So, you’ve got a task to write an opinion essay on a particular topic. What is that? What makes it different from other paper types? And, if an opinion essay is so specific, how to structure it for a better result?
Indeed:
Opinion papers have specifics. At schools or universities, educators assign them for students to learn how to build arguments and prove their position with logic and evidence. While the format of an opinion essay resembles standard 5-paragraph academic papers, it’s critical to structure it with a particular tone and argument sequence.
In this blog post, we’ll tell you how to write an opinion essay your readers will love. If you don’t have time to read or need practical help with opinion essay writing, you can always ask our specialists for assistance.
What is an Opinion Essay?
An opinion essay is a writing piece that presents the author’s point of view on a particular topic backed by reasoning, evidence, and examples. It also shares an opposing viewpoint but suggests arguments why it’s inconsistent.
The purpose is to articulate your position, demonstrating what you think on a topic (question) and why you think so.
In academia, educators assign opinion essays to students so they learn how to express their views right. With these papers, teachers test students’ critical thinking, writing skills, ability to convey thoughts, and knowledge of a particular subject.
Opinion papers are also trendy online. (We all write social media posts expressing our thoughts on something.) You can also find them in personal blogs and Op-Ed sections of newspapers like the New York Times.
When structured and presented right, opinion papers can impact how people think about a particular question. Millions of online users read them, and opinions expose the audiences to a massive array of points! How to understand which one to believe?
The opinion writing skill will help you recognize a solid point of view that is logical, reasoning, and backed with substantial evidence.
How is it different from other essay types?
Some students and writers may confuse opinion essays with other paper types. Thus, argumentative or persuasive essays also convey points supported by research and other evidence. How to understand when it’s an opinion essay?
All these essay types have different goals.
- Opinion essays are for sharing your point of view and explaining why you think so.
- Persuasive essays are for convincing readers to agree with your statement.
- Argumentative essays are for stating a fact and using even more facts to back it up.
There’s also an expository essay where you explain a topic (not your point of view), providing the evidence but not trying to prove anything or convince anyone.
For an even better understanding of the opinion essay specifics, below are its criteria and guidelines to consider when writing it:
Opinion essays:
- Address a question from both sides;
- Provide a well-reasoned opinion;
- Support the opinion with arguments, evidence, and examples;
- Have a logical structure;
- Incorporate writing instruments like power words, diverse language, and transition (linking) words to engage readers and motivate them to proceed.
How to Write an Opinion Essay: 7 Steps
- Choose a topic
- Outline your essay
- Write an opinion essay introduction
- Draft a 3-paragraph essay body
- Write a conclusion
- Revise
- Proofread
And now, to practice:
Below are your seven steps on how to write an opinion essay. They are not that challenging to follow, but they are a must to consider if you want your opinion paper to look and sound argumentative, logical, and reasoning for readers to understand you.
1 – Choose a topic
In school or college life, it’s a teacher who assigns essay topics for students to cover. But if you don’t have a prompt and are free to choose a topic, your first step would be brainstorming:
Decide which topic you might want to cover in your opinion essay.
Important: Remember that your task is to form an opinion and back it up with reasoning and evidence. You’ll need to not only agree or disagree with an issue but explain why you think so. Consider this when choosing a topic (a question) for your opinion paper.
Here go some topics for opinion essays to inspire you:
- Children watch too much television
- Sex education in the schools
- The acceptance of using animals in scientific research
- Parents are the best teachers. Do you agree?
- It is better for children to grow up in the countryside than in a big city.
- Are women better parents than men?
- There are situations when it’s better to hide the truth
- The mass media like TV and newspapers shape and influence people’s ideas. Agree?
- Should rich countries forgive all debts of poor ones?
- Schools should ask students to evaluate their teachers.
Once you have a topic, decide on your opinion and think of the arguments (and data) to support it. Investigate the topic and research sources you’ll use in an essay. Also, ensure to research counterarguments or alternative perspectives: You’ll need to present them in your essay and explain why they are inconsistent.
2 – Outline your essay
While researching the topic, do your best to develop an outline for your future essay. It’s a plan of your work to place all the arguments where they make the most sense.
Use a 5-paragraph essay structure: Your opinion paper will need an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Feel free to use this template:
The outline will save you tons of time in writing an essay. Once you have all the arguments, facts, and examples of where they should go, it will be easier (and faster!) to write a draft. All you’ll need to do is join them in a coherent text.
3 – Write an opinion essay introduction
Now, it’s time to start writing a draft. The introduction of your opinion essay is one paragraph with a hook, topic intro, and thesis statement explaining your point of view to readers.
How to write an introduction paragraph for an opinion essay?
- A writing hook — one sentence
- Stating the subject matter — one or two sentences
- Thesis statement and introducing your first argument — one or two sentences
Remember that opinion essays are about brevity and accuracy. Write a concise introduction, using a scholarly tone and introducing your subject (topic) with clarity.
How to write a hook for an opinion essay? You can start with a statement, a question, surprising statistics, or an intriguing and rare quote related to your topic. A writing hook is an instrument to capture interest and motivate the audience to keep reading.
4 – Draft a 3-paragraph essay body
After the introduction, the essay body comes. A standard opinion essay consists of three body paragraphs, each with a claim, explanations with proofs and examples, and a transitional sentence to the next paragraph.
The first two paragraphs are for the arguments supporting your point of view. The third paragraph is for alternative opinions and your explanation of why they are inconsistent.
When writing, include references (quotes, examples, etc.) you’ve gathered when researching. Address the outline to ensure your points are reasoning and presented in a logical consequence.
5 – Write a conclusion
How to write a conclusion for an opinion essay?
- Summarize all points — one-two sentences
- Restate your thesis — one sentence
- Round up the subject — one sentence
The conclusion of an opinion essay is one final paragraph organizing all the information for readers to remember. It’s a summary repeating your opinion statement with the arguments you introduced to prove it’s valid. You can also provide another related fact, ask a rhetorical question, or leave readers with a call to action.
6 – Revise
Once your opinion essay draft is ready, it’s time to revise it. Reread it several times to check for logic, reasoning, and flow. Re-check the evidence you used to support your opinion, remove colloquial expressions and repetitions, and ensure it sounds scholarly and crystal clear.
7 – Proofread
The final stage before submitting an essay to a teacher or publishing it online is proofreading:
Reread your draft (yes, once again!) to “catch” all possible typos or slight grammar mistakes. A little trick can help here: Read the essay aloud! It allows you to “hear” how it sounds and notice tiny details you might miss when working on the draft.
Dos and Don’ts of Writing an Opinion Essay
We’ve asked our writers to share practical tips on writing an A-worthy opinion essay. Here come their dos and don’ts of crafting this type of academic paper:
Bonus! Transition Words for Opinion Essays
Transition words allow your writing to flow, linking the points together to ensure a logical sequence and help readers follow your train of thought. In opinion writing, these words are sentence starters to explain your point and make the audience understand how your ideas relate to each other.
| As far as I am concerned, … | I (firmly) believe that … |
| In my opinion/view … | My principal reason is… |
| As I see it… | In my mind… |
| My opinion is that … | It seems to me that… |
| I (definitely) feel/think that … | It seems to me that… |
| I am (not) convinced that … | Personally, I believe that… |
For those wondering how to write an opinion essay without using I, transition phrases could be as follows:
| Another reason is… | In order to… |
| The well-known fact is… | Even though / Although… |
| Research has shown that… | In contrast… |
| For instance/for example… | This proves that… |
| This suggests that… | Despite the fact that… |
| It is widely known that… | In spite of… |
| It would seem that… | To sum up… |
| This supports the … | In conclusion… |
Sure enough, they work for standard first-person opinion essays, too.
Conclusion
That is it! As you see, opinion essay writing is not that challenging to master:
Be concise, use a clear thesis, support it with arguments and references, and ensure its logical consequence.
Any doubts or questions left on how to write an opinion essay? Don’t hesitate to ask: Our professional academic writers are here to help!