Follow these 7 steps for the best results:


Now you need to go back and link together the quotes you put into each body paragraph to turn them into prose. Rephrase them into your own words by reading them, then putting them away and re-writing them without looking. Or keep them as cited quotes in your paper ('Janet Jones said in Global Warming and Our Oceans, "..." (p. 58)'). If two adjacent sentences are on different topics, add a transition sentence to bridge them. Add your own opinions and comments on how different sources relate to each other. For a bare minimum, you will likely only need to add two or three sentences to flesh out each paragraph.
A joy for every sorrow. Other times, it seems there is a sorrow for every joy, that every good thing is marred with a disappointment or a difficulty. What’s the difference? What my eyes see? Both are there. How come sometimes I see only one, and other times I see the other? For each body paragraph, take your summary sentence and twist it a little. Instead of summarizing the evidence in that paragraph, tell the reader why it matters--the big picture. For the sea level rise paragraph, you could say something like "The potential impact of sea level rise on coastal cities shows why it is so important for humans to take swift action to reverse climate change." It mentions the topic of the paragraph--sea level rise--and links it to a broader point--the need to reverse climate change. This sentence should tie the body paragraph to your thesis statement. This will be your conclusion sentence for that paragraph. And when, despite the financing of it all which could darn near break the bank if you weren’t wise, at least somewhat planned and decidedly restrained, there is the joy of plotting and finding something just right for someone and anticipating their face when they get it. What if we were to live life with eyes wide open, knowing that sorrow abides in every corner, pain is rife out there and often in here, and difficulty or trouble is just the nature of everyday stuff. LIke men of old might say, it is a fallen world. And then, then look for the joy, look at, look for, the childhood that’s emerging not the exhaustion of accompanying it. Look for the grace to overlook the shortcoming, not the fact of the shortcoming being there. (Of course its there, duh!). Look for the potential in the problem. Looking for, creating, enjoying, the mastery of managing the budget – despite the pain and strain and limitation of the budget. This Christmas, the one you make yourself. When the air seeps with good will and we can set aside the conflicts and irritations and it seems easier, somehow, to have grace for everyone’s shortcomings. When you steal precious moments away from the distractions and sit in the candlelight and with the lamps throwing yellow puddles on the floor. When forgiveness comes easier and peace, as Yeats so famously said, comes dropping slow. If you struggle with this, try rereading the body paragraph introduction sentences you already wrote. What theme ties them all together? What's your personal opinion about what you've written so far--what's the conclusion you would draw from this evidence? Try putting the essay down and, out loud, in one sentence, say what you just wrote--that sentence might be a good starting place for a thesis statement. If you can't think of the perfect thesis, simply summarize the research you did and move on--don't get so hung up on your thesis statement that you don't finish the essay.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Once you're done doing research--how much is necessary will depend on the final essay length, but for a short, college-writing-101-style essay I'd aim for 3-7 body paragraphs and 2-3 quotes per paragraph--reread each heading you made. Summarize every quote under that heading in one sentence. (Your summary for the sea level subtopic might be something like "Although many underestimate the impact of sea level rise, it could cause serious consequences for coastal cities." That's your introduction sentence for that body paragraph.

There are services like this one that specialize in essay writing.

Christmas at home – not the manic version on the city streets. This Christmas, the one you make yourself within your four walls, be they big or small, literal or metaphorical. Be they the walls you want, or the walls you don’t. Within them: its yours to make. Even if that means starting in your own head.

Here are some resources for APA style citation from the and .

Pause for a moment to write your thesis. The purpose of a thesis statement is to guide your reader through the arguments you're making in your paper. You've written down the facts and evidence, but why should the reader follow your arguments to their conclusion? The purpose of the thesis is to remind your reader of the "big idea" of your essay. For the global warming essay the thesis might be something like, "It is crucial for humans to tackle global warming quickly and effectively to avoid the destruction of our species."

Let them handle the hard work, while you focus on other priorities.

In a text document, write headings for each of these subtopics you find. Whenever you find an interesting sentence in a source on one of these subtopics--say a book by Janet Jones says on page 58 that "sea level rise due to global warming could reach 6 inches by 2020"--write that down under the relevant subtopic, along with the book title, author name, and page number. These are turn into your body paragraphs.

the purpose of your college essay

Christmas. When beauty hangs in the house, it having been decorated in seasonal favourites speaking of all those other years, leaning back into the comfortable familiarity of my children’s childhoods, when the world was often tired, frequently stretched, sometimes stressed but always simpler. And full of the joy of children emerging, little people growing into their next surprising iterations.