How to Write an Essay About Education

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Writing an essay about education can be a difficult task if you do not know where to start. Education can be a broad topic to cover, and constructing an effective essay requires some planning and research. A good essay will narrow the scope of the topic and provide good concise information that the reader can put to good use.

Determine the focus of your essay. Because education itself is a broad topic, you need to narrow down the topic to a specific aspect of education. For instance, if you wish to write about improving education, you should think about which area of education you want to improve.

You may wish to write about how to improve reading skills among students, for example. The question that emerges from a topic of this nature is, naturally, which students need this improvement? This could include elementary, middle, high school or college. It is absolutely essential to narrowly define the scope of your work whenever possible.

If you will be covering more than one level of education, then you will need to divide up your essay into smaller parts to make the project more manageable.

Research your topic.In order to adequately cover your topic, you need as much factual material about it as possible. If you are writing an informative essay, you will need facts to inform the reader. If your essay is argumentative or persuasive, facts will be necessary to support your arguments. In any case, you will need to be as thoroughly versed in your topic as possible in order to be effective.

Start your essay composition. Once your research has been completed, you should begin to write your essay. Your essay should begin with a clearly defined thesis statement that is based on the facts that you uncover. For example, if your research shows there is a connection between learning foreign languages in elementary school and higher standardized test scores, your thesis statement should clearly note this (if that is the topic you wish to cover). It could read something like this: Because research in education shows a definite link between learning foreign languages in elementary school and higher scores on standardized tests, educators should incorporate foreign language study into the elementary school curriculum.

Write the body of your essay. After you have established your thesis statement, the remainder of your essay should support the thesis. You can create an outline to help you with this. It should look something like this:

I. Thesis Statement

II. Supporting Argument 1 A. Example 1 B. Example 2

III. Supporting Argument 2 A. Example 1 B. Example 2

IV. Supporting Argument 3 A. Example 1 B. Example 2

V. Conclusion

Revise your work. Great writers are often those who have a little help from someone else. Very rarely do great writers get everything exactly right the first time. It is usually easier for someone else to spot mistakes or find portions of the text that lack clarity. Getting a little help from an objective proofreader can make the difference between a decent essay and a really good essay.

Jared Lewis is a professor of history, philosophy and the humanities. He has taught various courses in these fields since 2001. A former licensed financial adviser, he now works as a writer and has published numerous articles on education and business. He holds a bachelor's degree in history, a master's degree in theology and has completed doctoral work in American history.

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