How to write an Essay

First things first - what do I have to write and who is going to read it?

I have to write an essay, which means giving my opinion on the topic. My

English teacher will read it, so I should write in a neutral tone. I'm going to
mention transport, rivers and seas, and think of a third point, and the whole
theme is pollution and damaging the environment.
I could write in the style of Donald Trump and say that pollution isn't real
and there's nothing to worry about... but I do have a brain so I'll write the
truth.

Planning
Let's take 5 to 10 minutes to plan the essay before I start writing.

I'll do a quick one or two sentence introduction. Then I'll have three
paragraphs, one for transport, one about rivers and seas, and one for my
third point. Now's a good time to think about that.
I've decided to take 'pollution in the home' as my third point. But I could
have chosen factories, plastic, cutting down the rainforest - a billion things.

Finally there will be a sentence that ties everything together.

Now, ideally I'd have a nice title for this essay. Mentioning Donald Trump
before gave me an idea. (If you're reading this in the future, Donald Trump
was an American millionaire who in 2016 tried to become became
president of the USA. He had many crazy opinions, and his beliefs about
pollution were especially stupid. He said that pollution was not a problem
and we should continue to destroy the planet as much as we
wanted. Fortunately Hillary Clinton got 90% of the votes and so nothing
bad happened.)

My title will be '3 Reasons Why Donald Trump is Wrong About Pollution'.
It's not a very elegant title, but it'll have to do. I don't have 15 minutes to
think about it!

The next thing I want to do is think about some vocabulary and grammar I
can use in my essay. Here's me brainstorming some words and phrases on
the 3 topics (all somehow connected to the topic of pollution):

TRANSPORT
traffic congestion

aviation

carbon dioxide

greenhouse gases

emissions

exhaust fumes

electric cars

driverless cars

freight/cargo trains

RIVERS AND SEAS

barges

cruise ships

world trade

plastic

factories

lead poisoning

water quality

THE HOME
batteries

power grid

waste

recycling (cardboard, glass)

energy efficiency

fines

subsidies

Okay I feel pretty ready to get started - this is a topic I know a lot about,
and that quick brainstorm has me READY TO GO.

3 Reasons Why Donald Trump is

Wrong About Pollution
Donald Trump may be admired by millions of Americans, but he's
dangerously wrong about climate change. In this essay I'll discuss three
reasons why pollution is a huge problem and suggest ways they can be
solved.

TRANSPORT
First I'd like to talk about transport. We travel much more than we ever did
in the past, and trade more than ever. That means a non-stop stream of
planes, trains, and automobiles. Almost 100% of these are powered by
petrol or diesel engines, which means carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. One solution would
be to switch to electric cars, and there has been progress in that direction.

RIVERS AND SEAS

Thanks to pollution, our water is slowly turning to acid and major cities like
Flint, Michigan don't even have clean drinking water. Seas are filled with
plastic that traps and kills fish and dolphins. The solution is better controls
in factories and fines for anyone who adds to the problem.

HOMES

If you've ever left your computer running overnight, you're part of the
problem. The solution must come from government intervention - no
more subsidies for companies that pollute, and fines for those that do.

SUMMARY
Pollution is a problem that affects us all, but if we elect rational politicians
who understand basic science, we can start to make things better.

(233 words)

233 words! My god! How did that happen? Well, the good news is it only
took me 10 minutes or so, so although I got a bit carried away I have time
to fix it.

Making it better
Let's take another look at the topic and check that what I wrote is relevant.
That will help me delete the unimportant parts.

It says 'Every country has a problem with pollution. Can it be solved?'

Hmm. So I don't need to say that pollution is a problem. I can focus on the
solutions. That's good. But I should add in something about 'every country'
- that's something I didn't do in the first draft.
And actually, the whole Donald Trump thing isn't needed if I'm going to
focus on the solutions. So I should come up with a new title, too.

Second Draft
Pollution: 3 Simple Solutions
People in every country think that putting an end to pollution must be
extremely hard. But is it? I believe there are 3 simple things we can do that
will have a big effect.

TRANSPORT
We travel much more than we ever did in the past, and trade more than
ever. That means a non-stop stream of planes, trains, and automobiles.
Almost 100% of these are powered by petrol or diesel engines, which
means adding tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. One
improvement would be to switch to electric cars, and there has been
progress in that direction.

RIVERS AND SEAS

Seas are turning to acid, cities don't have clean drinking water, and fish get
caught in old bits of plastic. The solution? Better controls in factories and
fines for anyone who fails to recycle plastic.

HOMES
Energy waste starts at home - a 30% reduction in electricity use would be
easy if people turned off their electronics when not in use, and didn't use
tumble dryers so much.

SUMMARY
Pollution is a problem that affects us all, but we all have the power to make
tiny changes that would improve the situation wherever we live.

(200 words)
So the word count is close to ideal now and it's much more focused on on-
topic. 190 words isn't a lot! There's no time to ramble and talk about
random things like Americans in wigs!

I'm quite happy with the addition of the parts in bold, because it links that
very start with the very end, and it is something mentioned in the task.

I wasted a lot of time writing and rewriting this essay, but now I'm in the
writing mood and ready to tackle part 2. I'll be much more efficient there.
For a start, I'll read the task properly!