The Qualities of a Good Essay
- The essay format should look like a college-level writing assignment. Your essay should be labelled correctly and all the steps of the writing process stapled neatly to the back.
- The thesis sentence should be perfectly clear and should be at the end of the introduction. It should contain a single, provable claim. Specifically, the thesis contains a period of time and your claim about it.
- The essay introduction should be short and precise and it should contain any needed background information.
- For the body, each paragraph should contain a clear topic sentence that ties back to the thesis and contains a single, provable claim. In each paragraph, you should use specific details and examples to prove, support or illustrate the central idea.
- The essay should include enough proof in each paragraph to convince the reader that the claim in the topic sentence is true. It should also include enough proof in the entire essay to convince the reader that the claim in the thesis is true.
- The writing should be smooth since the writer uses linking words to link his or her ideas together clearly, effectively and logically. Every sentence should be perfectly clear and the reader does not need to ask the writer to explain anything.
- You should eliminate unnecessary words, phrases and sentences. Your essay should be free from major errors such as sentence fragments, run-on sentences and comma splice errors.
- The essay should have a variety of sentences such as complex and compound sentences. You should also take your time to proofread your essay carefully and ensure that your punctuation and spelling is correct.