How to Write a Short Essay That Impresses Your Teacher?
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Essays are part and parcel of every student’s educational path. Thus, this form of academic reporting is unavoidable, and you need to master the art of writing to perfection to deal with these tasks on time. Yet, even though most students are afraid they won’t have enough material to cover the assigned word count, in many cases, the situation turns out to be exactly the opposite. They lack the space for voicing all ideas and arguments, and the problem is even more pressing for a short essay format.
When you have to deal with a mini essay, you have very tight space for everything you want to say. Here, another skill comes to the rescue – an ability for concise writing. In this article, we share valuable tips on how to write a short essay and explain its formatting and structuring nuances.
What is a Short essay?
The short essay definition is an academic written assignment that requires a writer to formulate their thoughts and opinions according to the proper structure and within 500 words. Sometimes the assignment gets even shorter and requires only 200 words. Just like regular essays, it can be of different types: narrative, argumentative, expository, descriptive, etc.
The point of such assignments is to teach expressing thoughts in the shortest form. Students must avoid repetition and stick to being laconic. The paper doesn’t require cliché phrases, slang, and vague information. Only an opinion and facts, strong arguments, statistics to prove it.
How Long Should a Short Essay Be?
One of the first challenges students face when trying to make sense of how to write a short essay is the exact length of the assignment. When we’re talking about short essay writing, it’s clear that the content will be shorter in length than a typical essay is. The answer to this question is – 200 to 750 words. Sure, the range is pretty large, meaning that your short essay may take anything from under one page to three full pages. However, the exact length of your mini essay will usually be assigned by the teacher, as every word counts in this assignment, and you will be required to fit your ideas into concrete space.
If your short essay writing task stipulates a size of 200-300 words, you will need to distribute space as follows:
- Allocate around 30-40 words (10-15%) to the introduction of the subject.
- Make a substantial paragraph of 150-200 words that discusses the main content of the assigned topic.
- Wrap your arguments up in a concise conclusion of 30-40 words (another 10-15% of the essay’s volume).
Elements of a Short Essay
The next point to consider when thinking about how to write a short essay is the structural composition of your paper. The short essay format usually includes the following components:
- Introduction. The opening section is necessary even in short essay writing, as you need to introduce your topic and your main argument about it. If your essay is under one page in length, you may introduce the subject in the first sentence and make the second one a thesis statement. If your essay is at least 500 words long, you can dedicate a separate small paragraph to it.
- Main evidence. Next comes the main content of your essay. Here, you should lay out your evidence to substantiate your ideas in the thesis statement. Use external evidence and sources to back up the points, but choose only the most relevant materials that will add value to your argument without redundancy.
- Concluding thoughts. The final section, whether a standalone paragraph or an ending of a one-paragraph short essay, should summarize the main ideas and link them to the initial thesis statement.
As you can see, short essay writing is very close in structure and organization to that of regular essays. The only thing that you need to grasp when mastering how to write a short essay is the smaller size of each part and more concise writing without too much detail.
How to Start a Short Essay?
Before you begin the short essay writing, you should do some research. Look through the topical literature on the given theme, pick the best ideas, and strong facts to support your point of view. The preliminary stage serves as a proper foundation for the high-quality paper. It could be reasonable to make a mind map or draw the scheme of how each argument is connected to the other one. Such a visual representation will help you find where to start your text and how to present the rest of the data.
Giving the paper an extraordinary start is the best way to attract readers’ attention. There are plenty of ways to do that:
- Pick a quote from a book or famous person;
- Begin with a rhetorical question;
- Use an unexpected statistical fact;
- Describe the theme without revealing the arguments (since you’ll need them later in the text).
A strong and comprehensive beginning is a foundation for an excellent paper. However, it’s better to keep it simple and laconic. Too complicated or confusing introduction and ruin the impression from your paper.
However, a strong beginning doesn’t guarantee the rest of the text will be equally impressive. Dedicate enough time to the rest of the paper and deliver relevant information to support your ideas.
7 Tips on How to Write a Good Short Essay
Writing essays is always time- and energy-consuming. It requires good writing skills, enough knowledge about the subject, and attention to detail. In case you don’t feel confident about writing the paper, you can learn more about the writing process beforehand. Discover the list of the most helpful tips on how to write a short essay. It is sure to help you do the best job and write an outstanding essay.
Select an exciting topic you feel passionate about
In case the teacher hasn’t provided a specific topic and gave only general recommendations, do your research. Discover the latest news related to the subject and brainstorm the possible ideas you can dwell on. Pick the topic you are interested in to create a high-quality paper that will inspire others to learn more on the subject.
Mind the readers
It’s not always crucial to know how many paragraphs in a short essay but who will read the paper. Take into account their possible opinions, background knowledge on the topic, and other factors. Use proper stylistic devices to maintain their attention and comprehensively deliver your idea.
Make sure you have enough expertise before writing the text
Read on the chosen topic and learn as much as possible. It’s the most significant thing one should do in the shortest possible time to succeed with the essay’s content. Choosing relevant resources and respected scholars as a foundation for the paper increases readers’ trust and openness to the given information.
Focus on writing, eliminating every distraction
Many students are used to writing while listening to music, watching TV shows, or hearing others talk in the background. Such distractions can impact the text quality a lot. Moreover, it takes more time to write the text. So, to present the facts and arguments properly, it’s better to get rid of all distractions and temptations and focus solely on the topic.
Stick to the given requirements
In case a teacher/instructor/professor has a list of requirements and guidelines, make sure to address the given aspects. Ignoring such details can reflect poorly on the grades. Mark the essential details you must include in the paper and reread the text afterward to verify each requirement was accounted for.
Double-check the paper before submitting
Read the finished text several times to enhance clarity and remove all sorts of possible mistakes: typos, spelling errors, grammar mistakes, stylistic issues, etc. There are lots of websites that offer free proofreading software and premium services. Select the most helpful assistance and improve the paper before submitting it.
Delegate the job to professional
Writing a good essay requires lots of time and patience. If you don’t feel like writing the paper and following all the tips above, you can simply hire professional writers who will take care of those assignments for you. You are sure to receive high-quality texts on time and save time for other important things in your life.
Short essay examples for your inspiration
Still unsure about how to write a short essay? Use the sample of a stereotype essay provided below to grasp the right approach to structure and content in this form of writing.
Role of Stereotypes in Human Cognition
The human brain is an endlessly complex mechanism that determines how people make sense of the world and perceive a variety of phenomena. Like any other organ in the human body, the brain automatically strives to simplify its own work, which means it uses a set of preconditioned reactions and evaluations for familiar things. While the process seems logical and reasonable from a physiological standpoint, in reality, these fine-tuned reactions turn into negative social consequences, as they frequently take the form of stereotypes.
The concept of stereotype has already obtained a negative connotation in most contexts, as it prevents a person from evaluating the situation, decision, or social interaction critically. Initially meant to serve good purposes by freeing the brain from the need to process similar data over and over again, stereotypes have caused many discriminatory stereotypes to emerge, thus hindering the quality of human interactions and narrowing human open-mindedness and flexibility in a variety of social circumstances. Stereotypes indeed free the brain’s resources for other cognitive tasks. However, they also deprive people of the benefit of taking a fresh look at the accustomed things and breaking the vicious circle of narrowing illusions and prejudices.
As the presented analysis suggests, stereotypes indeed serve basic physiological needs and simplify brain functioning to avoid overload with repetitive tasks. However, they narrow down the person’s worldview and make people capable of predetermined reactions to related situations, which is ineffective in the dynamically changing world. Therefore, it is vitally important to remain critical and open-minded by challenging stereotypes and subjecting them to scrutiny for the sake of retaining one’s ability to make sense of the world in a greater variety of ways.
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