Wednesday, November 2, 2016

How to Write a Killer 5-Paragraph Essay

While I do have plenty of things to work on as a student, and of course I can always improve, I do consider myself to be quite a good essay writer–all my teachers have tended to give me quite good marks on them. So I thought that I might share some tips and techniques with you all! Under the cut you will find my method for writing essays, as well as some tricks I use to get better grades on them. :P This format works especially well for persuasive essays, literary analysis, and generally any essay you would write 5-paragraph form, though of course you can adjust my setup in a way that works for you. Hope this is helpful!

Step One: Outlining
Before writing any essay, I write a highly detailed outline. This outline might as well be the actual essay–this means that writing my essay will be incredibly easy once it comes to that. I start out with this skeleton:
  1. Introduction
    1. Thesis:
  2. Paragraph 1: [Topic/Content]
  3. Paragraph 2: [Topic/Content]
  4. Paragraph 3: [Topic/Content]
  5. Conclusion
    1. Thesis:
I find it helpful to be able to see a complete outline of how my essay will look, like this, before I begin. Next, I fill out topics and thesis. In general, it’s not a great idea to decide a thesis until you’ve accumulated enough data/information/textual evidence, but sometimes I like to have a preliminary thesis that I can revise later.
  1. Introduction
    1. Thesis: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an incredible show because of its realistic characters, suspenseful writing, and use of the supernatural to represent and resolve real-life problems.
  2. Paragraph 1: Realistic Characters
  3. Paragraph 2: Suspenseful Writing
  4. Paragraph 3: Use of the Supernatural
  5. Conclusion
    1. Thesis: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an incredible show because of its realistic characters, suspenseful writing, and use of the supernatural to represent and resolve real-life problems.
From here, I begin to write any relevant information on all three of my main topics under paragraphs one, two, and three. Your informational bullets can be full sentences or just phrases and words that will jog your memory as you’re writing your essay–whatever works for you! You can also fill your conclusion and introduction sections with things like your introductory and concluding transitions and sentences.
Part Two: First Draft
I don’t have much to say on this topic other than use your outline! It’s okay to revise and cut things from your outline now and then to see if it makes it more readable. Don’t stress about how long or short your first draft is, since it’s a first draft. Just write!
Part Three: Second/Third/Fourth Draft
After you have a rough draft to work with, you can revise your essay to your liking. Here are some quick tips on how to revise–they’re tried and true!
  1. Read your essay paragraph by paragraph from the end to the beginning–you’re more likely to catch mistakes.
  2. Print out your essay and read it. Use a red pen!
  3. Have someone else read your essay.
  4. Read your essay out loud.
  5. Put your essay through Hemingyway App, an app that picks up long or confusing sentences and helps you fix them!
  6. Use PaperRater’s free paper grader.
Be sure to look over your work at least ONCE before turning it into your teacher or prof. However, also be sure not to over-analyze or over-edit! 
Welp, that’s all I have to say for now! If you have any questions, or if this helped you at all, feel free to comment below. Good luck!

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