How to write a response essay

How to write a response essay in easy steps?

What is a response essay?

Response essay is a type of essay which gives reaction or response to an object or a topic chosen. Also called as a reaction essay, it is a reaction to the summary of what you have read. It includes expressions of thoughts about a particular topic.

Responsive essay involves critical reading, critical thinking and reaction to a topic that is being written. For example, writing a summary of a television show that you have watched and writing a responsive essay about it.

Parts of a response essay:

To write a responsive essay, it must have two parts to it,

1.Summary of the topic- The topic must be researched well in order to write a summary on it.

2.Your reaction to the topic - Once a summary for the topic is prepared, it must then have your reaction towards it. This part of an essay is called response essay. 

Elements of a response essay

1.Introduction section:  The important element for a response essay is an introduction section. An introduction section must be written which should introduce an essay subtly. Care must be taken not to give in all the details of the topic as it should be discussed in the body section.

2.Thesis statement: A ship which is on the surface of the water is put to hold with the help of an anchor. An anchor helps in keeping it still.

The same way, an essay’s quality can be enhanced only when it has a strong and supportive thesis statement. A thesis statement is a focus on the idea of the topic which is written. It must be passed on in each section so that it builds a strong essay.

3.Hook statement: To develop for the readers to read an essay, they must be hooked onto it. To do this, an essay must include hook statements.

Hook statements help in grabbing reader’s attention inducing interest towards it.

4.Body section:  A body section is the heart of an essay. It must include all the necessary arguments to prove its credibility.

Generally, an essay will have 3 paragraphs to it, where each paragraph must have a response or a reaction to it. There must be transitional statements within the body section to have a greater quality essay.   

5.Conclusion section: A conclusion is very much important, it summarizes the whole essay that has been written. Conclusion to an essay must be synthesized and should be repeated as a thesis statement once again. 

5 simple steps to write a response essay

1.Brainstorm for ideas: To write any essay, a topic must be chosen. The best way to choose a topic is to brainstorm ideas for it. Here is a link on how to brainstorm for an essay.  

2.Organizing the essay: Once a topic is chosen to write, the next step towards writing a response essay is to organize it. As mentioned earlier, there are parts included while writing a response essay.

1.Write a summary on the topic

2.Write a reaction on the summary created

This helps in organizing an essay in a better manner.

3.Draft the essay: While drafting a response essay, it must always include three sections. They are an introduction section, a body section and a conclusion section.

4.Edit the essay which is written: After the completion of writing an essay, it must be edited. Editing is a skill which comes only by practice. Necessary things are added and discarded in this stage of essay writing.

5.Proofread the content: The last stage of essay writing is proofreading. Any grammatical errors, misplaced punctuation marks or misspelled words are given a check here.  

Things to be considered while writing

1.The reaction must be in terms of strong agreement or strong disagreement along with strong opinion created for it.

2.Evaluation of the analysis done to make it more effective.

3.The author’s name and title that is being discussed must be mentioned.

4.Summary of an article which is used to write a responsive essay.

5.Reflection on the topic that is read.

6.Signposting for response essay 

Example topics to write a response essay

Some of the example topics for a response essay are:

1.Responsibility of a student

2.Animal cruelty

3.Physical abuse

4.Impact of social networking sites

5.Single parenting 

How to write an abstract for an essay

How to write an abstract in a simple way?

Definition of an abstract:

A gateway to the research paper, thesis, dissertation, an abstract is a short summary that describes the paper which is written.

It is the summary of the whole presentation. To define the paper’s objective, an abstract must be used as a tool to communicate well. An abstract is written for writing a proposal,for a conference paper, writing a proposal for a book chapter, applying for research grant.

Why is an abstract written?

Abstract is an important part of a paper as it covers important aspects it and lets reader decide to read further. It also is used as indexing for a paper. It concisely produces the major elements of a paper therefore must be written carefully.

An abstract must be written with convincing keywords. There are online databases in which research papers are stored. These abstracts help in retrieving the papers. 

Format of an abstract:

A general way of writing an abstract contains these 6 elements which help in building it. The 6 elements are:

1.Introduction

2.Problem statement

3.Significance

4.Methodology

5.Results

6.Key impacts 

Best tips for writing an abstract

1.Write the abstract at last: Though going by the format, an abstract is placed in the first few pages of the paper. It is suggested to write the paper first keeping an abstract due till the last.

It is advantageous to write abstract at last because when a paper gets complete, you will have a fair idea of what the paper is about. Hence it becomes easy to write an abstract.

2.Limited words: An abstract must be propagated within 100-250 words. It must not be lengthy which will only reduce the quality of an essay.  

3.Aim at the purpose: The main intention of writing an abstract is to justify or bring out the purpose of writing a paper. There must be explanation about goal, method and the purpose of writing a paper. 

4.Must answer the question: An abstract must answer to the question which is the topic of the paper. Hence this will guide the readers to read the whole paper.

5.Methodology and result:  The next part of writing an abstract is to write the methodologies used and what are the outcome of the paper being presented.

6.Edit and proofread the content well: Before it is submitted, care must be taken to edit and proofread an abstract. There are chances of some silliest mistakes that might draw a negative feedback on the paper.

Types of abstracts

An abstract can be written in two types. They are:

1.Descriptive abstract

2.Informative abstract

1.Descriptive abstract: Descriptive essays are not more than a summary. It consists of words less than 100.More than the emphasizing on the findings or substance, descriptive essays are written just to describe what the research paper is all about.

It does not make any judgements over the paper which is written. It always includes keywords, purposes, methods and the scope of research.   

2.Informative abstract: Opposite to descriptive abstract, an informative abstract is written to inform the readers with specific information. It must focus on the new findings, research on the key points. The essential part of an informative abstract are:

1.Background

2.Aim

3.Methods

4.Results

5.Conclusion 

Things that must be avoided in an abstract

There are certain rules to be followed while an abstract is written. The same way, there are certain things that must be avoided. They are:

1.Care must be taken not to make an abstract lengthy. The maximum length must be up to 250 words or less than that.

2.It must be just the gist of a paper and not the whole interpretation about it.

3.Undefined abbreviations or acronyms must not be used, if used must be mentioned properly before using them.

4.Citations must not be included in an abstract.

5.Information which is not included in the work must not be mentioned.

How do I write a college essay?

A major concern that most students have when entering a university is the college application essay. It is used as a filtering option by the university administration to get the best students.

Though it is not mandatory to have excellent writing skills, nevertheless people with good writing skills tend to get selected than the ones who do not have.

With time, writing skills can be improved. But there are other set of problem other than this which can become hurdle while writing a college application essay.

10 things to avoid while writing a college essay

1.Lengthy essay: Like every essay, even college application essay has a word limit. Word limit is specified so as to evaluate them in lesser time. Because there might thousands of applications which humanly cannot be evaluated if there are written like a thesis.

Most of the applications get rejected because of the crossing the upper limit of the word count. It also takes cleverness to write about yourself in a limit set.

2.Must be precise and concise: An essay which is written in the aspect of college application must be written in a precise and concise manner. Precise because it is about you and must be limited enough to tell about yourself.

3.Resume must not be replicated: There is a great difference between a resume and a college application. Resume has more of professional approach whereas college application essay gives an opportunity to introduce yourself in a better manner. This platform must not be missed and written just like another resume.

4.Achievements should be mentioned and not bragged about: Every single person achieves something in their lives. These achievements can be put on the essay. Mistakenly, many students turn these achievements into brag.

Care must be taken not to over showcase your talents and be modest about them.

5.Unique: Unique things about you which make you different from others must be portrayed in the college application essay. Most essays fail to impress the university administrator because they lack a unique theme in them. Repeated voice or a theme can be harmful for your selection. 

6.Using informal language: Jargons, use of contractions and informal language; these are few of the examples of a bad practice of writing a college application essay. Such practice must be avoided to bring out better essay.

7.Choosing the right topic: A good topic will lead to a better essay. The first step in writing a winning application essay is to choose a topic on which something can be written. Not choosing a mundane subject or selecting an alien topic, there should be balance in between these.

8.Proofread your essay well: Once a college application essay is written, chances are that it might contain some errors which can harm its quality. Therefore, the content must be proofread well several times to get that perfect essay. 

9.Transitional statements: An essay must have a structure to it thereby creating a perfect essay. Each section in a structure must be well connected. This will help in building an essay with perfection.

10.Getting off the topic: A common problem that must be avoided is getting off the topic.Many a times when an essay is written having in-depth research to it, there might be chances that it will get off the topic and focus more on secondary information. 

Writing an expository essay

Best resources to write an ultimate expository essay

Essays are of two types; formal essays and informal essays. Few examples of informal essays are narrative essays, personal essays, and descriptive essays. Another branch of essays are formal essay.The best example of formal essays are expository essays.

What are expository essays?

Expository essays are a genre of essays which concentrates more on investigation and facts that can be presented to the chosen audience. It involves the process of presenting facts;  where facts have to be compared, analyzed, and proven eventually.

Things to be kept in mind while writing an expository essay:

As expository essays are a kind of formal essays, there are certain guidelines that must be followed to get the best essay. They are as follows:

1.More precise while presenting information: Use of informal language, personal experiences and non-fiction objects are restricted. Facts, statistics are to be presented as it is.

2.Use of words: There must be use of such as to define, explain etc to derive the facts that is being presented.

3.A cause and effect relationship: Expository essays contain certain facts and arguments that must have a direct relation to the root cause and effect on it. Such cause and effect relationship must be brought in an optimum manner.

4.Use of formal language: As said above, expository essays require to use formal language and must be addressed to the reader in third person. Hence use of “I”, “Mine” are to be neglected. 

Elements of an expository essay

After discussing about what an expository essay is, below are some of the elements present which should be included while writing them.

1.Thesis statement : For every argument that is present, it must have a dedicated thesis statement which should be included at the beginning.

Thesis statement plays an important role to bind an essay together and provide a background to it. Click here to know more on how to develop a thesis statement. 

2.Intorduction section: Another important element and one of the strong foundations  for an essay is an introduction section. Introduction provides a spot light on the topic which is being written and gives subtle information which should hook the readers to continue reading.

3.Body section: The heart of an essay, a body section provides all the necessary content, arguments to prove them and facts in a precise way.

It becomes necessary to build a body section with 3 or more paragraphs in it, so that each paragraph will have its own arguments and its subordinating points. A typical body section must transitions between its paragraphs to have a logical flow for readers to read them.

4.Conclusion section:  Concluding an essay is considered most critical as it has the power to hold reader’s attention and persuade them with your opinion.

The length of a conclusion section must be short but should an impressive impact on readers even when the reading is finished.

5.Facts and arguments:  Certainly, facts and arguments take a step here; because information to be presented is incomplete without a strong reason to write upon.

Facts and arguments provide a strong reason which every reader will agree to. Such should be the use of arguments which will persuade the readers to read along and form opinions along with the facts present in a positive manner. 

How to write an expository essay?

1.Find out a topic to write upon:  There are numerous topics available online which will help in writing an expository essay. Check out this one. A topic must be chosen carefully so that they can turn great essays.

2.Create an outline for an essay: Once a topic is chosen, then the next step is to create an outline of an essay. This is important as it gives a clear direction to an essay. An outline gives a proper structure to an essay.

3.Find appropriate sources to write on a topic: To present information in a convincing manner there must be facts and arguments present. These facts and information must be found out through appropriate sources.

There are several resources available which can be used to research for a particular topic.

4.Diving the essay into 3 stages:  When an outline is created, it comes along with dividing an essay into 3 parts namely Introduction, body and a conclusion section. Each part plays its own pivotal role thus creating valuable information for the readers.   

5.Patterns to be followed while writing an essay:  Some of the patterns that must be adopted while writing an expository essays are given below. They are: comparison, cause and effect, problem and solution, extended definition.

6.Editing and revising the content: Like any other essay, even expository essay must have a keen check on its credibility. To check the accountability of information that is written, it must be edited and revised several times so that it does not provide wrong information to readers.

7.Proofreading:  The last stage of essay writing is to proofread the content. To make sure that the content is error-free (spelling errors, missed punctuation marks), essay must be revised. 

Writing a cause and effect essay

What is a cause and effect essay?

Essays are written to inform the readers with the already known information or presenting an unknown fact. There are different approaches for writing an essay. To deliver types of information, there are various categories of essays. They are called cause and effect essay, argumentative essay, narrative essay, descriptive essay etc. Each being different carries a meaning of itself.

Cause and effect essay are a type of essay which describes the cause and effect of a particular situation. It discusses the reasons (causes) of a particular thing, adds an effect or presents the outcome in a logical manner.

The crucial relationship between the cause and effect must be depicted very clearly in a cause and effect essay.

Elements required while writing a cause and effect essay:

1.Introduction:

Introduction remains a vital part of a cause and effect essay which will hook the readers to read the whole write-up. It introduces to the topic in a subtle manner leaving curiosity to read further.

2.Supporting thesis statement:

Every essay must have a supporting thesis statement which will hold the essay together. Such statements must be 2 or 3 sentences of length. It must build an essay with strong use of words.

3.Body section:

This is the most crucial part of an essay. Body section contains the “meat” of cause and effect essay. Here it must contain all the necessary facts, arguments collected presented in a lucid manner. The cause and effect must be well represented here giving clear meaning to the topic being written.

4.Causes and effects statements in the essay:

These are the bits of a body section and must be present for providing the actual content required; that is the cause and effect of a situation.

5.Hook statements:

Hook statements are necessary for any write-up. These sentences which are written must hook the readers to read further. They must be engaging enough to provide with what a reader wants and gather interest simultaneously. 

6.Analysis of a situation to write down the cause and effect of it:

This is an element which takes up the whole essay to a higher level. The causes and effects mentioned in the essay must be analysed properly to bring justice to it. 

Steps for writing a cause and effect essay:

Step 1.Choosing a topic

The first step to write an essay is to choose a topic. Cause and effects is a type of an essay which requires elements which have a cause and an effect to it, only such topics must be chosen on which information can be deduced.

Step 2.Researching on the topic

After a topic is chosen, the next step is to research on the particular topic. This will be time-consuming as it needs valid points and facts to be presented than just bare words to fill in to write an essay. Follow this link on how to find good resources to write essays.

Step 3.Preparing the outline

An outline must be prepared to fit in all the researched points. Structuring the essay allows in making it presentable and at the same time lucid for the readers to read it.

Step 4.Writing the introduction part

An introduction part must be written with a hook statement. Introduction part is crucial to write as it must catch reader’s eye. This is the beginning of an essay which should look appealing to continue reading.

To make it more engaging,hook statements must be added.

Step 5.Transition to the body section

Once an introduction part, it must continue to the body section. This section will contain the heart of content. The transition from introduction part to the body section must be cleverly written which will bind them together. 

Step 6.Inserting the cause and effect statements

In the body section, cause and effect statements are present. These statements will prove the validity of the cause for an object and effects on it.

Example: What is the cause for global warming? What are the effects of it? The critical points must be discussed in a critical manner bringing down necessary points.

Step 7.Asserting the supportive arguments to the cause and effect

To write cause and effect for an essay, there must be certain arguments which must support its validity.

These subordinate points in the body section of an essay must be put in a concise manner letting the readers know the exact content that is intended to deliver. 

Step 8.Concluding with a convincing conclusion

After the filtered information is built in the body section, last part of a cause and effect essay must be presented in a responsible way.

Conclusion to any essay remains very important as it justifies the whole essay with a convincing conclusion. It must be crafted in such a way that it binds complete content in a precise manner.

Step 9.Organizing the elements together

An essay cannot be complete without a string that attaches them together. These statements which bind each section together are called transitional sentences. Such sentences must be present in every section which will combine the whole essay as one.

Step10.Proofread the content

Lastly, after all the elements are added to a cause and effect essay, the only thing that remains is to proofread its content. Proofreading is required in order to correct any errors that occur while writing it.

Examples of cause and effect essays:

Examples of cause and effect essays:

1.Ozone layer depletion and its effects on nature.

2.A good movie can create positivity in an individual.

Here you will find a link to a sample cause and effect essay.

How to write outline of an essay

How to write outline of an essay in just a few hours?

What does outlining an essay mean?

A perfect essay is a blend of many elements which when put together makes it a successful one. Outlining an essay is one such element of an essay which helps in creating a proper structure for it.

It acts as a framework to support the content being written. It is a procedure which puts the researched content into a pattern allowing the content to get a better shape. 

Purpose of outlining an essay:

After discussing the meaning of an outline, it is important to know the importance and purpose of it. Here we have few purposes mentioned which will help in making an essay better.

1.Flexibility to write an essay :

Before writing an essay, the content collected must be organized in a proper manner. This allows in creating a good essay.

Outlining provides flexibility in creating an essay giving it a standard and presentable appearance.

2.Gives a pattern to follow:

While writing a perfect essay, it requires good content. With this, it requires a pattern so as to present the content in a required format. Outlining gives an essay a pattern to follow, this helps in writing an essay with ease. Click here to know how to research for a topic.

3.Saves time to write an essay:

An essay needs good researched points which will help in writing a quality essay. If an outline is prepared to write these researched points in a format, it saves lot of time, thus can be focused on informing readers with good content.

4.Clarity to an essay:

Outlining an essay will logically build an essay giving clarity to the topic being written. Thus it becomes important to focus on content and outlining the content.

5.Bringing content together:

The main purpose of outlining an essay is to dividing the content into parts or sections and wisely bringing it together as one.

7 essential things for writing the outline of an essay

1.Understanding the question:

To outline an essay, the question must be read properly to understand what answer it needs. Only then an outline for the researched content can be created.

2.Serving the purpose:

The purpose of outlining is to increase credibility so that it increases the readers. Thus understanding the real purpose must be understood so that it becomes easy to write an essay.

 3.Concentrating on the structure of an essay:

When an essay is written, it must focus on a prescribed structure to present the information. Content must be divided into sections for ease of writing using Roman number (I, II, III) or numerals (1, 2,and 3).

Example breaking the body section into a paragraph further separating it with arguments and subordinate points.

4.Must have a major point:

Every essay will have a major breakpoint which will take it to a higher level of readability. This major point must be included in the write-up which should largely speak for/against it based on the topic.

5.Researching on the given topic:

 To give complete information for an essay, an in-depth research must be done to it so that it enhances the quality of it.

6.Breaking the points:

Once information is collected, the collected information must be broken into points. This will help in structuring an essay in a better manner.

7.Transitional sentences:

It is very important to have transitional sentences included which will conjoin each section of an essay. These transitions between each section will hold the information properly.  

A sample outline of an essay:

                                        I.Introduction

                                             1.A introductory paragraph with hook statement

                                             2.A thesis statement

                                       II.Body

                                             1.Paragraph 1

                                             i.Supporting arguments

                                             ii.Subordinate points

                                             2.Paragraph 2

                                             i.Supporting arguments

                                             ii.Subordinate points

                                             3.Paragraph 3

                                             i.Supporting arguments

                                             ii.Subordinate points

                                     III.Conclusion

                                          1.Restating the whole essay

                                          2.Proving the credibility of an essay

Important components of an essay

How to write a successful essay?

To achieve writing best essays, a lot of factors are to be considered. These factors will help in building a great essay which serves the rightful purpose.

The strategy behind writing a successful essay consists of several components which when combined produces an optimal result. 

Here in this article, we discuss major components of an essay which will uplift the quality of an essay. These components must be organized to form an effective essay.

What are the important components to be included in an essay?

1.Topic:

Being one of the major components, a topic is the one which induces an essay. Opinions can be expressed only when a topic is given to write upon it. The topic can be anything; merely discussing a thing, describing an experience, writing in-depth of a subject. This will be the start point to initialize an essay.

2.Research:

Research is significant in drawing readers closer to facts and displaying accurate information providing thorough proof. Usually, when a topic has to be written, it must be first researched for information, this will allow in writing in-depth about it.

3.Thesis statement:

The heart of an essay lies in a thesis statement. Thesis statement(s) are written in the beginning of an essay which should easily grasp reader’s attention. It acts like a hook which must hold the content to be written till it ends.

4.Formatting:

Not only it must be informative, the content must also look presentable. To help in making it look appealing to eyes and have more readability, formatting styles are used. 

These formatting styles add the proper tone to it which will increase the chances of making it a better essay. Follow this link to find tips on formatting an essay.

5.References and sources:

Essays written from scratch are better read and approved by universities quickly. This will discourage plagiarism, which is the root cause of degraded content.

To make it original and unique, an essay must have references and sources cited from a reputable source. These will let the reader know further about the topic which is referred. 

6.Editing and proofreading:

Once a draft is made on the topic chosen, it is now very important to edit it with necessary changes to be made. Editing is an important stage where the major changes happen and the topic gets a clear transition from draft to content, finally being called a perfect essay.

Proofreading is also a part of creating an essay. This is like taking a test drive of a newly built car just to make sure it rides well with no problems ahead. There are several proofreading techniques available which will help in over viewing an essay well one last time, before it is to be submitted or published somewhere.  

7.Evidence/proof for an argumentative essay:

There are certain essays which require a strong evidence to be shown to prove its credibility. Argumentative essays should always contain facts, statistics and a glimpse of brief history of the evidence that is being written. 

8.Analysis on the question or topic:

An in-depth analysis is required for certain topics. Analysis of a question or a topic is expressed through words in an essay.

These analyses are supported by a cause and finally ended with an effect. This makes it convincible to readers to believe on the facts written.

9.Structure:

An essay has to be written in a prescribed format. Words are woven together and placed in a standard template also called as a structure.

The structure of an essay includes an introduction part, a body section,and a conclusion. This is the basic format which is to be filled with relevant information.  

10.Transitions in the essay

This is also an important component of an essay which binds it together. Transitions are important as they build a link between each section and carry forwards the content to further sections.

These are 10 important components of an essay whicg must be included while writing an essay