How to Write an Effective Essay

Oh hi, James, I was just reading an article, I didn't really like it.

The writing was ok, but I don't think it was effective.

What that means is, to me, they didn't really get across the idea that they wanted to.

I kind of understood, but it wasn't great.

Today what I want to show you is how to write effectively, to make sure when you finish

writing people understand what you're saying, ok?

By the way, this kind of writing is great for university, high school, any kind of writing,

even sales in English, alright?

Come on, let's go to the board.

Ok, first things first.

If you want to write something about something specific, one of the best ways of doing it

is to what?

What's that you say?

That's a question mark, that's right.

You need to ask a question.

By asking a question, what it does is it gives you a clear picture in your head of what you

want to know.

So what's better, blondes or brunettes, sorry, let me say this, what's better, love or money?

You ask a question.

By asking a question, there has to be an answer.

That answer is actually our starting point, ok?

So we start effective writing by asking a question that we want answered.

Because what we're thinking is the reader wants the answer to this question, get it?

So you're thinking, what does my reader want?

Why don't I ask a question, and then when I answer that question, I can write about

that for my reader.

It helps us get very specific in our focus.

It's sort of like focusing on our target, ok?

So let's look at the answer.

So the first part we want to do is, number one, ask a question.

Let's do this larger.

It might be hard for you to see, ok, so let's write that out again, alright?

Number one, ask a question.

Ok, that's the first thing we did.

We did that right there.

Which is better, love or money?

What's the answer to this question?

Well, the answer to the question, we have a specific word in English, ok?

So when we figure out the answer, what we think the answer to the question is, let me

say that again but a little slower, when we figure out what we think the answer is, we

write that down.

But it's not just an answer, in English it becomes our thesis.

Our thesis is the thing we're going to focus on.

That's why we ask the question.

So then we're going to do step number two, our thesis.

It's the answer to the question.

Now, the funny thing about a thesis is, it has to be strong.

You can't say maybe.

Maybe yes, maybe no.

That's not a thesis.

We call that weak.

A thesis has to be strong so the person is very clear and you're very clear and this

is what helps for effective writing because you know exactly what you want to talk about

but your reader also knows exactly what you want to talk about.

So let's put that up here.

A thesis has to be strongly said or another word for that is stated.

Okay, take a look.

Cool, so we've got two things so far.

Question and thesis.

Now you're going to say, "What are we going to do with that?"

Well, now we can actually start our essay.

This was just the first part.

It's not actually the essay.

It's to get you ready to write.

So let's write the essay, shall we?

Now, like any good book or any good story, you need an introduction.

I mean, you can say your thesis but you know what, it's better I give you an action.

I'll give you a little play.

If you watch this, you'll figure out why you need an introduction, all right?

But the third step is introduction.

And in our introduction, what we're going to do is we're going to add our thesis, okay,

to some nice words to introduce it.

So this is plus the thesis, okay?

Now the people reading it should be able to identify your thesis.

Now let me give you an example of why it's important to have an introduction and not

just use your thesis.

Are you ready?

I'm going to go to a bar and I'm going to meet a girl, okay?

One second.

Okay, there I am.

"Hi.

My name is James.

Can I kiss you?"

Ow.

That's a bad introduction.

That's like trying to use just your thesis to get people to read your paper.

It doesn't work very well, okay?

So why don't we do the next one?

Let's try this introduction.

"Hi, I'm James.

What's your name?"

That's a very pretty name.

"I'm from Canada and I teach English.

Would you like to learn more about English and how I teach it?

Well, come with me.

We'll get you a drink."

See, that worked.

That's a good introduction, okay?

So we need an introduction to go for the thesis.

We put our thesis inside of the introduction and we make it pleasant for people to want

to read more.

We make it interesting, okay?

So this is the first three parts.

Now we have to do another two parts, okay?

Now that would be number four, the body.

The body is very important.

Because I tell you my thesis, that doesn't make it true.

It just means I believe it's true.

It's like me saying to you, "I'm a millionaire."

First thing you're going to say is, "Prove it.

Show me the money."

Guess where that movie's from.

No, guess where that line's from.

It's from a movie, okay?

"Show me the money."

You're going to want proof.

Now this is one of the best ways to do proof.

When we look at our thesis, now we're talking a basic essay, not a huge one.

What we do is we have to have three reasons that make that thesis true, okay?

Now we'll call those three reasons the main reasons.

So when we do proof, we're actually going to put it in a special place called the body

of the essay.

And one of the things we want in the body essay is a main reason.

Now you've got your main reasons, but that doesn't mean it's true.

What we need to do is find other things that support the main reason, okay?

We call these... Now if you remember rightly, when I said in the body we should have three

to support the thesis, it's also a good idea to have at least three supporting ideas to

make the main reason true, okay?

So that number three is very important here for us, okay?

We want to have three main reasons and then three supporting ideas.

If you're doing the math, one, two, three times three, that's about nine different sentences

or ideas we want in the paper.

Now finally, we'll come to our conclusion.

How do we get to the conclusion?

Well, let's look at it.

We had a thesis, an idea, but we started with a question.

We said, "This is the true answer to the question," right?

Then after that we said, "Okay, that true answer will be our thesis."

We said our thesis, we hid it into the introduction, remember?

I got the girl.

Yeah, remember that?

Okay.

Now we had to prove it's true because no one just believes things you say.

We came up with three main ideas.

We supported each main idea with three supporting ideas.

Now we come to the conclusion.

The conclusion is where we turn around and say, "With all of this proof or evidence that

we have, I can say this is true."

What we do is we go back to the three main ideas and we say, "Because this idea, this

idea, and this idea are true, my conclusion must be true."

You become a lawyer or a liar.

That's another lesson altogether.

But we want to prove it, okay?

So we do our conclusion, and our conclusion is based on the proof here, all right?

Now that's it for our lesson.

I hope I've given a good thesis and this is an effective essay for you.

I hope I proved my case, and in conclusion, I think if you follow these steps, you'll

become an effective writer in English.

Listen, before I go, I got to do this really quickly, and if you look at the blue screen,

it'll give you the five points again, remember?

Question, thesis, body with main ideas, supporting ideas, and conclusion.

That was quick, I know.

Check out the screen, all right?

That'll come at the end.

But before you do that, go to www.engvid.com, eng as in English, vid as in video, don't

forget your dot, www.com, where you can find out other lessons on effective reading, pronunciation,

listening, whatever you need, we've got it for you, okay?

Visit us in the forum, free, come on down.

Take care, bye.