How To Write an Essay

Are you passionate about getting good grades throughout your academic life? Learn exactly how to write an essay. Generally, an academic essay is a writing piece that explores an idea or issue using evidence, narration, or interpretation.

There are many types of essays and millions of topics to choose from, and we offer the best way to write an essay. In this detailed guide, you will also learn the essay writing process, what structure to follow, and the essay parts example.

What is an essay Writing?

Students write essays throughout their academic lives, but what is essay writing? According to the essay definition, it is a piece of writing that explores a particular topic or issue.

The content of an essay consists of either an author’s perspective or arguments supported by evidence and examples. Many types of essays are available for students, and each one varies in style from formal to informal, depending on purpose and audience. However, every essay has one thing in common: structure, which includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Students who are focused on learning how to write an essay will better develop critical thinking and research skills.

Essay Writing Process

There are a total of five steps of the writing process in an essay. A writer must fulfill all the steps in a comprehensive essay to make their writing impactful and engaging to the reader.

Brainstorming Essay Topics

This is the first step, where you explore good essay topics and choose one that interests you the most. After choosing an idea, you start thinking of how to indulge in the essay writing process. This is the step where you also define the type, tone, and structure of the essay.

Preparation of Essay

This is the step where you gather background information for essay to start preparing for writing. You need to do more than just have background knowledge; you need to do research and gather essay resources as well. This stage also involves creating a thesis statement and making an effective essay outline.

Writing The Essay

On your way to learning how to write an essay? This stage in writing allows you to draft an essay using the proper format. Follow a standard format for the writing process: begin an essay with an introduction, then a compelling body backed with multiple paragraphs, and lastly, the conclusion section.

Essay Revision

After the first essay draft, revise your essay’s structure, clarity, and effectiveness. Here, you can add, delete, or rearrange the order of an essay to improve its quality. You can even cite the sources using Harvard, MLA, and APA referencing generator in the essay.

Essay Editing and Proofreading

This is one of the most effective essay writing rules, and it comes at the very last stage of the writing process. This process allows the writer to polish up the essay and correct any grammar, typos, or sentence structure errors using a grammar checker.

The Most Widely Used Essay Structure

The structure of an essay is essential for presenting a focused argument or exploring a topic. Let’s look at the most widely used 5-paragraph college essay structure example. Also, understand how each part of an essay works together to present a coherent, well-reasoned position.

Essay Introduction Paragraph

• Add a hook sentence that grabs the reader’s attention.
• Provide the background context of the topic.
• Develop a strong thesis statement clearly stating the essay’s main ideas or central theme.
• Essay structure mapping describes what to cover in each essay part.

Essay Body Paragraph 1

• The first paragraph’s topic sentence tells what will be present in this paragraph.
• Present evidence, reasoning, and examples from relevant sources.
• Describe how the evidence contributes to your overall argument.
• Lastly, transition sentences should flip to other paragraphs smoothly.

Essay Body Paragraph 2

• Topic sentence for the second essay paragraph that states the main argument to be discussed.
• Supporting details and examples.
• Explain how the supporting details prove your thesis.
• Transition sentences to flip to the third paragraph.

Essay Body Paragraph 3

• A topic sentence that describes the third subtopic and introduces it with a transition
• Supporting data and reasoning.
• An explanation of how supporting data proves the third topic statement.

Essay Conclusion Paragraph

• Restate the thesis statement in your own words at the start of the essay conclusion.
• Tie together the main arguments discussed in the essay body.
• Shows the reader why your side of the argument is more valid.

3 Major Steps to Writing an Essay

The introduction body and conclusion are the three major parts of essay writing. While most essay introductions and conclusions are easy to craft, presenting the body is a bit challenging. But worry not, because here we explain how to write an essay in the three major steps.

Essay Introduction

A good introduction paragraph for essays is similar to any other piece of writing. The purpose here is to engage the reader from the beginning an essay.

Every essay type starts with a hook sentence in the form of a question, surprising stats, facts, quotes, etc. Learning how to write an essay hook is important for a good opening. Then, provide the background information in an essay introduction so the reader can easily understand your arguments.

Lastly, develop a clear thesis statement in essay introduction, which is also known as the essay’s central idea or theme. This statement helps the reader to signal your position on the topic.

Lengthy essays have additional information, called structural mapping of the essay. Here, you guide the reader through your structure and preview how your argument will develop.

Introduction Paragraph Example

Essay Body Paragraph

The body paragraph for essay supports the main point presented in the thesis. Depending on the academic level, the body paragraphs could vary in numbers. They could be made up of 3, 5, or 10 paragraphs, but the essay body paragraph structure remains the same. Here’s how to write an essay body paragraphs.

Start each paragraph with a topic sentence followed by evidence and reasoning to support your main argument. Ensure your data is relevant to the broader theme and must support your topic sentence.

Now, address how your evidence contributes positively to the argument in the topic sentence. If you want your essay’s body paragraph to flow smoothly, use transitions between sentences and switching between two paragraphs.     

Always remember that the essay body should comprise around 80% of your total essay.  Furthermore, the average high school essay body contains 500 to 1000 words. On the other hand, a body paragraph structure college essay could contain up to 6000 words. Therefore, make a clear structure prior to writing to ensure you don’t lose track of the central idea. 

Body Paragraph Example

Conclusion Words for Essay

The conclusion of an essay is the official closing paragraph and comprises around 10% of the total word count. A strong essay conclusion words should be impactful and leave a strong impression on the reader. Here’s how to write an essay conclusion in an effective way.

The starting sentence could be the restatement of thesis in your own words. You don’t need to add conclusion words such as “In conclusion,” “Winding up,” “Ending lines,” etc. When you restate the thesis statement, the reader will automatically understand that you are presenting a final glance on the topic. 

After that, present an overview of the arguments being made in the body section. And lastly, add a call to action by showing the reader how your argument is impactful and more righteous.

Bonus tip: Do not introduce new information in the conclusion that was not explained in the essay’s body or that the reader is unaware of.

Conclusion Paragraph Example

Get Expert Help with Essay Writing

This guide will undoubtedly help you learn how to write an essay, but writing a professional essay is totally different. While your own essay could grab good marks, exceptional grades are possible with expert assistance. 

That’s why we offer professional essay services to every academic student. With decade-long experience in writing different types of essays, our experts will craft your excellent essay at affordable prices.

Concluding Thoughts

This is your chance to boost your academic grades by learning how to write an essay. Follow the 5 stages of the essay writing process as a roadmap to learn how you will write an essay from start to end.

Now review the structure, and the 3 comprehensive steps of writing will assist you in writing each essay part. As an added bonus, we shared examples for every essay part to assist you along the way in essay writing.