As a student, you are often asked to write essays at college. This is something you’ve always struggled with even at school. The little guidance, if any, you’ve got at school is of little help to write a college essay. This is true you can ask your colleague: “May you write my essay for college?” So, now you need to write several drafts, perhaps long ones, for college. The resources at hand are already plentiful yet you don’t know where or how to start. There are seven great tips, though, if you follow you’ll be on a right track for great essays.
Getting Started
This might seem very straightforward yet is often misunderstood by many students. You might have done your homework looking for how to get started. You’ve looked up “tips to write a good essay,” “how to write a good essay,” or “tips for writing essay.” Too much writing, too many examples. No problem. Let’s agree that all you need to do first is very simple: know your assignment. Despite an obvious step to do, most students don’t really fully grasp what an assignment is about. Not knowing exactly what you’re going to write about is for sure a straight path to an F. So, once you get an essay writing assignment, make sure you understand what your assignment is all about. If in doubt, simply double check with your instructor. Or, you can get great tips at doing pre-writing help at essay services.
Picking a Topic
So, you now have a topic assigned to you. So what? First off, you need to narrow down your topic a bit. That’s, in order to be able to do adequate research about any given topic, you need to know what you want to research exactly. This ensures you don’t waste your time doing so much research and, worse, wasting your time. Let’s say you’re assigned a topic about gig economy. This is already a very broad topic. To be more specific, you need to narrow down your topic into something such as millennials redefine work in a gig economy. This could, of course, be an initial suggestion. So, keep working on your choosing and narrowing down your topic.
Take notes. They are just great in helping you keep track of your thoughts.
Research Your Topic
Picking a topic is only an initial step to write a good essay. For many, writing a compelling topic is not just as easy. In your hurry to complete an essay examination or an essay writing test, you might simply almost skip research altogether. In fact, many student simply copy and paste sources to meet a deadline. Unless you’re using a professional writing service, research is indispensable for your essay. If you’re writing your first college essay, it’s okay to do some broad online research for your first draft. Unless you’re specifically asked by your instructor to look up certain sources, you shouldn’t spend days on end doing research.
This is similar to analysis paralysis. There is so much to learn and so much to write. You’ll never learn to write a good essay in one go. This needs practice. So, do your research homework but be modest.
Create an Outline
This should be obvious. Right? In fact, most students rush to keyboards and expect words to flow on screen. In reality, cursors keep blinking and little, if any, meaningful words come on screen. That’s why structure is absolutely important. To give your planned essay a structure, you need an outline. This comes in a diagram or bullet-styled form. In whatever form you choose, make sure keep your outline clear, simple and flexible. Often, you might need to tweak your outline a bit when you start your writing process. That’s why flexibility is important in your outline. Having a good structured essay needs practice. For a good starter, you might go to writemyessay4me for great ideas about writing outlines for your essay.
Narrow Your Focus
Focus. Focus. Focus. If anything, your writing should always be simple, clear and persuasive. To be so, you need to be focused, or economic, in using words and organizing your essay. For instance, you’ve already narrowed down your topic from gig economy to millennials redefine work in a gig economy. Now, you need to stick to your newly narrowed down topic. You don’t have to read books upon books on how to focus on writing an essay. (This is, ironically, not focusing.) Instead, just make sure you’re never off topic. Of course, you might “wander” during writing process. This is so common. Don’t worry. Every writer, including professionals, has wandered. Just ensure you stick to your outline as much as you can while writing. Later, during drafting, you should go over your wanderings.
Drafting
There is always a need to write essay better. There isn’t a college student who has not believed she would turn in a The Perfect Essay. Let’s agree on something. There is no such thing as a perfect essay. There is always a good essay. So, stop trying to be a perfectionist. (Well, you still can be a perfectionist but you’ve got to accept your classmates will graduate while you’re still trying. Good luck!) Think, instead, of drafts as attempts to better essays. Luckily, almost all instructors ask for several drafts before final submission. This is, actually, your opportunity to learn to hone your writing skills. So, keep drafting your essay and get as much feedback from your instructors and classmates.
Trim Edges: Edit and Proofread
So, now you have a draft. This is not, however, where your writing process ends.
Always remember, writing is a cyclic process: you go over all process over and again. So, editing and proofreading are essential for your first submission to be accepted. Over your whole essay and have a critical eye. Make sure you remove all silly mistakes such as grammatical ones. These almost always distance your reader (your instructor) and leave a bad impression about your writing. Plus, you should look at your sentence structure and transitions. These usually make your essay flow and, more importantly, enjoyable. For great editing and proofreading tips, you can go to essay writing help from essay basics.
Wrap up
Today, essay writing is critical for your college success. Many students struggle to write college essays. In a rush to submit assignments, students might skip several important steps in essay writing. To make matters simpler, seven tips can help you improve your essay writing skills enormously: know your assignment, pick and research your topic, create an outline, narrow
focus, draft and edit and proofread your drafts. That said, drafts should be understood as only attempts to better writing. So, keep writing and practice.