Essay writing in school prepares you for the challenges of expressing yourself in the workforce.
Many of the same research, organization and communication skills you're called upon to use in all those high school essays and term papers are laying a solid foundation for what you'll encounter at college and in the workforce. You'll also use these techniques if you plan to one day publish articles in magazines and scholarly journals, apply for grants or even start your own business and persuade others to embrace your unique vision.
Topic
If you can choose your own topic, base your decision on one or more of the following three criteria. The first is whether the subject excites you. Secondly is whether it's something with which you're already familiar. The third criterion is whether it's something you don't know that much about, but want to spend time and energy researching.
If a topic is chosen for you, it's critical to find a unique slant so your essay stands out from other submissions. It's also important that your approach be neither too broad nor too narrow in scope. This is often dictated by the essay's assigned length, as well as the availability and accessibility of research materials.
Objectives and Types
On the surface, an essay's obvious purpose is to demonstrate your knowledge of research methods and your ability to express opinions in a format, language and style others can understand. There are different types of essays, however, and each embraces a different objective to educate, persuade, entertain or inspire. Examples include:
- A literary analysis essay discusses a novel, play or poem's themes, symbolism, language usage, characterizations and settings.
- A persuasive essay presents an issue's pros and cons and argues a specific position.
- An expository essay explains the steps necessary to perform a task.
- A compare/contrast essay examines the similarities and differences between two individuals, places, beliefs or objects.
- A definition essay describes what something is, as well as the attributes associated with it.
- A personal essay reflects experiences and beliefs unique to the writer.
Thesis Statement
A thesis statement is a capsule summary of what your essay is about, and is usually part of the introduction. Ideally, you should be able to summarize your concept in a sentence or two. If it takes longer than that, you're either tackling an issue that's too broad or you haven't fully figured out what you want the take-away value of the essay to be for readers. Refer to your thesis statement while you're doing research and creating a preliminary outline. This keeps you focused on incorporating content that has a strong connection.
Research
Determine what type of research is needed to make your essay factually accurate and interesting. These resources include books, scholarly articles, expert interviews, newspapers, websites and documentaries. Keep a running list of resources you use--including titles, authors, publishers, and page numbers--so you can properly attribute quotes and statistics. It's also critical you only use legitimate sources for your research.
Organization
Structure your essay just as you would a story with a beginning, middle and end. Tell your readers what they're about to learn, arrange the material so it flows naturally from one idea to the next and review key points, along with your personal observations, in the conclusion. If your essay's purpose is instructional, the middle portion should start with the easiest step and incrementally progress to the hardest. Test the clarity and organization of your material on someone who's not familiar with the topic. Recruit extra eyes for proofreading, too.
Unless otherwise instructed, double-space your essay content, print it in black ink on white bond paper and put a cover on the front stating the title and authorship. If it's a lengthy essay with multiple sections, you may want to include a table of contents. Your page of works cited goes at the very end.
