Instructors have been known to surprise their students with essays that need to be written in a short amount of time. Whether you have 20 minutes or one night to complete an essay, you simply need to know the effective way to get it done. The best way to complete an essay quickly is to learn the format for essays. Once you know the format, you can write any essay in a short amount of time.
The 5 paragraph essay is the format that students should know. As long as you know the five-paragraph format, you can write an essay with any number of paragraphs. The 5 paragraph essay format includes an introduction paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. If you need to write a paper that is longer than five paragraphs, you simply add more body paragraphs.
It is important to know what each paragraph requires. The introduction paragraph needs to have three pieces. The first piece is the hook. The third is the thesis. The second is the information that connects the hook and the thesis. Many people have a few hook styles that they like to use, like the three rhetorical questions or the shocking statement or the brief anecdote. The thesis statement should always include some of the question. Once you have a few different hook styles that you are comfortable writing and you have figured out a method to craft a thesis using the topic your instructor assigned, you will be able to whip out an introduction quickly.
The body paragraphs always need to include topic sentences that reflect back to thesis and the supporting details always need to support the topic sentence. This happens in each paragraph. You simply need to come up with the information that should be included in the paragraphs, but once you have that information you should be able to write the body paragraph quickly, too.
The conclusion is the easiest part of the essay, even though many students think it is the most difficult. In the conclusion, you begin with a restatement of the thesis. Then, you rewrite the main points from the body paragraphs. The final touch is a reconnection to the hook, so you bring the essay full circle.
