©Michael D. Sublett
Your Name
Today's Date
Because many careers require facility in written communication, students should write
frequently and receive prompt, constructive criticism of their efforts. We can all
benefit from a close examination of our work by those able to suggest improvements in
format, content, style, grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. Do your
utmost on every essay, so your readers will know where you are in the pursuit of
excellence. In this model essay I provide suggestions to help you improve your
writing.
Title
All essays require a title. Choose the title carefully. Make it appealing and informative. You might start with a working title, and then revise to reflect what you eventually wrote. Be sure to use all capital letters.
Working title: SAGE SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENT SCRIBES
Revised title: SEVERAL SUGGESTIONS FOR BETTER ESSAYS
Final title: AN ESSAY ON SHORT ESSAYS
Subheadings
Although uncommon and often unnecessary in short essays, subheadings appear here as an instructional tool. Subheadings help the reader immensely as essay length and complexity increase. For more subheading information, see the guidelines below.
Paragraphs
Even if subheadings seem inappropriate for your paper, by all means use paragraphs to assist the reader. Focus on a goal of, say, five related sentences per paragraph; and then vary the number depending on the topic. Paragraphs should in almost all cases (99 percent) contain more than one sentence. If you discover a paragraph of only one sentence, add sentences to that paragraph, combine the lonesome sentence with another paragraph, drop the sentence, or leave it (and prepare to defend your decision).
For all paragraphs, no matter what the length, your reader should be able to identify the key (topic) sentence. In fact, write so that the reader who scans the essay for topic sentences can from them learn the essay's gist. Try scanning the essay you are reading for topic sentences. In this paragraph the topic sentence comes first (as is often the case).
First Paragraphs
Use your initial paragraph (or paragraphs) as an introduction to the subject of the essay. Some writers like to cite an incident from their personal experience. No matter how you structure the introduction, however, use it to interest your reader and to prepare him or her for what follows. The end of the paragraph is a good place for the essay's preview statement, an introductory summation of what follows and arguably the most important segment of the essay. Can you find the preview statement of this model essay?
Middle Paragraphs
Paragraphs found between the first and the last constitute the body of a short essay. Use the body to make your argument about whatever it is you are writing. Keep your reader interested (here and throughout your essay) by varying the wording, length, and structure of your sentences.
Last Paragraphs
Use the final paragraphs to collect your thoughts and to exit gracefully from the essay. Do not merely end the paper with the last of your points about the topic. On the other hand, seldom is it necessary in a short essay to list again all your main points. Conclusions (and introductions) tax most of us more than does the body. Some writers prefer to do the body first, then the conclusion, then the introduction, and finally the title.
Sentences
Use neither all short nor all long and complicated sentences. Instead, employ both. Avoid grammatical sentence fragments lest your reader suspect you of being a poor writer. Know, however, that an emphatic fragment, like "Nuts!" (attributed to an American general, Anthony McAuliffe, at Bastogne in World War II), spices your prose and in no way calls into question your writing ability.
Experiment with the relative placement of sentence parts. Instead of beginning all your sentences with the subject and following with the predicate, which quickly becomes boring, use a complex structure (as I have done in this sentence). With the complex sentence, items of a lesser nature precede the heart of the sentence.
Boring: The map lacks a legend because the designer forgot.
Better: Because the designer forgot, the map lacks a legend.
Choose the (forceful) active voice over the (feeble) passive. Instead of having your subject receive the action, make your subject the actor. Doing so you save words and keep your reader informed about who did what to whom. Examples follow.
Passive: Computers will be used more frequently by cartographers in the future.
Active: Cartographers, in the future, will use computers more frequently.
Passive: I am being asked by my geography professor to write better.
Active: My geography professor is asking me to write better.
Passive: The Colorado River was explored by John Wesley Powell.
Active: John Wesley Powell explored the Colorado River.
Passive: It is believed geographers should write in the active voice.
Active: I believe geographers should write in the active voice.
Words
Choose words carefully. While it is fine to begin some sentences with the, a series of five in a row tends to annoy the observant reader. Habitually notice first words (I is another word to watch) when you proof. If you encounter repetition (first-word or otherwise), seek an alternative word. Sometimes recasting the offending sentence is easier than finding the right synonym.
Silly Errors to Avoid
Silly errors leave your reader wondering whether you knew not the correct way or overlooked the errors in your haste to finish. Neither conclusion flatters you. Here is a list of common mistakes students make in papers they submit to me.
(1) Using contractions in formal prose: don't, wasn't, it's.
(2) Choosing the wrong word: principal confused with principle,
its
confused with it is or it's, affect with effect,
their
with there, to
with too (or even two), complimentary with complementary.
(3) Making up a word: alot instead of a lot.
(4) Employing pronouns (this, it, these, those) whose
antecedents are
unclear: This is confusing.
(5) Failing to follow years or states (countries) with commas:
January 5, 1943, was the date; Kansas City, Missouri, was the place.
(6) Failing to space properly around the dash and the hyphen:
dash--dash, hyphen-hyphen.
Almost Done
Do not allow a single draft to satisfy you; use subsequent drafts to improve your composition. Check your spelling after the first draft, and edit later drafts for typographical errors, superfluous words, and problems the spell-check missed. Ask someone you trust (who knows about writing) to examine your work. Polish your final product as you would polish a classic 1967 Mustang convertible. Be proud to show off the results of your efforts.
Now make final preparations. Center the title above the text and two inches from the top of the sheet. Use only capital letters. Italicize those parts of your title that ordinarily require italics, such as the name of a book, newspaper, magazine, or journal. Begin the first paragraph on the third line below the title. Indent the first line of all paragraphs six to nine spaces (be consistent) to indicate the start of a paragraph. Double-space your text so there is room for editorial comments. Employ margins of one inch on the sides and bottom of all pages and on the top after the first page. Bottom margins may slightly exceed one inch when otherwise only a lonely subheading would appear at the bottom. In other words, break the page before the subheading so that the subheading appears at the top of the next page.
If you need subheadings, keep the following guidelines in mind. First, leave two blank lines (triple-space), if you can, between the last line of the previous section and the subheading; leave one blank line (double-space) below the subheading. Second, center the subheading between the margins (high priority); or begin the first word flush with the left margin (lower priority). Third, increase the priority of a subheading by highlighting with boldface or italics. In priority order, therefore, from highest to lowest, you may choose subheadings that you (1) center and highlight, (2) center but do not highlight (I use here), (3) set flush with the left margin and highlight, and (4) set flush with the left margin but do not highlight (I use here). Fourth, whenever you use a subheading at a particular priority level, you must employ at least one other subheading at that level in that portion of the essay. Capitalize the first and last words plus all other words except a, an, but, for, nor, or, the, to (when an infinitive, as in Learning to Write Environmental Impact Statements), and prepositions.
Commit your final draft to paper. If the essay requires more than one page, use additional sheets of paper--not the back sides. Use the printer to number the sheets (after the first) in some convenient spot, such as bottom right. Handwritten page numbers are a poor substitute but better than none at all. For short essays, use no cover sheet or fancy binder. Secure multiple sheets, in the proper order, with a staple (slanted like a forward slash [/]) in the top left-hand corner. Place your name and the date in top right-hand corner of the first page.
Exit
Writing (especially good writing) requires hard work. Strive for improvement; profit from constructive criticism. I do.
Contact me via email at mdsuble@ilstu.edu
Learn more about me at my homepage.
Created 31 December 1997. Last revision occurred 9 December 2011.