A Guide to Writing a 500 Word Essay

Writing a 500 word essay can be both a blessing and a curse. Those who are more familiar with these short essays consider them a blessing because they are short and fairly easy to write; essentially they are about one page long. On the other hand, those who do not write 500 word essays on a regular basis may see this kind of assignment and panic.

Writing a 500 word essay is done a little differently than other essays. Regardless if it is an opinion essay, expository essay, or persuasive essay, there is a simple guide to follow. If you think about it, having only 500 words does not leave much room to get your point across the same way as if it were a 5 page essay. You need to make sure your essay is well researched and to the point while maintaining creativity and an easy flow. No worries, there is an easy guide to writing an effective 500 word essay; simply follow the steps below.

Step 1- Research and outline

Assuming you have been assigned a topic, your next step is going to be research. You only have so many words to work with in order to inform or persuade your audience so the majority of the work you will do on the essay will be in the research. Once you gather your research together put it in an outline form including the cited source.

Step 2- Review your research

Take a look at what you have gathered. You want to make sure you only include the strongest points in your 500 word essay; now is the time to go through and see what can be eliminated and what you may want to focus more research on. Having this in an outline form makes this process much easier and less time consuming.

Step 3- Write

Start with your introduction and keep it creative! The first few words are what grabs the attention of the reader; make them strong. Next, write a few paragraphs of content. Again, only include the strongest points. Your conclusion should restate your beginning paragraph in a different way and bring the article together.

Step 4- Review and revise

Review your 500 word essay for errors, clarity, and fluidity. Have someone else read it and get their opinion. Keep in mind that research is just as important as writing when it comes to a 500 word essay.