Table of Contents
#1. Warm up by Reading More
One of the easiest ways to get yourself in the groove is to open up new and interesting facets for your brain through reading.
Start by diving into your favorite blogs, books or even social media accounts. Concentrate on what makes them so appealing to you. By really focusing on their transitions, narrative sequence or simply their style, you can begin to find your own. You may see yourself using some of their lingo, turns of phrase or humor. You have to be quite critical about what you love and what you don’t.
Or you can forget about the same old websites you always visit and the same old topics you read about regularly. Take some risks with your reading materials and broaden your horizons. This technique offers up new opportunities for you to expand your vocabulary, expose your mind to new sentence structures and find new fascinating points of view.
Remember that according to Picasso, “good artists copy, great artists steal.” That doesn’t mean plagiarizing from your favorite authors. It actually means to draw up a list of influences, things that make you passionate, and use them in your own way.
#2. Dig Deeper Into Your Topic
Research is ride or die when it comes to good writing. It takes a little bit more work than just recklessly throwing it together but it is so worth it. An essay supported by evidence provided by reliable and well cited sources makes the writing much more put together and well thought of.
Your research process should not be in a hurry. While planning out your essay, give yourself sufficient time to go down a rabbit hole of books, links and Youtube videos. You never know which source will strike inspiration into you. Make sure you take notes of points that interest you which you would like to look further into later or to include in your essay. During this time, you could also gather up sources from which you can support your arguments. Be careful of weak references since they can destroy your credibility.
Don’t fall victim to an easy way out or essay writing services that give you a word count without any valuable content. Give the reader something to think about after finishing your custom essay.
#3. Outline Your Essay
Don’t throw yourself into the deep end. Outlining what you are planning to say is essential to saving time, energy and effort.
The easiest way to outline your essay is to follow the basic structure of an academic article. You can start with an introduction followed by the body and summed by the conclusion. Your introduction should preface your essay with hints of what it will include. When it comes to the body, three solid points supported by evidence are usually used to emphasize your argument. The conclusion should be the star of the show; use it to tie all your points together in an engaging and logical way.
This simple plan of action should protect you against any confusion or misdirection as you are writing.
#4. State Different Opinions
Our opinions are often formed by an accumulation of our knowledge throughout the years. The more we find out about the world, the more complex our view of life becomes. Writing a great essay is about this particular skill of translating accumulated knowledge into systematic and analytical arguments.
You can accomplish this by taking all of your research and taking a look at what other people are saying about your topic. Don’t be afraid to mention opposing points of view, they could actually help highlight your argument further. You can provide quotations of several scholars, authors or experts in the field of your study. However, be sure to check the origins of your citations and include authentic sources.
This cues the reader that your reasoning is the result of checking every angle and not just the first one you encountered.
#5. But, Don’t Forget Your Own
Don’t get lost in the he-said, she-said and forget to give your own interpretation. The main purpose of writing an essay is expressing yourself. Your own opinion is your most valuable asset so you should maximize it in your writing.
Using the previous points we mentioned, you can now discover your style, voice and judgement. For the reader, nothing is more meaningful than a personal account from the author. Include what you think, feel and believe about the topic of your writing and be sure that you will yield the rewards.
#6. Use the Active Voice
Now, let’s get technical.
A helpful tip that will elevate your writing massively is to use the active voice. It seems simple but it actually makes a huge difference. Just try keeping the subject of the sentence as the person performing the action at all times and see the results.
Using the active voice helps create a flowing narrative in your essay. It basically reduces your points into precise and efficient sentences. An extra plus to this feature is that it could help eliminate grammatical mistakes.
#7. Employ Relevant Vocabulary
A huge benefit to being well-read in the topic you are writing about is that you unconsciously absorb a lot of the relevant lingo. The more you learn, the more you speak the language.
It is beyond impressive to match the tone of your topic through using vocabulary, terminologies and features. It completely transforms an essay from okay to spot on.
#8. Stop Repeating Yourself
Nothing bores a reader more than repetition. It could be extremely difficult to avoid, especially when you are discussing a single idea in a long format. But it is absolutely detrimental to the flow of your essay.
Keeping a thesaurus nearby while you are writing is a great way to find other relevant synonyms to the most repeated terms in your essay. However, it can be tempting to use fancier words that are less meaningful to your text but you shouldn’t fall for that. Always go for simple and straight to the point vocabulary.
#9. End With a Bang
You are at the finish line. You are exhausted and ready to call it a night. But the looming fact remains, your conclusion is not done yet. Don’t be wooed by an easy way out. Conclusions are the key to highlighting the arguments of your thesis in a clear, concise and engaging way.
Use your finale to sum up your essay’s main points and outline your case as well as its defence. Remember that this is what you leave your reader with and it definitely counts.
#10. Edit, Edit, Edit
We know you have already practiced being critical of other people’s work. Now it is unfortunately time for yours. This is your chance to polish up your essay with a keen eye that could sometimes be too harsh. That eye should stay on the prize.
Focus on making those passive sentences active or shortening those run-on sentences. Make sure you have covered your points sufficiently or that your citations are authenticated. These last minute changes are sure to make your essay much stronger.
