Write an essay? These are words that strike fear in the hearts of most middle and high school students. Watching my 11th grade English students struggle to write the Standards of Learning essay required by the State of Virginia to receive a standard diploma, was the motivation behind this manual. After thirty-three years of teaching, both in collaborative high school English classes and Special Education LD resource classes in the city of Newport News, Virginia, I have discovered a method that seems to take much of the pain out of essay writing. This step by step approach with a lot of practice at each step seems to give my LD students the confidence they need to write. Every resource student who has used this method along with a desire to learn has passed the Standards of Learning test and graduated with a standard diploma.