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Effective Academic Writing 2: The Short Essay

September 2006 — volume 10, number 2.

Alice Savage & Patricia Mayer (2005)  
New York: Oxford University Press
Pages ISBN Price
Pp. viii + 168 0-19-430923-1 (paper) $22.95 USD

It is satisfying to encounter a textbook that recognizes and supports the step-by-step developmental path that most students must follow to become proficient writers. Effective Academic Writing 2 helpfully fills that important space between paragraphs and full length essays. Designed to introduce intermediate students to three and four paragraph essays, each chapter of Effective Academic Writing 2 is divided into five parts. Beginning with Unit 2, these parts are Stimulating Ideas, Brainstorming and Outlining, Developing Your Ideas, Editing Your Writing, and Putting It All Together.

Unit 1, “Paragraph to Short Essay,” which serves as a transition from Effective Academic Writing 1: The Paragraph , begins by reviewing a basic paragraph and proceeds to a discussion of how to write a three paragraph essay. This chapter nicely scaffolds the review of paragraph basics including giving students the opportunity to practice both identifying and writing topic sentences. Though it is impossible to include everything in a text and please everybody, it would be nice to see some of these fundamentals woven throughout the text, as students often struggle with them for a long time. Such reiteration makes even more sense when we recognize that students may test into an intermediate language class based on general fluency even though they may be missing critical basic concepts. In particular, the authors devote only three pages to thesis statements, whereas students need extensive opportunities, ideally at intervals, to practice them.

Throughout the text, definitions of key terms are clear and concise. These key terms serve as a helpful reference for students who may need clarification as they write. In later units, the authors cover familiar but important territory such as simple and compound sentences, how to identify and correct run-on sentences, adverbs of frequency, and connectors. The text does a good job of introducing these language issues in suitable contexts. For example, the narrative unit introduces time adverbs and time clauses while the comparison and contrast unit details the use of appropriate connector words. Each unit also provides specific writing assignments. Some of these assignments are quite broad. This is where the instructor must step in to guide students in narrowing down the possibilities for an essay. For example, writing about a cultural tradition (Unit 2) sounds easy since students generally come from different cultural backgrounds, but many students will struggle to narrow down the topic appropriately.

One notable and effective feature is Editing Your Writing (part 4 in each unit). In each instance, the authors present a challenging language issue, such as dependent and independent clauses, followed by a few exercises that move from identifying the structure, to producing it in a guided exercise, to editing a paragraph. An Editor’s Checklist is the last task, providing an effective way for students to focus on what each essay should contain. It requires a student to review what a classmate has written and serves as the basis for a dialogue about a specific essay’s strengths and weaknesses.

One helpful change would be to make some of the questions wh-questions rather than yes/no questions because students would then be obliged to provide more thoughtful answers. For example, “Does the body paragraph contain enough descriptive detail?” is a highly subjective question that students may have difficulty answering. Wh-questions could be structured to elicit critical analysis and engage students in the kind of thinking and writing that are the backbone of academic discourse.

In terms of organization, the book is quite confusing because numbers are overused. First the student encounters Unit 1, then Part 1. Numerous exercises as well as steps are also sequentially numbered, though at each level of numbering the font size is reduced. Even so, navigating the text would be much easier if letters as well as numbers were used. In addition, though the cover is attractive, the pages are overly gray and monotonous.

To me, by far the most glaring weakness of this textbook may be viewed as a strength by others. Though paragraph and essay models are plentiful, to my regret they are far too heavily weighted toward first person narratives. Though the text acknowledges the existence of a more academic style of writing through some thesis statements (“There are several ways to reduce stress” and “Not getting enough sleep can have negative effects on a student” being two examples), there is a dearth of third person essays.

Heavily favoring first person essay models suggests that narrative writings are the most essential and common type of writing students will do in their academic careers. This is simply not true. Moreover, there seems to be a common misconception that students can write only about personal experiences. Students would benefit from opportunities to practice many styles of writing that should help them develop as both critical thinkers and writers with a broader range.

Beyond my disagreement with the book’s emphasis, there are a few mildly disconcerting errors. For instance, one common error of non-native speakers is writing sentence fragments beginning with because. On p. 66, the authors give the following example of adding details to essays: “Because he was completely exhausted.” While most native speakers would realize that this example is not a complete sentence, a tendency of non-native speakers is reinforced. Because it begins with a capital letter, ends with a period, and appears in a textbook, the example cited might be seen as an acceptable sentence.

Using student writing samples is a good way to make students aware of their peers’ writing and also point out to them that their writing does not have to be flawless to be acceptable. This strategy helpfully brings writing to students’ level and does not position it as the domain of professional writers only. However, in an essay in “Comparison and Contrast Essays,” the student writer states, “Everyone knows that New York is ‘the Big Apple.'” “Everyone knows” is a phrase students should edit out of their writing. Because overgeneralization is one of the topics the authors discuss, it is surprising they chose a sample essay that included this type of error. Perhaps in the Analyzing the student essay exercise, the authors could simply add a question asking students to identify inappropriate language in the paragraph as a way of verifying whether they understood the previously presented concept of overgeneralization. This would reinforce the point while not eliminating the many benefits of authentic writing samples.

Lastly, there is one sentence, on p. 113, that simply does not make much sense: “Now that I live in Houston, Willowbrook Mall is the place where I go to see people on Sundays for their afternoon walk.” The main clause’s subject complement is an extremely awkward phrase and calls into question the selection of this particular student essay. In the book’s introduction, Savage and Mayer maintain that they have “adapted” student essays as models. All the more reason to edit out obviously incorrect phrasing.

Overall, this textbook’s content is good, the format is solid, and the authors thankfully do not try to do too much within the confines of one text. Moreover, unlike many other books, they manage to maintain their focus on the intermediate student and do not wander ahead of the appropriate developmental stage. I can recommend Effective Academic Writing 2 as a very good choice for instructors who share the authors’ view that intermediate students should predominately be writing about their own experiences. Those of us who believe that students’ experiences should be the catalyst rather than the goal of student writing, at whatever level, will continue to look for that elusive text.

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CommonLit

CommonLit 360 Everything You Need to Know About Unit 1 in CommonLit 360 for Grades 6-10

Cara Zatoris

Cara Zatoris

Unit 1s begin the year with engaging short stories with lessons that build literary analysis skills and promote student voice.

The first unit of the year in any ELA class sets the tone for the rest of the school year. This is your chance to establish a safe and collaborative classroom environment, communicate your expectations for quality work, and lay the foundation for the reading, writing, and discussion routines that will happen throughout the school year.

In this post, I’ll explain how CommonLit 360 Unit 1s do just this across grades 6–10. Note: If you haven’t already learned about this full-year comprehensive ELA curriculum for grades 6–10, I recommend starting with this introductory blog post or exploring the units for your grade here .

Now, let’s take a look at what makes the first unit of CommonLit 360’s curriculum unique for all grade levels and how it sets students up for a successful school year!

Engaging Students Through Essential Questions

At the beginning of a school year, engagement is a top of mind! Teachers spend a lot of time thinking about how to build authentic student engagement, by learning about individual students, establishing a safe classroom environment, and inviting students to participate in class discussions. Across the CommonLit 360 Curriculum, Unit 1 topics are designed to be high interest, and are grounded in adolescent interests and concerns. At each grade level, Unit 1 topics are anchored in the questions, thoughts, and emotions that students at that age are already naturally grappling with.

The title image for Unit 1: Following the Crowd

Here are the topics and essential questions for unit one, grades 6–10:

  • Grade 6: Characters Who Change and Grow  — How are people changed through their relationships and experiences?
  • Grade 7: In or Out: Our Struggle to Belong  — What does it mean to be an outsider? How does our need to belong affect our actions?
  • Grade 8: Bad Behavior  — How do we know what is right? Why do people choose to do wrong?
  • Grade 9: Following the Crowd  — How does being in a group affect how we behave?
  • Grade 10: Coming of Age  — What experiences lead us from childhood to adulthood?

When it comes to student engagement, a great topic and an engaging text is a very strong foundation. Next, it’s time to encourage student voice and participation. Within CommonLit 360, Unit introductory exercises are designed to immediately get students interested in the topic. These activities prompt students to connect the unit’s topic to their own lives and then participate in a class discussion. On the first day, you’re setting the tone that your students have ideas worth sharing.

A slide with several position statements about fitting in a group or being an outsider.

A Focus on Knowledge, Skills, and Genre

Across Unit 1s of the CommonLit 360 curriculum, short stories take center stage. Each Unit 1 consists of 3–5 short stories and 1–2 nonfiction texts to build knowledge, skills, and a deep understanding of the conventions of the short story genre. Since these texts are relatively short, this genre provides a perfect entry point to establish new academic routines in ELA class, giving students multiple opportunities to practice throughout the 5–7 week unit. These approachable short stories are perfect for having students close reading, deeper textual analysis, and cross-textual synthesis. The routines kids learn in Unit 1 will help them gain the confidence and skills necessary to tackle full-length novels, independent research, and more in subsequent units.

A slide that says: “As we read today’s text, we will analyze how character interactions develop theme.”

Building Foundational Writing Skills

Writing is an important domain of English Language Arts, and also arguably the hardest skill to teach and the hardest skill to master. As you can see in the graphic below, writing lessons that happen within the first two units across the CommonLit 360 Curriculum are focused on reinforcing the foundational building blocks of academic writing. In Unit 1s, direct instruction in writing first reinforces the expectations for writing complete and coherent paragraphs before shifting to planning and drafting full-length essays. While these units address the same skills across grade levels, student output becomes more robust and sophisticated as the grades progress, keeping with grade-level expectations. Within CommonLit 360, students are also exposed to lots of model writing. In Unit 1, these exemplar paragraphs set the expectations for student writing. Over time, they increase in sophistication and fluency, showing students how to embed evidence and explanations with a greater command of language, sentence variation, and polish.

A chart that breaks down the essential writing skills for grades 6-10 in CommonLit 360.

Another way that CommonLit 360 sets expectations for the year is through a culminating writing assignment. So, if students receive the full year of CommonLit 360 curriculum, they will build portfolios of a wide variety of argumentative, informative, and narrative writing and will be able to reflect upon their writing growth over that year.

Don’t Forget

Of course, these units still have all the features that make CommonLit 360 curriculum so great: robust vocabulary learning activities, engaging related media lessons, digitally assignable reading and writing lessons, and supplemental texts for flexible use.

If you are interested in learning more about how vocabulary and other integral language arts skills are addressed within the brand new CommonLit 360 units, here are some recommended next steps:

  • Browse the 360 Curriculum here .
  • Sign up for a CommonLit 360 webinar for an opportunity to learn more and ask questions.
  • Learn about the affordable wraparound services for schools and districts looking to adopt CommonLit 360.

Chat with CommonLit

CommonLit’s team will reach out with more information on our school and district partnerships.

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Part One Academic Writing Essentials

Unit 1 Introduction to Academic Writing

Learning Objectives

  • To understand what academic writing is
  • To learn the characteristics of academic writing and ways to achieve them
  • To address some common misconceptions about writing

I. Warm – Up

computer keyboard, notebook, ear buds, and coffee

Discuss in groups:

  • Do you like writing in your native language? What do you usually write about?
  • How do you like writing in English? When do you write in English?
  • What makes good writing in your native language? In English?
  • What is your most unforgettable writing experience in either language?
  • What are the purposes of writing?
  • What areas of English writing are easy for you? What areas are challenging?
  • What expectations do you have for this course?
  • What do you think academic writing is?

II. Definition of Academic Writing

What is writing for?  As you have just discussed,  the simplest answer is to communicate meaning.

People write for different purposes. For example,

  • Some of them write to inform, as in news stories and technical manuals [1] .
  • Some write to entertain [2] , as in fictions and movie scripts.
  • In daily life, people may scribble [3] a short reminder note, compose a festive party invitation, or craft a well-versed [4] love letter.
  • In work, meeting memos [5]  and business reports are very common.
  • In colleges and universities, students write paragraphs, essays, research papers, lab reports, and many others. These forms of writing are called academic writing – a formal, nonfictional written piece of work for learning, teaching, and researching.

It is the last type – academic writing – that this course is introducing and focusing on. At this intermediate level, you will be learning the basic styles and uses as well as practicing editing skills associated with academic writing to be ready for higher-level compositions [6] in colleges and universities.

III. Characteristics of Academic Writing

All types of writing share many aspects in common. However, each type has its own characteristics. Academic writing is characterized by the following:

1. Logical and direct

Academic writing in English uses a very linear organizational style. This means that the writers explain their information in a straightforward way, like a vertical line – the main idea first, followed by supporting ideas to explain the main idea, and a conclusion that signals the completion of the explanation.

Supporting ideas

Unlike the approaches [7] in some other countries, the American style requires the students to state their focus early in their writing, without “hiding” the points or “circulating” hints till the end of writing.

Formal, standard English is expected. This requires a good understanding of formal grammar and usage. Colloquial [8] and spoken English should not be used.

Writing clearly is extremely important as the purpose of writing is not only to clarify your own thoughts but also to communicate them for others to understand. To achieve this, you should not translate from your native language and should always proofread [9] your writing for accuracy.

Being concise means not repeating the same words and ideas unnecessarily.  Sometimes, repetition is important to emphasize a point, but most often needless duplications [10] of the same ideas may make your writing redundant [11] and inefficient.

Writing is a process. Almost no one can produce perfect writing on the first try; in fact, there is no such thing as perfect writing. Good writing takes time and repeated revisions [12] . Most importantly, it takes patience and continuous efforts to achieve the characteristics explained above.

IV. Ten Most Common Misconceptions about Writing

wrong way traffic sign

The following ten misconceptions [13] are very common among ESL students of all levels. Read each statement first and think/discuss whether you feel the same way.  Then click to read explanations and suggestions.

V. Unit Review Practice

Exercise:  Discuss the following topics in groups. Then choose one of them to write a paragraph.

  • What is academic writing? What are the characteristics of academic writing?
  • What has been your best writing experience? The most challenging writing experience?
  • The ten common misconceptions are explained in this unit. What are the ones that apply to you? What advice will be the most helpful to you?

  NSNT Practice

a pen writing in a notebook

Study Appendix A NSNT Free Writing Approach  ( Open Appendix A here. ). Then choose two topics from the Week 1 additional prompts [14] and practice NSNT free writing.  Remember not to translate from your native language and not to stop writing once you start.

Vocabulary Review

a page in a dictionary

The words here have appeared in this unit.  The best way to learn them is to guess the meaning of each word from the context.  Then hover your computer mouse over the number beside each word to check its meaning and part of speech. These words are also listed in the footnote area at the end of each unit.

Here, you can use the flashcards below to review these words.

  • Academic writing is what students write for their classes in colleges and universities.
  • Academic writing is logical, direct, formal, clear, and concise.
  • To improve writing skills, it is important to:
  • Try not to translate from your native language.
  • Do not rely on the information on the Internet.
  • Explore your topic by brainstorming and then organize your ideas by outlining.
  • Narrow down a general topic to a more specific one.
  • Get help from your professor and  ESL tutors.
  • Be proactive in contacting your professor regarding errors in your writing.
  • Do not rely too much on the help of your family and friends.
  • Study grammar.
  • Read as much as you can.

Media Attributions

  • computer keyboard, notebook ear buds, and coffee © Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash
  • wrong way traffic sign © Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
  • a pen writing in a notebook © Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
  • a page in a dictionary © Pixabay
  • manual: noun, a small book of instructions ↵
  • entertain: verb, provide music, stories, etc. for people to enjoy ↵
  • scribble: verb, write quickly and informally ↵
  • well-versed: adjective, with beautiful language use ↵
  • memo: noun, a short message or report ↵
  • composition: noun, a piece of writing such as an essay for a college course ↵
  • approach: noun, a way of thinking about things and doing things ↵
  • colloquial: adjective, informal ↵
  • proofread: verb, read and check for mistakes ↵
  • duplication: noun, a copy, a repetition ↵
  • redundant: adjective, wordy, repetitive unnecessarily ↵
  • revision: noun, a new copy showing improvement ↵
  • misconception: noun, a wrong idea ↵
  • prompt: noun, a topic for writing ↵

Building Academic Writing Skills Copyright © 2022 by Cui, Lin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Writing A Unit 1 Paragraph to Short Essay

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How to Write a Short Essay

Last Updated: January 17, 2024 References

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 120,026 times.

Essay writing is a common assignment in high school or college courses, especially within the humanities. You’ll also be asked to write essays for college admissions and scholarships. In a short essay (250-500 words), you will need to provide an introduction with a thesis, a body, and a conclusion, as you would with a longer essay. Depending on the essay requirements, you may also need to do academic or online research to find sources to back up your claims.

Picking a Topic and Gathering Research

  • If you have any questions about the topic, ask your instructor. If your essay doesn't respond to the prompt, you likely won't receive full credit.

Step 2 Choose a single arguable point for your brief essay.

  • If you're writing an essay for an in-class test or for an application, tailor the essay to the given prompt and topic. Quickly brainstorm a few ideas; for example, think of positive things you can say about yourself for a college-entrance essay.
  • For example, the topic “depression in American literature” is far too broad. Narrow down your topic to something like “Willie Loman’s depression in Death of a Salesman .”
  • Or, you could write about a narrow topic like “the increase in the USA’s national debt in the 1950s” rather than a broad topic like “the American economy in the 20th century.”

Step 3 Find 1-2 appropriate secondary sources in an online research database.

  • Depending on the field in which you’re writing the essay—e.g., hard sciences, sociology, humanities, etc.—your instructor will direct you towards appropriate databases. For example, if you’re writing a high-school or college-level essay for your English class, visit online literary databases like JSTOR, LION, and the MLA Bibliography.
  • If you're writing the essay for a college or graduate-school application, it's unlikely that you'll need to include any secondary sources.
  • If you're writing a timed or in-class essay, you may not be able to find research articles. But, still do draw information from texts and sources you've studied both in and out of class, and build from points made in any provided reading passages.

Step 4 Use an article...

  • If you’re writing about current events or journalism topics, read articles from well-known news sites like CNN or the BBC.
  • Avoid citing unreliable websites like blogs or any sites that have a clear bias about the topic they’re reporting on.

Composing the Essay

Step 1 Create an outline...

  • If you write the essay without outlining, the essay will be poorly organized.

Step 2 Write a convincing,...

  • This thesis statement is far too weak: “ Death of a Salesman shows the difficulty of living in America after WWII.”
  • Instead, hone your thesis to something like: “Arthur Miller uses Death of a Salesman to show that the American Dream is materialist and impractical.”

Step 3 Use your introduction paragraph to explain the essay’s topic.

  • So, avoid beginning the paragraph by writing something like, “Since the beginning of time, all people have been consumed with the desire for their father’s approval.”
  • Instead, write something like, “In the play Death of a Salesman , Willie Loman’s sons compete for their father’s approval through various masculine displays."
  • Then, you can say, "To examine this topic, I will perform a close reading of several key passages of the play and present analyses by noted Arthur Miller scholars."

Step 4 Keep the introduction and conclusion under 75 words each.

  • In a short essay, the conclusion should do nothing more than briefly restate your main claim and remind readers of the evidence you provided.

Step 5 Use body paragraphs to prove various aspects of your central argument.

  • So, take the example about Death of a Salesman . The first body paragraph could discuss the ways in which Willie’s sons try to impress him.
  • The second body paragraph could dive into Willie’s hopelessness and despair, and the third paragraph could discuss how Miller uses his characters to show the flaws in their understanding of the American Dream.

Step 6 Add information from your research sources to strengthen claims.

  • Always cite your sources so you avoid charges of plagiarism. Check with your instructor (or the essay prompt) and find out what citation style you should use.
  • For example, if you’re summarizing the inflation of the American dollar during the 1930s, provide 2 or 3 years and inflation-rate percentages. Don’t provide a full-paragraph summary of the economic decline.
  • If you're writing an in-class essay and don't have time to perform any research, you don't need to incorporate outside sources. But, it will impress your teacher if you quote from a reading passage or bring up pertinent knowledge you may have gained during the class.

Step 7 Ask someone else to read your first draft.

  • If no one agrees to read the essay, read over your own first draft and look for errors or spots where you could clarify your meaning. Reading the essay out loud often helps, as you’ll be able to hear sentences that aren’t quite coherent.
  • This step does not apply to essays written during a timed or in-class exam, as you won't be able to ask peers to read your work.

Step 8 Revise the first draft into the final essay.

  • It’s always a mistake to submit an unrevised first draft, whether for a grade, for admissions, or for a scholarship essay.
  • However, if you're writing an essay for a timed exam, it's okay if you don't have enough time to combine multiple drafts before the time runs out.

Condensing Your Essay

Step 1 Quote only from secondary sources that are related to your topic.

  • So, if you’re writing about Death of a Salesman , an article about symbolism in Arthur Miller’s plays would be useful. But, an article about the average cost of Midwestern hotels in the 1940s would be irrelevant.
  • If you’re writing a scholarship essay, double-check the instructions to clarify what types of sources you’re allowed to use.

Step 2 Remove verbiage to keep your essay under the word count.

  • A common cliche you might find in an essay is a statement like, "I'm the hardest working student at my school."
  • For example, this sentence is too verbose: “I have been a relentlessly stellar student throughout my entire high school career since I am a seriously dedicated reader and thoroughly apply myself to every assignment I receive in class.”
  • Shortened, it could read: “I was a stellar student throughout my high school career since I was a dedicated reader and applied myself to every assignment I received.”

Step 3 Write short sentences...

  • Avoid writing something like, “Willie Loman can be seen as having achieved little through his life because he is not respected by his sons and is not valued by his co-workers.”
  • Instead, write, “Arthur Miller shows readers that Willie’s life accomplishments have amounted to little. Willie’s sons do not look up to him, and his co-workers treat him without respect.”

Step 4 Present only the most relevant argument in your essay.

  • For example, if you’re trying to prove that WWII pulled the USA out of the Great Depression, focus strictly on an economic argument.
  • Avoid bringing in other, less convincing topics. For example, don’t dedicate a paragraph to discussing how much it cost the USA to build fighter jets in 1944.

Short Essay Template and Example

unit 1 paragraph to short essay

Expert Q&A

  • When composing the text of your essay, resist the temptation to pull words from a thesaurus in an attempt to sound academic or intelligent. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
  • If your high school or college has an online or in-person writing center, schedule an appointment. Taking advantage of this type of service can improve your essay and help you recognize structural or grammatical problems you would not have noticed otherwise. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

unit 1 paragraph to short essay

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Write an Essay

  • ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/research_papers/choosing_a_topic.html
  • ↑ https://monroecollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=589208&p=4072926
  • ↑ https://www.utep.edu/extendeduniversity/utepconnect/blog/march-2017/4-ways-to-differentiate-a-good-source-from-a-bad-source.html
  • ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/essay-outline/
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/thesis-statements/
  • ↑ https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/how-to-write-an-essay/essay-introduction
  • ↑ https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/undergraduates/writing-guides/how-do-i-write-an-intro--conclusion----body-paragraph.html
  • ↑ https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/writingsuccess/chapter/8-3-drafting/
  • ↑ https://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/how-guides/how-write-university/how-approach-any-assignment/writing-english-essay/using-secondary
  • ↑ https://patch.com/michigan/berkley/bp--how-to-shorten-your-college-essay-without-ruining-it
  • ↑ https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/style/ccs_activevoice/
  • ↑ https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/01/26/101025_how-to-reduce-essay-word-count.html

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The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

What this handout is about

This handout will help you understand how paragraphs are formed, how to develop stronger paragraphs, and how to completely and clearly express your ideas.

What is a paragraph?

Paragraphs are the building blocks of papers. Many students define paragraphs in terms of length: a paragraph is a group of at least five sentences, a paragraph is half a page long, etc. In reality, though, the unity and coherence of ideas among sentences is what constitutes a paragraph. A paragraph is defined as “a group of sentences or a single sentence that forms a unit” (Lunsford and Connors 116). Length and appearance do not determine whether a section in a paper is a paragraph. For instance, in some styles of writing, particularly journalistic styles, a paragraph can be just one sentence long. Ultimately, a paragraph is a sentence or group of sentences that support one main idea. In this handout, we will refer to this as the “controlling idea,” because it controls what happens in the rest of the paragraph.

How do I decide what to put in a paragraph?

Before you can begin to determine what the composition of a particular paragraph will be, you must first decide on an argument and a working thesis statement for your paper. What is the most important idea that you are trying to convey to your reader? The information in each paragraph must be related to that idea. In other words, your paragraphs should remind your reader that there is a recurrent relationship between your thesis and the information in each paragraph. A working thesis functions like a seed from which your paper, and your ideas, will grow. The whole process is an organic one—a natural progression from a seed to a full-blown paper where there are direct, familial relationships between all of the ideas in the paper.

The decision about what to put into your paragraphs begins with the germination of a seed of ideas; this “germination process” is better known as brainstorming . There are many techniques for brainstorming; whichever one you choose, this stage of paragraph development cannot be skipped. Building paragraphs can be like building a skyscraper: there must be a well-planned foundation that supports what you are building. Any cracks, inconsistencies, or other corruptions of the foundation can cause your whole paper to crumble.

So, let’s suppose that you have done some brainstorming to develop your thesis. What else should you keep in mind as you begin to create paragraphs? Every paragraph in a paper should be :

  • Unified : All of the sentences in a single paragraph should be related to a single controlling idea (often expressed in the topic sentence of the paragraph).
  • Clearly related to the thesis : The sentences should all refer to the central idea, or thesis, of the paper (Rosen and Behrens 119).
  • Coherent : The sentences should be arranged in a logical manner and should follow a definite plan for development (Rosen and Behrens 119).
  • Well-developed : Every idea discussed in the paragraph should be adequately explained and supported through evidence and details that work together to explain the paragraph’s controlling idea (Rosen and Behrens 119).

How do I organize a paragraph?

There are many different ways to organize a paragraph. The organization you choose will depend on the controlling idea of the paragraph. Below are a few possibilities for organization, with links to brief examples:

  • Narration : Tell a story. Go chronologically, from start to finish. ( See an example. )
  • Description : Provide specific details about what something looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels like. Organize spatially, in order of appearance, or by topic. ( See an example. )
  • Process : Explain how something works, step by step. Perhaps follow a sequence—first, second, third. ( See an example. )
  • Classification : Separate into groups or explain the various parts of a topic. ( See an example. )
  • Illustration : Give examples and explain how those examples support your point. (See an example in the 5-step process below.)

Illustration paragraph: a 5-step example

From the list above, let’s choose “illustration” as our rhetorical purpose. We’ll walk through a 5-step process for building a paragraph that illustrates a point in an argument. For each step there is an explanation and example. Our example paragraph will be about human misconceptions of piranhas.

Step 1. Decide on a controlling idea and create a topic sentence

Paragraph development begins with the formulation of the controlling idea. This idea directs the paragraph’s development. Often, the controlling idea of a paragraph will appear in the form of a topic sentence. In some cases, you may need more than one sentence to express a paragraph’s controlling idea.

Controlling idea and topic sentence — Despite the fact that piranhas are relatively harmless, many people continue to believe the pervasive myth that piranhas are dangerous to humans.

Step 2. Elaborate on the controlling idea

Paragraph development continues with an elaboration on the controlling idea, perhaps with an explanation, implication, or statement about significance. Our example offers a possible explanation for the pervasiveness of the myth.

Elaboration — This impression of piranhas is exacerbated by their mischaracterization in popular media.

Step 3. Give an example (or multiple examples)

Paragraph development progresses with an example (or more) that illustrates the claims made in the previous sentences.

Example — For example, the promotional poster for the 1978 horror film Piranha features an oversized piranha poised to bite the leg of an unsuspecting woman.

Step 4. Explain the example(s)

The next movement in paragraph development is an explanation of each example and its relevance to the topic sentence. The explanation should demonstrate the value of the example as evidence to support the major claim, or focus, in your paragraph.

Continue the pattern of giving examples and explaining them until all points/examples that the writer deems necessary have been made and explained. NONE of your examples should be left unexplained. You might be able to explain the relationship between the example and the topic sentence in the same sentence which introduced the example. More often, however, you will need to explain that relationship in a separate sentence.

Explanation for example — Such a terrifying representation easily captures the imagination and promotes unnecessary fear.

Notice that the example and explanation steps of this 5-step process (steps 3 and 4) can be repeated as needed. The idea is that you continue to use this pattern until you have completely developed the main idea of the paragraph.

Step 5. Complete the paragraph’s idea or transition into the next paragraph

The final movement in paragraph development involves tying up the loose ends of the paragraph. At this point, you can remind your reader about the relevance of the information to the larger paper, or you can make a concluding point for this example. You might, however, simply transition to the next paragraph.

Sentences for completing a paragraph — While the trope of the man-eating piranhas lends excitement to the adventure stories, it bears little resemblance to the real-life piranha. By paying more attention to fact than fiction, humans may finally be able to let go of this inaccurate belief.

Finished paragraph

Despite the fact that piranhas are relatively harmless, many people continue to believe the pervasive myth that piranhas are dangerous to humans. This impression of piranhas is exacerbated by their mischaracterization in popular media. For example, the promotional poster for the 1978 horror film Piranha features an oversized piranha poised to bite the leg of an unsuspecting woman. Such a terrifying representation easily captures the imagination and promotes unnecessary fear. While the trope of the man-eating piranhas lends excitement to the adventure stories, it bears little resemblance to the real-life piranha. By paying more attention to fact than fiction, humans may finally be able to let go of this inaccurate belief.

Troubleshooting paragraphs

Problem: the paragraph has no topic sentence.

Imagine each paragraph as a sandwich. The real content of the sandwich—the meat or other filling—is in the middle. It includes all the evidence you need to make the point. But it gets kind of messy to eat a sandwich without any bread. Your readers don’t know what to do with all the evidence you’ve given them. So, the top slice of bread (the first sentence of the paragraph) explains the topic (or controlling idea) of the paragraph. And, the bottom slice (the last sentence of the paragraph) tells the reader how the paragraph relates to the broader argument. In the original and revised paragraphs below, notice how a topic sentence expressing the controlling idea tells the reader the point of all the evidence.

Original paragraph

Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas’ first instinct is to flee, not attack. Their fear of humans makes sense. Far more piranhas are eaten by people than people are eaten by piranhas. If the fish are well-fed, they won’t bite humans.

Revised paragraph

Although most people consider piranhas to be quite dangerous, they are, for the most part, entirely harmless. Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas’ first instinct is to flee, not attack. Their fear of humans makes sense. Far more piranhas are eaten by people than people are eaten by piranhas. If the fish are well-fed, they won’t bite humans.

Once you have mastered the use of topic sentences, you may decide that the topic sentence for a particular paragraph really shouldn’t be the first sentence of the paragraph. This is fine—the topic sentence can actually go at the beginning, middle, or end of a paragraph; what’s important is that it is in there somewhere so that readers know what the main idea of the paragraph is and how it relates back to the thesis of your paper. Suppose that we wanted to start the piranha paragraph with a transition sentence—something that reminds the reader of what happened in the previous paragraph—rather than with the topic sentence. Let’s suppose that the previous paragraph was about all kinds of animals that people are afraid of, like sharks, snakes, and spiders. Our paragraph might look like this (the topic sentence is bold):

Like sharks, snakes, and spiders, piranhas are widely feared. Although most people consider piranhas to be quite dangerous, they are, for the most part, entirely harmless . Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas’ first instinct is to flee, not attack. Their fear of humans makes sense. Far more piranhas are eaten by people than people are eaten by piranhas. If the fish are well-fed, they won’t bite humans.

Problem: the paragraph has more than one controlling idea

If a paragraph has more than one main idea, consider eliminating sentences that relate to the second idea, or split the paragraph into two or more paragraphs, each with only one main idea. Watch our short video on reverse outlining to learn a quick way to test whether your paragraphs are unified. In the following paragraph, the final two sentences branch off into a different topic; so, the revised paragraph eliminates them and concludes with a sentence that reminds the reader of the paragraph’s main idea.

Although most people consider piranhas to be quite dangerous, they are, for the most part, entirely harmless. Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas’ first instinct is to flee, not attack. Their fear of humans makes sense. Far more piranhas are eaten by people than people are eaten by piranhas. A number of South American groups eat piranhas. They fry or grill the fish and then serve them with coconut milk or tucupi, a sauce made from fermented manioc juices.

Problem: transitions are needed within the paragraph

You are probably familiar with the idea that transitions may be needed between paragraphs or sections in a paper (see our handout on transitions ). Sometimes they are also helpful within the body of a single paragraph. Within a paragraph, transitions are often single words or short phrases that help to establish relationships between ideas and to create a logical progression of those ideas in a paragraph. This is especially likely to be true within paragraphs that discuss multiple examples. Let’s take a look at a version of our piranha paragraph that uses transitions to orient the reader:

Although most people consider piranhas to be quite dangerous, they are, except in two main situations, entirely harmless. Piranhas rarely feed on large animals; they eat smaller fish and aquatic plants. When confronted with humans, piranhas’ instinct is to flee, not attack. But there are two situations in which a piranha bite is likely. The first is when a frightened piranha is lifted out of the water—for example, if it has been caught in a fishing net. The second is when the water level in pools where piranhas are living falls too low. A large number of fish may be trapped in a single pool, and if they are hungry, they may attack anything that enters the water.

In this example, you can see how the phrases “the first” and “the second” help the reader follow the organization of the ideas in the paragraph.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Lunsford, Andrea. 2008. The St. Martin’s Handbook: Annotated Instructor’s Edition , 6th ed. New York: St. Martin’s.

Rosen, Leonard J., and Laurence Behrens. 2003. The Allyn & Bacon Handbook , 5th ed. New York: Longman.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Write an Essay

Use the links below to jump directly to any section of this guide:

Essay Writing Fundamentals

How to prepare to write an essay, how to edit an essay, how to share and publish your essays, how to get essay writing help, how to find essay writing inspiration, resources for teaching essay writing.

Essays, short prose compositions on a particular theme or topic, are the bread and butter of academic life. You write them in class, for homework, and on standardized tests to show what you know. Unlike other kinds of academic writing (like the research paper) and creative writing (like short stories and poems), essays allow you to develop your original thoughts on a prompt or question. Essays come in many varieties: they can be expository (fleshing out an idea or claim), descriptive, (explaining a person, place, or thing), narrative (relating a personal experience), or persuasive (attempting to win over a reader). This guide is a collection of dozens of links about academic essay writing that we have researched, categorized, and annotated in order to help you improve your essay writing. 

Essays are different from other forms of writing; in turn, there are different kinds of essays. This section contains general resources for getting to know the essay and its variants. These resources introduce and define the essay as a genre, and will teach you what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab

One of the most trusted academic writing sites, Purdue OWL provides a concise introduction to the four most common types of academic essays.

"The Essay: History and Definition" (ThoughtCo)

This snappy article from ThoughtCo talks about the origins of the essay and different kinds of essays you might be asked to write. 

"What Is An Essay?" Video Lecture (Coursera)

The University of California at Irvine's free video lecture, available on Coursera, tells  you everything you need to know about the essay.

Wikipedia Article on the "Essay"

Wikipedia's article on the essay is comprehensive, providing both English-language and global perspectives on the essay form. Learn about the essay's history, forms, and styles.

"Understanding College and Academic Writing" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This list of common academic writing assignments (including types of essay prompts) will help you know what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Before you start writing your essay, you need to figure out who you're writing for (audience), what you're writing about (topic/theme), and what you're going to say (argument and thesis). This section contains links to handouts, chapters, videos and more to help you prepare to write an essay.

How to Identify Your Audience

"Audience" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This handout provides questions you can ask yourself to determine the audience for an academic writing assignment. It also suggests strategies for fitting your paper to your intended audience.

"Purpose, Audience, Tone, and Content" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

This extensive book chapter from Writing for Success , available online through Minnesota Libraries Publishing, is followed by exercises to try out your new pre-writing skills.

"Determining Audience" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This guide from a community college's writing center shows you how to know your audience, and how to incorporate that knowledge in your thesis statement.

"Know Your Audience" ( Paper Rater Blog)

This short blog post uses examples to show how implied audiences for essays differ. It reminds you to think of your instructor as an observer, who will know only the information you pass along.

How to Choose a Theme or Topic

"Research Tutorial: Developing Your Topic" (YouTube)

Take a look at this short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to understand the basics of developing a writing topic.

"How to Choose a Paper Topic" (WikiHow)

This simple, step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through choosing a paper topic. It starts with a detailed description of brainstorming and ends with strategies to refine your broad topic.

"How to Read an Assignment: Moving From Assignment to Topic" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Did your teacher give you a prompt or other instructions? This guide helps you understand the relationship between an essay assignment and your essay's topic.

"Guidelines for Choosing a Topic" (CliffsNotes)

This study guide from CliffsNotes both discusses how to choose a topic and makes a useful distinction between "topic" and "thesis."

How to Come Up with an Argument

"Argument" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

Not sure what "argument" means in the context of academic writing? This page from the University of North Carolina is a good place to start.

"The Essay Guide: Finding an Argument" (Study Hub)

This handout explains why it's important to have an argument when beginning your essay, and provides tools to help you choose a viable argument.

"Writing a Thesis and Making an Argument" (University of Iowa)

This page from the University of Iowa's Writing Center contains exercises through which you can develop and refine your argument and thesis statement.

"Developing a Thesis" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page from Harvard's Writing Center collates some helpful dos and don'ts of argumentative writing, from steps in constructing a thesis to avoiding vague and confrontational thesis statements.

"Suggestions for Developing Argumentative Essays" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

This page offers concrete suggestions for each stage of the essay writing process, from topic selection to drafting and editing. 

How to Outline your Essay

"Outlines" (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill via YouTube)

This short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows how to group your ideas into paragraphs or sections to begin the outlining process.

"Essay Outline" (Univ. of Washington Tacoma)

This two-page handout by a university professor simply defines the parts of an essay and then organizes them into an example outline.

"Types of Outlines and Samples" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL gives examples of diverse outline strategies on this page, including the alphanumeric, full sentence, and decimal styles. 

"Outlining" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Once you have an argument, according to this handout, there are only three steps in the outline process: generalizing, ordering, and putting it all together. Then you're ready to write!

"Writing Essays" (Plymouth Univ.)

This packet, part of Plymouth University's Learning Development series, contains descriptions and diagrams relating to the outlining process.

"How to Write A Good Argumentative Essay: Logical Structure" (Criticalthinkingtutorials.com via YouTube)

This longer video tutorial gives an overview of how to structure your essay in order to support your argument or thesis. It is part of a longer course on academic writing hosted on Udemy.

Now that you've chosen and refined your topic and created an outline, use these resources to complete the writing process. Most essays contain introductions (which articulate your thesis statement), body paragraphs, and conclusions. Transitions facilitate the flow from one paragraph to the next so that support for your thesis builds throughout the essay. Sources and citations show where you got the evidence to support your thesis, which ensures that you avoid plagiarism. 

How to Write an Introduction

"Introductions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page identifies the role of the introduction in any successful paper, suggests strategies for writing introductions, and warns against less effective introductions.

"How to Write A Good Introduction" (Michigan State Writing Center)

Beginning with the most common missteps in writing introductions, this guide condenses the essentials of introduction composition into seven points.

"The Introductory Paragraph" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming focuses on ways to grab your reader's attention at the beginning of your essay.

"Introductions and Conclusions" (Univ. of Toronto)

This guide from the University of Toronto gives advice that applies to writing both introductions and conclusions, including dos and don'ts.

"How to Write Better Essays: No One Does Introductions Properly" ( The Guardian )

This news article interviews UK professors on student essay writing; they point to introductions as the area that needs the most improvement.

How to Write a Thesis Statement

"Writing an Effective Thesis Statement" (YouTube)

This short, simple video tutorial from a college composition instructor at Tulsa Community College explains what a thesis statement is and what it does. 

"Thesis Statement: Four Steps to a Great Essay" (YouTube)

This fantastic tutorial walks you through drafting a thesis, using an essay prompt on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter as an example.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through coming up with, writing, and editing a thesis statement. It invites you think of your statement as a "working thesis" that can change.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (Univ. of Indiana Bloomington)

Ask yourself the questions on this page, part of Indiana Bloomington's Writing Tutorial Services, when you're writing and refining your thesis statement.

"Writing Tips: Thesis Statements" (Univ. of Illinois Center for Writing Studies)

This page gives plentiful examples of good to great thesis statements, and offers questions to ask yourself when formulating a thesis statement.

How to Write Body Paragraphs

"Body Paragraph" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course introduces you to the components of a body paragraph. These include the topic sentence, information, evidence, and analysis.

"Strong Body Paragraphs" (Washington Univ.)

This handout from Washington's Writing and Research Center offers in-depth descriptions of the parts of a successful body paragraph.

"Guide to Paragraph Structure" (Deakin Univ.)

This handout is notable for color-coding example body paragraphs to help you identify the functions various sentences perform.

"Writing Body Paragraphs" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

The exercises in this section of Writing for Success  will help you practice writing good body paragraphs. It includes guidance on selecting primary support for your thesis.

"The Writing Process—Body Paragraphs" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

The information and exercises on this page will familiarize you with outlining and writing body paragraphs, and includes links to more information on topic sentences and transitions.

"The Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post discusses body paragraphs in the context of one of the most common academic essay types in secondary schools.

How to Use Transitions

"Transitions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill explains what a transition is, and how to know if you need to improve your transitions.

"Using Transitions Effectively" (Washington Univ.)

This handout defines transitions, offers tips for using them, and contains a useful list of common transitional words and phrases grouped by function.

"Transitions" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This page compares paragraphs without transitions to paragraphs with transitions, and in doing so shows how important these connective words and phrases are.

"Transitions in Academic Essays" (Scribbr)

This page lists four techniques that will help you make sure your reader follows your train of thought, including grouping similar information and using transition words.

"Transitions" (El Paso Community College)

This handout shows example transitions within paragraphs for context, and explains how transitions improve your essay's flow and voice.

"Make Your Paragraphs Flow to Improve Writing" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post, another from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming, talks about transitions and other strategies to improve your essay's overall flow.

"Transition Words" (smartwords.org)

This handy word bank will help you find transition words when you're feeling stuck. It's grouped by the transition's function, whether that is to show agreement, opposition, condition, or consequence.

How to Write a Conclusion

"Parts of An Essay: Conclusions" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course explains how to conclude an academic essay. It suggests thinking about the "3Rs": return to hook, restate your thesis, and relate to the reader.

"Essay Conclusions" (Univ. of Maryland University College)

This overview of the academic essay conclusion contains helpful examples and links to further resources for writing good conclusions.

"How to End An Essay" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) by an English Ph.D. walks you through writing a conclusion, from brainstorming to ending with a flourish.

"Ending the Essay: Conclusions" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page collates useful strategies for writing an effective conclusion, and reminds you to "close the discussion without closing it off" to further conversation.

How to Include Sources and Citations

"Research and Citation Resources" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL streamlines information about the three most common referencing styles (MLA, Chicago, and APA) and provides examples of how to cite different resources in each system.

EasyBib: Free Bibliography Generator

This online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. Be sure to select your resource type before clicking the "cite it" button.

CitationMachine

Like EasyBib, this online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. 

Modern Language Association Handbook (MLA)

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of MLA referencing rules. Order through the link above, or check to see if your library has a copy.

Chicago Manual of Style

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of Chicago referencing rules. You can take a look at the table of contents, then choose to subscribe or start a free trial.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

"What is Plagiarism?" (plagiarism.org)

This nonprofit website contains numerous resources for identifying and avoiding plagiarism, and reminds you that even common activities like copying images from another website to your own site may constitute plagiarism.

"Plagiarism" (University of Oxford)

This interactive page from the University of Oxford helps you check for plagiarism in your work, making it clear how to avoid citing another person's work without full acknowledgement.

"Avoiding Plagiarism" (MIT Comparative Media Studies)

This quick guide explains what plagiarism is, what its consequences are, and how to avoid it. It starts by defining three words—quotation, paraphrase, and summary—that all constitute citation.

"Harvard Guide to Using Sources" (Harvard Extension School)

This comprehensive website from Harvard brings together articles, videos, and handouts about referencing, citation, and plagiarism. 

Grammarly contains tons of helpful grammar and writing resources, including a free tool to automatically scan your essay to check for close affinities to published work. 

Noplag is another popular online tool that automatically scans your essay to check for signs of plagiarism. Simply copy and paste your essay into the box and click "start checking."

Once you've written your essay, you'll want to edit (improve content), proofread (check for spelling and grammar mistakes), and finalize your work until you're ready to hand it in. This section brings together tips and resources for navigating the editing process. 

"Writing a First Draft" (Academic Help)

This is an introduction to the drafting process from the site Academic Help, with tips for getting your ideas on paper before editing begins.

"Editing and Proofreading" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page provides general strategies for revising your writing. They've intentionally left seven errors in the handout, to give you practice in spotting them.

"How to Proofread Effectively" (ThoughtCo)

This article from ThoughtCo, along with those linked at the bottom, help describe common mistakes to check for when proofreading.

"7 Simple Edits That Make Your Writing 100% More Powerful" (SmartBlogger)

This blog post emphasizes the importance of powerful, concise language, and reminds you that even your personal writing heroes create clunky first drafts.

"Editing Tips for Effective Writing" (Univ. of Pennsylvania)

On this page from Penn's International Relations department, you'll find tips for effective prose, errors to watch out for, and reminders about formatting.

"Editing the Essay" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This article, the first of two parts, gives you applicable strategies for the editing process. It suggests reading your essay aloud, removing any jargon, and being unafraid to remove even "dazzling" sentences that don't belong.

"Guide to Editing and Proofreading" (Oxford Learning Institute)

This handout from Oxford covers the basics of editing and proofreading, and reminds you that neither task should be rushed. 

In addition to plagiarism-checkers, Grammarly has a plug-in for your web browser that checks your writing for common mistakes.

After you've prepared, written, and edited your essay, you might want to share it outside the classroom. This section alerts you to print and web opportunities to share your essays with the wider world, from online writing communities and blogs to published journals geared toward young writers.

Sharing Your Essays Online

Go Teen Writers

Go Teen Writers is an online community for writers aged 13 - 19. It was founded by Stephanie Morrill, an author of contemporary young adult novels. 

Tumblr is a blogging website where you can share your writing and interact with other writers online. It's easy to add photos, links, audio, and video components.

Writersky provides an online platform for publishing and reading other youth writers' work. Its current content is mostly devoted to fiction.

Publishing Your Essays Online

This teen literary journal publishes in print, on the web, and (more frequently), on a blog. It is committed to ensuring that "teens see their authentic experience reflected on its pages."

The Matador Review

This youth writing platform celebrates "alternative," unconventional writing. The link above will take you directly to the site's "submissions" page.

Teen Ink has a website, monthly newsprint magazine, and quarterly poetry magazine promoting the work of young writers.

The largest online reading platform, Wattpad enables you to publish your work and read others' work. Its inline commenting feature allows you to share thoughts as you read along.

Publishing Your Essays in Print

Canvas Teen Literary Journal

This quarterly literary magazine is published for young writers by young writers. They accept many kinds of writing, including essays.

The Claremont Review

This biannual international magazine, first published in 1992, publishes poetry, essays, and short stories from writers aged 13 - 19.

Skipping Stones

This young writers magazine, founded in 1988, celebrates themes relating to ecological and cultural diversity. It publishes poems, photos, articles, and stories.

The Telling Room

This nonprofit writing center based in Maine publishes children's work on their website and in book form. The link above directs you to the site's submissions page.

Essay Contests

Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards

This prestigious international writing contest for students in grades 7 - 12 has been committed to "supporting the future of creativity since 1923."

Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest

An annual essay contest on the theme of journalism and media, the Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest awards scholarships up to $1,000.

National YoungArts Foundation

Here, you'll find information on a government-sponsored writing competition for writers aged 15 - 18. The foundation welcomes submissions of creative nonfiction, novels, scripts, poetry, short story and spoken word.

Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest

With prompts on a different literary work each year, this competition from Signet Classics awards college scholarships up to $1,000.

"The Ultimate Guide to High School Essay Contests" (CollegeVine)

See this handy guide from CollegeVine for a list of more competitions you can enter with your academic essay, from the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards to the National High School Essay Contest by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Whether you're struggling to write academic essays or you think you're a pro, there are workshops and online tools that can help you become an even better writer. Even the most seasoned writers encounter writer's block, so be proactive and look through our curated list of resources to combat this common frustration.

Online Essay-writing Classes and Workshops

"Getting Started with Essay Writing" (Coursera)

Coursera offers lots of free, high-quality online classes taught by college professors. Here's one example, taught by instructors from the University of California Irvine.

"Writing and English" (Brightstorm)

Brightstorm's free video lectures are easy to navigate by topic. This unit on the parts of an essay features content on the essay hook, thesis, supporting evidence, and more.

"How to Write an Essay" (EdX)

EdX is another open online university course website with several two- to five-week courses on the essay. This one is geared toward English language learners.

Writer's Digest University

This renowned writers' website offers online workshops and interactive tutorials. The courses offered cover everything from how to get started through how to get published.

Writing.com

Signing up for this online writer's community gives you access to helpful resources as well as an international community of writers.

How to Overcome Writer's Block

"Symptoms and Cures for Writer's Block" (Purdue OWL)

Purdue OWL offers a list of signs you might have writer's block, along with ways to overcome it. Consider trying out some "invention strategies" or ways to curb writing anxiety.

"Overcoming Writer's Block: Three Tips" ( The Guardian )

These tips, geared toward academic writing specifically, are practical and effective. The authors advocate setting realistic goals, creating dedicated writing time, and participating in social writing.

"Writing Tips: Strategies for Overcoming Writer's Block" (Univ. of Illinois)

This page from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Center for Writing Studies acquaints you with strategies that do and do not work to overcome writer's block.

"Writer's Block" (Univ. of Toronto)

Ask yourself the questions on this page; if the answer is "yes," try out some of the article's strategies. Each question is accompanied by at least two possible solutions.

If you have essays to write but are short on ideas, this section's links to prompts, example student essays, and celebrated essays by professional writers might help. You'll find writing prompts from a variety of sources, student essays to inspire you, and a number of essay writing collections.

Essay Writing Prompts

"50 Argumentative Essay Topics" (ThoughtCo)

Take a look at this list and the others ThoughtCo has curated for different kinds of essays. As the author notes, "a number of these topics are controversial and that's the point."

"401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing" ( New York Times )

This list (and the linked lists to persuasive and narrative writing prompts), besides being impressive in length, is put together by actual high school English teachers.

"SAT Sample Essay Prompts" (College Board)

If you're a student in the U.S., your classroom essay prompts are likely modeled on the prompts in U.S. college entrance exams. Take a look at these official examples from the SAT.

"Popular College Application Essay Topics" (Princeton Review)

This page from the Princeton Review dissects recent Common Application essay topics and discusses strategies for answering them.

Example Student Essays

"501 Writing Prompts" (DePaul Univ.)

This nearly 200-page packet, compiled by the LearningExpress Skill Builder in Focus Writing Team, is stuffed with writing prompts, example essays, and commentary.

"Topics in English" (Kibin)

Kibin is a for-pay essay help website, but its example essays (organized by topic) are available for free. You'll find essays on everything from  A Christmas Carol  to perseverance.

"Student Writing Models" (Thoughtful Learning)

Thoughtful Learning, a website that offers a variety of teaching materials, provides sample student essays on various topics and organizes them by grade level.

"Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

In this blog post by a former professor of English and rhetoric, ThoughtCo brings together examples of five-paragraph essays and commentary on the form.

The Best Essay Writing Collections

The Best American Essays of the Century by Joyce Carol Oates (Amazon)

This collection of American essays spanning the twentieth century was compiled by award winning author and Princeton professor Joyce Carol Oates.

The Best American Essays 2017 by Leslie Jamison (Amazon)

Leslie Jamison, the celebrated author of essay collection  The Empathy Exams , collects recent, high-profile essays into a single volume.

The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate (Amazon)

Documentary writer Phillip Lopate curates this historical overview of the personal essay's development, from the classical era to the present.

The White Album by Joan Didion (Amazon)

This seminal essay collection was authored by one of the most acclaimed personal essayists of all time, American journalist Joan Didion.

Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace (Amazon)

Read this famous essay collection by David Foster Wallace, who is known for his experimentation with the essay form. He pushed the boundaries of personal essay, reportage, and political polemic.

"50 Successful Harvard Application Essays" (Staff of the The Harvard Crimson )

If you're looking for examples of exceptional college application essays, this volume from Harvard's daily student newspaper is one of the best collections on the market.

Are you an instructor looking for the best resources for teaching essay writing? This section contains resources for developing in-class activities and student homework assignments. You'll find content from both well-known university writing centers and online writing labs.

Essay Writing Classroom Activities for Students

"In-class Writing Exercises" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page lists exercises related to brainstorming, organizing, drafting, and revising. It also contains suggestions for how to implement the suggested exercises.

"Teaching with Writing" (Univ. of Minnesota Center for Writing)

Instructions and encouragement for using "freewriting," one-minute papers, logbooks, and other write-to-learn activities in the classroom can be found here.

"Writing Worksheets" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

Berkeley offers this bank of writing worksheets to use in class. They are nested under headings for "Prewriting," "Revision," "Research Papers" and more.

"Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism" (DePaul University)

Use these activities and worksheets from DePaul's Teaching Commons when instructing students on proper academic citation practices.

Essay Writing Homework Activities for Students

"Grammar and Punctuation Exercises" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

These five interactive online activities allow students to practice editing and proofreading. They'll hone their skills in correcting comma splices and run-ons, identifying fragments, using correct pronoun agreement, and comma usage.

"Student Interactives" (Read Write Think)

Read Write Think hosts interactive tools, games, and videos for developing writing skills. They can practice organizing and summarizing, writing poetry, and developing lines of inquiry and analysis.

This free website offers writing and grammar activities for all grade levels. The lessons are designed to be used both for large classes and smaller groups.

"Writing Activities and Lessons for Every Grade" (Education World)

Education World's page on writing activities and lessons links you to more free, online resources for learning how to "W.R.I.T.E.": write, revise, inform, think, and edit.

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unit 1 paragraph to short essay part 1

Unit 1: Paragraph to Short Essay part 1.

Nov 11, 2014

340 likes | 755 Views

Unit 1: Paragraph to Short Essay part 1. Monday, March 9 th , 2009. About Writing…. Why do you write? 2 quotes about writing (p.2) Why did these professional writers write? Do you share their feelings in any way?. Writing: To tighten all ideas firmly & logically. Topic sentence Unity

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  • controlling idea
  • topic sentence
  • connective phrases
  • topic sentence implies
  • roughly twenty times higher

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Presentation Transcript

Unit 1: Paragraph to Short Essaypart 1. Monday, March 9th, 2009

About Writing… • Why do you write? • 2 quotes about writing (p.2) • Why did these professional writers write? Do you share their feelings in any way?

Writing: To tighten all ideas firmly & logically • Topic sentence • Unity • Coherence • Cohesion • Construction of Writings Larger units Essays Paragraphs Sentences Words Smallest units

Start from Writing a Paragraph • A paragraph is a group of sentences about a topic. • Topic sentence: to introduce the topic. • Supporting sentences: to support the idea in the topic sentence with explanations, reasons, and other details. • Concluding sentence: to bring the paragraph to an end. • (p.3) • Exercise: p.4

I. TOPIC SENTENCE • It introduce the topic. It also contains an idea/opinion about the topic (controlling idea). • The topic sentence must contain a specificidea. • The topic sentence implies the purpose of the paragraph. • The topic sentence usually appears as the first or second sentence of a paragraph.

Which of the following sentences is the best for a topic sentence? Why? • This paper is about America. • This paper is about American history. • My favorite period of American history is the Revolutionary War. • The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. • Exercise: p.6-7 (ex.5, 8)

II. UNITY • A paragraph has unity when all the sentences support one single idea. • The topic sentence must have one controlling idea. Otherwise, the paragraph loses focus. • The supporting sentences must support, demonstrate, prove, or develop the main idea in the topic sentence. No irrelevant sentences are needed. • The concluding sentences should restate the idea in the topic sentence.

Stories o Nepal(p.9) • The topic sentence? • The controlling idea? • One sentence is irrelevant. Find it. Why is it irrelevant? • Exercise: p.11 (ex.4)

III. COHERENCE • A paragraph is coherent if the ideas have a logical flow. • The relationship between sentences is clear and one idea connects to the other. • Important Rules for Acting On Stage (p.13) • How many rules does the writer give? • How does the writer arrange the points?

Here are some words that can be used to show the order of the items in your paragraph:

IV. COHESION • When the relationship btw different sentences or different parts of sentences are clearly linked to one another, a passage has cohesion.

Ways of reaching cohesion: • Using connectives and connective phrases. • Using reference to a previously stated word or phrase by repetition, pronouns, or synonyms. • Arranging sentences into structural patterns.

A. Using connectives and connective phrases

1. Connective words • Many Americans think that Niagara Falls is the highest waterfall in the world. Angel Falls in Venezuela, at 3,212 feet, is roughly twenty times higher. • Many Americans think that Niagara Falls is the highest waterfall in the world. Angel Falls in Venezuela, at 3,212 feet, is roughly twenty times higher. But

2. Connective phrases & clauses • Some arid regions of the world receive an average of only two- or three-hundredths of an inch of rain annually and may go for years without getting a drop. It usually comes in torrential downpours. • Some arid regions of the world receive an average of only two- or three-hundredths of an inch of rain annually and may go for years without getting a drop. But when the rain does come, it usually comes in torrential downpours.

B. Using reference to a previously stated word or phrase • Repeat words • Use pronouns • Create synonyms

1. Repetition Topic sentence • Agatha Christie earned world renown as the author of numerous mystery tales. But non of the fictional takes is more mysterious than the true story of her own disappearance in 1926. Waves of shock rumbled throughout the British public when the newspapers proclaimed that Christie had vanished. Not until several months later was she discovered, supposedly afflicted with amnesia, working as a nanny in Yorkshire manor house. To this day, her fans are intrigued because she was gone for so long without being discovered. Concluding sentence

Agatha Christie earned world renown as the author of numerous mystery tales. But non of the fictional takes is more mysterious than the true story of her own disappearance in 1926. Waves of shock rumbled throughout the British public when the newspapers proclaimed that Christie had vanished. Not until several months later was she discovered, supposedly afflicted with amnesia, working as a nanny in Yorkshire manor house. To this day, her fans are intrigued by the mystery of her disappearance.

2. Pronouns • Virgos are simple and gentle people, with a need to serve humanity. Careful and precise by nature, Virgos make excellent secretaries ad nurses. Virgos warm, shining eyes and their bright appearances conceal their burning desire for love.

Virgos are simple and gentle people, with a need to serve humanity. Careful and precise by nature, they make excellent secretaries ad nurses. Their warm, shining eyes and their bright appearances conceal their burning desire for love.

3. Synonyms • Landlords usually require a renter to sign a very complicated contract called a lease. It stipulates the length of time the person must stay in the apartment and the amount of rent he/she must pay. It can limit the number of people allowed to live in and restrict the renter from having pets. The agreement also includes the responsibilities of the landlord, such as providing adequate heat, garbage removal, and exterior maintenance.

C. Arranging sentences into structural patterns • Place parallel ideas into parallel structures. • Organize old and new information into proper sequences.

1. Parallel strucures • The 1960s brought to American pop music a fusion of radically different geographic and cultural influences. The influence of religion and mysticism which came from the East made popular such instruments as the table and the sitar. A Caribbean influence was southern in origin, branching into such forms as reggae and calypso, with their steel drums and marimbas.

The 1960s brought to American pop music a fusion of radically different geographic and cultural influences. From the East came the influence of religion and mysticism, which made popular such instruments as the table and the sitar. From the South came the Caribbean influence, branching into such forms as reggae and calypso, with their steel drums and marimbas.

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  • Knowledge Base
  • How to write an essay outline | Guidelines & examples

How to Write an Essay Outline | Guidelines & Examples

Published on August 14, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

An essay outline is a way of planning the structure of your essay before you start writing. It involves writing quick summary sentences or phrases for every point you will cover in each paragraph , giving you a picture of how your argument will unfold.

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Table of contents

Organizing your material, presentation of the outline, examples of essay outlines, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about essay outlines.

At the stage where you’re writing an essay outline, your ideas are probably still not fully formed. You should know your topic  and have already done some preliminary research to find relevant sources , but now you need to shape your ideas into a structured argument.

Creating categories

Look over any information, quotes and ideas you’ve noted down from your research and consider the central point you want to make in the essay—this will be the basis of your thesis statement . Once you have an idea of your overall argument, you can begin to organize your material in a way that serves that argument.

Try to arrange your material into categories related to different aspects of your argument. If you’re writing about a literary text, you might group your ideas into themes; in a history essay, it might be several key trends or turning points from the period you’re discussing.

Three main themes or subjects is a common structure for essays. Depending on the length of the essay, you could split the themes into three body paragraphs, or three longer sections with several paragraphs covering each theme.

As you create the outline, look critically at your categories and points: Are any of them irrelevant or redundant? Make sure every topic you cover is clearly related to your thesis statement.

Order of information

When you have your material organized into several categories, consider what order they should appear in.

Your essay will always begin and end with an introduction and conclusion , but the organization of the body is up to you.

Consider these questions to order your material:

  • Is there an obvious starting point for your argument?
  • Is there one subject that provides an easy transition into another?
  • Do some points need to be set up by discussing other points first?

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unit 1 paragraph to short essay

Within each paragraph, you’ll discuss a single idea related to your overall topic or argument, using several points of evidence or analysis to do so.

In your outline, you present these points as a few short numbered sentences or phrases.They can be split into sub-points when more detail is needed.

The template below shows how you might structure an outline for a five-paragraph essay.

  • Thesis statement
  • First piece of evidence
  • Second piece of evidence
  • Summary/synthesis
  • Importance of topic
  • Strong closing statement

You can choose whether to write your outline in full sentences or short phrases. Be consistent in your choice; don’t randomly write some points as full sentences and others as short phrases.

Examples of outlines for different types of essays are presented below: an argumentative, expository, and literary analysis essay.

Argumentative essay outline

This outline is for a short argumentative essay evaluating the internet’s impact on education. It uses short phrases to summarize each point.

Its body is split into three paragraphs, each presenting arguments about a different aspect of the internet’s effects on education.

  • Importance of the internet
  • Concerns about internet use
  • Thesis statement: Internet use a net positive
  • Data exploring this effect
  • Analysis indicating it is overstated
  • Students’ reading levels over time
  • Why this data is questionable
  • Video media
  • Interactive media
  • Speed and simplicity of online research
  • Questions about reliability (transitioning into next topic)
  • Evidence indicating its ubiquity
  • Claims that it discourages engagement with academic writing
  • Evidence that Wikipedia warns students not to cite it
  • Argument that it introduces students to citation
  • Summary of key points
  • Value of digital education for students
  • Need for optimism to embrace advantages of the internet

Expository essay outline

This is the outline for an expository essay describing how the invention of the printing press affected life and politics in Europe.

The paragraphs are still summarized in short phrases here, but individual points are described with full sentences.

  • Claim that the printing press marks the end of the Middle Ages.
  • Provide background on the low levels of literacy before the printing press.
  • Present the thesis statement: The invention of the printing press increased circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation.
  • Discuss the very high levels of illiteracy in medieval Europe.
  • Describe how literacy and thus knowledge and education were mainly the domain of religious and political elites.
  • Indicate how this discouraged political and religious change.
  • Describe the invention of the printing press in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg.
  • Show the implications of the new technology for book production.
  • Describe the rapid spread of the technology and the printing of the Gutenberg Bible.
  • Link to the Reformation.
  • Discuss the trend for translating the Bible into vernacular languages during the years following the printing press’s invention.
  • Describe Luther’s own translation of the Bible during the Reformation.
  • Sketch out the large-scale effects the Reformation would have on religion and politics.
  • Summarize the history described.
  • Stress the significance of the printing press to the events of this period.

Literary analysis essay outline

The literary analysis essay outlined below discusses the role of theater in Jane Austen’s novel Mansfield Park .

The body of the essay is divided into three different themes, each of which is explored through examples from the book.

  • Describe the theatricality of Austen’s works
  • Outline the role theater plays in Mansfield Park
  • Introduce the research question : How does Austen use theater to express the characters’ morality in Mansfield Park ?
  • Discuss Austen’s depiction of the performance at the end of the first volume
  • Discuss how Sir Bertram reacts to the acting scheme
  • Introduce Austen’s use of stage direction–like details during dialogue
  • Explore how these are deployed to show the characters’ self-absorption
  • Discuss Austen’s description of Maria and Julia’s relationship as polite but affectionless
  • Compare Mrs. Norris’s self-conceit as charitable despite her idleness
  • Summarize the three themes: The acting scheme, stage directions, and the performance of morals
  • Answer the research question
  • Indicate areas for further study

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

  • Ad hominem fallacy
  • Post hoc fallacy
  • Appeal to authority fallacy
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You will sometimes be asked to hand in an essay outline before you start writing your essay . Your supervisor wants to see that you have a clear idea of your structure so that writing will go smoothly.

Even when you do not have to hand it in, writing an essay outline is an important part of the writing process . It’s a good idea to write one (as informally as you like) to clarify your structure for yourself whenever you are working on an essay.

If you have to hand in your essay outline , you may be given specific guidelines stating whether you have to use full sentences. If you’re not sure, ask your supervisor.

When writing an essay outline for yourself, the choice is yours. Some students find it helpful to write out their ideas in full sentences, while others prefer to summarize them in short phrases.

You should try to follow your outline as you write your essay . However, if your ideas change or it becomes clear that your structure could be better, it’s okay to depart from your essay outline . Just make sure you know why you’re doing so.

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  • School Life

Teacher’s Day Essay 2024: Short and Long Essays for School Students and Children

Teacher’s day essay in english: for the occasion of teacher’s day (september 5), we have provided here 10 lines, both short and long essays that students can use for essay and speech competitions at school.  you can also download the essays in pdf format. pour out your appreciation and gratitude for your teachers with these impactful essays..

Garima Jha

Teacher’s Day Essay 2024: Teacher’s Day is celebrated every year on September 5. This day is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of renowned scholar and philosopher, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.Teacher’s Day is an occasion to honour teachers and express gratitude towards them for their relentless dedication and unwavering efforts. Teachers mould the minds of students, nurture their dreams and shape their futures with wisdom and care. 

Teacher’s Day is an opportunity to thank teachers for all the wonderful things they do for students. Teachers not only teach students how to read and write but they show them how to be kind to others and to do their best. The amazing teachers inspire children to dream big and work hard to achieve the goals. They not only teach students but also shape their minds and characters. This event is celebrated with much fervour and excitement in schools. 

Also Check: 15 Best Teacher’s Day 2024 Poems in English for School Kids and Children

10 Lines on Teacher’s Day 

1. Teacher’s Day is celebrated on September 5 every year in India. 

2.Teacher's Day is the day to pay gratitude and tribute to the guiding lights of your lives, the remarkable teachers.

3. On this special occasion of Teacher's Day, students express their deep gratitude for their tireless dedication and inexhaustible efforts.

4.Teachers are the force that shape minds and futures and nurture dreams with extreme wisdom and care.

5. The dedication and commitment of teachers towards fostering knowledge and character is commendable and inspiring.

6. On Teacher’s Day, let us appreciate the hard work and devotion of teachers. 

7. Teachers are like second parents just like how parents take care of students at home, teachers take care of them at school. 

8. On this day, let us also remember the great scholar, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, whose birthday we celebrate as Teacher's Day. He believed that teachers are the true builders of a nation's future. 

9.Let us all take a moment to thank our teachers for their dedication, patience and hard work.

Short Essay on Teacher’s Day in 100 Words 

Teacher’s Day is an occasion to honour the teachers who play an irreplaceable role in the lives of students. This day is celebrated every year on September 5. This marks the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, distinguished scholar and teacher. Teacher’s Day is the occasion to honour teachers and express gratitude towards them for their relentless dedication and unwavering efforts.

Teachers are like beacons of knowledge, guiding students through the journey of learning. They ignite their curiosity, encourage critical thinking and inspire students to explore the world around them. Let us celebrate and appreciate the invaluable contributions of teachers. 

Short Essay on Teacher’s Day in 200 Words 

Teacher’s Day, celebrated on September 5, is the occasion to honour the invaluable contributions of teachers. September 5 is celebrated as Teacher’s Day as it commemorates the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a revered scholar and philosopher. The choice of this date originates from Dr. Radhakrishnan's own humility and his strong affinity for teaching.

During his tenure as the President of India, Dr. Radhakrishnan's associates proposed that his birthday be observed as a national holiday. He humbly suggested that instead of honouring him, the day should honour teachers. He firmly believed that teachers played a pivotal role in shaping the nation's future and should be duly acknowledged.

Teachers are the guiding lights who illuminate the path of knowledge, wisdom and character-building for students. The essence of this day lies in appreciating and understanding the hard work of teachers. History tells us that in India, a teacher was called 'Guru'. In Sanskrit, Guru means 'Remover of Darkness'. 

Long Essay on Teacher’s Day in 500 Words 

Teacher’s Day is an occasion dedicated to honour and celebrate the remarkable contributions of teachers in the lives of students. Teacher’s day is observed on September 5 every year. This date was selected to mark the occasion as it commemorates the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, renowned philosopher and scholar. He was the second President of India. 

The essence of Teacher’s Day lies in not just celebrating teachers, but paying gratitude to all teachers who devote their lives to the purpose of imparting knowledge and inspiring students. Dr. Radhakrishnan was a firm believer in the principles of education as a transformative tool for society. He believed that education is not just about acquiring knowledge, but also about fostering a sense of empathy and compassion.

It was his humility that led him to suggest that his birthday should be celebrated not as his own, but as a day to honour teachers. This gesture exemplifies the selflessness that defines the teaching profession. Teachers play an indispensable role in the lives of students as their role goes beyond the four walls of classrooms, shaping the minds of children. 

The journey of education is one that cannot be taken alone. Children need a hand that they can hold and trust. It requires the guidance, mentorship and support of dedicated teachers who nurture children along the way.

They invest their time, energy and passion in ensuring that students are equipped with the tools they need to succeed both academically and in life. They believe in students even when they doubt themselves and encourage them to reach for the stars. 

Teachers are not just educators, but they also play the roles of mentor, guide and friend. Their commitment to their profession is unparalleled. Every teacher is unique and brings their own approach to the classroom. Some teachers are strict taskmasters, pushing students to achieve their best, while others are compassionate listeners, ready to offer a guiding hand when students face challenges. 

Whatever be their method, every teacher has a common goal – to empower students with knowledge. Our wonderful teachers often leave an indelible mark on our lives. Teachers not only impart knowledge but instill the values of honesty, empathy and perseverance in children. 

Teachers are the driving force behind inspiring students to be curious and to seek knowledge beyond the confines of textbooks. On Teacher’s Day, students present tokens of admiration like cards and flowers to their teachers.  However, the significance of this day goes far beyond the celebrations. 

It is the day to reflect on the importance of both teachers and education. The teaching profession is one of dedication and sacrifice. It is essential that students acknowledge their efforts and convey appreciation not just on this day but throughout the year. 

On this Teacher's Day, let us honour the dedication of teachers and express our heartfelt gratitude. As students embark on the journey of learning, they should carry the torch of knowledge that their teachers have passed on to them and make them proud. 

Students use these essays to express your admiration and gratitude for teachers who are the guiding lights illuminating the path of knowledge, wisdom and character-building. Happy Teacher’s Day!

Interesting Facts 

You can use these additional facts to add value to your essays. 

1.Teachers’ Day was celebrated first in 1962 when Dr. Radhakrishnan became the President of the nation.

2.He went on to serve as a professor in several renowned universities, including the University of Mysore and the University of Calcutta.

3.The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared October 5 to be World Teachers' Day in 1994.

4.Dr. Radhakrishnan's philosophical and intellectual pursuits earned him the Spalding Professorship of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford.

5.He served as the Vice President of India from 1952 to 1962.

6.When India became independent in 1947, Radhakrishnan represented India at UNESCO (1946–52) and was later Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union, from 1949 to 1952.

7.Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was nominated for the Nobel Prize 27 times- 16 times for the Nobel Prize in Literature and 11 times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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