There are different ways for writing essays. Some people prefer standard five-paragraph essays, others think that it is too much of a limitation for the writer; but generally all essays have much in common.

Basically every essay is composed of three parts:

I. Introduction

II. Body

III. Conclusion

An Introduction familiarizes the reader with the topic and includes General statements and Thesis statement. These statements have to establish the purpose of the paper and provide the reader with a roadmap of the main points of the essay.

Body is the most important part of the essay. This part contains numerous topic sentences and evidence for them. It is very important that every key sentence was supported by proper details and proving facts. All the sentences throughout the essay are to be interconnected and the transition between paragraphs and sentences has to be clear and understandable. The writer has to remember that the Body is just the developed introduction and should not include totally new points.

Conclusion is a part of an essay where NO new ideas and information has to be exposed. The purpose of it is to restate all the main points in short and to finish with an inference derived from all the points mentioned above.

In many cases conclusions are the most difficult part when it comes to writing essays or research papers. While the reader may browse through the paper he/she does not obviously remember the writing points; however he/she pays special attention when it comes to the conclusion. Since the conclusion is the last part the reader perceives it is extremely important in making the entire effect the writing produce.

In practice there are several basic tasks that should be reached by the conclusion. It can:

Ø Emphasize the significance of the thesis statement;

Ø Analyze and synthesize the main idea or each point;

Ø Deduce on the topic;

Ø Estimate the used material;

Ø Give vision of the future developments which may which may happen with the topic issue;

Ø Make recommendations;

Ø Provide the final impression on the reader.

While summarizing the points mentioned in the paper it is important not to repeat the discussed material. The best way to complete the essay is to analyze and synthesize. The reader should sharply comprehend the importance, usefulness and necessity of the paper. An appropriate conclusion guarantees new ideas for the reader to think about and brings the feeling of satisfaction with complete information. (http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/conclude.html; http://www.usyd.edu.au/stuserv/documents/learning_centre/Stage5.pdf)

The process of writing a paper includes several basic steps. Following these steps will help to complete the paper according to the requirements. First of all it is very important to specify for yourself “which type of paper you are going to write.” The process of writing persuasive, descriptive, reflective or any other paper is different for each of these types of writing, thus each requires personal approach.

In any case, first thing you should do before starting to write is brainstorming. Brainstorming may be very helpful, especially when you are not sure about the topic of your writing. It helps to generate some interesting ideas and thoughts. When you write down every interesting thought that comes to your mind you may find that some of them are really useful. After brainstorming you will be able to select the best idea for your writing.

While writing the paper it is very important to analyze the audience that you refer to in your paper. You need to identify age, ethical and religious beliefs, way of life and social status of your audience. This is very important because every group of people may react differently to the same writing.

The next step in the process of writing is defining the purpose of the paper. You need to make it clear “what is the effect you want to achieve by the paper.” There are some different purposes for the paper which require different ways of writing. For example your purpose may be to persuade your audience, or to make your audience think about specific issue.

After defining the purpose of your writing, you should generate thesis statement. This statement should be the main idea of your writing. It should reflect the meaning of the paper and its purpose. Thesis statement helps you to keep the paper focused, which is very important.

The best way to start your essay is to prepare a short outline. In order to do this, you need to point out few ideas you want to mention in your paper. Outline will help you organize your paper more effectively. Following the outline will definitely prevent you from writing about some ideas that are not important.

As soon as you have your outline ready you may start to write the original paper. While writing the paper according to the outline it is very important to write about each idea that you have mentioned. Try to describe every point of your outline extensively. After completing the rough draft of the paper you should revise it. Check the grammar and spelling of the words. Also make sure that your writing is focused because it often happens that you may start to write about one particular idea and then switch off from your topic while writing. At the end, it turns out that you have few different points in the paper. So while revising the rough draft, always make sure that you still write about the same topic.

While writing the final version of the paper try to avoid using unnecessary words. Also make sure that the paper is unified and coherent. Pay attention to the structure of the paper, it should have introduction, body and conclusion. Read through your paper few more times after you will finish writing, this will help you to see some mistakes that you haven’t noticed before.

The process of writing a paper requires a lot of concentration. Of course, not all of the steps mentioned above, have to be followed in order to write a paper. But they will help to write well-organized, structured and creative paper.