How to write a good Essay?

[bobisnotmyname]

Ok, i know this might seem like a stupid question but please help me out. Im in year 11 now and, well, my essays are not the best, I can manage to get 11/20 in my essay's but some people get 20/20 and i just dont know how they do it, ive asked and they dont really help. Im more of a math/science student and any help, tips for great essays would be great

[Robert123]

I think the best way to "write a good essay" is to not worry about writing a good essay but just to write essays. Don't stress that they  aren't at a high enough quality yet, that would come as a result of practice. Every essay you write, go through with your teacher with improving it to a 20/20 level and then go write some more. There are no magic pills that would turn you into a star student over night, but just remember, rome wasn't built in a day.

[dmitridr]

Ok, i know this might seem like a stupid question but please help me out. Im in year 11 now and, well, my essays are not the best, I can manage to get 11/20 in my essay's but some people get 20/20 and i just dont know how they do it, ive asked and they dont really help. Im more of a math/science student and any help, tips for great essays would be great

Hey there! This is the general structure that I follow when I write essays... it ensures that your ideas are coherent and cohesive!

Introduction
1. Write a general sentence on the topic of the essay question – not necessarily answering the essay question, just providing a statement on the essay topic.
2. The topic sentence of the first body paragraph
3. The topic sentence of the second body paragraph
4. The topic sentence of the third body paragraph
5. Contention (your viewpoint on the topic): do you agree with the essay question, or not? What's your stance on the topic?

Body Paragraph 1 (BP1)
1. The TOPIC SENTENCE of the body paragraph (try not to copy the introduction topic sentence). This can be up to 2-3 sentences.
2. P: Give a POINT and/or feature
3. E: Backup with point with EVIDENCE and/or EXAMPLES.
4. E: ELABORATE on the evidence/example and how it relates to the topic of the body paragraph.
5. L: LINK back the paragraph’s point to the essay topic.

Body Paragraph 2 (BP2)
1. The TOPIC SENTENCE of the body paragraph (try not to copy the introduction topic sentence). This can be up to 2-3 sentences.
2. P: Give a POINT and/or feature
3. E: Backup with point with EVIDENCE and/or EXAMPLES.
4. E: ELABORATE on the evidence/example and how it relates to the topic of the body paragraph.
5. L: LINK back the paragraph’s point to the essay topic.

Body Paragraph 3 (BP3)
1. The TOPIC SENTENCE of the body paragraph (try not to copy the introduction topic sentence). This can be up to 2-3 sentences.
2. P: Give a POINT and/or feature
3. E: Backup with point with EVIDENCE and/or EXAMPLES.
4. E: ELABORATE on the evidence/example and how it relates to the topic of the body paragraph.
5. L: LINK back the paragraph’s point to the essay topic.

Conclusion
1. Repeat your contention that you mentioned in your introduction
2. Repeat your topic sentence from BP1 (preferably in other words)
3. Repeat your topic sentence from BP2 (preferably in other words)
4. Repeat your topic sentence from BP3 (preferably in other words)

[bonkbadonk]

Sorry if this is coming a bit too late, but there are a few ways you can improve your writing:

For essays on linguistic topics in general, eg. historical English, Prescriptivism/Descriptivism, Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, then it's really important to research the topic beforehand and nail it down. Having a cursory look up of the topic before hand is advantageous in that you can really know what you're talking about, but of course, if you maintain a folio or have a detailed read, you'll do much better. Include commentaries, expert opinion, and most importantly, use appropriate metalanguage.

For essays on analysing texts, read the text at face value. Then read it again, but this time, analyse. A reread means that you know what's coming next and you can already start forming ideas on how to structure your essays. There's no steadfast way of doing things, but I tend to stick to discussing topics in separate paragraphs, or discussing each subsystem in its own paragraph. Register and purpose are important things to keep on linking back to. Remember, we as humans choose very carefully the words we use or speak. Try and work out why we're doing those things, and talk about them. Again, metalanguage comes into play. Hope it helped. 

[bobisnotmyname]

Hey there! This is the general structure that I follow when I write essays... it ensures that your ideas are coherent and cohesive!

Introduction
1. Write a general sentence on the topic of the essay question – not necessarily answering the essay question, just providing a statement on the essay topic.
2. The topic sentence of the first body paragraph
3. The topic sentence of the second body paragraph
4. The topic sentence of the third body paragraph
5. Contention (your viewpoint on the topic): do you agree with the essay question, or not? What's your stance on the topic?

Body Paragraph 1 (BP1)
1. The TOPIC SENTENCE of the body paragraph (try not to copy the introduction topic sentence). This can be up to 2-3 sentences.
2. P: Give a POINT and/or feature
3. E: Backup with point with EVIDENCE and/or EXAMPLES.
4. E: ELABORATE on the evidence/example and how it relates to the topic of the body paragraph.
5. L: LINK back the paragraph’s point to the essay topic.

Body Paragraph 2 (BP2)
1. The TOPIC SENTENCE of the body paragraph (try not to copy the introduction topic sentence). This can be up to 2-3 sentences.
2. P: Give a POINT and/or feature
3. E: Backup with point with EVIDENCE and/or EXAMPLES.
4. E: ELABORATE on the evidence/example and how it relates to the topic of the body paragraph.
5. L: LINK back the paragraph’s point to the essay topic.

Body Paragraph 3 (BP3)
1. The TOPIC SENTENCE of the body paragraph (try not to copy the introduction topic sentence). This can be up to 2-3 sentences.
2. P: Give a POINT and/or feature
3. E: Backup with point with EVIDENCE and/or EXAMPLES.
4. E: ELABORATE on the evidence/example and how it relates to the topic of the body paragraph.
5. L: LINK back the paragraph’s point to the essay topic.

Conclusion
1. Repeat your contention that you mentioned in your introduction
2. Repeat your topic sentence from BP1 (preferably in other words)
3. Repeat your topic sentence from BP2 (preferably in other words)
4. Repeat your topic sentence from BP3 (preferably in other words)

I would like to thank everyone for their replies. I would also be grateful dmitridr if you could post a sample essay using your "formula"