Despite popular opinion, academic writing is more than a pain in the neck. The assignments are aimed at sharpening critical thinking and enhancing your writing skills in general. Nevertheless, another research paper or an argumentative essay will quite often bring a good pinch of despair and anxiety to your life.
The main idea you need to remember here is that you’re the one to change it all. We’ve assembled several quick tips to help you improve your essay writing. Use them at your discretion and become the most awesome essay writer ever!
Brainstorm
Brainstorming is usually associated with the stage of assembling the ideas for your future piece of writing and coming up with a proper topic for it. You may organize your thoughts in different formats: do some free writing, create a mind map, arrange the concepts into the table. Whatever works for you. Either way, this process can be super effective and bring to unexpected, yet great results.
Another application of this technique is working out the way how to make the whole thing less burdensome. Ask yourself a couple of simple questions, like : “how can I have fun writing this essay?” or “what is the fastest and the most efficient way to cope with the assignment?” Your brain will start processing the information on the subconscious level, finding the best solutions. Try it! Your mind will surprise you!
Make an Outline
When you have the general idea of what you’re going to write about, you’ll need to create a road map for your project. This function is best performed by an outline for an essay. Most of the time, it will be a list, composed of the main ideas you’re going to express in your work. Make sure you understand what you’re going to say in the introduction, main body and conclusion. Clarity of thought will result in clarity of writing.
In case you still feel stuck, think of this: basically, your essay is 5 sentences. Each represents a single paragraph. Add some ornaments, and you’ll get yourself the whole piece. Concentrate on the main ones and jot down possible variants. See? You already have something to start with. Which is so much better than staring at a blank page.
Develop a Strong Thesis Statement
Thesis statement is a crucial part of almost every paper you’ll be required to write in college. The whole essay is developed around it. Thus, spending time creating a logical and concise thesis statement will certainly pay off. Make sure it properly reflects your stance on the issue and isn’t too broad or too narrow. In the first case your thoughts will probably get out of control and in the second you won’t be able to come up with a less or more viable piece of writing.
Start in the Middle
The introduction for your essay has to be strong and vivid: it has to grab your readers’ attention and motivate them to read till the very end. That sounds like a pretty challenging task, doesn’t it? Plus, knowing what’s in the main body of the work is going to help you write a better opening. So, don’t restrict yourself: write the body first and then get to the killer introduction part.
Keep It Simple
One of the problems with student’s essay writing is trying too hard to seem smart. You may overuse ambiguous terms and complex phrases, that appear to be absolutely irrelevant in the context. Keep your writing simple: use only the words you understand and syntactic constructions, that sound natural when pronounced out loud. Your audience will appreciate not having to dig into the dictionary, when reading your work.
Stick to the Structure
How do you turn your work into a well-balanced piece of academic writing? The answer is simple: don’t make things too complicated. Each paragraph of the essay has its own structure. Introduction’s formula is: a hook sentence, background information and a thesis statement. Main body’s paragraphs may be dissected to the following parts: main argument, its explanation, illustrative example and proof of significance of the topic. Conclusion has to demonstrate why your work matters and encourage the audience to continue the research.
Having divided the essay into these constituents you’ll see that the whole thing gets far more manageable. Make each part succinct and precise and see how they form a perfectly fitted mosaic together.
Revise and Edit
Don’t ever skip this part of essay writing process. The first draft may be quite all right, however little mistakes in it may spoil the final outcome. If the deadline allows you to do so – leave your writing aside for a while. And then scrutinize your paper, looking at it with fresh eyes. Be picky and constructive: that will guarantee your success.
May these hints help you write the next essay much better and even have fun, doing it. Work on your writing and let your creative juices flow!