Your essay must be a direct and succinct answer to the question asked. Staying on course is one of the most important elements of essay writing. Even if you have written a coherent and logical essay, answering a slightly different question can decrease your grades., You have to understand the question well to give the right answer to the right question.

You should read the question at least two times and underline the important words. These words will guide you throughout the essay writing process. Two words in the question are most important: main topic word and instruction word. Following is the list of few important instruction words:

Analyze- Examine in detail parts of something.

Assess- Judge and come to a conclusion.

Compare- Show positives and negatives.

Consider- Take a side and support it.

Criticize- Discuss the probable weaknesses.

Define- Describe precisely the meaning.

Describe- Provide in detail features of the topic.

Evaluate- Assess the topic.

Explain- Make the topic clear.

Illustrate- Exemplify or demonstrate the Idea.

Indicate- Specify important points.

Justify- Substantiate the thesis.

Outline- Provide main features.

Review- Evaluate the topic from all angles.

Show- Demonstrate the thesis.

Summarize- Repeat the main features.

Planning is an essential part of essay writing process. Without proper planning, writing a coherent and clear essay is very difficult. Whether you have to write an assignment essay or exam essay, planning must be done meticulously and in detail. The planning process includes choosing the appropriate topic, creating the right structure, and writing down your main idea/argument and supporting points. Without proper planning, you may spend disproportionate time to various parts of essay writing process.

Creating a right structure for your essay is very important, it ensures that you stay on the right course during entire essay process. It also prevents skipping of important points and ideas.

Most essays follow introduction-body-conclusion structure. In this structure, the writer states his thesis or main idea in the introduction part of the essay. In body part, the writer present evidence and points to support ideas stated in introductory part. After that, he summarizes his main idea and supporting point in concluding part.

There are many variations of the introduction-body-conclusion type structure. One of them is 5- paragraph/part essay, in it other than introduction and conclusion we have 3 more parts. In this type, the body is constituted of three parts. These three points give three main reasons/evidence to support your introductory idea/argument. Though it is called 5-paragraph essay, you do not have to provide exactly three reasons to support your argument, you can vary this number to better suit your situation.