Essay writing is a considerable part of any student’s life in college or university. The majority of university majors, especially in the US, require students to take writing and communication classes. In these courses, essays are assigned multiple times during the semester to test the knowledge learned.
Also, these essays make up a huge chunk of your grade. So if you fail to get to grips with them, it could be costly. In this guide, we discuss some top tips and tricks that you can follow to try and improve your essay writing.
The ultimate goal of writing an essay is to make it as appealing as possible to your teacher or whoever is grading and that’s what the advice below focuses on. This way, you can improve hopefully improve your grade or GPA.
What Is An Essay?
An essay can be of different types. But in essence, it is a piece consisting of multiple paragraphs discussing a single topic. The topic can vary widely.
For example, you might be required to write a personal essay in which you share personal experiences about a particular matter. On the other hand, an argumentative essay may involve the objective debate of two different perspectives.
These types of essays are usually assigned as out-of-class activities, so you usually don’t have the assistance of the teacher in this matter. It’s an independent task, requiring an investment of time into research, drafting and rigorous editing. The more time invested the greater the chance of you producing a high-quality essay that may impress your teacher.
How To Write A Quality Essay
Let’s take a look at some useful tips to help you write an essay to impress your teacher.
1. Structure Your Essay Appropriately
An essay is a key part of academic writing. It needs to be done the right way and something that’s central to suceeding in that regard is to follow a proper structure. Here is a general idea of a potential structure.
- Start with an intriguing thesis statement, set out in clear terms in the introduction.
- Explore the arguments for and against your statement. Try to keep the argument balanced, but don’t be afraid to question the reliability of sources.
- Conclude your essay by reviewing the arguments and providing your own critical analysis.
If you structure your essay in such a way you’ll have a better chance of impressing your teacher than if you use no structure.
2. Focus On The Introduction
As we have mentioned in the previous section, the introduction of an essay is a prominent part of it. But it is much more important than you might think. This is because the introduction is something that the professor or essay marker reads first.
If you don’t grab the attention of your teacher with the introduction, you may find it difficult to win them back over. Your introduction should set out in clear terms what your essay will cover. An unclear intro will only see you earn a lower grade.
3. Optimize Word Choice And Tone
Every essay requires a certain tone, and this is very much a formal, academic one. To achieve this formality and professionalism, you can look at the your wording and structure. For example, if you are writing an informative essay on a niche aspect of chemistry, you will be required to use complex words and phrases. However, it’s safe to assume that your audience will understand what this means.
On the other hand, if you are writing say a persuasive essay, you may have to switch your writing style slightly to be more convincing. Similarly, you can’t portray neutrality in this type of writing.
4. Rewrite And Edit
When you first write an essay, you can scribble away with the freedom to make mistakes. For example, a sentence might sound correct in your head, but when you write it, it becomes unreadable or jars when spoken aloud. To remove mistakes like these, you should spend significant time editing and rewriting sections where necessary.
But sometimes, knowing the student lifestyle, things get left to the last minute. So, if you are also short on time, you can use online tools to help with edits and rewrites. If you put your write-up into an essay rewriter, it will make certain changes to the essay and could make it better than before, for example.
5. Check Spelling And Grammar
In the last section, we focused on readability and other general mistakes. However, these are not the only things that affect the credibility of your essay. In academic writing, there is no room for flaws such as grammatical and spelling inaccuracies.
You should remove them completely before submitting the essay. This can be done by proofreading the whole content thoroughly. Find out which sentence isn’t written correctly and make the required changes in it.
If you need help, you could ask a friend to read over it, or use online tools like Grammarly or Hemingway.
6. Use Information from Credible Sources
Essays do not impress readers unless you use credible information from trustworthy resources. This shows that you have done your research and written your essay to a high standard.
If you back your claims with evidence, facts, and figures, it gives your arguments more weight. In other words, your content can be considered more authentic and of higher quality. This is one of the biggest factors that can contribute to impressing your teacher.
Additional Essay Writing Tip
When using information from third-party sources, always cite them. Citing means letting the readers know about the original author of that information. For example, if you use a quote from Albert Einstein, you will have to mention his name and where it can be found under the quote or at the end of the essay based on the citation style you are using.
Reflections On Essay Writing
By following these tips, you can hopefully produce a high-standard essay that impresses your teacher. But remember, even if you fail on the first try, keep doing it again. Making all of these tips a habit is a difficult task. However, if you stay consistent, then you will be able to perform these tasks almost subconsciously.
So, never back down, and make sure to work hard on your essays. For more help on how to impress your teacher with your essay writing skills, get in touch.
- How to Develop A Strong Thesis Statement For Essays - November 28, 2023
- Top Tips On How To Write A Literary Essay - November 10, 2023
- How To Write A Cover Letter For A Short Story [Proven Method] - November 10, 2023