When you get to college, you’ll see that writing essays here is a totally different ballgame than writing them at school. There are ‘write my paper’ services that can help you, but it’s a good idea to have the fundamentals down first too. Here’s how you can structure and write a high grading essay.
Analyse The Essay Topic
Before you do anything else, you’ll want to really sit and analyse the question itself. That’s the same whether you’re writing an essay for class, or you’ve been given an essay topic in an exam.
Sit and break down exactly what the question is asking of you. For example, look for key words in the topic. If you’re being asked to discuss a topic, you’ll be looking to examine all sides of the debate. If you’re asked to persuade, you need to write your essay in a way that brings the reader over to a certain viewpoint.
Do The Research
If you have an idea of what the topic is asking of you, you’ll then know what to go and research. To start with, try mapping out everything that you know about the topic first. What do you feel confident about? What do you need more info on?
That helps you narrow down your search for more info. Narrow down the material you use by checking that it’s relevant to the task at hand, and offers concrete evidence or arguments that you can use in the essay itself.
Follow The Rule Of Three
Now that you have all the data to hand, you can start organizing how you’ll structure the essay. If you don’t know where to start, the best thing to do is follow the Rule of Three. That ensures that every essay has three main parts: an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion.
Remember that your introduction is you telling the reader what your essay will cover. The main body is you going over all the important points, and the conclusion is you summing up what you covered.
Create An Outline
You can now start making an outline, so you have a framework to hang your essay on. It’s so helpful to have this, as you won’t get stuck wondering where to go next in your essay when you’re working.
You can outline your essay in several different ways. You can simple write the main headings in a Word document, and outline it that way. Others like to use post it notes or index cards, as they can move them around if they need to shuffle the order. Find a process that suits you best to create that outline.
Use Paragraphs Logically
Ensure that you’re using paragraphs in your essay, as these are going to make it easier to read and get your point across. Each paragraph will need to cover it’s own idea, so ensure that you’re creating a new paragraph when you introduce something new.
All your paragraphs should have a logical sequence too, with one idea leading onto the next. You can use your outline to work out how you’ll do this before you start writing.
When writing, make sure you’re indenting or skipping a line when you create a paragraph. You’ll want to ensure you’re sticking to one method or the other throughout the text.
Editing Your Essay
The work isn’t over when you’ve written the essay. You’ll also want to look at editing it once you’ve got all the words down. This ensures that you cover everything that you need to, and fix any errors before submission. It’s especially important as spelling and grammatical errors will also count against you, so you’ll need to deal with these beforehand.
If possible, allow some time between writing and editing so you can go back to it with fresh eyes. That makes it a lot easier to spot errors that you’ve made, as your brain won’t fill in the gaps as you read.
One of the best ways to edit is to read through several times, looking for one kind of issue. Foe example, on one pass through, look for spelling and grammatical errors. On another, look for missing citations, and so on.
You can also ask a trusted friend to check it for you. They can often spot things you miss, as you’re so close to the work in question.
Now you know all the basics of writing an essay. With this guide, you’ll be able to tackle any college essay, and ensure you do your best.
