8 Steps to Writing an Essay

Some people believe that writing an essay is as easy and straightforward as sitting down at their computer and starting to type. However, there is a lot more planning and preparation that goes into writing an essay. If you’ve never written an essay before, if you struggle with writing, or if you need to write a paper quickly, it’s a good idea to order a professional service for essay writing in Scotland. In this case, you can be sure that the paper will be delivered on time and will be of top-notch quality. In the event you want to handle the task yourself, here are the key steps that you need to follow.

In short, to write an essay, you should generally:

  • Choose the topic of the essay that you want to cover;
  • Choose a writing style after brainstorming your topic;
  • Create a thesis statement and an essay outline;
  • Create a paper draft and proofread it for spelling and punctuation.

While this may appear to be a long list of stages for writing a basic essay, following them will allow you to create compelling and comprehensive essays that will bring nothing else but an A grade to your academic portfolio.

How to Approach Essay Writing Smartly

Writing essays to get higher grades is easy if you know what you’re doing. Here are the steps that will help you write the perfect college essay with no stress or hassle.

Step 1 – Find the Right Topic

Before you start writing your piece, make sure that you’ve chosen a topic that interests you, and that is relevant to the course. In fact, choosing an unsuitable topic will be counterproductive. So ask yourself a few questions regarding your potential topic to ensure it’s a good fit.

What’s the purpose of this essay? Is it to persuade the reader to agree with your opinion? Is it to offer personal experiences or statistics? Perhaps it’s a comparison? Whatever the case, you’ll want to consider all of these factors before going any further.

Step 2 – Read the Assignment

Read your assignment thoroughly to understand what you are expected to deliver. It’s not enough to write a few lines; you should instead make sure that you meet assignment instructions and requirements. And in order not to redo the task halfway, it is critically important that you check task requirements in advance.

Step 3 – Decide How to Approach Your Essay

If you are writing a descriptive essay, use a topic sentence and a concluding sentence, and then write about the topic in the middle. For a persuasive essay, you’ll need a thesis statement, three paragraphs, and a conclusion. In conclusion, use all your skills to come up with a clear and concise conclusion that can persuade the reader to agree with your opinion. In order to find the best approach to content structure in your piece, decide on an essay type that you are going to write.

Step 4 – Gather Information

Start your essay with a thesis statement. Use an opening sentence to introduce the main points of your essay and make sure it grabs the reader’s attention. To make a statement, you’ll need two sentences:

  • First sentence: The first sentence of your essay should state what you’ll be arguing;
  • Second sentence: Your second sentence should sum up what you want to achieve with the main points of your essay. Be sure to stick to the point – it doesn’t matter if your second sentence goes on for a page;
  • Second paragraph: Next, explain your ideas in detail. This will help the reader understand what you’re talking about and how your essay is going to shape up.

Step 5 – Create a Thesis

The essential part of your essay is your thesis statement. It is just one sentence that states the topic of the paper and the key message that you strive to deliver. You may then utilize this as the key foundation for your whole essay, keeping in mind that all of the individual arguments throughout must come back to this one major statement. In most cases, your thesis should be stated in the first paragraph. And it should be wide enough so that you have plenty to say about it but not so broad that you are unable to be thorough.

Step 6 – Plan Your Essay

The following stage is to plan out what you will write about. This implies you should draw the skeleton of your document. An outline may assist you in ensuring that your piece of writing is logical, well-organized, and flows appropriately. Here is an example of how to write an academic essay outline.

  • Begin with the thesis statement at the top, followed by a subject sentence for each paragraph below that. This implies that you should know exactly what each of your paragraphs will be about before writing them. If you mix too many concepts in each paragraph, the reader will be confused.
  • Make sure there are transitions to link paragraphs so that the reader knows how the document moves from one point to the next;
  • Fill up the blanks with supporting information from your study for each paragraph;
  • Make sure that each paragraph is related to your argument and contributes to a coherent, intelligible essay.

Step 7 – Get Started Writing

Begin the first paragraph by introducing the main point and then continue with some background information. The best way to begin a paragraph is with a topic sentence. Make sure you use it to sum up your main points and then continue with a short paragraph. Stick to your outline as you write. Thus, you will ensure that no important information is left out without attention.

Step 8 – Edit and Proofread

Check the draft of your essay to make sure that the paragraphs are in line with the topic sentence and that you’ve written clearly and concisely. At this point, you also need to check the text of your paper is free of any errors or inaccuracies. Use a grammar checker for this, and have a friend or family member read through your essay. It will help you to catch mistakes and improve your skills.