Essay Writing Help for Kids

If your English teacher just announced an assignment to write a five-paragraph essay, these words probably didn't bring joy to your heart. But writing essays is going to be part of your life while you are in school in many subjects, not just English, so it's an important skill for you to learn. Essays don't have to be a headache or anything to be scared of: Once you learn the basic steps to write an essay, it will be much simpler and faster to do.

What Are You Writing About?

Before you can start writing your essay, you need to determine two things: what type of essay it is and what the question is asking. There are five main types of essays that you will encounter: narrative, expository, persuasive, literary, and process. A narrative essay asks for you to provide a story or personal view of a topic. Expository essays will give you a topic and ask you to research it and analyze it. Persuasive essays are meant to argue for a point of view, backing up the position with facts. Literary essays are ones written about books, either summarizing them or answering questions about them. And a process essay is a "how-to" essay that tells the reader the steps they need to follow to do something.

After you determine what kind of essay has been assigned, you need to break down exactly what it is asking you to discuss. The easiest way to do this is to reword the question in your own words, especially if the essay prompt uses words that you are not familiar with. For example, a persuasive essay prompt might read, "Advocate for or against a change in the school lunch menu to include fast food." When you break this down into easier language, it's really asking, "Do you think they should serve fast food at school for lunch?"

Making an Outline

Outlining is a very important step in writing an essay. Many people skip this step, but the result is an essay that is hard to read and doesn't flow well from one idea to the next. Outlines can be a bit scary because a lot of times, they have a fancy structure to them, but they do not have to follow any super-strict format. You make an outline so you have a clear road map for your essay: It doesn't matter in the end how they are formatted or what they look like.

At the very least, your outline should state the main thoughts for each paragraph. If you want, you can add some of the important points that you are going to use to support your main point. Lay out your outline in the same order as your paper. This is a good time to make sure that the way you have your sections listed makes sense for the topic.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is nothing more than your main point or focus of the paper. It is usually a single sentence and gives the reader a preview of what you are going to be talking about. Your thesis statement comes at the end of your introduction. It is important because it helps the reader know the point of the essay. As they read your words, they already have an idea of what you want them to understand about the topic.

A thesis statement should not try to fit in all of the points of the essay. It also should not be a title or a statement of fact. For example, "Recycling aluminum cans reduces carbon dioxide in the environment" wouldn't be a good thesis statement because this is a fact. The thesis should take a position that you'll support in the rest of the essay, such as, "Recycling aluminum cans is an easy and effective way to help improve the environment." Your essay could then go on to talk about all of the ways that recycling cans helps the environment and how simple it is to recycle.

A thesis statement should not be written in first person and should take a clear stance. Phrases like "I think," "we believe," or "it seems" should not be used. Instead, just make the statement. The whole point of the essay is to help the reader understand or agree with your statement. Also, keep the thesis focused on the main topic. You might have multiple points that you are going to talk about in the essay, but there should only be one main theme in your thesis statement.

Introduction

The introduction is a very important part of your paper. This is where you set the stage for your essay and grab the reader's attention. There are lots of different ways to write an introduction, but there are a couple of key parts no matter how you decide to go about it. The introduction should introduce the topic and have your thesis statement at the very end of it. Don't use phrases like "in this essay" or "for this assignment": Those are boring phrases that won't get the reader's attention. Above all else, the introduction should be interesting and make the reader want to continue. Some great ways to grab a reader's attention are to use a story, state some interesting or surprising facts, or open with a powerful quotation. Don't get too carried away with your introduction, though. It should be short and should introduce the points you are going to make in the paper.

Body of the Essay

Your essay should have several paragraphs, depending on your assignment. A lot of times, you will use a five-paragraph plan: one for the introduction, three for the body, and one for the conclusion. Each body paragraph should focus on one main point from your outline. You should open the paragraph with a statement that makes your main point. Then, add several sentences that support that statement. At the end of the paragraph, transition to your next point and paragraph. Follow this basic framework for each point that you made in your outline.

Conclusion

Once you have written a paragraph for each of your main ideas, now, you need to finish the whole paper with a conclusion. Your conclusion should be a summary of the points you made in your paper. You don't want to use your exact words over again, however. Try to help the reader connect all of your points back to the thesis. You should also link your conclusion back to your introduction. If you started with a story, write your conclusion like you are writing the end of that story. If you opened with some startling facts, maybe add a few more that particularly support your viewpoint.

An essay assignment can be intimidating, and trying to come up with words to fill a blank page can be difficult. However, with a little practice, you can tackle any English assignment with confidence!