Basic skills required for essay writing.
An essay is a paper, commonly required by instructors at secondary schools or colleges, that presents an argument or topic and supports it with information from other sources. The essay demonstrates your knowledge on a topic as well as your writing ability. In order to write a thorough essay it's important that you are proficient at a number of skills.
Organization and Analysis Skills
The way you organize an essay is extremely important if you want your instructor to take it seriously. The overall format is a cover page, introduction, body, conclusion, and citations. You must organize the body by sections (main ideas) in a sequential order whenever possible to make it easier for the reader to understand your points. Additionally, you must analyze your topic thoroughly before you start writing to assure you have a strong these, the right main sections in the body, and at least a general idea of your possible conclusions on the topic.
Research and Reading Skills
When you write a proper essay, research is commonly required---otherwise your paper is more of an opinion piece or article. You can find information from internet research, the library, periodicals, and books. You need to do light research for a standard essay and heavy research for an essay that is specifically designated as a "research paper" by your instructor. "Wide reading" is important---you have to read a wide selection of research sources and expand your knowledge on your subject before narrowing the concepts down for your paper. It is helpful to know exactly where to look for valid references to support your main topic (such as informational portals online and government statistic publications) and pinpoint the most important information to include in your paper.
Editing Skills
Unless you have someone available to look over your work when it's done, as an essay writer you need to also have some level of editing skills. After writing the paper, you must go back over the paper with a pair of "fresh eyes" and correct spelling, grammar, and content issues. Remember to double-check your references as well.
Formatting Skills
Since essays are commonly written in word processing programs, you need to be proficient when it comes to formatting your essay document in these computer programs. Most instructors will require you to write the essay in MLA (Modern Language Association) format. For this format your paper has to have one inch margins, double-spacing, standard font (usually Times New Roman), indentation on the first line of each paragraph, and page number in the upper right-hand corner of the page among other requirements. You must also be familiar with the proper format for your citations page, which contains a listing of your references.
