An essay is a type of writing in which the author presents their viewpoint on a given topic. Essays are typically used in academia to judge student’s depth of knowledge and communication skills for a language. They are also used in professional settings to represent research findings, analyze data, and so on.
Writing a compelling essay is necessary to leave a lasting impression and convince the readers of your viewpoint. However, many don’t know the procedure to write such essays.
This is why today, we have come up with this post. This will give you a step-by-step guide on how to write the perfect essays from scratch and build a loyal audience.
How to Write a Compelling Essay?
Below, we have given the steps to write the perfect essays for your audiences.
1. Brainstorm For Ideas
You don’t have to start writing as soon as you hear the topic; this is a common mistake that must be avoided. Instead, give yourself some time and think about the possibilities in the topic. This is called brainstorming, or pooling for ideas.
Think deeply about the topic and analyze it with each angle. Then, note down every thought that comes to your mind as bullets. Or, you can make a mind map to concentrate all ideas in one place.
Example:
Topic: “Placebo effect has real healing abilities”
Brainstormed thoughts:
The “sugar pill” treatment.
Pain, anxiety, and depression management.
Receiving inert substances, healing of the body.
Beyond medicine, still researching.
Placebo; miraculous healing journeys.
Notice that the brainstormed statements are out of order, but you don’t have to worry about that right now.
Once you’re done brainstorming, simply filter out the points you believe are stronger than others. Also, cross out the redundant points and move forward to the next step.
2. Make A Proper Structure
Once you’re done with jotting down your thoughts, time to make them into a proper structure. Decide upon the headings, and what points to come under each one.
Generally, the structure of an essay is like this.
General Structure:
Heading 1 – The Main Topic
Heading 2 – The Introduction
Heading 2 – for 3 body paragraphs each
Heading 2 – Conclusion
Anything heading under heading 2 should be considered as heading 3, however, isn’t necessarily needed.
The introduction contains the background for the topic, for instance, “When was Placebo first found out?” “Who discovered this healing effect?” Answer these questions, and so on.
The body paragraphs contain the major points to touch upon the main topic. And, the conclusion will sum up everything in a paragraph or two. Remember, this is a general structure and you can change it according to your preferences and needs.
3. Create a Rough Draft
It is necessary to create a rough draft of your essay to see how you’ll manage the flow of thought and link up everything together.
While this is a difficult task, make sure to include everything that comes to your mind in this draft. We will polish the ideas later when we’ll proofread, so don’t worry about that aspect at this stage.
Having said that, if you have any trouble in creating a rough draft of your essay quickly and efficiently. Then, there is an option to make it online using the Prepostseo’s AI Essay Writer. This tool will ensure you have a sketch in mind when beginning to make your essays shine.
4. Start With A Relevant Introduction
An introduction of an essay can start with an anecdote (personal story), or by giving some background information to the main topic (as guided earlier.)
An anecdote builds a personal connection with the audience. It should be used when telling a brand story, or when considering earning some support from the readers.
The support can be a CTA that you can later convert for monetization purposes. Nevertheless, whatever you do, the story or background information must relate to the main topic.
Example:
Topic: “Placebo effect has real healing abilities”
Introduction: After getting struck with 23 fractures, and 2 second-degree burns, doctors had no hopes of me walking again. However, a belief in my mind kept me going until I was able to grab the bat again and hit home runs like before.
In the above example, the author gives an anecdote and sheds light on the power of self-healing. They start their essay’s introduction with a heartfelt story that is sure to capture the audience’s attention.
5. Follow A TEAR Structure For Each Body Paragraph
The word TEAR stands for the following words.
T: Topic Sentence
E: Evidence
A: Analysis of evidence
R: Relate to the main topic
The topic sentence is the starting line of a body paragraph that lets the reader know what the paragraph will be talking about.
The “E” right after the topic sentence is there to support the claim made. The evidence can be a quotation from a famous person, some numbers, or anything else. This captures the reader’s attention as they recognize the authority of your work.
Then, you need to discuss the provided evidence, as in how it proves your point. Finally, you need to relate the discussion to the main topic.
Following a TEAR structure is necessary for a smoother flow of ideas. It improves the overall coherence and cohesion of your writing, polishing your work for excellence.
6. Write With Clarity And Conciseness
Writing your essays with clarity and conciseness is a must. You’ll need to change your sentence structures from passive to active voice for improved delivery. Or, paraphrase a text that you’ve already written to leave a lasting impact on the audience.
Example:
Passive: “80% of the test subjects stated relieved stress by injection of an inert substance”, as reported by Dr. Hendricks of the University of Minnesota.
Active: Dr. Hendricks reported, “80% of the test subjects stated relieved stress by injection of an inert substance.”
Instantly, we can notice that the active voice sentence is much easier to understand by a mass audience. In addition, look to splice up sentences that are too long, and join the ones that are too short for more clarity in the work.
Furthermore, write relevant to the main topic or topic sentence of a paragraph. Such conciseness is much appreciated by the audiences as they get quality work to read.
7. Give Attention To Formatting
Formatting the essay is important to give it an attractive outlook, enough to engage the readers in your work. Thus, try out bulleting points when talking about multiple things, or simply implement the CUBILS schema in your work.
C: Capitalization
U: Underlining
B: Bolding
I: Italicizing
L: Listing
S: Styling
In such a way, you can change the way your essay looks, gauging more attention and applause to your work.
Besides the outlook, formatting is important to make the text easier to index. People in a hurry don’t have time to read the whole thing in a gist. However, a nicely formatted essay inclines the readers to finish reading till the end.
In addition to this, search engines can easily crawl the content of a neatly formatted essay. Resultantly, you can gain SERP rankings and appear on top of the search results.
8. Proofread Your Work Vigilantly To Find Mistakes
Lastly, proofread the essay with a keen eye to find any mistakes and correct them. Some common errors occur with punctuation, while other not-so-common ones can be with homonyms, dangling modifiers, and so on.
Example:
Incorrect: “There workload is enough to keep them busy”
Correct: “Their workload is enough to keep them busy”
Such mistakes likely happen when you write in a flow. These errors go unnoticed even through the most sophisticated of the grammar checkers like in MS Word, or Google Docs. However, AI-integrated software can pinpoint and resolve these issues immediately.
Other than the punctuation, reread the body paragraphs to check for cohesion and coherence. Ensure a smooth flow of ideas and add/edit words or phrases to make the right intent with each sentence.
Alas, you have accomplished writing a compelling essay for your audiences that will surely attract every reader. You’ll get more marks from your professor, or appreciation from the readers that you ritually deserve!
Conclusion
In this post, we saw a step-by-step procedure for writing a perfect essay for the audience. We learned that crafting an essay requires you to brainstorm relevant ideas and devise a sound structure.
Also, start with a solid introduction, write streamlined body paragraphs, and ensure clarity and conciseness in your work. Lastly, ensure good formatting and proofread for any mistakes.
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