ESSAY WRITING

STEP ONE:  Purpose
What's the purpose of this essay?  Is it to INFORM an audience, or to ARGUE a point?
If you're ARGUING, you need to pick a stance.  Pro or con?
*Avoid saying, "In my opinion."  We want PROOF, FACTS, and RESEARCH.  Not opinions.

STEP TWO:  Audience
Who will be grading your essay?  A teacher?  A friend?  How will that affect the language that you use?  Avoid immature words that dumb down your writing.
Examples of immature words:  stuff, like like like, 'cause, kinda, etc.

STEP THREE:  Decide on your three main points.  This should happen before you do ANY writing at all.

STEP FOUR:  Create an outline of what you will talk about.  It will look like this:

INTRO

Thesis statement

Three main points

BODY 

Transition word, topic sentence

Facts about your first point

BODY

Transition word, topic sentence

Facts about your second point

BODY

Transition word, topic sentence  

Facts about your last point

CONCLUSION

Three main points

Thesis statement

Now that you know what your three main points are, you can start filling in the outline with your information.  Start with the BODY paragraphs, then do your INTRO and CONCLUSION.  You can't do a proper intro without first knowing where you're going with your body paragraphs.