College writing can be hard for many reasons. Reaching a specific word count and submitting within a deadline makes it even harder. So it’s understandable that many students struggle to write their essays.
However, you must learn to write your essays well. Although there’s the possibility of seeking an essay writer helper or other professional help, many benefits are attached to writing your essays by yourself. To do this and not jeopardize your grades means you must learn how to improve your essay writing skills. Here are five steps to take to improve your essay writing.
Research the topic extensively
This is the most important part of essay writing. You can only write within the scope of your knowledge. If you know nothing about the topic you’re supposed to write about, you’ll struggle to write anything meaningful.
Firstly, this means you have to be a reader. The best writers are often great readers. Reading other people’s work helps you note many good things you can pick up. It helps you learn how they structure the content and effectively convey their message.
Secondly, read similar pieces to what you’re writing about or other people’s work on the same topic beyond reading broadly. This gives you an idea of what to include in your essay and how to make your point.
There are several things you have to do during your research to make essay writing easier;
- Write down the list of points you want to discuss in your essay. Search for articles related to these points.
- Note relevant articles when you find them so you can easily return them when necessary.
- Write down the key points and relevant quotes you want to use in your essay, and note the article so you can reference it later.
Adding these few steps to your research process makes the overall writing process more straightforward.
Create a plan
It’s important to have a clear plan to follow when writing your essay. This includes the structure of the essay and how you’ll make your points. If your essay isn’t properly structured, it’s harder for your readers to get the point you’re making.
Your plan should contain the points you want to discuss well-arranged logically and relevant quotes from your research. While writing, keep to this plan and refer to it consistently to ensure you’re on track.
Use a consistent writing style.
Your writing style is an important part of your essay. A conversational style makes your essay sound more friendly, while a formal style indicates seriousness. The type of essay may determine the style to use, but ensure you’re consistent throughout the essay.
Academic essays are mostly formal, so you must be careful with how you use pronouns. Avoid using first or second-person pronouns and stick to third-person pronouns and passive constructions instead. Also, you must pay attention to your paragraph structure. While they can be long in an academic essay, make sure it isn’t wordy. Be concise and direct in your points.
Write several drafts
Essay writing is a time-consuming task, and that’s one of the reasons students prefer to pay for an essay writing service to save time. Apart from the time spent researching, it takes so much time because you’re expected to create more than one draft.
When writing an essay, your first draft is always the poorest one. So, submitting your first draft means you’re unlikely to do as well as possible.
Many people struggle to write essays because they usually don’t know how to start. They want to start perfectly and end perfectly. This is the problem. Your first draft can never be perfect. So, write it anyhow. When you find yourself struggling with how to start, start. It will flow as you start to write. Write as much or as little as you possibly can. This will be the basis for your final draft. What you have to do is to improve on the first draft. You either buttress an important point further or remove unnecessary points.
Note that your second draft will likely not be your final one either. Draft and redraft your essay until it feels perfect. It gets better with each new draft you create because you’re more exposed and knowledgeable than the last. So you can structure it better.
Edit it later
Writing and editing an essay immediately is one of the students’ biggest mistakes. This affects the quality of the essay because, at that point, it’s harder to pick up the errors you made while writing. This is why you shouldn’t start your essay too close to the deadline. It makes it harder for you to be meticulous with the process and take your time.
Essay writing takes time, and so does editing. You should take a few hours break between writing and editing. If possible, spend a day off the essay. Then come back to it with fresher eyes and a refreshed mind. This makes it easier to pick out errors in it.
Conclusion
If you know your way around it, essay writing isn’t as difficult as it seems. Follow the processes in this article to improve your essay writing.
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