. Review notes and creative ideas to consider how the information in the outline should be organized. Think about which information to include first, second, third, etc. ^{[3] X Research Source}

You can number the ideas in your outline using typewriter software or write them down on paper.
Don’t worry about the detail of the ideas in the outline. Just try to get all the key ideas down on paper.

Draft essay

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Gather all your notes and documents. Before you write, gather all the notes, books, and references you need to write an effective essay. References are crucial to an impressive English essay, so don’t write an essay without them. If you have time, you should read through the notes before you put pen to paper.

Make sure you also have an outline with you. You can develop your outline by expanding your analysis of the ideas in the order listed.

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Write a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph. The topic sentence informs the reader about what the passage will comment on. Start each paragraph with a topic sentence so the teacher can see your ideas develop clearly and coherently. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Think of the topic sentence as a way for you to introduce the reader to the content of the passage. In the topic sentence, you don’t need to summarize the paragraph, but just evoke a little “taste” of the paragraph.
For example, in the passage describing Okonkwo’s ups and downs in “The Fallen Homeland,” you might begin with the sentence: “Okonkwo was born poor, but has acquired a rich position.”

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Develop your idea as much as you can. Make sure you have as much detail in your essay. Remember that adding meaningless or lengthy sentences is not an effective strategy when writing essays, because your teacher may immediately spot your trick. They’ve read hundreds of student essays over their lifetime of teaching, so they’ll know when the essay has been “reinforced”. Add details that make your essay purposeful and in-depth. When you are “secret”, you can apply some of the following idea development tactics:

Back to the creative step . To develop ideas as much as possible, return to creative exercises such as freelance writing, listing or connecting ideas. You can also review your notes and books to check if you’ve forgotten or missed anything.
Go to your school’s writing lab . If your school has a writing lab, consider bringing your essay there. In the United States, you can find writing labs in most universities. The writing lab is free to all students, and the lab staff can help you improve your essay at every step of the writing process.
Talk to teachers . Some teachers will be happy to meet and assist students with essay writing. Take advantage of the method of communicating with teachers if they are often in the office or allow students to meet for a one-on-one chat. Meet with your teacher and discuss ways to improve your essay before submitting it.

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Cite references in MLA format. If you use references in your writing, you need to cite them in the format your teacher requires. MLA is the most common citation format in English courses, so you need to know how to apply it. Cite the source in the essay and create a reference page at the end of the article.

The MLA-formatted references section will start on a new page immediately following the conclusion of the article. On this page, detail each document you’ve used, giving the necessary information to help readers easily identify the document. For example, information about a referenced book would include the author’s name, title, publication information, year of publication, and book framework. ^{[5] X Research Sources}
Citing the source in the essay in the MLA format (also known as citation in parentheses) will tell the reader about the author’s last name as well as the page number related to the information in question. You need to cite the source in your essay when you mention, summarize, or change the wording of something. This citation will follow the information, including the author’s last name and page number in parentheses. ^{[6] X Research Source} For example, the method of quoting the source of a sentence in the work “The homeland disintegrated” would be as follows: “…” (Achebe 57).

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Develop your essay towards a conclusion. The general layout of the essay usually goes from general to specific. You can think of this trend as an inverted pyramid or funnel. The essay should feel as if the conclusion is natural. Basically, the conclusion serves as a summary of all the ideas that you have tried to prove throughout the essay. ^{[7] X Research Source} However, it is also possible that the conclusions will be used for other purposes. You may want to use the conclusion to:

Limit or complicate the information in the essay
Mention the need for more extensive research
Speculating about future changes to the status quo

Edit essay

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Allow plenty of time for this step. “The water to the feet only jumps” is a bad idea. Try to spend a few days correcting the essay. It’s also important to take a 1-2 day break after completing your essay, as it will help you come back to edit it with a fresh perspective. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

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Focus on improving the essay content. Some people only pay attention to grammar and punctuation when correcting, but they are not as important as the content of the essay. Give as detailed an answer as possible to the question posed in the passage. Reread the question or assignment request and consider whether: ^{[9] X Research Source}

Is your answer complete?
Is your thesis clear? Is that thesis the focus of the article?
Have you come up with enough arguments for your arguments? What can be added?
Is your essay logical? Do the ideas follow each other? If not, how can you improve the article logic?

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Have a friend read the essay. It is very helpful when you can ask a friend or classmate to read the essay to you. People will see simple mistakes you make, or notice other points you miss (because you’ve read the essay too many times). ^{[10] X Research Source}

Exchange assignments with classmates. The two of you can read and comment on each other to make sure you’re both doing the best you can.
Make sure you change your work at least a day before the submission deadline to allow time to correct any mistakes the other person finds.

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Read the essay aloud. Reading the essay will help you catch simple mistakes that you didn’t notice before. ^{[11] X Research Source} Read aloud, slowly, and have a pencil beside you to correct (or be ready to edit on your computer).

As you read, correct any errors you find and note areas for improvement, such as adding details or clarifying wording.

Planning to write essay

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Analyze the topic or question in the essay. Take the time to carefully read the question or instructions and think about what the task requires. You should underline keywords such as describe, compare, contrast, explain, argue or suggest. You should also underline key topics or ideas that need commenting such as freedom, family, failure, love, etc. ^{[12] X Research Source}

If you don’t understand the question, ask your teacher. It is important that you clearly understand the teacher’s requirements before you begin to work.

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Consider your readers. Your instructor will be your primary audience, so you need to consider their needs and expectations before you write. ^{[13] X Research Sources} They may ask and expect the following from your writing:

a detailed answer that fully meets the requirements of the post
a clear, concise, and easy-to-follow essay
a fluent writing, free of minor errors, such as misspellings

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Think about the ideas you need to cover in the article. After considering the teacher’s expectations, spend some time thinking about how those goals will be achieved. Consider the points you need to cover in the article.

For example, if the assignment asks you to write about a character in a book, you will need to provide a lot of detail about that character. This requires you to reread certain passages from the book and review your notes in class. ^{[14] X Research Source}
To make your essay easy to follow, you need to ensure the logical order of the sections in the essay. You can achieve this goal by taking the time to outline and check the logic of the lesson when you’re done.
When you start writing early and spend plenty of time revising before submitting, it’s much easier to get your writing flowing and complete. If possible, try to complete the first draft a week before the submission deadline.

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Develop your ideas. The creative exercises will help you develop the details you already know and “warm up” to writing your essay. Some useful creative exercises include: ^{[15] X Research Sources}

Free writing . With this exercise, you simply write as much as you can without stopping. Even if you can’t think of anything, write “I can’t think of anything to write” until you have a new idea. When you’re done, re-read what you’ve written, underline or highlight information that’s useful for the essay.
List . Listing is making a list of details and information related to the topic. After listing everything you can think of, reread and circle the most important information for the essay.
Connect ideas . Connecting ideas is when you connect ideas using lines and circles on paper. For example, you can start with the topic in the center of the paper, from that focus draw branches that connect with other ideas. Continue drawing branches until you can’t connect any more.

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Research the topic as needed. If your essay requirements require research for your essay, you’ll want to take this step before you draft. ^{[16] X Research Sources} Use school library databases and other sources to find the most relevant information for your article.

Highly recommended resources for English essays include books, articles in scientific journals, articles in trusted news sites (NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, etc.), websites government agency or university.
Many instructors consider “quality of research” as one of their grading criteria, so using non-quality resources such as personal blogs can result in poor grades.
If you are unsure about the quality of your resources, consult your teacher or librarian.

Advice

When choosing an essay reviewer, you should find someone who is a good match for the audience the essay is aimed at. You cannot improve your literary analysis of “To Kill a Mockingbird” if you give it to someone who has never read the work.

Warning

Don’t delay writing and developing your essay. Good writing takes time and requires careful writing planning.

Steps