The Process of Writing Academic Essays

An academic essay is a formal, structured piece of writing that uses sources and information gathered by the writer. To write this piece, you need a focused argument that you are going to analyze, obtain evidence, and interpret.

Several types of essays vary in length and content depending on several factors, including the subject, your level of study, and your course requirements. Most essays aim to persuade the reader to support a certain perspective on a topic.

The process of writing an academic essay has three main stages: preparation, writing, and revision. You must choose a topic, conduct research, and create an essay outline. Once you have done this, you must develop the content of your essay and finish off with editing and formatting your text. Read on to learn how to write an academic essay and the steps involved.

Table of Contents

1. The process of writing an essay
2. Essay writing preparation
3. Writing the introduction
4. Writing the main body
5. Writing the conclusion

The Process of Writing an Essay

As with any other paper, an essay requires a writing process that includes preparation, writing, and revision. The duration of each of these stages mainly depends on the type of essay. Every essay requires different intensity in different stages of the writing process.

Generally, the preparation process entails deciding on the essay topic, conducting research and gathering sources, writing a thesis, and coming up with an outline. The writing process involves creating and merging the three main parts of an essay: the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion.

The revision is the last part of the process, and it entails the overall evaluation of the essay. Here, you must ensure that there are no grammatical mistakes and the piece is plagiarism-free.

Essay Writing Preparation

Before you start writing an essay, you must have a clear idea of what you want to talk about and how you intend to say it. Here are a few steps that will ease the process of your essay preparation:

 Understand your Assignment

Identify the goal of your essay. What do you intend to achieve from writing this essay? Clarify the length of your essay and the deadline for completing it. If there is anything you are not sure of, ensure you ask your professor.

Define a Topic

In some instances, you are allowed to choose your topic. In these cases, pick something that interests you and something you have some information on.

Conduct Research

A good academic essay requires research information and evidence. Therefore, use primary and secondary sources to take notes. You will use these notes as evidence for your essay.

Create a Thesis

A thesis is the central point of your essay. It’s the main argument, and it determines the direction of your writing. You must keep referring to it to ensure that you are still on track.

Come up with an Outline

Before writing the final draft of your essay, you need to create an outline. This is a rough structure of the content you want to write. It will help you keep track of how to write your essay.

Once you have established what you want to write and how you intend to achieve that, you can start writing.

Writing The Introduction

The introduction is the face of your essay. It sets the tone of your paper and is the first impression to your reader. An introduction must be captivating and interest the reader enough to continue reading it. This part generally comprises about 10 to 20% of your piece.

1. Grab Your Reader’s Interest

From reading the first sentence in your essay, a reader must long to continue. Pique their interest and curiosity to ensure that they yearn to read more of your content. It’s advisable to use a hooking statement such as an interesting fact, a question, or a bold statement. Ensure that the hook you decide to use is relevant to your topic.

2.  Give an Overview of Your Topic

The reader needs to understand your argument right from the beginning. Therefore, you must provide context on your topic, outline important background information, and provide details on what your essay is about. However, you ought to be careful not to provide too many details that will discourage the reader from continuing.

3. Outline the Thesis Statement

Your introduction must include your thesis statement, which is the central argument of your essay. This statement signals your reader to the topic of your piece. A typical thesis statement is two to three sentences long.

Writing The Main Body

The body is the main part of your essay. It’s where you present the main arguments of your topic, provide collected evidence, and present your ideas. In the main body, you can show and analyze your information, proving why you support or oppose a certain topic.

The main body takes up about 60 to 80% of your essay. However, this figure mainly depends on the length of your essay. Ensure that you present your content in paragraphs, as this gives it a clear structure. Every paragraph must begin with a topic sentence followed by its explanation.

Writing The Conclusion

The conclusion is the last part of an essay, acting as a parting shot and summarizing all the information presented in the essay. It takes up about 10 to 15% of the paper. It should be short and concise and give an overview of your thesis, main points, and the significance of your argument.

A conclusion aims to leave the reader with a good, lasting impression. Therefore, avoid using phrases such as, to sum up, or in conclusion in this segment. You must also avoid introducing any new evidence in the conclusion.