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How to Write a Process Essay: Useful Tips and Examples

Process essay
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A process essay is a type of expository writing that explains a series of steps or procedures to achieve a particular outcome or complete a task. It provides detailed, step-by-step guidelines for the reader to follow.

If you want to understand how to write a “how to” essay, the best solution is to turn for help to the professional academic essay writers with a rich writing experience. Review this article, which contains everything a student should know before writing your process essay. 

What Is a Process Essay: Definition

Before learning how to write a process paper of A level, it is critical to define the term. A process essay refers to the type of academic writing which contains a detailed description of the particular process in the shape of the step-by-step guide. This form of essay is popular in business & technical writing. Some of the best examples of process essays include:

  • Recipe;
  • Instruction/owner’s manual;
  • User’s guide;
  • “How to…” articles;
  • Security instructions;
  • Recommendations.

Students should test the process themselves before writing an instruction or manual. It would be the best answer to the question “what is a process essay?”

Process Essay Outline: Structuring Your Paper

There is not much to say about the process essay outline because structure repeats steps required to complete a certain procedure. Having an outline is helpful in any situation associated with academic writing. Put down every stage in chronological order. Once the student has an outline, they may later add some details depending on the process development to come up with the whole body. Maybe you will ask "How to structure an essay of this type?" The structure of a process outline is common:

  • Introduction paragraph (mention the process to discuss).
  • Body paragraphs (list the stage and provide details).
  • Conclusion (specify what the expected outcome should be + share some success indicators).

The length of a “how to” essay depends on whether the chosen procedure is time-consuming or not. Do not pick something extra fast not to have a few-sentence essay in the end.

Process Essay Introduction

Let’s talk a little about the process essay introduction. It does not matter whether an essay is describing the way to get chocolate out of milk and coconuts, explaining some procedure of vaccination, or interpreting steps required to write a book. It is important to identify the target audience from the start! If it is an average user, avoid difficult terms. In case you write to satisfy the curiosity of advanced users, do not mind including various professional terms to prove your competence in the chosen field. Do not worry about structure. The best thing about this type of academic assignment is that step-by-step process itself provides a student with correct structure. Still, experts recommend having an outline.

Would you like to know good ways to start an essay of this type? Start an opening paragraph by determining an analyzed procedure and share personal ideas on why this specific process is interesting & important to observe. Formulate a process essay thesis. It is not necessary to cover history or background of some discussed procedure.

Process Essay Body Paragraph

Do not include any details that do not relate to the process itself. If some required tools & equipment are rare, tell readers some ways to get these resources. Write down warnings about possible safety hazards to prevent readers from falling into trap/injuring. Describing steps alone might be dull. To enrich your writing, add some common mistakes to avoid. And provide helpful tips to make this process simpler & quicker.

Main body of a process essay is usually written in chronological order. Add every step in chronological order with the help of clear words. If there are similar steps or those that can be performed at different stages, mention it to acknowledge the reader. To prevent confusing situations/failures, experts recommend subdividing the steps of especially long processes (example: Step 1A, 1B, etc.)

Professional hint from essay order experts!

“A good process essay always uses the second person – “you.” It sounds more personal, and readers trust its writer. Be ready to apply a plenty of transitional words & phrases! They make this procedure description logical and clear to every reader. Try to insert different transitions to prevent text from being repetitive. During the process of writing an instruction or manual, do steps described in text to check whether everything works the way it should before offering the same actions to your target audience.”

Professor Pryce, academic counselor and online writing tutors at StudyCrumb

Writing Process Essay Conclusion

Let’s see how to end writing a how-to essay. By the end of an instruction, reader/user must be able to repeat provided actions to activate the process or solve some problem alone. If readers cannot do that, it means that writer failed giving clear, correct instructions.

How to start a conclusion in an essay? Do it with some short review of an entire process from A to Z. It will help readers recall what they were doing, how long, and what expected results should be. While body paragraphs provide detailed interpretation of each stage, a conclusion must contain a single short sentence summarizing every step of a process. It should look like an opening sentence of this article.  

How to Write a Process Essay: 10 Simple Steps

Process essay writing is not a difficult task. Even though a process essay is easy to write, it is crucial to know the essential steps of writing. Knowing all nuts and bolts will help you write an article quickly and correctly. Below you will find 10 basic steps you should know to write an outstanding process essay.

Step 1: Think of some topic you want to write about. What interests you most? What will be useful for your readers? Consider all these questions and create the best topic. Browse our process essay topics we prepared for our users. 

Step 2: Start your research. Look for some sources that have relevant information. Collect all important data.

Step 3: Read sources you collected carefully and analyze information. Make notes when reading and have quick access to needed information.

Step 4: Create an outline for your paper. Plan your future paragraphs beforehand.

Step 5: Collect all parts of your guide together and think what you may add to the main body. Write body paragraphs.

Step 6: It is not a good idea to compose your introduction at the beginning. Start writing your introduction paragraph only after you have main part.

Step 7: Don’t forget about a strong hook for your paper. It should be concise, informative, and grab attention of your reader.

Step 8: Finally, summarize all points you mentioned in your text and create your conclusion. Highlight the result again. Show readers what they will get after they follow all steps mentioned in your essay.

Step 9: After all these steps are done, create a catchy and informative title. It should not only display what your essay is about but also grab your reader's attention and make them want to read your guide.

Step 10: Proofread your process essay and edit mistakes. Read your text again, check for typos and grammar mistakes. Make sure it is readable and understandable.

Following these steps will help you create a truly brilliant process essay that you will get an A+ for. Buy essays papers to enjoy even higher odds to succeed with your submission.

Helpful Tips on How to Write a Process Paper

While writing this type of academic essay, recall these professional tips & tricks and earn A+!

  • Say what you are doing to describe an action. It would be paper’s topic, precise, clear, and educating. Narrow down your topic if it sounds broad. Example: Instead of calling some instruction “How to Install Windows” make it “How to Install Windows 10 on the most recent Asus models (name them).”
  • Get ready with outline of an essay, which is structure of your essay.
  • Name requirements like resources, equipment, instruments, stuff, skills, and knowledge person will need to complete their process. If more than one person is required, mention it.
  • Identify technical & professional terms in text. In case manual explains a procedure based on special, technical knowledge/skills, such as carpentry, it is better to include some definitions of some specific terms readers might not know. If your teacher allows, enrich your essay with images, signs, graphs, and tables to explain some word.
  • Each good instruction should contain warnings/cautions. List all possible threats & security hazards. Along with some obstacles readers may face in the process. Use an active voice in this part.
  • Finish manual/instruction with an explanation of what person should be ready to obtain once the procedure is over (stress the importance of experiment). It is important to list success factors. Example: “Cooked dumplings should not look tenderized/taste raw.”
  • Add images & more techniques so readers follow instructions simpler. For instance, “peach color” may be perceived as various textures by various individuals.”

Interesting Process Essay Examples

Of course, we won’t leave you without a real example of a process essay. Only reading this article may not be enough. Before you start your writing, it is better to look at how other students organized similar works. Here is one of professional how-to essay examples shared by college students.

If you want a similar essay customized to your needs, just say "write my essays" and StudyCrumb will provide tailored assistance. Our writers prepare such orders daily and know how to make your process essay beautiful. 

Drug Product Life Cycle in Healthcare and Strategic Planning Process
Healthcare and Nursing
Pages:
4
Level:
College
Paper type:
Essay (Any Type)
Format:
APA
2.02 MB
file-pdf

How to Write a Perfect Process Essay: Final Thoughts

As you see, writing a professional essay is not as difficult as you might think. This type of essay does not require some special writing skills or use of high academic language. So following our simple tips we provided in our article will help you create an excellent essay that will guide readers through some steps easily.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Process Essay

1. What are good transition words for process essay?

The most appropriate process essay transition words are ones that help readers distinguish different stages of a guide described in your essay. To define stages of your paper try using following transition words:

  • Firstly,
  • Secondly,
  • After that,
  • Eventually,
  • Afterwards,
  • During,
  • Before,
  • Meanwhile,
  • Finally,
  • At last.

2. How to write a thesis of a process essay?

Thesis statement for process essay should be clear, concise, and informative. In your thesis you should briefly inform a reader of result they will get after reading your guide and following all steps. Mention benefits readers will gain.

3. What is a process essay outline example?

Process essay outline example may look as follows:

  • Prepare list of ingredients
  • Prepare an oven
  • Cook dough
  • Prepare chocolate chips or dried fruit
  • Mix ingredients together
  • Bake muffins
  • Cool muffins
  • Serve muffins.

4. What are final steps after finishing writing process essay?

After you finished writing your process essay, you still should edit and proofread your text:

  • Read your text and correct mistakes and typos.
  • Delete unnecessary words and sentences.
  • Check your instructions again and make sure it is easy to read and understand.
  • Give your paper to your friend and ask them to read it. After that ask if they fully understood all instructions. If not, make corrections.
Article posted on:Apr 26, 2022
Article updated on:Dec 23, 2023

Comments

Leave your comment here:
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Jess
6/20/2022 7:54 AM
Hi! When I'm writing the thesis of a process essay, how can I be certain that it's good? And what qualifies as a good thesis statement for a process essay anyway? Are there any general rules? Thank you in advance :)
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StudyCrumb
6/22/2022 7:04 PM
Hello Jess,

General rules for a process essay thesis statement are basically the same as if you're writing any other type of essay. Make it clear, make it concise and coherent, and remember to stick to its idea throughout your whole paper.
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Edie
7/4/2022 5:26 PM
Guys, help! How to start a process essay? I've no idea what I'm going to write about, or how I should even start preparing for it. Maybe I should read the article again Idk but a fast answer would be really appreciated!
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Trent
7/4/2022 6:37 PM
Hi! You can begin a process essay by finding what you actually would like to write about. Just be sure that your topic is interesting to your audience, too. After that, you should probably create an outline and start researching. Then you can start writing. Hope this helps!
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Allie
8/1/2022 11:24 AM
Hello! Strange question but how to make a process essay actually interesting? It just sounds too straightforward and I don’t think that many people would enjoy reading that. Are there any useful tips or tricks you can share? Please help(
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StudyCrumb
8/1/2022 11:52 AM
Hi Allie,

While writing a process explanation essay you explain a certain process, making it interesting can be challenging. Yet we suggest that you write about something that truly interests and fascinates you. You can also pick an especially controversial or unusual topic that will seem intriguing to your audience. Good luck!
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Helen
8/11/2022 10:10 AM
Hi! I know you wrote that an outline here is pretty simple and not much to be discussed about it, but… How to write a process essay outline? Does it have to be anything specific to this type of paper, or can it be something very simple?
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Dan
8/11/2022 10:22 AM
Hi! The article stated that the outline for process essay is easy and it really is. For this type of paper, you must put information in chronological order. Then, add details about the process development. Nothing too out of line :)
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Luis
8/22/2022 8:00 AM
Hi there! Loved the article, it’s very informative and actually helpful. But can you elaborate more on the process essay characteristics? Like, how can I tell it from other types of essays? Is there anything else special about it? Thank you.
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StudyCrumb
8/22/2022 8:06 AM
Hello Luis,

A good process essay is very easily recognizable. It describes a step-by-step guide to how a process is put into motion or how something is being made. The key characteristics of this type of essay are presenting important parts of the process in a logical order and explaining them in detail.