Writing your Essay

Hints and Tips to Write your own Essay

 

1.         1. BRAINSTORMING. Write down all the possible ideas about the topic.

 

2.        2. Find your THESIS. Pick your best idea, which is easy for you to support, and write a clear assertion.

                  The thesis is the main point of your essay.

 

3.         3. OUTLINE. Write a quick draft of your essay. 

                    Include an introduction, a body with two or three paragraphs and a conclusion.  just bullet your ideas for each part the essay.

 

4.        4. WRITING YOUR ESSAY.

INTRODUCTION

 

Introduce the subject in an appealing, interesting way. It is your hook to grab your reader’s interest to your thesis

(your main idea put down in a clever sentence).

 

A good hook can be:

A fact                              

e.g.  “ People  lie in one out of five conversations”

An anecdote or personal experience           

A rhetorical question 

e.g.   “Have you ever told a lie? Were you  eventually caught?”

Scroll down to download examples of introductions

                                              Scroll down to download examples of introductions

BODY

 

2 or 3 paragraphs with arguments, details, examples, descriptions, quotes, etc. to support your thesis

 

Choose only essential information strictly related to your thesis and include only one main idea in each paragraph

 

Use connectors to make your essay flows

CONCLUSION

 

Summarize the points and restate your thesis.

Your last statement can be a personal comment

                                                                                     Scroll down to download examples of conclusions

 

5. Give a TITLE to your essay, make it personal.

LANGUAGE POINTS

 

·           Avoid  personal pronouns like I, me, my, you or your in a formal academic essay

 

·           Do not use contractions   (don't, isn't, etc.)

·           Do not finish a sentence like  "..."  

 

·           Choose the right words and avoid words like  “thing”, “stuff” or “very”

 

·           Use active voice rather than passive. The latter is most often used in scientific writings

 

·           If you are writing a formal academic essay, it is a weak point to say “I believe”  “ I think” or "in my opinion”.  These words make the writer sounds unsure of what he/she is discussing about. However, in less formal essays your opinion could be included at the end of your writing.

 

·           Avoid sexist words

 

·           Use connectors

 ADDING INFORMATION

REASON / RESULT /PURPOSE

EXPRSSING CONTRAST

Transition Words and Sentence Samples

 Different types of Essays

Letters