A significant percentage of university and high school education is devoted to academic essay writing. They successfully demonstrate students’ topic knowledge and showcase their ability to collect and display information and data. This guide will explain how to write an academic essay and demonstrate the various options available to you.

What Is an Academic Essay?

An academic essay is an organized type of writing required as part of the high school, college, and university curriculum. Typically, such writing aims to give new information or utilize existing facts and knowledge to convey specific ideas. This type of project allows students to demonstrate their knowledge and creativity and helps them formulate their ideas to convey a message.

Types of Academic Essays

There are four primary forms of academic essays, each with a distinct purpose, though some share similar outlines. The four categories of academic writing are, thus, narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive.

As they are more scientific and objective, university curricula tend to emphasize expository and persuasive writing styles. Narrative and descriptive essays are more subjective and encourage the use of your imagination. Now, let’s examine the definitions of each sort of academic essay.

Narrative Essay

This writing style necessitates the creation of a captivating story about virtually anything imaginable. In other words, it is a novel that has been greatly abridged. Students are required to demonstrate their creative ability in this style of essay. Therefore, it necessitates the consistent application of robust adjectives. Their use will enable the author of an essay to paint a vivid picture of the story and boost the audience’s understanding of the subject. Although the primary objective of this style of essay is to convey an engaging story, there is much more to it than meets the eye. A well-written narrative should include a subtextual message. Simply put, the content should convey a straightforward message. By concealing a message between the lines, you pique the reader’s interest and encourage them to read the entire document.

Descriptive Essay

In this essay, the author takes a certain object, event, feeling, or concept and describes it to the reader. This style, like narrative writing, needs the author to be subjective and original. And, similar to a narrative essay, the author is expected to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. Careful word selection is another important aspect of creating a descriptive essay. This essay should elicit specific feelings in the reader and tie them to the topic under consideration. Finally, the paper should use straightforward language to discuss the topic. When the reader comprehends the topic thoroughly after reading an essay, you know you’ve authored an excellent descriptive essay.

Expository Essay

An expository essay is another style of academic writing designed to assist readers in grasping a topic by offering factual information. This writing requires the author to provide credible evidence for all of the paper’s claims. There is no space for ideas or personal views in an explanatory paper. A quality article should employ analysis based on accurate knowledge about its topic. The author’s primary objective is to inform and educate the audience using clear logic and facts. As an illustration, this article, “How to Write an Academic Essay,” can be called expository writing.

Persuasive Essay

To write a persuasive paper, one must assume the role of a salesman (or saleswoman). You can state a perspective, proposal, or concept you must sell to your reader (s). The rationale behind how you provide information to the reader(s) should be impenetrable, leaving them without any doubt that what you are conveying is the only truth they need to know. To avoid being pushy, tailor your arguments carefully and conceal your sales strategy behind the well-crafted language. Depending on what you seek to argue, you can defend an argument using either logical or emotive strategies or a combination of the two.

Good Academic Essay Topics

Topics will vary logically based on the writing you are authoring. Sometimes the same topic can be found in different academic essay categories, but the main content will always vary based on the essay type. Consequently, the following are some excellent academic essay topics for high school and college students:

Narrative Essay Topics

  1. Describe your family’s survival during the quarantine. Explain its impact on you.
  2. Discuss your experience with distance education. How has it affected your grades and performance overall? Do you believe that distance education is superior or inferior to the conventional alternative?
  3. Write a story that demonstrates technology’s significance in modern people’s lives.
  4. Compose a story that illustrates the significance of each individual’s participation in resolving the global issue of climate change.

Topics for Descriptive Essays

  1. Describe the one who has had the most significant influence on your life.
  2. What is the most important event in recent global history?
  3. Describe what it is like to fall in love. What effect does it have on one’s personality?
  4. Describe the item of art or music that had the greatest impact on you. What characteristics, in your opinion, define influential art?

Topics for Expository Essays

  1. Why does the rate of teen suicide continue to rise? What causes adolescents to commit suicide?
  2. How can each person help to prevent climate change and reduce the hazards it poses?
  3. How can our civilization recover as soon and painlessly as possible following the global pandemic?
  4. The killing of George Floyd and the police’s abuse of authority: What can we do to prevent such occurrences in the future?

Argumentative/persuasive essay topics

  1. Should the government modify the Constitution to restrict the activities police officers are entitled to do during arrests?
  2. Should we continue to observe self-distance regulations now that the risk has diminished?
  3. Provide arguments for stricter gun regulation in the United States.
  4. Should technology (with the exception of instructional devices) be prohibited in colleges?

Academic essay format

Typically, academic essays consist of five paragraphs: an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. In addition, each subsection will have its internal structure. The primary purpose of the opening is to introduce the topic and reveal the essay’s central argument (a.k.a. the thesis statement).

The main objective of the body paragraphs is to support the academic writing essay thesis using three sub-arguments, one every paragraph. The purpose of the conclusion is to conclude the argument and leave a lasting impression in the form of a concluding statement. The breakdown is illustrated by the graphic organizer presented below.

Start by writing an academic essay Outline.

Before starting any academic writing, you must establish and answer four key questions. They are the thesis statement, supporting points, connection, and conclusion.

  • Thesis Statement: This is the focus of your work and one of the important aspects of your introduction paragraphs. It is the primary message the author wishes to convey.
  • Body Points (Subpoints): These are the principal arguments or assertions you will utilize to support your thesis.
  • Connection: It is crucial, when writing an academic format essay, to connect it directly or indirectly to the real world. Explain why it is significant to you or why it is significant to society. This will provide additional meaning to your paper and demonstrate your distinct thinking style.
  • Summary: This concise and powerful sentence illustrates your views briefly.

You may also be interested in learning how to write an outline in MLA and APA formats.

Introduction: How to Start an Academic Essay

The academic essay format discussed in this article is rather simple. It has been frequently used for high-quality university essay samples for years. Students continue to use it primarily because it is seen as the most effective method for conveying information to the reader.

Students should begin by crafting a strong introduction when completing any academic writing assignment.

Quick advice: If you have little experience writing academic papers, feel free to find a solid sample to learn how to write an effective introduction. Examining excellent examples can help you get started.

At the beginning of a document, when the reader is just beginning to read, the reader’s attention span is at its height; therefore, your introductory paragraph will essentially set the tone for the entire academic work. Fortunately, nursingwritingservices.net can provide a few practical and highly successful ways to create a fascinating opening!

You should begin your essay with a strong hook. The phrase “hook” refers to the introductory paragraph’s first sentence, intended to attract the reader’s attention and motivate them to continue reading. To help you get started in the correct direction, here are some of the most effective techniques for generating a compelling hook:

  1. Quote: Beginning a paper’s opening with a creative and relevant quote is one of the most common practices. When chosen correctly, a quote can profoundly affect the reader and set the tone for the entire essay. Therefore, quotes are frequently effective introductions. However, choosing a quote that clearly relates to your topic is essential and does not detract from your paper’s major argument.
  2. Fact: Another typical essay introduction strategy is, to begin with, a factual remark or statistic. This is particularly useful when writing an informative or persuasive essay since it will lend credibility to your paper. In addition, beginning with a fact demonstrates that you have conducted thorough research.
  3. Rhetorical Question: Alternatively, you might begin your essay with a rhetorical question. This method will help you connect with your audience more effectively. A strong rhetorical question will remain in the reader’s head as they read the rest of the work. In the body of your essay, you must answer the rhetorical question posed in the introduction or, at the very least, bring the reader to a relevant remark.

When you have a compelling hook, it is time to introduce your audience to the essay’s primary issue. Since the paper’s central idea may not be immediately apparent at this stage, you must narrow your paper’s focus by providing relevant contextual background material. Outlining the background information will assist the reader in understanding how the issue will develop throughout the article. Finally, after providing the context, you must shape your golden sentence (a.k.a. thesis statement).

In a nutshell, the thesis statement is the essay’s central concept, idea, or argument. In other words, it is a one-sentence summary of the complete message you will present.

Bonus tip:

  1. When crafting your thesis statement, avoid using unnecessary details.
  2. Keep your communication direct and concise.
  3. Remember that the primary functions of this sentence are to establish the paper’s focus and to expose the reader to the important concepts that will be discussed in the body paragraphs.

The Main Body

Your essay’s body paragraphs will serve as the source of information for your viewers. The body is always the largest section of a 5-paragraph assignment and demands the most consideration. When writing your body paragraphs, you should state your essential points in the sequence of your outline and support your thesis statement with convincing arguments and data. If you break from this, you will confuse the reader, especially those who are paying close attention to the flow of your essay.

Here are the most important requirements for writing an effective body section:

  1. Accuracy: Be wary of information and avoid self-contradiction. Include the relevant subpoints you presented in your thesis (depending on the body paragraphs).
  2. Evidence: Every topic or notion you discuss must be supported by sufficient proof to substantiate your claims. Provide specifics, including facts, statistics, and citations.
  3. Word Selection: Pay close attention to your vocabulary, especially persuasive or descriptive writing. Your language should accurately convey your information. Utilize vibrant adjectives and robust adverbs. Words that are misused, jargon or technical phrases that confuse readers, slang or improper language, cliches, wordiness, etc., are examples of things to avoid in terms of word choice.
  4. Maintain Consistency: A body paragraph should have five to seven sentences. Logically, they should all have a similar academic essay structure, the primary difference being the subpoint’s presentation. We always advise students to review a high-quality academic essay example to understand how the entire paper should look.

The purpose of the main body is to address any questions that may have arisen in the reader’s mind following the introduction. Each new point should bring the reader closer to comprehending the overall topic you present in your essay. Idealistically, your goal should be to bring them to the same degree of topic understanding as you. After accomplishing this objective, it is time to move to the conclusion.

Academic Essay Conclusion

In any writing task, you must start strong and conclude even stronger. As you approach the conclusion of your work, your reader may need help remembering what the first paragraph was about. Hence, you must remind them. In general, a strong essay conclusion will include the following:

  1. Summary: A concise paraphrase of the thesis and subpoints’ material. (Only if writing an informative, descriptive, or persuasive piece)
  2. Personal or Social Connection: In other words, the significance of this information to society. This relationship highlights the subject’s universal significance and contemporary relevance.
  3. Concluding Statement: Typically, this is the final sentence that aims to close up your work. If you began with a rhetorical question, it would be a great touch to provide the listener with an answer. If you have composed a quotation, rewrite it in your own words. It is essential to leave the audience with a powerful, memorable message.

To Sum Up

We hope this article has provided you with a solid foundation for becoming an excellent academic essay writer. Remember that the objective of an academic essay is to develop and communicate your views. As a result of improving your academic essay writing, you will be able to express yourselves effectively and write and speak with greater assurance. Contact us if you need academic essay writing services. Best wishes on your assignment!