Topic Essay topic is actually a short combination of words, which should reflect the content of the paper.

Thus, it should be brief, but informative and specific. For instance, if the essay topic is "Africa", the author is expected to write about the economy, politics and other major spheres of the continent, but if the topic is specified to "Famine in Africa", the author automatically selects a narrower field of research. Importantly, essay topic should not be too long, so it would be reasonable to shorten where possible. As a rule, topics are assigned by teachers and instructors, but in certain cases the author is supposed to compose the essay title on their own. If the topic is not assigned, it is necessary

first and foremost to consider the purpose of the essay. For instance, motivation and admission essays should have topics, associated with the candidate's choice for the future and contain personal information, whereas research papers are supposed to have formal titles, relevant to the issues explored. It would be useful to generate several ideas concerning essay topic and write them on a sheet of paper, so that the writer can select the most suitable one. Each potential author should be aware of the fact that essay topic is the first phrase or word-combination, to which attention is paid, so this first impression should be positive. Further information on Essay Writing Basics: -> Topic - Outline - Thesis - Body - Introduction - Conclusion - Finish Outline After deciding on essay topic, the writer should consider the structure of the written work and plan the parts and chapters, which will appear most useful for the discussion of the issue assigned. Creation of an outline is particularly important to those writers, who have a lot of research information, some components of which will naturally be reduced, others- excluded from the discussion. Writers should remember that the initial purpose of outline is organizing their own ideas, so this step should be made basically for their own convenience. By definition, outline implies dividing the essay into parts. Instructors often have requirements concerning the structure of the paper as well as the outline - for instance, the author might be assigned to provide an expanded outline, which would include subdivisions for each part of the paper. For instance, when writing a pros-and-cons paper, the author might wish to construct a simple outline, composed of the formal parts like "Introduction"; "Arguments in favor of..", "Arguments against.." and "Conclusion", but it might be necessary to expand the second and the third point in order to make the nature of the arguments more concrete and give the instructor a basic idea of the tools the author operates in the discussion. In order to create an outline, the writer should take a sheet of paper and write the topic at the top. Further, it is necessary to list the aspects to be discussed. For instance, if the writer is assigned to discuss domestic violence, they might divide this issue into the following aspects: violence against children, violence against women, and violence against the elderly. Finally, for selfassistance, the writer might the basic ideas, deriving from these aspects, as well as other useful information like

references to the earlier research. Importantly, a formal outline should not contain the results of this final stage of work over the outline, but only clear structure in the point form. Thesis Thesis statement can be compared to the key phrase of the paper to be substantiated or discussed. Logically, thesis should be written after formulating essay topic and deciding on the structure. The thesis statement should inform the reader about the author's position in the discussion or the results

of their research. Thus, the thesis statement should imply the conclusion the writer has already drawn after processing the information, needed for the essay. Thesis is normally stated at the end of the introductory paragraph and is composed of one long sentence that covers all arguments the author uses in the discussion. In certain cases, thesis can be expanded, especially when speaking about papers, aimed receiving an academic degree (diplomas or dissertations). The thesis of shorter essays has the following structure: the first part should include the essay topic and the second part should reflect the author's position. It is

also acceptable to introduce an extra part at the end of the essay and briefly explain the reasons for this position. For instance, it would be more reasonable to state "Italy has rich and varied culture due because the Antiquity, the Renaissance and the Modernism influenced it at the corresponding times" instead of "Italy has rich and varied culture". Body The body of the essay contains the information the author would like to provide in their paper, so the selected topic should be discussed, described or argued in the body. In order to prepare a body of the essay, it is necessary to follow the outline. In shorter papers, each paragraph should discuss a point from the outline, but it is completely acceptable t expand this discussion. The number of paragraphs is determined by essay structure and type, their length by the nature of the issue discussed. It is important to be aware of the rule that states, each paragraph should explain a separate idea or statement, or different aspects (sub-aspects) of the same issue. As a rule, each body paragraphs begin with a statement of the idea or point of the discussion, which will be explained in the present paragraph. Further, each paragraph contains supporting statements and assumptions like statistical information, references to earlier studies, or, in case of personal essay, personal reasons for making the abovementioned choice. On the other hand, elaboration of each paragraph should keep the reader close to the thesis statement and the main idea and remain relevant. It is not very convenient, from the reader's position, to "digest" too long paragraphs, so the writer should carefully structure their mind flow and separate one "nuance" of the topic from another. For instance, if there is an assignment of writing about favorite animals, it would be unwise to describe cats, dogs and whales in the same paragraph. When composing the body of the essay, it is useful to state ideas in the logical order from less important points to the most significant (in case of an argumentative paper), or, when describing a process in a clear algorithm. Introduction The introductory paragraph should act as attentiongrabber, as it actually determines the tone and the nature of the discussion. It is a good idea to start the paper with an aphorism, written by a famous person, when writing a literary essay or a paper, explaining a particular social problem. On the other hand, one might prefer to start the essay with relevant statistical data or a theoretical assumption.

It is necessary to keep in mind that the major purposes of the intro are stating the topic and explaining its importance or relevance. Statement of the topic should come in the expanded form, so that the author specifies their approach to the issue and those aspects or components which will be further discussed. Explanation of its importance might not be mandatory, but, logically, it is useful to understand the objective (apart from the subjective like personal preferences) reasons for selecting the present topic. Finally, as it has been mentioned, thesis statement is the last sentence of the introduction. The length of the introductory paragraph is determined by the volume of the essay and the instructor's

requirements. In shorter papers, it constitutes 20 per cent of the total volume, but the intro should not exceed half of the page.

Conclusion The conclusion should show the closure of the essay, so it is a summary of the points and arguments. In addition, the conclusion restates the thesis and demonstrates the corresponden ce between the information, provided in the body paragraphs, and the thesis. Thus, the writer proves that they have provided enough evidence to validate the thesis, so it is important to summarize all points of the discussion or explanation. Neither thesis nor points should be restated exactly, in order to avoid repetition, the writer is supposed to paraphrase. As a rule, the concluding paragraph contains four or more summarizing sentences, but it should not include

any new information about the issue, except the perspectives for the further research of the topic. Statement of perspectives is not mandatory, but highly motivated writers, who have a keen interest in the issue, should express their opinion concerning the development of the corresponding field. The conclusion might also contain recommendations for the improvement, especially if the writer is assigned to describe a problem or challenge. In this case, it would be useful to provide these suggestions immediately after restating the points, e.g. after writing about obesity, one can conclude: "Contemporary Americans often each highcalorie and unhealthy dishes in fast-food restaurants, which should be obliged to provide the information about the potential influence of their production on the customers' fitness". It is also acceptable to separate the recommendations from the summary. Finish This step is necessary to ensure the essay contains no misspellings or other minor errors, which might decrease the author's grade. At this stage, the writer should ensure the correspondence between the instructions for the assignment and its format. It is useful to pay attention at margins, title, paragraph indentions, header and footer and the interval between lines. In addition, the writer should check all citations and referencing and ensure that the works cited page (or reference list) is prepared according to the style required (MLA, APA, Turabian and so forth). If there is a number of subdivisions, it would be more convenient, from the reader's position, to italicize or highlight all titles and subtitles. When finishing the paper, it is also useful to check the logical sense of the paragraphs and re-structure the essay if necessary. In order to make word flow more "natural", the author can add transition words like "nevertheless", "on the other hand" etc. Editing and proofreading should also be done, as spell-checking programs are not always reliable.