Sharon Booker

6 Essential Things of Essay Writing

Introduction

Essay writing is an art that cannot be mastered quickly. It takes dedication and commitment to improve your skills in this field of writing. Despite this not being a child’s play, you can still be on the top of this art by reading our six essential tips for essay writing below:

Planning

Planning is of great significance when it comes to essay writing. Do not just rush with writing the essay straight away. Always plan about how you are going to structure your essay first. This way, your chances to mess up the work will decrease. There are a total of four stages in planning an essay. You must consider every stage and resist the temptation of skipping any of them. So, the first step to writing a good essay is understanding its question. Teachers often complain that sometimes students deviate off-topic between the essay. They argue that students fail to recognize what the question is demanding.

So, do not be hesitant in thoroughly reading the essay’s question. Take your time and read it at least twice. Understand it inside out.

Furthermore, there are a few things that people need to take into account before starting to write. For instance, open or close-ended – I'm sure that you all are familiar with the open and closed-ended questions. So, it would be wise if you first concluded as to what kind of question is asked. If it’s a close-ended question, then you do not need to opinionate it. Your essay would be a concise one in this matter.

However, if it is an open-ended question, you have to make your essay wordy and state your opinion. Make sure you write in such a way that the reader can appreciate your writing and that he knows you can be selective. The second stage of planning is to proceed with brainstorming ideas. After brainstorming, you start making a plan. Then, in the end, do not forget to plan your strategies out as well. You can always look for sample essays online to get a hint. For example, college papers online have some of the best essays to take guidance from.

Research

Research is one of the practical essay writing tips. For several people, the word research means just surfing the web. But, if you ask me, the word research has a much more complex meaning. It demands you to understand the subject inside out and not just by means of the internet. Using your nearest library or reading articles can be of significant help when it comes to researching. To simplify it all down, you can always follow the four steps of research below:

Start with searching for background information – once you have selected the topic, start with researching. Search for the origins of the subject to get some background info on it. Use the references to track the information. With the help of such background information, it will be easier for you to initiate your essay.
Planning and searching – ask yourself where to look in search of information on the topic? In books? In articles? or over the internet? All these three options will benefit you greatly. Try to thoroughly read every piece of relatable information you can get your hands on. To avoid getting bored when researching, use the formula ‘SQ3R’. Survey, question, read, recall, and review.
Evaluation – after searching for all the information, proceed with evaluating information. When you are evaluating, you are to keep in mind a few things. Never support your statement with the information written in newspapers as it can be invalid. Search for credible websites and use their information.
Credible information – always go with the most practical information. Try to state facts as much as possible. This will help you remain concise.

Topic Selection

To do an essay, you have to go through the process of topic selection. If you are a student, your teacher might provide you with an essay topic. However, sometimes they don’t. Consider yourself lucky when a teacher asks you to assign yourself an essay topic. This way, you can select a topic of which you already know. So select a topic of your desire. Remember, never select a too difficult or easy one. If you opt for a difficult one, you might be unable to write on it properly.

If you select an easy topic, chances are everyone would, which can be a problem too. So choose a topic you know about thoroughly and are prepared to write a great deal on. The topic should be interesting to such an extent that the readers remain hooked throughout your essay. Apart from all this, make sure that the topic you opt for has a great deal of valid information over the internet. This way, if someone traces back your information, they would know that it is credible. An effective essay writing includes facts and figures. So make sure to follow these tips.

Preparing The Essay Outline

Drafting an outline is one of the crucial things in writing an essay. Many of the students ignore crafting an outline as they think of it as a waste of time. An outline is essential to an essay. It organizes all the ideas of the essay. It basically helps you remember all the ideas that came to your mind during brainstorming. The second thing is that the helpline helps you structure your essay. If you want to manage your time, then you should write an outline first. The outline is like a road map for your essay. In case you get lost somewhere in the essay, you can always look at the map and start from where you left.

Drafting According To Structure

Every perfect essay comprises three parts. The introduction, body, and conclusion. These three are divided into three paragraphs. The introduction sets the tone for the rest of your essay. The body paragraphs should correspond to the thesis statement and be knit together in a logical flow. The conclusion must re-echo the thesis statement placed in your introductory section.

Editing

There is no shame in editing your text. After being done with your essay, proceed towards the proofreading process. Proofreading can be done by you. However, it would be better if it was done by a stranger who also happens to be an expert in writing. This way, your work would be checked unbiasedly. After singling out the mistakes, correct all the errors. Make sure you learn from your mistakes to avoid them in the future.

Conclusion

Improving your writing skills in essays is not a piece of cake. It is not something that happens overnight. It takes skill and dedication to master such things. The key is to believe in yourself and practice every day. Hopefully, these tips mentioned above will help you improve your essay skills.

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