How to Write a Short Essay? [Useful Tips, Format & Examples]

Writing an essay requires time. However, writing a short essay involves creativity.

This is because, in long essays, you get enough writing scope to elaborate your point of view and justify your approach. However, you need to convey your complex ideas in a more concise and focused piece for these essays.

So, if you are clueless about how to write a short essay or need additional help, this blog is for you. This blog includes 10 helpful tips with short essay examples, templates, and format. Also, if you read till the end, you will get a surprise catering to essay writing topics.

What is a Short Essay?

Though instructors assign once in a blue moon, you must know how to write concise essays properly, which is essential to score good grades.

A short essay is an academic writing style of 200 – 750 words. It focuses on the thesis statement (idea or one subject) and presents supporting facts or evidence, arguments, and examples.

Alternatively, it is a 500 words paper briefly conveying or describing a person, object, or thing and presenting the writer’s point of view.

There are various types of essays: argumentative, narrative, explanatory, or descriptive. In academic writing, brief essays are crucial in explaining the main point cohesively and concisely to the readers. Therefore, it is a must that you stay focused and do not repeat points in your piece.

Let’s learn how to write top-class, informative short essays that fetch high grades.

How to Write a Short Essay?

Choose Topic

Before writing the essay, READ! Since the topic will set the tone and mood of the entire essay, you need to be careful and creative at the same time. You must read the essay prompt carefully and understand the requirements well. You will divert from the main point if you fail to understand the topic.

Imagine this is your topic: The Role of Technology in Education

Now, before you start writing, you must understand what it wants. Does it want you to highlight the positive side or the negative? Or should you be neutral?

Research Well

Once you decide your tone by understanding the topic, you must move toward researching the topic well. While researching, you can consider educational journals and well-known news articles by CNN, BBC, etc. Artificial intelligence has tried to make life easier. 

But you must research yourself. This is essential because AI (chatGPT and similar tools) scrapes information from the Internet.

They can make your essay too bland and similar to the online ones. But when you research yourself and read multiple sources, you’re gaining first-hand knowledge and expertise. Thus, you can bring forth something unique. Always remember, there’s no shortcut to win!

For instance, you can start with a neutral tone: Technology is often seen as both a savior and a disruptor in education.

Brainstorm Ideas

Now, it’s time to think beyond the books and knowledge available and find the X-factor! You must think of your arguments. Since it is short, you must jot down the arguments and underline important points. A short essay structure requires you to hit the point directly to avoid losing the readers’ attention.

For instance, you can move one like this: While it has undeniably revolutionized how knowledge is accessed and shared, its overuse and potential pitfalls spark debate. Reflecting on its dual nature, analyze how technology truly enhances education.

Create an Outline

And the writing process begins! A brief writing does not give you much scope to go on and on about your idea. So, make it compact.

Write a convincing and strong thesis statement. The short essay introduction must have a hook to keep your readers thinking.

A short essay outline is like a roadmap, helping you stay on track, especially when writing supporting evidence or facts.

First, Write a Draft

Now, it’s time to write the actual essay or content. It’s crucial to write a draft first. While writing the draft of your academic paper, you may go overboard. The point here is to write down your thoughts, ideas, and arguments so you do not miss any important points when writing the final one.

Edit and Proofread

When you’re writing the final essay, you must be careful about grammar, active voice, and spelling. Any silly error can cost you grades.

Here’s what you need to check when editing to increase the readability and impression:

• Avoid lengthy verb phrases.
• Keep your sentences short and crisp.
• Weave the essay closely around the central argument.
• Find sources and cite them according to the flow of the essay.
• Write sentences in the active voice. Avoid using passive voice as much as possible.
• When writing multiple arguments in different paragraphs, use linking words, transition words, and phrases for spatial order essays.

Now that you know how to write it, let’s move on to the length of the essay. 

How Long Should a Short Essay Be? [With Template]

Most students ask this question. While writing essays can be considered one of the best ways to highlight your writing skills, knowing how long it should ideally be is a big deal.

Though it depends on your professor or teacher, the basic essay structure is as follows:

• It is best to condense your thoughts and views into half a page.
• It should not be more than a page long (single-spaced). 
• If you use double-spaced formatting, your content can reach a maximum of 2 pages.
• Make sure not to write more than 400 words count. You can only write more than 400 words and go a maximum of 500 if the topic requires that much explanation.

So, you must be careful about the essay’s length when writing a concise essay with a persuasive technique. Thus, we will learn in detail about it now!

The 3-Paragraph Short Essay Template

Introduction

• Hook: Start with an attention-grabbing beginning related to the topic.
• Background Information: Provide a brief context or overview of the topic for engagement.
• Thesis Statement: In a clear and concise line, state the central argument or purpose of the essay.

Body Paragraph

• Topic Sentence: Present the main point or argument of the essay.
• Supporting Details: Include evidence, examples, or explanations to support the topic sentence.
• Analysis: Explain the significance of the evidence and how it supports the thesis.
• Closing Sentence: Summarize and connect the paragraph’s main idea to the key point.

Conclusion

• Restate the Thesis: Sum up the main argument freshly.
• Summary of Key Points: Highlight the points discussed in the above paragraph.
• Final Thought: Conclude with a statement that leaves a lasting impression or provides a call to action.

The 5-Paragraph Short Essay Template

Introduction

• Hook: Begin with an engaging phrase to capture the reader’s attention.
• Background Info: Briefly introduce the topic and its importance.
• Thesis Statement: Clearly state the main argument and outline the three supporting points to be discussed.

Body Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3

• Topic Sentence: Introduce the first main point of the essay.
• Supporting Evidence: Provide examples, facts, or data to support the point.
• Analysis: Explain how the evidence supports the thesis.
• Closing Sentence: Transition to the next paragraph.

Conclusion

• Restate the Thesis: Reiterate the main argument using different words.
• Summary of Key Points: Recap the three supporting points discussed in the body.
• Final Thought: Leave the reader with a concluding remark or a call to action that resonates. 

When writing essays, we often fail to understand how many words in a paragraph are enough. So, your introduction and conclusion must not have more than 75 words. The rest, you can do the math!

2 Short Essay Examples:

Argumentative Essay: An Ideal Adult’s Day: Promoting Work-Life Balance

Narrative Essay: A Day in My Adult Life

Now that you have the two brief essay writing templates, let’s hit the next point: why should you write one?

Why Write Short Essays?

Writing a short paper has multiple pros. Whether it’s a three-paragraph or five-paragraph essay, it enhances your critical thinking skills, improves your writing skills, and builds effective and professional communication.

Critical thinking: Whether you brainstorm ideas or write an essay, you must have good critical thinking skills. This skill helps you identify key points to support the main paragraph. It will also help you filter irrelevant and excess information.

Developing writing skills: These essays require and enhance your grammar, sentence structuring ability, coherence, and vocabulary. Writing these essays improves your overall proficiency level and language knowledge. 

Effective communication: Effective communication significantly depends on the articulating skills of the speaker or writer. The better you articulate your thoughts before delivering the message, the better your essay will be.

Professional communication: This skill will further help you in your career growth. In the professional world, you will have to write a project proposal, a persuasive email, or a succinct report that requires you to be brief yet informative.

Now, let us move to the format! You can also refer to how to format an essay for better understanding. 

What is the Short Essay Format?

You might have encountered your instructor criticizing you even after writing a beautiful and cohesive narrative or expository essay. This mainly happens because the formatting is either incorrect or the overall argument does not properly highlight the central idea.

Introduction

The first phrase should claim the topic’s urgency, making it worth reading. End the line with a precise statement.

• Your introduction should be one paragraph long and not longer.
• It should build the audience’s interest in the topic.
• The topic should be catchy and informative.

Thesis

It is the final introduction phrase. It needs to be centered on the key ideas you are researching and include the main claim you intend to support. However, your thesis should be debatable and inspire those who disagree with you to refute it. Also, you can get help from an online essay writing service to write concisely while maintaining the essay length.

Topic Sentences

Here, you’ll be able to make your key point clear. It should be concise to appear at the start of each paragraph. It should summarize your entire argument. Thus, give a distinct topic line for each new point you make. Also, it needs to be presented, backed up, and analyzed.

Main Body

3 paragraphs out of 5 should be of the main body. The body contains the main ideas and supporting facts. That’s why it’s the most essential and critical part. You may want to include everything you know, but it’s best to stick to the point. Ensure your evidence contains quotations. As mentioned above, you must properly use citations, linking words, and conjunctions while maintaining the structure requirements. It will bring flow to your narration.

Conclusion

This paragraph is for the final results. It should be 1 paragraph long. In this paragraph, you need to show how your ideas from the body support the statement in the first paragraph. It is not a summary. However, this part will close the question raised in the introduction part.

10 Useful Tips: Do’s and Don’ts [With Essay Examples]

It’s time for some tips for writing a short essay that will make you the talk of the town!

Need Help with Short Essay Topics? We Can Help!

Now, enough of the short essay writing guide. As promised in the beginning, it’s time for the surprise. We know you have been waiting for that. So, as a leading student assignment-helping website, we have created a PDF. The PDF contains 100+ essay topics.

But that’s not all; you can also opt for our Write my Essay service. Our assignment writers will write an essay for you in just 2-6 hours. Be it a three or five paragraph essay, we are ready to help you. We will write an original and AI-free essay, ensuring you receive no less than A grades.

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