How to Write Great Essays

HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS

9
SAMPLE PYRAMID CHART
Here is an example of a prewriting list and a corresponding pyramid chart.
Local school boards should not be allowed to ban books.
Freedom to read is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution (1st amendment).
Give students credit—we don’t believe everything we read.
Let us read books and decide what is right.
We need to learn how to think for ourselves.
Library Bill of Rights prohibits banning of books.
Parents and others should trust that we can read conflicting viewpoints and still hold
our own values.
Censorship is wrong.
Education is about opening minds, and censorship is about closing them.
LIST
If you are having trouble with the highly structured outline or pyramid, try listing. Picture
someone reading your completed essay. They will not see the framework behind your words,
but instead will encounter each word, and thus each idea, one at a time. In other words,
reading happens sequentially. With that in mind, organize your notes into a list based on
one of the following strategies:
1. Order of Importance: rank supporting ideas from most important to least impor-
tant, or vice versa.
2. Chronological: organize your ideas in the order in which they did happen or will
happen.
School
boards should
not be allowed
to ban books
• Freedom protected by the Constitution
• Students should be trusted
• Censorship is wrong
• Education is about learning many different viewpoints
• Individuals and groups shouldn't take it upon themselves to go against 
the law of the land
• ACLU takes on cases of censorship and book banning
• We are allowed to make many decisions, why not what to read?
• Just because we read about a subject does not mean we will imitate it (
The Bell Jar )

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