Writing an essay can be taxing because it requires a lot of hours of study and thorough research. Students often get overwhelmed and they may not know where to begin. However, with the right knowledge and skills, you can craft an excellent essay that can meet your tutor’s expectations.
Writing an excellent essay requires an understanding of essay requirements, using a thesis statement and an essay outline. It also requires the use of credible sources and thorough proofreading of the draft. Here is the breakdown.
Read and understand the essay requirements
Essays have different requirements and it is, therefore, important for you to go through those requirements before you begin to write. When you understand the question, you can easily understand the type of essay you need to write.
You may write a good essay but if it does not address the question, it will result in a poor grade. Consider what the essay prompt is directly asking in terms of the topic, the kind of research needed, and the essay length.
If you are not able to interpret the essay prompt, consider enquiring from your professors, who are professionals in the study area.
You need to know your professors so that you can feel comfortable asking questions in and outside the class environment.
Use a thesis statement
According to research writers at SuperiorPapers, a thesis statement acts as a guide to your entire paper. Develop a thesis statement so that you remain focused on the main idea of the essay. It can provide a direction to help you keep your essay organized. Having a well-written thesis statement allows your reader to understand the essay’s main idea.
A good thesis statement must support your audience, aim, and content. Therefore, focus on answering the question of “who” and “why” of your thesis. Identify the essay’s main points and include them in the thesis statement.
Your thesis statement should be brief but include all the important points you want to put in the essay. When writing an essay, you should keep referring to the thesis statement to ensure that you remain on track.
Create an essay outline
Here are two ways to create an essay outline:
Outline highlight – Highlight the topic somewhere in the middle of the page and write down the main ideas therein. From the main essay ideas, highlight your thoughts. As a skilled writer, you should be in a position to understand your audience before starting to put across your arguments.
Simple essay outline – This requires you to indicate the topic on top of the page and separating the introduction, main ideas, and conclusion. Leave some spaces under every main idea to allow you to put down smaller ideas as they come.
The essay outline can allow you to be more organized while writing the essay. Thus, you can identify and pick relevant information suitable for your document and give your readers a foundation when starting the writing process.
Use credible sources
All essays should be based on research. Contextual information and quotes are significant for supporting your argument and establishing credibility. Ensure that the information and quotes are sought from credible sources.
Some credible scholarly sources include peer-reviewed articles, academic journals, textbooks, and NPR articles. The sources are said to be authoritative and can be trusted. Avoid sources such as open forum submissions, unverified online sources, encyclopedia entries, and magazine articles.
With credible sources, readers can validate your argument and your essay can achieve its purpose. Before you start researching, have a research plan with a research question. Have an objective and determine if you want opinions, facts, quotations, or statistics. This can help you to look for information from the right sources that may be deemed credible.
Proofread thoroughly
Proofreading is a great way of creating an excellent essay. Some of your professors can easily be discouraged by an essay that is full of grammatical errors. They may decide not to read the whole document, which means low grades for you.
One of the most effective ways of proofreading an essay is by printing it first. Go through the document and mark any areas that have mistakes and grammatical errors. It is much easier to pinpoint mistakes from a hard copy than on a computer.
You can also ask your friends to help you to proofread the essay. They can point mistakes you may have missed. Fix all the mistakes and ensure that the content is well-structured and logically organized.
Conclusion
Writing an excellent essay may be a challenge but if you take into account the above tips, you will make it. You don’t have to be worried about the volume of assignments and essays your professors assign you at any one time. Start by having an overall plan on how to go about all the highlighted tips. Remain focused and give it your best.
