WritingafinalEnglishclasspapercanfeelchallenging.Manystudentssearchforatemplate.Atemplateislikeamap.Itshowsyouwheretogo.Itgivesyourpaperaclearstructure.Thisstructureisveryimportant.Yourideasneedorganization.Agoodtemplatehelpswiththat.

Youstartwithatitle.Thetitletellsthereaderyourtopic.Makeitsimpleandclear.Donotmakeittoolong.Thetitlegoesatthetopofthefirstpage.

Nextcomestheintroduction.Thisisyourfirstparagraph.Youbeginbyintroducingyourtopic.Tellthereaderwhatyourpaperisabout.Thenstateyourmainargument.Thismainargumentiscalledathesisstatement.Putyourthesisstatementattheendoftheintroduction.Thethesisguidesyourentirepaper.

Aftertheintroduction,youwritethebodyparagraphs.Eachbodyparagraphshoulddiscussonemainpoint.Starteachparagraphwithatopicsentence.Thetopicsentencetellsthereaderthepointofthisparagraph.Therestofthesentencesintheparagraphexplainthispoint.Useexamplesfrombooks,articles,oryourownanalysis.Explainhowyourexamplessupportyourpoint.Eachparagraphshouldconnectbacktoyourthesisstatement.

Youwillhaveseveralbodyparagraphs.Threeorfourparagraphsiscommonforashortpaper.Eachparagraphshouldflowtothenext.Theorderofparagraphsmatters.Putyourstrongestpointsfirstorlast.Makesuretheordermakessense.

Thenyouhavetheconclusion.Thisisyourfinalparagraph.Youdonotintroducenewideashere.Restateyourthesisindifferentwords.Brieflysummarizeyourmainpoints.Endwithafinalthought.Thisthoughtcouldbeabouttheimportanceofyourtopic.

Now,let'stalkaboutformatting.Yourteachermayhavespecificrules.Followthem.Usually,youusedoublespacing.UseastandardfontlikeTimesNewRoman.Makethefontsize12.Leaveone-inchmarginsonallsides.

Youneedaheaderoneachpage.Theheaderoftenhasyourlastnameandthepagenumber.Putthisinthetoprightcorner.

Youmustciteyoursources.Citingmeansgivingcredittootherpeople'swork.Ifyouusesomeone'sidea,youmustciteit.Ifyouusetheirexactwords,youmustusequotationmarksandciteit.Notcitingiscalledplagiarism.Plagiarismisveryserious.Avoiditcompletely.

Therearedifferentcitationstyles.MLAstyleiscommonforEnglishpapers.APAstyleisanother.Yourteacherwilltellyouwhichonetouse.Learnthebasicrulesforyourstyle.

YouneedaWorksCitedpageforMLA.YouneedaReferencespageforAPA.Thispagecomesattheendofyourpaper.Itlistsallthesourcesyouused.Listtheminalphabeticalorder.Followthestyleguideforformattingeachentry.

Let'slookatasimpletemplateoutline.

Title(Centered)

[YourPaper'sTitle]

IntroductionStartwithageneralstatementaboutyourtopic.Providesomebackground.Narrowdowntoyourspecificfocus.Endwithyourthesisstatement.

BodyParagraph1Topicsentenceforyourfirstmainpoint.Explanationandanalysis.Evidence(quote,example,fact).Explanationofhowtheevidencesupportsyourpoint.

BodyParagraph2Topicsentenceforyoursecondmainpoint.Explanationandanalysis.Evidence.Explanationoftheevidence.

BodyParagraph3Topicsentenceforyourthirdmainpoint.Explanationandanalysis.Evidence.Explanationoftheevidence.(Addmoreparagraphsifneeded)

ConclusionRestateyourthesisinnewwords.Summarizethekeypointsyoudiscussed.Offerafinal,closingthought.

WorksCited(forMLA)orReferences(forAPA)[Listyoursourceshere]

Thisisthebasicskeleton.Youfillitwithyourownideasandresearch.

Choosingatopicisthefirstrealstep.Picksomethingyoufindinteresting.Yourtopicshouldnotbetoobroad."Shakespeare"istoobig."TheRoleofGhostsinHamlet"isbetter.Afocusedtopiciseasiertowriteabout.

Doyourresearch.Findbooks,articles,orreliablewebsites.Takenotesasyouread.Writedownimportantquotes.Writedownyourownthoughts.Keeptrackofwhereyoufoundeachpieceofinformation.Youwillneedthisforyourcitations.

Writeadraft.Donotworryaboutperfectiononthefirsttry.Justgetyourideasonpaper.Followyourtemplateoutline.Startwiththebodyparagraphsiftheintroductionishard.Youcanalwayswritetheintroductionlater.

Reviseyourdraft.Readitaloud.Dothesentencesmakesense?Doeseachparagraphhaveoneclearpoint?Doesalltheevidencesupportyourthesis?Checktheflowfromoneideatothenext.

Editforgrammarandspelling.Checkforcommamistakes.Checkforrun-onsentences.Usesimplewords.Donottrytosoundtoosmart.Clearwritingisthebestwriting.

Askafriendtoreadyourpaper.Afresheyefindserrorsyoumiss.Yourschoolmayhaveawritingcenter.Tutorstherecanhelpyou.

Finally,checktheformatting.Isyourheadercorrect?IsyourWorksCitedpageproperlyformatted?Areallyourcitationscorrect?Thislaststepisveryimportant.

Atemplateprovidesorder.Ittakesawaythefearofablankpage.Youknowwhattowritenext.Ithelpsyoupresentyourargumentclearly.Yourteacherwantstoseeyourthinking.Thetemplateisjustthecontainer.Yourideasaretheimportantpart.

Usesimplelanguage.Say"use"insteadof"utilize."Say"show"insteadof"demonstrate."Say"help"insteadof"facilitate."Yourgoaliscommunication,notconfusion.

Writeshortsentences.Longsentencescanbehardtofollow.Breakyourideasintosmallerpieces.Thismakesyourwritingstronger.

Donotusetoomanyquotes.Yourownvoiceshouldbetheloudest.Usequotestosupportyourpoints,notreplacethem.Alwaysexplainwhataquotemeans.Showhowitconnectstoyourargument.

Stayontopic.Everysentenceshouldserveyourthesis.Ifasentencedoesnotrelate,removeit.Beruthlessinediting.

Startearly.Giveyourselftimetothink,write,andrevise.Apaperwritteninonenightisusuallyabadpaper.Goodwritingtakestime.

Followthesesteps.Usethetemplatestructure.Focusonyourideas.Beclear.Bedirect.Youcanwriteagoodpaper.Youjustneedaplan.Thetemplateisthatplan.