The main starting point when writing an essay is to choose your topic. If you have already been assigned a topic by your instructor, you have an advantage. If you are required to choose your own topic, maybe based on the course materials or what you have learned, your topic should be something interesting to you. You should be able to easily brainstorm a few ideas to write about. However, keep in mind that your topic describes what your entire essay is going to be about. For example, if your topic is ‘The Cause of the War in Iraq’ you would not write about a children’s book.