An urgent short essay is a sprint, not a marathon. You have only one chance to impress your reader expressing your best ideas on a catchy topic. There is no place for waffling and weak arguments, only concise and powerful thoughts should be expressed.
That is the main reason why people find it complicated. A student should comply with an assigned number of words as well as stick to the rules of academic writing. Short essays are not substantially different from the other kinds of writing assignments, it is the same piece of work but far smaller in length. That is why it is important to know their inherent peculiarities for better understanding how to write short compositions.
General Rules for Crafting Such Essays
A short essay takes up no more than one sheet of paper but the traditional structure remains. You must divide your creation into 3 parts: introduction, main body, and conclusion. The composition usually consists of 5 paragraphs, but it is not the obligation. Their number depends on the topic and your own decision. Still, this is the basic rule.
Introduction and conclusion must contain only one paragraph. The first part you need to use as a hook to catch the reader's attention and bring them all up to speed, but the closing one is used to summarize and sustain what you have said above. Those parts are compiled of 3-4 sentences while writing short essays. The size of the main body is up to you. Here you are free to express yourself.
Make an outline in any case. Little papers like this are often written on the spot. For instance, your professor can tell you to write a small essay right here in the audience without any preparation. Even though you don't have much time to think a lot, it would be better to write a short plan or a rough cut for the future essay. Otherwise, your paper is going to be a futile mess.
How to Engage the Reader from the First Line
Introduction aims to develop the audience's interest. So, this part must be the most intriguing in the whole essay writing to make the reader curious about what is going to happen next. Even if your paper is urgent, you have to pay enough attention to this part. Let's show you a few tips to follow:
- Avoid boring explanations such as definitions or well-known facts;
- Provide a citation of a famous person, but not the obvious one;
- Include an interesting statistics in correspondence to your topic;
- Ask a provocative question or even several of them;
- Draw the parallels with a real life case or an interesting story you have ever heard;
- Start with an emotional statement but don't overdo it.
- After making up a successful hook, present your topic and prepare the reader for the further arguments.
Stand Your Ground in the Main Body
It's time to show all the cards. Adhere to such a scheme: each point of view is disclosed in one paragraph. Therefore, your essays will look structured and easy to understand. Place your arguments in descending order of their importance. Open the main body with the strongest evidence and close with the weakest one.
Be careful with the way you express your thoughts. The reader should stay involved in your paper, so don't allow any questionable evidence. The greatest advantage of the short essay is that you can boldly throw out any additional information. Not only you can, you ought to. If you are aware of how to write such a thing, you will be able to craft a true masterpiece effortlessly.
To make your paper more entertaining, provide the readers with graphics, diagrams or pictures. Of course, do it only if the essay is your home assignment.
Compelling Finishing Matters
Weak conclusion or its absence leaves a bad taste in the reader's mouth. Do not ignore the bottom line: it is your chance to reinforce the impression of reading by repeating the statement and summarizing all things were told. It's very probable that your audience will remember precisely this part.
Now you have already known how to write a short essay, but don't forget about editing and proper formatting. Carefully revise the paper; there are always some mistakes to be found. If you write it in advance, put down your assignment and distract yourself from the work. After 1-2 hours get back to the essay and proofread it again. If everything looks great, the paper is ready to be handed in to your professor.
As you can see, an urgent short essay is a quite pleasant thing that does not take much time to cope with. You need only systemize your ideas, adhere to the structure and make up an outline. Later, what remains to be done is actually to write the essay itself, and this isn't a real problem if you have at least some ideas what to talk about.