English Language Arts 10, 20 or 30 is hard because of the essays? Same reason that the IELTS or TOEFL exams are so hard. Fortunately, the structure of all of these essays is very similar. And HERE is the place for great essay writing tips.

Did you look at the crazy sample Introductory Paragraph. 

Open it up.

Look around at the labels and the colours.

Does your teacher want colours? Heaven's, no. We added the colours so you can see the parts of the Intro Paragraph.

Now we will explain it to you.

As already stated, the paragraph is colour-coded to help you see the different sections. Furthermore, I have added a text box to each coloured section; the boxes have information to explain what the coloured section is about. Take time to notice which colours are used for what and how they are distributed. [Again, no, do not colour your essay before you hand it in!!!!! LOL]

But you might look at the introduction and think, "Wow, that is crazy." And you would be right, it is crazy!! But if you want a crazy mark like 85% or more, then you'd better to learn to make crazy introductory paragraphs as well. I am not saying that this is fair, I'm just saying that this is what the high school teachers expect of you. 

Sorry to be the one to tell you the hard truth.

Of course, this introductory paragraph is following a particular "style." It is only one of various styles that are out there. So listen carefully to your teacher to find out his or her exact style is. And then try to copy that style. If you want that mark from your teacher, then you need to listen to your teacher and give that teacher what he or she is asking for!! English class is not easy. But then again, life is not easy.

     The most common essay is a five (5) paragraph essay. However, I've observed that many  students do not know what is expected of them. They just have no idea WHAT to write or HOW to write it. Part of the problem is that many students are not paying attention!! (Be honest here, please.) However, your teacher may partially be at fault too. Some teachers make essay writing sound more complicated than it is or your teacher may have a very complicated style that he or she wants you to follow. (Then again, if you want the marks, you'd better follow your teacher's style!!) 

     Either way, I can help you understand what is going on, how to learn the rules and to be aware of the styles.  

     To begin with, writing a good essay involves three simple steps: Plan, Write and Edit. I didn't say, easy steps, I said, simple steps. None of this will be "easy." You will need to think and rethink each step of the way. But at least you will not find it complicated.

Most of your pre-writing time will be spent looking for examples from the story that prove your thesis and brainstorming what the significance is.   

This is the time to look for juicy quotes too. Make sure that you take quotes that are maximum of 10 words only. Shorter is better. Look for quotes that are unique and clear that you can connect your sentences into, such as,  Macbeth was tired and worried stating  that he was "in blood steeped so far" that going ahead was as much work as going back and therefore implying that he might as well proceed as give up.   

Now you decide how many ideas you have and which comes first, second and third. Here is where you look at your ideas to see if you have three great ideas or just 2 small ideas. Perhaps you can take something that looks like one idea and make it into two different ideas. Or perhaps you see that 

The second step to smart essay writing is getting it down on paper. But because you have planned your the essay, in Step 1, writing your essay will be simple and faster. You have "sacrificed" a lot of time thinking and planning in Step 1, above, so you won't need as much time to actually write your essay. How smart is that!!

But wait. You will save more time writing if you understand this other point: good IDEAS are more important than the good WORDS. In Step 2, you write your ideas down and just use "baby" words. Don't worry about the exact word, about big words, about fancy words; worry about the exact idea and making the idea clear with good support!

Actually, at this point, use a baby word like "but," and not a fancy, juicy word like, "however" or "nevertheless," even though "however" or "nevertheless" are better, juicier words. The reason is that your idea maybe be wrong and it's not a "but" that you need, but you really need a "therefore" or a "consequently" and you will be wasting your time looking for a juicy word for nothing. The other reason is that you might change your idea and then you will have wasted all that time again deciding between "but" and "however" and "nevertheless" and now you don't need either because you changed your idea. So don't waste time. At this step, Step 2, get your ideas down and don't worry about the right words, yet.

In Step 3, you improve your words!!

This step is about writing according to your plan in Step 1. Stick to your plan. Get your ideas down clearly. Use baby words to get clear idea. If you do have to change something, it will be easier because your focus is on ideas, not big, fancy words.

Here you must stop writing and sacrifice the class time that you have left and start editing. (Right now, I want you to raise your right hand and solemnly swear that you will always stop early and re-read and edit your essay. Thank you. Put your hand down now.)

You cannot hand in your essay before you edit it. I promise you an extra 10 to 15% in your mark, if you edit your paper before handing it in.

When you edit your essay, check for the following items.

- did you read the question and did you answer the question [Sounds dumb, but everybody messes up at this point.]

- use "literary present" (talk about Hamlet or Willy [in Death of a Salesman] -- in the "present tense" -- don't use past tense

- do not use contractions (e.g., "don't, isn't, won't, can't, he'd, etc.)

- recycle the words from the question in your introductory paragraph so that your essay is on topic (ignore this rule if your teacher said, "Don't recycle the question words".)

- check your idea and replace the baby words

- get rid of simple, baby words and use the fancy, juicy $10 words that you have in your head (or in your thesaurus!)

- vary your word choice and vary the length of sentences

- double- and triple-check the introductory paragraph and the first body paragraphs, to be sure that they--in particular--are clear and faultless 

- did you constantly refer back to your "thesis" and the essay question?!?!? 

For high school exams in Alberta, there is not a great deal of difference between the structure of a critical response essay (CRT or CART) and the structure of an analytical personal response essay (PRT). At least, there is a way to keep the two similar and save time trying to learning the two types.

Firstly, while the CRT is pretty straightforward, there are three "flavours" for the PRT. One type of PRT is the 'analytical' PRT. If you try to always follow the structure of the analytical PRT, then you will simplify things in your life because it resembles a CRT.  

 Task 1 essays are about a graph or process diagram. You should have three (3) parts: the topic re-write, the overall section and lastly one or two paragraphs on details and comparisons. There is no conclusion. I will add an example to this page soon. 

 Task 2 for the IELTS exam's writing part is similar to the essay structure below: introduction paragraph followed by at least two body paragraphs and then a conclusion paragraph.

Writing an essay isn't all gory and blood and guts. And it's not magic or full of witches or wierd sisters.

But essay writing is a lot of work (and weird words). So if your essay is about Shakespeare's, Macbeth, or if it is about something else, and you would like some face-to-face help, call for a private tutor with experience.

Jerz Setonhill - Writing Short Stories

Grammar: Verbs, Adjectives, Transition words, Punctuation, Sentence Structure, etc.

Ashley's Tips: Grammar, Thesis Statements, etc.

Writing Rules: Punctuation marks, Quotes, Confusing Words, etc.