Write Final Essay: Planning, Writing, Revising, Plagiarism

Now that you went over the previous lessons, we can now start to write an essay! The steps include planning, writing, revising, and checking for plagiarism.


To plan an essay, you need to come up with the main idea, topic sentences, and supporting details for each paragraph. Here is a general outline of an essay.


  1. Introduction

    1. Hook (a sentence that will get the readers interested in reading the rest of your essay)

    2. Main idea in a thesis statement (a sentence to summarize the entire essay in a short but informative way)

    3. Introducing other paragraphs

  2. Topic 1

    1. Topic sentence about topic 1

      1. Supporting detail 1

      2. Supporting detail 2

      3. Supporting detail 3

    2. Summary sentence for topic 1

  3. Topic 2

    1. Topic sentence about topic 2

      1. Supporting detail 1

      2. Supporting detail 2

      3. Supporting detail 3

    2. Summary sentence for topic 2

  4. Topic 3

    1. Topic sentence about topic 3

      1. Supporting detail 1

      2. Supporting detail 2

      3. Supporting detail 3

    2. Summary sentence for topic 3

  5. Conclusion

    1. Summarize entire essay

    2. Leave the readers will something to think about


Now that we have details filled in, we can start to write! Using this outline, we can form our ideas into sentences that are concise and flow smoothly. While writing this essay, you need to make sure that you are not plagiarizing, or copying someone else’s words completely. If you are taking someone’s words directly, that is illegal (in some cases). If you are using a direct quote, you must put it in quotes like this: “This is an example.” To avoid plagiarism, you will need to reword the sentence while still maintaining the accuracy of the information.


After writing, we need to revise the essay. Revising the essay consists of checking the spelling of all the words making sure the entire essay is in the present tense, correct spelling errors, and make sure you are using the correct articles.


Now we will practice!


Our topic will be: Should People Who Download Music and Movies Illegally Be Punished?


We will start with an outline.


  1. Introduction

    1. Hook: copyright act of 1976 for protection of works by different artists

    2. Main idea: This essay will analyze the reasons why individuals should or should not be punished when they illegally download music or movies.

    3. Intro other paragraphs

  2. Topic 1: Explaining the Law

    1. The law outlines downloading music from the internet as wrong, however, a deep analysis deviates from the people downloading the content, and instead, points to the various websites that provide the permission.

      1. Youtube; allows for some videos to be downloaded or redirects users to original website

      2. Got permission (Zhang et al., 2014)

      3. An analogy comparing listening to a song on the internet versus radio, and how they can record this for later use, which is not illegal

    2. A mistake is on the website for not specifying, so the individual should not be at fault

  3. Topic 2: Behaviors in Society

    1. Downloading music from the internet is already engraved in the minds of every member of society.

      1. Behavioral theory, normal (Farrel, 2015)

      2. Not aware of the law (Farrel 2015)

      3. Criminal does not deserve punishment because they are not aware of the crime that they are committing.

    2. Therefore, there should be no fines imposed on the criminal.

  4. Topic 3

    1. Similarly, one could look at the aspect of disparity in income, as it is a norm that not everyone can have the same amount of income.

      1. The judge should look at plausible act to download songs without paying

      2. Income, message

      3. Look at the motive of crime before imposing a punishment (Mpofu, 2015)

    2. Educational and entertainment value

  5. Conclusion

    1. Judge, morals of society, awareness of crime

    2. The mistake is the internet’s, not the criminal

    3. No reason to punish all those who download songs from the internet


Now that we have our outline, we can now write our essay.


The Unietd States’ government came up with the Copyright Act of 1976 to protect the works of arts by different artists. The act outlines the punishable felonies concerning authenticity; for instance, it is a punihddsable offense to illegally download music from the internet. In addition, it sets the specific fiens for the committing such crimes; for example, it says that one could pay an fined of up to $ 30,000, per piece of work (Burrell & Coleman, n.d.). Therefore, though downloaded songs, freely, from the internet could sound normal, it is a felony. However, there exist some questions on, whether, or not this act is worth the penalties. For this reason, a critical analysis of the transgression willlll determine, whether, or not it merits for the charges.

The law outlinees downloaded music from the intrnet as wrong, however, a deep analysis deviates from the people downloading the content, and instead, points to the various websites that provide the permission. For instance, YouTube allows people to watch videos freely, and for some it permits download, while for others it does not. When one downloads such a work, he or she is not wrong, as he or she got the permission of the source (Zhang et al., 2014). What is more, listened to an sng from the internet is like listening to a radio station, and therefore, downloading such a article is more like recording a radio presentation for future use, which is not in any way an crime. For sure, the cradle of the mistake is with the specific website, and therefore, the individual does not deserve any charges.

Downloading music from the internet is already engraved in the minds of every member of society. Therefore, according to the Behavioral Theory, one is likely to get the influence from his/her environment; subsequently, downloading the internet mterials without any aspect of suspicion, as the individual believes that it is the norm of the society (Farrell, 2015). In such a instance, one could assume that the offender is not cgnizant of the law, as what the law prescribes is the total opposite of what he or he sees in practice (Farrell, 2015). Therefore, the criminal does not deserve punishment, as he or she commits a crime that he or she is unaware.

Similarly, one could looked at the aspect of disparity in income, as it is a norm that not everyone can have the same amount of income. Bearing that in mind, not everyone can afford to go to the theatre, or prchasing a iPod; however, everyone has equal rights to access the songs. In addition, most songs bear an great mssage, which could transform the public; for instance, most Hip-Hop songs stress the essence of justice in the community. Liewise, one of the considerations before passing an sentence is the motive of the crime (Mpofu, 2015); and this case, it is for both the entertainment and the educative value, which is of great importance to the Individual.

Concisely, the law prohiits piracy; however, a individual that downloads a

song from the internet does not deserve any kind of punishment. A look at the considerations that a judge should make before passing a sentence makes it an plausible act to download songs without paying. Notably, one should always consider the positive side of these acts, for example, the effects on the morals of society. Besides, one should looked at how much the individual is aware of the crime before punishing him or her. Furthermore, one could laid much blames on the individuals, yet the mistake is not theirs, but it is the internet’s fault. For sure, there is no reason at all to punish those who download songs from the internet, without paying for them.


Now we have to fix spelling errors, making sure everything is in the same tense, and using the correct articles.


The United States’ government came up with the Copyright Act of 1976 to protect the works of arts by different artists. The act outlines the punishable felonies concerning authenticity; for instance, it is a punishable offense to illegally download music from the internet. In addition, it sets the specific fines for committing such crimes; for example, it says that one could pay a fined of up to $30,000, per piece of work (Burrell & Coleman, n.d.). Therefore, though downloading songs, freely, from the internet could sound normal, it is a felony. However, there exist some questions on, whether, or not this act is worth the penalties. For this reason, a critical analysis of the transgression will determine, whether, or not it merits for the charges.

The law outlines downloaded music from the internet as wrong, however, a deep analysis deviates from the people downloading the content, and instead, points to the various websites that provide the permission. For instance, YouTube allows people to watch videos freely, and for some it permits download, while for others it does not. When one downloads such a work, he or she is not wrong, as he or she got the permission of the source (Zhang et al., 2014). What is more, listened to an song from the internet is like listening to a radio station, and therefore, downloading such an article is more like recording a radio presentation for future use, which is not in any way a crime. For sure, the cradle of the mistake is with the specific website, and therefore, the individual does not deserve any charges.

Downloading music from the internet is already engraved in the minds of every member of society. Therefore, according to the Behavioral Theory, one is likely to get the influence from his/her environment; subsequently, downloading the internet materials without any aspect of suspicion, as the individual believes that it is the norm of the society (Farrell, 2015). In such an instance, one could assume that the offender is not cognizant of the law, as what the law prescribes is the total opposite of what he or he sees in practice (Farrell, 2015). Therefore, the criminal does not deserve punishment, as he or she commits a crime that he or she is unaware of.

Similarly, one could look at the aspect of disparity in income, as it is a norm that not everyone can have the same amount of income. Bearing that in mind, not everyone can afford to go to the theatre, or purchasing an iPod; however, everyone has equal rights to access the songs. In addition, most songs bear a great message, which could transform the public; for instance, most Hip-Hop songs stress the essence of justice in the community. Likewise, one of the considerations before passing a sentence is the motive of the crime (Mpofu, 2015); and this case, it is for both the entertainment and the educative value, which is of great importance to the Individual.

Concisely, the law prohibits piracy; however, an individual that downloads a

song from the internet does not deserve any kind of punishment. A look at the considerations that a judge should make before passing a sentence makes it a plausible act to download songs without paying. Notably, one should always consider the positive side of these acts, for example, the effects on the morals of society. Besides, one should look at how much the individual is aware of the crime before punishing him or her. Furthermore, one could lay much blames on the individuals, yet the mistake is not theirs, but it is the internet’s fault. For sure, there is no reason at all to punish those who download songs from the internet, without paying for them.



Yay! We have completed this lesson. Here is more practice.