Writing Tips That Can Help Any Student To Write An Excellent Essay

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No matter how much you enjoy it or how little, the likelihood is that you will be required to write quite a bit while you are a student. Even though I majored in English Literature in college, I don’t think writing essays is anyone’s favorite thing to do (and I say that as someone who has done both!)… However, if you practice and perfect your writing process, you will be able to complete them rapidly and, with any luck, successfully.

When I was an undergraduate student in the years 2003-2006, the most advanced tool I had available to assist me with my writing was the spellchecker in Microsoft Word 2003! You can make use of a plethora of helpful tools these days, some of which I discussed in my piece titled “10 Online Tools to Help You Write the Perfect Essay,” which can be found here.

However, no program can guarantee that it will compose your essay for you, and if it does, you should proceed with caution if you decide to use it. In light of this, let’s have a look at some crucial pointers that can make the process of writing your essays as easy and stress-free as is humanly possible.

First and foremost, always have a game plan before you start writing.

I am aware that you may feel tempted to get right into writing an essay, particularly if you are pressed for time. When it comes to writing anything, though, you will find that planning ahead will make the task much simpler for you. In my opinion, this is especially true for essays, which typically require a robust framework that assists you in establishing a particular case.

Your plan could consist of a brief list of bullet points and some ideas about relevant sources to cite, or it could be a lengthy outline broken out paragraph by paragraph, depending on the length of your essay and how much you enjoy planning ahead. But you really ought to have some kind of framework in mind, or else you run the risk of wandering off on a massive digression that has little to do with the subject you were asked in your best essays writers.

The second piece of advice is to avoid putting off your writing until the eleventh hour.

Okay, I see that this is sometimes inevitable; nonetheless, it’s my experience that very few people are able to produce their finest work when they are up all night working feverishly to complete an essay that is due very soon, or even worse, is already overdue. Consistently working on an essay far in advance of the due date is not only beneficial to the quality of your writing but also to your overall wellness.

One effective method for accomplishing this goal is to divide the process of producing your essay into a number of distinct stages (which, most likely, will correlate to these stages of the writing process). Instead of leaving everything till the end of the week, for example, if you have a short essay due on Friday, you should brainstorm ideas and find appropriate references for your essay question on Monday, write a detailed plan on Tuesday, and begin drafting on Wednesday. If you leave everything until the end of the week, you won’t have time to do any of these things.

Third Piece of Advice: Figure Out When You Are Most Productive During the Day

There are periods during the day when we can easily concentrate, and other times when it is a great struggle for us to do so. I’ve known since I was in elementary school that I’m a morning person. The hours between seven in the morning and noon are the most productive for me, and about four in the afternoon, I notice a significant decline in my ability to concentrate.

It’s possible that you’re completely unique; for example, maybe you have the ability to focus very well between the hours of seven o’clock in the evening and midnight, but the thing that really important here is that you know who you are. Determine the times of day when you are most productive when writing, and make every effort to do so.

Tip No. 4: Request Illustrations of Previous Papers or Projects to Study

If you are required to submit essays or projects that are evaluated, regardless of the subject matter that you are studying, there will very likely be (a) a mark scheme and (b) examples of the work that other students have produced. Inquire with your teachers about these things. Take a particularly hard look at previous work and the grade it received; try to figure out why you got that grade and what you could do to enhance your own work by using what you learn.

You might also ask former students who have attended your class in the past if they would be willing to share any of the essays they wrote for the class if you have any links to those students. (Be very cautious not to use any of their ideas or phrasings as your own here; doing so would be considered plagiarism, which is a major offense in the academic world. If you decide to take notes based on their essays, be sure to identify them very clearly so that you won’t mistakenly believe that they are a part of your own work later on.

Fifth Piece of Advice: Be Aware of the Appropriate Way to Present Your Work

The guidelines for formatting essays, particularly with regard to elements such as footnotes and bibliographies, often appear to be obscure and difficult to understand. However, it is essential to pay attention to these seemingly insignificant particulars. Again, if you are unsure, ask for examples, or check at the style guide that your university utilizes to see how it is formatted.

One area in which students may have difficulty at times is the presentation of quotations taken from several sources. These can either be presented as “blockquotes” – in their own paragraph, indented from the main text – or as “inline” quotes, which are inserted into a paragraph. The presentation used depends on the length of the quote. Again, examples can be requested, or you can examine the style guide that is relevant for your school.

Looking up a list of words that are frequently misused is the sixth piece of advice.

There are some terms that are very easy to confuse with one another or to employ in the wrong context. If you want to be absolutely certain that you are not making any errors, it is a good idea to read through a list of words and phrases that people frequently get wrong.

Editing your essays on paper whenever it’s convenient is the seventh piece of advice.

It is my hope that you already proofread your essays before turning them in, but if you don’t, you should make it a point to start doing so right away. Check not only for grammatical and typographical errors, but also for places where you haven’t made your thought obvious or where you haven’t backed up a statement with a reference or fact.

If you’re turning in anything that’s going to make up a significant portion of your overall grade, I don’t think anything can substitute a thorough read-through on paper. There are a lot of tools that can make editing on the screen easier, but I don’t think anything can replace a meticulous read-through on paper.

#8: Communicate With Other Students About Your Work-in-Progress Essay

I was wondering if you and maybe one or two other people in your class could get together and trade drafts of your essays. The comments of another person can often be really helpful in clarifying your own thoughts. They may identify potential problems that you would have overlooked, as well as areas in which you could advance further.

It’s surprising how someone else’s mistakes can leap out at you, yet your own tend not to be obvious (since you know what you think you wrote…) You might still interchange essays for minor editing / proofreading purposes even if you don’t want to give one another extensive criticism.