How to Write an Essay Archives - Page 3 of 3

In this tutorial, you will learn how to write an essay about your qualities. We’ll also write a sample essay together! Whether you’re writing for your homework or college applications, writing such an essay is easy if you know where to start and what to do. So, let’s get right to it. To write an essay about your qualities, consider what makes you stand out. Pick a main idea, choose three qualities that best describe you, write an introduction and a paragraph for each quality, and write a conclusion. Let’s face it: you have many qualities, and writing such an essay could be tricky, especially if you don’t organize your thoughts first. So, let’s make things easier for you! First, pick a main idea. You need to choose a central idea that overarches the qualities you want to talk about in your essay. To do this, you can think of a personality trait or behavior you can describe using three supporting points— three prominent qualities. Whatever you choose will be your essay’s thesis. For example, our main idea can be: “I am a people’s person.” Next, choose three qualities that best support the main idea. Let’s use the Power of Three to keep your ideas flowing. The Power of Three divides an essay’s main idea into three supporting points. It is a three-part structure that helps you create your essay’s body paragraphs. It’s easy to get stuck if you don’t divide your essay’s subject. Similarly, dividing it into only two supporting ideas is not enough, although it may be better than having one undivided main idea. But dividing it into three is the best way to go. Three is the perfect number of supporting ideas, and it always works. Make sure you choose ideas distinct from one another to make your essay clear to your readers. But, you should reflect all three supporting points in your thesis statement. Now, let’s see how this works when writing about your qualities. For our sample essay, let’s choose these qualities: I am kind to my family. This quality talks about how you treat the people closest to you — your family. It also relates to being a people’s person, which should be reflected in the essay. We can answer questions like these in this part of our essay: “Why is it important to be kind to your family?” “How do you show kindness to your family?” I am a loyal friend. Like the first one, this quality relates to being a people person. However, it is different from being kind to your family because it talks about a quality related to your friends. In this part of our essay, we will answer questions like: “Why do you think you need to be loyal to your friends?” “How do you show loyalty to your friends?” I am approachable. Lastly, also related to being a people’s person, this quality talks about a trait related to people who are not really familiar to you — acquaintances and strangers. We will answer the following questions in this part of our essay: “What does it mean to be approachable?” “Do you do something to look approachable to other people?” Notice how all three qualities relate to being a people person. These three, plus our main idea, are enough for now. Later, you will understand how we can expand them into an entire essay. Now we have a clear picture of our essay’s structure after dividing the main idea into three distinct supporting points. Now, write an introduction and a body paragraph for each quality. Now that we have a general idea of what to write in our essay, we can create the introductory paragraph and three body paragraphs, one for each quality we chose. To write an introductory paragraph, you need an opening sentence (the introduction) that briefly sets the context of your essay. Next comes the thesis (the main idea) and three supporting points. Here’s an example of an introductory paragraph: “Our qualities make us unique. Others say I am a people’s person because I am kind to my family, I am a loyal friend, and I am approachable. I help my family in any way I can and avoid using harsh words when we have disagreements. I support my friends and call them out when they are wrong. And I love smiling nicely so other people won’t be scared of approaching me.” Note that this paragraph goes from a general statement to three specific ideas. Great! Now, let’s move on to our body paragraphs, containing our three supporting points — the three qualities we want to discuss in our essay. To write a body paragraph, start with a topic sentence summarizing it. Then, you will briefly explain it and provide examples to illustrate your idea. Here are examples of body paragraphs for our essay: Paragraph 1 “I always choose to be kind to my family because it builds my relationship with them. I help my parents with cleaning up around the house, and even buying groceries sometimes. I also help my siblings with their homework and school projects. And I avoid harsh, insulting words when we have disagreements. Instead, I try to stay calm, understand their point of view, and talk to them kindly.” Paragraph 2 “My loyalty to my friends is one of the qualities I am proudest to have. I always express my genuine happiness to my friends when they achieve something, big or small. And sometimes, although it is hard, I tell them what they need to hear instead of just telling them what they want. For example, I remember telling my friend Kate she was wrong when she got the highest score for our exam because of cheating. She knows I always support and want the best for her, so she appreciated that I called her out for her mistake.” Paragraph 3 “Whenever I am at an event, strangers and acquaintances tell me I am approachable. They tell me I look easy to talk to, friendly and welcoming because I always have a nice smile. For instance, I attended a party my new colleague invited me to, where I did not know many people. So, I just smiled and politely introduced myself. After a few minutes, my colleague’s friend — a stranger — told me she found me approachable and would love to be friends.” Note how all three body paragraphs follow the diagram above. They started with topic sentences, followed by explanations and examples. Finally, write the conclusion. Restating your main idea and the three supporting points you used (paraphrasing your introductory paragraph) is the quickest and easiest way to write the conclusion for your essay. Let’s try this time-tested method for our essay. Here's an example of a concluding paragraph: “Our qualities make us all unique, and they either make people like or dislike us. Many people tell me I am a people’s person. I get along well with my family because I always choose to be kind to them. I always express my loyalty to my friends. And I enjoy smiling, making people feel welcome and comfortable when they are around me.” Finally, we’re done writing our sample essay! I hope this has been helpful. Now go ahead and write your essay about your qualities!