A Simple Essay Writing Tutorial for Kids

It is true to say that you are never too old to learn and equally so, never too young to learn. So if you are a junior high school student and one learning the basics of good essay writing, then this article is for you. In fact if you can grasp the basics of good essay writing, it's a skill which will last you for the rest of your life. Certainly in your college and high school years you can learn the basics, understand the basics and put them into practice every time you write an essay.

These are the fundamentals of good essay writing.

• Answer the question being asked.
• Stay on topic.
• Do plenty of relevant research.
• Know the rules of formatting your essay.
• Always produce an outline or plan beforehand.
• Become an expert at proofreading.

If your essay comes in the form of a question then without doubt, absolutely, you must write an essay which answers that question. So many students think they are writing a good essay, and they may in fact be doing just that, but unless they answer the question being asked, their score will be low.

And the same principle applies as far as the topic of your essay is concerned. You might write some wonderful prose but unless it is about the topic then you're wasting your time. You're not being asked to write about topic B when the essay is all about topic A.

Unless you are a very knowledgeable person, you will need to do some research on the topic before you write about it. You can tell if someone has done plenty of relevant research by the quotations they may include in their essay.

If your teacher asks you to present the essay in a certain format, you must learn those rules. They're easy to find and easy to apply. But if it has to be an APA or an MLA format then you need to know what those formats are all about.

Having a plan or an outline is essential. Do you know what essential means? If you do you will make sure you put everything down in shorthand in a plan before you start the longhand business of writing.

You must, repeat must check your work before you hand it in. You need to become very good at writing an essay but even better at proofreading it.