Every student needs a professional mentor who can help them overcome the hurdles of writing exceptional college or university-level essays. But there’s no need to worry if you don’t have the opportunity to consult professional experts regarding your essays. I’ve got your back! After contacting some of the SAS Homework Help experts, I’ve compiled 10 of their most recommended tips for composing high-quality essays.
- Understand the types of essays
Essays come in varying shapes and forms. For example, the types of essays you’re most likely to encounter in college or university are the following:
- Descriptive essays
- Argumentative essays
- Narrative essays
- Critical essays
- Personal essays
- Definition essays
While the writing format remains almost the same for all these essays, the approach differs vastly. So, you must understand the individual characteristics of all these essay types before attempting them. After all, if you were to approach an argumentative law essay from a descriptive point of view, you’d have no choice but to seek help with your law assignment help when your grades take a turn for the worse.
- Go over the prompt thoroughly
Professional essay experts always advise students to read the prompt multiple times before writing the essay. Usually, the prompt provides you with a good idea of which direction to take your essay. Sometimes, they’ll hint at the points you need to focus on and even the length of the essay. Students who don’t follow the prompts generally struggle to achieve an A+ in their papers. So, even if you’re in a hurry to complete your essay, don’t disregard the importance of understanding the prompt.
- Weigh the pros and cons of your chosen topic
When choosing an essay topic, you should always pick a topic that doesn’t follow the recycled concepts that have been around since your great-grandparents’ time. Instead, try to pick something unique that will allow you to express your creative and analytical writing abilities. However, when trying to travel the road less taken, you should always weigh the pros and cons. So, check whether there are enough research materials available for in-depth research. Moreover, ensure you have enough time before the deadline to write a high-quality essay on your chosen topic.
- Rely on various sources for background research
Avoid relying on one or two sources when conducting background research on your essay topic. The depth of research matters a lot for college or university-level assignments. Nowadays, thanks to the easy availability of the internet, you can find various academic archives, websites, blogs, and articles that’ll help you with your research. From each source, note down the crucial points along with the bibliographic details so you won’t face any problems citing the sources later.
- Always choose credible sources for citation
While the internet has increased the scope of research, it’s best to remember that you shouldn’t trust all sources. For example, Wikipedia is one of the most common sources of information. But it is also one of the most unreliable websites for academic research. This is because anyone can edit Wiki articles, which decreases their credibility. So, it’s always best to rely on official academic sources to gather your information. Thus, citations from websites ending with “.org” or “.edu”, research papers, or dissertations have more credibility than a random blog online.
- Don’t forget to construct an outline for the essay
An essay outline allows you to organize your thoughts and create a framework to ensure your arguments flow logically. After all, an essay without an outline is like a building without a proper framework. Generally, the outline forms the first draft of your essay, where you note the main points and the supporting evidence for each. Since the outline doesn’t have to be grammatically accurate or thoroughly detailed, you don’t have to spend hours on this section.
- Read more to expand your vocabulary
Professors in colleges and universities expect students to upgrade their vocabulary before writing essays. However, taking the shortcut and substituting certain words with their synonyms won’t cut it. After all, every synonym might not be appropriate in your essay context. For example, you cannot substitute ‘outstanding’ in ‘outstanding essay’ with ‘skillful’ even though they are synonyms. So, you must understand which words are appropriate for a particular context. And the only way to achieve this skill is to expand your reading. Don’t remain restricted to your academics, and try to branch into different genres to enrich your word stock.
- Avoid being too biased in your essay
One of the primary characteristics of a good essay is to provide both sides of an argument instead of showing clear bias towards one opinion. Even if you must write an argumentative or persuasive essay where you must argue for a specific issue, it is best to mention the other side. You ensure that your essay has more credibility when you provide evidence negating the opponent’s arguments. So, ensure that your essay doesn’t become an echo chamber of the same ideas if you want your grades to improve.
- Be specific instead of beating around the bush
Students tend to beat around the bush to meet the required word count when writing any essay. However, this lowers the overall quality of your essay and can affect your grades significantly. Thus, professional essay writers always suggest students address the main points in the essay without relying on fluff. For example, including specific dates, statistical data, or testimonies can elevate your essay quality and prove that you’ve conducted in-depth research on the topic.
- Do not disregard the introduction and conclusion
The introduction and conclusion might seem like the most inconsequential parts of the essay, but they are certainly of much importance. The introductory paragraph is crucial in grabbing the reader’s attention and providing background information on the topic. Finally, the concluding paragraph gives a sense of completion to the reader. It should tie up all loose ends, refresh the importance of the essay in the reader’s mind and express your final thoughts on the topic.
- Always follow proper formatting rules
The visual element in an essay plays a significant role in determining your grades. For example, if you write chunks of text instead of breaking paragraphs every time you introduce a new point, your essay will look visually unappealing. Moreover, it decreases the readability and immediately alienates the reader from feeling any interest in your paper.
- Proofread your essay to rectify mistakes
Even the most renowned writers are prone to spelling and grammatical errors. So, when you’re in a hurry to complete your essay, there’s a high chance your paper might contain several mistakes. While there’s nothing wrong with making such errors, you should always proofread the paper thoroughly to rectify your spelling and grammatical mistakes.
- Check the originality before submission
Every college and university considers plagiarism a major academic offense. If your essay contains even a hint of plagiarised content, your professors can cancel the entire paper. Furthermore, being accused of paraphrasing can hamper your academic reputation. So, it would be best to run your essay through a plagiarism checker before submission. If you have trouble developing original content, you can check essay samples or find inspiration from an automatic essay typer.
- Paraphrase the essay like a pro
Paraphrasing is a crucial skill all students must learn before trying to express someone else’s ideas in their own words. Changing a few words here and there isn’t enough to paraphrase a segment from another source. Instead, you need to review the original content and understand the central argument. Of course, it’s always best to note down the main points so you can explain them in your own words. You can also change the sentence structures and reorder certain points to ensure your version is as different as possible from the original. But even if you paraphrase, you must give due credit to the author.
To sum it up,
Writing an essay in college or university has its fair share of challenges. Lack of research, structural issues and poor writing skills are significant problems students struggle with daily. By going through these compiled essay writing tips from professional writers, you’ll have better chances of improving your essay quality. But don’t expect to see instant results! It might take a while, but your grades are guaranteed to improve as long as you keep polishing your writing skills.
Author bio:
Jenna Hamilton has a Ph.D. in English and provides academic consultancy sessions at one of the top academic writing services online, MyAssignmenthelp.com. In addition, she has a passion for music and is a connoisseur of the arts.
