How to Write an Illustration Essay
Believe it or not, just attending classes and smiling at your professors isn't enough to qualify as an outstanding student, let alone to get a good GPA and overall respect among academic circles. College requires hard work and a lot of time and energy investments. And even when you don't really understand what is asked of you, you should research, look and google until you can clearly comprehend your assignment. For example, you are here because you are looking for an explanation of how to write an illustration essay. You took your first step toward ultimate academic clarity. That's because we are going to dissect the illustration essay and showcase each of its parts, explaining in detail all you need to know. Grab your preferred method of taking notes, and let's begin.
What is an illustration essay?
Of course, the first thing that is needed to be done is determining the illustration essay definition. You'll be surprised, but you don't actually need to describe a particular illustration. Shocking, isn't it? But in all seriousness, an illustration essay is a paper that highlights certain examples that help you support the thesis statement you provide at the beginning of your essay. You shouldn't confuse this type with the argumentative essay. In the latter, you examine a problem, often a sociological one, and look for evidence proving that there exists an issue that should be taken care of or at least considered. But, with this essay type, you look at an already established topic and provide examples that demonstrate it from different perspectives. More often than not, the problem has empirical nature. For example, the struggles students face while studying. That is the topic, and the cases can be financial issues, family-related or psychological ones, etc.
To sum up, the definition of an illustration essay states that you need to pick a practical problem and illustrate its facets using different examples.
How to start an illustration essay?
When faced with a dilemma of not knowing how to start your essay, try getting your mind off the task for some time. Focusing on working and writing too much can lead to the point when you burn out emotionally and skills-wise. Making haste your time will waste. Plan out the whole process. Try writing down everything you need to do, indicating the deadlines, and then fill out your calendar in a way that will leave you enough time to finish everything before the due date, and, at the same time, will allow you to rest.
When you're ready to start working - draft another plan. The first thing you need to do is find a suitable topic. Sometimes, your supervisor provides you with one. But, if you're given the freedom of choosing your own theme, you should go with something that you personally are concerned about. This way, you will bring out something useful for yourself while writing the essay. Besides, it's always easier to study something that you have some prior knowledge about. Or, you could go with an unfamiliar topic that intrigues you. Turn the mandatory assignment into a new opportunity to learn something useful!
Once you settle on the topic, go straight to researching. Dig out anything and everything that can help you better understand the depth of the problem and its ramifications. Try to find as many examples as you can. The more, the merrier - you got the point. You can weed them out later, singling out the most significant ones, but, at this stage, you need to build a strong foundation that will help you write an excellent illustration essay.
The next important thing about preparing your essay is formulating the core idea. A thesis statement for illustration essay is a leading motif of your entire essay. In it, you should concisely state the problem you're exemplifying. It is the controlling idea that defines what you are going to talk about in your paper. A thesis statement generally consists of one-two sentences and shortly describes the point of your interest. Don't slack off with it - if it's not clear enough, your professor may reduce your grade.
Illustration essay structure guide
Here comes the point when you need to recall everything you've ever learned about writing essays. That's because for almost all of them the structure is pretty much the same. The illustration essay structure consists of the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion. But what goes where? Now, that is an entirely different question, and we are going to focus on it in the next few paragraphs.
The introduction of an illustrative essay
Your introduction is a leading hand that is supposed to guide the reader into the magical land of your writing abilities. It has to provide a succinct description, but not give away any details - those will come later. You can structure your introduction in a freestyle way. But generally, the order and contents in the introduction of an illustrative essay go as follows:
- Introductory sentence.
- Describe the problem.
- Thesis statement.
You can start off with an interesting fact, anecdote or a personal story that somehow relates to the topic you're about to discuss. But remember that you're not writing a serious research article, so don't start throwing hard science terms around.
Lead up to the topic, tell why you've decided to take it on. Provide the readers with some background information.
Here comes the really important part. We've already discussed it in the previous paragraph, so be sure to use our advice. Your thesis is supposed to be like a finishing blow that will hook your readers.
Don't make your introduction too lengthy. It's better to say less and be precise than stretch it out and chase your tail. Another useful tip - you can actually write the intro after you're finished with the whole essay. This way, you'll be able to phrase it more correctly and accurately.
Main Body Paragraphs
This part is the most extended one. The main paragraphs are your ammunition, and they need to be armor-piercing. And, like in composite machinery, there are certain details that should be included in each paragraph. Otherwise, the whole thing will fall apart.
- Topic Sentence.
- Informational Sentences.
- Analysis.
- Conclusion.
This one is the sentence that gives a description of an argument.
Provide some background data. Show the results of your research.
How does your argument relate to the thesis statement?
Sum it all up shortly. Use it as an opportunity to make a transition to the next paragraph, or, if it's the last one, to the overall conclusion.
There are a few methods of structuring your illustrative essay main body. You can sort your arguments in the order of relevance, chronologically, or based on the scale of their importance.
The illustration essay conclusion
And finally, you're almost done. This time, the issue is how to write the conclusion of an illustration essay. Well, we've already said it, but it is quite easy, actually!
Go over your essay one more time. Highlight the main points and put them into one fluid conclusion. Be careful as not to repeat everything, though. Imagine that you have to write a summary of your entire essay. That's how clear the conclusion must be. Finish it off with the call for your readers to keep learning and researching. If everything goes well, you can fire up their interest, so they'll want to investigate the issue further themselves.
Illustration essay topics
Here are some ideas for illustration essay topics. Use them wisely!
- Global warming is a real threat.
- College students are always under pressure.
- History has been rewritten dozens of times.
- Fast food chains have an enormous impact on society.
- Money saving is real and possible.
- Monarchy is overrated.
- School bullying has a massive influence on children's mental health.
- Being a fan of a foreign band can broaden your horizons.
- Apple products aren't living up to the hype.
- Smoking is more dangerous than alcohol.
We have an article dedicated to illustration essay topics, in case you want to see even more examples.
Writing an illustration essay isn't that tricky if you come to think about it. All you need to do is get your act together and write! Sounds cheesy, doesn't it? Well, if you're too annoyed with all the rules you have to abide by, there is a simple thing you can do. Just order it! Professional essays writers have written more essays than you can imagine. Hence, they can come up with a perfect illustration paper just for you. Don't sweat it - just pay for it!
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