Most of those who have a high school diploma have already had the experience of writing various types of essays: argumentative, compare/contrast, research, review of literature and more. Writing essays is an art. Like any other talent, the more one writes and understands various formats such as MLA, APA and Chicago styles, the more one's talent will increase.

As we all know (or should know) the university essay is rather straightforward. We write an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Essays that are long require subheadings. Additionally, your professor may require a title page. Of course, when writing an essay, you always have a reference or bibliography page.

The Introduction

Your beginning sentence should be something catchy to attract a reader's attention and compel them to continue reading. After that, you write a little background on your topic and finish it off with a concise thesis statement.

For example, one might write an opening sentence like: "Shakespeare was a quirky writer and introduced words into the English language that are common some 420 years later.

A thesis statement might read: "An argument with respect to preferring everlasting joy over the fleeting nature of happiness is examine." Boom! Pithy and directly to the point.

The Body

The typical body of a short essay requires the essay writer to pen three distinct sections. The first sentence should introduce the topic, hence it's called the topic sentence. This informs the reader what the initial paragraph will discuss. It is likewise important to refrain from straying from the topic.

On a lengthy essay, one may have to write several paragraphs. For example, when I wrote a masters thesis it ran 52 double-spaced pages. Yikes! As one might imagine, this required a multitude of subheadings and a plethora of references.

The Conclusion

The conclusion should never begin with the words, "In conclusion." That is a common error. Of course we know it is a conclusion because of the heading! Try writing something like: "In the end..." or "When all is said and done..." as a way of introducing your conclusion.

The conclusion may include a synthesis, i.e., what your sources all agreed upon as well as a summary. The two are distinct and are not always included. Typically, a conclusion is a rehash or summary of your essay but written in different words.

The Reference Page

This is always necessary unless one is writing a personal statement or university admissions essay. The reference page should include everything you gleaned from other sources, whether scholarly journal articles, reliable websites or films and You Tube videos.

All of your references must be in alphabetical order and properly written. My experience is to use Google Scholar, look for the journal article I want, and use the handy citation Scholar provides. Then I copy and paste it into my reference page. Bingo!

The famous artists Rembrandt, Picasso and Dali did not paint a masterpiece the first time they picked up a paintbrush and applied it to their canvas. No, it took practice, re-painting, touch-ups and perseverance. In the same way, writing is an art. You have to be amenable to self-criticism to perfect your art.

God has given us all a talent to be used for His glory. If writing is yours, work to perfect. Be creative. Do not plagiarize. Make your readers want to read your essay. Properly cite everything you use if it is not your original thought, even if your paraphrase. In the due course of writing academic essays your writing will improve and, like me, some will ask for your services to edit them or read them.

Life is art. Writing is art. Get after it with confidence!