Academic writing secrets: crafting a perfect essay in 10 steps

You can create a winning essay in just ten easy steps. Throughout these steps, I will show you how to create an essay on virtually everything—from something scientific, something dietary, something government-related, business-related, or arts and humanities related.

So, let’s go!

  1. First, you want an interesting title.
  2. Titles can be great for getting you motivated about an essay. In fact, once you have an interesting, catchy title that makes the reader want to read it, then you will feel even more motivated to continue writing.

  3. Research, research---you’ll want to start gathering research first.
  4. Introduction
  5. For the beginning to your introductory paragraph, you will want some highly attention-getting introductory sentences. For example, let’s say you are writing an essay on global warming, “Recently, scientists reported that in the next decade, we may lose our coral reefs and all the beautiful fish that live in them. The reason? Global warming. Global warming due to human action is creating rising temperatures that are causing bleaching of the corals, which makes them diseased.

  6. Then you MUST have a thesis statement at the end of your introductory paragraph or paragraphs.
  7. The thesis statement tells your reader your major argument in the essay. For example, “In this essay, I will show why people need to act now to save our coral reefs and the animals who call them home from unnecessary extinction.”

  8. Body paragraphs.
  9. Each body paragraph must be full of all kinds of evidence that humans need to act now. Therefore, we will want quotes and researchers first establishing how bad the problem is—it’s only if the problem is bad that we will want to act.

  10. Body Paragraphs next part of the argument
  11. Then you’ll want body paragraphs full of evidence that the reefs can be saved if we take action.

  12. Closing paragraph
  13. The trick that I know of best to write a great conclusion is to bring the closing into the very present moment of the problem. For example, “Recently, scientists reported that we may lose all of our precious sea turtles and thousands of species of beautiful fish, even our much beloved clownfish, if we don’t act now.

  14. Make sure to document your sources
  15. Make sure to put your name, the class, and the date at the top.
  16. Make sure to proofread carefully.