Let us say that honestly, at the very beginning: students rarely plan their essays. An academic paper is most frequently delayed until the very last moment and then composed with deep desperation and panic. No wonder that so many of their essays, research papers, proposals, and even dissertations are of average quality. Mostly, it is not a student’s fault, but sometimes all they need to do is a bit of planning.
Here below, we will pay attention to essay plans, their structure, and proper composition. That simple knowledge will let you craft A+ papers much easier than they were before. Additionally, it can be a nice exercise to cultivate and improve your studying discipline. So, be attentive, and make sure the following professional tips remain in your mind after reading this article.
Essay Plans: Why Students Should Make Them
Before we proceed with the essay planning itself, it is critical for you to understand the reasons to compose a quality plan for every essay. The process may seem dull, time-taking, and useless. And many students treat it like that. However, it is nothing but a delusion.
A plan for an essay can be compared with a route drawn on a map before one’s car trip. A car will drive without it, of course. And you are likely to get to the destination point sooner or later, too. But most probably, travelling without a map and a route marked will be less comfortable, more time-taking, and challenging.
The same principle works for an academic paper. Logical connection, the right choice of arguments, facts, data, and proofs, as well as the choice of correct words to express your thoughts, are the crucial aspects of an essay that can bring you the best grade and make you one step closer to your academic success.
How to Plan an Essay: Keep Up With the Structure
To compose the right plan for an essay, you’ve got to keep up with its common structure. Most likely, you know everything about it. Still, repetition is a mother of learning, so see the key elements of every essay’s buildup once again. An essay has to include:
- intro – a paragraph with a hook and thesis statement;
- main body – at least three paragraphs with one argument and supportive proofs per each;
- conclusion – a paragraph wrapping up the essay and tying the thesis, arguments, and proofs together.
As you can see, an average essay has at least 5 paragraphs. This number may vary depending on the word count your professor asks you to cover in an assignment. However, a bigger number of words does not mean you should extend an introduction or conclusion. A prof wants you to use that additional space to provide more arguments and their backup data.
Important note: the fact that you think over the plan composition means you’ve got the topic chosen. It will be impossible for you to proceed with planning correctly if the theme is unknown and a preliminary topical study is not conducted. So, if you know:
- the topic;
- the thesis statement;
- all arguments and proofs to use;
- then you are ready to proceed with the plan itself.
Essay Plan Example: Check It Out
The following essay plan outline is a sample. It will serve as a reference for you to keep before your eyes when you are busy planning your own paper. Feel free to experiment and add any elements you would like to make it more comfortable and understandable for your mind.
Topic: Is Democracy the Best Political System?
Thesis: Democracy is the most advanced and civilized form of government.
Paragraph 1: Democracy provides every citizen with the right to choose and to be chosen as a governor.
- constitution;
- laws;
- examples of politicians: Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson.
Paragraph 2: Democratic countries are more advanced and developed economically and culturally on average.
- the USA;
- France;
- comparison: Germany (democratic country) vs Belarus (authoritarian country).
Paragraph 3: Democracy stands for public and personal freedom for everyone.
- dialogues between governments and people;
- personal life safety;
- fair courts.
Conclusion: no other form of government provides possibilities for citizens to influence their country’s development, government, and life equally to democracy.
To Conclude
A correctly composed academic paper plan is like a skeleton for one’s body. Be attentive, take your time, use the essay planning template above, and you will have a plan that would be easily able to bring you the very best grade. Repeat that step with every essay, and you will wonder how notable your academic progress will be.
Of course, keep in mind that professional assistants are always here to help. Whenever you need some help with planning or writing your academic assignments, call them to get some expert tips with no hesitation.
