How to Write an Opinion Essay: Step-by-Step Guide
Those types of essay, which ask for your opinion are the trickiest ones. Is writing an opinion essay about giving your opinion only? Can I use «I» and «my» in them? And how to express my thoughts to fit the format and style?
A lot of students get confused because of not knowing a real purpose of the opinion essays. They see only the tip of the iceberg, missing a complex part of a task, which cannot be understood yet. So, if you feel you have problems with writing an opinion essay as well, keep reading. The following guide will help you a lot.
What Is an Opinion Essay? And What Is the Purpose of It?
If you want to succeed in writing, no matter which type of assignment you have, you need to understand what is required for that particular assignment. Do you need to describe, discuss, or research something? That is the first and the most important step you have to take.
So, what is an opinion essay? And what does it ask for?
An opinion essay is a piece of writing where the student tries to persuade the audience of his/her point of view on a certain topic. The main goal is not only to express your personal opinion about something but also to explain and support it with evidence and facts. For this type of essay, expressing your thoughts only is not enough. You have to provide logical reasons and examples for it as well.
How to Start an Opinion Essay
Like any other academic assignment, this one has a clear structure too. It consists of an opening paragraph, a body part, and a conclusion. So, how to start an opinion essay? Let’s tackle this problem!
In the opinion essay introduction, you have to make a clear stand about your position on the topic. The readers shouldn't guess what the thesis is. Deliver the main point by yourself. Then, you have to develop the argument in the main body, slowly moving it to the concluding part.
How to End an Opinion Essay?
The best way to end your essay in the closing paragraph is by restating your initial opinion. How to write a conclusion for an opinion essay to make it look more serious and professionally made? Just include some comments to reinforce the point of view. It does have to be something memorable. The concluding part is about supporting and stating your position one more time. This part of an essay can be the most challenging one. So, make sure you spend more time on it than usual.
What is definitely not recommended is including a quotation or someone else's idea. Instead of it, express your authentic voice, trying to capture the entire essay in a couple of sentences only. The conclusion has to tie everything written before together quite nicely.
Since you know how to end an opinion essay, let's have a look at the general format and style of this type of academic assignment.
Opinion Essay Format and Style
We've already discussed, which three parts your essay should consist of. Now, let's have a look at the opinion essay format specifically.
For beginning and concluding part, one paragraph would be more than enough. But when it comes to a body, you have to divide your writing at least in three-four parts with different reasons and examples. Usually, the format used for this assignment is MLA, which is considered to be a standard one. For more info about writing in MLA, check any education-related source.
One more problem of most opinion essays is choosing the right topic.
Good Opinion Essay Topics: 5 Good Ideas to Write About
One of the hardest questions about this type of writing is how to find interesting opinion essay ideas to write about. How to pick a topic, which is going to highlight the best sides of your writing skills instead of being a real struggle? Don't panic!
Here's a list of 5 topics, which you can use anytime you have problems with finding the right theme for your essay.
- Impact of social media on a particular sphere of life.
- The place you would like to live in.
- What is better: to eat at home or in the restaurant?
- The impact of modern technologies on our life.
- The importance of higher education.
Proper Opinion Essay Outline
Knowing how to write an opinion essay outline correctly is an invaluable skill for this type of writing. It is going to help to survive any opinion essay test, no matter how easy or difficult the topic is. So, in case of the opinion essay, you have to include into the outline the following points:
- Choose the position on the topic.
- Write a couple of arguments that confirm your thesis.
- Work on transition sentences.
- Divide reasonable ideas between the body paragraphs equally.
Without an outline, your essay risks going in different directions during the writing process. So, never skip this step.
Hopefully, our small tips will help you to handle any kind of an opinion essay easily and fast.