How to write an essay. How to write an essay - all the rules from “A” to “Z” A clear direction in the task

03.05.2020

Step 1. Decide on the context.

If an essay is given to you, then some parameters will be determined for you: this is the length of the essay, the format of the title page, the target audience (for example, the teacher, the admissions committee, website readers). It doesn't matter what conditions are set for you, follow them. What you should focus on is the main idea of the essay.

Step 2. Choose a theme.

Probably the topic will be chosen for you, but if not, then try to choose something entertaining, or even better, something that is your passion. Then writing an essay will become much easier. In addition, you can choose a topic with which you absolutely disagree, write as if against it, because then you can better see the "cracks" in your arguments. You can also decide on the main thesis, but it should not become a stumbling block in your essay, because at any time you can expand the topic even further than one idea. A thesis is what you are trying to prove or explain in your essay. Try to keep it no longer than one sentence, and contain everything that you will tell about in the essay.

Step 3 Gather information.

In order to support the thesis with evidence, you need information, whether you are writing about a scientific fact or whether these are just your personal observations. Notice where the facts come from. Do not ignore facts and statements that refute your point of view. A good essayist will always find arguments to support his thesis.

Step 4. Plan your essay.

Now it's time to back up your main point with facts. Carefully analyze all the information you have collected. Do you see the underlying principles and observations? Try to make a mental map that you will follow when writing. Make a short plan, come up with paragraph headings to streamline the structure of the essay.

Step 5 Write the body first.

Identify three main ideas that will help you reinforce the thesis of the text. Each point of view must be supported by evidence, examples and arguments. In a short essay, each paragraph should cover one thought. Longer ones may take an entire page to substantiate a point of view. Follow your plan, build sentences in a logical order, from one to the next. After describing all the main ideas, connect all the fragments with connecting sentences.

Step 6. Write a conclusion.

Summarize your main ideas, and offer the reader a direction in which to develop them. What conclusions can be drawn from the thesis? What questions are left unanswered? This is not the place to offer any new information, just repackage what you have already discussed using a broader perspective.

Step 7. Write an introduction.

Now that you've written the body and conclusion, you're in a better position to tell the reader what you'll be writing about. Explain your thesis statement, and how you will prove it, in basic detail. Do not use obvious expressions: "This essay is about ..." or "The topic of this essay is ..." or "Now I will show that ...". Start with a general statement, back it up with a question or problem, then a thesis and a summary of your views. For longer essays, it can sometimes be useful to use the inverted pyramid concept, where you start with a broader description of your topic and gradually narrow it down to the main point of the text.

Step 8. Read what is written.

Now don't worry about typos and grammatical errors. Select them to come back after a while and correct the text. Go through the essay from beginning to end. Does one sentence flow smoothly into another? And one paragraph to another? Each statement must be related in some way to the previous one. If you don't like the order of thoughts or the structure of paragraphs, correct them.

Step 9. Check for errors.

Avoid repetitive words, jargon, check punctuation. Good luck with your essay writing!

Any text, whether it is a thesis, abstract, article, story or essay, must have a clear structure. Even the entry in the blog, the most nuclear "little", has its own structure. What can we say about the essay.

The essay differs from many other student works in its "freedom of creativity." Alas, we all know: the more freedom, the more responsibility. Getting this freedom you have to think over the structure of the future essay yourself. The structure largely depends on the goals, form, type, amount of work. An essay-narration will begin with a plot, an essay-illustration - with one or more theses. An essay like "causal analysis" will have to be built in accordance with the laws of logic. And nothing else.

The structure is easy to think of. But it is better to take a sheet of paper and sketch out a rough plan. The plan is the “skeleton” of the text, on which you will subsequently build up the “flesh”. Any text needs a plan, an essay needs it first of all.

Making a plan

Any written work, any text has:

Introduction

By "introduction" and "conclusion" you can mean the first and last paragraph. These elements of the text should not be formally treated. The first paragraph or the first part of the text brings the reader up to date, brings him to the problem that the essay is devoted to. No need for a long introduction - one or two paragraphs will be enough.

main part

The main part requires the most attention. Especially when planning. It can have a different structure:

Thesis-argumentation, thesis-argumentation, thesis-argumentation, etc. In this case, we first fix the thought, then we prove it;
Inverse structure (facts-conclusion). We describe the situation or give facts, draw a conclusion. And so - several times.
Thesis and several arguments (facts). In this case, one idea is confirmed by several illustrations. The thesis can be either at the beginning or after these illustrations.

By "thesis" we mean a short, complete thought that the author wants to convey to the reader of the essay. Under the argument is some proof of the thesis. This may be a situation from life, news, the opinion of a scientist, a scientific theory, or a fact proven by science.

Ideally, one thesis should be supported by two arguments. One may seem unconvincing to the reader, and three will overload the text. However, you are free to bring any number of arguments to your thesis - a lot depends on the thought itself, the logic of the narrative, the volume, and the plan of the text. It is important to maintain the logicality, conciseness and figurativeness of the text.

Conclusion

In conclusion, as a rule, they summarize everything that was said in the essay. The author together with the reader sums up. It is important that the conclusions are not far-fetched and do not arise "out of nowhere". In conclusion - only what the reader should come to, having familiarized himself with the main part of your work.

Structure of the body of the text

It is important that the main part is built according to the laws of logic. You can go from simple to complex, you can analyze or synthesize, use the method of deduction and induction. To build logical text:

- fix the abstracts;
- select several arguments for each thesis;
- arrange the theses in a logical sequence: one thought should follow from another.

You will have a detailed plan in front of you. It remains to “build up” the text on it - and your essay will be almost ready. But before you start working on the text, check whether the theses are in a logical sequence and whether the evidence is convincing enough.

Where to begin?

Best of all - from the main body of the text. The introduction and conclusion are easier to finish after - after you make sure that the basis of your essay is logical and understandable to the reader. If you have taken care of a detailed plan, you can write in order - it will be easy.

It also happens that writing an essay is too lazy, there is no time or desire. In this case, you can use it. A few hours and everything will be ready.

A shoemaker - boots, a confectioner - cakes, a technical student - a drawing and integrals, and a humanist - essays and seminars. And do not rush to think that writing an essay is a completely meaningless job that you will never need. Now, upon admission to any humanitarian university, the teacher will almost immediately require you to write an essay. At the same time, he did not specifically explain what was what. Or you just missed part of the explanation past your ears. Here we will help you, since no one else could or did not want to.

In this article, we will talk about such a forcedly popular literary genre among students as an essay. Indeed, in the relevant specialties, students have to write essays quite often.

So, here are our practical tips on how to learn how to write an essay and where to start.

What is an essay and what is it eaten with?

The purpose of the essay is to express the thoughts, ideas and considerations of the author on a particular topic. For example, you can write an essay on an article, on a work, or even about yourself. The content of the essay is free and, as we have already said, does not claim to be an exhaustive interpretation of the topic. In a way, this is both a literary essay and a philosophical treatise in one bottle.

Let's say right away: a template approach to creating an essay is rare and often unacceptable. As a rule, to write an essay, you need to strain your brain. And that's great, dear friends! Agree - it's nice to feel freshness in the brains, starting to work with double the power.

Tip one: read essays by other authors. This will help you develop your style. After all, an essay is not a dictation, and writing it, if you really want to write well, will require you to have a sense of style. According to experts, the writing style of a good essay can be characterized as emotional, expressive, artistic.

Tip two: prepare, study the literature on a given topic, comprehend what you read. We have already said that an essay is a creative work and involves a presentation of reflections on a specific topic. The essay is addressed not to the “teapot”, but to the reader who has at least a minimal understanding of the issue under consideration. Otherwise, when writing, we would simply drown in the details. Therefore, in order to write about something qualitatively, one should have knowledge on the relevant topic. Formulate theses and arguments.

Tip three: think over the structure and plan of the essay. An essay can have an arbitrary structure. And the only formal rule when writing it can only be called the presence of a heading. However, the most popular essay structure is as follows:

header
Introduction
Theses-Arguments
Conclusion
Literature

Tip #4: Don't "overload" your essay. Brevity is the soul of wit. We are well aware that everyone has their own style, but too long sentences can be considered bad manners, which will not play into your hands.

Here we have provided essay writing tips from our authors. This, of course, is not a step-by-step instruction on how to write an essay - nevertheless, an essay is too creative work, and this approach is unlikely to be correct. However, it is safe to say that beginner essayists should immediately wrap these tips in their heads and use them without a shadow of a doubt. After all, our authors were experts at writing essays back when today's freshmen were playing rattles. And if you still have questions or have additional doubts when writing an essay, remember: our specialists always ready to work with you individually.

Writing an essay contributes to the development of creative thinking, the ability to express one's thoughts and the thought process in general. Practice, and this will help you learn how to correctly formulate your words, highlight cause-and-effect relationships and support your arguments with relevant arguments and examples from practice. Perhaps in the future you will write a great novel. In the meantime, feel free to sit down for your first essay!

An essay as an academic work enables the student to express his own thoughts most fully, to reflect his personal thoughts and ideas about the world - even if their source is only other people's works, and not individual experience. It’s good when the topic set by the teacher resonates in the soul (or an essay on a free topic is given), but this is far from always the case - and then problems arise when writing an essay. This article will show you how to write an essay correctly.

Essay structure

The essay has a non-standard structure. It should not have a table of contents, a list of references and, sometimes, even a title page. This is a free genre that can be expressed by the author as he wants. The only condition that determines the structure of writing an essay is logic. Everything must be built according to the laws of logic. The essay writing scheme practically does not change regardless of the size and is preserved even in a mini essay.

Despite the fact that the essay has a free form, it has structural features. First of all, they are due to the requirements for this genre:

All thoughts of the author should be presented in thesis;
Each thesis must be supported by arguments.

Arguments in this case are specific well-known facts, events, phenomena, objects, scientifically proven facts, etc. The author's phrase: "My grandmother told me about this" cannot be considered an argument. References to books or films are appropriate.

The average essay usually has a small size (the standard volume is several A4 sheets), begins with a statement of the problem, then follows the approval of several (usually three) theses and 2-3 arguments to these theses. It all ends with a general conclusion.

An alternative form of writing the text is also possible. The problem statement remains unchanged. It is also followed by the first thesis and arguments in its defense. And immediately there is a mini-conclusion on this thesis:

THESIS + ARGUMENT 1 + ARGUMENT 2 + ARGUMENT 3 + CONCLUSION

This sequence is repeated 2 or 3 times, depending on how many abstracts you operate with. And in the conclusion of this essay there may not be a general conclusion.

There is a third option on how to write an essay: add the opinion of the opposite side and justify its fallacy. This type of composition is more solid and serious.

Essay plan

For those who do not know where to start writing an essay, we can recommend that you first of all draw up a plan for writing an essay. The drawn up plan reflects the future structure of the essay; the plan determines how to write an essay, serves as its framework. It is impossible to figure out how to write an essay without first making a plan. Although the plan may change in the course of work (and very significantly), it is necessary to draw up a plan before writing an essay.

To make a plan, you need to study the topic. After you are well versed in it, you will need to look through the literature that fits the topic. Only after studying it will the time come to think over the theses and arguments, which should be displayed in the plan.

Example 1

An example of how to write an essay plan for social studies:

Introduction (in it you can justify the relevance of the topic, indicate the most pressing issues).
The main part - in fact, theses and arguments, which are the main content of the essay. How to write them in a plan is up to the author himself: you can use affirmative or interrogative sentences. Variants of the same point of the plan in different wordings: “The functions of the Internet” or “What functions does the Internet perform in our life?”.
Findings.

Essay writing technique

One of the main tasks of writing an essay can be considered the persuasion or motivation of the reader. When the author decides to sit down to work, it means that he wants to either raise some problem or show that the solution he proposed is the right one. Even if this essay is not an impulse of the soul, but the task of the teacher, in any case, everything comes down to these tasks.

The question of where to start writing an essay has a clear answer: with a plan. Let's assume that the plan has already been drawn up - then a new complexity arises. It consists in how to start writing the text itself, with what words to start the essay.

An essay is not an abstract, and it is not addressed to an unprepared reader. Therefore, phrases such as: "I want to talk about ...", "Today we will talk about ..." can be omitted. There is no need to overload the essay with unnecessary introductory phrases. In fact, there are no clear guidelines on how to start an essay correctly. This is not a Wikipedia article that needs to be formatted according to a template. The author is free in how to write an introduction - but it should interest the reader, indicate to him the problem that the text is devoted to.

Example 2

Examples of writing an introduction to an essay:

"Contrary to the belief that Internet addiction is a problem unique to teenagers, research by the Association for Psychological Assistance has shown the prevalence of this addiction among people aged 30-35."
“Although Russians are actively using loans, the Association for the Control of Financial Markets notes the extremely low level of financial literacy of the population.”

The next 2-3 sentences should open up the first introductory phrase while leading the reader to the main body of the text.

Figure 1. An example of the initial part of the essay

The preparation of the introduction of problems when writing an essay does not end there. After the introduction, it is necessary to formulate the theses and select arguments for the main part.

Essay writing tips:

Do not hurry.
Don't leave work to the last minute. Downloading a finished essay from the network in a couple of minutes is unlikely to work.
Brainstorm. Just write down all the ideas about your problem on a piece of paper.
Sample. Now take your written sheet in your hands and meticulously select the arguments that you will use.
Structuring. Usually, the main idea of each paragraph is one thesis, which is revealed and confirmed.
Documentation. Whenever possible, use official documents or articles to support your point of view.
Try to make the last sentence of each paragraph a transition to a new argument.

These essay writing rules are suitable for texts that touch on any problems.

The final part should summarize what was written in the main part. How to write conclusions:

Conclusions should relate to the issues identified in the introductory part.
Conclusions should be based on the theses discussed in the main part. It is not necessary to introduce new, unproved theses in the conclusions.
Conclusions should be short.
Conclusions should not repeat verbatim the sentences of the main part.
The essay is more artistic than other types of student work, so do not use formulaic phrases (such as "I came to the following conclusions", "Based on the above, the following conclusions can be drawn").

Essay writing mistakes

Considering how to write an essay correctly, you need to give examples of common mistakes:

˗ Organizational errors. These are the mistakes that a student makes even before he sits down to work. Try to organize yourself. If not, ask a family member or friend to help you. Let them check that nothing interferes or distracts you (TV, the desire to drink tea, unwashed dishes, etc.) Then you will have nothing to justify yourself with, and you will get to work.
Content errors. This view is purely technical plan of your work.

Example 3

Lack of logic of presentation, insufficient substantiation of facts, a small number of arguments, too much information, etc. etc. all of which will certainly affect your score. Watch out for literacy. Maybe the teacher will not lower the score for one mistake (if it is not a work in the Russian language), but if they are repeated often, the impression will be spoiled, and you cannot avoid sanctions. Measure the volume of parts of the work.

Formal errors. Everything related to flaws in the design of your work belongs here. Remember that there are essay evaluation criteria, which also include design rules. Don't worry about formatting until your essay is ready. The finished text (and the title page, if required) can be formatted according to the sample.
In the main part it is not forbidden to use illustrations, but only revealing the content. Downloading the first photo you see is a bad idea.

There are a million reasons to put off work until later. But we all know perfectly well that this does not lead to anything good, and in the end, we still have to do it. Therefore, it seems to us that it is better to overpower ourselves and start.
Now the only thing left is to write a paper. All significant requirements are spelled out in the essay evaluation criteria. It is useful to familiarize yourself with this document so as not to sit in a puddle.

Figure 2. Example of essay requirements

Unlike other student papers, essays do not have clear content requirements. It usually depends on the topic and subject matter. Of course, it cannot be said that there are no certain evaluation criteria, so some requirements must be observed. The content of the text is reflected in its structure.

The structure of this type of essay is classical: introduction, main body, conclusion. This structure is logical. Therefore, in the introduction, introduce the reader to the problem that you are going to reflect on, bring him up to date. In the main part, you should outline your idea and back it up with two or three arguments. You can stop here and go to the conclusion. But to make the essay look like a professional, you need to add one more part: a counter-opinion.

Definition 1

A counter-opinion is a thought that is the opposite of what you have previously argued.

It shows your awareness, how easily you navigate the problem. A counter-opinion also needs to be backed up with arguments. After that, you must explain why this opinion is wrong. And only after that it is logical to complete the argument.

With the knowledge of how to write an essay correctly, you can avoid common mistakes and create interesting and compelling essays. It is quite easy to find a sample of writing an essay on the Internet, but you need to remember that not all works that are in the public domain are made at a high level. Maintain a critical attitude towards the works of anonymous authors.

An essay is a creative work, the author of which can be anyone. We will tell you how to write an essay and not make typical mistakes. In this article you will find all the necessary information about the features of the genre, as well as useful tips for beginners.

What is an essay?

What is an essay as a genre? The word itself, having a Latin origin, came into the Russian language from French. Literally, "essay" is translated as an attempt, experience, sketch.

An essay is a short prose story in which the author expresses his impressions, thoughts or reflections. To write a story correctly, you need to learn about its genre characteristics.

Genre features:

Free composition, ease of narration.
The topic is one and it is defined specifically, but the problem within its framework is revealed in detail.
One feels the author's position, a subjective assessment.
Thoughts and feelings come to the fore.
The style of the text is colloquial. The essence of the terms is not disclosed, there are no long formulations.
Relatively small volume, (there are no certain norms for the number of pages).

Those who want to learn how to write a story correctly should keep in mind that many people confuse an essay with an essay. But they are different genres. The essay does not provide for the expression of the author's position and requires neutrality. The essay, on the contrary, based on the author's impressions, should surprise readers with frankness, vivid imagery.

Essay structure, writing style.

Although it is a free genre, it has several requirements and a certain structure. Writers who know everything about how to write stories are advised to listen to the following theses, regardless of the chosen topic.

The form of presentation of thoughts is concise theses, after which arguments should follow.
The word "arguments" sounds serious, but it refers to the usual elements for a story - examples from life, personal experience, opinions of scientists, historical or scientific facts. The optimal number of such proofs is two. One is not enough to convince, but three can be squeezed.

The essay plan looks like this:

Introductory part.

The task of the introduction is to give an emotional, involve in reading, interest. For this, quotes, a clear statement of the topic are used.

Main part.

Thesis + arguments

Thesis + arguments, etc.

Conclusion.

In fact, these are the conclusions of all of the above. The final sentences are valuable in that they add coherence to the work. Their function is to prompt the reader to think, to make the work memorable. Sometimes it seems that it was because of the closing lines that the story was worth writing.

The style of the text can be emotional, contrasting, artistic - the author chooses the tone himself.

The text should be easy to read. This can be achieved by alternating short and long sentences, and also by using punctuation marks (dash, colon) instead of conjunctions.
Do not abuse complex words, slang, narrow-profile vocabulary.
Avoid cliches, hackneyed phrases, empty expressions. They "take away" the author's individuality from the work.
Do not forget about irony, but do not abuse them.
Stick to the chosen topic, be consistent in its disclosure. Do not deviate from the main idea.
Dilute the story with memories, impressions, stories from your life experience.

How to choose a topic to write a story?

When deciding on the topic that is most often offered to choose from, you need to look two steps ahead. Namely, what the text should demonstrate. That is, it is better to take the topic where you can show all your knowledge, strengths, professional qualities. For example, singers do not come to the auditions of modern music competitions with the compositions that they like. They teach those who best reveal their vocals, charisma, theatrical skills.

How to start an essay?

You can start an essay using the free writing technique (freewriting). The essence of the method is that a person writes down all the thoughts that come to mind. No filter, edit or edit. At first, this process may seem like a thread. But in the future, these thoughts can help a lot, for example, answer the question of what and how to write an essay.

That is, you do not need to think about what to fix on paper or a text document. You just need to start doing it, and the phrases will come by themselves, otherwise you may never take the first step.

A paradox, but the introduction is best written at the end of the work. You always want it to be interesting, so you can get stuck already on the first lines. It is better to return to it when the main part is ready. Then it will become clearer what you need to bring readers to.
How to write a story without a hitch? Start the story with a question. And all the following text should be stated in the form of an answer.

Typical mistakes.

The fear that the words will seem incomprehensible makes us delete the most interesting fragments of the text. As a result, after such edits, a nondescript work may remain, not much different from other similar ones.
Long uninteresting preface or lack of conclusion.
Verbosity, excessive stretching of the text.
Relocation of other people's opinions without analyzing or reflecting on them.
Overloaded with theses, lack of arguments - the text seems inconsistent.
Misunderstanding of the topic or its incorrect interpretation.

How are essays reviewed?

There are several criteria by which it is customary to evaluate works written in this genre.

Knowledge of the theory, features of the genre.
The ability to work with information - what arguments are given, whether the facts are reliable, and whether the data is relevant.
General - knowledge of the factual material, the vocabulary used.
The meaning is whether the topic is fully disclosed, whether the main problem is solved.
Construction of the text - clarity of sayings, literacy of argumentation,.

This article is a real cheat sheet for those who want to quickly learn how to write an essay, following all the laws of the genre. By saving our tips, hints and warnings, you can not only write an excellent story yourself, but also help others.