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Writing the Best Essay from Scratch

Are you struggling to start writing your essay assignment? Well, it is not that difficult as long as you have enough time to learn how to write an essay. Writing the best essay from scratch sounds a lot more difficult than it actually is. If you know the techniques and steps, it is as easy as ABC. So, in the following article, you will learn the best steps and techniques to write the best essay from scratch.

Is Grammar Important for Writing the Best Essay from Scratch?

Suppose someone reads your work and says that you use a lot of passive verbs. Or another says you have countless punctuation mistakes. If you know what these mean, then congratulation! however, if you do not know, you really need to learn them by heart if you want to write the best essay.

Whether you are writing an essay, precis, report or whatever, grammar is very important. Because only if you know the grammar well enough, you can easily communicate with your reader. Otherwise, it is difficult to make your reader think and feel the way you do.

Of course, we all learn our first language without knowing what a noun, pronoun or adjective is. However, when you turn the table to discuss writing, it aids if we can refer to the language using accurate vocabulary. Therefore, practice grammar as much as possible.

There are a number of resources you can use to practice grammar as in the books and on the internet. Using English, and 100 Key Grammatical Terms Opens in a new window,  are just a few websites you can use to practice grammar.

How to Write Effective Sentences?

Writing beautiful and effective sentences is not a science but it is a great way to help writers to express themselves.

Well, you know that grammatically, a sentence needs a subject and a predicate. However, stylistically, it requires much more than just a subject and predicate. The following factors are some of the key elements for building effective sentences.

  1. Clarity: Clarity means that your sentences should be clear to the reader.
  2. Word Choice or Vocabulary: Without beating around the bush, you should use accurate and strong vocabularies to build up effective sentences.
  3. Strong Verbs: Whenever possible, try to use action verbs. And avoid using passive as it is weak and makes you writing dull and boring.
  4. Proper Length: You should be clear about the length of your sentences. For instance, if you need to express a simple idea, you should use shorter sentences. But if you need to discuss complex ideas, longer sentences can be helpful for elaboration.
  5. Correct Tense: Using the correct tense is crucial because it helps your reads understand when what happened.
  6. Subject-Verb Agreement: You have to be sure that your subject agrees with your verb in number.

For example:

  • The students are studying.
  • The student is studying.

Getting Started with Writing the Best Essay from Scratch!

Once you have learned the proper use of grammar and making effective sentences, you are good to start writing the best essay. An essay, traditionally, is the combination of paragraphs. Therefore, let’s first jog your memory about what a paragraph is.

What is a Paragraph?

Paragraphs are basically the building blocks of an essay. The word paragraph comes from the Greek word paragraphos which means “to write beside” and/or “written beside”. It is a unit of writing expressing one specific idea and is made up of one or more than one sentences. It generally includes a topic sentence, supporting or body sentences and a concluding sentence.

Generally, a paragraph is organized in such a way that it makes clear sense to the reader. Each sentence is connected with transition words and logically leads to the next one. Besides having a topic sentence and the main idea, a paragraph is coherent and develops its main idea.

You can read more about the kinds of the paragraph, here.

Coherence

Coherence makes a paragraph understandable to the reader. You can help create a coherent paragraph by using verbal and logical connections. To develop a logical connection in your paragraph, you have to make sure that each sentence in your paragraph relates to your main idea of the paragraph. Moreover, you can build a connection through the use of correct words known as the verbal connection.

To build coherence, you can:

  • repeat keywords
  • Use pronouns to link sentences together
  • Link sentences with the help of transition words
  • Use synonyms instead of keywords

Development

Development is the support you have for your topic sentence. A well-developed paragraph is the one which has an adequate number of supporting sentences to support the main idea of the paragraph. What is “an adequate number? Well, that totally depends on the idea or topic of your essay. There are a number of ways you can develop a perfect paragraph. Here are some of the best and easiest ones. You can:

  • Use examples
  • Quote others
  • Tell stories
  • Compare or contrast ideas
  • present data ( statistics, data, information, examples, etc)
  • Examine causes and effects

Of course, there are other ways too. Can you think of others? Let us know down below.

Choosing an Essay Topic for Writing the Best Essay from Scratch

Now that you have revised what a paragraph is, it is the perfect time to choose a topic for your essay. Sometimes, it is harder than it seems. Initially, think about the final paper you have to produce. Does it need to be a general overview, an argument or a specific analysis? Once you decide, you are ready to begin the next step.

But if your professor has already assigned the topic, you are still good to go for the next step.

Brainstorm ideas

An essay writing does not just finish on your topic but it is where the mission begins. Take a piece of paper and a pen and start brainstorming. You can do so in so many different ways. For instance,

  1. Draw a circle or any other shape and write the topic of your essay inside the shape.
  2. Then, from the circle draw three or more lines out, according to your requirement, and spread them across the page.
  3. At the end of each line, either draw a circle or any shape. Inside these shapes write down the main ideas supporting your topic. Basically, these ideas should be things you want to discuss in your essay. For instance, if you want to persuade, write arguments. To explain a process, write down the steps.
  4. Then, draw more lines at the end of each shape and spread them across the page.
  5. And draw more shapes at the end of each line. Now in these shapes, write down data, stats, facts, and figures to support that main idea.

Now that you are done, you can start writing your thesis.

Composing a Thesis Statement

The thesis, generally, tells the reader what your essay will be about and what point of you the author will be making. Basically, it establishes the topic of your essay. And it should present your argument in one or two sentences. And it generally has two parts: a statement of the topic and an argument about the topic.

For instance:

  1. “College entrance exams are not the best way to check a student’s preparation for the university.”
  2. The hunting of wolves should be banned because of the danger of the wolves’ extinction.”

In the above example, the “College entrance exams and “The hunting of wolves” are the topics of the essay. And the rest of the sentence, the thesis, tells the reader what you are going to discuss ahead in your essay.

What is a Good Thesis?

In order to tell what a good thesis is, ask yourself whether or not someone could disagree with the point of view or the thesis you are making. If there is no way somebody could disagree with your thesis, then probably you do not have a thesis.

For example:

  1. The hunting of wolves should be banned because of the danger of the wolves’ extinction.
  2. The hunting of wolves should not be banned because the population of wolves should be controlled. (alternate argument)

In the above examples, the first is the thesis you may have whereas the second is someone else’s thesis. Therefore, it is a good thesis because it has an alternate argument.

Moreover, the qualities of a good thesis are the following.

  • focused
  • specific
  • It should have one idea.
  • And it should be open to different interpretations.

Besides, you should also remember that a thesis is not a fact or something obvious. Because then there is nothing to argue about or analyze.

For example: By land, the largest country is Russia and the smallest is Vatican City.

The above example is not a good thesis because it states a fact rather than developing an argument. Therefore, nobody can argue about Russia being the largest and Vatican City the smallest country by land.

Well, if you have formulated a thesis statement, then you are good to continue.

Composing the Introduction of Your Essay

By now you may have realized writing the best essay from scratch is not a difficult job as long as you know the rules. So, after formulating your thesis, you are good to start writing the introduction of your essay. You have to design the introduction is such a way that it should attract the reader’s attention immediately and give him an idea of what you are going to discuss ahead.

There are various ways you can grab your reader’s attention. Here are some of the best ones.

  1. Startling data: The information must be true that illustrates the point you wish to make. If you use this method, you can then elaborate it with some two or three sentences if needed
  2. Dialogue: You can use a dialogue to give your reader a hint about your point of view.
  3. Anecdote: An anecdote is a short story that illustrates an idea. Using anecdote can be catchy but also tricky, so be sure to use an anecdote that is short and to the point.
  4. Summary Information: Or you can just elaborate your point of view with a sentence or two that should kind of summarize your main idea.

So, above are some of the best ways you can start your introduction, then give write a sentence or two more if needed. Then, write your thesis.

Writing the Body of Your Essay

Finally, all the preparation comes to the fruition in the body of your essay. Now you have to explain, illustrate, and argue about the topic of your essay. So, each main idea that you wrote will become a paragraph supporting your thesis and main idea. These then will be illustrated by the facts and figures. Here are the steps of writing the body of your essay.

  • You can start by writing one of those main ideas in a sentence and two.
  • Then, use the examples, facts, and figures to support and illustrate the idea. You can also explain more these examples and facts if necessary.
  • Also, only if necessary, you can include a conclusion for each of the paragraph.

The key point here is that you have to explain in such language that your reader understands. So that your reader understands what message you are trying to convey.

Writing the Conclusion of Your Essay

The conclusion is the final process of your writing the best essay from scratch. It is almost a reflection of your introduction while summing up the point and providing a final thought about your topic. Your conclusion needs to be at least three or four strong sentences long, not necessarily though. Besides, it does not need any more explanation as it is just a final thought and review of your entire essay.

Finally, Recheck

Once you have written your essay, it is time to check for grammar and punctuation mistakes. Then, you can either neat your essay or hand over it to your professor.

So, that was the guide to writing the best essay from scratch. If you have any questions or doubts, let us know down below.

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