How to Write a Composition Essay

What is a Composition?

A composition is a form of creative work, typically on a given topic and it consists of a clear presentation structure. In a composition, the writer can agree or disagree with other people’s opinion, convey their thoughts about what they read, compare different authors’ works, and evaluate their vision. A composition provides full disclosure about the topic. To achieve this, the composition essay must follow a given structure, that is, an introduction outlining essential problems of the topic, the main body that reveals and explains the major idea of the composition, and a reasonable conclusion. For that reason, a composition is larger in volume than an essay.

Differences between a Composition and an Essay

• There is a major difference in style in that a composition primarily contains an evaluation of the topic. In an essay, the author clearly expresses his position.
• Compositions and essays have varied lengths. A composition is larger in volume than an essay with a prescribed structure. On the other hand, an essay is smaller in volume as the author has to clearly state his thoughts.
• A composition explains a topic in consideration of its concept and it does not have to be complemented with unusual thoughts. An essay allows the author to express more creativity, demonstrate his vision, and his approach towards a particular phenomenon.
• While writing a composition, the writer is required to read about a topic and tell about it. For an essay, it is important to look for an original concept or develop an unusual view on a situation.

Types of Composition Writing

The four types of composition are argumentation, exposition, narration, and description. However, these are not considered categories, per se as they cannot stand individually in a piece of writing. They are considered to be modes of writing or pieces of writing styles that can be pooled together to create a whole. This means that they can identify a piece of writing and they are great starting points for comprehending how to compose a piece of writing.

Argumentation

Also known as argumentative writing, argumentation is typically an exercise in contrasting and comparing. It is a methodological presentation of two sides of an argument using formal or logical reasoning. The outcome is crafted to persuade why A is better than B. What you consider to be ‘better’ comprises the content of your essay argument. When you apply argumentation to a rose, you will state why one specific rose is better than another or why you fancy roses over daisies, and vice versa.

Exposition

Also known as expository writing, this is the act of explaining or expounding an event, thing, place or person. Your task is not only to describe something, but to present it a reality, an explanation, your thoughts on what the thing means. In some instances, you are presenting a proposition to expound an abstract idea or a general notion of your subject.

An exposition on a rose can include its common and scientific names, its taxonomy, the subject, its impact when it was introduced to the public, and who developed it.

Narration

Narrative writing or narration is an individual account or a story that the author tells his/her reader. The narration can be a description of a series of events or facts, presented in order and establishing a connection between the steps. You can even narrate in a dramatic way where you present a scene with dialog and actions. You can include flashbacks or a strict order in the chronology.

When narrating about a rose, you can explain how you first came across the rose, how it ended up in your garden, or the reason you went to your greenhouse that day.

Description

Descriptive writing is an account or statement that describes someone or something, listing significant details and characteristic features to give the reader a depiction in words. Descriptions are created in the solidity, reality, or in the concrete of an object as a representation of a thing, place, or person in time. They present the feel and look of objects, simultaneous whole, providing as any details as you can.

When describing a rose you can include the petals colour, its perfume aroma, where it grows in your garden, and whether it is in a hothouse in the city or in a plain terracotta pot.

Composition Essay Structure

When writing a composition essay, it is vital to be aware of its main parts. A standard composition consists of a heading, introduction, the main body, and a conclusion.

Heading/Title

When selecting a heading for your essay, ensure that it relates to your content. Keep the title short and catchy to capture the attention of your audience at once. Your essay title should only be a few words long, avoid having a heading that looks like a complex or long sentence.

Introduction

The introductory paragraph follows the heading. An essay introduction typically notifies the reader what the composition is about and leads the reader to the main body. For this reason, your introduction has to be interesting enough to grab the attention of your audience. It should also prepare the reader of what to expect and also lets them know about the content of the rest of the composition. The introduction paragraph should be clear and not too long.

If you do not grab your reader’s attention in the introduction, then you may fail in this task. Consider inserting a joke, shocking information, intriguing facts, or a dialogue to achieve this. Remember to state your thesis before you conclude the paragraph.

The Main Body

When you conclude the introductory paragraph smoothly transition to the main section of your composition essay. This is where your main ideas develop. An efficient body should support your thesis statement as presented in the introduction paragraph. This is where you express your ideas, thoughts, and feelings on a certain topic.

While you write your composition essay, consider the following:

• Keep your sentences short and simple to make your reader easily follow your ideas
• Avoid complex expressions and structures
• Use transitional phrases and words to connects the paragraphs and sentences

Remember that the body is the center of your composition essay, which is why you should state your primary points reasonably and consistently.

Conclusion

This is the last, but certainly not least, section of your composition essay. Do not end your essay abruptly but conclude your work beautifully. Ensure that this paragraph is simple and wraps up the main point of your writing piece; do not present new opinions and points. This is an essential part of your composition; hence you should not underestimate it.

Major Composition Elements

For your composition essay to impress your instructor, you have to incorporate the elements in your writing.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is an assertion made by your writing; it is the heart of your thoughts. The thesis controls the entire paper, that is, it describes a particular viewpoint or a judgement about a specific issue. Thus, it prepares your readers for the arguments that will follow. 

When writing a composition essay ask yourself the following questions about the thesis.

• Have you included a thesis statement?
• Is the thesis statement clearly expressing what you want to claim about the topic?
• Does your thesis statement generalize the ideas controlling the paper’s development

Development

The development of a composition should sustain your thesis with clear explanations, sufficient examples, and significant details to make the reader understand your ideas. Avoid shifts in focus and irrelevant details. To maintain focus on development, ask the following questions:

• Are you developing the thesis statement or are you merely repeating or rephrasing it?
• Is the supporting information clearly explained and reasonably related to your thesis?
• Have you included enough arguments in the composition and are the arguments supported by concrete examples and details?
• Are your information sources comprehensive and useful in supporting the thesis statement?

Organization

For your readers to follow the flow of your thoughts, you have to structure your ideas. You will confuse your readers if you cannot present your ideas logically, despite having great ideas. Organizing your composition essay is an ongoing process. First, structure your thoughts into paragraphs and arrange your paragraphs into a reasonable flow of ideas. When you delete or add an idea during the editing and proofreading stage, consider how the alteration affects the entire composition.

The organization of your ideas depends on how your ideas relate to each other. When you are describing a place, use spatial order; near to far, top to bottom, or left to right. If you want to argue your case through several points or if you want to describe a process using a series of steps, it would be better to use enumeration to demonstrate the transition between steps. For instance, if you are supporting a key idea with three subordinate points, you can introduce the points using simple ordinal numbers such as first, next, and finally or first, second, third, and so on. Unify each paragraph with a central idea and remember to logically order and connect your paragraphs. When looking at the composition essay organization, ask the following questions:

• Are your paragraphs categorized in regard to a controlling and unified idea?
• Have you sequenced the paragraphs logically?
• Have you sequenced the sentences logically?
• Are sentences and paragraphs connected with suitable transitional phrases or words?

How to Write a Composition Essay/Sentence Structure

A composition essay is a collection of ideas. Each idea is expressed in the form of a whole sentence. Check if your paper contains any of the following general sentence structure errors.

• Does the sentence have a verb and subject, and is the sentence a complete thought?
• Does the verb and subject agree in number?
• Do your verbs agree in tense?
• Do the pronoun and noun agree in number?
• Does the pronoun appropriately refer back to the noun?

Use of Words

Meanings are entrenched in words. Use effective and proper words and avoid vagueness and wordiness. Although spelling mistakes may not affect the communication of the essay with readers, they send negative signals to your readers about your perception of your composition and also towards your audience. Individually examine each word in the composition essay using the dictionary or a spell-checker and consider the following:

• Have you used clichés, jargon, and slang?
• Is your choice of words appropriate for your intended audience and purpose?
• If you are unsure about some word meanings, look them up and ensure that their meaning is as you intended it to be.
• Are your words spelt correctly

Punctuation

The elements of punctuation, just like gestures and pauses used in conversation, help audiences identify how sections of information are broken up. Be wary of complex or long sentences and ask the following questions:

• Do your sentences end with an exclamation point, question mark, or period?
• If a sentence has an exclamation mark, is the emphasis really necessary?
• If any of the sentences is too long, can you break it down smaller sentences without losing its effectiveness? If not, can the sentence be easily understood if comas were placed properly?
• Are elements of a series separated by comas?

7. Documentation Style

When you use other people’s ideas or cite the writing of others in your paper, you have to document the citations with sufficient information to enable others locate the sources. In composition writing, the most common documentation styles are APA (American Psychological Association) and (Modern Language Association).

When you are asked to use the APA format, check with the APA Publication Manual. The manual provides detailed examples covering a broad variety of citation formats. The MLA has a citation style manual used principally by scholars in the humanities and in literature known as the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.

You can ask yourself some of the following questions on documentation.

• Are all summaries of ideas, paraphrases, and quotations from other sources recognized within text references?
• Do all bibliography entries have accurate and necessary information in the right composition essay format?

Tips to Good Composition Writing

While writing your composition essay, take note of the following:

1. Your writing should sharp, vivid, and concise
2. Never use slang if does not suit your composition format
3. Do not use word if you are not sure about its meaning
4. Your sentences should be short and not overpowering
5. Be keen on doing a consistent and clear point of view

Composition Essay Help

Some students define an essay and a composition interchangeably. This becomes a problem when one is required to write a composition and ends up writing an essay. If you are having this problem and do not know how to go about writing a composition essay, we are here to help. Our company is a custom essay writing service where we craft student essays from scratch in while referring to their instructions. We have expert essay writers who specialize in specific niches to ensure that you only get the best. Our hiring process is thorough and all our writers are master degree holders.

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All papers are written from scratch. The essay examples we show our clients are only meant to act as a guide and are never used as actual student essays. After completion of the writing process, all papers undergo a plagiarism check to ensure their originality. This is significant as you can be heavily penalized by your instructor for submitting plagiarized content.

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When you order an essay, you are relieved of the burden of researching, collecting information, and writing the essay.  You no longer have to worry about composition essay format or structure as your writer will take care of it. It is time to relax and dedicate your time to other equally important issues.

It is evident that hiring essay writing help is beneficial to students. If you do not want to submit the entire paper, you can use it as a guide to write your own paper. Our writers develop the paper in the right structure and format to meet your instructor’s guidelines and instructions. Give us a chance to write your composition essay and you will realize that this is one of the best decisions you will ever make in your academic life.