Do you give your best shot when writing essays but never really get the results you think you deserve?
Like most things in life, it’s not about how much effort you make but whether you are directing your efforts to the right place.
So, if you want your essay to come out right, you should focus on the things you are probably not doing or aren’t doing right. That said, here are some steps you are probably skipping that may be ruining your paper:
Doing Essential Pre-Writing Tasks
What do you do when you have an essay to write? Do you sit down and start writing your paper immediately? If so, you are making a huge mistake. There are several pre-writing steps you should always conduct before you begin writing:
- Going through the instructions thoroughly: you should always purpose to understand the task before sitting down and writing. Ask yourself, what does the professor/ teacher really want?
- Researching the topic at length: once you know what the task is about, do some research on the topic to educate yourself about it as much as possible. Remember, even if the topic seems simple, you need to support your points with credible evidence.
- Checking out a few similar samples: check out a couple of good examples to get an idea of the structure and format you should follow.
- Creating a concise outline: with everything in perspective, you can now develop a structure to follow when writing. An outline helps keep you on track and maintain a good flow when writing.
Developing a Clear Thesis Statement
Do you take enough time to work on your thesis statement? A thesis statement is usually the last sentence in your introduction and sums up your main argument. Your thesis will vary depending on whether you are writing an expository, argumentative, narrative, or any other type of essay.
To create a good thesis statement:
- Come up with a question based on the task at hand.
- Answer the question simply after doing some research.
- Develop your answer further to convince the reader to agree with your view.
Organizing Your Ideas into Paragraphs
How you organize your ideas can make or break your essay. The best approach is to write down all your ideas and then go through them again, grouping similar ones together. These ideas are what you will use to create your body paragraphs.
You can group the points based on the timeline, themes, focus area, process, and so on. That said, you should have at least three groups of strong ideas for your body section.
When you add that to your introduction and conclusion, your essay should have a minimum of five paragraphs.
Creating the First Draft
If you go directly to writing your final essay, you deny yourself room to experiment and polish up your ideas. You also risk leaving costly mistakes in your paper. So, always start with a first draft. With a draft, you can write a paragraph at a time, go through it to make edits to improve your vocabulary or even your sentence structure.
You can also add new ideas you come up with as you write or remove ideas that you feel don’t fit. Once you are satisfied with your draft, you are ready to write your final paper.
Doing the Final Proofreading and Editing
Many students fail to proofread and edit their essays because they are either rushing not to miss the deadline or don’t feel like doing the extra work. However, failing to perform this last step can cost you dearly, especially if your teacher or professor is extra keen on grammar.
Remember, while writing mistakes are inevitable, failing to eliminate them implies laziness and a lack of attention to detail. So, take your time to read and re-read your essay to ensure it has good grammar, flow, and structure. Also, consider running it through a grammar checker or enlisting the help of a third party.
Get Help with Your Essay if Urgent
Sometimes assignments can be overwhelming, making it almost impossible to dedicate enough time for each. If that is the case, you are better off getting someone with the right skill set to handle the writing for you. But where can I get help with my essay? You can actually get a skilled writer in your subject matter online to handle part or all of the steps discussed in this article.
Try These Tips to See the Difference
If you have been struggling with essay writing, it’s probably time to examine how you do things. You might think that you are following all the rules when you are actually making mistakes unknowingly. Try adopting some of these tips and see the difference they make to your writing.