Composition Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide,Effective Planning Gives Right Direction
WebSteps to Writing an Essay. Understand Your Assignment. When writing an essay for an assignment, the first critical step is to make sure you’ve read through your WebFeb 4, · Your first sentence sets the tone for the whole essay, so spend some time on writing an effective hook. Avoid long, dense sentences—start with something clear, WebPointers to Good Composition Writing Take note of the following things while writing your composition: 1. Your writing should be concise, vivid and sharp. 2. Never use the slang WebJan 11, · You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps: Start with a question Write your initial answer Develop your answer Refine your thesis statement ... read more
This introduction example is taken from our interactive essay example on the history of Braille. The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe.
It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Your first sentence sets the tone for the whole essay, so spend some time on writing an effective hook. Avoid overly broad claims or plain statements of fact. The first sentence is a dry fact; the second sentence is more interesting, making a bold claim about exactly why the topic is important. The improved example here is still broad, but it gives us a much clearer sense of what the essay will be about. Instead of just stating a fact that the reader already knows, the improved hook here tells us about the mainstream interpretation of the book, implying that this essay will offer a different interpretation.
Next, give your reader the context they need to understand your topic and argument. Depending on the subject of your essay, this might include:. The information here should be broad but clearly focused and relevant to your argument. How much space you need for background depends on your topic and the scope of your essay. In our Braille example, we take a few sentences to introduce the topic and sketch the social context that the essay will address:. This is your thesis statement —a sentence or two that sums up your overall argument. This is the most important part of your introduction. Keep it concise and give your reader a clear sense of the direction your argument will take.
If your argument has gone in a different direction than planned, tweak your thesis statement to match what you actually say. You have a strong introduction - now make sure the rest of your essay is just as good. This introduction to an argumentative essay sets up the debate about the internet and education, and then clearly states the position the essay will argue for. The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful.
This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its critical benefits for students and educators—as a uniquely comprehensive and accessible information source; a means of exposure to and engagement with different perspectives; and a highly flexible learning environment. This introduction to a short expository essay leads into the topic the invention of the printing press and states the main point the essay will explain the effect of this invention on European society. Think of each of these as a composition writing format. You might use more than one of these composition modes in a single piece of writing. A description is a piece of writing that makes a clear statement about its subject. Here is an example of a description:. Water, chemical symbol H2O, is a clear, colorless liquid that has a freezing point of 0 degrees Celsius and a boiling point of degrees Celsius.
Water is the most abundant atom in our atmosphere. All life-forms on Earth need water. It simply states the facts. Exposition is an interpretation of the facts. It expands on a description by introducing additional facts that shed light on how the subject fits into a larger discussion. Take a look at this example:. Although water is the most abundant atom in our atmosphere, entire regions are devastated by yearly droughts. These droughts can lead to mass starvation due to crop loss. Switching to more sustainable agricultural practices can reduce the impact of droughts, and doing this successfully requires cooperation between governments and corporations. Here is an example of narrative writing:. It was a delightful summer day and my family decided to take the boat out. But then the sky suddenly turned gray, and our delightful summer day became a terrifying summer thunderstorm, with forceful winds pushing the boat as my brother and I tried to bail the pooling rainwater out with buckets.
Personal essays are perhaps the most common type of narration composition. In an argumentation composition, the writer presents two or more positions on an issue and, through a logical exploration of each, demonstrates why one position is the best choice. Researchers have identified multiple strategies we can use to prevent droughts. These include rainwater harvesting, desalination, switching to renewable energy sources, and combating deforestation. These strategies have different success rates. In this example, the writer would go on to compare these different drought prevention strategies and their recorded success rates.
There are different types of compositions that can be assigned by professors in a wide range of disciplines, including a descriptive, narrative, and expository composition. In all cases, a composition is not merely a piece of writing but rather a composed essay with a logical structure, cohesive organization, and polished grammar. Writing a good composition requires one to have strong writing skills and critical thinking that facilitate the process of creating valuable ideas. Before you start working on your paper, you should know specific requirements of each type of a composition:.
If your professor did not provide a specific topic for your composition, you should develop it by yourself. In this situation, your main task is to create an original and strong topic that would contain various aspects worth revealing. For understanding the broader picture related to a particular subject, you should be:. After you are critical, open-minded, and enthusiastic when selecting a topic for your composition, you will have more chances to develop a strong theme. The following list of topics will inspire you to organize your ideas and come up with your own topic:. After deciding upon a specific topic for your composition, you should develop a strong thesis statement.
Creating a formal outline can help you as you can analyze and organize our arguments in a logical order and come up with a thesis statement of the composition. In fact, a thesis statement is the most significant part of a composition that will guide you through writing the whole paper. In a thesis statement, you should present your position concerning the topic you will defend in the paper. You should remember that a thesis statement summarizes the main points of your composition in a single well-developed sentence. The thesis statement should be a debatable point of view that other scholars or writers could prove or refute. In general, the structure of a composition is similar to the structure of an essay and includes the introduction, main body, and the conclusion.
Introduction The introduction is the first paragraph of your composition in which you should introduce your topic to the reader, provide sufficient background information, and summarize the main points in a thesis statement. The introductory paragraph usually begins with a general statement, a statistic, a quote, or a question and ends with the thesis statement. In the introduction, it is of vital importance to follow the appropriate structure that will help the reader to understand the content in the main body easier. The main body of a composition is the most significant part of your paper in which you should prove the validity of your thesis statement using strong arguments and providing reliable evidence to back them up.
In the main body, you should not only elaborate and expand your thesis statement but also demonstrate your assertion maintained in the arguments with supporting evidence and possible objections. In most cases, in the main body, you should provide different perspectives on the same topic and show how you came up with the final decision. You should remember that the major ideas of your composition should appear in separate paragraphs, and it would be better to present the best arguments at the end of your composition. The three components of the main body include:. When moving from one argument to another, you should use transitional words to allow your reader to follow your composition easier.
Thus, you can use such logical connectors as however, moreover, additionally, besides, nevertheless, furthermore, subsequently, therefore, etc. Conclusion A conclusion is the last part of your composition in which you restate your thesis statement, summarize the main points revealed in the main body, and provide the final judgment reached after consideration. You should try to make your last paragraph appealing so that the reader could believe in your claims. A conclusion should be a synthesis of all arguments that results in the new information about the topic for a reader. As such, the major goal of the conclusion is to leave the reader with the idea that embraces the essence of the main body and, at the same time, provokes further reflection. As soon as you have written your composition according to all guidelines, it is necessary to reread and check your work for various mistakes.
You should remember that proofreading is an essential part of the entire writing process as mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and spelling can affect not only the flow of your composition but also its general quality. Therefore, you should remember a few simple rules that will help you make your work flow perfectly. All information that is not common knowledge, for example, statistic, quotes, or statements, should be properly cited using a required formatting style to avoid plagiarism issues. Professors usually expect their students to use the MLA formatting style in their compositions.
Writing an academic essay means fashioning a coherent set of ideas into an argument. Because essays are essentially linear—they offer one idea at a time—they must present their ideas in the order that makes most sense to a reader. Successfully structuring an essay means attending to a reader's logic. The focus of such an essay predicts its structure. It dictates the information readers need to know and the order in which they need to receive it. Thus your essay's structure is necessarily unique to the main claim you're making. Although there are guidelines for constructing certain classic essay types e.
Answering Questions: The Parts of an Essay. A typical essay contains many different kinds of information, often located in specialized parts or sections. Even short essays perform several different operations: introducing the argument, analyzing data, raising counterarguments, concluding. Introductions and conclusions have fixed places, but other parts don't. Counterargument, for example, may appear within a paragraph, as a free-standing section, as part of the beginning, or before the ending. Background material historical context or biographical information, a summary of relevant theory or criticism, the definition of a key term often appears at the beginning of the essay, between the introduction and the first analytical section, but might also appear near the beginning of the specific section to which it's relevant.
It's helpful to think of the different essay sections as answering a series of questions your reader might ask when encountering your thesis. Readers should have questions. If they don't, your thesis is most likely simply an observation of fact, not an arguable claim. To answer the question you must examine your evidence, thus demonstrating the truth of your claim. This "what" or "demonstration" section comes early in the essay, often directly after the introduction. Since you're essentially reporting what you've observed, this is the part you might have most to say about when you first start writing. But be forewarned: it shouldn't take up much more than a third often much less of your finished essay.
If it does, the essay will lack balance and may read as mere summary or description. The corresponding question is "how": How does the thesis stand up to the challenge of a counterargument? How does the introduction of new material—a new way of looking at the evidence, another set of sources—affect the claims you're making? Typically, an essay will include at least one "how" section. Call it "complication" since you're responding to a reader's complicating questions. This section usually comes after the "what," but keep in mind that an essay may complicate its argument several times depending on its length, and that counterargument alone may appear just about anywhere in an essay.
This question addresses the larger implications of your thesis. It allows your readers to understand your essay within a larger context. In answering "why", your essay explains its own significance. Although you might gesture at this question in your introduction, the fullest answer to it properly belongs at your essay's end. If you leave it out, your readers will experience your essay as unfinished—or, worse, as pointless or insular. Mapping an Essay. Structuring your essay according to a reader's logic means examining your thesis and anticipating what a reader needs to know, and in what sequence, in order to grasp and be convinced by your argument as it unfolds.
The easiest way to do this is to map the essay's ideas via a written narrative. Such an account will give you a preliminary record of your ideas, and will allow you to remind yourself at every turn of the reader's needs in understanding your idea. Essay maps ask you to predict where your reader will expect background information, counterargument, close analysis of a primary source, or a turn to secondary source material. Essay maps are not concerned with paragraphs so much as with sections of an essay. They anticipate the major argumentative moves you expect your essay to make.
Try making your map like this:. Your map should naturally take you through some preliminary answers to the basic questions of what, how, and why. It is not a contract, though—the order in which the ideas appear is not a rigid one. Essay maps are flexible; they evolve with your ideas. Signs of Trouble. A common structural flaw in college essays is the "walk-through" also labeled "summary" or "description". Walk-through essays follow the structure of their sources rather than establishing their own. Such essays generally have a descriptive thesis rather than an argumentative one.
Be wary of paragraph openers that lead off with "time" words "first," "next," "after," "then" or "listing" words "also," "another," "in addition". Although they don't always signal trouble, these paragraph openers often indicate that an essay's thesis and structure need work: they suggest that the essay simply reproduces the chronology of the source text in the case of time words: first this happens, then that, and afterwards another thing. or simply lists example after example "In addition, the use of color indicates another way that the painting differentiates between good and evil". Copyright , Elizabeth Abrams, for the Writing Center at Harvard University. Skip to main content. Main Menu Utility Menu Search. Harvard College Writing Program HARVARD. FAQ Schedule an appointment Writing Resources Writing Resources Writing Advice: The Barker Underground Blog Meet the tutors!
Contact Us Drop-in Hours. Answering Questions: The Parts of an Essay A typical essay contains many different kinds of information, often located in specialized parts or sections. Mapping an Essay Structuring your essay according to a reader's logic means examining your thesis and anticipating what a reader needs to know, and in what sequence, in order to grasp and be convinced by your argument as it unfolds. Try making your map like this: State your thesis in a sentence or two, then write another sentence saying why it's important to make that claim. Indicate, in other words, what a reader might learn by exploring the claim with you. Here you're anticipating your answer to the "why" question that you'll eventually flesh out in your conclusion.
Begin your next sentence like this: "To be convinced by my claim, the first thing a reader needs to know is. This will start you off on answering the "what" question. Alternately, you may find that the first thing your reader needs to know is some background information. Begin each of the following sentences like this: "The next thing my reader needs to know is. Continue until you've mapped out your essay. Signs of Trouble A common structural flaw in college essays is the "walk-through" also labeled "summary" or "description". Writing Resources Strategies for Essay Writing How to Read an Assignment How to Do a Close Reading Developing A Thesis Outlining Summary Topic Sentences and Signposting Transitioning: Beware of Velcro How to Write a Comparative Analysis Ending the Essay: Conclusions Brief Guides to Writing in the Disciplines.
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How to Write a Composition Essay: Easy Steps,Use a Common Composition Structure
WebFeb 4, · Your first sentence sets the tone for the whole essay, so spend some time on writing an effective hook. Avoid long, dense sentences—start with something clear, WebJan 11, · You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps: Start with a question Write your initial answer Develop your answer Refine your thesis statement WebSteps to Writing an Essay. Understand Your Assignment. When writing an essay for an assignment, the first critical step is to make sure you’ve read through your WebPointers to Good Composition Writing Take note of the following things while writing your composition: 1. Your writing should be concise, vivid and sharp. 2. Never use the slang ... read more
Other students also liked. Placement of the thesis statement Step 1: Start with a question Step 2: Write your initial answer Step 3: Develop your answer Step 4: Refine your thesis statement Types of thesis statements Frequently asked questions about thesis statements. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. After the introductory paragraph, make a smooth transition to the main part of your composition. Social Sciences.
Planning is very important for preparing a great composition. Conclusion The conclusion is the last but not the how to write composition essay part of your composition. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Walk-through essays follow the structure of their sources rather than establishing their own. Pay close attention to how you organize your body paragraphs. What happened?
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