Writing an essay is the easiest thing to do when you are in high school. You can pick your topic, write about it and then get a good grade. When you enter college, however, things change drastically. Now writing an essay means that you need to think hard about what people want to read in 500 words or less! That’s not all – now each of your sentences has to be perfect! So how do you begin? Well here are 5 steps on how to write a 500 word essay?…
1- Essay introduction
The first sentence of your introduction should be interesting enough to convince readers that they need to know more about what you are writing. This is extremely difficult! If you can’t think of anything good then just start by saying something like “This essay will show that…” or “What I am going to do here is…”
2- Purpose
The purpose of your essay should be clear in the second sentence. Now you can’t just say “I am writing this because…” or “This essay is about…”. You need to give it a fancy name like “An inquiry into” or “A thesis on”. Write these words on your notepad so you don’t forget them.
3- Introduction of the main idea
After you have done the introductory paragraphs, it’s time for the main idea. This is where most students get stuck because they can’t think of an interesting way to present their main idea. Your first sentence should be something like “The goal of this essay is…” or “The topic of this paper is…”. The second one should then go into the details about what you are talking about in case someone doesn’t yet know.
4- Main body
Now it’s time for the real deal – writing your arguments! At least two sentences each with its paragraph. Each sentence needs to go straight to the point and give your reader a clear idea of what you are trying to say. Each paragraph should go in detail about one argument but beware if an argument contains more than one point or is too long it should be broken down into smaller paragraphs.
5- Use powerful sentences
Your main points should be in sentences that are very long and complex. Don’t use words that are easy to understand, make them hard! For example, avoid using words like because, love, etc… instead use excogitate (meaning think deeply) or cogitate (same meaning but not cool). If you can make up your words even better! Using words makes you look smarter. As a general rule, try to use as many big words as you can.
6- Don’t worry about paragraphs
Paragraphs are for people who write simple essays that anyone can understand. You have to forget everything that they taught you in high school and college! A paragraph is just a group of sentences on the same topic, your job now is to break this concept and make each sentence a new paragraph! This will freak people out because nobody has ever done something like this before. This way you will have more space to show off with bigger words ;).
Conclusion
You should write 2 sentences – the first line should cover what you said in your introduction and how things turned out while the second should sum up everything that was done in the main body of the paper. Now here comes the hard part: a good essay needs a catchy title! This means thinking hard before writing anything down! Use words like “In conclusion” or “This essay shows that…” just so readers get a sense that it’s ending very soon. You can even put an exclamation mark at the end of your second sentence to make it even more exciting!
