How to Generate Essay Writing Ideas

         Each term, students are assigned many essay writing assignments in various subjects by their tutors and professors as a way to test their knowledge of the subject and to allow them to develop and enhance their research and writing skills. The first step to completing an essay writing project is to generate essay writing ideas. There are some students, however who are not very proficient in writing and who will need essay writing help in putting down their ideas into paper. However, with the right guidance and doing the following tips, they will also be able to generate essay writing ideas:

• Freewriting. As the term suggests, this entails the student writing whatever comes to mind regarding the given topic. At this stage, the writer should not worry yet about conforming to standards in such aspects as spelling, grammar, vocabulary choice, organisation and content structure because there will be plenty of time to do that later when writing the actual draft. Freewriting can take on the following forms: listing down ideas, clustering words or sentences together or even simply jotting down random thoughts that emerge in your mind. To this end, always have a piece of paper or a small notebook with you especially when you set out to do research as you never know when a “light bulb moment” will come.

• Researching. Find out what are the research materials such as books or articles that are relevant to the topic and conduct a cursory reading where you just briefly scan their content to determine if they may be appropriate to be included as possible sources for your essay. For students who have not been given a specific topic, this is also one way that they can generate essay writing ideas. Consider such questions as how are your ideas related to theirs? Do they support or contradict the assertions of previous writers? Is my purpose as a writer different from theirs? Is it possible to include their ideas into my essay?

Ideas for Structuring Your Essay

The structure is very important in an essay because it gives form, flow and function to it. Having form for your essay will guide you in the flow of your writing and achieving the function you want to accomplish. Using a structure to guide your writing will enable you to come up with an essay that is pleasant to read and easy to understand. You can use a few essay writing ideas in using a structure.

• Introduction-Discussion-Conclusion – The basic essay structure you can use is the introduction-discussion-conclusion structure which involves having an interesting introductory portion, a supporting discussion part and ending with a conclusion that leaves thoughts on your readers' minds. This is also known as the five paragraph essay structure because the discussion has three paragraphs and the rest of the two remaining parts have one paragraph each. However, you can also use this structure writing more than five paragraphs depending on the essay writing ideas you want to incorporate.

• Introduction – Your introduction should be interesting or attractive. It can also be informative. Most of all, it should include your thesis statement which is where you state your proposition. There are many essay writing ideas about how to write the introduction but the most important point is that it should arouse the interest of your readers and be representative of what you will discuss in the body.

• Point-Example-Explanation – The each discussion paragraph can be structured using the point-example-explanation format. In this format, each discussion paragraph embodies a point that will support your thesis statement. State the point at the start of a paragraph and then follow it with an example which is also followed by an explanation.

• Conclusion – The conclusion of essay should be a summary of the points you have discussed. You should not include any idea which is not mentioned in the discussion portion.

Essay Writing Ideas Which Include Planning and Researching

Essay writing ideas are very important in making the task of planning, researching and writing an essay less difficult and faster. There are lots of sources for ideas that will help you in writing your essays. These ideas involve how to plan, research and write your essay.

• Planning – You should try considering all the essay writing ideas you can get, including how to plan your essay. Ideas on how to plan your writing are very helpful because they lead towards ideas on how to research and write your essay. Ideas on how to write an essay include how to plan on how to write. You should have a definite plan on how to approach a topic or what tone to use in writing. For example, it is a good idea to write a literature essay as a critique.

• Researching – To be able to arrive at or discover essay writing ideas, you should research well. In turn, researching well can be done through the help of ideas on how to research. One very important idea in researching is taking down notes and performing referencing while still doing the research. This will help you trace what you have research and assemble your bibliography or reference list faster and easier. As an example, you can consider doing a broad research on international studies because it involves a wide range of relevant areas.

• Writing – In the main task of writing the draft of your essay, you will need writing ideas which include writing an attractive and interesting introduction, a discussion which will sustain the interest and provide the analysis and information and a conclusion that will leave a mark on the readers. You should also write the body of your essay in a flow that is logical. Further, it is important to get ideas on how to sequence your statements.