There’s a vast difference between knowing and being able to show other people that you do, and this is the chasm that divides the articulate from the rest. Among the former, there are some who are masters of the written word, others who have excellent oratory skills and wow people with the gift of the gab, and some who are blessed enough to be able to do both.
While writing is a flair that comes from within, there are certain aspects to it that can be taught, like ways to organize your thoughts and put them down coherently so that they read well. A thousand ideas may be clamoring in your head screaming for release, but if you’re not able to provide them with some form of order, they lose every bit of their value and become equal to indecipherable gibberish. Similarly, you may know your subject well, but if you’re not able to put down what you know in an essay in such a way that your reader is captivated from start to finish, you might as well have not known anything at all.
Organizing an essay is easy enough if you go about it in a systematic manner. All essays begin with an introduction, end with a conclusion, and contain two to three paragraphs in between. Here are a few golden rules to be followed when framing your essay:
• Open Strongly: Enough cannot be said about the importance of a good introduction. Well begun is half done, to use an oft-repeated cliche. Since your reader will more likely than not form an opinion of your essay with the first few words that you’ve written, you must make sure you hold their attention and make them want to read more. An introduction is a preview to what they can expect to follow in the paragraphs below; it creates anticipation, so it must be teasing, revealing enough but not telling all, and gently egging on the reader to move forward and read the rest of your essay.
• Put ideas where they belong: Your middle paragraphs tell the whole story of your essay, the theme that you’ve focused on. It’s best to organize this part into two or three separate paragraphs, depending on the topic you’re writing about. Make sure that you don’t mix your ideas and strew them all over the body of the essay. Before you put your thoughts down on paper, draw a rough outline map where you name sections and write each idea under the category it belongs to. This way, you know that all your ideas are down on paper, exactly in the sections they belong, and you don’t have to redo any part of your essay when you realize you’ve forgotten an important aspect.
• End Conclusively: A conclusion must sum up the points you’ve made throughout your essay and finish on either a conclusive note or leave a theoretical question hanging for the reader, depending on the relevance of the topic. It’s best not to leave threads hanging from the paragraphs above, and the conclusion is the best place to tie them all up to make sense.
• Check thoroughly: Even the best of us makes mistakes, so it’s best to read your essay once or twice, making corrections where they’re needed and tweaking your language a bit. Ask a friend to run their eyes over it too, just to be on the safe side.
• Follow instructions: If you have a word limit, adhere to it. Generally though, you’re better off not writing long-winded stories or putting down your each and every thought on paper. Keep it short and sweet, and you’re likely to see good results.
This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of online colleges and universities. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com
