How to Write Effective Essays

As a young college student, I know how hard it can be to write effective essays. Sometimes it can feel like you're putting more fluff into an essay than anything else. Well, don't worry! I after you read this, I'm sure you will be an effective essay writer.

Five Paragraph Format

It is not uncommon to run into the Five Paragraph format. The Five Paragraph format, although for basic and plain is an effective way to write essays and can easily be expanded into much larger papers. When I would take English classes, we often had to quickly come up with an essay on the spot and finish it by the end of the class. The Five Paragraph format got me through every time.

Here's how it works! First, you pick a thesis. Your thesis can be anything, but the more argumentative it is, the better. If you pick a thesis like "Coke is really good," that's not gonna get you anywhere. You are gonna describe the ways that Coke is good and run out of ideas. You have to pick a strong thesis like "Coke is better than any other cola."

The next step is coming up with sub points. In order to prove your thesis, you're going to need supporting arguments. So now, you list out your arguments. Let's say you were arguing that Abraham Lincoln saved the Union from inevitable destruction. You would state your thesis and then lay out your supporting arguments:

Abraham Lincoln saved the Union from self destruction by subverting the secession of the Confederate States. He accomplished this by commanding the Union army effectively, organizing the economy to better suit the time of war, and by using extreme measures to insure that the Union would stand as a single, unified government, thereby establishing the principles of law and order that are still seen today.

 This thesis is effective because it takes a clear stance and provides very relevant arguments to back up the claim. This 2-sentence structure of stating the thesis and then stating the supporting argument tends to work a lot better from what I've seen than thesis statements that combine the two with the word "because" or other similar conjunctions. Before your thesis, you would probably have an introductory statement followed by information surrounding your thesis, especially (but not limited to) time, place, important events, and narrative aspects of your subject.

Paragaphs

Paragraphs are the easier part of the essay. This is where you start arguing your thesis. The best way to handle the paragraphs is to do it very formulaic. The first part of your paragraph is going to be a transitional statement. For your first paragraph, this isn't so important, but there needs to be some connecting idea between the last paragraph and the next. And this is the place to do it (especially if you didn't effectively do so with your closing sentence). An example of a good transitional sentence would be:

Abraham Lincoln's excellent command of the Union army was definitely one of the main contributing factors to the Union victory; however, due to the high costs of running a military campaign, the importance of economic organization can not be overlooked.

From here, our author could effectively begin talking about the importance of a well-organized economy. It's always important to make your transitional statements also effectively argue your next supporting point. This part of the paragraph is much like a mini-thesis or the thesis of the paragraph.

After the transitional statement, it is often good to introduce a quote, followed by the quote itself, and an explanation of what the quote means and how it relates to your argument. For instance:

Economist Dr. Money argues that having a well-organized economy is one of the main determining factors in whether or not a military will succeed or be defeated. He says in his famous article War and Money that "without the financial support Lincoln had during the Civil War, the Confederate army would have undoubtedly had been victorious due to the superiority of their financial capacity. The Union was simply too limited in respect that it depended too heavily on goods imported from the Southern Confederate States." However, due to Lincoln's focus on establishing well-organized systems for dealing with war costs, the Union was able to be victorious over the Confederacy.

All quotes should begin with an introduction and be followed with an explanation of how the quote supports your argument. Furthermore, most of your paragraph should be taken up with supporting quotes and explanation. As you see from above, I was able to write quite a bit about a (*fake*) quote that could effectively take up the large majority of a rather well-formatted paragraph. The more textual support you use, the more valid your arguments will seem. If you're just ranting on and stating your opinion, your paper will be rather unlikely to receive good credit.

Finally, in writing a paragraph, it's good to conclude with a concise restating of the topic of the paragraph.

Writing An Effective Conclusion
In the Conclusion, you want to let the reader know why he or she should care about everything you just went through writing. First thing to do is restate your thesis: "The Union would have fallen apart without Lincoln's excellent command, economic focus, and expert decisions."
Then ask yourself, "So what?" Then you can say something along the lines of how victory over the Confederacy solidified the Union, allowing for liberty and freedom to grow. Or you can talk about how this may effect the reader. You should also add where the reader may find more information on the topic. And finally, you want to end your essay with a strong statement that either calls the reader to action or leave the reader with a meaningful thought or idea.