If you want your readers to get to the essence of what you are talking about, you should help them imagine the whole picture, evoking proper bright illustrations in their minds.
When enrolling in college, you should be ready to face different challenges and get numerous assignments. Whatever academic institution you choose, you will inevitably work on essays. An illustration paper is one of the most interesting representatives of this type of assignment. It stands out from the rest with its requirements and general approach. Even though it may seem less time-consuming than some other tasks, you will need developed writing skills and diligence to complete it. Your words should turn into a magic wand that brings to life every statement written on paper, so your readers can imagine everything clearly and react the way you want them to. To achieve the desired result, you should go deep down the issue and find out how to create an illustration essay. Every writing style has its peculiarities and demands that you should meet to succeed and get an A-grade paper. We will examine the key aspects and share some tips and tricks that will help make your writing catchier and more appealing.
What Is an Illustrative Essay?
To get the essence of the issue, it is worth starting with a definition. Thus, an illustrative essay represents a type of informative writing, which you invoke to clarify the situation through illustrative evidence. In other words, you provide details of the case and cite examples to support a thesis statement. You don't need to discover anything new but explain the key points with the help of illustrations, so you reader can get to the bottom of the topic discussed. In fact, while working on this type of paper, your main task is to convey the crucial idea to your readers. That's why you provide pieces of information, answer questions and create an outline. Everyone involved in the academic environment should know how to write an illustration essay since demonstrative examples are common for other types of papers. It is easier to sort things out when you can imagine what the writer is talking about.
Good Illustration Essay Topics and Examples
The topic is the first thing you consider when it comes to writing an essay. In most cases, teachers provide their students with the subject on which they will work. However, some professors allow young people to choose a theme themselves. Thus, it is worth keeping several topics for an illustrative essay in your back pocket to write a decent paper:
- Describe the key challenges modern kids face at school.
- Illustrate the benefits of a well-tailored personal brand.
- Describe your perfect travel destination and provide reasons why.
- Illustrate the benefits of online shopping.
- Explain how cinematography affects modern generations.
- Describe how social networks deteriorate personal relationships.
- Illustrate key issues involved in plagiarism.
As you might have already understood, you should describe the crucial points of the topic, providing your readers with illustrative evidence that supports your point of view.
How to Write an Illustration Essay?
When you decide on the topic you want to reveal, you can proceed to the writing process. The latter involves a few stages that you cannot skip. Therefore, if you want to write an A-grade-worthy paper, you should pay attention to the following moments.
Come Up With a Credible Thesis Statement
No essay can do without a thesis statement, which identifies the key illustrative subject and catches readers' interest, making them keep up reading. You should decide on the points that require special attention and evidence on your part. Choose about four or five aspects and explain your point of view on each of them. You can either support the idea or argue against it. A thesis statement involves two objectives. Firstly, it depicts a key idea in the introduction. Secondly, it serves as a guide for exposing your thoughts in the body paragraphs.
Gather Evidence
When the previous stage is over, it is time to go deep down the question and gather evidence that can support your idea. You should provide top-of-the-line examples for your illustrative paper. It may seem hard to come across decent evidence, but all the answers are around you. Think about historical events, research results, or mention practical experience.
Outline Your Paper
It can be hard to organize your thoughts and highlight only key points so that your paper doesn't seem clogged. To meet this challenge, it is worth resorting to a well-tailored essay outline. It will help you structure all the statements and make your paper more comprehensible.
Work on Body Paragraphs
The body part involves about three paragraphs, but you can increase this number if necessary. Remember that each paragraph should include some details and illustrative examples. The latter should support the topic and relate to your target audience.
Create a Conclusion and a Separate List of References
The last paragraph of your paper should necessarily include a summary. You can mention your thesis statement once again, accompanying it with finishing thoughts. When you are done with the conclusion, mention all the sources you have used for writing your paper. If your teacher specified some demands, make sure to follow them.
Proofread Your Paper
Even if you have advanced writing skills, it is still worth double-checking everything for stylistic and grammar mistakes if you are interested in a high grade, of course. Nowadays, you can come across decent proofreading services on the web that will help you meet this challenge. Don't deprive yourself of a chance to stand out with a high-quality essay.
Illustration Essay Outline
A well-tailored essay outline is already half the battle since it will help you organize your thoughts and include all the crucial moments. Popularize the key ideas of your paper and develop each of them to the required extent. Your outline should involve some essential aspects.
1. Introduction
Write about two sentences to introduce the theme and share general information on the topic. The next two sentences should explain its relevance and value. Come up with a reliable thesis statement providing a synopsis of the illustrative essay. Finally, write one sentence to smooth the transition.
2. Body Paragraphs
How to write an illustration paragraph? The number of paragraphs will depend on the size of your paper, but bear in mind that an average paper involves about three. Each paragraph should include an argument with a key idea, demonstrative evidence that supports it, and one transitional sentence at the end that briefly summarizes everything mentioned before. Bear in mind that each idea provided should resonate with the thesis statement. Make your paragraphs harmonized so that the whole paper will look coherent. It means that you should provide enough info to cover all the aspects.
3. Conclusion
When it comes to a conclusion, you should restart the thesis statement. One sentence will be enough. After that, briefly summarize the key ideas of all the paragraphs provided above and write about two sentences to conclude your essay.
Illustration Essay Writing Tips
Every assignment you get in college is aimed to teach you something new and develop your skills. Writing an illustration paper can become an interesting experience, especially if you know how to put your thoughts in order. The following tips will simplify this process and help get the best result possible, so feel free to use them when working on your illustration paper.
Try Brainstorming
Many people believe that brainstorming is a great thing only when working in a team on some complicated project, but it's not the case. As soon as you decide on the theme and find a few decent examples to support your thesis statement, you can proceed to brainstorm. Remember that all ideas are useful. Even if you don't use it in its initial form, it can bring inspiration and provide a clue to the key aspects of your final paper. Thus, brainstorming can help you create a solid foundation for fruitful writing. Even though it may seem like a time-consuming activity, it can bring great results.
Do a Qualitative Research
Even the best topic requires high-quality research to reveal its essence and provide demonstrative evidence. Some illustrative essays are based on personal experience for the most part, so it may seem you don't need any research. Nonetheless, this case also requires a deep analysis of the writer's background and highlighting relevant and demonstrative examples. If you want to get a high grade for your paper, you should search for pearls.
Focus on Trustworthy Sources
Even though writers bring something personal into their illustration essays, certain aspects may be based on factual information. In this case, it's crucial to use only trustworthy sources. Otherwise, the likelihood of bringing mess into your paper goes up, and it will hardly affect your grade positively. Working on such an assignment, you should better stay away from websites that amateurs can edit the way they want. Authenticity plays an important role here, so you should double-check some facts if you doubt them.
Focus on the Best Examples
If you have devoted much time to your research, you might have found various demonstrative pieces of evidence for your essay. However, it is a bad idea to include everything you have in the final version. When a paper is full of ideas and examples, it looks clogged and less convincing. It's better to focus only on the best examples that help reveal the core of your paper. Everything should be in moderation to make a good impression and leave a pleasant aftertaste.
Consider Your Target Audience
When you are working on your paper, you should put yourself in your reader's shoes to understand whether you move in the right direction. If something looks weird or unclear to you, it means that your reader will feel the same. You should stay honest with yourself and not turn a blind eye to some aspects, believing that nobody will notice them.
Provide Clear Examples
You should use your writing skills to help your readers imagine what you are talking about. The examples provided must be clear enough to illustrate the topic. Your target audience will treat your paper seriously if your evidence is reliable and powerful. It's worth working on your vocabulary and enriching it with strong words that help make your paper sound convincing. You should follow the outline and make your essay smooth, so your reader will keep on reading without effort. An illustration essay is designed to simplify understanding of some processes, so your readers should not have questions on the subject after reading your paper.