Whether you are a hopeful college applicant looking to crack your dream college, or a sophomore aiming to score great grades in your mid-terms, you need to ace your essay. In fact, in our educational and academic systems, the essay holds great importance. Teachers and educators use an essay to judge and evaluate a student’s critical thinking, assess knowledge, and get an insight into their personality.
Learning how to craft the perfect essay is more than just an academic exercise. It is more like a life skill that will hold you in good stead even after you are done with your educational and academic duties for this lifetime. Experts at Fresh Essays say that it is about getting into a habit of putting into words what you want to say in a coherent manner. In this resource article, we are going to share with you some of the major do’s of successful essay writing.
7 Major Do’s of Successful Essay Writing
If you are struggling with essay writing and want to organize yourself in the best possible manner, this section of the article is going to help you:
1. Do- Read the instructions and guidelines clearly-
Whenever your teachers or anyone else will ask you to write an essay, they will mention specific instructions that you should be following. Look out for them and spend a good five to ten minutes understanding what they are all about. Following the instructions is part of your essay writing process and you should not miss it under any circumstances.
2. Do- Your research in a detailed and educated manner-
While most individuals do not tend to give importance to plagiarism, it is kind of a big deal in academics. In fact, if you are caught even once, you are going to get labeled for the rest of your life. Make sure that whenever you are quoting sources, you are not taking a half-baked approach. Ensure that you are doing thorough research on what you are writing.
3. Do- Get into the perfect zone to write your essay naturally-
Writing a great essay is all about getting into a perfect zone and letting your words flow naturally. You might have your special place and it can be your library, your room, or even a bench in the local park. Make sure that whatever place you select, you are able to focus well on the task at hand. You can also try keeping distractions like smartphones away.
4. Do- Exhibit clarity of thought, opinions, experience, and knowledge-
The best essays are all about arresting the attention of the readers from start to finish. This means that you need to be coherent. One way you can do that is by using transition words and phrases to shift between paragraphs. You should also draw from your own experiences and reality but stay away from showboating a lot in the essay. Keeping it simple will help.
5. Do- Keep your essays crisp, short, and energetic-
Remember the last Netflix series you were hooked to? Do you remember how it was short, crisp, full of action, and never had a dull moment? That is what your essay needs to be all about. Don’t overstretch your writing by stating unnecessary points. The more straightforward you are in your logical arguments, the better will be the final output of the essay.
6. Do- Try to write the essay in present tense always-
One of the major mistakes that students make when writing an essay is compiling it in the past tense. To be honest, if you are using the past tense, you are losing touch with reality and not being able to keep the reader engaged in your writing. Try to ensure that you are writing in the present tense unless the topic is such that no matter how hard you try, you cannot do it.
7. Do- Explore and showcase your advanced vocabulary for the examiner-
Writing a great essay is all about showcasing the command you hold over the language. A good way to prove the same would be to use words, phrases, and quotations to heighten the quality of your essay. Make sure that you are sure about using words in terms of the context of the essay. If you try to just use them to show off, then you will get into trouble for that.
By following the above-mentioned seven do’s, you will be able to craft highly intelligent and interesting essays.
5 Don’ts of Writing a Successful Essay
If you want to turn in the best essays, you also need to know about some don’ts that you need to religiously avoid from destroying your hard work. We will keep it short and discuss just the five major ones-
- Don’t ignore or fail to go over the formatting options that have been stipulated by the teacher or examiner. If you read carefully, you will always see that a format like APA, Chicago, or MLA has been stated for this part.
- Don’t feel that asking for help would make you come across as weak. This means that if you are unclear about something, you should reach out to your teacher, faculty member, Teaching Assistant (TA), or anyone else that you feel can help.
- Don’t keep delaying the process of writing the essay. You might think that you have tons of time on your hands, but that will fade away quickly. You need time to write a good essay. This is why you shouldn’t be leaving it to the last minute ever.
- Don’t forget to proofread and review the essay after you have finished writing the same. If you feel that you will not be able to spot the mistakes in your own work, make sure that you get the proofreading done by a friend or your TA.
- Don’t stray in terms of arguments and conclusions. Beating around the bush is the worst thing you can do to your essay. You need to make it direct, precise, and to the point. If you stray away from the point of the essay then the examiner will lose interest.
The Final Takeaway
If you feel that you will get up one day and write the best essay ever, that isn’t going to happen. Getting good at essay writing is all about practicing the same thing over and over again. In a nutshell, it is all about building a successful and logical habit.
Following the points mentioned in the article will help you get your basics right and score well in the subject you always wanted to. If you have any questions that you would like us to address, please let us know in the comments section below.