Tips on Writing Essays

Tips on Writing Essays

Most college and undergraduate courses require writing essays. In general, instructors will give detailed guidelines on what they expect in a term paper. Some essays, such as those in political science classes, tend to be more argumentative in scope, and thus require an approach that proves (or argues) a position with supporting arguments. Alternatively, a research paper’s main purpose is to inform, describe, review the existing literature on the subject and stimulate discussion.

Pointers on how to write a successful essay are numerous, but some simple rules do exist. For example, a good essay requires a thesis. A thesis is a very short summary, typically one or two sentences, which briefly summarizes what the paper is about. Likewise, each paragraph must have a topic sentence, which could be viewed as a mini thesis, to simplify things. As a rule, each idea gets a paragraph, and thus a topic sentence. Also, a paragraph is made up of at least two sentences. Grammar, syntax and linguistic structure are beyond the scope of the present short article, and are thus omitted from the present discussion.

A very important part of writing academic essays is to avoid plagiarism! Indeed, most higher learning institutions, as well as schools, have very strict policies regarding plagiarism. But what constitutes plagiarism? Plagiarism refers to taking someone’s writing and presenting it as your own, without proper citation and referencing. In fact, even copying another person’s idea without giving the original author credit represents plagiarism, a very serious academic offence, which could get a student to receive a failing grade on an assignment, fail the course or even get expelled from college or university in some cases.

Instruments for good writing in the past. Photo by Elena

Confusing? Some students wonder how they are supposed to review existent research and present scientific findings, or discuss literary works, without repeating what others have said. The answer is actually quite simple: paraphrasing, citing sources and properly referencing the authors and works text appeared in. Interestingly, several referencing styles exist, such as the APA, MLA and Chicago. More often than not, a professor will be clear about which style is best to use in the field, or for a particular assignment. Tips on how to properly reference may even be found in the course syllabus.

Another key factor in writing essays is a balance between broad scope vs. specialization. To illustrate, during my first year of undergraduate studies, a professor teaching perception introduced himself on the first lecture. I remember he talked briefly about his specialization in the field, a depth of inquiry most students in the introductory class will not ever reach for several reasons. Mostly, because specialists are valued precisely because specializing in the study of a particular subject permits one to gain insight and experience to a level unreachable to most, not only because of talent and natural abilities, but also because of personal interests, and also time invested. Actually, there is a theory in psychology stating that anyone can become an expert on a subject, provided they invest and spend 10,000 hours practicing, learning and mastering the topic or task at hand. But we digress…

To make a long story short, the professor also talked about his personal interests, such as scuba diving and alpine hicking. Therefore, a well-rounded essay is somewhat similar to a person with varied interests. To get a good mark, it is important to answer the question and fulfill the requirements of the assignment, but also to become an expert (term used lightly here as a metaphor) on the topic, to specialize and yet, to look at the issue from different viewpoints, hence the broad scope analogy. An outline may come in handy to organize points and statements one wishes to go over. Further, a first or rough draft may also be helpful before the revised, final draft is handed in. Hopefully, the present paper has achieved its purpose, which was to attempt to briefly describe the main tips, pointers and guidelines on how to survive in academia by writing successful essays and term papers.

Essay Writing Tips

To write an essay, it’s important to first decide what is the purpose of said essay. Some essays are argumentative, others informative. For example, an essay written in a political science course is likely to be argumentative, while one written in psychology is more likely to be informative. Also, it’s important to keep within the scope of an essay. Some topics are so broad that it is impossible to cover everything in a mere 1500 words.

If you’re writing for academic purposes, in the sense that you are writing for school, the most important point is to follow the assignment’s instructions. A professor usually gives a hand out describing what is expected of students writing the essay. A crucial, fundamental point is to avoid plagiarism at all costs. Plagiarism is any instance when you portray someone else’s idea as your own, thus not necessarily a verbatim copy.

Writing tips for smart ladies. Photo by Elena

To avoid plagiarism, use references in the text and in the references section at the end. The way you reference your sources depends on the citation style that you choose. Again, if the essay is for school, college or university, the assignment hand out or digital file will usually specify the referencing style to use. The style also depends on the subject being studied. Political science uses MLA or Chicago School, whereas psychology employs APA.

Finally, in choosing sources make sure you have reliable information. A good way to find authoritative sources in a subject is to use Google Scholar, where many academic articles from journals are published free of cost. In the advanced search box you can specify the date of publication and where key words should be (as in appearing in title). The recommended time range is usually five years, to get recent, relevant articles. In conclusion, to write a good essay you must become an expert in the subject, so it is fundamental to read a lot before starting to write, it will also help with writer’s block.