1. HOW TO WRITE AN
ESSAY WITH ½ THE
STRESS
By Tessa Wilson
University of Utah Writing Center
2. Find Out What Your Professor Wants
• Get the assignment prompt and break it
down into its individual parts
• This will make sure that you end up with an
essay that fits the assignment
• It also gives you a rough outline to start
with
3. Don’t Start with the Introduction
Paragraph
• This is a great way of stumping yourself ten
minutes into the writing process
• Instead of trying to write an intro for a paper
that doesn’t exist yet:
• start with the first body paragraph
• or start writing answers to the assignment
prompt
4. Your Awesome Body Paragraphs
• The cool thing about the essay is that you
get to tell people what to think as long as
you can support your argument
• Try to stick with one basic idea per
paragraph
• Try to mean what you say because it
makes the writing process a lot easier
5. Conclusion Paragraph
• The conclusion is like the end of a 30
second commercial where they hold the
product up at the end, just in case you
forgot you were watching a Hot Pockets
commercial
• Hold up all your arguments for the
audience one more time just in case they
forgot what they just read
6. Introduction paragraph
• After writing some body paragraphs and a
conclusion, rewrite your conclusion and
introduce your topic
• Notice how its easier to introduce
something after you’ve written it
• The last sentence of the introduction is your
thesis statement
7. Thesis statements
• Get the prompt from slide 2 back out
• Make a single sentence that talks about all
those points
• If you’re having a hard time starting, write a
sentence that says, “In this essay, I argue
that…”, and then list your arguments
• You can always revise this in the next draft
8. Quotes
• Quotes add credibility and length to your
paper.
• You need to talk before and after a quote
• tell people who you’re quoting
• tell people why they should care
• Always end a quote with a citation, even if
you didn’t directly copy their words
9. Citations
• Avoid Microsoft Word’s built in citation
maker
• Use citationmachine.net or easybib.com
instead
• With a little practice, it’s just as fast to make
your own citations, it also gives you more
control about what information you need
