Make Essay Writing Painless

Essays are the creative expressions of mind where the students get the opportunity to flow their ideas about a particular topic. Therefore, it is important to gain skill for better essay writing. Writing essays can be frustrating and exasperating for students, but it doesn’t have to be! If they are guided, shown to do, and understand the steps, writing can be easy and even fun! Essay writing can become easier, quicker and painless by planning, organizing and gathering of researched information. The following tools can help students who find essay writing overwhelming and difficult. It can help teachers to effectively evaluate the essay writing by using essay rubric. Follow the simple steps, use the interactive structure and watch the essay almost write itself! Essay writing tools help students to avoid frustration, negative results, uncertainty, and fear of writing essays.

Essay Writing Schedule

Decide how much time you want to spend on each stage of the work involved, arrange your personal timetable, and stick to it!

Due Date: ___________________________

                        Task                                                     Date of Completion               Done?

My Topic is: _________________________________________________________________

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My Temporary Thesis: ________________________________________________________

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Length _____________________         Due Date: _________________________

Other teacher instructions about the project: _____________________________________

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WHAT I ALREADY KNOW (In point form)

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MY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TOPIC (What I would like to learn)

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The REASON for doing this project: ______________________________________________

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My AUDIENCE will be? ________________________________________________________

I will use this FORM of writing (essay, report, point of view, persuasive, report of information…)

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My SOURCES of INFORMATION:

________ books                      _________ magazines                        _________ teacher

________ films, videos           _________ librarian               _________ parents, friends

________ photographs           _________ dictionary             _________ relatives

________ newspapers            _________ atlases                  _________ maps, charts, posters

________ catalogues              _________ Internet                _________an expert

_________ periodicals           _________ thesaurus             _________ records

_________ textbook               _________ encyclopedia       

Other Sources: ______________________________________________________________

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THE QUICK OUTLINE

TOPIC: _____________________________________________________________________

THESIS: (the main point, tells what the essay is about, be brief, clear, concrete and specific)

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Ideas for INTRODUCTION (brief, clear comment, grab the readers’ attention, introduce the issue, use a quote, write an interesting question, state an amazing fact).

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BODY: Quick plan ideas (subtopics, supporting evidence)… will become a single paragraph or more in your essay.

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Ideas for CONCLUSION (end with a quick wrap-up, memorable sentence, leave the reader with something to think about, ask an interesting question, challenge reader to action, sum up, and tell your feelings about the topic)

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ORGANZE SUBTOPICS

Before writing any part of the essay, using “The Quick Outline” page (and any gathered information), plan, write, order and organize your subtopics, initial introduction and conclusion ideas.

Introduction      Quick brief thoughts and ideas

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Conclusion   Quick brief thoughts and ideas

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ESSAY WRITING CHECKLIST

Before handling in your paper, ask yourself the following questions.

Is my thesis statement brief, clear, concrete, and easy to understand?                  ________

Does the essay answer the question that was set?                                                       ________

Does my introduction hook/grab attention and state the thesis clearly?                 ________

Are my supporting arguments and examples strong, valid and clear?                       ________

Do they also support and prove my thesis?                                                                     ________

Do my sentences vary in length?                                                                                        ________

Are all sentences clear, correct and easy to understand?                                             ________

Have I avoided run-on and incomplete sentences?                                                        ________

Do paragraphs contain proper topic sentences, organized in logical order?            ________

Do my topic sentences clearly prove and support the thesis statement?                  ________

Have I used transitions/connecting words to make ideas flow?                                 ________

Are my quotes accurate and properly cited?                                                                   ________

Is my essay free of contractions such as can’t, won’t, don’t, etc?                             ________

Have I avoided using first person phrases such as “I believe” and “I think”?           ________

Have I made my points clear and interesting?                                                                ________

Is the writing plain and simple, without clumsy and confusing phrases?                  ________

Have I replaced unnecessary or repetitious words?                                                      ________

Is my argument clear and logical? Does the essay flow?                                             ________

Have I followed my prepared outline?                                                                             ________

Have I used a dictionary and thesaurus, and corrected all spellings errors?          ________

Is the conclusion effective and interesting? Does it restate the thesis?                   ________

Are all of my sources properly cited?                                                                               ________

Have I paraphrased sufficiently from my sources?                                                        ________

Does my bibliography follow the correct conventions of layout?                              ________

Have I provided footnotes in the correct format?                                                           ________

Have I proofread and edited the final copy of my work?                                                ________

Have I included a title page, and does it contain all required information?                ________

Have I numbered all pages correctly and used the required time spacing?                 ________

Is my work of the appropriate length?                                                                               ________

Have I asked someone else to read my paper to help locate missed errors?            ________

ESSAY RUBRIC

Student: _________________________                    Topic: __________________________