How to Format a Short Essay

Members of colleges and universities regularly receive tasks to deliver written assignments. Various types of those assignments exist. However, the most general kind is an essay. An essay can be of different types and formats. These compositions can have a variable length as well. Exist regular-length articles and short essays. Formatting of the short article has its peculiarities, which should be obligatorily preserved by a writer working on the text.

To format a short essay correctly, a writer should be aware of specific rules and standards. The short article has a limited number of words. For that reason, an author has to present his ideas in a very condensed and shortened way. It may pose a challenge while comparing to the production of an ordinary-length essay, which provides enough space for presenting one’s ideas. What is more, the sentences of a short article should be adequately and relevantly formulated. A writer should enable a target reader to understand the concept using a minimal number of words entirely. It means that each statement should be built logically and be maximally sense-loaded.

Concerning the organisation of the layout, in a short essay, a writer should produce three-four paragraphs. The first one should comprise a thesis and extremely short lead-in. The main body should provide strong thesis sentence supporting arguments. The conclusion should sum up all the info contained in the text and create an impression of a finalised version.

What is Short Essay Format

A short essay format is many standards and instructions that should be accepted and preserved by all writers dealing with a short essay. In contrast to regular essay length format requirements, these differ a lot. Primarily, it concerns the overall structure of the text. IT is very condensed and maximally informative. The words applied by a writer are appropriately chosen. The information provided in the text of a short essay is strictly connected to the general topic and provides only relevant and valuable for the reader info. Usually, such passages do not include any background info or material that is not directly related to the theme.

A writer working on a short essay should be aware that he has a scarcity of space for expressing his ideas. For that reason, it is necessary to perform a brainstorming exercise. It will help to elaborate plenty of ideas, however, choose only those, which are the strongest. It is desirable to pick just the suitable material that relates to the thesis of the essay and elaborates and supports it. Only by being scrupulous and laconic, an author has a chance to prepare a good quality short essay.

APA Short Essay Format

The APA essay format is a number or formatting requirements that are accepted by all writers and should be strictly preserved. It provides the rules explaining and clarifying the nuances concerning font, margins and citation rules. It is a handy note helping to organise a text correctly so that it suits all the requirements and standards.

Exists a list of formatting details that one should stick to. Concerning the font, it should be easily readable. The ideal option is Times New Roman type, 12-pt. A writer can also choose other variants. However, they should be easily recognisable. Concerning the margins, one should set 1-inch margins all around the whole document.  Talking about spacing, all pages without exception should be double-spaced. A necessary element that should be present is running head. It should title, that will indicate on all pages of the document. Usually, APA documents include a summary of the essay. However, when a short article is taken into account, you do not need to provide a summary.

Guidelines on Writing Short Essays

While dealing with short essay preparation, it is necessary to bear in mind several factors which define the overall quality of the essay and influence its sense-loading. Primarily, it is essential to create an outline, which will serve as a plan enabling to stick to a topic and limit oneself in wording. Secondly, it is obligatory to attach to the traditional structure. It presupposes availability of the introduction, main body and conclusion. Each of these structural elements should be logically built and be related to the central theme of the essay. It is essential to stick to the word count limits established by your scholarly supervisor.

After compilation of the short essay, follows the post writing stage. A writer has to proofread the paper and conduct all the necessary examinations and checks. These presuppose grammar check, spelling examination and originality check. The main issue concerning the preparation of a short essay is to manage to express one’s ideas using a limited number of words.

Introduction

The primary function of the introductory part is to catch the attention of the target reader and evoke a desire to read the composition further. That is why a task of a writer is to compile a maximally engaging and catchy lead-in part. Taking into account the fact, that the word count is minimal, a writer should manage to render the message in three sentences. A topic of an essay should be suitably formulated to provoke a heated discussion.  The first sentence of the introduction will serve both a hook sentence and thesis. In the following sentences, a writer might provide some interesting facts or include relevant quotations to make the text alive and engaging.

Essay Body Paragraphs

The main body of a short essay significantly differs from the main body of an ordinary article. It consists mainly of 2-3 parts, having very few sentences. These sentences should present an argument and one-two supporting statements. The main body is the most informative part of each composition, that is why an author is obliged to craft it and polish carefully. It is allowed and recommended to include new info statistical data and quotations in the core part of a text. It gives a reader all the necessary info concerning the topic and allows to get the idea of the author.

Essay Body: Paragraph Structure

The main body of a short essay has to present a central message of a writer is a condensed way. It should defend the thesis and comprise a few persuasive arguments supporting the main sentence. A target reader expects to discover relevant information, which will enforce the main idea stated in the thesis. Each paragraph of the main body should start with the persuasive argument, delivered understandably. Supporting evidence should be presented by one sentence. It may turn challenging, however, if author concentrates only on the details, which help the argument the best, he will manage to compile sufficient evidence.

Exists a variety of techniques helping to compile a proper main body for the essay. You may apply a brainstorming exercise to single out great ideas. Doing small research and singling out the relevant facts supporting the main topic may contribute to the sense loading of the whole essay.

Conclusion

The closing part of a short essay is a conclusion. It is a section, where an author sums up all the points discussed in the composition. A reader gets a chance to formulate an impression about the writing in general. Apart from that, a conclusion is a factor that influences the post-reading impression of the target reader, that is why it should be useful. It should produce a substantial effect on the target audience. And create a feeling that the reading of an essay was exciting and valuable. It is essential to refer to a thesis. Writers tend to paraphrase it, and the strategy proved to be effective. It creates a connection between the introduction and main body, relating all the sense elements of the essay in a single whole.