A ‘500 word essay’ may create an illusion of an essay that seems easy to write. 500 words don’t seem much, do they? However, as soon as you start writing, you’ll realize how challenging writing such an essay can be for every word has to be strategically and well used.

The 500 word essay is a favorable excellence focus exercise. Hence students are required to be clear and concise, putting their points across within the limit of 500 words. This type of essay is common for senior high school students as well as first-year students in college, where it appears in examination questions and during in-class writing exercises. Speed is what is tested here, with students being required to write the essay in a few minutes (ideally 45). Learning how to handle and write a 500 word essay is therefore very important.

But What is An Essay?

An essay is any formal or informal piece of writing that deals with a single topic or subject. An essay gives the author’s arguments through writings. Traditionally, essays are classified as formal or informal. Essays can also be written to cover other topics, ranging from literary criticisms, social commentaries to personal experiences and revelations. There’s no precise definition for essay as most definitions overlap with other words such as article, pamphlet, paper, and a short story.

Here’s how you should write a 500 word paper outline

Because an outline is the heart of an essay, you must know how to write it. A typical outline comprises of the following parts:

1. The introduction

This is the ‘face of the essay.’ An introduction introduces the reader to the topic of discussion and to explain the relevance of your topic to your relevant field of study. The relevance of the problem, methodology, the research, and the importance of the topic are all stated in the introductory part.

2. The main body

This is the heart of the essay, where the most important and informative aspect of your essay lies in the body of the essay. Building up from the less significant details and arguments, progress to the more important facts and details.  Gradually convince the reader to side with you.
Every new idea must be started and developed in a new paragraph. This will make your essay easy to read and understand.

3. The conclusion

The conclusion comes last in every essay. Whatever has been discussed in the body gets to be concluded here. As a tradition, always finish your essay on a high note. In a brief and precisely one paragraph, present all the arguments of the essay.

Your examiner may decide to skip the entire essay and just read the conclusion to find out what the essay is about. Therefore, it’s important to make your conclusion worth it. By the time the reader completes your essay, he/she should understand your opinion on the matter.

Content or material copied from another source must be properly cited. This shows that you respect and acknowledge the work and research done by other writers, besides; you avoid plagiarism by so doing. 

How many paragraphs should a 500 word essay have?

Three paragraphs are the ideal number for a 500 word paper.

The 1^st paragraph

The first paragraph, also the introductory paragraph, serves the purpose of introducing the topic of discussion to the reader/examiner. The introduction should be as interesting as possible for it has to capture the attention of the reader and keep them engaged. Don’t forget to mention the thesis statement in this paragraph.

The 2^nd paragraph

All the evidence supporting your arguments as well as any other thing deemed important should be discussed in the second paragraph. Always remember to start each paragraph with the main statement; it makes your essay easy to read.

3^rd paragraph

The conclusion is always the last part of the   500 word essay. This is when the writer wraps up everything that was in discussion to one paragraph. All the main points are mentioned here, and by the end of the essay, your stand or opinion on the matter must be known.

Tips to Help You write a Favorable 500 word Essay

Carefully choose your topic. If a topic hasn’t been provided by your tutor, you’ll have to find a topic on your own. Find a topic that’s interesting as well as relevant. Write on things that you find interesting to avoid losing interest in your own essay. Avoid controversial topics whenever possible

Do your research. Once you have selected a topic to base your 500 word essay on, what you need to do now is collect all the information that may be useful in your essay. Scour the internet, libraries, and any other places you can find the resources needed to support your discussion.

Employ your own style. Present your views in a unique way. The style must be relevant to the subject of discussion. Give details of accounts, paint pictures with words, and make everything bright.

 Stand out from the rest. There are thousands of essays submitted on a daily basis, and you might want to make yours unique. Do not shy away from coming up with brave and unusual ideas.

 Proofreading and editing. Every little thing matters and the little grammatical and spelling errors may cost you a great deal. Create time and go through what you have written and correct the relevant mistakes. Because at times you may fail to see the small errors in your essay, you can have someone do it for you.

Stick to the essay structure and make it as easy as possible to read.

Avoid using plagiarized content. Using someone else’s words and ideas without their permission may be tempting but should be avoided. Avoid using essay samples from the internet and instead write your own. Plagiarism is an academic offense and may cost you marks when detected.

By now, you should be having an idea of what a 500 word essay looks like, and should be in a better position of writing one.

Do you need professional Custom Essay Writing Service?