by Eric Lies

Created on: April 21, 2008   Last Updated: February 09, 2010

Most writers who have ever submitted a paper for a grade have received the dreaded paper that looks like its red and white instead of black and white. Maybe it was grammar or flow, but regardless of what exactly it was there are certain elements that go into essay writing that could save a less than perfect piece or make an already good piece shine. There are three main steps that one should follow while writing an essay: Pre-writing, writing, and finally editing.

Pre-writing consists of brainstorming topics, or ideas and thoughts for use within the essay, researching your topics, and organizing your thoughts into a coherent structure.

Brainstorming ideas for a topic is the first step. This is sometimes the most difficult step in writing. While brainstorming, think of subjects you enjoy, pet peeves, beliefs, or even events. There's no sure-fire way to getting a dynamite topic, but one thing to remember is that it may take time to find a subject you can write about, so never give up. If you cannot think of a topic, try looking up prompts. Many websites have writing prompts, and there are whole books of them as well. Taking a look through one, or both may be just the spark needed to start a great essay. After you have your topic, start thinking about what you want to say in your essay. Are you advocating something? Explaining a historical event? Or are you discussing the importance of some discovery? No matter what your topic is, figuring out what you want to say is vital to saying it. A great way to organize ideas and thoughts is through writing topic sentences. By writing out what you plan to discuss in a single sentence, you can clarify what you're trying to say.

After you know what you're writing about, and what you want to say, the next step is researching your topic. This takes a varying amount of time, depending on what, and how much you need to learn before writing your essay. The most important thing to remember while researching is to set reasonable goals for your research. It would be impossible to read a book about the workings of a cell every night for a week, and trying to do so isn't going to help you. Set reasonable goals, and read materials that pertain to your subject. Look through a variety of sources such as books and Internet sites. A common mistake made among many people is just reading what a single source has to say about a subject. Being able to site multiple different sources gives an essay credibility, and helps give more content to

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