8 Steps to Write a Good Composition

Are you having trouble with your writing skills? Read this and you will find clear, simple advice to make writing much easier and your compositions much better — even impressive. Just follow the 8 steps we will show you.

Most people feel at a loss when they have to write a composition or an essay. They think for a moment, and then they just start writing — and keep writing until they think it’s time to stop. That is probably the worst approach to composition writing. You have to be very talented and experienced to produce good compositions that way.

The first thing to consider is that a composition is not simply a piece of writing. It must have structure and a cohesive organisation. Compare these two examples:

As you can see, A is a good example of oral English, but it would be totally unacceptable in a composition. On the other hand, B is what you want when writing — simple, organised ideas. But B would sound too formal and unnatural in normal conversation.

Using correct language is part of it, but not enough. Both A and B use correct English, but spoken and written language are different — they use, to some extent, different vocabulary, different grammar and, especially, a different way to express things.

So if correction is not the only thing we need for a composition, what else do we need? Organisation. We need to compose our text like a piece of music — smooth and flowing. We need to organise our ideas into paragraphs and make sure every paragraph, as well as the whole composition, is cohesive. Our ideas must flow naturally in a straight line — from one point to the next — all the way to the conclusion. And that is not something you can usually come up with by just sitting and writing. You need to have a plan first.

Many think that planning is a waste of time, especially if you are sitting for an exam and time is limited. But the truth is that planning your composition will not only make writing easier and produce much better results; it will also save you time — at least once you have practised a little bit.

First, you have to know what topic you’re going to write about. In most situations you will already know this when you sit down to write. Then you start making an outline:

The first four steps build the outline, which is the basis of this method. The last four turn that outline into a finished piece of writing. So let’s get started.

Step 1 — Topic + approach = opening sentence

The opening sentence will be the first sentence in your composition. It’s very important because everything in your composition must connect to the idea in this sentence — nothing can go against it or go beyond it.

Think of the opening sentence as a little perfume bottle: the topic is the material (the glass), the approach is the shape of the glass, and the whole composition will be the perfume inside the bottle. If some perfume falls outside the bottle, it will evaporate — and spoil your composition.

Think of one or two words to identify the topic (what your composition is about), and then one or two words for the approach (your opinion on the topic, or the angle you want to take). The approach is your answer to the question: what do you want to say about this topic? It’s not just “dogs” — it’s “dogs are great companions.” It’s not just “city life” — it’s “city life can be very stressful.” It’s not just “television” — it’s “television is a waste of time.” Once you have your topic and approach, write the opening sentence combining both.

Step 2 — Ideas connected to the opening sentence

Think of several ideas that connect to or develop the opening sentence — its topic and approach. These ideas must explain, expand, support or prove the opening sentence, and none of them should modify or contradict it. It helps to think of a clear hierarchy: the opening sentence is at the top; your points connect directly to it; and later, the details will connect to the points — not to the opening sentence. This is important: if an idea connects to one of your points but not directly to the opening sentence, it is a detail, not a point. It belongs inside that point’s paragraph, not as a point on its own. Using it as a point is called a digression, and it makes your composition lose focus.

Good points (for the example topic “life in a village is better than in a city”):

• ✓ no pollution
• ✓ people know each other
• ✓ friendly people
• ✓ contact with nature
• ✓ life is cheaper

Bad points (and why they don’t work):

• ✗ I live in Rome — not relevant to the opening sentence
• ✗ Villages in the south of Spain are bigger than in the north — wrong angle: we must compare village life vs city life, not different villages
• ✗ Last year I visited a very beautiful village — not relevant to the opening sentence
• ✗ Night life is boring — contradicts the opening sentence unless you balance it with a “but…”
• ✗ People gossip and are nosy and messes with your life — modifies or contradicts the opening sentence
• ✗ In the 14^th century many villages were created — irrelevant; this is not a history essay
• ✗ My friend Tom lives in a village — not relevant, unless you use Tom’s opinion to support your own
• ✗ My friend Tom, from a village, is very friendly — digression: Tom’s friendliness could work as a detail inside the “friendly people” paragraph, but it cannot be a point, because it connects to that point — not directly to the opening sentence

Step 3 — Details about the points

Each point is the seed of a future paragraph (or section or chapter, if it is a long piece of writing). Think of details as the individual sentences that will fill that paragraph — each one adding a little more information to explain or illustrate the point. The more good details you find, the richer and more developed your paragraph will be. For every point, try to think of at least two or three.

Step 4 — Closing sentence

The closing sentence is also very important because it must leave your composition feeling complete — with nothing left to add. If the opening sentence is the bottle of perfume and the ideas are the perfume, then the closing sentence is the cap: if there is no cap, the perfume will evaporate and be wasted. An open composition is a piece of unfinished work.

There are many ways of closing a composition, but the most common ones are:

1. A restatement of the opening sentence — say the same idea using different words.
   Example: “There’s no doubt about it: life in a village is much better than life in a city.”
2. A summary of the points — bring together the main ideas you developed.
   Example: “With a cheaper life, a close contact with nature, a healthy environment and surrounded by nice people, villages are the ideal place to live.”
3. A look to the future — project what you or others might do based on what you wrote.
   Example: “I really think I should leave the city and look for a nice house in a village as soon as possible.”
4. A related thought that grows out of the body — usually a conclusion drawn from your points.
   Example: “That’s why our urban societies are more efficient, but its people are less human.”
5. Mixed type — a combination of the types above.
   Example: “That’s why I’m planning to move to a village, because life there is much better than in the cities.” (type 3 + type 1, and also an example of type 4)

Once you have a good outline, you must use it to write your composition, essay or whatever you need to write. Things are now much easier because you always know exactly what to say, confident that you’ll never get tangled, blocked or lost in your writing.

The writing — from outline to composition

Writing is not simply about correction — it’s also about composing, which is why we call this a composition. Most teachers and students work hard on grammar and accuracy but have no idea how to teach — or learn — the composing part. The result is a piece of writing with perfectly good English that is, overall, still messy. The four steps that follow will change that.

Step 5 — Title

The most important thing to remember is that a title is not a sentence. It’s just one or a few words expressing the topic in a general way — usually not the approach.

• ✓Centre the title at the top of your page.
• ✓Capitalise the first and last words, plus all important words — nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. Don’t capitalise grammatical words (prepositions, articles, conjunctions, etc.) unless they are the first or last word, or come right after a colon (:).
• ✓If the title includes a quotation, capitalise the first word of the quotation.
• ✓Never write a full sentence (subject + verb + complement) as a title, and never end it with a full stop.
• ✓Don’t underline the title.

Bad titles (and what’s wrong with them):

• ✗ Life in a village. — “Village” needs a capital (it’s a noun and the last word); no full stop at the end of a title
• ✗ I prefer to live in a village. — this is a full sentence (subject + verb + complement), not acceptable as a title; “Prefer”, “Live” and “Village” need capitals; no full stop
• ✗ a Village: the Best Place to Live — “A” needs a capital (first word); “The” needs a capital (comes right after a colon); titles should never be underlined

Step 6 — Organise ideas into paragraphs

A composition must be organised into different paragraphs. In formal writing for publication (books, magazines, newspapers, etc.) every paragraph must be indented — the first line starts 3–5 spaces to the right of the rest. In other contexts, it’s more common to simply leave a blank line between paragraphs, which keeps them clearly separate without indentation (as you can see in this article).

Paragraphs group related ideas into units and must contain more than one sentence. The first paragraph begins with the opening sentence — it’s your introduction, your first contact with the reader, so put your most interesting, relevant or surprising information there to grab their attention or make the situation clear.

The last paragraph ends with the closing sentence — that’s your conclusion. Depending on what you’re writing, use this paragraph to explain the result, the conclusion of your reasoning, the climax of the story, or your personal opinion. (If you’re not sure how to end, giving your personal opinion is always an easy and safe option.)

From the points you defined in step 2, decide which ones work best for the first paragraph and which for the last. The rest go in one or more paragraphs in the middle — the “body” of the composition. Each paragraph can cover one or more points, but they must all share a common theme — and that theme must be clearly different from the themes of the other paragraphs. That’s what makes a paragraph feel like a unit.

Step 7 — Write the composition

Now that you have your opening sentence, your closing sentence, your points and how they’re organised into paragraphs, it’s finally time to write. For most people, this is the only step they actually take — but for a good writer, it’s just the natural unfolding of a structure already in place, making it easy, fast and well-grounded.

It’s very important to use connectors to link ideas (although, nevertheless, that’s why, so, because, afterwards, in the first place, on the one hand, unfortunately, etc.). But remember: English doesn’t like long, complicated sentences. As a general rule, keep your sentences short — two or three elements at most (main clause + one subordinate or coordinate clause).

A student might be impressed by the clumsy example, thinking that long, complex sentences prove a higher level of English — but in a composition, style matters just as much as grammar. On top of that, the clumsy sentence doesn’t even close properly for our topic. A native reader would find it too long, too complicated, too hard to follow — and frankly unpleasant to read. English likes its sentences short and clean. If you want to say everything the clumsy example says, break it into shorter, simpler sentences:

We’ve said exactly the same things using simpler structures. Connectors (underlined) show the relationship between ideas — they’re essential in any composition. But too many connectors make the text feel clumsy and overloaded. In the example above, we used just two for the whole conclusion paragraph. So balance the urge to show off your English with the need to show what a good writer you are.

Step 8 — Correct your composition

Leave time at the end to read your composition carefully — twice is usually enough; more than that and you may start second-guessing things. Remember: any mistakes you miss will be caught by the examiner, so try to spot them first. Read it as if you were the teacher marking a stranger’s work — you’ll be much more critical.

Appendix — Connectors

Connectors are words used to link two sentences or ideas and show the relationship between them. They fall into two types: conjunctions and free connectors.

Free connectors can express the same relationship as a conjunction — just using two sentences instead of one. They sit between the two sentences, separated by a full stop before them and a comma after. Free connectors tend to sound more formal and elegant, which makes them ideal for written compositions.

Use connectors that suit your level. Here’s the same idea expressed three ways — from beginner to advanced:

For more information about connectors:

• The compound sentence — connectors (grammar file)
• Grammar section — filter results by “connectors”

All the steps explained here work well for most kinds of compositions, but you may need to adapt some details depending on the topic. For example, if you are writing about the difference between city and countryside, everything said here is perfect. But if you are writing about your last holidays, the organisation of paragraphs (step 6) will usually follow a chronological order — so you don’t need to think carefully about where each point goes.

And that is the whole method. Eight steps that turn a blank page into a piece of writing with a shape: an idea to defend, points that support it, details that give them body, and an ending that seals the bottle. Plan first, write second, correct last — and what used to be the hardest part of an exam becomes the part you can rely on.

Written by Angel Castaņo