Essay Writing Tips Learn from the Greatest

Essay Writing Tips Learn from the Greatest For many students, writing an essay is a daunting task. Often times, they don’t know where to begin. If students don’t know where to begin, they definitely don’t know where they will end up. Instead of letting them flounder through the writing process, break it down into manageable steps. Here are eight steps to share with your students. Instead of letting them flounder through the writing process, break it down into manageable steps. Here are eight steps to share with your students. Since youngster rarely do anything just because we tell them to, let some of the literary greats be the ones to break the news to your students. The success of these famous authors will (hopefully!) spur your young writers on to equal greatness. 1. Research Stephen King said, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” For essay writing, this tip is especially important. Students need to conduct thorough research until they become an expert on the topic. They should consult the internet, academic databases, journals, publications, and any other reputable source they can find. Encourage students to immerse themselves in the words of great thinkers. 2. Analyze Once students have a strong and knowledgeable foundation on the topic, they need to start analyzing the argument of the essay. They should define the claims they want to make, write out their reasoning for a particular stance, and find the corresponding evidence to back up that claim. Students need to sift through the research they accumulated to find the strengths and weaknesses of the logic. Elmore Leonard said, “I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” As such, analysis is one of the most important parts of essay writing. 3. Brainstorm In addition to all the mind-blowing evidence students will amass, they also need to have insight of their own. Encourage students to engage in brainstorming activities. A simple suggestion could be to make a list of questions related to the topic and come up with answers for each. When brainstorming, remind students there is no such thing as a wrong answer or too much thought. Ray Branbury said, “Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you’re doomed.” This is especially true when it comes to brainstorming. 4. Condense Remind students they need to condense their ideas into a single thesis statement. Encourage them to take their best idea and run with it. Use a thesis statement to structure the entire essay. This will tell readers where they are going and why. Edgar Allen Poe could have easily substituted “essay” for “short story” when he stated: “A short story must have a single mood, and every sentence must build towards it.” 5. Outline At this stage, students might feel they are no better off than they were before they started research. Why? Because a pile of evidence is just as intimidating as a blank piece of paper. Where is a student supposed to go next? According to Erica Jong, “The hardest part is believing in yourself at the notebook state. It is like believing in dreams in the morning.” Students need to create an outline. This will help them organize their thoughts and begin to give their essay structure. Encourage them to write a one sentence description for each paragraph. Then, list bullet points to express what information each paragraph will contain. 6. Write Take the information from the outline and start writing. Students should skip the introduction and go straight for the meat of the essay. Each paragraph should be focused on a single idea that supports the thesis. And students need to support each ascertain with evidence. Remind students to expound on an idea, yet make their paragraphs concise and focused. Richard Hugo advises writers to “make the subject of the sentence you are writing different from the subject of the sentence you just wrote.” 7. Introduce and Conclude Now that students have written the majority of the essay, it is time to focus on the two most challenging aspects: the introduction and conclusion. If students try to write the introduction first, they may never make it past the opening paragraph. John Steinbeck could sympathize. “Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish…write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.”