How to Write a Good Essay: Basic Practices and Guidelines

Essay writing is an important part of academic learning. It teaches students how to do research, analyze the information, present their own point of view, defend it with strong arguments – and, of course, how to deliver it on paper well enough, maintaining the formatting at the same time.

It seems like a complex thing to write and it actually is not easy. However, this doesn’t mean that writing a good essay on your own is completely impossible, even if you don’t have much experience in it. Sure, you can turn to a custom writing service for help (especially if you have too many writing assignments to complete), but if you are willing to give it a try and to learn how to write good essays on your own, here’s what you can do:

1. Prepare well.

The better you plan the whole writing process, the easier it will become. That’s why before you even start writing think about how much time would it take you to finish the essay. Pay attention to the topic: re-read it a couple of times, making sure that you understand it well. Think about all the sources of information that might help you with your writing: maybe you have to give your own opinion or maybe you still should visit the library to find some additional information.

After thinking about those things, try scheduling the time for your essay writing. It would be much better if you didn’t write it overnight before the deadline: instead, try spending an hour or two a day writing it and do your best to finish it a couple of days before the deadline. This way you’ll have more time to edit and proofread it.

2. Think about the goal of your essay.

There are different types of essays written for different purposes. Some are trying to convince the readers of something, to present and defend a point of view. Some are simply analytical, some are written to explain something to the readers. You have to understand what type of an essay you are going to choose before you even start writing. This will help you when you start working on the outline.

This doesn’t mean that you have to stick to only one type at this point though. Choose the ones that seem the most appealing to you and then move to the next stage of the process.

3. Brainstorm your ideas.

Determining the main idea before actually checking how much information you can gather on it is definitely not wise. Unless you are 100 percent sure that you will be able to write an essay without using any additional information, always do a small research and brainstorm before settling on a certain goal. When it comes to a specific topic, some types of essays are usually harder to write than the others – and so you have to choose carefully, keeping in mind how much time you have and how important this essay is to you.

4. Write an outline.

The structure of an essay is usually quite standard: it consists of an introduction, a body (which includes a couple of paragraphs), and a conclusion. What’s important here is to write an outline of your essay, describing what your introduction will start with, listing all the arguments you are planning to use, and making sure that you end it with a proper conclusion.

Usually, it doesn’t take much time to write such outline (especially if you are already well-prepared). However, writing it simplifies the process greatly and leaves you with a clear and logical structure before you even start writing an essay.

And, of course, don’t forget to pay attention to introduction and conclusion: they have to be strong and interesting in order for this to work best. I hope that these tips will help you write some stunning essays and I wish you good luck with that!