You screech to a halt.

You weren’t paying attention to how to write essays most effectively and, instead, just wrote whatever came naturally. But you don’t feel so confident with this one—if you don’t get back on course, you’ll crash and burn.

Kind of like this …

People you know probably text while they drive, right? Maybe you even do it yourself. It’s one of those things your teacher doesn’t want students (or anyone else) doing. That’s why your assignment is a texting while driving essay.

Yawn, right?

I get it … there’s only so much you can say about the subject. It’s bad to do. Everyone knows that. But there are interesting, fresh, and exciting ways to write your texting while driving essay.

I’ll show you how to write your own essay with a little bit of oomph, all with some help from a couple of guys who know about oomph (and how to not be distracted drivers)—Jake and Elwood Blues, better known as the Blues Brothers.

Key Ingredients to a Great Texting While Driving Essay

Before you jump right into writing your essay, it might be helpful to know exactly what will take it to the next level. That way, you can make it awesome from the start and won’t have to rewrite the whole thing.

The first thing to think about is what type of essay it is. Because everyone knows texting while driving is dangerous, it’ll probably be a persuasive essay. That means you must convince your reader not to text and drive.

In rare cases, it might be an argumentative essay in which you have to choose a side for or against texting while driving. But for the purposes of this post, I’m going to assume it’s persuasive.

Like with any persuasive essay, there are three important elements to consider: your audience, your purpose, and the benefits of your position. The best way to flesh these out before writing is with an outline.

For your outline, you’ll want to including space for the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. I’m going to center my example under the assumption that the reason the cop cars in the video above crashed is that they were distracted by their cellphones.

1. Introduction
   1. Hook: Anyone can be a distracted driver, even those who are supposed to protect the public from harm. Texting while driving causes 3,000 teen traffic fatalities every year.
   2. Thesis Statement: In order to save lives and millions of dollars in property damage, drivers need to leave their phones out of sight.
2. Body Paragraph #1
   1. Define and call out to your audience
      1. It is the responsibility of all drivers to understand the power they have behind the wheel and that they can easily take a human life or destroy someone else’s property. Texting while driving can cause otherwise smart individuals to become so distracted that they drive their cars into malls and put hundreds of people in danger. (Quick note: You definitely need to see this.)
3. Body Paragraph #2
   1. Explain what the reader needs to do
      1. It’s time for those on the road to put down their cellphones while they are behind the wheel.
4. Body Paragraph #3
   1. Benefits of your stance
      1. By ceasing to text while driving, drivers can protect the lives of others and themselves, as well as keep cars and property intact.
5. Conclusion
   1. Drivers can ensure they don’t end up destroying malls and causing 20-car pileups with one simple solution—not texting and driving.

(Note: My example outline is incomplete. Make sure your own outline levels are each divided into at least two parts.)

It’s important to note that the wording of these elements doesn’t have to be final. But you want a general idea of what you’re going to write and to make sure the information is all in the right order.

Check out these example texting while driving essays for inspiration:

The Negative Effects of Texting While Driving

An Introduction to the Issue of Texting and Driving

A Report on Road Accidents Caused by the Use of Cell Phones While Driving

The Negative Effects of the Use of Cellular Phones While Driving

(Note: The above essays vary by format, but they’ll serve as good fodder for finding the angle you want to take in your own texting while driving essay.)

Finding Your Angle

There are a lot of different ways to approach a texting while driving essay—you just have to think outside the box a little. So here are a few angles you could take:

1. Be a little narrative

While this isn’t a narrative essay, it might help the reader understand the severity of the consequences of texting while driving if you include some examples you or someone you know has experienced. You should still avoid first person while writing your essay, but the information makes it more personal.

Example: The police officers could have caught and arrested the Blues Brothers for the many laws they had broken, but the officers were so distracted by their cellphones that they pulled out in front of oncoming traffic and ended up colliding with a semi-truck. Luckily, no one was killed in this instance, but there are many more cases where the people involved aren’t as fortunate.

2. Offer some alternatives

Think about why people text while they drive, and then offer some alternatives that are still suitable solutions to their needs.

Example: Instead of replying to that text, people should have someone else in the car—the deputy, a brother, or a friend—do it for them.

3. Make a dramatic call to action

Don’t make it completely unrealistic, but state what some of the consequences should be for texting while driving.

Example: Anyone who is caught texting while driving should have to pay, at minimum, a $250 fine. If officers or other societal protectors are caught texting while driving, they should be put on suspension or fired if there are multiple offenses.

Some Texting While Driving Thesis Statement Examples

So now that you have an idea about how to write your texting while driving essay, it’s time to get into more of the specifics.

First, you’ll want a strong thesis statement, which is a sentence (or two) in your introduction that explains your position. You need to show you mean business with this statement, so be clear.

Here are a few examples:

Example 1: Because texting while driving is the leading cause of traffic fatalities among teens in the United States, all drivers—teens and adults—should take more responsibility and put the phone down when they are behind the wheel.

Example 2: Parents and older siblings must set good examples for others by not texting and driving.

Example 3: Due to the lack of personal responsibility of most drivers, the government should make newer, harsher laws against texting and driving.

How to Choose Your Sources

As I said before, this is not a narrative essay. This means you’ll need some sources to back up your statements. There are many websites you can visit to get information, such as the CDC, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Texting and Driving Safety website.

The main thing to keep in mind when choosing your sources is whether they’re credible.

This doesn’t mean they have to be a government website or published study (although those are awesome sources!). It just means they have to have some substance to back up what they’re saying.

• Does the information have a bibliography?
• Does it reference or link to published studies?
• Does it link to a credible agency?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you’re almost golden. I say “almost” because the final thing to check is how recent the statistics are. Texting and driving is a growing trend, so statistics from 2013 are already outdated.

For more information on choosing your sources, read How to Apply the CRAAP Test to Your Essay Sources.

Asserting Your Validity

So you have all your ducks in a row, but you’re still not sure if your argument is convincing enough. Will your reader question your position’s validity? Not if you follow a couple of simple rules.

Will your reader question your position’s validity? Not if you follow a few simple rules.
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• Rule #1: Don’t waiver. Staying strong in your position shows you are certain about it. That certainty shows the reader you know what you’re talking about.

• Rule #2: Have support to back it up. Show some facts and figures. Quote credible sources. Don’t fill your entire texting while driving essay with numbers, but use enough supportive examples so that no one can question the truth of your statements.

Do you feel a little more ready to write now? Well, good! Get to writing then!

If you finish and want another set of eyes to look it over, send your essay to one of the Kibin editors. They’ll make sure it flows well and make any needed suggestions for changes to ensure it doesn’t end up a mess like this:

Okay, most of the time.

At any rate, I know that you should read the instructions on tests. I learned this by accidentally skipping two pages of the math section on the SAT. Apparently, when they say “continue to the next page,” they mean that.

You should also read the instructions while assembling household goods. Who knew that you needed to pull upward on a lawnmower handle in order for the blade to move for the first time?

The manual, that’s who.

And most importantly, you should read the instructions for writing essays.

Knowing how to read and understand an essay assignment isn’t always as straightforward as it sounds. Subtle distinctions exist between words such as “analyze” and “describe,” for instance. And what does your teacher really mean when he or she says you need to “evaluate the literary significance of the long 18th century”?

This post will teach you how to unpack, decipher, and truly understand an essay assignment so that you can deliver exactly what your teacher is looking for.

Why Do You Need to Read Your Essay Assignment in the First Place?

Your teacher gave a quick rundown of the assignment in class, so you don’t really need to read it again, right?

Wrong. (Yeah, you knew I was going to say that.)

While your teacher was explaining the assignment at the end of class, you were doodling in your notebook and tapping your foot as you eyed the clock, anxiously awaiting the moment you could scurry home to your cat, couch, and/or Netflix.

Not that I’d, uh, know anything about that.

Even if you were paying attention, that’s a lot of information to absorb, especially if you’re not an auditory learner.

Besides that, you wouldn’t bake a cake without reading a recipe or take an eight-hour road trip without looking at a map, would you?

I mean, you could, but I’m not sure I want to be your taste-tester or your passenger.

Similarly, not reading your essay assignment is a good way to mess up the “ingredients” of your essay or cover a lot of unnecessary ground.

Your teacher knows all of this!

That’s why you have a written assignment: you can review the parameters of the essay, refer back to the assignment as you plan your essay, resituate yourself as you write, and check your final writing against the assignment.

But how do you understand exactly what your teacher is asking? 

How to Decode an Essay Assignment

Whether your essay assignment is a few short sentences or a full page, there’s a lot to unpack and decode in order to figure out exactly what your teacher is asking you to write. Let’s look at some of the words and phrases you’ll likely encounter in your assignment and what exactly they mean.

Verbs that denote purpose and form

The verbs your teacher uses in an essay assignment serve as important clues about the type of content you should write and the form your essay should take.

The following table features a list of verbs that often appear in essay assignments, along with their meanings and the types of essays that are often (but not always!) associated with them.

And don’t forget, you can also check out examples of all these essay types in !

This has nothing to do with fresh breath and everything to do with how deeply or shallowly you delve into your topic. It’s the difference between, say, a six-word story and a Ken Burns documentary.

The ideal scope means your essay’s focus is not too broad, and not too narrow: it’s just right.

The ideal scope means your essay’s focus is not too broad, not too narrow: it’s just right.
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Sometimes, your teacher may define scope using numbers:

• “Compare and contrast two authors” [This means exactly two.]
• “Providing at least three main ideas” [This could include three, four, or more main ideas.]
• “In no more than six pages” [This means probably at least four or five, but definitely not seven.]

These phrases give you an idea of the number of examples you should provide or how many main points your essay should cover. Watch out for phrases such as “at least,” “no more than,” and similar phrasing.

Your teacher may also set limitations using references to time:

• “Events during the early 17th century” [Not the middle 17th century or the late 16th.]
• “That have occurred in recent history” [You probably shouldn’t discuss a subject from the 1950s, then.]
• “Modern technology” [This is open to interpretation, but this probably doesn’t refer to technology from the 1980s.]
• “How it has changed in the past 10 years” [Not only in the past 5 years, and not in the past 15—just 10.]

Time references define the scope of your essay by specifying where your coverage should begin and end. This ensures that you aren’t covering a time period that is too broad, meaning that you can give only a minor overview of the subject, or a period that is too narrow, meaning that you don’t have enough to write about.

Words that define format/style

Last but not least, check your essay assignment for terms that dictate how your paper should look and how you should cite your sources.

Your instructor may provide explicit essay formatting requirements:

• “12-pt Times New Roman”
• “1-inch margins”
• “Include a cover page”

If you see specific instructions like these, then you should definitely use them as you format your paper! There is no easier way to rack up points toward a good grade.

Sometimes, however, your instructor will only specify a style guide:

• “Use MLA format”
• “Please adhere to APA guidelines”

These phrases indicate that you should use these style guides to cite any sources you consult for your essay.

But MLA and APA aren’t only systems for citing sources. These style guides also provide guidelines for formatting essays and reports, including guidance on fonts, margins, headers, and more. Often, they also tell you how to handle numbers, abbreviations, and other considerations.

In the absence of any other formatting guidelines in your essay assignment, it’s a good idea to consult the style guide.

Read How to Write MLA Citations Without Going Crazy or How to Write APA Citations in 4 Easy Steps for help with citing your sources, and check out the Purdue Owl’s MLA and APA pages for formatting guidelines.

You can also check out our Essay Formatting Survival Guide for other formatting tips.

If all else fails and you genuinely don’t understand what your instructor is asking for, take advantage of the instructor’s office hours. Schedule a meeting to discuss the essay assignment.

It’s always better to clear up your confusion before you start writing instead of after your essay is done. But it’s also a good idea to check your work and make sure that you’ve hit all of the important points of the assignment.

How to Make Sure Your Completed Essay Fits the Assignment

There are a few ways that you can check your completed essay against the assignment to ensure that you didn’t miss the mark completely or leave anything out.

One of my favorite strategies is to create a checklist from the essay assignment before I ever start writing. You could make such a checklist as detailed or as basic as you want, but you definitely should include all of the most important elements of the assignment.

If you don’t have time to create your own, this comprehensive essay editing checklist from the University of New South Wales should help ensure you covered all your bases.

If you’re lucky, your teacher will include a rubric with your essay assignment. A rubric generally breaks down the assignment into specific components, such as content, support, style, and mechanics/grammar.

It also generally tells you what you need to accomplish in each area to achieve the highest grade. This can actually serve as a checklist itself, saving you a bit of time and trouble.

Here’s an example of a rubric:

Another strategy for checking your essay against the prompt is creating a reverse outline. Reverse outlining is actually a great first step for revising any essay. It helps you identify holes in your argument, missing details, and other important elements you might have forgotten.

Check out this helpful handout from Duke University, or use this reverse outlining worksheet from the Berkeley Student Learning Center.

Finally, you can have your essay checked by a . Not only can we help you proofread your essay, but we can also help ensure your essay sticks to the assignment.