Tips & Tools for Writing

Writing Tips for Winning Essays

Key Elements
  • Focus – An essay should have a clear, central idea. Know what you’re going to write about and don’t wander. Before writing, consider creating an outline to organize your ideas.
  • Stay on point – A good essay should be organized and flow, especially from one paragraph to the next. Flow is essential for readers to understand what you’re writing about. A good tip is to read your essay out loud. This will help you notice any problems or sections that need to be rewritten. 
  • Good grammar – Pay attention to grammar, spelling, and word choice. Mistakes can cause you to lose credibility and make your readers stop reading. 
  • Voice – You have a writing voice; use it! It’s called creativity. The best writing voice carries your personality and is unique to you. Don’t try to copy what you think is good form. Be aware of it, but make sure what you write is yours and no one else’s.
Before Writing
  1. Understand your assignment. What is the goal of this essay? What do I want to convey? What is the length and deadline?
  2. Determine your central point or argument. A clear point of view is essential for a focused essay.
  3. Create an outline. Outline what you want to say and map out a structure for your essay. This keeps you on track, focused, and makes it easier to start writing. Once you have a clear idea of what you want to say, what evidence you’ll use, and in what order, you’re ready to start writing!
While Writing
  1. Hook your reader. The introduction sets the tone for your essay. The first sentence should pique your reader’s interest and curiosity and inform them of what to expect. It could be a surprising fact, a bold statement, or a short anecdote related to your message.
  2. Provide context. This includes a few additional details that will help your reader undertsand your argument.
  3. Give details. This is in the body of your essay where you will tell your story, provide facts, and the evidence that you really want to convey.
  4. Wrap it up. Your essay’s ending ties together your main points. A great conclusion should finish with a memorable or impactful sentence or even a paragraph that leaves the reader with a strong final impression. Avoid including new information, undermining your main point, or using phrases like “in conclusion”.

Summarized from various sources

Online Writing Communities for Teens / Young Adults

Resources, Tools, and Articles

Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary — look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate.
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL)

“A person could have lived the most interesting life and had experiences completely unique to them, but without context—without reflection on how this life of experiences affected the writer—the reader is left with the feeling that the writer hasn’t learned anything, that the writer hasn’t grown. We need to see how the writer has grown because a large part of nonfiction’s appeal is the lessons it offers us, the models for ways of living: that the writer can survive a difficult or strange experience and learn from it”

Scribbr

“A narrative essay tells a story. In most cases, this is a story about a personal experience you had. This type of essay, along with the descriptive essay, allows you to get personal and creative, unlike most academic writing.

Narrative essays test your ability to express your experiences in a creative and compelling way, and to follow an appropriate narrative structure.”

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, empowering approach to creative writing. The challenge: draft an entire novel in just one month. For 30 wild, exciting, surprising days, you get to lock away your inner editor, let your imagination take over, and just create!

Our Young Writers Program supports under-18 writers and K-12 educators as they participate in our flagship event each November and take part in smaller writing challenges year-round.