That's What Kim Said

How To: Write/format an essay

There are many different techniques used when writing an essay. When I write an essay, first I research my topic and form a thesis statement, aka a statement I’m trying to prove by way of my essay. In my experience, professors seem to like the rule of 3s: make 3 specific points to prove your thesis and support each point with 3 concrete examples.

Good examples are comprised of information from reliable sources (not Wikipedia, Facebook, or a blog). Do not just paraphrase what a reliable source said. Take the time to quote the source for your example and be SURE to cite them.

This part is IMPORTANT… it’s not enough just to provide the examples to make your point. After each example, it is vital to explain why the example is relevant and what impact it has on your argument. Based on papers I have edited, worked on, or helped to write, that is the step that is forgotten the most.

When writing an essay, some people cannot just sit down and write everything in order. I am one of those people. I have a weird way of writing essays. The first thing I do is write my thesis at the top of the paper so I don’t lose sight of my main argument. Next I write down all the concrete evidence I have, the points I’m trying to make and the facts I want to include. Then, I sort the evidence I have under the points I’m trying to make.

Many times I will have more points than necessary, but based on the strength of the evidence I have written down, I am able to decide which points to keep and which to erase. ( I am doing all of this in a word document so I don’t have to rewrite all of this.) At this point, I decide what order I want to put my points and examples in.

The cut and paste functions of your word document application are your best friends here. Once those are in place I write my conclusion and then my introduction. For my works cited, I usually use one of the many free online citation generators. I insert my information into the generator as I find it, so my works cited is usually finished before my paper is.

There you have it. That is the weird way I write essays. My process seems to work for me because I usually get high marks on my essays. For most of you reading this post (if you’ve continued this far) this information probably won’t help you because you’ve already graduated high school and/or college.

However, some of you are still in school and I hope this helps, otherwise I just spent a good deal of time writing a post that is of no use to anyone and just wasted my time. Oh well. Below is a basic essay format that has helped me succeed in my schooling. I really hope it helps some of you.

1) INTRODUCTION -

introduce your thesis

2) POINT 1

2a) Example 1 -

 & what relevance/impact does this example have on your argument?

2b) Example 2 -

& what relevance/impact does this example have on your argument?

2c) Example 3 -

& what relevance/impact does this example have on your argument?

3) POINT 2

3a) Example 1 -

& what relevance/impact does this example have on your argument?

3b) Example 2 -

& what relevance/impact does this example have on your argument?

3c) Example 3 -

& what relevance/impact does this example have on your argument?

4) POINT 3

4a) Example 1 -

& what relevance/impact does this example have on your argument?

4b) Example 2 -

& what relevance/impact does this example have on your argument?

4c) Example 3 -

& what relevance/impact does this example have on your argument?

5) CONCLUSION -

you may briefly summarize your findings here but do NOT introduce any new information

6) WORKS CITED

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