Teaching Your Kid Write A+ Essays in 5 Steps*
What does it take to write a brilliant essay? “Inspiration” – many students will answer without a wink. But “inspiration comes during work process” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a world-famous writer, said.
Still, many kids keep sitting around, waiting for inspiration to come. In many cases, it never does.
Sometimes the only way to avoid disappointment and save your offsprings’ self-esteem is to teach and train them to write essays properly yourself.
Of course, if you don’t have enough time, it is easy to turn to professionals here https://essaypro.com/essay-help.html – they will help your dearest with writing and editing their essays.
Still, if you decide to do it yourself, our five essential steps to teaching your kid write A+ essays will surely be useful!
Choose the Right Topic
Here’s the first trick, and this one alone can make a difference: never choose the topic you know nothing about.
It can seem obvious, but many learners get in the trap of choosing the themes they like but don’t have enough knowledge about.
Between the topic you like and the one you’re sure you can write about, always choose the latter – this is what your child should remember. Only in this case, one will have enough texture to fill in the body of their essays.
However, in real-life circumstances, the topic is often assigned by a tutor. Then there’s nothing we can do about it: check point 2.
Compose a Thesis
Now that you have a topic, it is time to start working on it. While practicing, it’s possible to do some research. Read other essays on the subject, revise the fact sources for the body paragraphs, etc.
After the research, the most important step is devising a thesis. Usually, it is one or a few sentences in which the main ideas of your future text are indicated.
It should be concise yet informative, with a clear message and a preview of what is to be discussed in the paragraphs to come.
Write a Clear Outline
An outline is necessary to see the main drawbacks. It is important to have a plan as your kid will rely on it while working out the text.
This way, it won’t become just a stream of consciousness. When working on an outline, don’t forget to do it according to a standard structure scheme. This can be more or less complex, but for simple academic exercises, it is almost always the same.
A typical essay consists of three main elements:
- Introduction. This is where one should introduce the topic and thesis to the readers;
- Body paragraphs. There should be three to five of them, connected logically with each other.
- Conclusion. Last but not least – your conclusion should also be perfectly connected to whatever you wrote before. This part presents the “results” of the work. It summarizes the arguments made in the previous paragraphs and proves the initial thesis true (OR false).
Build up the Body of the Text
At this point, it doesn’t really matter where you start your writing. Of course, it’s better to begin with an introduction and go step by step, but remember the inspiration?
It’s high time for the muse to appear. If it does, just let your kid start writing whatever part one decides to
If not, then just meticulously fill in every paragraph with texture and try to be as consistent as possible.
Edit Your Essay and Check Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation
Hurray, you’ve written the essay! Now read it carefully and ask some questions:
- Is the main idea clear enough?
- Are all the paragraphs connected smoothly and flow well?
- Can you cut anything out without damaging the whole text?
Once you have all the answers, it’s time for corrections. Don’t be afraid, even if you will need to rewrite some paragraphs completely with a kid.
As for such a crucial part as grammar and punctuation check, just make sure your kid remembers all the essential rules and knows how to use them.
Popular web tools can be an option at this stage too. Some of the most helpful are:
- Grammarly. It checks all the grammar, punctuation, and overall quality of your writing.
- Hemingway Editor. It can be useful for polishing the style of the text and making the essays more focused and easy-to-read.
Wrapping Up
If you carefully follow these five steps and practice writing with your kid regularly, the child’s grades will definitely improve.
But remember: there may be variations, and there is no one-fits-all solution when it comes to essays.
So, the best advice is to listen to your children and choose the options that will work best for them. And, of course, always remind them about the importance of reading and practice!