How to… Quickly write a How-to Essay

by Alexandra Clifford and Isabella Orozco-Madison

How-to essays provide instructions or steps to complete a task. There are endless topics to write a how-to essay about, and as long as it fits your teacher’s assignment, you can write about any subject you’d like.

If you are a teenager and you are not willingly writing this essay, you most likely want to get it over with as fast as possible, but still get a decent grade. This how-to will help you achieve your goals of writing an essay AND still have time to enjoy your weekend.

The first step is to brainstorm. It’s important to write down every idea that comes to mind because you never know what might pique your interest! Now that your brainstorm is done, you will have many topics. Cross out the ones that interest you less to narrow it down to one topic. When writing a how-to essay, it’s generally easier to pick a topic you are knowledgeable on, because it cuts down on research time and allows you to write with ease.

If you are instructed to write a step-by-step how-to essay without numbers, you should follow the the usual structure of any other essay: an introduction, body and a concluding paragraph. In your first paragraph, you should state the topic and the materials that will be needed to complete the task or project. The introduction should also explain why the topic is relevant. By example, if you are writing an essay on how to shower, you could state “Showering is important for your health, and it is also basic hygiene.”

The next paragraphs should contain instructions and tips for following the procedure or project you mentioned in the introduction. In the conclusion, you should give a brief description of how the project should turn out if done properly. Also, it’s important to re-state the relevance of your topic in the conclusion as it gives good closure to the essay.

Now that your How-to essay is complete, feel free to enjoy the rest of your (hopefully) homework free weekend!