Essays are the most common high school assignments and yet the most hated by students. Besides requiring a lot of research, high school essays are time-consuming, thus challenging to manage with the tight school schedule.
Read on to discover various high school essay writing tips and familiarize yourself with the high school essay structure.
How long is an essay in high school?
A standard high school essay ranges between two to five pages. The length of the essay depends on your tutor’s instruction and the complexity of the assignment. This equates to five hundred to twenty-five hundred words per essay.
High school essay outline
The high school essay comprises the introduction, the body, and a conclusion.
The introduction
The introduction of your essay encapsulates the key argument and transitions to the body of your paper. Ideally, the introduction should carry a hook that evokes curiosity in your reader, motivating them to peruse your entire paper.
Some of the best hooks for a high school essay include asking rhetorical questions or introducing a short story to highlight the key issue of your topic.
The body
The body carries your arguments in your preferred order. Where possible, sort your ideas with related ideas in subsequent paragraphs.
Each section of your paper should contain a single concept, linked to the next paragraph with a transition word. Avoid redundancy in the transition words as this could cause your paper to sound repetitive.
Conclusion
Finally, conclude your essay with a restatement of your thesis and your key argument. Be keen to ensure that the introduction carries no more than twenty percent of the total word count, the body a maximum of sixty percent, and your conclusion another twenty percent.
Tips for essay writing for high school students
- Start working on your essay as soon as you receive your topic to have ample time for research, writing, and editing of your paper.
- Address the introduction last. This allows you to have proper mastery of your argument, thus addressing your main arguments in their entirety.
- Delegate challenging tasks to experts, thus maintaining your motivation to write the paper and ensuring that you cover it within the provided time.
- Find a conducive environment free of various distractions to master maximum focus in each study session.
- Chunk your writing process into phases, reducing the burden of approaching each portion in one sitting. Plan one sitting for research, another to outline, and finally plan to write and edit your paper.
- Employ the Pomodoro technique for your study sessions to ensure maximum productivity. You could also consider using noise-blocking headphones and playing some classical compositions to boost your productivity in each writing session.
- Select a topic that aligns with your interests to have adequate motivation for writing your essay. You could also employ incremental rewards after achieving each milestone to manage your essay within the deadline.
Steps for writing a high school essay
When writing your essay, consider the following steps:
- Select the topic for your paper
- Conduct research to establish sources to support your arguments
- Write your paper
- Edit your paper
Essay writing prompts for high school
- Make a list of odd places you want to visit.
- Describe the first moment you felt out of place or alone.
- How would communication on Earth change if everyone had access to telepathy?
- What advice would you give to your ten-year-old self?
- What is the effect of peer pressure on your life?
- Do you believe that minors should have limited access to certain online features?
- Have you made any real-life pals as a result of social media?
- Do you consider yourself a feminist?
- Why do you think that is?
- Which musical genre is your favorite? What is it about it that interests you?
- Is your music taste influenced by its popularity?
- What would you write if you were to write a book?
- Tell us about your family’s holiday customs.
- Do you think “best” friends exist?
- Why do you think that is?
- Write about a historical individual who, in your opinion, made a significant impact on the globe.
- What made this guy so important?
- Do you have a bedtime? Why do you think that is?
- What characteristics distinguish a good friend?
Final take
Writing a high school essay requires much focus and a proper understanding of the style to present your arguments. In case you need further help with writing your essay, don’t hesitate to engage our experts.
