what are the tips in writing an essay
If you’ve been tasked with an argumentative essay, here’s the best formula for an Argumentative Essay Outline.
Reread your introduction and conclusion. Will the reader walk away knowing exactly what your paper was about?
‘Romeo and Juliet experience true love the moment they see each other. Love makes them forget everything else. From the very beginning they are somehow aware that they are doomed to die – they have given up their lives to love. Not only love, but every emotion in the play is heightened and leads to terrible consequences.’
Examples of phrases you can use for transitions include:
In essence, the wording of the essay question will tell you how the essay should be written. It will indicate where the focus of your essay should lie as you research and write.
“Compare and contrast” essays, meanwhile, are essentially a hybrid of the above – you need to take a critical approach and evaluate the literature, but your focus has to remain solidly on the theories that you have been asked to compare and contrast. It is important to show that you understand both (or all) core theories in great depth, both on a theoretical and applied level.
Another option is to use a simple outline. Write your topic at the top of your page, separate your essay into introduction, body, and conclusion. For a five paragraph essay, have an introduction, at least three main ideas, and a conclusion. Leave spaces under each idea to enable you to list smaller ideas supporting the main idea. The ‘skeleton’ will enable you to write a more organized essay.
This is the part of the essay that you are supposed to explain, describe or argue the topic. The main ideas you wrote down on your outline becomes separate paragraphs. Each paragraph carries the main idea. The paragraph begins with an introductory sentence which carries the main idea. Supporting ideas follow suit in sentence format backed with relevant information and examples. Don’t forget to cite every reference materials used. Direct quotes must also be cited using the required format style.
A good vocabulary will allow you to express exactly what you mean, as clearly and concisely as possible. Economy with words is a characteristic of all good essays, because readers (and essay-markers) don’t like having their time wasted with long, rambling points that could have been expressed in half the number of words.
One way of ensuring that you can communicate clearly and to the point is through accurate and effective use of advanced vocabulary. A good essay writer should never rest on their laurels when it comes to vocabulary; it’s something you should be working on continually, as there are always new words to learn that could help convey a point more effectively. What’s more, deploying a good vocabulary displays intelligence and allows you to be more persuasive in your essay-writing. Here are some ways in which you can build your vocabulary:
– Subscribe to a ‘word a day’ email (such as this one from Merriam-Webster). Create a folder in your email account for new word emails, so that you can file each email away and have them all in one place ready to flick through and learn from in an idle moment.
– Read widely, and refer to a dictionary for words you don’t know as you go along; this way, you’ll learn the new word as well as seeing it in context so you know how to use it properly. Read different genres of fiction, and non-fiction covering a range of topics, and you’ll have the added bonus of widening your general knowledge as well as your vocabulary.
– Use a thesaurus – if you find yourself using the same words over and over again, add variety to your language by looking up those words in a thesaurus and finding other words that mean the same thing. A word of warning: words you find in a thesaurus can’t always be used interchangeably; even words with similar meanings can differ subtly in a way that makes them inappropriate in certain contexts, so find examples of a word used correctly before you use a new word for the first time.
– Learn prefixes, suffixes and roots – it sounds boring, but this shortcut will help you learn a great many more words. Many roots come from Latin and Greek words, such as “bene” in Latin, meaning “good”, which gives rise to words such as “benefactor”, “benevolent” and “benefit”. It’s often possible to deduce the meaning of a new word if you know its root and read it in context. Prefixes are added to the beginning of a word to change the meaning, such as “semi” or “ante”, while suffixes are added to the end, such as “-able” or “-ance”.
– Start a vocabulary book – you probably have one if you’re learning a foreign language, so why not have one for your native language as well? Buy yourself a nice notepad and use it to collect new words and their meanings. The act of writing down the definition will help you remember it, and you could include an example of how the word is used to increase your chances of memorising it for use in essays. It may help to have different sections for words on particular themes; you could have a general section, and then further parts of the notebook could be dedicated to words of use in history essays, science essays and so on.
Using accurate language helps a lot.
References:
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/rhubarb/essay-writing-tips.html
http://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/essay-writing-tips/
http://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/in-business/8-tips-for-writing-an-excellent-essay/
http://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/tips-techniques-essay-writer/
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/for-students-and-parents/argumentative-essay-writing-tips.html