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Want to spend less time on writing high-quality essays? Following helpful tips and tricks, you will be able to develop brilliant pieces of writing spending not more than half an hour. It is not a secret that most students try to find the balance between work and studies, which makes it difficult to manage time effectively. However, there is nothing impossible if you organize time in the proper way.
There are many types of an essay, each of which has its own distinctive features. In order to create impressive essays, first of all, you should learn more about an essay as a genre itself. Secondly, you should pay attention to the certain type of an essay you have been assigned to write and discover which peculiarities it has. You will succeed only if you are aware of the essay basics. Here you will find the detailed guidelines, which will be helpful for writing a great essay. Let’s plunge into the fascinating world of an academic writing!
4 Important Steps You Should Take Before Writing an Essay
If you want to get an A-grade for an essay, it must be well-written. It is possible to create a really worthy piece of writing only if you spend time on the necessary preparatory steps. Let’s have a closer look at the things you should do before you get started.
Create an essay outline
Before writing an essay, you should devote time to the creation of a well-planned outline. Think of the main questions you would like to highlight in your work. Spending time on essay structuring will never be a waste. An outline will help you save much time after the essay is finished. If you plan everything properly from the very beginning, you will avoid the necessity to rewrite anything in the end.
Study the topic carefully
Either you have been given the topic of an essay or you have chosen it by yourself, make sure you have a clear picture of what it is expected from you. Learn more about the topic and make a list of questions that still seem to be vague. If something is unclear, you should make a search for the relevant information or ask your teacher.
Think how to make your thesis strong
It doesn’t matter what type of an essay you are going to write as any essay type must contain the thesis statement. The well-written thesis contains the preview of your work. That’s why it should be bright and vivid. Its role is really vital. For example, in order, you realize how it is significant to write a powerful thesis statement, let’s compare it with the movie preview. Usually, before going to the cinema, a person reads the movie review, if he likes it, he buys the ticket. The same is about an essay thesis. You should grasp the attention of your reader from the very first words, otherwise, the reader may be bored and not willing to continue as the main body of the work will be interesting to him only if he is attracted to the introductory part.
Write an essay outline
A good outline is a key to success. Don’t think that it the outline writing isn’t worth the time spent on it. Take a piece of paper and brainstorm all main ideas on the topic. Take into account that an essay should have five paragraphs. Each essay has a short introduction, the main body, and finally, the conclusion. While writing an outline, you should keep this in mind and organize your thoughts according to this plan. The outline will help you not to miss any important details.
Have a Closer Look at the Proper Essay Structure
It has already been mentioned that an essay consists of three parts. In order to write each of them impressively, you should know certain rules. Let’s have a look at each essay part:
Introduction
Each academic paper starts from the introductory part. It is very important to pay special attention to it using interesting quotes, saying of the famous people, some eye-catching data, which not everyone knows. Write a killer introduction, which should contain a well-written thesis statement. In the very beginning of your essay, you should set certain goals, which you will try to achieve in your paper. Be clear and concise writing a short but impressive introduction. Always revise your introduction after you have finished writing an essay to make sure you have set the right goals.
Main body
The main part of your paper should contain either two or three paragraph. The number of paragraphs may vary, depending on the topic and the number of points you are going to discuss in your work. Usually, an essay main body contains three paragraphs, where you provide all major details. Remember that each point should be supported with some arguments. It is a good idea to include examples from your own life experience.
Conclusion
The final part of an essay should contain a brief summary. The conclusion should make it clear to the reader why he spent time reading the essay. Do your best providing the thesis restatement. Your task is not only to paraphrase the introduction but to provide the information about the goals achieved. Write about the research results but don’t provide any new details on the topic.
Great Tips for Writing an A-Grade Essay
If you want to become a teacher’s pet showing impressive essay writing skills, you should follow the effective tips. Discover which tricks can be used for creating an outstanding essay paper.
Use an essay sample
Before you start writing your own essay, make sure you understand how it should look like. It is always better to see once than to hear one hundred times. That’s why you should find a good essay example, which you can use while developing your own one. You can ask your teacher to provide with the well-written sample or find the one on the Internet. Don’t steal the main ideas of other writers. Use an essay only as a sample looking at its structure and the writing style.
Give preference to unique topics
Very often teachers allow students to choose essay topics on their own as this helps to understand how creative a student can be. When choosing the essay topic, you should look through the topic ideas, which are many in the Internet, however, it is better to generate your own topic. Brainstorm ideas and think of those topics, which will help to reveal your great personality and demonstrate your topic knowledge. If you have such a choice, then give preference to the essay topic, which you are familiar with or you would like to learn more about.
Attract the reader’s attention
Try to write an essay so that your reader will find it very interesting. You will have only one chance to grasp the reader’s attention. Don’t lose it and use all possible hooks at the beginning of the introduction. You have great chances to attract the attention of your reader by starting your essay with a question. For example, you are going to write a narration about your summer holidays. Start with some incredible details or share some facts about the place you have been to.
Use your own voice while writing
It is not a secret that some writers sound original while others just try to copy them. You will definitely get an A-grade if you join the first group. Make sure that your writing style is recognizable and unique. First, you should get acquainted with several articles, books, or any other sources of the relevant information on the topic, and compare the writing style of each of them. Find your own voice in order the teacher remembers your worn among all others.
Stick to the correct structure
An essay genre gives you more freedom in comparison with other academic papers but it doesn’t mean that you can forget about structure. Make sure you follow the guidelines above and structure your paper in the right way.
Don’t postpone your essay writing to the last minute
The essay writing shouldn’t be postponed as it can be a tiresome thing to do. You should understand that the quality of an essay, which is written during one night, and the one that has been thoroughly planned since the day you have got a task to write it, will differ much. Make sure you will develop a top-notch quality work till the deadline. Remember that you will be able to write an essay within one hour if you don’t ignore the expert tips about the essay planning.
Edit and proofread an essay
After you have finished your essay writing, the final step you should take is to check out whether there are any mistakes. First of all, reread the whole essay and make sure that each part is well-written and can meet the necessary requirements. If you don’t like how it sounds, you should think of the most effective ways that can be used to improve your essay. Some famous writers work on one page of their masterpieces for several days or even longer, that’s why don’t hurry to submit a paper. Spend several minutes more to edit your essay if it doesn’t sound impressive.
When you are finally satisfied with the essay content, you should proofread it. What is the substantial difference between the editing and proofreading? The first term means that you should pay special attention to the logical order of your thoughts, the presence of persuasive arguments, and the essay uniqueness. The proofreading process means that the writer should polish an essay by checking out whether there are any grammar or spelling errors that must be corrected.
10 Main Essay Types Each College Student is Assigned to Write
If you want to pass your essay with flying colors, you should learn the basics of writing each essay type. Here we are going to consider the most frequently assigned essay types. Being aware of the differences between these essay types, you will be able to create a good work because the most common mistake made by students is the choice of an inappropriate writing style for the certain essay type. Be careful learning more about the major features of the popular types of an essay to have a clear picture of their peculiarities.
Narration
The narrative type of an essay is considered one of the simplest but it is not as easy as ABC if you don’t know how to write so that the reader is captured by your story. You should tell the reader something really interesting and worth reading. The same story can be told in different ways. It is not a secret that listening to two people, you may be impressed while hearing the same story from another one you can’t help yawning. This happens because one person has the great storytelling skills while another one can’t attract the reader’s attention. Make sure you use vivid details and write so that the reader can see what you are talking about. The goal will be achieved if the reader imagines that he is the character of your story.
Description
Some students confuse the narrative essay and the descriptive essay. They have much in common but there is one difference between them. When writing a description you should do your best depicting everything in detail. For example, you are describing the house of your dream, you should provide a detailed description of each room with the furniture. The main purpose of writing this essay type is to write so that your reader has a feeling that he doesn’t read but looks at the photo. Imagine that you are an artist but instead of a paintbrush your use words to paint a picture.
Expository essay
This essay type supposes that you analyze the topic and find all relevant details and facts. It is more complicated than two previous essay types as here you will have to include several essay types. The good expository essay should contain the cause and the effect, comparisons and bright examples.
Persuasive essay
The name of this essay type makes it easy to guess its main goal. Writing this type of work your main task is to find as many facts and evidence of your point of view as you can. Be persuasive while sharing your opinion. Make a research and find out what the reputable scholars think on the topic.
Analytical essay
Here you should pay attention to the methodology. Your task is to make an in-depth analysis, which must be based on the findings of the well-known scientists. Each point should be supported by the facts.
Argumentative essay
Writing an argumentative essay, you will have to provide two points of view and consider them. Each point should be provided with enough arguments. Here you should forget about feelings and emotions. The key word of this essay type is a factual evidence.
Report
A report is a piece of writing, which is often assigned after you have considered the case study. You should analyze the real business situation and think of the most effective problem solutions.
Compare and contrast essay
This essay type is about choosing two objects, goods, services, etc., which have certain similarities and differences. They should be from one category or sphere. You should make an in-depth research and make sure you know what you are talking about.
Critical essay
This type of an essay requires doing a lot of work. In order to develop a high-quality paper, you should do your best analyzing the topic. Your main aim is to evaluate the situation or look at the features of the object and access them answering the question whether it is good or bad.
Process essay
The process essay is usually written in the form of detailed instructions. For example, your topic may sound like this: “How to reinstall Windows on your computer”? Your task will be to provide the reader with the step-by-step guide how to do this in the proper way. Make sure your conclusion contains the description and the picture of how the final result must look like. It is very important to give instructions in the chronological order, otherwise, the reader may make a mistake following your guidelines. The main idea is to help do something describing the whole process from the very beginning to an end.
These are the most frequently assigned types of an essay you are going to write sooner or later. That’s why it is recommended to learn more about their distinctive features. There is a good proverb:” The forewarned is forearmed”. If you are curious and learn more about essay types now, you will be able to save much time when you are assigned to write one of the above-mentioned essays. Follow the best tips for developing a great essay and you will see how the stressful and ineffective process of writing may turn into the creative and enjoyable pastime.