Most of the high school students are not familiar with “how to write an essay outline." They start writing their paper and without correctly following instructions finish the paper with anything coming to their mind, like a rough draft. Essay writing has its own rules and regulations. It needs talents and proficiency to design an essay sketch properly. Did you know that writing essay is an art? Well, if not, here I am to guide you on how to format a proper essay if you aren't familiar with the rules of formatting one.

Parts of an essay

An essay contains three parts such as an introduction, body, and conclusion. Remember that you always have to start writing your essay with an introductory paragraph. An introductory paragraph is where you tell the audience about the background of your topic. Define the problem and narrate to the audience the importance of your topic. Make your readers familiar with the issue you are discussing by giving some facts about the topic you write. In the last line of your introduction comes the thesis statement of your essay.

What is a thesis statement?

When you “write my essay” did you ever know where do you put the thesis statement of it? Does it come in the beginning or at the end of an introduction? Many writers confuse thesis statement with the introduction of the essay itself. No, they are two different things. The introduction is the short background or related facts to your essay. Unlike this, thesis statement which is the last sentence of your introduction gives the reader a hint about the theme of your entire paper. In short, it tells the main idea how are you going to prove your point of view on a specific topic.

Things you should always remember:

Most writers spend time writing an introduction and make it unnecessarily long. One should always keep in mind the fact that introduction of an essay is just a summary of what your essay is going to be about. You need only to be very specific when working on the introduction of your essay. Writers must have a grasp of eliminating unnecessary details from the introduction.

Body is the second part of your essay

The second part of your essay is the body. It includes all the specific facts that you must point out in your essay. Even when you criticize or agree with someone’s idea make sure to quote it. Then with valid reasons put down your stance on that idea. Body is the part of your essay where proper citation matters. Here, you make arguments, agree or disagree with other writers. Therefore, it is advisable to write paragraphs which are short in length and very concise.

Why should you avoid long paragraphs?

Professional essay writers avoid writing long paragraphs. Do you know why? It is because long paragraphs are mostly confusing and do not necessarily convey to the readers the right message. One paragraph only talks about one idea. Therefore, for paragraphs to adequately communicate your point of view to the audience, it should be short and brief. Your essays become clear and that the reader fully comprehends your point of view only when one idea is presented to the readers at one time. So make your paragraphs short, detailed and concise.

What does an ideal paragraph look like?

An ideal paragraph only contains hardly nine or ten lines. Any paragraphs exceeding these line limits is long. If your paragraphs are long, it means two things. Either you essay repeats on the same thing, or it explains more than one idea at the same time. In both the cases, the quality of your essay can be questioned. Either the writer does not understand the rule of writing an essay or the writer has no command on the specific topic. Therefore, it is essential to recognize the instructions of any essay before starting to write on it.

Conclusion, the last part of your essay

Last but not least, comes the conclusion of your essay. In this part, you summarize all the points you have discussed both in the introductory and body parts. Similarly, in conclusion, you must keep in mind the short paragraph rule. As much as introduction and body are a necessary part of your essay, the conclusion is equally important. Your essay can't just sum all the points discussed above, in one paragraph. As much as introduction and body of your essay matters, the conclusion of your essay is equally essential. Therefore, everything you write must be based on your depth knowledge discussed in the above paragraphs. Conclusion is just the summary of your paper where you put your analysis.

Hey you!! Don’t forget to cite

Sometimes writes unnecessarily use long direct quotes and consider it a proper citation. When you cite, you also explain why you have cited it and how does it relate to your topic. One must mention other writer ideas only to prove his ideas correct based on his. It is not an excuse to fill pages just mentioning what others have spoken about your topic earlier than you. When you cite, you are giving your readers a reason to believe you. Also, you prove your opinion based on other credible authors who are known for their brilliant work in their fields. Hence, it is not just your opinion that an essay covers but needs back up points from other authors as well.

Always remember you can’t plagiarize

Don’t just make your essay a list of facts from Google search or paraphrase someone else’s idea? When you rephrase others words, it becomes plagiarism which is a severe crime in the literary context. Did you know that even paraphrasing else’s idea and not citing the author for it is plagiarism too? Plagiarism is highly unethical. Therefore, before the concept of formatting an outline of your essay comes to your mind, you should always be cautious about not to stealing others ideas.

Different types of essays

Get familiar with types of essays. For example, argumentative, analytical, informative or descriptive. Sometimes an essay is based on just one's own opinion of specific topic. Writers with the expertise of writing show interests in different types. If one writer can make the argument well, another may have excellent analytical skills. If you know the different types of essays, then you can quickly sketch an outline for your essay.