There are several types of essays, generally separated into Research, Persuasive, Demonstrative, Response, Review and Science Lab Report. If you don't know which one you are writing, go to the Essay Types page to learn more.

Step 1 is always to read the material. You can't write an essay about something you haven't read. As you come to understand the material, you should be closer to defining a thesis for yourself. A thesis is simply one way of explaining what you have read, or explaining how the material relates to other material. If you still don't have a thesis, go to the Thesis page to help you find a thesis.

Step 2 is to make some notes. This is the beginning of your outline.

If you are writing about a story or novel, what is the main plot? For each main plot area, find some evidence in the text which helps you to prove your thesis. For each quote you wish to make be prepared to write several sentences explaining how it supports your thesis. If you need to quote a long section, you need to talk a lot about it. Markers are not impressed by essays which are filled up with long quotes.

If you are writing about a poem, what is the the poet trying to convey? Is it a feeling, a comparison or an insight? You should be able to find specific words or lines that help you to establish that message.

If you are writing about a historical or sociological topic then you are going to be talking about the importance of something. You will be citing references to this thing and putting them into some kind of context (ie: proving your thesis.)

Step 3 is to brainstorm. There are many different brainstorming techniques. I'm a linguistic type learner, which means I like to use words. So I usually write down ideas in the order I might want to talk about them. I usually end up moving them around. You can do this on your computer, which is helpful for your outline, but I like to do it on a blank piece of paper with lots of arrows and other visual aids. If you are more of a visual learner, you can use a bubble format. You put your main idea in the middle of a circle and then put down the next level of ideas connected with a single line to the main bubble. Next you think about each of those ideas and see if you can get some other ideas that are connected to them. Each smaller bubble could become a paragraph in your essay. When the sheet is done you can list the ideas in the order you might want to put them in your essay. This will become the basis for your outline. Below is a brainstorm sheet for an essay on Gun Control. Notice that I've included both a pro and anti topics. Each topic has two points. You would have to evaluate the pros and cons of each point in your essay to prove your thesis.

All the material (ie: specific references to the text or to critics of the text) you wish to talk about and your ideas make up your outline. Now you are ready to write.

Step 4 is to make an outline. This is a point form, informal list of the things you need to say. It's hard to go into details because every outline will be very different. But just take your brainstorm and try to put things into some kind of logical order. It will be refined as you go along, but it give you a starting point.

The Thesis