The document outlines 8 steps to writing an essay: 1. Understand the assignment by reading the prompt and clarifying any questions. 2. Brainstorm topics that interest you and that you don't know much about to ensure learning. 3. Research the topic by finding quality sources like articles, books, and websites to read and cite. 4. Develop a thesis statement that states the essay's purpose and what it will accomplish. 5. Create an outline organizing the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. 6. Write the essay by starting to get ideas on paper with a cup of coffee. 7. Cite all sources of information or facts in the paper and on

1. 8 Steps to Writing an Essay

2. Steps 1: Understand the Assignment
 Read the essay prompt given by
your professor, and make sure
you understand exactly what is
required. If you have any
questions, ask your professor or
teacher's assistant after class or
via email.
 It maybe a good idea to write
down notes involving the scope
of what is required so you can
reference that at a later time.

3. Steps 2: Pick Your Topic
Now that you understand the task ahead, the next step is to
brainstorm a topic. We recommend choosing one that interests
you and one you do not know much about, so you will actually
learn something from it. When students ask us about topic advise,
we tell them to go with a current event, something in the news,
something that is talked about a lot. For starters there will be
plenty of recent sources available to cite on the subject, and it will
be something attractive to your reader as well.

4. Steps 3: Start Your Research
We recommend staying
away from Wikipedia as a
source, professor's do not
like it.
If you took our advise in
step 2, and picked a topic
you do not know much
about, then you will be
required to research the
topic before you can
write about it.
This will be where you can
find some quality sources
on the subject and cite
them in your essay.
Find online articles,
books, websites, and
read them.
The knowledge you gain from
this process will help you
write a solid essay

5. Steps 4: Develop your Thesis Statement
A thesis statement is a one or two
sentence statement that states the
purpose of your essay and what
you are trying to accomplish.
This could also serve as an essay
hook, which is to hook your reader
into wanting to spend the time to
read your entire paper.

6. Steps 5: Create an Outline
Part of having an amazing essay is also making
sure it's well organized and mapped. Start out
with the introduction, body (us, and conclusion.
Most of the time your body paragraph will have
several 3 sections or subheadings which you will
need to include in your outline as well.

7. Steps 6: Write Your Essay
Then you can organize it into
5-paragraph format later on.
Now that you have
your topic, research
material, and outline,
and thesis statement,
it's time to start
writing.
Grab a cup of coffee
and start jotting down
your ideas.
At first they do not
need to make much
sense, just get it all out

8. Steps 7: Site Your Sources
If you need specific
information on the
various citation methods,
along with examples,
check out the link in our
video description for
additional tutorials.
Anytime you use information
or facts that you found in a
source, you must cite that
source in the paper and on
a works cited page.

9. Steps 8: Clean up and Organize
You are almost at the finish line. Now
go through your essay one final time,
cleaning up your ideas and organizing
them into sensible paragraphs and
sections that fit a standard essay
format. Make sure all your sources are
cited correctly and your bibliography is
properly formatted.

10. Now you have completed an outstanding essay, which should earn you a passing grade. If
you have any more questions regarding essay writing or even need a custom written
example on your topic, head over to our website which you can find in the video
description.
And your done!
Thanks for watching, see you on the next episode when we attempt to
tackle another college writing issue.
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