8/12/2019 How to Write a Standard Essay
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How to Construct an EssayAlthough writing an essayis daunting
for many people, it can be pretty straight-forward. This page is
a
general recipe for constructing an essay, not just in
philosophy, but in most other humanities disciplines
(such as English, History, Philosophy, eligious !tudies, etc."
and perhaps social sciences. #t should be
an appropriate guide for writing at the middle school, high
school, and lower college le$els.%ote that what # pro$ide here are
onlygeneral guidelines. !o, be sure to chec& to see if your
instructor
has different guidelines. #f your instructor has not gi$en clear
guidelines, then these should satisfy him
or her, since they are pretty standard.
Table of Contents:
'. ormat e)uirements*. Essay !tructure
+. eneral riting Tips
. !tyle / Punctuation
0. rammatical Errors1. Humorous riting uidelines
2. 3itations / eferences
4. ele$ant 5in&s
1. Standard Format Requirements
Typed6 use a word processor (such as 7icrosoft ord" on a
computer.
Doublespaced - the space between lines on the page.
1! point font6 standard si8e of the te9t.
Times "ew Roman6 standard font style.
!. Essay Structure
The first thing to notice is that the basic form of an essayis
)uite logical. 5et:s loo& at the standard
structure of an essay starting with the most general. ;ou can
di$ide your paper into three main sections Cjor&
proclaimed.
(%ote< # &now this rule doesn:t seem right. The Critish
style of writing has the punctuationoutside the )uotation
mar&s, which ma&es more sense to me. Howe$er, the American
style
re)uires that you write it the other way."
. /ut parent$etical citations outside of quotations.
3orrect (Author +*".
#ncorrect
8/12/2019 How to Write a Standard Essay
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E9ample< #n the bas&et were apples, oranges, and
grapes.
E9ample< #n the bas&et were apples, oranges and
grapes.
2. Spell out numbers. or e9ample, write three,: not :+.:
E9ceptions can be made for larger
numbers, li&e '4F, especially when you are simply ma&ing
reference to a numeral.4. Do not use informal abbre-iations and
notations.To be more formal, do not use informal
notations or abbre$iations. or e9ample, don:t write /: for and:
or bGc: for because.:
Howe$er, there are notations and abbre$iations that are
con$entions in professional writing fore9ample< e.g.: is often
used for for e9ample: and etc.: for et cetera: and p.: for
page.:
Howe$er, for this last one, note that it is only used in citing
sources or references, not in other
sentences. !o, for e9ample, don:t write =The p. had many words
of wisdom written on it.>F. se -ersus mention. #n general, when
you mentionrather than usea word you should put
)uotes (single or double" around the word. This is not necessary
when you usea word.
#ncorrect
