If you are a college or university student, your professor will likely assign you endless writing assignments. You could be happy if the assignment is a short essay because it seems easy. You may think it takes an hour or two to complete. Sometimes, writing a short essay may be more challenging than writing a long essay.

Learning how to write a short essay is crucial because it will enable you to present your ideas concisely and clearly. When assigned short essay assignments, students go online to search, for what is considered a short essay. Well, this article defines the essay and highlights all you need to write the essay.

Short essay definition

A short essay is an academic writing that involves answering a question related to the course content. How long is a short essay? The essay could be anywhere between 250 words to 750 words depending on the instructions provided by your professor. When writing a short essay, you should select the most important information to ensure you do not write more than the required words.

Writing a short essay

Whether you have been assigned a persuasive, argumentative, or informative short essay, there are some basic features you should follow. Here are the steps involved in writing a short essay;

1. Research

Among the most crucial jobs is to locate pertinent sources. The great news is that because the essays are brief, you typically only require a few sources, roughly two or three. They can be chapters from books published by Sage Publishing or papers from reputable US magazines. Please pay special attention to the time; the more recent the sources, the better; confirm that they have undergone peer review. Read an overview or an abstract of the research you have found. Does that seem like something you’ll find useful? Remember that each source should add something to your brief essay.

2. Brainstorming

How can you compose a brief essay without first organizing your thoughts? Consider your specific areas of interest if it’s not possible. Be as attentive as you can when writing brief essays. Your words must all be clear and relevant. It’s crucial to have a complete idea of what you will be writing about for that.

3. Outline

The obvious progression after brainstorming is to outline. Now that you have all the thoughts, you need to record them on paper so you won’t get lost when you hit the keyboard. Having an outline is imperative, especially if your topic is vast.

Writing down all justifications and counterpoints before you begin working is advised because the risk of disorganized ideas is quite serious. Focus on your ultimate objective as you choose the details you want to include in each paragraph.

4. The writing process

Writing won’t be difficult if the prior steps have been performed. Just apply all you have done prior that you have an outline and references to use. However, keep in mind that this is only a brief article. Be succinct and to the point, covering each issue swiftly but thoroughly.

5. Edit and proofread your essay

The writing of your brief essay must include editing and proofreading. To ensure that nothing is hurried or imprecise, you must read what you have written to ensure that it sounds decent. Writing is, first and foremost, a creative activity, and regardless of whether your ideas are correctly communicated, many technical and spelling errors will lower your grade.

Proofread your essay and use grammatical checkers to avoid it if you can. As the essay is short, you aren’t be reading it for very long, so pay close attention.

Short essay format

Many ask, how many paragraphs is a short essay? Like any other academic essay, a short essay has a basic structure, including; an introduction, thesis statement, main body, and conclusion. With this, your writing will be easy to comprehend and well-structured.

1. Introduction

An introduction is the first part a reader meets when reading your essay. as a result, ensure it is readable and interesting. Write a hook that will pique the interest of the reader. Your introduction should not exceed five sentences. Ensure you convince the reader how important your topic is in the introduction.

2. Thesis statement

That is the final part of the introduction. It must feature a statement that you intend to support and be narrowly focused on the key issue you seek to investigate. Hence, if your subject is too general or straightforward, narrow it down.

The thesis statement should be arguable and should encourage opponents to refute your claims. Also, by reading this argumentation assertion, anyone should be able to understand your main point. Thus, rephrase it till it is apparent if necessary. Refer to any short essay example to understand how to craft an interesting thesis statement.

3. The main body

This is the part where you argue all your main points. The main body of your essay should have three paragraphs. Include the main points and the supporting data in the section. Begin with your strong points to make your essay quality.

Place any points with weaker supporting data in the declining order. Remember to reference them following the formatting guidelines. Use linking words and conjunctions to keep your writing flowing smoothly. As a result, your narration will flow logically because all of your thoughts will arrive gradually and transition into one another without interruption.

4. Conclusion

Present all the findings in the conclusion part.  Now, demonstrate how the concepts from the main body support the thesis statement. The ending is a combination of the work, not just a basic summary. Ensure you answer the question you posed in the introduction. Your goal is to provide your readers with a fresh perspective on the topic. Thus, if the first statement of the introduction caught their attention, the final sentence of the conclusion should leave them feeling happy with the material they’ve read. To understand more about conclusions, read different short essay format examples online.

Additional tips for writing excellent short essays

1. Choose a topic you have some interest in

This is essential for creating an essay that will be engaging for all readers. You will undoubtedly be successful because you will be a member of your audience if you are interested in learning about anything and possess a personal stake in the subject.

You’ll make certain to select fascinating short essay topics. Even when writing an academic paper, passion is always visible, and it will produce greater outcomes than picking a topic simply because you know it’s popular.

2. Understand your audience

Keep in mind who your target readers are. Before beginning to write, decide who could read the paper in question. If an instructor is your main audience, they probably already have some knowledge of your subject, so you don’t need to go over the fundamentals again. In other instances, it is preferable, to begin with, something larger to prevent distracting the intended audience.

3. Read

You must have a particular level of expertise to write any essay. Before drafting the opening paragraph, do some research on the subject. To get in-depth inspiration for your brief essay, at least partially devour the content from your chosen sources. Read such papers online if you have an APA format short essay assignment.

4. Avoid any distractions

It could be tempting to write an essay as you watch TV shows to spice things up a little. However, refrain from doing so unless you’re a highly seasoned writer. Concentrate on your essay writing. When nothing distracts you, you can accomplish it quickly, and your material will be focused and pertinent.

5. Be motivated

It could seem hard to complete this paper because writing is becoming too challenging. There are no longer any thoughts that could be employed, all sources of inspiration have long since vanished, and many other exciting and intriguing chores invite you to them. At this stage, having a break is excellent, but not quitting.

If some downtime is required to restore equilibrium, take it, but then continue your task. The finest reward will be feeling proud and successful after such an endeavor. The same logic holds when an essay receives a low mark. Even though it’s upsetting, making an effort is still worthwhile. Perseverance will eventually pay off, and all subsequent grades you receive will demonstrate this.

To sum up

Writing a short essay is not as simple as it may sound. However, with the skills and the right attitude, you will write a perfect essay. This article has highlighted all you need to know before writing a short essay. Kudos for reading up to this point. You can now go ahead and write your essay.

When writing a short essay, choose a topic you are interested in and create an outline. Generate a strong and arguable thesis statement. Research to ensure you have information about your topic of study. Write a good conclusion and edit your essay to ensure it is free from errors and typos.

Do you still need help writing your short essay? Reach out to onlinenursingexams.com for the best essay writing services at reasonable rates.

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