How to Write a High School Essay

Writing is a Process

The three steps in the process of writing

are:

prewriting: the process of coming up with

writing topics, researching topics, focusing
topics, and/or organizing a writing topic.
writing: the process of writing several
drafts of an essay. The main goal of this
step is to get your ideas on paper in an
organized fashion that makes sense to
you.
revision: the process of rethinking and
rewriting an essay as well as correcting
grammatical, spelling, structural, and
stylistic errors. In other words, you are
making your composition worthy of being
printed, published, or passed (as in a
passing grade).

Prewriting

freewriting: nonstop writing within time or spatial

parameters. For example, writing for ten minutes or
writing one page. This is NOT part of your essay.
discussion: talking to another person or group of
people about relevant texts, themes, and/or issues.
brainstorming: making a list of possible topic ideas.
webbing: connecting topic ideas.
THE LAZY OUTLINE: This is the most important type
of prewriting in my opinion. In a lazy outline you
briefly plan what points will be made in each
paragraph or section of an essay. This type of
outline will take the following type of form:

Thesis Statement (One sentence stating what your

entire essay will be about)
Topic Sentence (What your first body paragraph will be
about.)
Topic Sentence (What your 2nd body paragraph will be
about.)

Conclusion paragraph

Introduction Paragraph

An introduction is the first paragraph of your essay. It

includes:

ATTENTION GRABBER:
An attention grabber is exactly what it sounds like: it is
supposed to g a the i st u to s atte tio i su h a
personal, cute, interesting, or creative way, that I want to
give you a good grade.
TRANSITION:
After your attention grabber, you will probably need to
transition from talking about yourself to talking about the
academic essay topic so that your intro paragraph makes
se se. You a t ha ge topi s like that ithout easi g
into it a bit. The key with transitions is that the shorter
they are the better. You may not even need one, but if
you do, keep it to a word, a phrase, or a short sentence or
two.
THESIS STATEMENT:
A thesis statement is usually the last sentence of your
introduction paragraph and it states what your entire
essay will be about.

Body Paragraphs

Body paragraphs present the reasons and the evidence that your thesis
statement is correct. Each body paragraph must include:
TOPIC SENTENCE: This sentence is usually the first sentence in a body
paragraph. It states a reason your thesis is correct.
4-STEP EXAMPLES/EVIDENCE: 4-step examples are the quotations from the
assigned readings you need to integrate into your argument. You can use
quotations you agree or disagree with, stating your reasons afterwards. The
quotes you pick also need to go with your topic sentence.
Body paragraphs usually have one or two quotes, but you do t a t ou
body paragraph to be more quotation than your opinion.
Do t e d o egi a pa ag aph ith a uote i it.
Avoid presenting one example right after another (piggy back) with no
arguments in between.
ARGUMENTS: The arguments make up most of the content of a body
paragraph.
Arguments show your unique and interesting thoughts.. College instructors
are primarily interested in what your arguments say. They are not made up
of any plot, facts, or summary from texts. They are your opinions about the
thesis, topic sentence, and quotes.
Arguments should present and fully explain 2 or 3 reasons your topic
sentence is correct. Make a convincing argument that makes the
reader/teacher want to agree with what you are saying in your paragraph.

How to Put Quotations into Your Body

Paragraphs: 4-Step Examples

There is a certain tradition you must follow to properly integrate the

evidence into your essay. When you come to a place in your body
paragraph where you want to put a quote, do these four steps:
1. LEAD-IN: Lead-in to a quote by providing information about where the
uote is f o . You a tell e the a ti le title, the autho s full a e, o
the autho s ede tials.

2. PARAPHRASE: Write a short, more generalized summary of the

quotation in your own words. After the paraphrase, put a comma and start
the next step.

3. QUOTATION: In quotation marks, copy the words exactly as they

appear in the text. In other words, any words that are not your own, you
put in quotation marks so that you will not get in trouble for plagiarizing.

4. CITATION: Provide the necessary information according to the MLA

citation style. Unless you are quoting a web site, a page number is always
eeded. o eti es the autho s last a e is also e ui ed.

After the 4-step example explain why you agree or disagree with the
quote and how it fits in with what you are trying to argue in your body
paragraph.

Example of a 4-step example: Pa e ts a d Ho e o k epo ted that

ho e o k is i easi g fo those i ele e ta s hool, 1
: stude ts
to ea s old do t i e as u h ho e o k as i 1 1 Cle
it
.

Conclusion Paragraph
A conclusion paragraph is
misnamed. Do not share any of your
conclusions in the conclusion
paragraph. Conclusions belong in
your body paragraphs. Instead, a
conclusion paragraph is REALLY an
ending paragraph only.
Restate your thesis as a statement of
success.
Summarize your main points.
Finish any personal story from your
attention grabber that needs an
ending.
Do not contradict yourself.

The Proofreading Brain

Cou t the Fs i the follo i g te t ut do ot ou t the

ore tha o e:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF

SCIENTIFIC STUDENT COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

How many did you find?

Strategies for Proofreading

Write down 3 news ones to try!
1. Give yourself plenty of time.
Proofreading takes a lot of time,
but it works! You will find and
correct a lot of errors, if you give
yourself a chance to do it.
2. Proofread more than once.
3. Trust your instinct. If you read
carefully and get confused or feel
something does not sound right,
there is probably something wrong
with the sentence. Reword things
so that you feel better about them.
4. Know your typical mistakes.
5. Proofread for 1 or 2 errors at a
time.

6.
7.
8.

9.

10.

Use reference books: grammar book,

MLA, the textbook.
Read your essay out loud.
Read backwards. If you have difficulty
seeing your errors, you may be focusing
too much on the meaning, what you
meant to write, instead of what is actually
there. To distance yourself, begin with
the last sentence, read it out loud., then
proceed to the second to last sentence,
and continue until you reach the
beginning.
Ask for help. Proofread yourself several
times first and then you can have a friend,
tutor, or tea her look o er hat ou e
ritte . Do t e pe t the to fi all our
mistakes. They should only be pointing
out your biggest mistakes that you then
fix yourself.
Use the resources your computer offers.
Use your spell check. Grammar check
works best if you set it to look for one or
two types of mistakes only.

Poetry: What do you think about your

computer now?

The Ma Sheen is Awl Weighs Write

Eye halve a spelling chequer

It came with my peas see
It plainly marcs four my revue
Miss steaks I kin knot sea
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am write or wrong
It shows me strait aweigh

As soon as a miss steak is maid

It nose bee four two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong
Eye half run this poem thru it
I am shore your pleased too no
Its letter perfect all the weigh
My Chequer told me so.

The Proofreading Brain Explanation

Your brain will count the Fs in the big content words that
add ea i g to the se te e: Fi ished, Files,
ie tifi . Did ou fi d those th ee?

Your brain, however, will skip over the little function

words that make sentences grammatically correct but
add little or no meaning to the sentence. Did you count
the th ee Fs i the ofs ?
Did you find all 6?

Revising Your Essay Before Turning It in

for a Grade

Do t thi k of e isio as fi i g e o s ut athe as e-thinking and re-writing.

Go to the free tutorial center on campus.
Use office hours and student-teacher conferences.
Your essay was good. A small problem can make a big difference in your grade.
Go beyond the instructor's comments because every error may not have been
pointed out.
Problem List
Even though you may make a lot of mistakes when writing, they are usually the
same type of mistakes made over and over. To drastically improve your
completed essay, make a checklist of four or five types of mistakes you tend to
make when writing. By reading, skimming, or computer searches, look only for
one problem at a time throughout the entire essay.

Check List: When your essay is finished and proofread, print out your essay and
look for problems in the following areas of your paper. When you find a problem,
do t o e t it, just ite a ote o ou essa . Look fo p o le s ith ou :
- organization (thesis and topic sentences)
-evidence in body paragraphs
-arguments in body paragraphs
-conclusion paragraph

The .fi a fe p o le s at a ti e u til they are all fixed!

A d p oof-read your essay and fix the sentence-level errors one last time.

Example Of a Real Student Essay

Introduction Paragraph

After eight hours of a long, stressful, day at work, the anticipation about going to the college
library to study is over. As soon as I arrive at the library, it is packed. I am shocked to find no
computers available, no desks to study on, and chaos of students around. As I look around desperate
for a computer, a male student notices me in distress. He then gets up and asks me if I want to use
his computer since he was leaving. Gratefully I thank him as I sit down and adjust to begin to do my
studies. There is not much desk space due to the belonging of students everywhere: no books, no
o k, o stud i g a ou d. I o l see people s elo gi gs: ja kets, s eate s, hats, pu ses, a d othe
unexplainable material. The chaos of the library comes from personal use of the computers online.
Groups clutter around to gossip, and some clutter just to watch useless nonsense. College libraries
should only be limited to education and educational use.

Body Paragraph

Parents pay for a grand, successful, and rewarding education for their children; not only parents but self supporting
college students do too. The college library desks are not a place to hang around, meet people, and have fun. Christopher
Cald ell s What a College Edu atio Bu s states that pa e ts thi k of ollege i te
ut that is o l a s all pa t of hat happe s o
edu atio thei pa e ts thi k the a e pa i g fo

s of p o idi g the t ai i g fo good jobs,

a puses, the edu atio kids a e e a ded fo

ot e the sa e

1 . Cald ell is talki g a out the iti al thi ki g skills e phasized in our

current liberal arts education. However, I think parents would be equally shocked to realize that students often see college as
neither job training or education. They are thinking about college primarily as a way to party and have fun all the time. At our
library, the desks are meant for books, computers and seriously focusing on your studies. To become a success, the desks and
o pute s p o ide that pla e, that a ea. Tuitio a d ta pa e s

o e pa s fo the li a , its desks, a d its o pute s. This

money is being wasted when college property is used to socialize. Moreover, my tuition money is being mis-managed when I
am unable to find a computer in the library at which to complete my school work or I am unable to concentrate on writing my
paper due to the party atmosphere that surrounds me.

Another Body Paragraph

The chaos of students is distracting for those who make the most of the college library for
studying and research. The computers are taken up by personal use, gossip, watching useless
o se se. I a a ti le e titled Wel o e to the Fu -F ee U i e sit , it
olleges,

ollege ad i ist ato s ha e ee adopti g ha sh

stude t eha io

Weigel

3 . Ia

easu es i

ot sa i g e should shut do

iti izes ho st i t

espo se to u app o ed
all the fu o

ollege

campuses, but there is a time and a place for fun. Study time in the library is neither. Personal use
should be banned, due to the fact it is more private use of college property. It is very harmful to the
school, staff students and non students. We need to monitor what happens in our college library, it
is not a public library, and there should be standards of care and safety.

Conclusion Paragraph

Is t it o ious that ollege li a ies should e li ited to o l

education and educational use? As a student of Hartnell College, I
value the proper use of the college library as it was meant to be:
for educational success in life. Simple signs posting the rules
followed up by librarians periodically monitoring the computer area

is all it would take to fix this problem.