How to Write an Essay | Advice & Examples
There are many types of academic essays, and they are a central feature of education from junior high school right through to postgraduate studies. So learning the skills required to write effective, focused, high-value essays is definitely time well spent.
Although they vary in length and type, there are certain aspects to essay writing that are common to all. Whatever the length or type of essay, you will need an effective process to make your writing predictably good.
There are three main stages to follow:
- Prepare: It can be tempting to skip or skimp, but that will never be a good idea. Decide on your topic (if it is set for you, then decide on your response to the prompt), do your research, and create your essay outline.
- Write: Set out your argument, backing it up with references to source texts and appropriate quotations, and write your introduction and conclusion.
- Review and revise: Perhaps the least popular part of the process. Often we are sick of the sight of the essay when we finish. But points can be lost and mistakes missed if we don’t carefully read and check our work.
This guide will take you through the writing process with examples and annotated guides to help you.
Process
How much time you spend on your essay will depend on a number of factors, including the essay length and the type of research needed.
For instance, a five-paragraph high school literary analysis essay will require less research than a degree-level argumentative essay. But the three essential steps hold true for all types of essays.
| 1. Prepare | 2. Write | 3. Review and Revise |
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Preparation
Whatever the type of essay, you will need to prepare it well. Obviously, an examination essay will require different preparation from a final research dissertation. But it’s a step that must not be skipped.
You can divide the preparation into stages to help you navigate your way into the task. You can ask yourself these questions:
- What is the task asking of me? What type of essay is required? How long should it be, and what is the deadline? Is the task clear, or do you need to ask for clarification?
- What is the topic? If you have a choice of topic, then take care in how you formulate it.
- What research is needed? A systematic review will require more research than an argumentative essay. Make sure you consult adequate primary and secondary sources for your topic.
- What is your thesis? You need a clear thesis for many kinds of essays (e.g., argumentative essays) and a clear idea of your purpose for all essays. As you plan your essay, make sure every topic sentence serves the purpose of answering or exploring your thesis.
- What are your topic sentences? Whether it’s a five-paragraph high school essay or a 15,000-word thesis, each paragraph needs a topic sentence. Formulate each one as part of creating your outline for the essay. A topic sentence should tell the reader what the paragraph is about, and it should be a single idea expressed clearly and succinctly.
The main body
From the shortest typical essay (a five-paragraph paper) to longer works, the body of the essay is where the case is made, the answer sought, or the problem addressed.
Paragraph length
As you write, take each of your topic sentences and expand the point made into a careful argument that integrates your evidence and sources. The length of a paragraph is not a fixed figure, but for most purposes, anywhere between 150 and 250 words should be acceptable.
Much less than that, and you need to make sure the point you are making is substantial enough to warrant a paragraph. Much more, and you need to think about dividing the paragraph into separate points.
Paragraph structure
Each paragraph needs to start with its topic sentence from your outline. Then you need to expand, give evidence, and discuss the point being made using your research. Finally, the paragraph ends with a sentence that summarizes the point that has been made.
Blank verse is not just an arbitrary form that has no impact on the text’s meaning, but rather, Shakespeare uses it to help add emphasis and meaning to his words. Consider, for example, Macbeth’s soliloquy after the death of Lady Macbeth: “She should have died hereafter;”. This is a seven-syllable line, terminating in a semicolon. In other words, there are three syllables “missing” from the line, a clear signal to the actor to pause and to emphasize the ominous “hereafter.” In fact, the previous line, from Seyton, is only six syllables: “The Queen, my lord, is dead,” and so we have Macbeth’s response sandwiched between two pauses. We find a similar case at the end of the soliloquy, with a six-syllable “Signifying nothing.” These pauses are used to devastating effect in King Lear; asked by her father to flatter him in order to receive a reward, Cordelia’s answer to “What can you say?” is a simple, “Nothing, my lord.” Those four syllables leave plenty of awkward silence, which is built upon by the next two lines, one each from Lear and Cordelia and each comprising the single, two-syllable word “Nothing.” The dramatic tension provided by these empty spaces can be exploited by actor and director. Shakespeare is notoriously light on stage and acting directions, but the text is king, and it leads the actor along the path that Shakespeare chooses. Blank verse with its familiar beat and flow was familiar to his audiences, and these breaks and pauses fall on the ear to great effect.
Transition words or phrases
One final, important part of the writing stage is to make sure that each topic sentence links back to the previous paragraph in some way. This is done by using transition words or phrases. These include:
- So
- These
- Thus
- On the other hand
- As a consequence
For example, consider the topic sentence for the paragraph following the example above:
- Blank verse is often used by Shakespeare to signify the high status of the speaker or interlocutor.
- Blank verse is also often used by Shakespeare to signify the high status of the speaker or interlocutor.
The simple use of also links back to the previous paragraph.
The introduction
Once you have written the body of your essay, you will be able to see the overall picture of your argument or explanation. This means you are now in a position to write your introduction, explaining what your essay will demonstrate.
The opening
In a narrative essay or descriptive essay, the introduction is an opportunity to engage the reader with an intriguing first sentence or two.
However, with an argumentative essay or an expository essay, you will want to set out the topic being addressed and give an early indication of what your approach will be. You will want to include your thesis statement at this point
The exposition
Having introduced your approach, you then have the opportunity to expound on what your essay will say. For longer essays, this might include a short “road map” description of the direction your essay is taking (e.g., “We will first look at the marketing strategies of fast-food chains and move on to consider the impact on individual health and, finally, the policy implications for governmental health planning”).
The following interactive example shows a response to the following prompt: “‘Nothing happens. Twice.’ Discuss the importance of repetition in Waiting for Godot.” As Samuel Beckett creates the bleak landscape of existence that characterizes Waiting for Godot, he deploys repetition to emphasize the meaninglessness of the characters’ (and, we infer, our) existence. Repetition is seen in the two-act format of the play, where the second act is very similar to the first, and yet it somehow manages to be bleaker and less hopeful. Repetition disrupts and obfuscates the proclamations of Lucky’s speech in Act One, and yet the repetition of Pozzo and Lucky’s arrival in Act Two, one blind, the other no longer able to speak, emphasizes the decay that erodes Didi and Gogo’s existence. The reiteration of ideas and happenings all feeds into the idea, articulated by Vladimir in his monologue, that “habit is a great deadener” and indeed essential to survival. Beckett uses repetition like a metrical pattern throughout the play, playing with it, altering it incrementally to indicate decay or uncertainty. The tragedy is never more poignant than at the closing of each act when “They do not move.” Like Sisyphus, we are led to believe this cycle of pain will continue for the hapless Didi and Gogo. The cyclical repetition is fundamental to Beckett’s portrayal of the human condition.
The conclusion
Some people find the conclusion the most challenging section to write, and it can be tricky. You need to summarize your essay without being too repetitive, and you need to be careful not to introduce any new ideas.
Try to leave your reader with a strong final statement that leaves a powerful impression. There is strong evidence from multiple societies that the easy claim that “prison works” is not just wrong, but it is dangerously wrong and deliberately misleading. As we have seen, incarceration has little-to-no positive impact on future offending, has no discernible crime-reduction effect, is eye-wateringly expensive, and causes social, emotional, and societal harms that are themselves very expensive. Early intervention, non-custodial disposals, and addiction and educational programs are all known and shown to have a positive impact on crime rates and recidivism. In most cases, all that is lacking to implement reforms that address these shortcomings is political will and courage. Change is possible, but it will need someone with their eye on the future and not the election cycle to bring about that change.
Essay-writing checklist
Frequently asked questions about how to write an essay
- What is a topic sentence?
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Put simply, a topic sentence expresses the topic to be discussed in a paragraph in a clear and concise way. It is the first sentence of the paragraph, and the body text expands, explains, and evidences the point expressed.
Writing an effective topic sentence is possibly the hardest part of writing an essay and, at the same time, the most effective way of improving your essay writing.
QuillBot’s free online Notepad can help you keep track of your essay notes, and our Paraphrasing Tool can help you to create effective topic sentences.
- How long is an essay paragraph?
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There is no absolute rule for this, but in general, a paragraph will be between 150 and 250 words.
If it is much shorter than this, then you need to consider if the point you are making is substantial enough or if you have included enough evidence to support your point.
If it is much longer, then you need to consider breaking it down into smaller points when writing your essay.
That is not to say that a 300- or 350-word paragraph will always be too long. But it is a guideline to help you judge the effectiveness of your essay.
QuillBot’s Paraphrasing Tool can help you phrase paragraphs in the most effective way. Additionally, QuillBot’s Word Counter tool can help you track the word count and readability level of your essay.
- How many body paragraphs should be in an essay?
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That depends on what the essay rubric says. Most high school and college essay tasks will come with a suggested length of essay, usually as a word count.
As a rough guide, a paragraph should be between 150 and 250 words, so a 2,000-word essay will comprise between 8 and 13 paragraphs, including the introduction and conclusion.
In high school, it is quite common to be asked for a five-paragraph essay. In this case, the word count is likely to be between 750 and 1,250 words.
Bear in mind that the introduction and conclusion might well be shorter than the main body paragraphs.
QuillBot’s Notepad is a helpful tool to use when planning and writing your essay. Additionally, our Word Counter can help you track your word and paragraph count and other helpful metrics.
- How do you start a paragraph in an essay?
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The best way to start a paragraph in an essay is with a topic sentence. This is a sentence that expresses clearly and concisely the point that the paragraph will be making.
Possibly the most difficult aspect of essay writing is learning how to formulate your ideas into effective topic sentences. It takes practice, but it is well worth the time spent.
One further advantage of topic sentences is that you can easily create an outline using them, which is the basis of your plan.
QuillBot’s online Notepad can help you during the planning stages of your essay writing. You can also use QuillBot’s Paraphrasing Tool to come up with just the right words for your essay.
- What is the best way to start an essay?
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It depends a little on what type of essay you are writing. Most college and high school essays will be argumentative or expository, and they need a different introduction from a narrative or descriptive essay.
With an expository, argumentative, or analytical essay, you will need an opening sentence that refers back to the prompt and contains a brief statement of the overall thesis for your essay (e.g., “While there is no doubt that smartphones have eroded the mental health of adolescents, there are some positives that suggest hope if the right changes are made in a timely manner”).
With a narrative or descriptive essay, be more creative and capture the reader’s attention from the first opportunity (e.g., “The place I remember the best is the one that I wish with my whole heart I could forget”).
Although your essay will most likely be read by someone who has to read it, it’s still important to make it as engaging as possible. Remember, yours might be one of several hundred being graded, so do everything you can to make it outstanding.
QuillBot’s Paraphrasing Tool can help you come up with the best phrasing for your essay, and our online Notepad can help you throughout the planning and writing process.
