how to write a perfect essay
For some, writing an essay is as simple as sitting down at their computer and beginning to type. But, a lot more planning goes into writing an essay successfully. If you have never written an essay before, or if you struggle with writing and want to improve your skills, it is a good idea to follow a number of important steps in the essay writing process.
Another common area of concern is quotation marks. It’s important to cite your sources with accuracy and clarity. Follow these guidelines on how to use quotes in essays and speeches.
To some, essay writing comes naturally. But for many, knowing how to answer an essay question in a way that will score high marks is something that must be learnt, and practised regularly. You can take comfort in knowing too that, once you learn how to write a great essay, you can apply the same techniques and formulas to almost any piece of academic writing, whether it’s a standard essay, a reflective essay, a dissertation or thesis, a course assignment, coursework or something else.
Can great essay writing really be condensed down into just 8 steps? Well, whilst it’s true that there is a lot that goes into academic writing of any kind, these top takeaways are a great place to start if you want to improve your essay writing.
For the first body paragraph you should use your strongest argument or most significant example unless some other more obvious beginning point (as in the case of chronological explanations) is required. The first sentence of this paragraph should be the topic sentence of the paragraph that directly relates to the examples listed in the mini-outline of introductory paragraph.
One way to think of the conclusion is, paradoxically, as a second introduction because it does in fact contain many of the same features. While it does not need to be too long – four well-crafted sentence should be enough – it can make or break and essay.
Before you begin your writing, create your essay outline. Jot your topic in the middle of your page, draw lines branching from the topic and write main ideas at the end of each line. From the main ideas at the end of the lines draw more lines and include your thoughts.
After creating a thesis statement and the body of the essay write an introductory paragraph. Make your introduction fascinating to capture the attention of your readers. Begin with a ‘hook’; you can use a story, dialogue, shocking revelation, a quote or a topic summary. Make sure that your ‘hook’ ties with the thesis statement.
Before you ask, no, a spell check isn’t good enough! How many times have you typed “form” instead of “from”? That’s just one of a huge number of errors that spell check would simply miss.
Your English should be impeccable if you want to be taken seriously, and that means clear and intelligent sentence structures, no misplaced apostrophes, no typos and no grammar crimes.
Include your name at the top of each page of your essay, and number the pages. Also, make sure you use a font that’s easy to read, such as Times New Roman or Arial. The person marking your essay won’t appreciate having to struggle through reading a fancy Gothic font, even if it does happen to match the Gothic literature you’re studying!
Rachel McCombie, a graduate of St John’s College, Oxford, shares actionable tips on taking your essays from “Good” to “Outstanding.”
References:
http://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/essay-writing-tips/
http://www.internationalstudent.com/essay_writing/essay_tips/
http://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/in-business/8-tips-for-writing-an-excellent-essay/
http://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/how-to-write-brilliant-essays/
http://education.seattlepi.com/write-good-argumentative-essay-introduction-1484.html