How to Write a Satire Essay Outline

Satire is a powerful writing style used for centuries throughout human history. Besides the pure entertaining aspect, it is widely applied as a serious educational and journalistic tool. There are many examples when satire was used to effectively discuss a social issue, to learn about the shortcomings of a new theory, or to draw public attention to a burning political or economic problem.

A satiric essay is a popular essay type not only in high schools but also in colleges and universities. By learning how to write a satirical essay, and by studying some of the best satire essay examples, students improve their writing skills, making them more refined and complete. Follow our quick guide on how to write a satire essay outline and you will never have problems with writing a good satiric essay.

What is a Satiric Essay?

A satirical essay utilizes humor, sarcasm, hyperbole, and irony to describe a person, event, concept, or subject. This essay type is often used to highlight someone’s shortcomings, wrongdoings, vices, etc.

When used masterfully, utilizing some of the best satire essay examples, this essay genre can do miracles. Even picky readers, who always tend to find logical inconsistencies, grammar issues, and other problems in a written piece, in a great satirical essay can overlook all these and still leave highly positive feedback.

What it Takes to Write a Good Satiric Essay

To write a good satirical essay, a person must be knowledgeable in the topic, be skilled in writing, and have strong motivation. However, above all, the key to a good satirical essay is a good outline. It is a universal recipe for success – if you have composed a great plan, you won’t have any difficulties in writing the rest. Some of the best satire essay examples are characterized by sound outlines, whether explicit (the contents page), or implicit (what authors have composed for themselves and followed carefully).

A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Satire Essay Outline

1. Mastering the Topic. Without knowing and understanding the writing topic, one cannot write a good essay, no matter how good they are at humor and satire. Thus, you should set aside sufficient time to study your topic or come up with an original one if your teacher gave you an open-topic task. Brainstorm some potential satiric essay topics alone or with your peer students. Then shortlist the best ones and nail them to a single topic.
2. Highlight your thesis statement. Many believe that a thesis statement is not necessary for a satiric essay. They are wrong! Just as with any other essay genre, the best satire essay examples would always contain a clear thesis statement – something worth shedding light on in the main character, event, or phenomenon. What is it exactly that you are going to mock this particular person for? What do you find particularly outrageous in a situation, which you would like everyone from your audience to know about? A thesis statement must be provided in the introductory part.
3. Sketch the introductory part. Besides a thesis statement, an introductory part of a satiric essay should contain a few opening sentences (ideally full of subtle humor, sarcasm, etc.). One or two sentences should be enough. Then a thesis statement and a hook – not as in a boxing match (to knock your audience down), but as in fishing – to hold your readers’ attention just as a tasty hook bite does with a hungry fish.
4. Outline the main body. It is crucially important to plan your main part – this will constitute your writing core, the essence of your essay. If you are criticizing a person using satire – think of what behaviors, or character traits, that you want to focus on. For example, if a person doesn’t keep his word – then allocate a paragraph describing a short story from this person’s life. It is important to reserve a separate paragraph for each trait – 3-5 paragraphs altogether is a good number for a solid essay.
5. Plan the conclusion. What is it that you are going to tell about in the conclusion? Summing up the main points is not enough. In a satiric essay, one has to continue to use humor, sarcasm, and other techniques even in the final part. Keep the most concise, yet powerful satire till the end – it will draw the bottom line to your writing.

Tips on Writing a Satire Essay Outline

To finish mastering writing an outline for a satiric essay, follow these powerful tips:

• Be flexible. One may be used to writing sketches by hand, using a pen and a sheet of paper. Others prefer laptops or even smartphones for planning. Either way – you should follow your habits. It is best to draw some initial thoughts on a simple sheet of paper, then transfer them to a laptop and give it another refinement round. Slowly, you will end up with a decent outline.
• Keep the engagement level up. Never begin writing when you feel upset and low on energy. Any activity, not just writing, is best done with energy and motivation. By starting an outline in a good mood, you will notice the difference – writing will become so much easier!
• Planning to plan. This may sound absurd, but only initially. If you start outlining at the wrong time (e.g. when you are on the run, after a sleepless night, when other people disturb you) – this will not lead to a high-quality outline. Plan your writing, even if this is going to be an initial draft or an outline.
• Learn from the best. Before writing, we highly recommend checking some of the best satire essay examples. These may be available online or in your college library. Other people have written millions of satiric essays, which may contain useful outline information for your work.
• Don’t be afraid to revise your outline. People tend to stick to their initial plans no matter what. This could become a huge obstacle in writing an essay – a bad initial outline should be better revised. 

Plans vs. Reality

We all perfectly know that there is an ideal life, to which we normally strive, and there is real life. Not always students have time and opportunity to learn a theory. The current guide with its recommendations is ideally applied in a relaxed and comfortable setting when a student can postpone everything else, at least for half an hour, and learn something new.

However, in real college life, such an opportunity may not be there. In that case, there is no alternative to professional help from someone with experience and resources. Such help is possible to get online from expert writing agencies. We don’t recommend using them for all life situations, but occasionally they will be your only viable solution for your academic task, be it a satiric essay from scratch, or the need to find some good satire essay examples.