Introduction
An essay can be defined as a brief or detailed formal piece of writing dealing with a particular subject and is formulated to influence the reader with designated research evidence. All kinds of essays need to have a systematic flow whereby they contain an introduction that briefly explains an overview of the topic to be discussed, body paragraphs to expound on the thesis, and a conclusion that recaps the points discussed in an essay (Warburton 8). Essay writing is a process and follows a specific procedure for a person to come up with a good essay hence there are steps involved in how to write an essay.
Essay Writing Steps
The following steps are helpful when coming up with an essay:
Choosing Essay type
The first step in essay writing before anything else is to decide the kind of essay you want to write. It plays a vital part in helping you choose the structure and topic of your essay. Essays are categorized into different groups from which you can select any of the types of your wish. Some examples of essay types include:
- Narrative essay;
- Persuasive essay;
- Expository essay;
- Descriptive essay;
- Argumentative essay;
- Informative essay.
Brainstorm topic
Brainstorming is whereby you formulate the essay topic needed to be discussed in a particular paper. Coming up with a good theme concerning your essay can be through doing the following:
- Note down any idea coming to your mind.
- Use clustering to brainstorm and establish an essay idea.
- After listing down possible topics, choose one of the topics that best addresses your essay question, considering the one that is neither too narrow nor broad.
Research on the chosen topic
After coming up with a topic to write on, you need to do brief or detailed research to have good points regarding the essay. Researching about the theme can be done in a library, online searching, or even conducting interviews and your research should be well organized for easy reference (Warburton 29).
Choose a writing style
After doing enough research on your topic, the next thing to do is choose a writing style for your essay that the instructor or topic can dictate. Some examples of writing styles you can choose from include the MLA (Modern Language Association), the Chicago Manual of Style, or the American Psychological Association (APA).
Develop thesis
The thesis statement shortly describes what the essay is about, and it is the critical point of an essay. It is usually stated in the introduction paragraph and is mostly the last sentence in the section (Warburton 36). It is the basic premise of the paper hence all different points in that essay should reflect to this one core thesis.
Outline the essay
An outline helps highlight what you will write about in the essay or the skeleton of the paper. An essay outline helps in ensuring your paper looks logical, organized well, and has proper flow. An outline format depends on the writing style used in the essay.
Write your essay
After writing the outline, you can start writing your essay based on the design, whereby you flesh your skeleton to create a clear, cohesive, and complete paper.
Check grammar and spelling
At this step, your essay has already been written but not yet done. It would be best to proofread the paper to correct any punctuation, grammar, and spelling mistakes.
Conclusion
A good and chronologically well-arranged essay attracts many readers and is persuasive when reading as ideas are well arranged from start to the end. For a paper to be structurally excellent and attractive, it has to follow specific steps when being written. The essay writing steps, which include choosing essay type, brainstorming a topic, researching the subject, choosing a writing style, developing a thesis statement, writing an outline, writing the essay, and checking the paper for errors, helps in coming up with a standard essay.
Work Сited
Warburton, Nigel. The basics of essay writing. Routledge, 2020.