How to Write Effective English Essay

Essay-writing assignments are common in high school and college English classes. It may seem intimidating to write an essay for an English class, but it doesn’t have to be. However, if you give yourself enough time to organise and write your essay, you won’t have to worry.

Part 1: Getting Started

1. Schedule Writing Time

An excellent essay cannot be written in ten minutes. It’s best to provide plenty of time to draught and edit the essay. Be sure to allow some time for pauses in between draughts. But if a deadline is coming up, you might need to make good use of your time.

2. Write When Seated

When it comes down to it, you just need to start putting stuff on the page, even though it’s necessary to prepare to write it. Keep in mind that revisions are a necessary part of the writing process and that you can always go back and make changes later.

3. Make A Rough Thesis Statement

One of the most crucial components of your essay is your thesis. The major contention or stance of your essay is condensed into a thesis statement. It informs readers of what the essay will try to argue or demonstrate. Everything you write in your essay should be directly related to your argument.

• Your instructor will expect to see a well-written thesis statement early in your essay. After your first paragraph, state your thesis.
• Consult your instructor for assistance if you need it if you don’t know how to construct a thesis. This is a crucial idea that will be repeatedly discussed in classes where you must submit papers.

4. Develop Your Opening Statement

Create the remainder of your introduction based on your strong thesis statement. If the introduction intimidates you, you can postpone this step until after you’ve written the essay’s body. The most effective openings “catch” the reader’s interest and compel them to continue reading. Among the top methods for writing an introduction are:

• I will share a personal anecdote.
• Using an eye-opening statistic or fact
• Dispelling a misunderstanding
• Urging the reader to consider her assumptions

5. Make A Note of Your Essay’s Remaining Structure

You can keep on track while composing draughts by outlining your essay and creating a basic framework for it. As you go over your notes and invention exercises, think about how you might structure this information in an outline. Consider which details ought to be presented first, second, third, etc.

Either write it out on paper or use a word processor to construct a numbered outline.

Be as general as possible while drafting your overview. Simply try to capture the main concepts on paper.

You can determine how you’re going to assemble all the jigsaw pieces by creating a really strong outline.

Part 2: Drafting the Essay

1. Gather All of Your Materials and Notes

Gather all the notes, books, and other materials you’ll need to refer to, to successfully respond to the essay assignment before you begin writing. Do not attempt to compose your essay without these materials because support is necessary for an English essay to be successful. Before you start, read through your notes if you have time.

• Make sure your outline is nearby as well. By elaborating on each of the elements in the order they are listed, you can add to your outline.

2. A Topic Sentence Should Be Present at The Start of Each Paragraph

Readers are informed about what a paragraph will cover via topic sentences. Your instructor will be able to observe that your ideas move in a clear, direct manner through the topic phrase you use at the beginning of each of your paragraphs.

• Consider the topic sentence as a technique to let readers know what the body of the paragraph will be about. Give readers a flavour of the paragraph rather than summarising it entirely.
• You might start a paragraph out by saying something like, “Okonkwo starts as a poor young man, but eventually rises to a position of riches and prominence,” to illustrate Okonkwo’s rise and fall in Things Fall Apart.

3. Try to Expand as Much as You Can On Your Ideas

Throughout your essay, be sure to provide as many details as you can. Keep in mind that padding (adding extra words or worthless content to an essay to make it longer) is ineffective because instructors can easily see it. Over the course of their career, your instructor has undoubtedly seen hundreds of student essays, so they will be able to spot when an essay has been padded. Instead, overflow your essays with information that will make them helpful and perceptive. If you run into trouble, try these helpful techniques for expanding your thoughts:

• Going back to the innovation phase Exercises like freewriting, listing, or clustering are included in this. If there is anything you missed or forgot, you can go back and review your books and notes.
• Visiting the writing centre at your school. On most college campuses, there is a writing centre. Students can use them for free and at any point in the writing process to help them get better at writing.
• Conversing with your teacher Use the one-on-one meetings or office hours your lecturer offers. Before you turn in your essay, meet with them to go over ways to make it better.

4. Cite Resources Using The MLA Format

If you cite any sources at all, you must cite them in your instructor’s preferred format. Since MLA style is the most widely used citation style in English courses, you must be familiar with it. Include a works referenced page at the end in addition to in-text citations.

• After the essay, the works cited page in MLA format begins on a new page. Create a separate entry for each source you used. These entries should have all the information that the reader needs to find the source easily.
• The last name of the author and the relevant page number are provided to readers in in-text citations in the MLA style (also known as parenthetical citations). Every piece of information you cite, sum up, or paraphrase from a source must have an in-text citation. It comes after the cited information and is followed by the last name and page number of the author.

5. Aim Towards A Resolution

An essay’s general organisation often progresses from general to specific. This inclination can be represented as a funnel or an upside-down pyramid. When you reach your conclusion, the information there should seem inevitable by the time you get there. In essence, it restates everything you tried to argue throughout the entire essay.

Your conclusion might, however, also be applied in other contexts. You can decide to include the following in your conclusion:

• Clarify or make the material in your essay more complex.
• This indicates the need for additional investigation.
• Think about how the situation will change in the future.

Part 3: Editing The Essay

1. Allow Lots Of Time For Oneself

It’s not a good idea to wait until the last minute to write your essay. Try to give yourself a minimum of a few days to revise your paper. After finishing your essay, you should take a one-to-two-day break from it. After that, you can return to it and make revisions from a new angle.

• Give yourself at least five days to work on your essay, if you can. Set aside certain days for research, writing your thesis, coming up with ideas, writing your paper, and making changes.

2. Prioritise Enhancing The Essay’s Content

When editing an essay, some people simply pay attention to the grammar and punctuation, but the subject of your essay is more crucial. Give the most thorough response you can to the essay question. Read the instructions for the essay or assignment again and state:

• Have I sufficiently answered the question?
• Do I have a clear thesis? Is my essay’s main argument my thesis?
• Do I provide enough evidence to back my claim? Is there anything I might have missed?
• Is my essay making sense? Does one idea lead to another? If not, how can I strengthen my essay’s logic?

3. Give Your Writing To A Friend To Read

It can also be beneficial to have a buddy or classmate review your work. As a result of spending so much time reading the material, you can miss some obvious mistakes or anything else that someone else might spot.

• Try exchanging essays with a fellow student. You can read and comment on each other’s essays to ensure that you both did the best job possible.
• To give yourself enough time to fix any mistakes your friend detects, make sure you switch papers at least one day before the paper is due.

Need a professional essay writing service of the highest quality? You can get in touch with AssignmentHelpersUK experts to give you the best essay help UK.

4. Out Loud Read Your Essay

You can find straightforward mistakes that you might not have otherwise by reading your essay aloud. Have a pencil handy and slowly read your essay aloud (or be prepared to edit it on your computer).

• As you read, fix any mistakes you come across and make a note of anything you feel may be improved, like adding more information or crystallising the language.