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How to Write An Essay

Learning how to write well takes time and experience, and is

generally learned through a trial and error process. Hoping to save
you some common mistakes, here is a general guideline and some
helpful tips on how to research e몭ectively, what di몭erent essay
sections should include, and how to present a strong argument.
Keep in mind, that this is most relevant for social science papers.
Links are provided throughout to selected handouts from the writing
center. For more resources from the Writing Center go to
their website .

The 10 Myths about Essay Writing

1. “Essay has to be 5 paragraphs.”

2. “Never use “I” or write in the 몭rst person.”

3. “A paragraph must contain between 3-5 sentences.”

4. “Never begin a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’.”

5. “Never repeat a word or phrase in the same paragraph.”

6. “Longer essays and fancier words are always better and mean
a higher mark.”
 7. “Other students are so much better at writing essays.”

8. “Good writing is an inborn talent.”

9. “Good writers write quickly, e몭ortlessly, and know exactly

what they want to say from the beginning.”

10. “Good writers never need to edit and don’t need any
feedback.”

These statements are absolutely false, and the quicker you can
change your mentality away from them the better.

The Basics

The most important and fundamental thing about writing an essay is

to make sure that it answers the question the assignment asks. You
should ask yourself this question during your brainstorming,
researching, writing, and editing phase to make sure that the answer
is always yes! You can write a very well-written paper, but if it doesn’t
answer the question in the assignment, you will not receive a good
grade. When beginning your assignment you should:

1. Determine what the assignment’s goal or purpose is. This

means that you should have a pretty solid idea of what the
professor or TA is looking for. Is it an analysis? A compare and
contrast? A critical re몭ection? A book review? A case study?
Here is a handout on the di몭erent types of essays and what
they mean.

2. Relate it to course content and concepts. This should form the

basis of your research. See what concepts are used or what
lecture topic(s) this falls under, and look over your notes and
readings.

3. Use the rubric or checklist provided and highlight the

important parts you should address.

4. Identify the technical requirements to make sure you don’t

lose little marks. For example, style of citation, title page,
formatting, voice, subheadings. If they are not outlined in the
assignment, ask! The use of ‘I’ is a very important condition to
clarify.
5. List questions or clari몭cations you might have, and ask them
ahead of time. Meeting your professor or TA to discuss the
assignment, present your outline or ideas, and brainstorm
di몭erent ways to approach it, will really improve the quality of
your work.

Researching

Some general things to keep in mind when doing your research is to

be careful to stay on topic and always double check with yourself
that the research is relevant to your essay. That means not going too
broad, but staying focused on your topic and recognizing that just
because something is interesting does not mean that it is necessarily
relevant to your argument.

Start with class resources and then move to library resources.

Sometimes, using a certain number of class readings is a
requirement. Make sure you comply with it. It is also a good idea
when de몭ning concepts to use class sources and material.
Remember to never… EVER use Wikipedia as a cited source. It is a
great way to get a better idea of di몭erent topics, concepts, people,
and trivia, but not acceptable for an academic paper.

Students also tend to fall in the two categories of doing too much
research or too little research. Doing too much research can
de몭nitely give you a better understanding of the broader issue of
your topic, and this can be noticed in your writing. However, you can
fall into the trap of adding things that are not necessarily relevant to
your topic, resulting in a larger paper then the assignment requires.
Doing too little research on the other hand, might not give you
enough information on the topic and make for a shorter paper. Also
remember, that not all sources you read will be useful, it takes time
to 몭nd really good sources you can use for your paper. For a social
science paper between 6-8 pages you generally should read at least
10 relatively good sources.

Be prepared to go back and research further while you are writing, in

order to 몭ll gaps in your arguments. This arises with the question
“but why” with the development of your arguments. You also might
need to 몭nd more supporting evidence to present a more convincing
claim.

Make the best use of your time when selecting resources:

1. Use carefully selected keywords for searches. The trick is to
start as narrow as possible to get the sources most relevant
to your topic and then substitute with synonyms and broader
topics.

2. Ask your professor or TA to recommend articles or authors on

the topic. This is best when you have a wider variety or
personal choice on the topic.

3. The glorious CTRL+F. Most journal articles you can now

search with Ctrl+F, so download the PDF or text and quickly
give it a keyword search using Ctrl+F. This is especially useful
if you are doing a speci몭c case study i.e. country, indigenous
peoples, women, or concepts.

4. Read the abstract and if that looks promising then read the
introduction and the conclusion, skimming through the
subheadings and/or the 몭rst sentence of each paragraph.
This will give you a pretty good idea if the article will be of use
to you and save you time from reading the whole thing.

5. Carefully choose the journals/data bases for your search.

There are speci몭c journals for di몭erent disciplines and
regions of the world. The library does a great job at dividing
these up. It takes a bit longer to look through each database
but you get more quality and relevant sources.

Some ideas and suggestions on taking notes while researching:

1. Paraphrase the main ideas of the source.

2. Take notes for each relevant source. You usually need 3

things from a source: the main idea or argument presented, a
sub argument or a sentence that is insightful, or evidence to
support your arguments.

3. The new version of Adobe Reader lets you highlight and insert
text bubbles (for additional notes and ideas) in PDF 몭les, so
you can avoid printing them out or typing out your notes. This
saves trees and times. It is also very important not to
procrastinate or put-o몭 writing down your ideas. Write it
down right away, or you will forget it. Reading certain things
can trigger-o몭 brainstorming in your head, or a brilliant
 thought, or a criticism. Write it down! This will also help you
get started on writing, since you will have some ideas written
down already.

4. It is very important to keep track of what information comes

from what source, in order to cite correctly and avoid
plagiarism.

5. You should categorize or code your research according to

your di몭erent arguments and supporting evidence. Re-
formatting your research like this, for example all information
from all sources relevant to your 몭rst argument are put
together (keeping their individual citations), makes it much
easier to write.

6. Critically analyze your research. Build a set of concepts and

questions, compare di몭erent views and arguments and their
relevance and importance to your research. Instead of just
listing and summarizing items, assess them, discussing their
strengths and weaknesses. As well, be aware of biases in
sources, both academic and news media.

Creating an Outline

Writing an outline is invaluable to help organize your thoughts and

the structure of your essay informally, in order to check strengths
and relevance of arguments, consistency with thesis, and 몭ow. Your
outline doesn’t have to be fully written out, as if you are handing it in
to be marked, scribble it on a napkin, carve it into your desk,
whatever helps you to outline your arguments and explain the 몭ow
to yourself. It will help you to pick up contradictions and weaknesses
in your arguments before you start writing and it keeps you from
going o몭-track. This is also a good stage to check with your professor
or TA. You can meet with them in person or e-mail them your outline
and thesis to get feedback. Check out this outline handout from the
Writing Centre.

Essay Structure: Introduction

The main point of an introduction is to capture the attention of the

reader and draw them in. This is why your 몭rst sentences should be
well thought-out to engage and interest the reader. Always think of
an introduction as an upside down triangle. It should start broad and
become more narrow and speci몭c. There are di몭erent things to
become more narrow and speci몭c. There are di몭erent things to
include in your introduction, depending on the size of your paper.
Since many students are confused about what an introduction
should include, here is a general guideline to get you started. Also
accept that if you write your introduction 몭rst, you will probably have
to re-write it or at least tweak it depending on how the rest of your
paper turns out.

Literature review. The size and detail of this depends on the size
of the paper. If you are writing a longer paper, this could be its
own section. Mainly it addresses the main arguments and debates
in the literature on your topic and how your line of argument is
consistent or di몭erent from those.

Provide background information on your topic, country case,

political context, etc.

De몭ne the terms relevant to your paper. This is really important

as it de몭nes the scope of your paper, especially when using broad
all-encompassing terms like empowerment, globalization,
international community, democracy, etc.

Answer the questions “so what?” / “why is this important?” / “who

cares?” / “why should we care?”.

De몭ne the scope of your paper. This could be the speci몭c time
period you are discussing, country/location, speci몭c case, etc.
Being speci몭c about the scope of your paper is like an academic
safety guard, diminishing any criticisms for not addressing issues
outside of your speci몭ed scope.

Thesis Statement is the most fundamental component to include

in your introduction. It is your basic argument, demonstrating
what you are trying to prove. It should be concise and clear and it
should be a statement that someone can disagree with a.k.a. an
argument.

Depending on the length of your paper you can also brie몭y

summarize the organization of your paper. This is like providing a
tour for the reader of your arguments to come.

Essay Structure: Body

There are important stylistic guidelines you should follow in the body
of your paragraph. For example, you should try and use the same
terminology as you 몭nd in the literature in order to sound more
professional and scholarly. You should also ensure that there is
transition and 몭ow between each paragraph and between each
argument. Try to explain speci몭cally and clearly how each argument
relates to your thesis to make sure your essay sounds more
cohesive. Also remember that paragraphs are limited to one idea
and should also make a clear point that connects to your argument
and thesis. Here is a very useful handout on paragraphs and
transition.

Avoid using overly complex language and words. It doesn’t ensure

you sound smart or that you’ll get a better grade. Don’t be like Joey
from Friends, “they are humid prepossessing Homo Sapiens with full
sized aortic pumps” instead of “they are warm, nice people with big
hearts”.

Building a strong argument

Reading good journal articles will help you write better by observing
how academics develop their arguments. Ask your professor or TA to
suggest a couple of well-written articles that you can learn from.

Every argument should have the following structure:

Claim (because of) Reason (based on) Evidence (acknowledging &
responding to)Objections/Alternatives.

However, to make your argument more clear, you also need warrant.
Warrant is a fancy term that basically shows the relevance of the
claim. It is the principle that lets you connect reason and claim. It is
the logical connection between a claim and a supporting fact (or
evidence). Sometimes, that logical connection will be clear and
obvious, where no explanation from the writer is needed. More often
though, the writer needs to supply the warrant, explain how and why
a particular piece of evidence is good support for a speci몭c claim.
This will tremendously improve the clarity of your writing and will
help people outside your discipline to better follow and understand
your arguments.

Addressing counterarguments is also an important part of

developing a strong argument. It shows you have done extensive
research and you have a good understanding of the topic in
question. You should acknowledge existing and possible objections
to your arguments and respond to them, discrediting them or
showing why they don’t hold true in your case. If relevant and
important, you should also address counterargument you cannot
refute and concede to them.
Evidence is the last component you need to make a strong
argument. Evidence supports your claims and convinces the reader.
Evidence should be relevant, reliable, and representative of your
reasoning. It is also a good idea to use several pieces of evidence for
each argument, rather than just one. It could also be either primary
or secondary. Here are some di몭erent types of evidence:

Direct quotations (check out verbs for citing and verbs for
introducing quotations

Statistics

Historical data

Case studies

Speci몭c examples (i.e. of projects or experiences of speci몭c

groups)

Credible newspaper articles

Photos, sound recordings, or videos (i.e. the CBC Archives)

For more information, check out this handout on developing a logical

argument.

For visual learners, here is what each paragraph or argument should

look like:

And this should be the general structure of your paper:


Essay Structure: Conclusion

Remember that the ending matters, just like in the movies. Isn’t it

really disappointing when you watch a movie with a great

developing, edge-of-your-sear plot line that ends badly and quickly?
The same goes for papers. The conclusion should bring it all
together, showing that you have proven your thesis. Opposite to the
introduction, it should start narrow and become broader. The most
important point in a conclusion: do not introduce new
arguments! Here are some general guidelines on what conclusions
should include:

Paraphrase your thesis and demonstrate how you have proven it

with your arguments.

Answer again the questions “so what?” and “why is this

important?”

Outline some of the lessons learned.

Discuss some of the implications of your 몭ndings and analysis.

Relate it to the wider context on the subject, course themes, or

discipline.

Identify some of the future areas for research that your paper
opens up.

Editing, Revising, and Proofreading (preferably not at 4am the night

before)

Best case scenario is to take some time (a day or two) between

몭nishing your 몭nal draft and editing to give you some distance from
your work. When editing, you should read slowly and out loud to
catch run-on sentences or unclear ideas. Make a checklist for editing
and proofreading. Here is an example of one. It is also a good idea to
have someone else read your paper. Pretty much anyone will be able
to catch small spelling and grammar mistakes that you have missed
no matter how many times you have read over your paper. Someone
in your class/몭eld will be able to help you with the content, while
someone not in your class/몭eld is the best audience to test how well
you explain your ideas and concepts. You should also look for
someone who isn’t afraid to give you constructive criticism. Having
someone who isn’t afraid to give you constructive criticism. Having
said that, remember that everyone writes di몭erently (i.e. has a
di몭erent style), so you should also be critical of changes o몭ered to
you.

As well, start taking notice of the mistakes you usually make, so you
can search out for them speci몭cally. This can also be related to
words you usually misspell or commonly confused words (i.e.
complement & compliment, then & than, your & you’re).

Works Cited

Plagiarism is the most serious academic o몭ence. If you are found

guilty of plagiarism you can fail the assignment or the class, or be
suspended or expelled from university. It could even a몭ect your
chances of getting into a grad program, as it remains on your record,
and you are required to give an explanation as to what happened
(even if you have only been investigated). The point is, good citation
is really important. You shouldn’t take the risk of being caught of
plagiarism and you should give other academics due credit for their
work.

The most important thing to remember after selecting your

preferred (or required) citation style is that in-text citation must
match the work cited list. This means consistency with the author
and the year, but also that you cannot have in-text citations that
don’t have a full reference in the work cited, just like you cannot have
a full reference without citing it throughout the text. Citation style
also has to be consistent throughout the paper (i.e. you cannot go
from APA to MLA). If you use sourcing engines to make your
references, always double check their accuracy.

Here are some resources for APA style citation from the Writing
Center and Owl .

Some 몭nal points about writing papers:

The length of sections should be proportionate to the size of your

essay. So a 1 page introduction to a 5 page essay is too much.

When the assignment says between 6-8 pages, it is better to do 8

than 6. When you have such limited number of pages, you need
space to develop your argument. However, don’t just ramble on
and on, repeating the same arguments in di몭erent ways to 몭ll-up
space.
Remember that clarity and conciseness are your friends.

Try and use a more active, instead of a passive voice, to sounds

more assertive and succinct. (See this handout)

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