Mr. Folsom Ashley Mao
English: Period 3 May 23, 2014

How to Write An Effective Essay
Do you hate it when you have to write an essay assignment and you don’t know where to start? Do you feel overwhelmed with all tangled ideas and thoughts you have about the topic, but don’t know how to put them in paragraphs? Well, no more headaches! With this 6 + 1 writing traits, you will have the most effective essay assignment.
The first writing trait is Ideas. You should have a clear, main theme or an unforgettable, but yet, simple and original story line. Then, you are able to focus on the topic and narrow down the story line to create a piece that is clear, tight, and manageable. It is not an effective essay when one covers too broad of a topic and wanders with many unrelated ideas and thoughts. To develop a tight and focused topic, you should provide enough important evidence to support the theme and shows insight on the topic. The best way to accomplish this is to create vivid pictures in the reader’s mind with credible and accurate details. Colorful and complete details also give the readers the confidence of the author’s superior knowledge about the topic, and therefore, make the essay effective.
The second writing trait is organization. You should be able to grab the reader’s attention from the start and leads them from point A to point B smoothly and naturally. A variety of carefully selected sequence words and transition phrases are needed for a smooth and easy-to-follow essay. You create a piece by showing how ideas progress, relate or diverge. The writer creates a piece that is easy to follow by fitting details together logically.
The 3rd writing trait is Sentence Fluency. The essayist carefully and creatively constructs sentences for maximum impact. Transition words such as but, and, and so are used successfully to