Essays Of

Our english teacher has assigned us to write an essay.
The problem is, she hasn't taught the class how to write an essay or given us any tips to perfect it.
I can't exactly ask her for help, since we have a holiday break.
Can you please share any essay writing tips?

Thank you.
Good question!

With enough practice, you can become not only a great writer, but an efficient one, too. Efficiency is important because it lets you spend less time writing and more time doing things other than homework : )

Start small - It's easy to take a writing assignment and think about everything you want to put into it. Instead of focusing on the general, larger scope issues in the essay, just think what your main thesis is. For instance, if your teacher wants you to write about the Great Depression, ask yourself if you truly understand what your teacher wants. This is called seizing he question.

Form an outline - While a writing project may seem simple and small, it is very easy to get off track if you do not put thought into how it should flow. Remember the old adage - 'those who fail to plan plan to fail.' In your outline, you want to put in a very brief and simple format what you want in your paper. Start with your introduction, which will have your thesis, and add in every major paragraph your paper will have. An outline might look something like this:

Introduction - "what was the Great Depression?"
I. History
1. Events leading up to the GD
2. Major trends in economics during the GD
II. NYSE Crash
1. Reasons for crash
2. Aftermath
III. Immediate Aftermath
1. Citizen's response
2. Government's response
IV. Aftermath/Help
1. FDIC
2. WWII
Conclusion

Filling it all in - Once you've made your outline, choose which quotes (if any) you want to include in your paper. Decide where those quotes should be by placing them in the correct area in your outline.

Writing it out - Once you have the outline and the quotes, just go through and type up the outline in a more complete format. That format goes as follows:

IV. Aftermath/Help - This sentences introduces the section
1. FDIC - Numbers 1 and 2 'flesh out' the section
2. WWII

Include any quotes you want in your paper in the appropriate sections.

The Rough Draft - Once you have each Roman Numeral section of the paper written, go back and see if it flows well. If it does, write up the introduction and conclusion. The introduction is just a brief statement about the paper. Any introduction should include these parts:
1. What the paper will answer
2. What the parts/arguments of the paper are (the Roman Numerals)
3. A very general conclusion about the paper (optional)
The conclusion should contain the same parts, but in past tense (i.e., 'this paper has shown' rather than 'this paper will show').

The final draft - After you have written up a rough draft of the paper print out a copy and reread it. In the reread, you are looking for grammatical, syntactical or other literacy errors. A proofread is best done by breaking the paper up by sections and reading each section twice before moving on (so you don't speed read through it). Since you've printed the essay out, mark it up circling errors and writing in replacements. Fix any mistakes and you're finished!