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1 The
task
may contain certain key words that will suggest
the content and structure of your essay. Also, you may be asked to write a
certain kind of essay: |
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Narrative |
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Compare
and Contrast |
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Argument |
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Cause-Effect
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2 Give yourself plenty of time to think about what you
would like to write about. Trying to answer questions you have about a
particular subject may lead you to a good idea.
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What subject are you interested in? |
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What interests you most about a particular subject? |
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Is there anything you wonder about or are puzzled about with
regard to that subject?
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3 Be sure your topic is narrow enough so that you can write
about it in detail in the number of pages that you are allowed. For example, say
you are asked to write a one-page essay about someone in your family. Since you
only have a limited number of pages, you may want to focus on one particular
characteristic of that person, or one particular incident from that person's
life, rather than trying to write about that person's entire life. Having a
narrow focus will help you write a more interesting paper.
Too general: My sister.
Revised: My sister is my best friend.
Similarly, you may be asked to write a five-page paper about
volcanoes. Again, since you only have a limited number of pages, you may choose
to focus on one particular volcano or one particular eruption, rather than
trying to talk about volcanoes in general.
Too general: Volcanoes of the world.
Revised: The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in June 1991.
4 One method for narrowing
down your topic is called brainstorming.
This
is a useful way to let ideas you did
not know you had come to the surface.
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Sit down with a pencil and paper, or at your computer, and write
whatever comes into your head about your topic, no matter how confused or
disorganized. |
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Keep writing for a short but specific amount of time, say 3–5
minutes. Do not
stop to change what you have
written or to correct spelling or
grammar errors. |
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After a few minutes, read through what you have written. You will
probably throw out most of it, but
something
you
wrote
may give you an
idea you can develop. |
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Do some more brainstorming and see what else you can come up
with.
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Organize
Your Ideas
Develop an outline to organize your ideas. An outline shows your
main ideas and the order in which you are going to write about them.
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Write down all the main ideas.
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List the subordinate ideas below the main ideas.
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Avoid any repetition of ideas. |
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| Writing
the essay |
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1 Include: |
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Introduction |
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Body |
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Conclusion
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2 The introduction begins
with a general statement about the topic and ends with a more specific
statement of the main idea of your paper. The purpose of the introduction is
to: |
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let the reader know what the
topic is. |
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inform the reader of your point
of view.
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arouse the reader's curiosity so
that he or she will want to read the essay.
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3 The body of the paper follows the introduction. It consists of
a number of paragraphs in which you develop your ideas in detail. |
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each paragraph to one main idea. |
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| Prove
your points continually by using specific examples and/or quotations.
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Use transition words to ensure a smooth flow of ideas from
paragraph to paragraph.
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4 The conclusion is the last
paragraph of the paper. Its purpose is to: |
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summarize your main points, (leaving out ¡®specific¡¯ examples).
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restate the main idea of the paper. |
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