How to write a good essay

Summary

This video explains how to write a successful essay by organizing it into five key paragraphs: introduction, supporting arguments, counterarguments, main argument, and conclusion. The speaker emphasizes the importance of planning, focusing on key ideas, and using quotations effectively. Quotations should be brief and supported by explanations to strengthen the essay’s argument. Paragraph four, the 'crunch,' is highlighted as crucial for presenting the most compelling points, while the conclusion should summarize without introducing new ideas. Following these steps ensures a clear, logical, and persuasive essay.

Takeaways

• 😀 An essay is a presentation of your own ideas and acquired knowledge, proving your understanding of the subject.
• 📚 Essays, especially in exams, are structured into five paragraphs: introduction, two body paragraphs for and against, a main argument paragraph, and a conclusion.
• ✍️ Planning is essential for writing an essay. It helps you organize ideas and focus on the most important points.
• 💡 Paragraph 4 is the most important, where you present your strongest arguments and back them up with facts and quotations.
• ⚖️ Balance your essay by presenting both sides of an argument before debunking opposing viewpoints in a logical, calm manner.
• 📝 Quotations should be used wisely and need three sentences: one to introduce, one to quote, and one to explain its relevance.
• 📏 Quotations should not dominate the essay—keep them brief and relevant to the argument you're making.
• 🔍 A well-placed quotation can greatly strengthen your argument, but only if used selectively and correctly.
• 📚 Avoid adding new ideas in the conclusion—use it to summarize and naturally follow from the argument presented in paragraph 4.
• 💼 Writing an essay is like engaging in a polite debate—listen, acknowledge, then calmly present why your argument is stronger.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of writing an essay according to the speaker?

The main purpose of writing an essay is to present your ideas and demonstrate that you understand the subject by incorporating both your own thoughts and the ideas you've acquired.

How does the speaker suggest structuring an essay?

The speaker suggests structuring an essay into five paragraphs or 'units': 1) Introduction, 2) Main reasons for the argument, 3) Main reasons against the argument, 4) Crunch paragraph with the core argument, and 5) Conclusion.

What is the role of the 'crunch paragraph' in an essay?

The crunch paragraph (paragraph 4) is where you present your strongest argument, refute previous points, and include critical information backed by quotations. It's usually the longest and most important part of the essay.

What should be avoided in the conclusion of an essay?

In the conclusion (paragraph 5), avoid introducing new ideas. It should naturally follow from the previous paragraphs and wrap up the discussion, summarizing your argument.

Why is planning important when writing an essay?

Planning is crucial because it helps organize your main ideas and prevents you from including unnecessary information. It ensures that your best points are presented effectively in the essay.

How does the speaker suggest balancing arguments in an essay?

The speaker suggests balancing arguments by dedicating paragraph 2 to the main reasons for your argument and paragraph 3 to the reasons against it, ensuring a well-rounded discussion.

What is the correct way to use a quotation in an essay?

A quotation should be used strategically, requiring three sentences: one to introduce the quotation, one to present it, and one to explain its relevance to your argument. Quotations should be brief and directly support your point.

Why is it important to choose quotations carefully?

Choosing quotations carefully is important because you may not have time to use all the quotations you've prepared. A well-chosen quotation can strengthen your argument, while excessive or irrelevant quotes can distract from your main points.

What does the speaker mean by 'winning' with your essay by using quotations effectively?

The speaker means that by using quotations strategically and correctly, you enhance your argument and stand a better chance of receiving a higher mark, as the quotations provide evidence for your points.

What is the main mistake students make with quotations in essays?

One common mistake is using quotations that are too long, sometimes even longer than the student's own writing. This detracts from the essay’s clarity and focus, as quotations should be concise and relevant.

Outlines

00:00

📝 How to Structure a Good Essay

The first paragraph discusses how to write a compelling essay by breaking it down into five essential units, referred to as paragraphs. The first unit is the introduction, and the last is the conclusion. Paragraphs 2 and 3 focus on presenting arguments both for and against a particular proposition, while Paragraph 4 is the 'crunch' section where the writer establishes their key argument and backs it up with evidence. The importance of planning the essay, including deciding what to leave out, is emphasized, as is ensuring a logical flow that leads to a strong conclusion. Paragraphs 1 and 5 are typically brief, while Paragraph 4, the argumentative core, tends to be the longest.

05:00

💬 Using Quotations Effectively in Essays

The second paragraph focuses on the proper use of quotations in an essay. The writer advises that a quotation should consist of three parts: establishing the quotation, quoting it, and then explaining its relevance. The misuse of lengthy quotations is discouraged. Instead, brevity and relevance are stressed, ensuring that the quotation supports the point being made. The metaphor of a jewel in a ring is used to explain that only certain facets of the quotation should be highlighted. Overusing quotations or failing to explain them properly can detract from the essay’s effectiveness. Selecting the right quotes and balancing them with the student’s own ideas is crucial to a strong essay.

Keywords

💡Essay

An essay is a structured written work that presents the writer's ideas and acquired knowledge on a subject. In the video, the essay is described as a series of organized units or paragraphs, with the purpose of demonstrating understanding and argumentation in a balanced and logical manner. The speaker emphasizes the importance of planning and structuring essays effectively.

💡Introduction

The introduction is the first unit or paragraph of an essay. It serves to establish how the writer intends to answer the essay question. In the video, the speaker explains that this paragraph should be brief and focused, setting the stage for the arguments that will be presented later.

💡Conclusion

The conclusion is the final paragraph of an essay, where the writer wraps up the discussion without introducing new ideas. According to the speaker, the conclusion should naturally follow from the preceding paragraphs, particularly the argumentative section, and restate the essay's main points in a succinct manner.

💡Argumentative essay

An argumentative essay presents and debates opposing views on a topic, requiring a balanced discussion of both sides. In the video, the speaker describes how paragraphs in an argumentative essay should alternate between presenting reasons for and against the proposition, with the most critical points being discussed in the 'crunch' paragraph.

💡Crunch paragraph

The crunch paragraph, or paragraph 4, is described as the most important and longest section of the essay, where the writer presents the strongest arguments and refutes opposing views. The speaker highlights the importance of using quotations and evidence in this section to back up the writer's points.

💡Quotation

A quotation is a direct reference to someone else's words, used to support the writer's argument. The speaker discusses how quotations must be properly introduced, used, and explained in an essay. Quoting effectively requires choosing relevant quotes and providing analysis rather than simply inserting long passages.

💡Plan

Planning is the process of organizing ideas before writing an essay. The speaker stresses that the plan should focus on what the writer chooses not to say in order to save their best arguments for later in the essay. Effective planning allows the writer to structure their essay logically and strategically.

💡Balanced discussion

A balanced discussion involves presenting multiple perspectives on a topic, typically both for and against a proposition. The speaker explains that an essay should balance different views, particularly in the body paragraphs, to show a comprehensive understanding of the subject.

💡Supporting evidence

Supporting evidence refers to the facts, quotes, or examples that back up the writer's arguments. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of providing solid evidence, especially in the 'crunch' paragraph, to make the argument convincing and well-grounded.

💡Logical structure

Logical structure refers to the clear and organized progression of ideas in an essay. The speaker underlines that essays should have a logical flow, where each paragraph builds on the previous one. The structure involves having an introduction, body paragraphs with arguments and counterarguments, and a conclusion.

Highlights

An essay should present not only your ideas but also the ideas you have acquired, demonstrating your understanding of the subject.

The same principles used for writing short exam essays can be extended to longer essays by expanding paragraphs.

An essay is made up of five units: introduction, argumentation, additional argumentation, analysis, and conclusion.

The introduction establishes the approach to answering the essay question, while the conclusion summarizes the discussion without introducing new information.

Paragraphs two and three are where you demonstrate knowledge of the topic by presenting both sides of an argument.

Planning is essential for writing a good essay; focus on what not to say, and reserve the best ideas for key points.

The fourth paragraph is the most critical part of the essay, where you establish your position clearly and provide key information.

The fourth paragraph, often the longest, should include solid evidence, well-chosen quotations, and present your argument in a logical manner.

Paragraph five should not introduce new ideas, but rather conclude the discussion based on the previous arguments.

It is important to listen to opposing arguments first and then dismantle them logically, calmly presenting your point of view.

Use of quotations must be strategic; don't use too many—focus on selecting and explaining the best ones.

A quotation should have three components: introducing the quotation, quoting it, and explaining its relevance.

Avoid lengthy quotations; they should support your point without overshadowing your own writing.

In addition to direct quotations, referencing characters or events from the source material can also add value to an essay.

Using well-chosen quotations effectively can enhance your essay significantly and contribute to achieving a higher grade.

Transcripts

how to write a good

essay it's a bewitching question and

it's one I'm going to answer in

approximately uh 2 minutes and then

we'll go on to something else which is

dependent on that which is how to use a

good quotation an essay is about a

presentation of not only your ideas but

also the ideas that you've acquired

which prove that you understand the

subject when we're thinking about the

essay we're particularly thinking about

these brief essays which we write in

examinations which are going to last

what 3/4 of an hour but the same

principles will also work by extension

simply by expanding um what here we're

going to refer to as paragraphs so an

essay is made up of a series of units

let's say five units um we're going to

write them down 1 2 3 4 five and we

might call these paragraphs unit one

would be the introduction

and unit five would be the

concl

conclusion uh units 2 and three

paragraphs 2 and three are those

paragraphs where you are going to

demonstrate to the reader that you know

what you're talking about these

paragraphs uh need to establish that

everything is balanced so for example in

an argumentative essay maybe paragraph

two paragraph two would be the

reasons for the preposition and

paragraph three would be the

reasons

against the proposition um but uh

there's a certain um uh leeway here

maybe paragraph 2 would be your main

reasons for and your main reasons

against and paragraph three would be

your subsidiary reasons for and against

now there is only one uh way to write an

essay and that is to plan it and the

plan the important bit of the plan um is

not necessarily about everything that is

in the essay I've seen some plans where

people have written so much they might

just well have written the essay anyway

uh the plan is about what you don't say

about what you're not going to say at

the beginning the plan is about getting

your main ideas your best ideas on paper

and then saving them and saving them for

the crunch paragraph 4 paragraph 4 is

where you establish very clearly that

maybe some of the points in paragraph 2

or three are not points you agree with

you also maybe add your own special bit

of information and it's that bit of

information which is so important which

is so vital to your essay and which is

vital to your getting the good Mark at

the end paragraph four the

crunch is probably going to be your

longest paragraph it's going to be the

paragraph where you back up your facts

with good quotation it's going to be the

paragraph where you present your

argument in a clever logical or ordered

way now uh a point about um uh about

length here just very quickly uh

paragraphs one and paragraphs five are

probably going to be quite brief

paragraph one you establish how you

intend to answer the

question paragraph 5 follows naturally

from the crunch paragraph five is

exactly what it says on the bottle it is

the conclusion of all this discussion if

you want to start in paragraph 5 make a

new discussion if you want to start a

new idea you might as well write a new

essay it's a waste of your time to add

anything new to the par to paragraph 5

paragraph five concludes what you've

been writing it follows naturally

paragraph 4 is your argumentative

paragraph paragraph four is what you've

been waiting for now look it's exactly

like the situation where you get into an

argument with one of your friends or

indeed maybe not one of your friends you

want to say uh there's no point in going

in in going onto the offensive right at

the beginning and uh battering

somebody ridiculous childish silly you

listen very politely to what somebody

else has got to say oh yes I understand

and you reason with them how how clever

your points are how wise is your is is

is is your

position but paragraph 4 1 two three

reasons why your position is wrong and

bang

you've flawed them you've destroyed them

you've established your own point of

view very calmly and very brilliantly by

conceding that they also had a point of

view too but that it was

wrong

now as a um as an addition to this talk

uh here we've got our our our five

paragraph system for the essay we've

also got to

consider how we defend and how we back

up points and we do this with the

quotation now the quotation is something

which has been routinely misused in the

past today we are told that we must not

plagiarize uh this would have been a

nonsensical concept to a first century

uh Greek or a first century Roman uh

they routinely adopted somebody else's

name to give um uh credibility to their

to their

writings um this is something that we're

not allowed to do we also supposed to

attribute our quotations we're supposed

to tell people where we got them from no

that's the that's the legal business out

of the

way what you've got to do is to use a

quotation in a clever way now imagine

you've got six brilliant

quotations you've got 35 or 40 minutes

in which to write your essay you're

probably not going to have time to use

all six of those quotations you have to

choose very carefully because a

quotation by definition requires three

sentences a sentence to

establish the quotation to use the

quotation to quote and then to

explain the quotation it's like taking a

jewel from a ring looking at a ring and

you you look at the ring and you think

oh gosh what a wonderful ring how how

bright and glistening it is how how

sparkly it is and then you take the

jewel out of the ring if you're a

jeweler and you look at that again and

you can you can turn it round and you

can see it by many different facets well

in your essay you're only interested in

one or two facets you're not interested

in the whole thing so you have to apply

your quotation you have to apply that

Jewel put it back into its setting in

the

ring um now uh uh if you get your

quotation right uh you you're you're

going you're going to win with your

essay you can't you can't use every

quotation that you've got in your head

now not only can you use quotations of

course you might um be able to um refer

to characters or events um without

necessarily explicitly quoting this is

useful too but but the the art of the

quotation requires these three

points these three sentences

establishing using the quotation and

explaining the quotation there is no

point in making your quotation

longer than the things that you are

writing I have seen essays where the

quotation is twice the length of the um

of the original work written by the

student this is absurd your quotation

should be brief and add REM to to the

point if you follow these steps you will

you will write a brilliant essay there

is no question