How Do I Write an Effective 250 Word Essay?

Do you remember the last short essay you wrote? Chances are, you sat down to write a 2-page paper and suddenly ended up with 5 pages, full of equally important information that you just couldn’t do without. Not only did you spend tons of time writing the 5 pages, you ended up staying awake till 3am trying to cut your essay down. Here’s the key: you forgot structure. Essays aren’t diaries that can be written as your thoughts flow. Rather, they require thought-out organization, especially when you’re trying to fit many ideas into just one page. The guide below will help you structure your 250 word essay in a way that saves you both time and effort.

Tip #1: Use an Outline

Outlines are always, always a must for writing structured papers. Even if you’re taking a timed exam and you only have half an hour left for your essay, trust me: spending 5 minutes to write an outline will actually save you time in the long run. Your outline should include all of the information you’d be using in your essay. You may also want to put down your supporting ideas within your outline so that you know exactly where to use them. Once you’ve got your outline down, you’re all set to write!

Not sure how to structure an outline? See our article on how to craft an essay outline.

Tip #2: Use a Traditional Essay Structure

No matter how short your essay is, you still always need an introduction, body, and conclusion. Oh, and a hook and thesis statement – those are musts! The key difference, however, is that with a 250 word essay you won’t have room for 3 body paragraphs. Instead, you’re going to structure your essay as follows:

1. Introduction and thesis statement
2. Body
3. Conclusion

Basically, instead of coming up with three main ideas, you’re going to stick with just one. If the instructions for your essay include multiple questions, that’s fine; just answer all of them within one body paragraph.

What if you don’t have enough room within one body paragraph to address all of your questions? Most professors don’t mind if you go above 250 words, so as long as you don’t ramble, you should be fine with 2 body paragraphs. However, you still need a intro and conclusion; never sacrifice those for a body paragraph! If you are not allowed to go over 250 words, simply cut your intro and conclusion a little shorter and expand your body paragraph.

Tip #3: Merge Ideas

Somehow, professors love to stuff as many requirements as they can into the shortest assignments. You might get a discussion board prompt with no less than 7 questions, or be asked to write your whole life story plus analyze your strengths and weaknesses within a tiny application essay. If you’re overwhelmed as how to say so much with so few words, you’re not alone! Short essays pose a challenge to all students, especially to those who have many ideas.

Here's a tip: merge your ideas. If you have to define the term “situational irony”, find 3 instances of satire in Voltaire’s Candide, and then discuss your reaction to satire, try to link all three into one cohesive essay. Similarly, in the application essay example, you can weave your analysis about your strengths and weaknesses into your discussion of yourself. You need to try to use the least number of words possible, and merging ideas is a key way to do so while still being able to say everything you wanted to.

Tip #4: Measure Your Sentences

Even if you’ve got your outline down pat, you still will go over 250 words if you don’t be careful about how many sentences you use in each section. You simply don’t have enough room for 8-sentence introductions and rambling conclusions. In our personal experience, the perfect number of sentences for both the introduction and the conclusion is 5. If you go too short, your essay won’t look like an essay. If you’re too long, though, you won’t have enough room for a comprehensive body paragraph.

For your intro, have your first sentence contain your hook. The next 2-3 sentences should briefly elaborate on the background of the topic, and perhaps include a statistic to show why your issue is important. The last sentence will be your thesis statement. For the conclusion, have the first sentence restate your thesis. The next 2-3 sentences should review the paper, and the last sentence should leave the reader with a strong feeling. Follow these guidelines, and you’re sure to have plenty of room for a nice-sized body paragraph!

Tip #5: Learn to Write Concisely

I was recently working with a client who had a tendency to double all her words. As in, she would write something along these lines: Parents and caretakers should effectively and successfully facilitate and promote therapeutic home program interventions with their children.

Do you see all those “and”s? I guess she thought that she sounded more academic if she demonstrated how many words she knew, but the result was wordy and confusing sentence. I helped the client learn to cut out all of her redundant words, and to shorten any terms that had already been explained. The result was as follows: Caretakers should facilitate home program interventions with their children. Whew – much better, right? The meaning of her sentence is exactly the same, but we simply did away with all the extra words.

 If you want to fit your essay into 250 words, you’re going to have to do the same. After you write each sentence, look it over and ask yourself: “Can I write this more concisely?” Not only will your essay be closer to the word requirement, it’ll also be easier for your professor to read.

Crush It!

There you go – you’ve got a bunch of awesome tips on how to write your next 250 word essay. Whether it’s a discussion board, application essay, or long-answer response on an exam, you’re sure to do great if you use our expert guidance to structure it properly. Good luck!

Proofread it Yourself

Believe it or not, you really can proofread your own essay and there are tips and tricks the pros use that you can to ensure that you do a reasonably good job of it.  Here are a few ideas that might come in handy.  Print your writing – often you can catch errors in print that you simply wouldn’t see on the screen.  Read your writing out loud to someone else – this helps you catch errors that are obvious when spoken out loud but which you might miss if they were printed on the page.  Some of the most obvious grammatical errors that you might catch when you’re reading out loud are fragments (sentences or ideas that were left incomplete), run-on sentences (ideas that never seem to stop), and typos where you’ve substituted the wrong word, for instance “their” instead of “there.”

One of the best strategies, if you have time, is to let your paper rest for a couple of days before re-reading it – preferably out loud.  Coming at it with “fresh eyes” is one of the best ways to spot some of the problems with what you wrote, and far better than when you’ve just finished writing and you’re utterly exhausted.  True, many students don’t have the luxury of this kind of time if you’ve left things to the last minute, but try to let your essay sit for as much time as you possibly can before you attempt to proofread it.

The biggest drawback of this strategy is the most obvious one – if you’re the one who put the errors in the paper in the first place, it’s possible that you will read through the paper, sometimes multiple times, without spotting errors that might be obvious to someone else.  That’s why there are other strategies which offer an even higher level of protection against handing in a paper with a whole lot of mistakes.

Get a Friend or Family Member to Proofread

Next to doing your own proofreading, this is one of the cheapest and easiest strategies for proofreading your essay.  Most of us know a few people who read a lot, who are very literate, who maybe even have a background in writing, teaching or editing.  These people can be a terrific resource if you use them carefully.  Very often, they’re happy to help, or you can even offer to swap tasks – you’ll cook them a nice meal, or pet-sit for them, if they’ll proofread your paper.

It’s easy to see a few of the possible downsides to this strategy.  The most serious is the possibility that you’re going to “wear out your welcome” with one particular friend or family member.  If you have one aunt who was an English major or a friend who works for a major publishing company, don’t let that person become your go-to for all proofreading tasks.  Whatever you do, don’t rely on the same person for every single essay.  Think about how many papers you might have to complete during an entire college degree!  Save the person you consider your best asset for the most important papers, whatever those might be.  Additionally, give them lots of time, but also make your deadline clear. Overall, if they’re doing this as a favor to you, you should be as generous and flexible as possible.

Another possible downside of this strategy is that the person proofreading may not know much more about grammar and spelling than you do, and they may even have advice that is unhelpful – such as changing the wording of your paper to more “fancy” or “formal” language or telling you to use buzzwords that you should actually avoid in academic writing.  If it’s someone who’s been out of school for a while or who hasn’t had experience in your subject, they may also miss important concepts and key terms that are essential for your paper.

Hiring a Proofreader or Editor

You might think this option would be prohibitively expensive.  It’s true that you might not want to do this for every single run-of-the-mill paper, but for special projects, term papers, dissertations, or other situations where there’s a lot riding on the grade, there are ways to hire someone with the necessary skills to make sure your document is absolutely perfect before turning it in.

Online marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork are sometimes a good place to find freelancers who are available to edit or proofread your document – with a little bit of caution.  What’s the difference between an editor and a proofreader?  In some cases, an editor will offer tips in terms of the content and flow of your document.  This person might check that your ideas make sense and that your paper has a reasonable thesis, for example.  A proofreader, on the other hand, may only be willing to fix mistakes in spelling and grammar.  Either one will be helpful to you in getting your paper turn-in ready.  Which one you pick may depend on how close you feel the essay is to being ready.  If it’s 99% done, you’re happy with the structure and thesis, and you don’t want to make major changes, then probably all it needs is proofreading.

A potential drawback is that many of the freelancers you’ll find on these sites are not based in English-speaking countries, and English may not be their first language.  This isn’t necessarily a problem – some of the finest essays are written by people whose first language isn’t English! – but it’s worth checking reviews and exchanging an email message or two to ensure that their basic communication isn’t full of errors.  Check their rates carefully before you pay up – cheapest isn’t necessarily best, but you may find a bargain this way and pay less than you might expect for high-quality work in proofreading your essay.

Essay Proofreader Software

One final solution we haven’t touched on yet is proofreading software.  Of course, every word processor comes with some type of proofreading built-in.  Those are pretty smart – to a point.  They won’t tell the difference between the county “fair” and the subway “fare,” but they can tell you that “congitency” is not the right way to spell “contingency.”  Some spell checkers also come with grammar checkers, which go one step beyond and call you out for using the passive voice, putting commas in the wrong place, and more.

You can also find third-party proofreading programs.  Some are add-ons to common programs like Microsoft Word, while others are online utilities where you paste in your text and they produce a report.  Some are free while others aren’t.  One of these, Grammarly, is available as an add-on for your browser or for Microsoft Word and it is designed to catch errors that your built-in spellcheck doesn’t catch, for instance, inconsistent spellings (British or American), use of commonly mistaken words, like “who’s” and “whose,” and much more. 

Probably the biggest advantage of proofreading software is the most obvious one – it’s so fast that it’s usually instant.  All the other strategies here require anywhere from a few hours to a few days.  If you have time, those strategies can be wonderful.  But if you don’t have time, if your paper is due at midnight and it’s now 11:45, then a good proofreading program can be your best friend.  Just remember that they’re not infallible.  Of course, no method of proofreading is infallible, but automated proofreading is most likely to miss obvious mistakes that a human reader would probably catch on the first pass.  It’s not perfect, but at 11:45, sometimes pretty good is better than nothing.

As you can see, there are lots of creative solutions to picking just the right essay proofreader.  You’ve got tons of flexibility and lots of possibilities – except one.  No matter what the paper, the topic, how simple or hard it is, NOT proofreading your paper is absolutely not an option.  Proofreading your paper before you turn it in is a painless way of kicking your essay up several notches: from a so-so paper to one which gets the professor’s attention and praise.  Far from being a hassle and a waste of time, proofreading strategies are one of the best possible uses of your time (and sometimes money), bringing you one step closer to all your goals in school and life.

Note: This isn’t a list of vocab words and their definitions! I’m going to choose college words that are specifically used to enhance writing, PLUS I’ll show you exactly how to use them.

Transition Words

Transition words are used to carry an idea from one phrase or sentence to another. Not only do transition words signify relationships between ideas, they also link your sentences and paragraphs together to form a cohesive paper with good flow. Here are a couple of transition words that you will need to know when writing papers or assignments.

#1: Additionally. Used to express adding. While this word is probably the most commonly-used among college students, that doesn’t mean it’s the most efficient. Make sure you don’t repeat this word too often; rather, search for more sophisticated ways of expressing addition.

 E.g. The Treaty of Versailles was a catalyst for an economic downturn in Germany. Additionally, it caused the German public to resent other Western nations.

#2: Furthermore. Used to express adding, but with greater emphasis.

E.g. Diversity is important in education as it ensures all students feel comfortable. Furthermore, incorporating diversity in the classroom creates a culture of acceptance for all students.       

#3: Moreover. Used to express adding. Signifies that this next idea is even more intense/important/earth-shattering than the first.

E.g. Poorly-trained officers are a societal problem because they are given responsibilities to society that they cannot fill. Moreover, they pose a hazard to those around them because they are liable to make deadly mistakes.

#4: However. Used to contrast. Signifies that your first idea is not perfectly true because of your second idea.

E.g. There is one article that claims that the intervention is successful at reducing depression in elderly patients. However, research on the topic shows otherwise.

#5: Despite. Used to contrast, and means “even though.”

E.g. Despite my heavy packages, I felt as light as a feather.

#6: Nevertheless. Used to contrast, and has the same meaning as “despite.” The difference? “Nevertheless” is used at the beginning of a sentence or phrase and doesn’t need to be paired with other words, while “despite” cannot be used alone at the beginning of a sentence/phrase.

E.g. He did state that he was not aware of the driving laws in that state. Nevertheless, he was convicted and sent to prison.

#7: Although. Used to contrast. You place the “although” at the beginning of your first idea, then state your second idea.

E.g. Although I tried my best to write well, I just couldn’t seem to get the hang of my college papers.

#8: While. Used to contrast. Yes, again – I’m sorry! There’s just so many good ways to contrast!

E.g. While Norma was sure that her son was perfectly normal, his friends and acquaintances believed otherwise. 

#9: Alternatively. Used to contrast, but also to suggest another option – kind of like using the word “or.”

E.g. A teacher might consider using the reinforcement approach to control his classroom. Alternatively, he could just punish the students for unruly behavior.

#10: Likewise. Used to compare. Remember: contrast shows difference, comparison shows similarity.

E.g. His theory posits that thoughts influence behavior. Likewise, Beck believed that thoughts and emotions were the root causes of behavior.

#11: Similarly. Used to compare.

E.g. Coca-Cola marketed themselves as a cheap, refreshing soft drink. Similarly, Pepsi branded themselves as an affordable option for soda lovers.

#12: Therefore. Used to show cause and effect. When you use the word “therefore,” you are implying that your first idea causes or explains your second idea.

E.g. He had a sweet tooth. Therefore, he always lingered by the desserts section of the grocery store, staring longingly at the treats.

#13: Consequently. Used to show cause and effect just like “therefore.”

E.g. There is limited research on the topic of risk assessment for patient falls. Consequently, the present review is comprised of only six articles.

#14: Accordingly. Used to both express cause and effect and to summarize or conclude. This is a great word to use in your essay’s conclusion!

E.g. Research suggests that hand-washing reduces the risk of contracting the flu. Accordingly, restaurants should require all employees to wash their hands frequently.

#15: Overall. Used to summarize or conclude.

E.g. Overall, World War II was one of the deadliest in the world’s history. 

Words That Persuade

Whether you are taking an English course or studying some other topic, you’ll most likely have to write persuasive or argumentative papers. Even if you’re writing a research paper, though, you’ll still need to persuade readers as to why your topic is important. Here are a couple of persuasive words that will increase the power of your argument.

#16: Regardless. Means anyhow or despite, and is used to demonstrate that your point is more important than a different point.

E.g. Regardless of Smith et al.’s findings, clinicians warn against using his proposed intervention.

#17: Nevertheless. Means anyhow or despite, and is used in the same way as “regardless”.

E.g. Poussey was the best-liked character in the show. Nevertheless, producers still decided to have her killed.

#18: Contrary. Means the opposite, and is used to counter or argue a statement.

E.g. Many see video games as being purely detrimental to children. On the contrary, they can be extremely beneficial to children with disabilities.

#19: Undoubtedly. Means obviously, and is used to establish the validity of your argument. It is difficult to argue with an idea preceded by “undoubtedly”!

E.g. CBT is undoubtedly the better choice of therapy for those with anxiety.

#20: Unquestionably. Means obviously, and is used in the same way as “undoubtedly.”

E.g. She was unmistakably an old woman, although her makeup belied her age.

#21: Indisputably. Means obviously.

E.g. The report was indisputably accurate.

#22: Evident. Means apparent or obvious.

E.g. It is evident that Jon Snow truly knows nothing.

#23: Visibly. Once again, this demonstrates that something is apparent or obvious.

E.g. Children in the Montessori school are visibly happier than those enrolled in typical educational programs.

#24: Purportedly. Means supposedly. Use this to knock down a statement you don’t agree with.

E.g. The Jews were purportedly the masterminds behind the Great Plague, although of course, later generations realized that the disease had spread due to poor hygiene.

#25: Maintain. Means to uphold or defend a position. Use this as a more powerful alternative to “stated” or “argued.”

E.g. Smith et al. maintains that Beyoncé is a better singer than Rihanna.

#26: Contend. Means to argue or assert.

E.g. In this paper, I contend that ketchup is the best sauce to use for your chicken.

#27: Posit. Means to put forth as the basis of an argument. It’s not as argumentative as “maintain” or “contend,” but great to use in all kinds of papers.

E.g. The authors posit that discrimination and prejudice derive from the natural human desire for power.

#28: Postulate. Means to put forth as the basis of an argument, like “posit.”

E.g. To that end, I postulate that religiosity is correlated with a higher incidence of eating disorders.

#29: Particularly. Means especially and is used to bring out a strong point.

E.g. The topic is particularly important because it affects the lives of millions of Americans.

#30: Notably. Means especially and, like “particularly,” is used to bring out a strong point.

E.g. The rule was notably absent from the guidebook, suggesting fraud.

#31: Significant. Means important.

E.g. A significant number of participants reported anxiety as they took the test.

#32: Crucial. Means of great importance.

E.g. It is crucial that policymakers adopt the new law right away.

#33: Critical. Means of great importance.

E.g. The navy was critical to the military’s strategy in the war.   

#34: Key. Means of great importance.

E.g. Assessment is key within the field of special education.    

#35: Vital. Means of great importance.

E.g. It is vital that we work with police to improve training of officers.    

Words that Show

Persuading is great, but what if the main focus of your essay to show rather than to argue? If you’re writing an informative essay or a research paper, you most likely will need to use words that show. Here are just a few that will help boost your essay.

#36: Illustrate. Means to explain or make clear. Use this to bring examples that support your argument.

E.g. To illustrate their point, Smith et al. discuss a case study of a girl with anorexia.

#37: Exemplify. Means to show by giving an example.

E.g. The case study exemplifies the success of this form of therapy.

#38. Emphasize. Means to give special importance to an idea.

E.g. She emphasizes that it is the chocolate chips rather than the dough that give the cookies such a delicious flavor.

#39: Demonstrate. Means to show.

E.g. Smith et al.’s findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the intervention.

#40: Indicate. Means highly suggest.

E.g. Results indicate that the Japanese are still resentful about the U.S.’s use of the atom bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Research Words

What if you’re required to write about real research? Whether you’re performing your own research study or writing about other people’s experiment, you’ll need to use research-related words. This is a super-short list, but it should be enough to get you started on your research paper.

#41: Incidence. Means rate or frequency.

E.g. The incidence of depression among nursing home residents is 20%.

#42: Prevalence. Means rate or frequency.

E.g. Clown phobia is especially prevalent among young children.  

#43: Correlate. Means associate or relate.

E.g. An obsession with man-buns is correlated with living in Brooklyn.

#44: Population. Means a group of people with similar characteristics.

E.g. The population for this study is seniors struggling with obesity.

#45: Hypothesis. Means an explanation of a phenomenon with limited evidence. It’s kind of like an educated guess that will serve as the basis for a research study, which will prove if the guess is true or not.

E.g. We hypothesize that it is the salt on the potato chips that causes weight gain, and we will conduct an experiment to find out the validity of this suggestion.

#46: Data. Means facts and statistics. Data is used to support a statement.

E.g. Our data suggests that it is not the salt in potato chips, but rather the fat, that causes weight gain.

#47: Construct. Means an idea based on a concept. It’s kind of like a wider set of ideas.

E.g. Identity is a construct often found in the field of psychology.

#48: Effect. Means result or consequence.

E.g. The intervention had a positive effect on the children.

#49. Effective. Means successful in producing a desired result. Don’t get confused between “effect” and “effective”!

E.g. The improved levels of depression demonstrate that the treatment was effective.

#50. Empirical. Means based on observation or experience. Is largely used to describe something that is based on evidence.

E.g. The review includes five empirical studies on veganism.

Using College Words

There you have it – 50 college words that will help you transition, persuade, show, and discuss research in your writing! How do I use these words, you ask? First, always try to find several examples of these words used in sentences before you place them into your own paper. You don’t want to know what a word means, but use it incorrectly. Second, look up different variations of each word! The words I presented here may be in a different tense or form than the one you need. You aren’t limited to the exact word I used; look up variations, and have fun spicing up your paper!

Why You Need to Write Good Essay Titles

“My essay is perfect. I’ve got that intro, that thesis statement, that awesome conclusion… who cares about the title?”

The answer is simple: your reader does. And yes, that includes your professor. When someone looks at an essay, the first think they’re going to see is your essay title. A good essay title can grab your reader’s attention and carry them through the rest of your writing; a bad title can send them running in the opposite direction (figuratively, ofc). Think of your title as a hook that will catch your readers and keep them with your essay.

Aside from hooking your readers, a good essay title will also give your readers a snapshot of what you’re writing about. It’s sort of like your thesis statement, except it’s more concise. Think of it this way: you’d be confused if you began reading an essay, and only were told halfway through what the essay is about. If you knew what you were going to learn about from the start, though, you’d be much more likely to understand what you read. That’s exactly what a good essay title does; it serves as an explanatory guide to the essay.

Oh, and one more thing: knowing how to title an essay is not only beneficial to your reader, it’s also an extremely powerful tool for you, the writer. We’ll discuss this more in depth soon, but you can use your essay title to stay on track with your ideas and to communicate your points effectively. Whether your essay is geared to inform or argue, it’s your title that does the initial work. As you read the 5 rules below, think of how you can use that power tool (a.k.a.title) to ace your essay.

Rule #1: Be Relevant.

Imagine you pick up a book, and the title is “Gender Identity in a Diverse World.” You’re fascinating by the variations in gender identity that have been emerging, and you want to know more. You open the book, and are hit with… a discussion of American history.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? To be honest, that example is a bit extreme, but you get my drift. When a title doesn’t match the content of an essay, all you do is leave your readers completely and totally confused. It doesn’t matter how eye-catching, mind-blowing, and awe-inspiring your title is; if it doesn’t relate to your essay, you’ve taken the wrong route.

What about your essay should you include in the title? For the most part, you’re going to focus on the content of your writing. If your essay discusses how European explorers related to the natives in North America, you can use this as a starter title: “Conflict and Collaboration between European Explorers and Natives in North America.” If you can’t figure out what the main ideas of your essay are, you probably should first learn how to craft an organized essay outline and thesis statement. Your essay title will mostly be based on the content incorporated within your thesis statement and your essay outline.

Sometimes, you can also include information about your methods within the title. For instance, if you conducted an analysis of T.S. Eliot’s poems, you can start your essay title with this: “An Analysis of Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’”. When you discuss your methods in the title, don’t forget to still include some information about the content. Titles for essays must always have information related to the essay content, but they don’t always have to hint toward your methods. 

Rule #2: Determine the Tone.

Okay, so now your reader knows what you’re writing about. Great! However, you also want them to know what the tone of your essay is. You can think of the essay’s tone as its mood; it might be academic and serious, personal and emotional, or just plain humorous.

How do you know what the mood of your essay is? The purpose of your essay should be a good indicator of its tone. If you are writing an informative research essay for college, the tone would likely be formal. An argumentative essay might have a persuasive tone; a personal essay would be informal and emotional. Once you’ve established the tone of your essay, adapt your title to fit that tone.

Essay titles should always align with the mood of your writing. For instance, a research essay on personality might be titled, “Associations between the Myers-Briggs Personality Typology and Clinical Depression.” An argumentative essay on a similar topic might be titled, “Why the Law Enforcement Should Use the Myers-Briggs to Determine Eligibility for Police Officers.” Last, a personal essay might be titled, “A Reflection on How My Personality Changed Throughout College.” 

Rule #3: Use Catchy Words

No matter how informational your title is, you won’t attract any readers if it’s supremely boring. That’s where using catchy wording comes into play. Even if the tone of your essay is purely academic, you want to find a way to spice it up and get your readers to be curious enough to read the next 5 or 10 pages of material.

What do catchy essay titles look like? Most often, catchy words will include something surprising and original. You might combine a series of adjectives that don’t typically fit together, such as “Wicked, Sinful, and Oh So Happy.” Or, you can present your readers with a surprising image: “The Roar of the Insect.” When using a literary work, quotes will work well too. For example, in writing about T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland”, you can choose a quote: “They Called Me the Hyacinth Girl.”

Important: Your catchy words should never be the only words to make up your title! Catchy words should be combined with informational, academic words using a colon and subtitle. See the next rule, Rule #4, for details on how to title an essay that incorporates both informational and catchy content. 

Rule #4: Use Colons to Create Subtitles.

Subtitles are a fantastic way for you to take your essay title from mediocre to awesome. There are two main methods of using subtitles: one, to expand upon your informational content, and two, to combine catchiness with specificity. Confused? I’ll explain.

Remember when, earlier in this article, I discussed how titles for essays should incorporate your main ideas, or your thesis statement? If you are only using one sentence in your title, you’re kind of limited in how specific you can get with your information. By combining two sentences with a colon, however, you can expand upon your information while still remaining grammatically correct. Think of the title I proposed earlier, “Conflict and Collaboration between European Explorers and Natives in North America”. If you are discussing Columbus, Lewis and Clark, and some other explorers, you can add a subtitle: “From Columbus to Lewis and Clark: Conflict and Collaboration between European Explorers and Natives in North America.” Or, you can add components from your thesis. For example: “Survival, Hope, and the Meaning of Life: An Analysis of Victor Frankl’s ‘Man’s Search for Meaning.’ Nice, huh?

Now let’s look at the second way to use a colon and a subtitle: to spice up your title. We’ve already discussed the importance of using catchy wording, but you don’t want to sacrifice the informational quality of your writing when you try to sound cool. The solution? A subtitle. You would put the catchy line first, then a colon, and follow up with your informational words. For example: “Wicked, Sinful, and Oh So Happy: The Experiences of Ex-Religious Gay Men.” Or: “’They Called Me the Hyacinth Girl’: Romance in T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Wasteland’”. Your catchy line intrigues your reader, and your subtitle gives them a peek into what you’re writing about.

Rule #5: Treat it As a Work in Progress.

Whew, I’m done!

Well actually, not just yet. As we discussed earlier, knowing how to title an essay is a great way for you to keep the main points of your essay in mind. However, you also may decide to change some ideas within your essay as you work on it. That’s why you should always treat your title as a work in progress. Don’t just craft it and then forget about it; keep checking back up on it to make sure it still matches with the content and tone of your essay. As you gain more experience in crafting essay titles, you’ll find that the title and essay content will work hand in hand to help structure one another.

Happy titling!

Are you in college? Perhaps preparing for the SATs? Either way, you will most likely need to know how to write a 5 paragraph essay. There’s just one problem: these essays are often timed, leaving students with limited minutes to plan and structure their writing. Even if you aren’t writing the essay as part of an exam, the task of organizing all your thoughts into just 5 paragraphs can be daunting, to say in the least. Luckily, there is a simple secret to crafting a killer essay. Here’s how to write a 5 paragraph essay outline that will provide you with the key to successful compositions throughout your college career.

Step #1: Craft the Introduction

The importance of an introductory paragraph cannot be spoken about enough. The introduction is where you will hook your readers, provide background to your topic, and set forth a brief statement showing why your topic is significant. Even more importantly, your intro contains the key to your entire essay: your thesis statement. More about that later, though; we’re going to start with the first couple of sentences of your introduction.

Hook

When you take your first glance at an article, what’s the first thing you read? Of course, the title; but right after that, you’d be looking at the first sentence. If that sentence is supremely boring or too complicated to understand, you’re probably going to give up from the start and look for something more interesting to read. After all, who wants to read an essay that begins with “Symbolic interactionism is a theory of delinquency”? Not me, that’s for sure! Instead, you’re going to think of a sentence that “hooks” your reader.

A hook is exactly what it sounds like – it’s bait, so to speak, that will allow you to reel your fish (or your customer!) in and keep them hanging on till the last sentence. But just as bait needs to look tasty to fish in order to successfully attract them, the same is true of your hook – it needs to be interesting. You can start off with a quote, a statistic, a question, or a fact that establishes a problem; anything, really, that will fascinate your reader and want them to know more.

Background/Problem Statement

After you have hooked your reader, you now will move on to the background and problem statement. Here’s where you will let your reader know important information about your topic. For instance, you might discuss past research on the issue you’ll be talking about, or provide a brief history. Or, you might want to focus on establishing the problem that you’ll be addressing instead.

I personally lean toward a problem statement when writing papers, because doing so sets the foundation for why your essay is important to read. If I was writing an essay on theories of delinquency, I would craft my problem statement to look something like this: “Although delinquency has been established as a key social issue, there is little understanding of the theories that explain the phenomenon.” Whether you choose to focus on background or a problem statement (or both), make sure to leave several sentences for this section of your outline.

Thesis Statement

If you thought your introductory paragraph was important, here’s some news: your thesis statement is essential. You cannot have a good essay, 5 paragraph or other, without a thesis statement.

The thesis statement is where you are going to set forth the main ideas that you will be discussing in your article. Think of it as the roadmap to your essay; it’s like a summary of your 3 body paragraphs, and helps structure your entire writing into an organized, flowing piece of work. Before you craft your thesis statement, though, you need to think of 3 main ideas that you will be discussing in your article. (In other kinds of essays, you can choose more or less than 3 ideas, but with a 5 paragraph writing you don’t really have a choice; you need 3 body paragraphs, so 3 main ideas it is, one paragraph for each).

Once you’ve got your main ideas, put them together into a single sentence. For example, your thesis statement might look something like, “There are several factors, including those within the family [main idea 1], those within the school [main idea 2], and those within the community [main idea 3], that contribute to juvenile delinquency.” You don’t have to be very fancy with your thesis statement; just make sure your three main ideas are clearly outlined.

By now, your 5 paragraph essay outline should look like this:

I.     Introduction

1. Hook (1 sentence)
2. Background/Stating the Problem (3-5 sentences)
3. Thesis statement with three main ideas (1 sentence)

Step #2: Sketch Your Three Body Paragraphs

Congrats! You finished the introduction, which is probably the most difficult part of the 5 paragraph outline. Now that you’ve got your thesis statement, constructing the 3 body paragraphs should be a breeze. Each main idea will get its own paragraph in a 5 paragraph essay.

So, in our example of juvenile delinquency causes, each of the 3 factors I mentioned in my thesis statement would be discussed in a separate paragraph; one for family-related factors, one for school-related factors, and one for community-related factors.

Introductory Sentence

Body paragraphs are pretty simple, but they still follow a specific format. The first sentence in your body paragraph should be an introduction that ties your main idea back to your thesis. This helps give your essay structure and flow, while keeping readers clear on the focus of your writing.

For example, you might write, “Family-related factors are often seen as the most significant causes of juvenile delinquency.” You might be tempted to use a sequence structure, such as “First, " “Second,” “Finally,”... I wouldn’t suggest doing this unless you are writing a “how to” essay that describes the steps needed to do a task or make a product. It’s not the worst thing in the world if you use a sequence structure, but it just doesn’t look like developed, college-level writing. Always go for subtle yet clear in your writing in order to achieve the most emphasis.

Explain Your Main Idea

Next, you would go on to talk further about structural functionalism in your body paragraph. Use as many sentences as you’d like for this middle part of the paragraph, but try to stay on point; no one wants to read random rambling. (If you’re curious to know how to write a comprehensive yet concise paragraph, stay tuned for my next blogs!).

Summary Sentence

Finally, wrap up your body paragraph with a sentence that summarizes your main idea and ties it back to the point of your essay. This might look something like, “Overall, abuse, neglect, and poor modeling are important family-related contributors to juvenile delinquency.” At this point, you’ve got a beautiful outline for your first body paragraph: you’ve introduced main idea 1, explained it, and summarized it.

Now, repeat the process for the remaining two main ideas/body paragraphs.

The 5 paragraph essay outline should now include the following:

II.    Body Paragraph 1

1. Introductory sentence (1 sentence)
2. Explain main idea 1 (several sentences)
3. Summary sentence (1-2 sentences)

III.   Body Paragraph 2

1. Introductory sentence
2. Explain main idea 2
3. Summary sentence

IV.   Body Paragraph 3

1. Introductory sentence
2. Explain main idea 3
3. Summary sentence

Step #3: Finish Off with Your Conclusion

Whew – you’re almost done! Time to wrap up your amazing 5 paragraph essay outline with a conclusion. Your conclusion is the last thing that your professor or test grader will read, so you want to make sure it’s got a lot of emphasis.

Restate Your Thesis

The first sentence of your conclusion will restate your thesis. Don’t copy and paste the thesis statement, but don’t deviate from its content either; just reword it. If your thesis statement was “There are several factors, including those within the family, those within the school, and those within the community, that contribute to juvenile delinquency”, you might reword it as, “Juvenile delinquency can best be understood as rooted in a combination of family-related, school-related, and community-related factors.”

Summarize Main Ideas

Next, you’re going to briefly summarize each main idea. You can use one or two sentences for each to explain what the idea is and why it is relevant. Again, don’t get too length here; just stick to the key points of each idea.

Concluding Remarks

Finally, you’re going to end off your outline with concluding remarks. Like your hook, you want your concluding remarks to be interesting. You can choose to leave your reader with a thought-provoking question, a quote, or directions for the future. For example, you might write, “With a better understanding of the roots of juvenile delinquency, prevention efforts can be more targeted and thereby more effective.” Either way, make sure your reader ends the essay curious to learn more about your topic.

The final portion of your 5 paragraph essay outline will now look like this:

V.    Conclusion

1. Restatement of thesis (1 sentence)
2. Summary of ideas (3-5 sentences)
3. Concluding remarks (1-2 sentences)

Sample 5 Paragraph Essay Outline

You now are on your way to crafting a comprehensive 5 paragraph essay outline! For your reference, here’s an example of what a 5 paragraph essay outline on theories of delinquency might look like:

I.  Introduction

a. Hook

 - Juvenile delinquency is a sociological problem that has been termed “one of society’s most serious ills.”

b. Background/Stating the Problem

- Although delinquency has been established as a key social issue, there is little understanding of the factors that predict its development.

c. Thesis statement with three main ideas

- There are several factors, including those within the family [main idea 1], those within the school [main idea 2], and those within the community [main idea 3], that contribute to juvenile delinquency

II. Body Paragraph 1

a. Introductory sentence

- Family-related factors are often seen as the most significant causes of juvenile delinquency.

b. Explain main idea 1

– Family-related predictors of deviance among youth include…

c. Summary sentence

- Overall, abuse, neglect, and poor modeling are important family-related contributors to juvenile delinquency.

III. Body Paragraph 2

a. Introductory sentence

- At the same time, factors within the school environment also contribute to the development of juvenile delinquency.  

b. Explain main idea 1

– School-related predictors of deviance among youth include…

c. Summary sentence

- When schools offer poor education, a lack of support for struggling children, and a punitive outlook on discipline, students are more likely to engage in deviant behavior.

IV. Body Paragraph 3

a. Introductory sentence

- Last, there are several factors within the community that may be at the root of youth deviance as well.   

b. Explain main idea 1

– Community-related predictors of deviance among youth include…

c. Summary sentence

- Based on the literature, it is clear that communities with disorganization and social inequalities are associated with higher levels of juvenile delinquency.

V. Conclusion

a. Restatement of thesis

- Juvenile delinquency can best be understood as rooted in a combination of family-related, school-related, and community-related factors.

b. Summary of ideas

– Family-related predictors of deviance among youth include… School-related predictors of deviance among youth include… Community-related predictors of deviance among youth include…

c. Concluding remarks

- With a better understanding of the roots of juvenile delinquency, prevention efforts can be more targeted and thereby more effective.

So, what are you waiting for? Go create the most impressive 5 paragraph essay outline your professor has ever seen, and reap in the good grades. 

Let’s go over some of the most important guidelines to make sure you’re on the right side of the rules when it comes to using numbers in all your writing, for school and beyond.

Numerals or Words?

The first thing you have to decide before you choose a style for the numbers in your document is what exactly you’re writing.  A technical document or scientific research paper is going to need a totally different style for numbers from a history paper, or an article for the newspaper, for that matter.  Who’s your audience?  For a scientific paper, you may want to use more specific and complicated numbers, including statistical concepts, while in an English or History paper – or in a short story for a Creative Writing course – you may want to avoid these.

Cardinal or Ordinal?

Time to think way, waaay back to elementary school.  Remember when they tried to teach you the difference between “cardinal” and “ordinal” numbers?  In case you don’t remember, just remember that “ordinal” tells you the “order” that the number comes in:  first, second, third, fourth, and so on.  Easy, right?  Ordinal = order.  Cardinal numbers, on the other hand, are the “counting” numbers (they both start with “C”!). 

You should usually stick to using ordinal numbers if you are listing concepts in an essay.  This usually happens when you have a series of points to support your essay’s thesis.  Simply choose those ordinal numbers (remember – they’re the ones that tell you the order of things!).  Say you need to present three arguments for why many people believe Francis Bacon was the one who actually wrote Shakespeare’s plays.  What are the arguments?  Here’s an example of how to use ordinal numbers to lay out your argument in a nice, neat, logical order:

“First, the ideas in Shakespeare’s works are very similar to those Bacon wrote about (and here, you’d give some proof of this from both authors); second, there are some codes and clues in the plays (here, you’d give examples of these clues), and third, many reputable scholars support this thesis (here, you might provide examples of some of these scholars – except that most scholars today do not believe this theory!).”

In an actual essay, of course, you’d want to expand on each of your points so they’d fill out at least one paragraph per point.  For a longer essay, you may actually dedicate multiple paragraphs or pages to each point.  However, each time you bring in an ordinal number, it’s a reminder of the thesis and brings readers back to your main point.

How to Write Numbers in Words – and When? 

A good rule of thumb is that you can write out numbers as words if you’re using two words or fewer.  So… “six thousand two hundred and thirty-eight” is probably simpler to write as 6238 – a single number instead of seven words. “Twenty-seven,” on the other hand, is pretty readable just the way it is.  But knowing that you can write out a number in words doesn’t always mean you should.  Here are a few examples of times you need numerals instead.

Units of Measurement

If you’re using numbers as a unit of measurement, then use numerals, not words.  For example, “The house is 17 feet tall,” rather than “The house is seventeen feet tall.”  But sometimes, it’s more up in the air:  “I’ll be out in five minutes,” rather than “I’ll be out in 5 minutes.”  (In a novel, you’d definitely want to use the first one.)  If you’re using actual unit abbreviations, like oz., km., mph, however, then you definitely need to use numerals:

• The car was traveling at 17 mph.
• We went over 2 km in one day.
• We gave him 150 ml, twice a day.

Currency and Dates

Another rule that makes things easy to remember is that if you’re talking about currency or dates, you should usually use numerals, like this:

• She paid £20 for the pizza.
• All their souvenirs cost €50.
• She made an appointment for March 5, 2021.

Precise Numbers

Finally, taking you waaaay back to math class, you will always want to use numerals when you’re writing out precise numbers – decimals or fractions – like in these examples:

• He had a temperature of 101.4°.  (Here, we’ve also got the degree symbol to tip us off, so this actually follows the previous rule as well.)
• She said to add exactly 1/8 of a pinch of salt.
• Paleontologists estimate that an asteroid hit the earth 66.5 million years ago.

One Big Exception

Quick FYI:  despite all the rules above, many styles require you to write out a number as words if it’s the first word in a sentence:  “Sixty-six million years ago is when many scientists believe an asteroid hit the earth.”  If the result is totally awkward, don’t worry!  It’s easy to work around this by moving the number to later on in the sentence.

Style Differences:  APA, MLA, and beyond

One of the biggest considerations in any kind of academic writing is what style you are expected to follow for your essay’s formatting.  The most common styles are those set by the American Psychological Association (APA) and Modern Language Association (MLA), but the Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago, or Turabian) is also commonly found in academic courses.  Different instructors at the same college may have different requirements, so always check the assignment before you turn in your paper.

Each of these styles requires different things in terms of number formats.  When in doubt, the hands-down most authoritative site for help with formatting is the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University, which offers guides to MLA formatting, APA formatting, and more, along with tons of general tips for success in academic writing.

MLA Numbering Rules – Quick Overview

MLA is generally thought of as a “humanities” style, meaning there is less emphasis on how current and scientifically accurate each reference is.  In general, MLA tries to provide an intuitive way of writing numbers in the way that makes the most sense to non-scientists.

• Use the “two words or fewer” rule (“twenty-seven” is okay, but not “six thousand two hundred and thirty-eight”);
• Fractions should be spelled and hyphenated – one-third, three-quarters, forty-second;
• For groups of years, don’t use an apostrophe: 1970s, not 1970’s   

APA Numbering Rules – Quick Overview

In contrast with MLA, APA is a science-oriented format.  APA tries to provide up-to-date information that is scientifically accurate.  While you’d need to curl up with the APA manual to get all the details straight, here are a few quick highlights of APA formatting when it comes to numbers:

• Write out numbers below 10 as words;
• Use numerals for numbers 10 and above;
• Use numerals for exact numbers (“participants were observed for 15 days” – although in the most recent (6th) edition of APA, exact numbers are now spelled out under ten: “participants were observed for three days”);
• Write out numbers as words if they are only approximate (“about three seconds”)

Comparing and Contrasting MLA and APA

Understanding both these formats, we can now see that you’d use “27” in a paper written in APA style (following the “numbers 10 and above” rule), but “twenty-seven” in an MLA paper (following the “two words or fewer” rule).  This is one big difference between the two.

But there are similarities as well.  Both MLA and APA require you to use a comma to separate the thousands place in numbers longer than three digits, as in 9,999 and 1,027.  Other styles, like Chicago Manual of Style, may have different rules, but these generally have comprehensive guides you can find online which will let you know more about their specific requirements.

No matter which style you’re using, you may need to both write out and capitalize numbers if they are joined to very important or holy concepts:  the Ten Commandments, the Twelve Apostles, or the Five Pillars of Islam.

Why Number it Right?

Whatever you’re writing, remember that the goal of all these rules is not to confuse you but to help you write more clearly.  You want people to be able to read and understand what you’ve written!  It’s all about communication – getting your point across.  So no matter what style of number you end up using, if you follow these guidelines and learn some simple rules for how to write numbers in words, you’ll end up with the kind of number that matters most – a grade you can hold up with pride on your next article, literature review, or academic essay!