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:
Example
A — oral style (unacceptable in writing)
My brother’s tall and handsome and with blue eyes and, yeah, well, maybe a bit fat, but not much, you know, something like your cousin, but maybe not that much. And he’s very funny, ha ha, I’ll tell you about what he did yesterday, but not now. And brown-haired. Almost dark. Well, not dark but… well, yeah, dark. Oh, I said funny, but well, when he’s got a bad day, oh boy, he scares me sometimes…
B — written style (correct approach)
My brother is tall, handsome and has got blue eyes. He is a little fat, but not much. His hair is dark brown. I like him because he is very funny and always makes me laugh. Nevertheless, he can also be quite serious sometimes.
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.
Practical note
The key is to manage your time effectively, so you can dedicate enough focus to writing your composition. If you find yourself overwhelmed with tasks, delegating some of the work, like using a service that can write my paper for me in 3 hours, can save you time and ensure that you stay on track, leaving you with more time to perfect your composition.
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 8-step method
The outline
- Opening sentence = topic + approach
- Ideas connected to the opening sentence
- Details about those ideas
- Closing sentence
The writing
- Write a title
- Organise ideas into paragraphs
- Write the composition
- Correct your composition
In this article we will help you make a good outline, which is the basis of this method. We will cover steps 5–8 in our next article. 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.
Key concept: the perfume bottle
Topic = the glass • Approach = the shape of the glass • Composition = the perfume inside. Never let a drop of perfume fall outside the bottle.
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.
Example
Topic — Life in a village
Approach — better than cities
Opening sentence — Nowadays, most people prefer living in cities, but I prefer to live in a village because life there is much better and healthy.
Another example: “Life in a village is very different from life in the city.” (topic: life in a village / approach: different from city)
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 14th 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.
Example — details for the point “friendly people”
- people help you
- people talk to you in the streets
- people invite you to a drink in the bars
Each of these will become a sentence in the paragraph about “friendly people.” Together they give the paragraph body and make the point convincing.
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.
Remember: the cap
Your closing sentence must make it almost impossible to add anything after it. It closes the composition the way a cap seals a perfume bottle.
There are many ways of closing a composition, but the most common ones are:
- 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.” - 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.” - 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.” - 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.” - 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)
The perfume bottle — summary
- ✓ The glass — the opening sentence: your first sentence, which will contain all the ideas of your piece of writing inside.
- ✓ The perfume — everything you have to say. Don’t let even a drop fall outside the bottle.
- ✓ The cap — the closing sentence: the one that will finish your composition and make it a complete piece of work.
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. We can also guide you through the writing phase (steps 5–8) in our next article:
8 Steps to Write a Good Composition — Part 2 →
Written by Angel Castaņo
