How can I write good essays?

[Laura_Marx]

An essay is basically *one* good argument. If you think about a nonfiction book, in a nonfiction book they're usually trying to treat a subject programmatically. The subject of John Bellamy Foster's 'Marx's Ecology' is to discover, present, and explain Marx's ecological philosophy; it wants to collect everything he said about it into one book and explain it, using his entire corpus as its source. In Carl Schmitt's 'Theory of the Partisan', Schmitt wants to find a theory that can explain every partisan conflict (today we would say 'guerilla warfare'); it should be able to explain every guerilla war that has ever happened or will ever happen. Basically, a book wants to have the last word on a subject. To do so they make hundreds of arguments.

For an essay, I don't have room to treat it so thoroughly. I really only have space for one good idea. So whenever I'm doing my preparation (research or reading or just sitting down to workshop an idea) I'm trying to find this one good idea that gets me into a subject and that I feel like I can defend. Whats something you've noticed that you haven't seen anyone talk about before? Once you've settled on your idea, think about how you'd argue it to a friend who doesn't really believe you. Say you tell them the idea, and they say 'I don't know man, that doesn't sound right to me.' How could you convince them? Do you have any evidence that supports what you're saying? Or, you could try and come up with the other possible arguments and explain why they're insufficient. Come up with something you can answer your friend with and say, 'how do you like them apples?' If you feel confident they'd have to concede the point to you, you've got a pretty good thesis for an essay. If your friend still isn't convinced, they might have succeeded in changing *you* mind. Quite often in the middle of developing an argument I'll start thinking of counterarguments and realize that one is really good, and I'll change my own mind about it. Now that I've found it, I want to make *that* argument instead.

Anyway, once you've got a good idea and feel like you could argue it convincingly, you've got a pretty good foundation for writing an essay. The question now is how to present the thesis and the argument. There are lots and lots of ways to do this. Let's look at some classic essays and see how they do it.

Jerry Fodor's 'Observation Reconsidered' is a masterpiece: https://sci-hub.st/https://www.jstor.org/stable/187729
He sets it up as a literal argument between his "granny" and his intellectual enemies. "Granny and I think that things have gone too far, what with relativism, idealism and pragmatism at Harvard, graffiti in the subway stations, and Lord knows all what next... Granny is particularly aroused about people playing fast and loose with the observation/inference distinction; and when she is aroused, she is terrible." Throughout the rest of the essay he entertains three different strains of argument: the position of the Harvard Relativists, who say that perception is cognitively penetrated; Granny, who maintains that inference proceeds from observation; and his own position, which is a sort of via media. He'll set up the claim of the Harvard Relativists, then stage Granny's cantankerous reply; then he'll say 'now, Granny goes a little too far...' and give his own more limited view. This kind of argument is called a 'dialectic' (in the Socratic sense; not the Hegelian) and it doesn't need to be a literal dialogue with fictional or semi-fictional characters. Barbara Johnson's 'the Critical Difference: BartheS/BalZac' is another great example of this kind of essay (available here: http://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/2526118/a6f1ba9adbbbdaf9c4a0251ef0dd163f.pdf?1533643676 ); she sets up first Barthes argument about Balzac's use of 'castration' in the story Sarrasine, and then she reads Sarrasine to see if it holds up. She finds that, actually, Balzac has one or two things to say to Barthes instead.

Umberto Eco's 'Narrative Structures in Flemming' is a classic 'structuralist' essay: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR2/eco.pdf
He begins by describing, in exhausting detail, what is common to all James Bond novels. He finds that there is quite a lot. He, for example, describes every single villain in every James Bond novel, and he is able to discern certain features which are true of all of them. They are often disfigured, problematically gendered, either hypersexual or asexual, etc. Then he asks: why is this the case? Why does Flemming construct villains like this? & he attempts to answer it. He goes through a lot of different 'structures' like this, until he boils all of the books down into a series of eight 'moves', as in a game of chess, which can appear in any order, but all of which must occur in any Bond novel, some in a certain order (the villain can't be defeated before M gives Bond his orders, for example). This is a very differnet sort of argument because we don't consider any counterarguments; the idea is to construct a model which is adequate to the data. We are convinced on the strength of the evidence.

A really simple, classic essay is de Quincy's 'on the Knocking on the Gate in Macbeth': http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/knockingatgate.html
Quicny opens with an enigma. He tells us that he had some deep and mysterious feelings whenever reading the titular passage in Macbeth. "The effect was, that it reflected back upon the murderer a peculiar awfulness and a depth of solemnity; yet, however obstinately I endeavoured with my understanding to comprehend this, for many years I never could see why it should produce such an effect." Then he begins to investigate that moment, asking: what happens, what is the context, what role does it serve? And when we start asking those questions, we realize why that event has the effect that it does. This is a nice, quite simple kind of essay, lets call it a 'digressional' essay, which asks a question and then answers it.

Not every essay will look quite like one of these. Many essays actually make several arguments; you will find some that make several points which might have no obvious relation. Ernst Junger's 'Total Mobilization' is a series of numbered vignettes which each relate to war in different ways, and even make digressions with themselves. Baudrillard's 'We Are All Transsexuals Now' ties itself in knots, making an argument which is impossible to follow; there are only ideas to be glanced, threads to pick apart. Many of Debord's essays are a series of brief aphorisms which are meant to recur in the mind whenever we ask strategic questions, like in Sun Tzu's Art of War. Essays like this can be some of the best, but will probably earn you poor marks at school. So it goes.

[missy52]

If you're like me, you struggle most with the intro so I'll try to help with that. I really want to capture my readers attention and get them hooked. The rest just comes out because it's already planned (make a bullet list for all the topics you want to talk about. For instance, if you're talking about animals you could do something like this:


Paragraph 1 - Intro (grab attention. If you start on a good foot, you'll trick them into thinking that the rest of your writing has to be this good. They'll read your paper with that mentality even if you completely fuck up the rest. You'll have the benefit of the doubt. I have seldom actually completed a paper but I also get high marks on them. I'm talking about entirely missing conclusion, and 3/4 done middle. It's all because my intro hooks them)

Paragraph 2 - Dogs
Cats
Reptiles

Paragraph 3 - Birds
Deer
Insects

Paragraph...

Final Paragraph - Conclusion

)

Try using a starting quote, an anecdote, an intriguing idea, a fact, a strong opinion. Tbh I look around the room and fixate on something intriguing even if it doesn't relate to the topic. Say, a nestle water bottle someone has. Water bottle turns into water - animals need water. Which turns into the BP oil spill. Which turns into dawn dish soap and it being gentle enough to help save the animals. Then I'd backtrack to the oil spill and write something like, "There is no debate, the greatest environmental catastrophes are man-made. Take our nuclear bombs or the oil spills... Reaking havoc to our ecosystem and impacting the creatures of our wildlife. Animals are innocent to the warfare we've plagued our forests, desserts and lakes with. They are..." This isn't a great example but it does demonstrate how you can use your surroundings to help you and how you can start it. Honestly, once you've done that, the rest is downhill.

[invalid1]

I am experienced in essays. I will tell you how I do it. Just wish me well in return.

1- Organise your ideas, and be clear about what you want to communicate by listing down the ideas.

2- put these ideas in sequence, as you prioritise them. Then segregate them by finding which ones are more relative to another in a context.

3- these segregated ideas can now be paragraphs. A script for writing!. So now you can start expressing them one by one by using the simplest language you can possibly use. Think about how you'd say them to help yourself.

4- now you have your paper full, do check and evaluate, improve, and focus on the first and last paragraphs as they are the most important, follow the general rules in them.

Congratulations, you have an essay 😊

[strawberrylipstick]

If you're writing one where you need to cite your sources, outline it with the paragraphs seperated

Intro: (claim)-->(3 reasons)
Reason 1: (quote to prove your reason and its source) (why it supports the reason)
Reason 2: (quote to prove your reason and its source) (why it supports the reason)
Reason 3: (quote to prove your reason and its source) (why it supports the reason)
Counterclaim: (why someone would think the opposite) (why its wrong) (a quote and source to prove that its wrong)
Conclusion: In conclusion, (state your claim again) because.. (your 3 reasons again) (a fact about your claim to keep the reader thinking afterwards)

[Alyssa11]

Plan!! Planning is key. Depending on what kind of essay you’re writing the following tips can be useful:


- Include an intro, paragraphs with each highlighting a particular point, and a conclusion.
- In your intro, you want to literally introduce briefly what you are going to discuss in your essay and where you stand. I. e. what your point is.
- Usually in the conclusion you just want to briefly reiterate what you’ve discussed in your essay - it can even be a few sentences.
- Make sure that every sentence you write has a meaning to it. You’d be surprised by how much you can find yourself waffling; make sure each sentence is concise and gives a point.
- Shorter sentences and simpler language = more concise and clear = higher grade and easier to read.
- if a long essay, don’t be afraid to use subtitles to separate your points clearly. Remember the clearer the better!


Hope this is helpful.

[Bee-Hatch]

Learn the structure of an essay. It's the framework you hang the words from.
Be confident with the use of punctuation. It gives any writing it's natural flow.
But probably the most important part is at the end. Spewing out facts, arguments, counter arguments, stating the question - it's all just literary wanking. But the ending, that's where you take all the other stuff and add your personal opinion. You can choose to deliberately be an asshole, as long as you state your case eloquently and give reason for your stance, you'll stand out from the rest of the class. And that's the difference between ok grades, and great grades.

[jennifer_bloom]

Pretend you are talking to a friend when you plot your outline - around friends - your confident - discuss maximum impact ideas first - avoid boring details - use creative ways of communication to appear interesting - use direct and opinionated language - and keep things simple and creative and you assume your ideas are received and respected so you do not withhold data to appear proper

[Anonymous]

I read books for leisure and it really helped my writing.
My English teacher used to block out my name on my papers and use them as examples for the following years, I only know this because my brother had my English teacher in high school. I kept my papers for him too, to help him with his writing, so he always knew when my paper was being used as examples.
In college English professors used to say that they could tell who read books and who didn't, because you get a better understanding on writing when your read books.
Reading for leisure you learn how a particular author writes, my favorite is Stephen King, and I mimic his writing style for papers.

[Pyrofox]

Bullet point the plot of the essay. What are the main ideas you need to address.

Next what is the phrasing your teacher is looking for? 1st person or a more objective like 3rd person.

Lastly rough draft parts of paragraphs. Then head to the next step of piecing all the parts together.

[slatyb]

Writing is like musical performance, but slower. Read published essays on any subject that interests you. the more you read, the better you will write. Get a copy of “The Elements of Style” by Strunk and White. That helped me a lot when I was your age.

[kkirk4442]

The best way to write good essays is to write essays, and you will get better with practice. Also, reading helps one understand and recognize good writing. As well, when writing, ask someone around you what they think of what you have written, and if they have any suggestions.

[skel47]

It depends on what way you want to bring the information forward. Forst identify the subject or question is asking and what things support that view or oppose it. Dot point them out, then sort them in order of relevance so the most important os last but touch on it in the intro. I can't be any more vague, but i hope this helps.

[Blindguyplaying]

From the start: No "I's" whatsoever. WRITE DOWN YOUR IDEAS, no "I have them in mind it'll be fine". Your mind is a mess its not gonna work out well. Work on your sentence structure. Have someone proofread of course. Follow a flow when explaining your thesis. Include analogies, anecdotes, or overall simplification when explaining your ideas so that people can understand more easily. The simplified explanations are what stick the for 95% of people. Little to no adverbs and weasel words

[AlexanderAnttila]

It depends entirely on what kind of essay it is. Different subjects have different rules. Unless you're referring to the overall structure of an essay. In which case the most important rule is to have a good disposition, and allow for a read thread in your purpose to permeate all parts of it.

[locutus9999]

you write the intro at the end. many times you want to talk about something but it may change half the way... may be cause new information or diferent conclusions. so let the intro to the end. keep coherence. answer the question that guide the essay. and most importantly be truthfull and dont write what the teacher want to hear. Do not over write. define every new concept, before you sleack about it. name authors. you can follow the APA stile if you want.

[Celtero]

The most important part for me is picking a topic I'm interested in. If I'm forced to write about a boring topic then I'm bound to write a shitty essay for sure.

[siseñor]

practice one a day and ask your teacher to mark some of them & give you advice if they can.

[Twenty2]

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSCCp_ZAH_3pf6Do1ahpu7Nk6ywhnok8x

[BlckGrl]

One tip: never start a sentence with "I, or I feel"

[OfDeath]

Refrain from using clichés. Write everything in your own way.

[_no_one_]

Use Grammarly, it helps me a ton.