How to Write an Essay1
According to Cambridge Online Dictionary, an essay is “a short piece of writing on a particular
subject, especially one done by students as part of the work for a course.” To end the project of
Diem Sach, I invite you to write an essay with the length of 3 to 5 pages, single line spacing,
on a particular topic that you choose after reading your text. Your companion will walk you
through the process of writing if you need him.
Below are some guidelines that help you to write an essay.
1. decide what kind of essay to write
2. find a topic
3. develop a thesis statement
4. outline your essay
5. write your essay
6. edit your writing to check spelling and grammar
1. Choose the Type of Essay
There are four main categories into which essays can be grouped:
a. Narrative essay - Tell a story or impart information about your subject in a
straightforward, orderly manner, like in a report.
b. Persuasive essay - Convince readers about particular points of view.
c. Expository essay - Explain to the reader how to perform a given process. You could, for
example, write an expository essay with step-by-step instructions on how to make a
birthday cake or activate the windows of a computer.
d. Descriptive essay - Focus on details of what is going on. For example, if you want to
write a descriptive essay about the Spiritual Exercises that you participated in two years
ago, you would give great detail about what you experienced: how you came to know the
retreat, what happened during the first few days of the retreat, and who you met.
In the project of Diem Sach, I invite you to write a persuasive or argumentative essay to
convince your readers to accept a particular point of view. This essay is a piece of writing
where writers use reason and evidence they find in the text to show that their idea or point of
view is more valid than another idea.
2. Find a Topic
At the beginning of the writing process, you need a topic for your essay. A topic is too broad if
you can state it in a few words, such as:
The seven habits in Stephen Covey’s work
Human person in Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead
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Jennifer Betts, “How to Write an Essay,” https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/writing/how-to-write-an-
essay.html
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Trí tuệ xúc cảm
Cuộc hẹn hò trên giường bệnh
- If your topic is too broad, narrow it
Of the seven habits in Stephen Covey’s work, the first habit, Be Active, is the foundation for
Covey to explain the other patterns in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People;
The human person in Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead human person as an ideal individual against
conventional standards in Ayn Rand’s description of Howard Roark.
Trí tuệ cảm xúc tầm quan trọng và thiết yếu của trí tuệ cảm xúc trong sự trưởng thành cá tính
và thành công của một cá nhân;
- Having narrowed your topic, formulate questions that help you point to evidence
and reason you need to answer them
Why should one consider the first habit in Covey’s book as the foundation of a successful
individual who becomes a happy person through their relationship with others?
How does Rand argue for the life of Howard Roark as an ideal architect who battles against
conventional standards and refuses to compromise with an architectural establishment unwilling
to accept innovation?
Làm thế nào trí tuệ cảm xúc góp phần vào sự thành công của một người và sự trưởng thành cá
tính của họ thể hiện qua những tương quan xã hội?
3. Develop a Thesis Statement
Having formulated one or two questions for your essay, you try to offer a thesis statement or
the main point of your article. It is essentially one or two sentences that say what the theme is
or answer the questions you put at the beginning of your essay.
Make sure that your thesis statement is debatable and that it also thoroughly answers
questions that you propose. You always want to make sure that your evidence supports a claim
you made (and not the other way around). Additionally, your thesis statement shouldn't be too
big or too small. It'll be hard to cover everything in a thesis statement like, “The government
should act now on climate change.” This thesis is just too large to say something new and
meaningful. Instead, a more effective thesis statement might be, “Local governments can combat
climate change by providing citizens with larger recycling bins and offering local classes about
composting.” This is easier to work with because it's a smaller idea.
You should usually state your thesis in your introductory paragraph. Moreover, the thesis
statement should be broad enough that you have enough to say about it but not so vast that you
cannot be thorough. To help you structure a clear thesis, study these thesis statements.
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- Studying abroad is one of the most culturally valuable experiences you can have in
college. It is the only way to get completely immersed in another language and learn how
other cultures and countries are different from your own.
- Organizations should provide more work from home opportunities and six-hour
workdays, so that office workers have a better work-life balance and are more likely to be
productive.
- Having a diverse group of people in an office setting leads to more decadent ideas,
cooperation, and empathy between people with different skin colours or backgrounds.
4. Outline Your Essay
Having formulated questions and proposed theses, the next step of the writing process is to
outline what you will write about. This means you want to draw the skeleton of your paper
essentially. Writing an outline can help to ensure your paper is logical, well organised and flows
properly. If you’ve been tasked with an argumentative essay, here’s one of the best formulas
for an argumentative essay outline.
- Start by writing the thesis statement at the top, then write a topic sentence for each
paragraph below. This means you should know precisely what each of your paragraphs
will be about before you write them.
- Don't jumble too many ideas in each paragraph, or the reader may become confused.
- Ensure you have transitions between paragraphs, so the reader understands how the paper
flows from one idea to the next.
- Fill in supporting facts from your research under each paragraph. Make sure each section
ties back to your thesis and creates a cohesive, understandable essay.
5. Write Your Essay
Once you have an outline, it’s time to start writing. Write your essay based on the outline,
fleshing out your basic skeleton to create a cohesive and clear writing. You’ll want to edit and re-
read your article, checking to make sure it sounds exactly the way you want. Here are some
things to remember:
- Revise for clarity, consistency and structure.
- Support your thesis adequately with the information in your paragraphs. Each paragraph
should have its topic sentence. This is the most crucial sentence in the section that tells
readers what the rest of the paragraph will be about.
- Make sure everything flows together. As you move through the essay, transition words
will be paramount. Transition words are the glue that connects every paragraph and
prevents the paper from sounding disjointed. You can even use a list of transition words
to help get you started.
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- Reread your introduction and conclusion. Will the reader walk away knowing precisely
what your paper was about?
- In your introduction, it’s essential to include a hook. This is the line or line that will lure a
reader in and encourage them to want to learn more.
6. Check Spelling and Grammar
Now the essay is written, but you're not entirely done. Reread what you've written, looking out
for mistakes and typos.
- Revise for technical errors.
- Check for grammar, punctuation and spelling errors. You cannot always count on spell
check to recognise every spelling error. Sometimes, you can misspell a word but your
misspelling will also be a word, such as spelling "from" as "form."
- Another common area of concern is quotation marks. It’s essential to cite your sources
with accuracy and clarity. Follow these guidelines on how to use quotes in essays and
speeches.
- You might also want to consider the difference between summarising, quoting, and
paraphrasing. Quoting is reserved for lines of text identical to an original piece of writing.
Paraphrasing is reserved for large sections of someone else’s writing that you want to
convey in your own words. Summarising puts the main points from someone else’s text
into your own words.
Bibliography
1. Wayne C. Booth, Gregory Colomb, and Joseph Williams, The Craft of Research
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2008).
2. Joseph Williams and Joseph Bizup, Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace (Boston:
Pearson, 2015).
3. Patrick Winston, Make it Clear: Speak and Write to Persuade and Inform (Cambridge,
MA: The MIT Press, 2020).
4. William Badke, Research Strategies: Finding Your Way through the Information Fog
(Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2021).
