How to Write Great Essays

“If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write” (Martin Luther). Theology is all about writing, in fact, most of the human and social sciences rely heavily on writing. As Bible teachers and theologians, we stand in the tradition of Moses, Paul, Augustine, and Luther, who changed and shaped their world through the power of their pens. The challenge, however, is that writing is not an innate skill. For most people, mastering the basic types of writing is a learned skill that can be refined with practice.There are two types of writing you need to master for great theological works. The first is expository writing, which aims to inform or explain some truth. The second is argumentative writing, which seeks to persuade someone of a particular view. In argumentative writing, the claim being championed is inherently a disputable truth claim. Almost all theology is expository or argumentative in nature, but the building blocks that make these kinds of writing effective are not intuitive to us. By the end of the course, you will know how to write both kinds of essays like a professional

Course Outcomes

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

1: Write three types of expository essays using a seven-step process.

2: Write persuasive argumentative essays using a five-step process. 

Course Outline

This course is divided into two sections:

Section 1: How to write Expository Essays

Section 2: How to write Argumentative Essays 

Course Design

This course consists of two major blocks of content, both presented as a series of interactive lessons that combine video, text, audio, exercises, and review questions to produce a rich learning experience. It is completely mobile-friendly, so you can easily complete this course on your mobile device.

The first set of lessons teaches you a spectacular seven-step process for writing great expository essays. Whether you are writing them from scratch or crafting them in combination with AI, you will learn to design them in a clear and coherent way, including writing a captivating introduction and an impactful conclusion.

The second set of lessons teaches you a fabulous five-step process for writing great argumentative essays. These are the bedrock of academic research. The principles are easy to understand, and they can be applied to all forms of academic writing.

Each unit ends with a comprehensive quiz that covers all its content. You must pass both quizzes to complete the course.

Assessment

To complete the course, you must complete all the lessons—they will be marked as complete when you have finished all their content.

You must also pass the two big quizzes that conclude each unit. In each quiz, you will be presented with example essays and required to answer a series of questions about them. The questions test your ability to apply (or recognise applications) of the essay-writing principles you have learned. You are allowed to take each quiz five times and you must achieve 75 per cent to pass.