Essay in Spanish? How to Write a Spanish Essay

Take the stress out of writing an essay in Spanish.

Latin American authors such as Octavio Paz and Carlos Fuentes are well-known for their essays in Spanish. Read their essays to strengthen your own essay writing abilities. The components and writing process of a basic essay in Spanish is the same as English: an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. If you know how to write in English, you will transfer these skills to write in any foreign language as well – you just need to know Spanish words and useful phrases and learn how to string them together in a natural way. Write essays in Spanish to improve your Spanish language skills.

1 Write your Spanish essay

Organize your thoughts for the essay in an outline form and summarize what you want to cover, step-by-step, in your essay. Choose an essay style if you have that option. Depending on what writing skills you have, a personal essay is easiest to write because it generally doesn't require any research. You could also try writing a persuasive essay.

Write a first draft of your essay. Be sure to have all the five paragraph components of a basic essay. Create a clear thesis statement for the last sentence of your introductory paragraph and make sure your main argument and main points are clearly laid out.

Print off the draft and read it out loud. The Spanish writing by nature is more flowery and indirect than English. You might have longer sentences to support your main points; turn to a Spanish-English dictionary for better word choices.

Correct any spelling problems. Pay special attention to words with accents.

Check with a Spanish grammar book to resolve any sentence structure issues. The subjunctive form is generally the most difficult grammatical element for Spanish language learners.

Write your final draft. Have someone else proofread the work; someone whose first language, or native language, is Spanish, is ideal. You can also use an online writing service if a native Spanish speaker isn’t available to you, even though it might not catch every error.

Born in New York City, Elizabeth Carrillo has worked as a bilingual freelance writer and translator since 2009. She contributes to various websites with articles on soccer and Mexico. Carrillo holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University.

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