Writing Guidelines

"Tomorrow is the deadline for the class essay," says the professor. Most students begin getting upset because they have procrastinated writing the essay. Many students feel that they have nothing to say about a topic. The truth is that anyone can write an essay with a few useful tips even the lazy student.

The first step in writing an essay for a class essay is reading the instructions. What does the instructor want? What is the specific topic assigned? Is the essay over material coming from the textbook or will it be necessary to research the topic. One easy way even for lazy students to find fast information is to use Google. Write in the topic and let Google do the search. Briefly skip through and read what is interesting and highlight these with a marker. This gives fast and quick information about almost any topic. For instance, if the topic is teenage pregnancy, then type in teenage pregnancy in the Google search bar. This will bring several different articles about the topic.

Use the information to create a simple thesis. In a few words describe the topic and what the essay is going to say. For instance, in the topic of teenage pregnancy, the thesis can be as simple as teenage pregnancy is a major problem in the United States. Use what you have highlighted to write the essay. Using Google for teenage pregnancies has several articles including statistics.

Once you create the thesis of the topic, go through and make a quick outline. What are three main points about the topic? For teenage pregnancy, it could be statistics of teenage pregnancy, prevention of teenage pregnancy, and sex education. Several different approaches could be used on this topic. Simply, select the way you want to go with it and then do more research if needed.

Go through the material that you have highlighted and make some note cards with different quotes that you could use. Be sure to get all the information needed to cite the quote including author, title, specific web site, dates, and the address of the web site. It is important to cite the address a web address, for example, correctly. One way to do this may be cut and paste it.

Create an outline using your note cards. Next, create a rough draft of the essay with the thesis and three main points. The first paragraph will have the thesis sentence and a brief introduction of the topic. Don't forget the conclusion. The conclusion should be a review of the topic and then give a take-away thought for the reader to think about after reading the essay. Once the essay is completed, set it aside for a few days or hours.

The next part of creating the essay is proofreading it. A lot of lazy students choose not to proofread their essays, but this can cost the difference between a good grade and a failing grade. Ask a friend to proofread the essay. Make any corrections that the friend suggests. Next, read the essay out loud listening for grammar mistakes. Check the spelling and grammar of the essay. Make any corrections and when you feel that the essay is as good as possible, give the essay to the instructor.

Here are the simple steps to creating an essay for a lazy student:

1. Read the instructions for the essay.

2. Does it have a specific topic?

3. Choose a topic by brainstorming or reading the class material.

4. Create a thesis and make an outline.

5. Make some note cards with information for citations.

6. Write a rough draft.

7. Proofread

Using these seven easy steps any lazy student can create an essay. Wow! Any anyone can do this.