1. Discover the Basic Principles of an Essay
An essay is not only about writing skills, but it demonstrates the ability
of your students to research as well. So, teachers’ task is to teach their
students to research.
An essay is not an essay without any research. Explain your students that
it is always better for them to choose a topic they understand well and
have an opportunity to make a research on. Good research capability is
important for every student to get, that is why do not forget practicing
different research tactics with them: tell in details about the methods
they can use to find all the information needed, how to use this info
wisely, and what are the best ways to distinguish the important facts.
2. Informative and well-styles essays are impossible to write without
a purpose.
An essay cannot be just a piece of writing about general things
everybody knows and understands perfectly. So, teach your students that
they should not be in a hurry to write their essays at once they've chosen
the topic. Make them decide upon the purpose of an essay.
When a student perfectly understands what he writes an essay for, it will
be much easier for him to draw the outline and start writing.
3. The process of teaching is impossible without examples.
For your students to understand what a good piece of writing actually is,
just give them some examples of excellent essays. It may be an essay of
your former student for example. When they see a sample, your students
will have an idea what a good essay should look like.
Use samples to tell students about each element their essays should
include. They will perfectly understand what the good introduction is,
what an informative body of an essay should look like, and how to make
an appropriate conclusion. Moreover, your students will also have an
opportunity to see how sentences are built, and what grammar
constructions are used in an essay.
4. The last thing to do before starting to write an essay is to make its
outline.
Choose some topic and make a list of points your students would need to
mention if they wrote an essay on it. Such a technique will give them a
better understanding of what and essay is, and how it should be written.
Make sure that all students perfectly understand the fact they should
follow an essay outline, because it will be much easier for them to write
this piece of paper. Make it clear to them that every point of the outline
should start from a new paragraph. Moreover, the smaller these
paragraphs are – the more attractive an essay will look for its readers. It
is not very comfortable to read very long paragraphs, as it will be more
difficult to get the point in such a way. Eventually, it will be easier for
students themselves to compose shorter paragraphs of an essay.
5. Finally, it is time to start writing an essay. And here comes its most
important part that is called an introduction. As a rule, students find it
very difficult to write this part of their essay, as they do not know how to
start a piece of writing in order to attract readers' attention and tell them
shortly about what this essay is about.
It is clear, that an essay will not be good without a proper and attractive
beginning, so, your task is to explain this moment to your students. Tell
them, that no one will continue reading their essays if they do not make
it eye-catchy and clear for a potential reader. Moreover, an essay
introduction should be intriguing a bit.
Depending on the topic of an essay, students can start it with a story
from their personal experience. This is a good way to grab an attention.
Discuss this option with your students, listen to their suggestions.
Discussions will help them learn the material better.