Very Amazing Essay Writing Tips (Part 1)

Essay writing should be a simple and fun process. Get some suggestions for effective essay writing.

This is the first part of a two part series on very amazing essay writing tips. Make sure you check the second part in a day’s time.

Very Amazing Essay Writing Tips (Part 1)

Is writing an essay a trial and error process? Absolutely not, but writing an essay can be frustrating, maddening process—though it does not have to be. Granted, writing an essay is supposed to be easy and even fun.

Brief overview of the very amazing essay writing tips

1)      Read through the question(s)

Providing a different answer to the question is a common mistake made by students.  Unfortunately, this is the main cause of a disappointing exam result. Answering the wrong question is like setting out on a journey but taking the wrong direction; it can be real disaster, right? You should, therefore, make sure you understand what the examiner wants.

Read through the questions, underline the key word and phrases, and identify the task words that tell what needs to be done, e.g ‘compare’, ‘contrast’, ‘discuss’ etc. Identify the topic words such as, ‘causes’, effects’, ‘benefits’ etc. These topic words, in most cases, indicate the particular subject of the essay. Remember also to identify limiting words such as, ‘Benefits of globalisation as shown in chapters 1 – 3’

2)      Research

Now that you have understood the question, begin the essay writing process by researching your topic. Make use of the academic databases, Internet, and the library and make yourself an expert. Make the research process more effective and easier by breaking the essay topic down into a series of research questions.

Remember to take notes and take note of the sources; as a matter of fact, the research questions you wrote would direct your reading and organise your note taking. While researching, be selective; that is, use only relevant and credible sources.

3)      Brainstorm ideas in response to the question

As you research and analyse the arguments of the essay you are reading, make note of any quotes or relevant evidence that come to mind. A great essay will require your own ideas; ask yourself questions and answer them. This is what is called genuine essay writing brilliance—coming up with original insights to write about.

The information you collect—data and ideas—adds flesh to the bones of your argument: it forms the back up of your points. So you should ensure the information you are gathering is credible, solid and can be supported with facts (not myths).

4)      Develop a thesis

A thesis is an idea or argument that encapsulates the response to the question; simply put, it’s a statement that expresses the overall response to the question. Do not write a thesis that is too simplistic. This shows that thought has been put behind the question. As such, it forms the backbone of the essay. But how do you write a good thesis? Simple, pick your best idea and write a clear statement that you can write your entire essay is around.

That’s all for today, be sure to check the second part—coming soon. The second part includes the outline, introduction, paragraphs and conclusion. In addition, we will cover how to write the body of the essay and discuss the stylistic aspect of it. There are much more, so do not miss out.

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Very Amazing Essay Writing Tips (Part 2)

This is the second and final part of our series, very amazing essay writing tips. In this series, we are discussing how to develop professional essays that will surely score a high grade. If you have not read the first part of this wonderful series, you are missing in action. Here is the link; read the first part and you’ll qualify to co-star with me as we develop professional essays from scratch.

A brief recap of what we have already covered

We talked about reading through the questions, underlining keywords, listings and directive words such as evaluate, discuss , criticize etc. This, as we discussed, helps us know what exactly our instructor wants.  In essence, it helps us answer questions the way we are supposed. We also talked about developing a thesis statement.  We defined thesis as a statement that expresses the overall response to the question. It should not be very simplistic so as to show that a solid thought had been put behind its development; in any case, it forms the backbone of the essay.

So now we look at essay outline.

Outline the answer before writing

Let’s face it; we love clarity, we love something that seems well organized. So does your teacher. The writing process should be easy and straight forward and writing an outline helps us achieve that. Jumping into the writing ‘bus’ without adequate preparation and hoping the journey to quality essays will be smooth turns us to be a dead dream. In fact, the journey will prove futile and time consuming. Here is my point: write a logical outline upon which your essay will flow. This helps you present your essay in a professional manner; after all, we are writing professional essays.

So how do you write an outline?

Use brief sentences to describe your paragraphs and bullet points to describe the contents of your paragraph. The ideas should be arranged in a logical sequence and should be relevant to the question. You don’t want to finish writing the essay only to discover you have not answered the question. A clear outline defines the direction your essay will take.

Take time to write an introduction

The introduction should grab the reader’s attention. It consist the main points to be made—simply call it a buildup of the issue—and should lead into your thesis. An attention grabbing introduction could start with startling information, which is true and verified of course. This may be a pertinent fact that helps illustrate your point and, in most cases, requires a brief elaboration.

You could also start your intro an anecdote, a story that illustrates your point, but ensure it is short, clear and relates to your essay.

Writing paragraphs

Each paragraph should expound a certain idea, contained in the outline,  in a concise manner. In addition, the idea should be supported with explanation and evidence. The paragraphs should have a flowing rhythm; that is, transition from one paragraph to the other should be smooth. In case you are writing a procedural essay, ensure the paragraphs are arranged such that they correctly follow the steps in the procedure.

Take time to write a conclusion

A conclusion is a neat bundle briefly explaining, in a satisfactory manner, the beginning and ending of your essay. It brings a closure to the reader, and may provide a final perspective—your feelings about the topic—on the points you raised in your essay.

Proofread and proofread

When writing, we tend to misspell words, omit parts or words, or omit parts of question. Also, we may misstate dates and figures; writing $0.60 instead of $60, or 7/21/1999 instead of 7/21/1989.

Reread your essay and answer the following questions.

·         Are the sentences flowing smoothly from one another? If not, adding some transition words like “therefore” and “however” might prove helpful.

·         Is your essay making logical sense?

Run a spell checker or a grammar checker to help catch errors that you could have missed—however, the practice is not 100% effective. Also, a friend might help catch the errors.

Rereading also helps us to qualify answers when in doubt. For example, saying “In 1894, the government decided to blah blah” when you are not sure whether the year in question was 1894 or 1884 may not be helpful. Your teacher may have the actual year and you can get a deduction in your essay marks due to lying. You can go around the statement by writing “Towards the end of the 19^th century, the government decided to blah blah.”

Once you have finished checking your working and formatting correctly, your essay is ready for forwarding to the teacher.

Congratulations! You have successfully finished the basic essay writing course. If you found it useful, please spare a minute and comment; I will highly appreciate.