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Suggestions for writing an effective essay

As you write the essay, consider your audience, your purpose, and the criteria that will be used in evaluating your essay:

• Imagine the audience to be an informed, intelligent reader at the college level, who is not an expert in the topic of your paper.
• Your purpose will be to write a thoughtful, interesting, and well-reasoned essay that would persuade a reader to respect (if not adopt) your point of view and conclusions.
• Evaluation will be based on these factors:

Focus
Your essay should be developed around a clear central thesis or argument, integrating your own views with material from the reading provided. (Note that any use of outside sources of information, printed or online, could potentially undermine the essay by shifting its focus. We strongly discourage use of outside sources, except, perhaps, to passing references to works you already have read.)

Structure
Your essay should be clearly organized in a way that elaborates on and supports your central thesis. Individual paragraphs should be cohesive, and your reader should be able to follow the smooth and logical progression of your ideas from one paragraph to the next.

Evidence/Analysis
You should support your claims with well-chosen details, examples, and logical conclusions from the reading, your experience, and knowledge of the topic. Explain how these details, examples, and conclusions support your points. Summarize, paraphrase, or briefly quote from the text, as you deem appropriate.

Style
Your word choices and sentence structures should enhance the clarity and argumentative effectiveness of your essay. Essays using ordinary, unpretentious language will receive higher scores than verbose or lofty essays. Your writing should also adhere to the standard contemporary conventions for grammar, spelling, and usage.