Essay Outline
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Writing of essays is a common practice in colleges where such essays can be written for various purposes. Their purpose can be to give information, give instruction, give a criticism or give an explanation of an issue. The outline of an essay is therefore important as it determine the quality of an essay that one writes. This essay focuses on the content of a good essay outline and also how to develop it. A good essay outline is not only useful in the writing of a good essay but also ensure an efficient essay writing process. This essay therefore looks into the importance of the essay outline in the development of college essays.
Consider a person telling a joke or a criticism and when just about to reach the climax remembers that the line for this purpose was put somewhere in the middle; this can be a frustrating experience. In a similar way such mistakes can be made when writing an essay to and to avoid such situations then an outline of the essay is very important. An essay outline helps the writer to organize the ideas to be put in the essay and also make the process of writing the essay easier by ensuring that the essay has a good and a natural flow.
Writing of a good college essay is therefore very dependent of the outline made before the start of the writing. A general essay will have the following basic outline: The first section of the essay will be the introduction in this section where the writer introduces the essay and it normally starts with broad ideas or a criticism, which are then narrowed down into the thesis statement of the essay. A thesis statement shows what the argument in the paper will be. In this section the writer should use wordings that attract the attention of the reader. After the introduction the next section should be the body of the essay. This section will be composed of paragraphs where in each paragraph the writer should give evidence, support or make an argument concerning the thesis statement. Each of these paragraphs will start with a topic sentence from which the argument or information in that paragraph will be related. All the arguments brought out in the essay should be supported with facts, data quotes or examples. In a good essay the transition from one paragraph to the next should be smooth and this can be achieved by integrating the final sentence of a paragraph to the next paragraph’s topic. The final section of the essay should be the conclusion. In this section the writer wraps the ideas, arguments or any criticism brought out in the essay. A good conclusion should not introduce a new argument but it should bring together the writers ideas in the essay in relation to the theme of the essay and bring the paper to a logical and a neat close. In order to write a good and an original essay then it is important to develop a strong essay outline.
How to develop an essay outline will mainly depend on the type of essay to be written. However, in writing of any kind of essay the first step is usually the prewriting which include the writing of the essay outline. Sometimes writing of the essay outline can be a tedious activity but if you handle it according to the sections of the essay then you will find the process simpler. When writing the outline for the introduction it is important to use the most important point so that you capture the curiosity of the reader. When writing the outline for the body of the essay then the writer needs to include points according to the requirement and the length of the essay. The writer should also find points that give support to the thesis of the essay. When writing the essay these points should be supported, explained and discussed. In the conclusion section the writer should choose points that best wraps the main ideas of the essay together. In college essay most type of essay writing will have this as their major outline guidelines.
A critical essay is one of the type of essays written in college. In this kind of an essay the writer gives a criticism or a review of another work of art usually a book, play, picture, and a movie. In writing the outline for this type of essay then the introduction of the essay should provide the opinion of the writer. In the body of the essay the writer should focus on the book analysis by a criticism on its themes, styles, plot, characters, and setting. The concluding paragraph of the criticism essay should restate its introduction.