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Before you start writing your essay, ensure you are organized so that you will make the writing process simple and quick. Bear in mind that good preparation and planning offers you a clear overview of your material so that you can find the best alternative to arrange the points. The four basic steps to planning your essay include planning in advance, analyzing the question you want to address, finding the source material and organizing the material.

An essay is a type of academic assignment that plays a vital role in helping your tutors to determine your level of understanding in a specific discipline. Additionally, this is a critical part of writing that offers you a great chance to explore a particular subject area in depth, choose relevant materials, explain theories and concepts, evaluate arguments and express your opinions and views on a certain topic. However, before you start the writing process, you must check the department's guidelines to make sure you have the correct paper. This information might include, the word count of the essay, when you are supposed to submit, relevant assessment criteria, and requirements for presentations and reference depending on the writing prompts.

When choosing the source material for your paper, you must ensure that you understand the exact requirements of the paper. Here is an approach to analysis that can help you simplify your topic into clearly identifiable elements so that you can understand what you are required to do.

Try to use your analysis of the subject matter as a focus for the selection of materials by reading course module presentations on the blackboard and the relevant information in the module guide. However, you might find other relevant information in various source materials such as course textbooks, websites and other sources suggested in the module learning unit.
Additionally, you might consider conducting your own research but make sure you are selective since this is important way of responding to the writing prompts. Use the selected topic as a focus for making your notes and make sure that you record data that is relevant to the essay topic. This will help you create your notes easily to organize them in the essay plan.

An effective essay should contain a logical and coherent structure, and an essay plan will offer you the perfect and quick way of attempting different structures to determine the best one. One of the best ways to craft a good essay plan is to list your key points in the keywords and phrases and then organize them just below the main headings. This will provide an overview of your points so that you can decide which should be incorporated and what is the most logical sequence for them.

Try out with various styles of planning essays and make sure you use the approach that you believe is the most helpful. Create numerous essay plans since this will help you find the best sequence for your material. When you separate the planning stage from the writing stage, you will have a chance to write an essay that is well structured and expressed in a clear manner. The guide discussed below explores the main elements of an essay and shows you how to use the elements effectively.

Try to analyze the essay writing prompts before you start writing notes so that you can understand what you are required to do. Make sure you are selective in your reading as this will help you get the relevant source materials, and ensure that you gather only information that is directly relevant to the question. Your essay plans should help you create a clear and logical sequence of your source material before you start writing.

Once you have selected your topic and created a writing plan, you can start writing your first draft. This draft will assist you to create the structure and framework of the paper, determine how you will address the question, determine what evidence and examples you will use and show you how the argument will be logically structured. Since this is the first draft and it's not your final paper, you can consider it as a raw material that you will refine through editing and redrafting. Once you have completed crafting the draft, you can start working on the real monster!

Bear in mind that a good essay must have a strong and clear structure. In most cases, underpinning the structure will be the argument that is presented in your essay. However, this can be strong and obvious, or it can be invisible, but it must be there. Note that in different disciplines and with the different writing style, the term argument might appear more or less relevant at the same time. Nevertheless, even in those papers that seem to be creative, personal and unscientific, an argument tends to sound like it is being made. As a student, you must understand that it is in the argument and how you choose to address and support your argument that will influence your decision on how the essay will be structured.
When you create a relevant structure, you are trying to help yourself present an effective argument. Consider using generic structures that will help you come up with the best essay structure such as chronological thematic by context and comparative.

A paragraph is an interrelated group of sentences that create the main idea and every paragraph in the body of the paper must contain a topic sentence that explains the main and controlling idea. It should have numerous supporting sentences to explain and create the point that you are addressing. A good paragraph must have evidence. In most cases, your argument must be backed up by some type of evidence from your sources or by an example extracted from the subject area. Your paragraphs must have an analysis as this will help you analyze and interpret the evidence you provided in light of the writing prompts. In this part, talk about the implication, significance, and impact as you conclude the paragraph with a critical conclusion that you have extracted from the evidence. Additionally, every paragraph should have a concluding sentence that restates your point and acts as a transition to the next paragraph.

Being the writing process early, as starting will help you reduce anxiety, overcome procrastination, and it will give you enough time to develop your ideas.

Keep the essay question in mind and make sure you don't lose track of the issue you are addressing. You can place a copy in front of you as you draft as you edit and work out your argument.

Avoid writing an essay from the beginning to end (especially not in a single sitting). Instead, you can start with writing a plan, a few sentences and bullet points which you don't need any preparation to start. Once you have the plan, start writing the body and make sure you work paragraph by paragraph.

Include an introduction and conclusion sentence after the body. The moment you distinguish what your essay is about, then write the introduction and conclusion.

Use 'signpost' words in your writing. Transition signals are important in your writing since it helps the reader follow the order as well as the flow of your ideas.

Incorporate your evidence wisely. Make sure you present the quotations and paraphrases with introductory clauses.

Revise your first draft extensively. Ensure that the whole paper flows and that all paragraphs are in a logical sequence.

Put the essay aside for a couple of days before submitting to let you consider your essay and edit it with a fresh eye.

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Planning, writing, and presenting essays - EssayMin

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Before you start writing your essay, ensure you are organized so that you will make the writing process simple and quick. Bear in mind that good preparation and planning offers you a clear overview of your material so that you can find the best alternative to arrange the points.

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Learners often struggle with getting to that idea for an essay.

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A lack of creative writing ideas often leads to a writer's worst fear: writer's block.

It's so easy to fall into its clutches, spending hours at your laptop (or notebook or typewriter) writing sentence after sentence only to cross every one out. Or even worse-to sit an an empty page and write nothing at all. Sometimes it takes time and hard thinking to get out of the rut once you become stuck. Sometimes, however, it takes a little more than that. Sometimes it just might take some outside help.

It can be exceedingly difficult to find solid, mature creative writing ideas on the internet. If you Google "creative writing ideas," most of what comes up is directed at children or casual writers looking to practice a hobby. But what about creative writing ideas for adults? What about when you have the dedication, passion, and experience with writing, but you just don't have the ideas?

And if these don't work, check out my other two posts on Writer's Block (and second Writer's Block article).

The next time you're at a loss for what to write about, try using these creative writing ideas and prompts below. Maybe you'll be inspired enough to propel you straight out of your writer's block, or maybe it'll just be enough to get the gears turning in your head again.

1. Try Writing Magical Realism

Write a story from a universe similar to this one but possessing one specific magical quality.

1. Write about two people who grow up together, eventually part ways, move to different sides of the country, and somehow still end up unintentionally running into each other very frequently for the rest of their lives.

2. Write about someone who is reincarnated over and over again and remembers all of his/her past lives, but no one else on earth remembers theirs.

3. Write about two people who are physically unable to be awake at the same time.

4. Write about a contract killer literally haunted by his first hit.

5. Write about a prophet who knows the exact day, time, and occurrence of his death years in advance.

6. Write about a character who can taste people's emotions through the food they prepare.

7. Write about two people who dream about each other before they actually meet.

8. Write a post-apocalyptic story and explain only your main character's coping mechanism: creating a fantasy world in his/her head and living there.

9. Write about a person who goes to the theater with friends multiple times but always sees a different movie than his/her friends see on the same screen.

10. Write about a person who grows a new finger every time he/she acts cruelly to someone.

If you want help writing your novel, I've got the best novel-writing guide in the universe:
12 Steps to Write a Bestselling Novel.
That link will give you advice on characters, plotting, point of view, and more.

2. Write from a Different Perspective

Use a voice and background different from your own to write something unfamiliar and fresh.

1. Write from the perspective of an advanced AI.

2. Write from the perspective of a person in the year 2550.

3. Write from perspective of a mythological siren stuck on the rocky shore of an ocean, trying to lure sailors to their deaths.

4. Write from the perspective of an "inside guy" (jury member, lawyer, judge, etc) during an important court case.

5. Write from the perspective of a family pet whose fate is decided when its owners split up.

6. Write from the perspective of a different gender when subjected to explicit sexual objectification.

7. Write from the perspective of an inanimate object in nature, like a rock or the wind.

8. Write from the perspective of someone with a chronic but not fatal illness (diabetes, OCD, Lyme disease, etc).

9. Write from the perspective of a blind person who comes home to find all the furniture in his/her apartment rearranged.

10. Write from the perspective of a fed-up guardian angel whose designated human is prone to self-sacrificial acts.

3. Write About What's Around You

Get inspired by ordinary objects in your home.

1. Find a small object in your junk drawer (stapler remover, chewed-up pen cap, paperweight, etc) and write about how it could be used as a weapon to kill.

2. Imagine you have to hide documents essential to national security somewhere in your office or bedroom and write a story about wherever you think is the best place.

3. If the room you're in has windows, write a story in which the room is exactly the same but with no windows, and vice versa.

4. Imagine you're cleaning out your desk and find a secret message carved or written on the bottom of one drawer.

5. Open a book in your office, turn to a random page, blindly point to a word, and use it as the very first word of your story.

6. Find a photo of yourself and write a narrative about the photographer in that moment.

7. Pick a room in your house and recount a story, real or fictional, about how a particular object in that room came to be there.

8. Mentally (or physically, if you want to) rearrange all the furniture in your office or bedroom and write about how that changes the overall mood of the room.

9. Search your coat pockets for old recipes, notes, or trinkets and write a story centered around something you find. (If you find nothing, write about why you empty your pockets so frequently.)

10. Pick a small item from your desk drawer and write about a character who carries it around as a talisman.

4. Let Your Reading Inspire Your Writing

Use your favorite books as a launching pad to create something original.

1. Write a scene borrowing the protagonist of a book you've read, but cast as a different gender.

2. Research an author you enjoy, then combine his/her life with the life of a character from one of his/her books to create a new character.

3. Take a familiar scene from a book and rewrite it, adding yourself in as a character (spectator, narrator, background figure, etc).

4. Reset a scene from a book in a drastically different time period.

5. Write a different story using the same title as a familiar book.

6. If the book you're using has a first person narrator, rewrite a scene either from the perspective of another character or in the third person.

7. Write about a fictional person who has an intense reaction (either positive or negative) to a book you've read.

8. Write a story using only words found in the first and last sentences of each chapter of a book.

9. Take a book you know well and write an alternate ending that is the exact opposite of the real ending (whatever you think "opposite" means).

10. If the book you're using has a third person narrator, rewrite a scene in the first person (as one of the author's characters or a new character).

5. Take a Plot and Write It Multiple Ways

Take a well-defined prompt and write it multiple times, each with a different ending.

1. Write about a Japanese steakhouse chef who accidentally cuts him/herself while cooking in front of a family.

2. Write about a painter who is commissioned by a family member to paint a dead man/woman using no pictures, only descriptions from other people.

3. Write about a group of truckers who all frequent the same truck stops and form a book club for when they see each other again.

4. Write about a seasoned model who shows up to her agency one day with inexplicable cuts all over her legs.

5. Write about two strangers who each grab one end of extremely rare record at the same time in a secondhand vinyl shop.

6. Write about a manic-depressive linguist who conveys his/her emotions to friends using words from other languages that aren't translatable into English.

7. Write about a group of whalers who accidentally discover mermaids the size of blue whales.

8. Write about someone who mistakenly picks the lock to the wrong apartment at two in the morning when trying to get into a friend's apartment.

9. Write about a strictly Shakespearian actor who loses all of his/her money and has to take modern comedic roles to stay afloat.

10. And finally: Write about a writer struggling with long-term writer's block who desperately searches the internet for ideas and prompts.

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50 Creative Writing Ideas to Combat Writer's Block - Bookfox

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A lack of creative writing ideas often leads to a writer's worst fear: writer's block. It's so easy to fall into its clutches, spending hours at your laptop (or notebook or typewriter) writing sentence after sentence only to cross every one out. Or even worse-to sit an an empty page and write nothing at all.

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Difference between revising and editing.

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Difference between revising and editing.

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This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Choosing a Topic
Summary:
This handout provides detailed information about how to write research papers including discussing research papers as a genre, choosing topics, and finding sources.

The first step of any research paper is for the student to understand the assignment. If this is not done, the student will often travel down many dead-end roads, wasting a great deal of time along the way. Do not hesitate to approach the instructor with questions if there is any confusion. A clear understanding of the assignment will allow you to focus on other aspects of the process, such as choosing a topic and identifying your audience.

Topic

A student will often encounter one of two situations when it comes to choosing a topic for a research paper. The first situation occurs when the instructor provides a list of topics from which the student may choose. These topics have been deemed worthy by the instructor; therefore, the student should be confident in the topic he chooses from the list. Many first-time researchers appreciate such an arrangement by the instructor because it eliminates the stress of having to decide upon a topic on their own.

However, the student may also find the topics that have been provided to be limiting; moreover, it is not uncommon for the student to have a topic in mind that does not fit with any of those provided. If this is the case, it is always beneficial to approach the instructor with one's ideas. Be respectful, and ask the instructor if the topic you have in mind would be a possible research option for the assignment. Remember, as a first-time researcher, your knowledge of the process is quite limited; the instructor is experienced, and may have very precise reasons for choosing the topics she has offered to the class. Trust that she has the best interests of the class in mind. If she likes the topic, great! If not, do not take it personally and choose the topic from the list that seems most interesting to you.

The second situation occurs when the instructor simply hands out an assignment sheet that covers the logistics of the research paper, but leaves the choice of topic up to the student. Typically, assignments in which students are given the opportunity to choose the topic require the topic to be relevant to some aspect of the course; so, keep this in mind as you begin a course in which you know there will be a research paper near the end. That way, you can be on the lookout for a topic that may interest you. Do not be anxious on account of a perceived lack of authority or knowledge about the topic chosen. Instead, realize that it takes practice to become an experienced researcher in any field.

For a discussion of Evaluating Sources, see Evaluating Sources of Information.

Methods for choosing a topic

Thinking early leads to starting early. If the student begins thinking about possible topics when the assignment is given, she has already begun the arduous, yet rewarding, task of planning and organization. Once she has made the assignment a priority in her mind, she may begin to have ideas throughout the day. Brainstorming is often a successful way for students to get some of these ideas down on paper. Seeing one's ideas in writing is often an impetus for the writing process. Though brainstorming is particularly effective when a topic has been chosen, it can also benefit the student who is unable to narrow a topic. It consists of a timed writing session during which the student jots down-often in list or bulleted form-any ideas that come to his mind. At the end of the timed period, the student will peruse his list for patterns of consistency. If it appears that something seems to be standing out in his mind more than others, it may be wise to pursue this as a topic possibility.

It is important for the student to keep in mind that an initial topic that you come up with may not be the exact topic about which you end up writing. Research topics are often fluid, and dictated more by the student's ongoing research than by the original chosen topic. Such fluidity is common in research, and should be embraced as one of its many characteristics.

The Purdue OWL also offers a number of other resources on choosing and developing a topic:

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This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice. Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.

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Organising ideas pulls information together so the mind can make sense of it....
This looks like my closet.

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Here are some things to consider:

Make sure your topic meets the assignment requirements. Ask your professor for feedback if you are unsure.

Choose a topic that is interesting to you. It may seem obvious, but this will make the research process more fun and engaging for you.

Consider the scope of your topic. If your topic is too broad it may be hard to find information that is focused and relevant; if your topic is too narrow it may be hard to find any information at all.

Here's one strategy for developing a research topic once you have a broad topic in mind:

Background research will help you develop your topic and hone or change it in more appropriate ways. Knowing more about your topic's background can only help you develop a more effective topic, and therefore, research paper.

Brainstorm concepts. Once you think of a broad topic that interests you, try to brainstorm all of the words or concepts you can that might be related to that topic (and write them down!). For example, if your topic is "polar bears," you might think of the following words and topics in association: ice, cubs, pollution, hunting, diet, climate change, and environmental icon.

Develop a research question. Once you have come up with a broad topic and done some background research, you may want to develop a research question, or a question you're going to answer in your paper by doing more, in-depth research.

What's your general approach to the topic? Think about some general approaches that may help you further develop your topic: use a historical angle by focusing on a particular time period; a geographical angle, focusing on a particular part of the world; or a sociological angle, focusing on a particular group of people.

Start doing some exploratory, in-depth research. As you do more in-depth research, like looking for scholarly articles, books, and other sources to include in your paper, you can and probably will modify or refine your topic based on what you find.

Research is a dynamic process. Don't be afraid to discover new things and modify or refine your topic.

The topic development process will help you to develop your thesis, which is essentially your proposed answer to your research question. You will then be ready to use the sources you've found, and find more sources in order to support that thesis, or to answer your research question.

Here's an example of how the topic development process above can lead you to a thesis:

Resources that can help you develop your topic:

Your instructor, course readings, class notes, Wikipedia, and Google can all be helpful in terms of getting ideas for broad topics.

A Research Guide for a particular subject created by a subject librarianis great for helping you choose where to begin your research. These online guides will identify encyclopedias, books, databases, and other materials to help you get started with research. You can also ask a librarian at the Library Service Desk.

Library resources like Credo Reference Unlimited, Gale Virtual Reference Library, CQ Researcher and subject-specific encyclopedias can help you come up with topic ideas because they provide great overviews and introductions to topics. You can find links to these kinds of resources in the Research Guides mentioned above. These will probably not be scholarly sources you can use in your paper, but they may lead you to more in-depth, scholarly resources that you will want to use in your paper.

Check out this video from NCSU Libraries:

Thanks go to the Portland State University Library for sharing their Library DIY idea with us!

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How can I choose a good topic for my research paper? - Ask a Librarian

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Here are some things to consider: Make sure your topic meets the assignment requirements. Ask your professor for feedback if you are unsure. Choose a topic that is interesting to you. It may seem obvious, but this will make the research process more fun and engaging for you.

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The difference between revising and editing 

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The difference between revising and editing 

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This video will help you to revise and edit your essay thoroughly.

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This GIF illustrates what an organized closet looks like.
Every item is clearly visible and categorized into the same color and style.

In the same way in which this closet is organized your essay ideas must be organized.

One idea per paragraph with supporting information. This will give your essay a good structure and will make it easy to read and understand.

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This article shows you step by step how to choose the right research topic or idea.

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Being able to choose suitable research topics is an important skill to have for any student. Not only is it the difference between writing a good paper and falling flat on your face, it's imperative if you want the process to run smoothly.

The importance of writing a good paper can lead students to feel an enormous and looming weight hanging over their heads as time passes, however, if you know a few crucial steps choosing the right research topics can be quick, easy and even fun.

In this article, you will see how to find the perfect research topics in just five easy steps, stress-free.

1. Brainstorm Some Research Topics

The first and probably the easiest step is to have a brainstorming session to see what topic is best for you. It's best to find something that interests you, but you shouldn't be afraid to go out of your comfort zone a little bit. Look at what is going on in the news and see if anything sparks a creative burst of thought. Make a long list of possible choices and begin the selection process.

2. Select a Topic

The next step is selecting a topic that might sound obvious and straightforward but doing this step right is important if you want the rest of the process to be painless.

A common mistake students can make, is getting far too specific at the early stages, however, selecting the right topic is a process of elimination.

The objective of starting off with a finalized idea is to save time, but the time you will spend getting to that stage will help you with the rest of the process, so it's best not to rush it.

Start off by picking a very broad subject and the more widespread, the better. So if you decide to write about a multi-faceted subject such as music do it! The next steps will solidify your idea and bring you closer to that final draft.

3. Get Super Specific

Once you have a broad subject, the next step is to get super-specific. This will help you determine whether or not your subject has depth and is worth perusing. If this step takes a little time and you find yourself changing your mind about your topic don't worry because once you nail this step, the rest will be easy.

The idea is to get your broad idea and then extract a particular element of that subject. Then, you have to take that aspect and make that even more specific. For example, if your topic is about music get specific by making it about blues music. And then get even more precise by making it about the effect and influence blues from rural Mississippi had on Chicago blues in the '50s; this is how you make a paper unique as well as interesting.

4. Define Your Topic as a Question

Once you have a specific topic you now need to define it a question that will help you with the context of your paper. So, if your chosen topic is the "The effect Mississippi Blues had on Chicago blues in the 50's" You need to change it to something along the lines of: "How has rural Mississippi Blues influenced mainstream Chicago Blues"

5. Research Your Topic More / Create an Outline

At this stage you essentially have a paper that is waiting to be written, all you have to do now is some in-depth research on the specific aspects of your paper, and create an outline of what you want your paper to say. Write a two-sentence answer to your defined topic question, and you are ready to begin.

The hardest part is complete; in only five steps, you have your research topic. Now all you need to do is write it!

The first thing you should do is make a list of things that you want your research paper to say, how you want to say it, and how you want it to be perceived. Create aims and goals and write a timeline of when and how you want to achieve them, but before you do so, be sure to take note of the five steps above and put them into practice before you write a single word.

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How to Choose the Right Research Topic in 5 Easy Steps

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Being able to choose suitable research topics is an important skill to have for any student. Not only is it the difference between writing a good paper and falling flat on your face, it's imperative if you want the process to run smoothly.