Every student knows how it may be tough to write an essay, especially when a deadline is actually short, or one has poorly developed writing skills.
The students are usually overwhelmed with grammar rules, peculiarities of formatting, or the requirements for the content of an essay they need to follow. It is not enough to have a great knowledge of a subject to get a good grade for an essay. Writing an essay is a very responsible task, and one should follow several significant steps to make sure that an essay is successful.
- Make research on your topic
Before you start writing your essay, you should have a clear picture in your mind of the main points you will be writing about.
If you have a chance to write on the topic of your choice, choose a subject that is truly interesting or relevant to you. In case you are given a particular topic, use the brainstorming strategy and write down all your thought on the topic. In case you have lack of knowledge on the subject, search on different credible sources the information on it. Probable, you will find several strong ideas that will contribute to your writing.
Define the primary purpose of the assignment and find something intriguing to write about. It is much more engaging to write about the things that are poorly investigated. If the purpose of an essay is to educate, look for informative sources and write about the things which you know. Make sure that your knowledge is correct not to mislead the readers of your essay.
If the purpose of your essay is to persuade your audience, you can research on the examples of persuasive language and choose ones that appeal to you as a writer. Reviewing your sources, you should check if they have connections with your topic. Only then you may pull out every piece of information you will need to craft your future essay.Finally, remember that only when you become passionate about the found materials, you may craft a strong paper, expressing your ideas as effectively possible.
- Concentrate on your thesis statement
After you have researched some information on the topic, you should create an effective thesis statement that will serve as a brief map for your future writing process. Apply the notes you have already taken on your sources to create a strong thesis statement. There are four basic requirements for the thesis. First of all, it should close the introduction.
Remember to locate your thesis at the end of the introduction as a brief overview of body paragraphs. Secondly, it should present a clear overview of primary ideas. Make sure that all ideas are related to your topic, and that you will discuss every presented idea in a different paragraph. Besides, you should make sure that your thesis contains only one full sentence.
All ideas should be original with no quotes. Lastly, when a thesis statement is written, check whether it answers the core question. Remember that it is the most significant part of your essay as all other paragraphs will revolve around it. Also, a professor will undoubtedly evaluate your thesis as a basic requirement to the essay structure.
- Create the outline of the main ideas
The next significant step to consider is to create the outline that will become a guideline for you when you will start writing your essay. Writing an outline will assist you, first of all, in organizing your thought. Also, it will secure a firm structure of your future piece of writing and will make links between main ideas more clear. To start your outline, write the topic of your essay in the middle of a page.
Then, write down the formal structure of your writing, including such points as Introduction, the number of Body Paragraphs, and Conclusion. Write on another piece of paper key ideas you will discuss throughout your essay. May sure that they are related to the thesis statement. After that, fill out the created formal structure with key ideas.
You may draw even more lines off these main points, writing down any thoughts on your topic. However, you should remember that the shorter your outline is, the easier it will be for you to use it as a foundation for your paper. Secondly, you should concentrate on presenting key thoughts in a logical order. Make sure that the introduction of your outline flows easily to the body paragraphs, and the conclusion ties together all key ideas.
Also, you may write down in your outline the transitions you will use later to connect your paragraphs. All in all, writing a correct outline will help you to write a much more organized essay. Hence, outline serves as a foundation for your future essay without which the process of writing is much more complicated.
- Pay attention to the style of your essay
Needless to say, the style of one’s writing may serve as a basis for judging one’s writing persona.
To demonstrate the fluency of your knowledge, you should concentrate on every aspect of your essay while writing it. Make sure that you use sentences that vary in form. Use different transitions throughout the paper to avoid repetition. Remember that a good essay should also demonstrate one’s knowledge of genre-specific vocabulary.
Last, but not least important aspect is to make sure that you avoid wordiness and clichés that negatively affect one’s overall impression of your essay.
- Proofread your final draft
In case you essay has lots of obvious mistakes, it may negatively influence the credibility of your reasoning. The key conventions of any essay are grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation. To make sure that all these conventions are addressed, proofread your written essay several times.
Remember also that it is not enough to check your essay using Grammarly or other online apps. In addition to the online checkers, your essay should be followed up with your close personal reading of an entire paper.
