The goal of a college education is not only to equip you with in-depth knowledge of the subjects. The essential task is to help you develop your personality. As a student, you will often get writing assignments where you need to consider complex abstract ideas and present your introspection. One of such tasks that many college professors favor is an essay about happiness.
Such a topic can puzzle everyone. Even brilliant students doing excellent essays on many subjects may get lost with this theme. It is not enough to research and analyze scientific materials and work with expert opinions. You have to understand your own concept of happiness. It is that crucial philosophic issue: know yourself.
Hence, we can see why this task is so popular: self-discovery is the continuous process that is vital for personal development. You need it in college, and you will need it throughout your whole life. But the students don’t often feel like the happiest people on Earth when they get this assignment. So, we’ve created this article to help them to write a happiness essay successfully.
Tips on how to choose the right topic
The theme itself is vast. There are lots of approaches and aspects you can research. Check the description of your assignment carefully. If your professor wants you to explore a particular field and focus on some questions, these data will be present in the description. Make sure that you understand the demands. If you have any doubts – clarify them with the professor. The fundamental misunderstanding is the core of most troubles, and you would not want to fail the task or redo it urgently if you find your mistake.
At the same time, the proper description of the job you have to do is excellent support. This way, you can understand the right direction. In any case, you will need to research and develop your thesis statement.
However, the first step in doing this essay is getting the winning topic. When it is well-formulated, it can inspire you and help you to define the aspects of researches.
- Your topic should be interesting to you. It can be so that you deal with the subject set for you by the professor, and that topic is not inspiring at all. In this case, look for some point of view or a separate aspect in this topic that you find challenging. You need your research, and a tedious subject will only consume your time and make you tired.
- The topic should be actual. Happiness essays are beneficial, as they let you relate this concept to some event or trend in the society. People always react better to resonating topics, as they can identify the things you talk about with their feelings and thoughts.
- Consider the tone of your future essay. Speaking of happiness in life, you can’t ignore the emotional side of the theme. You will provoke emotions in your audience, and you will feel them yourself. Think of how your audience will apprehend your words and control your feelings.
- Remember that you might work on your essay by contradiction. You may research the reasons that make people unhappy and think of how to fix that.
- The choice of the topic might depend on the essay type you need to compose. You might explore the same theme as a narrative, argumentative, or expository essay. But you might feel more comfortable with the topic exploration when it meets some form. For instance, the topic about the ancient philosophers’ views might suit the expository essay more, while you would choose the narrative essay form for the “happiness in life” story.
Topic examples for essays on happiness
- Ancient Greek philosophers’ views on happiness (Aristotle and Plato)?
- Are there things we can’t be happy without?
- Are wealth and power sources of happiness?
- Can a woman be happy without children?
- Can you be selfish and happy?
- Does the pursuit of happiness justify morally ambiguous things?
- Happiness is true if you have someone to share it with.
- How can you differentiate genuine happiness from just feeling good?
- How do the main world religions determine happiness?
- How does education relate to feeling happy?
- How essential is to have the job you love to feel happy?
- Is the professional self-fulfillment necessary for being happy?
- Is wealth or freedom more important for happiness?
- Smaller things vs. global achievements in the context of being happy.
- The idea of happiness in historical context.
- What is my personal idea of being happy?
- What is the happiest moment of my life?
- What is a happy marriage?
- Who are the happiest people in this world?
- You have all the reasons to be happy, but why are you not?
Writing solid thesis statements
The thesis statement is an essential part of your essay. Though it is condensed – it can be a sentence or two – it leads all your efforts.
- Your thesis statement should present the main idea of your work, and you will need to prove it using the results of your researches. If you compose a narrative essay and rest on personal experience and emotions, you will still need to formulate that central point and build the text from it.
- You should consider it after you’ve chosen the topic. The topic directs you generally to the area you’ll explore. The thesis statement provides the focus. Though, it is not necessary to compose this statement before the research, as you might find some other idea in the process of the data collection.
- A decent thesis statement should be disputable. It is something that reflects your point of view, and it has to allow another viewpoint. Even if you deal with some cliché like “money can’t buy you happiness,” think of some original approach or try to prove the opposite viewpoint. You can be provocative in your essay.
- As for the thesis statement location, it should be in the introduction part of your essay. Most guidelines recommend that you put it at the end of the Introduction and add the transition sentence or phrase to move to the Body of the piece.
- Note that all paragraphs in that essay of happiness must relate to your thesis statement logically. The Conclusion part where you sum up your work should reflect your central claims as well.
- Take care of the words and phrases that you use. You need to make this segment laconic, comprehensive, and logical. Though the subject is more emotional, you have to demonstrate the causes and effects in the thesis statement and through the essay text.
Some samples of thesis statements for this essay
- Money can’t buy you happiness, but they can buy freedom, and happiness is impossible without freedom.
- The happiest people on the Earth are those who don’t strive for anything.
- Eastern and Western religions have opposed views on happiness.
- Though many people think that a happy marriage is impossible without honesty, it can ruin the happiness in reality.
- Modern people don’t have the right to be happy in the world full of suffering.
Helpful Pointers for Crafting a Happiness Essay
An essay has the three-part structure: The Introduction with the thesis statement, the BodyBody, and the conclusion parts:
- Start from the body part, as it is the principal and most essential part. When it consists of several paragraphs, note that each section must have its idea, opening, and the conclusion. Every paragraph should be a completed piece.
- The logical transition from the previous section to the next one must be visible, even if you dedicate paragraphs to the different ideas.
- Write the Introduction and the conclusion when you have the body part done. It is easier to “open” the text if you know its contents and ideas. Hence, you can choose the right points to stress.
Find strong and catchy phrases for the Introduction and Conclusion of your happiness essay:
- In the Introduction, use “hooks” – exciting facts or quotes that grasp the attention. But ensure that they relate to your topic and thesis statement directly!
- In the Conclusion part, summarize the information from the Body part, and find the phrases provoking the audience’s reaction. You may use questions or some facts that would present your statement in a bigger context.
Compose an outline of your essay. It is a detailed scheme of the work where you can select and relate elements to each other, and check their connections. Work the structure of the essay in that outline. Use phrases-transitions to unite the elements in the text in harmony.
Write in a clear language; don’t use any over-complicated words and phrases. However, don’t be banal and weak in your writing. Refer to the thesaurus for the exact definitions of terms you are uncertain of. Also, use synonyms of the general words and choose those that offer additional emotional shades of meaning.
Revise, edit, and proofread the essay on completion. You absolutely need to track all the errors and correct them. Ask some person to read your article and evaluate it – this way, you can get some crucial feedback and improve the text before showing it to your professor.
Conclusion
The “Happiness” theme of an essay can puzzle, but it is a gratifying topic. We hope that our tips will help you to cope with the task efficiently. And if you need more assistance – we’ll be ready to help you personally.