Making Complicated Things Simple: Ultimate Essay Writing Guide

Making Complicated Things Simple: Ultimate Essay Writing Guide

What Is an Essay and Why Do Students Need to Write It?

Which task does the majority of students hate doing the most? - Correct, it is writing an essay. And it is not because this process is an incredibly difficult task that requires a student to spend plenty of time. No, on average, you need a couple of hours in the evening or maybe half a day on weekends to complete it. So, why don’t students like writing essays? There are two main reasons. The first is this task is assigned so frequently that the majority of students become tired of a limitless flow of essays that they have to write on a regular basis.

The second reason is quite a logical question that appears in the heads of many students “What is the purpose of writing another essay about advantages and disadvantages of globalization?” or “What duration should a movie run for?” From the point of academic value, the writing of such an essay can hardly help a student to gain some new knowledge or analytical skills. The majority of essays do not make a student provide deep research, process lots of various information or search for credible sources.

So, what is the real purpose of essays? If you address this question to your teachers or professors, some of them will try to invent some sound arguments, while others will say that the role of essays is to teach you to write well. The last explanation will be the most honest because the purpose of any essay is first of all to improve writing skills.

This includes not only absence of grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors. Good writing also means the coherent, constructive, and argumentative provision of evidence that supports the topic of an essay. Where can it be helpful for you in real life? Well, almost in every field, wherever you work, whether it’s writing a report to your boss, a letter to a client, making a presentation for your colleagues or writing a persuasive CV when you apply for a new job. Whatever written task you have, the experience that you receive writing tons of essays in school, college, or university will help you make others give credence to your arguments.   

How to Write an Essay?

Writing a good essay is not a tough task, especially if you know the general structure which can be applied almost to any type of this task. On Reddit, you can find many posts dedicated to this issue. However, if you don’t have time to read them all, the following simple essay writing guide covers everything you need to know. It will help you to create a well-organized, argumentative essay where your ideas will smoothly flow one by one without rapid jumps from one thought to another.

1. Research a topic

Make a brief investigation of the chosen topic. Learn the materials you can find in a library or online. Make notes about some interesting ideas that you find during your research.

2. Brainstorm your ideas

Your essay can use other people’s arguments and opinions, but don’t forget about your own thoughts. In order to make your writing interesting, new, and unique, add a piece of novelty and personal arguments.

3. Write a strong thesis statement

A good thesis statement is a key to a successful essay. Pick a good one and then build all your argumentation around this statement.

4. Plan your essay

Despite the fact that an essay is not a research paper and it doesn’t require a strict flow of plan items, you still should have an essay’s organization to avoid repetition. Decide how many words or sentences you can spend on each of the ideas that you want to introduce in your essay.

5. Make a conclusion

Summarize everything you discuss or analyze in your essay. An essay without a conclusion looks truncated.

This plan will help you to cope with almost any essay assigned to you. However, despite these general tips, each type of essay has some specific requirements that you need to fulfill in order to write a truly excellent essay.

How to Write an Opinion Essay?

One of the simplest essay types that you may be required to write is an opinion essay. As you can understand from its title, this type of work means that you have to provide your personal opinion on a chosen topic. However, it doesn’t mean that your essay can be a train of thoughts without any structure. So, if you want to know how to write an opinion essay that will be organized in a proper way, don’t forget to include the following:

  • Introduction

A brief overview of the topic and a strong thesis statement which highlights YOUR OPINION.

  • Body

This section should include arguments which explain why you have such an opinion about a chosen topic. Also, present the opposing viewpoints and justify why you do not agree with these statements.

  • Conclusion

Restate your opinion, based on a thesis statement that you provide in the introduction.

The same paper’s structure can be applied to other similar works. For instance, if you don’t know how to write an informal essay or have to search for the tips on how to write an essay about someone who inspires you, use the opinion essay guide.

In fact, an informal essay is the same as an opinion one, though it may not always predetermine the necessity to express your own thoughts about a discussed issue. An essay about a person who inspires you is just like an opinion essay, and it requires you to explain (provide your opinion) why the person you chose to talk about in your paper is a perfect example of inspiration for you.

How to Write an Opinion Essay

How to Write an Argumentative Essay?

Quite often, professors require students to write not a personal opinion essay, but an argumentative paper. At first glance, one can hardly see the difference between these types of essays. In both cases, there is the main statement that a writer has either to support or argue and provide evidence. The point is that when you have to write an argumentative essay, you have to provide examples and facts which cannot base solely on your personal attitude or opinion. Hence, you need to provide a reader with a wide range of facts and keep a neutral position concerning the discussed issue.

There also exists one more type of essays which is somewhere in between personal opinion and argumentative essays. This refers to a persuasive essay. Here, you need to provide your opinion, also using solid argumentations to persuade a reader that your position is right. It is not enough just to say that you support a thesis statement because it corresponds to your life position or principles. You have to give a reason to a reader why he or she has to listen to your point of view.

So, if you don’t know how to write an argumentative essay or don’t know how to organize a persuasive essay you can follow the following structure:

  • Introduction

Write about an idea you want to discuss in your essay. Create an interesting thesis statement that will encourage a reader to learn more about your position in the essay.

  • Body

This part can be divided with subheadings into smaller sections. Here, you have to write a couple of ideas that will support your main point. Do not forget to provide counter-arguments for each of the ideas you present. In other case, your argumentative essay will lose its evenhandedness.

  • Conclusion

Sum up all arguments you have introduced in the paper. Restate a thesis statement and write a conclusion that will draw a line under everything you have stated in the essay.

How to Write an Argumentative Essay

How to Write an Autobiographical Essay?

Some students think that there is no simpler task when they have to write an autobiographical essay. What else can be easier than to tell about yourself? It seems impossible to do this task in a wrong way. However, there are also those who hate writing this type of essay because they either do not know where to begin or think that they have nothing to say about themselves. So, if you are one of those who doesn’t know how to write an essay about yourself, the following tips will be helpful for you:

  • Define the purpose of an essay

Is it a narrative essay where you have to share some life experience? Do you need to tell about a particular case which has a significant impact on your life or changed your life principles in some way? Do you need to write an essay for an application? Or are you just a new student, whose goal is to tell about yourself to group mates?

  • Choose the proper style

In case you are writing for your group mates, you may include jokes or funny stories in your essay. It will only make a narration more vivid and interesting for your audience. However, if you write an autobiographical essay as a part of your application letter, you need to avoid colloquial terms. Besides, in such case, concentrate on some professional experience or examples which demonstrate your strong sides or good skills.

  • Write in the first person only

It is an autobiographical essay, not an academic research paper, so pronouns like I, me, my are not only acceptable but are required. You are sharing your own experience, so avoid the second person perspective “You” and do not switch between “I” and “You” in the essay.   

How to Write an Autobiographical Essay

How to Write an Essay on a Book?

From time to time, students receive a task to write a reflection on a book, short story, or an article. Despite the fact that all these tasks have different sources of discussion, there is one thing which unites them all. A student has to read a required material and complete an essay where it is necessary to write a personal opinion or provide analysis. Unfortunately, some neophytes have a wrong approach to this task, and they summarize a story or just retell the plot. In order to understand how to write an essay on a short story, a book, or an article, keep in mind the following principles:

  • Provide a brief overview

In the beginning of your essay, there should be one or two paragraphs where you say what the book, story, or an article is about. There is no need to provide any specific examples. Your goal is to acquaint readers with a plot of a story.   

  • Define the main idea

Your goal is to provide an analysis or a reflection. That’s why you don’t have to describe all significant points in detail. Define the most important idea that an author wanted to introduce to the readers and write your essay discussing and analyzing this issue.

  • Discuss and analyze

Depending on a task you have, you need either to provide your own reflection on a main idea or use the statements of other people/researchers/authors who argue or support the thoughts presented in this piece of writing. Organize your essay in such a way that the readers can see an issue from different perspectives and decide for themselves whether they support the arguments provided in the essay or not.

How to Write an Essay on a Book

How to Write an Essay About an Interview?

An essay which requires interviewing people is not a common task for people who do not study in a Department of Journalism. On the one hand, this assignment doesn’t seem too difficult, even if you have never done it before. However, as always, there are certain pitfalls which may spoil your interview if you have not been warned about them in advance. Hence, if you want to know how to write an essay about an interview, here is a list of issues you need to keep in your mind.

  • Prepare questions

Even if the topic of your interview is super easy and you will definitely know what to ask an interviewee, there are high chances that you may forget to address a couple of questions during your conversation. Hence, write a list of questions in advance.  

  • Analyze the answers

The answers provided by an interviewee can be too detailed. For better or worse, your essay is not endless, and you cannot write down all information that you get during the interview. Besides, the goal of an interview essay is not to retell the answers, but to use them to support that main idea of the assignment. That’s why you need to analyze the results of the interview and choose those answers that satisfy the requirements of your essay and have to be included in it.

  • Write an essay

First, provide an introduction where you tell the readers what your essay is about and why it requires interviewing. In the body, begin with the main idea of your essay and use the answers that you have received during the interview to support it. After you complete the main part of your essay, draw the bottom line, restate your thesis statement, and explain in what way the interview helped you to complete the essay.

How to Write an Essay About an Interview

How to Write an Art Essay?

During your education, you will more than likely have to write an art essay. An essay about a movie, a poem or any other piece of art can be considered as falling into this category of assignments. A general essay organization will be the same; the only difference is a part where you provide an analysis of the chosen object of discussion. So, here are tips that will help you to understand how to write an art essay:

  • Introduction

Introduce a topic of your discussion. It is not necessary to provide a description, just tell why you decided to write an essay about it.

  • Body

This section should consist at least of two parts. The first one will provide a brief overview of a movie, a poem, a song, or a piece of art. You can start here with a person who has created the object of the discussion. Then tell about what you are going to analyze. If it is a movie, give a short narration about its plot. In case you have a picture, you can tell about the period of time when this piece of art has been created or in what conditions and circumstances it was done.

The second obligatory part is an analysis. Sometimes students confuse analysis with the retelling of the plot or a description. If it is a movie, you need to explain the motivation of characters. In case you have a piece of art, you can tell what obvious or hidden techniques an artist used to create a picture. Your goal is to explain the things which are not evident and require explanation in order to see the idea that a creator wanted to address.

  • Conclusion

Summarize the points that you have highlighted in the analysis. Underline the ideas that a creator wanted to introduce in the work one more time.

How to Write an Art Essay

How to Write an Observation Essay?

Observation essay is probably one of the most interesting types of assignments. It requires you to be curious and attentive to the barely noticeable details. There are two main requirements that you should know if you are wondering how to write an observation essay. As a rule, your goal is to select a location and observe people’s behavior. So, what should you do when you have this type of an essay?

  • Choose a right location

The purpose of an essay is to observe the behavior of people in order to get some statistical data or to gather information about a chosen location, event, or social group. Depending on a task, you might also have to concentrate on a certain age group, topics about gender, or social class. Hence, the choice of location should provide you with a wide range of options for your research.

  • Make preparations

Think about the criteria of observation that you will use in your observation. For instance, you can include the following: a person’s appearance, approximate age, actions, and behavioral pattern. Apply the same criteria to all people you observe to get an accurate analysis.

  • Write an essay

After you visit the chosen location and complete your observations, you have everything to write your essay. In your introduction, tell what the purpose of your observation is and what answers you expect to receive. A main part of the essay should include the results of your observation. Organize this section in accordance with the goals you set in the introduction. In the final part, summarize your observations. Tell whether the results you have gathered satisfy the goals that you set. You can also share some other information you received due to your observation which you did not expect to find out.

How to Write an Observation Essay

How to Get Assistance with Essay Writing?

As you can see, there are plenty of essays types, and each of them requires a special approach. The guides described above will help you to write a good essay. However, in some cases, certain types of essays require too much time to complete. For instance, an interview or observation is not a task that will take just a few hours. Besides, your present location may not always satisfy all the requirements of your assignment. As a result, your grade will not be as good as you expect, despite doing everything you could.

That’s why if you want to eliminate such situations and always get an A+ for your essay, use PaperCoach. On this website, the professional writers will assist you with any types of essays you have. They have deep experience in academic writing and know how to complete any assignment. If for some reason you are not sure that you can get an excellent grade for your paper, leave this task for PaperCoach and forget about all your worries.