Essay Writing

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7. Check Spelling and Grammar
Now the essay is written, but you're not quite done. Reread what you've written, looking out for mistakes and typos.
•   Revise for technical errors.
•   Check for grammar, punctuation and spelling errors. 

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In your introduction, it's important to include a hook. This is the line or line that will lure a reader in and encourage them to want to learn more. For more on this, check out How to Write a Hook.
And, to help you formulate a killer conclusion, scan through these Conclusion Examples.

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•   Revise for clarity, consistency, and structure.
•   Support your thesis adequately with the information in your paragraphs. Each paragraph should have its own topic sentence. This is the most important sentence in the paragraph that tells readers what the rest of the paragraph will be about.
•   Make sure everything flows together. As you move through the essay, transition words will be paramount. Transition words are the glue that connects every paragraph together and prevents the essay from sounding disjointed.
•   Reread your introduction and conclusion. Will the reader walk away knowing exactly what your paper was about?

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6. Write the Essay
Once you have an outline, it's time to start writing. Write based on the outline itself, fleshing out your basic skeleton to create a whole, cohesive and clear essay.
You'll want to edit and re-read your essay, checking to make sure it sounds exactly the way you want it to. Here are some things to remember:

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•   Don't jumble too many ideas in each paragraph or the reader may become confused.
•   Ensure you have transitions between paragraphs so the reader understands how the paper flows from one idea to the next.
•   Fill in supporting facts from your research under each paragraph. Make sure each paragraph ties back to your thesis and create a cohesive, understandable essay.

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5. Outline Your Essay
The next step is to outline what you are going to write about. This means you want to essentially draw the skeleton of your paper. Writing an outline can help to ensure your paper is logical, well organized and flows properly.
Start by writing the thesis statement at the top, and then write a topic sentence for each paragraph below that. This means you should know exactly what each of your paragraphs is going to be about before you write them.

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4. Develop a Thesis
Your thesis statement is the main point of your essay. It is essentially one sentence that says what the essay is about.  You can then use this as the basic premise to write your entire essay, remembering that all of the different points throughout need to lead back to this one main thesis. You should usually state your thesis in your introductory paragraph.

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3. Research the Topic
Once you have done your brainstorming and chosen your topic, you may need to do some research to write a good essay. Go to the library or search online for information about your topic.  Keep your research organized so it will be easy for you to refer back to. This will also make it easier to cite your sources when writing your final essay.

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Once you have a list of possible topics, it's time to choose the best topic idea from among your list and begin moving forward on writing your essay. But, before you move forward, take heed of these topics to avoid.

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•   Write down everything that comes to mind as you can always narrow those topics down later.
•   Use clustering or mind mapping to brainstorm and come up with an essay idea. This involves writing your topic or idea in the center of the paper and creating bubbles (clouds or clusters) of related ideas around it.
•   Brainstorming can be a great way to develop a topic more deeply and to recognize connections between various facets of your topic.

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2. Brainstorm
You cannot write an essay unless you have an idea of what to write about. Brainstorming is the process in which you come up with the essay topic. You need to simply sit and think of ideas during this phase.

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•   Argumentative Essay: Take a position on a controversial issue and present evidence in favor of your position.
•   Compare and Contrast Essay: Identify similarities and differences between two subjects that are, typically, under the same umbrella.
•   Problem Solution Essay: Describe a problem, convince the reader to care about the problem, propose a solution, and be prepared to dismantle objections.

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Knowing what kind of essay you are trying to write can help you decide on a topic and structure your essay in the best way possible. Here are a few other types of essays:

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•   Narrative Essay: Tell a story or impart information about your subject in a straightforward, orderly manner, like in a story.
•   Persuasive Essay: Convince the reader about some point of view.
•   Expository Essay: Explain to the reader how to do a given process. You could, for example, write an expository essay with step-by-step instructions on how to make a peanut butter sandwich.
•   Descriptive Essay: Focus on the details of what is going on. For example, if you want to write a descriptive essay about your trip to the park, you would give great detail about what you experienced: how the grass felt beneath your feet, what the park benches looked like, and anything else the reader would need to feel as if he were there.

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1. Choose the Type of Essay
The first step to writing an essay is to define what type of essay you are writing. There are four main categories into which essays can be grouped: