Key takeaways
- Using essay templates can simplify the writing process and improve your grades.
- Templated essays help you structure your thoughts and improve the narrative coherence of your essay.
As a student or researcher, you’ll no doubt be writing and submitting lots of essays and papers over the year. So, it’s important to streamline the writing process where you can. That’s where writing templates might come into play. But what are the benefits of using a template?
This guide looks at the pros of using writing templates, especially when it comes to:
- dealing with writing anxiety
- improving structure and clarity, and
- enhancing writing flow
The focus of this article is essay/term paper templates. But the same logic translates to dissertation, report, and even PhD thesis chapters templates.
So, why should you start using essay templates?
To defeat the blank page syndrome
You’ve understood what you have to do to answer your essay or dissertation question. You’ve started planning and researching your topic. You’ve even gathered some great ideas for what should go in the essay to impress your instructor.
Then why is it so hard to get those ideas on the page? For some students, starting an essay can be the hardest part. The reasons are many. You might have too many or too few ideas. You might juggle multiple tasks at the same time (e.g., a part-time job or exam prep). Having a standard template to look at instead of a sinister sheet of white might be enough to get your brain in gear and kick-start the writing process.
Using a template to eliminate the mental block that can sometimes come with a blank Word page means you will be able to hit the ground typing and submit a better essay within your deadline. The template’s standardised essay structure and writing instructions will guide you step-by-step through your writing. This way, you can dramatically improve your essay grades.
To improve the structure of your essay
Templates can help you put your thoughts in order and facilitate the note-taking process. You can allocate evidence or relevant quotations found through your research more efficiently in the respective section or sub-section.
This goes hand in hand with the writer’s block discussed above. If you’re struggling to start an essay, then you’re probably also fraught with how to break up your content into smaller chunks. Consider templates as a visual assistant that speeds up and boosts your essay writing process without having to write from scratch.
How can working together improve your writing?
Depending on your needs, I can help on many levels; from correcting grammar and spelling mistakes, removing vague language and redundancies to strengthen your writing, or even co-developing an essay outline and coaching you in implementing it.
To strengthen the narrative coherence of your paper
Beyond structure, templates give your writing a sense of consistency. They also help you figure out how to make the connections between paragraphs and ensure coherence while moving from point to point.
In academic writing (essays, papers, dissertations and so forth) there are expectations for where information should be found. The essay marker or otherwise reader will expect to see the main point of the argument in the introduction. They will also anticipate the evidence supporting that main point to be found in the main body of your essay.
An academic essay differs, for example, from a mystery story. In a mystery book, the author seeks to keep the reader guessing what’s happening and to confuse them. An argumentative essay, however, shouldn’t keep a reader guessing. Instead, it should make the central argument crystal clear to the reader from the start.
An example of an essay template will put the above in context.
Essay template example
It’s true that essays are structured differently depending on the question and the subject. But some elements are common to most essays. So, you’re better off creating a generic template which you can adapt for different kinds of essays (e.g., expository, persuasive, argumentative, compare-and-contrast essay etc.).
The three core parts that make up all essays are outlined in the table below.
Introduction
- Approximately 10% of word count
- Presents your topic
- Provides background information and explanation of key terms
- Gives your thesis statement (what you’re going to show)
Body
- 80% of word count divided into paragraphs for each point
- Outlines your main arguments and analysis
- Presents evidence (e.g., quotes, references, data)
- All paragraphs support your thesis statement
Conclusion
- Approximately 10% of word count
- Ties together your main points
- Restates your thesis statement
- Shows why your argument matters
- (Ideally, leaves the reader with something to consider)
Will an essay template approach stifle your creativity?
You might be thinking that every essay is unique. You can’t approach it with the same template. For example, you might need five paragraphs in the main body instead of the three you have in your template.
The mindset of a template-user is straightforward:
- take the content provided in the template
- cut out what doesn’t apply or is not relevant
- to adapt the remainder so it replies to the essay topic
Simply put, essay writing templates don’t crush your creativity. Instead, they set the parameters within which you can play and unfold your creativity.
NYR’s Insight
As someone who has spent a decade in academic research, writing, and counselling, I’ve found out that using a solid essay template illuminates fundamental rules with enough flexibility to allow you to shine.
Essay templates provide the best, most consistent, and fastest route to successful essay writing. They allow you to focus more time on researching and editing to create a more compelling essay.
