Essay (General)Once upon a time, the essay was an art form used for communication, political commentary, and even entertainment. In the days before radio and television, essayists would read their work aloud to entertain a audience. People of the 16th and 17th centuries got excited about essays in just the same way people of the 21st century get excited about going to movies and concerts. So it really is possible for you to have fun with an essay.
Some of the fun is taken out of essay writing, though, when modern students are required to write in the way that teachers have decided essays “should” be written. Unlike a poem, where the writer has freedom to take their own approach, the essay is something students must do to satisfy the expectations of a teacher. So what is the way to write a great essay in no time? It depends on your purpose for writing.
If your purpose is to write a truly excellent essay as artistic self-expression: You have to write an essay only after you feel that chill of inspiration, that powerful idea that makes you want to write and influence people about something meaningful. Without the energy of inspiration, the essay can never be worth reading.
If your purpose is to write an “A” essay for school: You need to know how to show the teacher that you paid attention in class.
I think most people reading this page are interested in #2 above. You just need to know what the teacher expects. In high school, college, grad school, it's always the same. When you write an essay that will be graded, the key is to write it based on the rubric, grading criteria, or assignment instructions.
For example, if you are writing an essay for English class, you might be graded according to how well you use the following techniques:
- Start the first paragraph with a hook – an interesting and unexpected sentence to catch the reader's attention.
- End the first paragraph with a thesis statement that tells the main idea of the essay. Essays written for school should usually have one main idea/message explained in the last sentence of the first paragraph.
- Begin each paragraph with a paragraph topic sentence that tells the main idea of the paragraph. When teachers talk about the “structure” of an essay it is all about how well the first sentence of each paragraph helps to show that the thesis statement is true.
- Give examples, explanations, elaboration, and quotes within each paragraph to expand on the main idea of the paragraph (expressed in the paragraph topic sentence).
- Let the essay end with a conclusion paragraph that explains the main idea (thesis statement) in a different way, and then add some “extra” final thought for the reader to consider when the essay comes to an end.
Based on the above method, you learn two important truths about the art of writing an “A” essay:
- The essay begins and ends with some inspired ideas (the “hook” at the beginning and the “extra” final thought at the end), ideas that are interesting and truly interesting to read.
- The whole essay is based on one main idea (thesis statement) and the essayist expounds that idea by explaining one supporting idea in each paragraph.
The Essay Prompt Guides the Writing Process
The last thing you need to know is how to use the method above in a way that will answer the essay prompt. In the essay, you should use the exact words from the prompt so that the teacher sees that you absolutely did what you were supposed to do.
Below, I'll give an example to follow. The way to write a great “A” essay in no time is to use the SEQUENCE in order as explained below.
Essay Prompt: “Write a 5-paragraph essay explaining your philosophy of leadership, and support your ideas with reference to concepts from chapter one of the text book.”
Step 1: Flip through the text book and find one idea. Write a sentence about it. Give an example, and cite the text book. Explain it in 4 or 5 sentences, and let this be one of the body paragraphs of the essay.
Step 2: Repeat step one with a different idea from the text book. Explain it in 4 or 5 sentences so that it becomes another body paragraph.
Step 3: Repeat step one again so you have three body paragraphs, each citing a different idea from the text book.
Step 4: Scroll up to the top and write an introduction paragraph that ends with a thesis statement that explains YOUR new idea that you got from reading those concepts in the text book.
Step 5: Scroll to the bottom and write a conclusion paragraph that explains your thesis statement in a different way, and then end the essay with some “afterthought”, something “extra” for the reader to consider at the end of the essay.
Following steps 1 to 5 above, you'll have an essay with good structure because your thesis statement will come from your reaction to the ideas you studied in the text and explained in the body paragraphs.
Now there is one final step to pull it all together:
Step 6: Add a sentence to the beginning of each body paragraph to introduce the paragraph's main idea in a way that supports the thesis statement. So if your thesis statement says you believe the most important leadership quality is humility, and one of your body paragraphs is about a concept (from the text book) called “servant leadership” you can add a sentence to the beginning of the paragraph that says: “Leaders need to be humble enough to act as a “servant” and use the principles of Robert Greenleaf's concept of “servant leadership” explained in chapter one of the text book.” Do this for each body paragraph.
This method is fast, and the essay comes together effortlessly if you can just explain a few ideas from the text, one idea per paragraph, and then pull out a thesis statement that is your own original opinion about those ideas. This method is also perfect for excellent structure, because in step 6 above you go back and add a sentence to each body paragraph to make it totally clear for the reader how each body paragraph supports the thesis statement.
This technique seems easy, right? That's because it is! Too often, students make the mistake of writing their introduction paragraph first and then trying to find ideas to support the thesis. It makes much more sense to write the body paragraphs first. If you write the thesis statement first you'll be up all night trying to find ideas to support it, but if you write the body paragraphs first your idea for a thesis statement will arise in your mind effortlessly -- and you'll find that you can write a great essay in no time.