Tips on writing a good essay?

Question

I'm writing my very first college essay that is due Dec 9! (I seem to be a procrastinator)

It's for my government class. I have a choice of subjects to write about, and they are all about my opinion. So if you have any tips on opinionated essays, that would help a lot. I don't want a "I think..." "My opinion is..." sort of opinion. Anything will help. Thank you so much!

Its about

1. Should public policy decisions by the Pres or Congress be based on public opinion?

2. What would be the most important reform of political parties?

or

3. What has been the most useful, interesting or important information learned in class?

Answer 1

My suggestion is to begin the essay with the opposite point of view (from yours). Use the additional paragraphs to discredit that argument.

Answer 2

First thing you need is a thesis statement. It is a clear statement that supports or rejects one of your chosen topics. I find that it is far easier to write essays if I write out the thesis and the pros and cons for that thesis ahead of time. These points become the topic sentences for the rest of my essay. I would ask your prof about this point of style but it is usually frowned upon to use phrases like "I think" or "In my opinion" in the body of your text. When you state your opinion you don't need to add qualifiers as you've been asked to write an opinionated essay. Mix up the style of your sentences but maintain a solid grammatical style. Make sure that each paragraph is only dealing with one topic. Remember that presenting a logical argument clearly is the purpose of the essay so use your ideas not secondary sources in your paper unless otherwise specified. That being said anything you do use must be cited according to the teachers preferences, probably using MLA format but it may be different. Good Luck hope some of these tips help - (Dec. 9 is nothing you got over a week :)

Answer 3

In my opinion (pun intended!), the best thing you can do is to make sure that you express yourself clearly, logically, and in a manner which proves you are an intelligent, reasoning person. You can be the smartest person in the class, and boast an I.Q. that would put the teacher to shame, but if you can't punctuate a proper sentence or construct a readable paragraph, then all that intelligence won't do you any good, in class or out!

(By the way...based on the way your wrote and punctuated your question, you're going to do fine in that regard. You've certainly got a "leg up" on most of the writing I've seen on-line lately!

Answer 4

For opinion essays, keep in mind that anything you say that has a value added, unless backed up by a study or source, is your opinion. So, if you say, "President Abraham Lincoln did more for our country than any other president." That is an opinion, and you don't have to say "In my opinion." You only have to say, "in my opinion" if it is not clear whether it's your opinion or not. If you used the Lincoln thesis, as an example, then anything that you say to support this thesis would then be your opinion, unless it was a fact that you can back up with references.

So, depending on how long he wants this paper to be, you'd want to have an opening paragraph which clearly states what you are going to write about. Do NOT write, "I'm going to write about....'. In the Lincoln example, you could start with, "There is some debate as to who would fill the role as "best president" in history. Washington is certainly a candidate due to his bravery in stepping up and being the first. So is so and so because of such and such. but Abraham Lincoln, he was by far the best president. Partly, his stature as "best president" was due to the feats of leadership that he accomplished during his time. But even more so, Lincoln was the most effective president our country has ever seen as a result of his ability to stand up for what he believed in during a particularly difficult time in our country's history."

So, do you see how my thesis is there, but it's not a blatant "what I'm going to talk about."

Then, you can give however many pages of "proof", with your opinion scattered through, and your perspective.

Then, the conclusion wraps things up, while at the same time, giving the reader something else to think about.

"Abraham Lincoln was a forward thinker of his time. He faced a nation of naysayers, and led our country through a period of significant social and political division. Perhaps, our next president who we elect in 2008 will be a contender to fill Lincoln's place at the top of the presidential totem pole. If he does, we will be looking at 4 years of positive change in our country.

Email me if you have more questions.

Good luck!

Answer 5

you need to have a good topic, theses statement on the introduction and know what you are going to write about so you can support your argument in case that you are going to write an argumentative essay.
another thing that my history teacher told me one day is to write the body first and then do the introduction because it is harder to accommodate the whole body to the introduction. another thing that you have to be very careful is with your quotations make sure you don't plagiarize because you are going to get in trouble. You have to read your material and explained in your own words that is going to give more credit. If you need to do any quotations, make sure you do it right. MLA format will give you a good idea of how to do a good quotation. You can look for information on the Internet about the MLA format. finally make sure you write your essay according to its format ok? for example: Argumentative. Narrative, descriptive ,etc.

Answer 6

In order to reap your full rewards you need to put forth all of your effort to ace that essay without any short cuts.You'll find that with thorough thought and preparation of the structuring of your essay will show your true work.

Answer 7

Have 3 main points. State them in the opening paragraph.
Then one paragraph for each main point...explaining it and supporting it with quotes, statistics, examples, etc.
Then a conclusion, restating your 3 main points.

Gets you at least a B everytime.

Answer 8

The thing that helps me the most is writing it then put it aside for a few hours and rereading it. what is the paper on?

Answer 9

Hit the library! They always have great resources for writing papers..

Answer 10

Here's my semester long "Freshman Composition" course in one little Yahoo! Answers post... *screams a little inside*

1. Brainstorm for approx. 3 minutes. Make a list of all the topics you can think of. Don't stop writing to think, just write, write, write.

Then, take another 3 minutes and eliminate a few, carefully considering what you know about each topic.

2. Focused brainstorming for 5 - 7 minutes. Select 2 or 3 of the best/most appealing options and cluster (a.k.a. web diagram) everything you know about those topics.

Now look at your clusters. Which topic do you know the most about? Which topic seems the most organized already? Which topic has the most persuasive evidence? Pick a topic.

3. Begin your rough draft; write for as long as you can, typing everything you can about your topic. Don't worry about spelling, grammar, or organization. Just get it out on paper, into writing. Plan on about 35 - 45 minutes per page.

When you're done, read over your rough draft (try hard not to edit too much--you can worry about that later). What are you arguing? Begin to build your thesis, but don't fall in love with it at this point, because it will probably change.

Set it aside for 12 - 24 hours.

4. Revise, focusing first on organization. Spend AT LEAST 60 honest minutes with it. Get your points of contention in the most logical order (consider going from your strongest argument to your weakest or vice versa; from most recent event to most distant event or vice versa).

Does your thesis still match what you are arguing? If not, change it.

Set it aside for 12 - 24 hours.

5. Revise, focusing on strengthening your argument. Begin adding real evidence, if necessary for your argument, regardless of whether it is required by your instructor. Don't forget to begin building your works cited page as you use sources in your paper.

Does your thesis still match what you are arguing? If not, change it. :)

Set it aside for 12 - 24 hours.

6. Begin zooming in on the final draft: revise for grammar and style. Make it SOUND nice. Ignore your roommate and read your essay aloud. Listen to the flow. If something sounds weird or awkward, circle it. When you've read through the entire essay, go back to revise the circled passages.

Please do not try to sound "smart." Students usually end up using "Five Dollar (Thesaurus) Words" incorrectly and making asses of themselves. Cut phrases/sentences/paragraphs if they do not support your thesis.

Hopefully, you'll enjoy this stage of the writing process. It's the stage where you really get creative with your prose and it (YOUR writing!) sounds good. And makes sense too! :D

Yet again, set it aside for 12 - 24 hours.

7. Re-read the essay with a careful eye for grammatical mistakes, spelling errors (and don't trust Word--it doesn't have a brain and grammar and spelling are very complicated and can't be magically fixed with a computer program, at least not yet). Have a good buddy (read: someone who isn't an idiot!) read over your essay, looking for grammar and spelling mistakes, but also for confusing passages. Fix things s/he says are confusing (make your paper reader-based).

8. Take a break! If you've followed this schedule, you've spent 1 - 2 hours a day working on your essay, and you still have about 5 days. Rest from it for 3 or 4 days, and I mean DO NOT look at it. You need a fresh eye/ear to catch things you may have missed because you were so entrenched in it before. At this point, basically repeat step 7.

*****

Some things to remember coming straight from a college writing instructor:
1. No contractions in formal academic writing.

2. "I" is okay, as long as you aren't saying something like

"I think we need stricter seat belt laws."

The first person pronouns ("I" and "we") weaken your bold statement. Plus, it is obvious to your audience that you think that: you're writing the paper! Consider the authority this statement has:

"Alabama legislature (instead of "we," use a specific, descriptive noun or noun phrase) must pass stricter seat belt laws."

It is okay to use "I" for things like

"What I am not suggesting is an overhaul of the current system. I just want to see productive public servants, instead of..."

(It's called "metacommentary," and it's when you comment on your argument and direct your reader how to take your points.)

3. Spell famous people's names right! Students look like idiots when they spell our president's name "Busch."

4. Use the passive voice sparingly. ("The bomb was set off by the man.")

5. Please use "they're," "their," and "there" correctly (they are/possessive pronoun/a location or expletive, as in "There are three books on the table"). Same for these:
*it's/its (it is/possessive pronoun)
*you're/your (you are/possessive pronoun... starting to notice a trend?)
*effect/affect (noun/verb, although both these words have both a noun and a verb definition, "effect" is most commonly used as a noun and vice versa).

(Is anyone still reading this? This is probably more than you bargained for, and more than I planned to write!)

than/then, to/too/two, principle/principal, etc.
There are many commonly confused words that we use all the time. Look it up if you aren't sure. I like this web dictionary: http://pewebdic2.cw.idm.fr/

You can do it! You're not a slacker if you've started 10 days ahead of time. :)