Skills
Writing Skills
Structures, processes, and templates for essays, formal letters, emails, and reports — the writing tasks you'll actually need for school, work, and exams.
Good writing in English is less about fancy vocabulary and more about clear structure and process. These notes give you a reusable template and process for each writing task — essays, letters, paragraphs and reports — plus the punctuation rules that hold them together, with worked examples.
Notes in this section
How to Write an Essay: A Complete Process
The full process from understanding the prompt to final proofreading.
B1–C1Essay Writing Structure
A five-paragraph structure that works for school essays and exam writing tasks.
B1–B2How to Write a Strong Essay Introduction
Hook types, thesis statements, and the mistakes that weaken a first paragraph.
B1–B2Formal Letter Writing: Format, Phrases & Example
The exact structure and polite phrases examiners and employers expect.
A2–B2Informal Letter Writing
Format, friendly phrases by purpose and two complete example letters.
A2–B2Paragraph Writing
Topic sentence, supporting details and the four paragraph types, with examples.
B1–C1Report Writing
Newspaper/event reports and formal reports — formats, examples and phrases.
All levelsPunctuation Rules
Commas, apostrophes, semicolons, colons and more — with the mistakes to avoid.
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Related on English Notes
Frequently asked
Questions about writing skills
What's the difference between 'How to Write an Essay' and 'Essay Writing Structure'?
"How to Write an Essay" covers the full process — brainstorming, outlining, drafting, and editing. "Essay Writing Structure" focuses specifically on the paragraph-level formula and template. They're meant to be read together.
Do I need a formal introduction for every type of writing?
No — the hook-context-thesis introduction formula is specifically for essays. Formal letters and emails use a different, more direct opening — see our Formal Letter Writing guide.
More writing skills notes are added every week.
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