Some teachers assign the background synthesis essay for further mastery of a topic as this entails both the positive and negative positions, giving the student a well-rounded view of a key issue in society. Other teachers require this as a prelude to a bigger academic paper, such as a research paper or thesis.

Pointers for the background synthesis essay

• Research well

As the whole point of a background synthesis essay is to understand the full issue, it is necessary to consult several sources. Most teachers will expect you to have at least two to three sources per theme that you will discuss. For example, if you plan on examining the pros and cons of online degree courses, you’ll need at least four resources to begin. But the deeper you dig into the issue, you will find yourself requiring more resources to discuss additional ideas that come your way.

• Take detailed notes as you read

Because of all the sources that you will be referencing, it will be hard to remember everything. As you read, it makes sense to create detailed notes to help you in the future. Some students do this by using index cards as they are easy to shuffle around. Others may take notes on their computer. It helps to write down the key facts and ideas along with the source’s details (page number, edition) so that you can quickly find them when it is time to write.

• Creativity is needed in the Introduction

The Intro and Conclusion require creativity. In the Introduction, creativity is needed to catch the reader’s attention so that the person is interested in what you are about to present. This is often done by including compelling data, a relevant anecdote, or a popular quote.

• Synthesizing in the Body

When writing the Body, it will make more sense to allocate one paragraph per theme. This makes it easier for the reader to grasp what is being shared. Each theme should have input from two or more resources to show that you understood what each source said and how they link together.

• Tying things up in the Conclusion

As this is a background synthesis essay, the ending will probably be semi-neutral. This means you will not favor a particular side.

Summary

The background synthesis essay is a great way to prepare for the more difficult academic papers you are sure to encounter in college or graduate school. Do take note of the pointers above so that you have an edge when making your synthesis essay.

Quick Tips for Selecting

When assigning an informative essay, most teachers give students the freedom to choose something of interest. Here are two things to consider when choosing a topic.

1. Pick something relevant

Most teachers appreciate something relevant to society. Aside from your teacher gaining knowledge about something important, your teacher is probably happy that you have learned something valuable too.

2. Don’t choose a very broad topic

Very broad topics are difficult to discuss since there are so many elements involved. You may initially have a broad topic in mind, such as love or world peace, but that has to be narrowed down to something you can focus on like online dating or anti-bullying measures.

Possible Topics for Your Essay

Thinking about writing this type of custom college paper can be tough. The following are some topics you may choose if an informative essay is assigned to you.

Entertainment

• Online games – Many people wonder about the draw of online games. This might be a good way to share what kids and even adults find fascinating about this.
• Indie films – In many countries, independent directors have found more artistic success compared to those attached to big movie companies.
• Mixed martial arts – There was a time when MMA was considered too brutal for television, but now, people of all ages like it.

Lifestyle

• Desire to travel – Something on many people’s wish list is to travel to a new destination every year. How and why do more people today want to travel than before?
• Plastic surgery – Many people regularly have a body part enhanced or changed. How do people feel about it? Do some cultures approve it more than others?
• Speed dating – Some individuals opt to try this way of getting together. Is it just for fun? Or do people think they can really find true love?
• Pre-marital sex – The cases of premarital sex keep on rising every year. Many couples search for sexual compatibility before tying the knot. Why is it the new norm?

Society

• Racism – Despite amendments to the law, racism still exists worldwide. What are the common reasons behind it? Can it be stopped? What else can societies do?
• Secularism – Many societies want to minimize the influence of religion to promote “equality.” Are there more positives than negatives? Or are societies morally corrupt because of this separation?
• Single parents – Lots of singles raise a child alone. If it is a choice, what advantages do they have? If it is not a choice, how are their kids affected?

Summary

Informative essays are a great way to practice your essay writing skills while focusing on a topic that you are interested in. If given that choice, choose wisely so that you and your teacher enjoy the process.

The essay is a favorite assignment that teachers may use for homework, major projects, or exams. However, if it is not your favorite task, you can purchase essays online anytime you need help and avoid struggles. The problem here is that the teacher leaves it up to the student to decide just how much is enough. If you have experienced such a situation or if you are anticipating that your next professor will put you in such a position, then read on to learn about the proper length for your essay.

General Assignments

A weekly occurrence is to have at least one essay assignment. If it is a reflection or reaction paper, then a safe essay answer will be anywhere from 250 to 400 words. This means your essay follows the usual format (Intro, Body, Conclusion) where the body needs two or three reasons for why you liked or disliked the topic.

Assignments where Research is Involved

When some research is required for your essay, it is a clear sign that much is expected from you. If the teacher does not give a minimum word count, then expect a safe answer to be between 1000 and 2500 words. Such assignments often require you to have at least three sources to look at, unless it is an in-depth book report where one source is more than enough.

However, if you are tackling a thesis or a major term paper, expect 3000 words to be the minimum.

Essays as a part of your subject’s exams

Essays are also a popular question type in midterm or final exams. Professors often assign a certain number of lines for each question where a quarter of a page is around 50 to 100 words, half a page is 150 to 200 words, with a full-page meaning you may need 250 to 400 words.

The subject matter also plays a part here. Science subjects may just expect answers of around 150 words or less to explain whatever theory, chemical reaction, or result is needed to get a good score. But subjects such as History, Literature, or Psychology may need at least 300 words per question for a decent result.

Essays for entrance to school

One more essay a student should expect is the admission essay for college or graduate school. Such essays are supposed to present who you are, what you offer, and how you may fit in so that the school of your choice will take you in.

A college admission essay may require around 250 to 600 words. But for graduate school, many expect you to tell your story within 400 to 500 words only, as they expect you are professional and mature enough to succinctly explain who you are.

Summary

As a necessary part of school life, essay writing is something that every student will encounter. Consider the above information about the expected essay lengths so that you have an idea of what to create.

Important points

If the name of the author is unknown, you should proceed to order the work by the title ignoring works like A, An or The. All the dates contain the months abbreviated except for the following: May, June and July. You can use either the day-month-year style, e.g. 9 Nov 2015, or the month-day-year style, e.g. Nov 9, 2015.

If you are creating your paper by hand, you should underline the title of the works cited in order to highlight these words. Otherwise, you are able to use italics on any writing software if you prefer. The first line of any entry in the bibliography section should be flush left and the following indented ½ “. This kind of arrangement rule is named hanging indentation.

About capitalization, the first letter of any relevant word should be capitalized in the titles. The rest of the words, such as abbreviations and part of the works, should be lowercased. In addition, the publisher’s name is abbreviated whenever possible. The most common separation for author, title and publication is a period and a space. Quotation marks are used for unpublished works only.

About the format

There a few choices that you can make regarding minor details but the MLA standards are quite thorough about the style. It is advisable to follow the instructions to the letter in order to avoid confusion in future corrections. In this regard, you will find handbooks where authors explain how to apply the format to cite any source. Most likely, you will be listing books, articles and some websites. There, you will find plenty of information regarding these issues and useful tips that will make the creation process easier.

You should be able to choose the topic sentence out of every paragraph in a research paper because it is the sentence that explains what the paragraph is about. Here is how each paragraph shows up in a paragraph.

Topic sentence. Reason number one. Explanation of why the reason proves the thesis. Reason number two. Explanation of why this reason proves the thesis. Transition to new paragraph.

This is the basic structure of a paragraph and here is the best ways to construct a topic sentence of your piece.

1. Decide on the main idea that you want to present in your paragraph. This would be something that explains the thesis.
2. It will be the idea that you presented in your thesis statement. You can include a transitional phrase in the beginning of the sentence.
3. It should capture the essence of the paragraph and not mention things that don’t appear in the paragraph.

When you are ready to write your paper, you will develop an outline. The outline will identify the main points that you will want to discuss in your paper. The first part of your paragraphs will be the topic sentences for your paper. So, say you have a five paragraph essay and you use the regular format with the introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You will develop an outline that shows five main sections and the first part will become your topic sentence. It can include the transitional phrase as well if the transitional phrase is used at the beginning of the sentence.

Here is an example:

Thesis statement: When you are writing an essay, you will want to include an introduction, a body section, and a conclusion.

Topic sentence for first body paragraph: The first section of an essay is the introduction which will be where you will introduce the topic and give background information about it.

Notice how the first body paragraph will be about the first part of the essay which is the introduction. If you’re familiar with all of these rules, take a look at this freelance writing website.

When it comes to citation of research paper on social sciences, American Psychological Association (APA) style is most recommended. There are a number of specifications that are expected for any research paper written in APA style. These include:

General/ Basic APA guidelines

There are certain fundamental specifications for citation of a research paper in APA style. These include:

• Page set up

Your research paper should always be typed to make it presentable; it should have a double space at the top of the page and should be on a standard size page of about (8.5″ ×11″) and a margin of 1 inch all over the marginal ends. Be sure to use a clear font size that is easily legible. 12 pt is the recommended font size for any APA style research paper.

• Page headers

At the top of every page of your research paper, it is expected for you to have a page header. In order to insert a page header, you begin by creating a page header and inserting a page number. Then click on the right button.

Main research paper sections

Your research paper is expected to have four portions, sections. These include: title page, the abstract, main body as well as references.

• Title page

The title page of your research paper should have the paper title, name of author as well as the institutional affiliation. Be sure to include the page header at the flush left and the page number to the flush right. Both should be on the top of the page of your research paper. Note that the title you chose for your running head should appear on all subsequent pages after the title page.

Following the running head should be the author’s name. The name should have the first, middle and last name but without titles such as Dr, Degrees, PhD.

After the name should be the institutional affiliation. This one indicates where the author conducted their research from.

• Abstract page

As stated earlier, the title on the running head should also appear on the abstract at the page top. Center the term “Abstract”. It is not allowed to bold, italicize, underline or put quotation marks.

Starting from the next line, put down a brief summary of the points deduced for your research paper. Avoid indenting at all costs. Your research paper should have sections such as: your research paper topic, the questions, participants in research, methodology, results, data analysis and representation as well as conclusion. However, it is also allowed that you include your results implications and intent future work. Note that the abstract should just be one paragraph of between 150-250 words.

In case you want to include keywords in your abstract, assume you are beginning a new paragraph and indent them. Our colleagues from AssignmentGeek are ready to help you if you need it.

1. What important technologies can we use to solve global problems?
2. How has technology help people with disabilities
3. Should we create an artificial intelligent computer?
4. What are the negatives of playing computer games for long periods of time?
5. What will the future of technology look like in the next few centaury’s?
6. What will the future of technology look like in the next few decades?
7. Should we genetically modify animals to solve world hunger problems?
8. What are the long term effects of living in a world with advanced technology, would it be a positive thing?
9. What are the advantages of living in a world with advanced technology?
10. What are the negatives of living in a world with advanced technology?
11. What are the long term effects of using a computer for 8 hours a day?
12. Will we ever have the technology for interstellar space travel?

These are some topics presented by Mypaperdone.com that you can use. Take your time thinking of a title that you see yourself doing, since you are going to enjoy writing the project a lot more. Picking a topic that you already have knowledge about is going to be a huge advantage, since you have to do less research on the matter. However, you can pick a project that you have no clue about and do the research that is required. Take notes as you go alone, since this can help you pick out a topic.

What to Write About In an Informative, How-To Essay

One great topic to pick for a how-to essays is something you love to do, or something only you know how to do that is really interesting. For example, how to decorate a fancy birthday cake, how to knit a scarf with ease, making your own tissue box, or something that shows off your own uniqueness like “how to raise a wolf pup” (this is one of the more interesting essays I received as a teacher.” Other fun ones include cooking essays and how to do something that turned out to be harder than you thought it would, like a “laying your own laminate flooring, laying your own roof, changing your own oil kind of essay.

Use a Step Structure and Finish Your Essay Quickly

You can move through this kind of essay very quickly with a how-to essay because the entire essay can be visualized as each paragraph covering a different step of the how to process. For example, in the how to decorate the perfect cake above, you can spend a paragraph on gathering and or buying all the tools you need for really decorating a fancy cake. Then, you can spend the next paragraph on getting the cake ready for decorating, for example, evening up the edges, letting it cool properly, dusting off crumbs from the coat. Next, you can discuss the art of the crumb layer of icing (the first layer). Then spend a paragraph on cake decorating proper—little roses, finishing touches, adding color and adding swirls and whatnot.

Use Descriptive Details in Excess

How to essays really come alive when you add lots of descriptive details to your paper. Any kinds of details that involve your senses really engage your reader. Involving the senses is always crucial in descriptive essays of any kind.

How to Write a Closing for an Informative Essay

This is best shown through example. What you do not want to do is write a very predictable “so this is how to do that, bye” kind of paragraph. Instead, perhaps say how fun it will be decorating new cakes, or how if the first effort at anything is not a complete success, the next attempt will surely result in a better product.