The Secret to Writing the Perfect College Essay

The Secret to Writing the Perfect College Essay
Person holding blue ballpoint pen writing in notebook. Photo by picjumbo.com

Whether you're in high school or university, you'll inevitably be assigned an essay to write. It's the most common kind of homework given to students.  Writing essays is a great way to gauge the vital, real-world abilities of students including research, analysis, and persuasion. If you're curious about the answer to the question "why are great writing abilities important?" then keep reading!

Why essay writing is beneficial

Perfect essay writing abilities are necessary if you want to achieve respect and recognition in your field. Mastering the art of producing top-notch essays can help you stand out as a capable expert in the job market. Who knows, maybe one day you will even work at an essay writing service as an expert? What’s more, when we do research for an essay, we always collect new information. Students who write essays on many themes tend to read extensively and obtain a wide range of data. Thus, they acquire knowledge that is outside of their chosen field of study.

Now that you realize how beneficial it is to practice essay writing, you are probably wondering how you can improve it. Check the tips given below!

Happy diverse male students working on home assignments in the park.
Happy diverse male students working on home assignments in the park. Photo by Armin Rimoldi

How to make your essay better

  • Have a clear idea of what you want to write about.

While some people may sit down at a computer and start typing, expert writers realize there are numerous phases involved in the essay-writing process before they even start.

In a nutshell, before you start penning your thoughts, you should have an idea of what you want to express. Making an outline before you start writing might help you focus your theme and organize your arguments.

Your outline should include basic notes that map out your essay's intro, body (with distinct paragraphs that convey your primary ideas with lots of evidence and examples), and conclusion.

  • Build a firm foundation in grammar, punctuation, and style

In order to progress to more advanced essay writing strategies, a firm basis in grammar, punctuation, and style is required. Without these writing basics, you risk being misunderstood or having your ideas dismissed out of hand.

Subject-verb agreement, proper article and pronoun use, and coherent sentence construction are all examples of fundamental grammar skills. Take the time to ensure that you understand how to correctly employ the most frequent punctuation marks. Be aware of when a comma is needed and when a period is preferred.

Last but not least, the author's voice is crucial in an academic essay. Use the shortest words and phrases you can. Never use a transition word that isn't essential to the sentence's meaning or adverbs that don't offer anything to your argument.

  • Utilize appropriate terminology

Particularly when writing an academic essay, your language use matters. Keep in mind that you want to convince your reader that you know what you're talking about while composing an essay.

Overcompensating with fancy vocabulary in written communication rarely succeeds in making the writer seem more knowledgeable than they actually are.

One might easily misuse a term if they are unsure of its precise definition. You shouldn't feel bad about double-checking; doing so might prevent an awkward word choice. You should think twice before reaching for a thesaurus to find an alternative to a perfectly good term, as doing so might distort your point.

  • Evaluate the data critically

Remembering your core thesis is crucial while writing an excellent essay. Getting off on a fascinating aside may seem like a good idea, but it will make your writing less succinct.

To ensure that the evidence you include supports your argument, you should always ask yourself, "Would this directly support my assumption?" If "no," then it's generally best to disregard that piece of evidence.

Take a critical and methodical approach to analyzing the data. When supporting your theory, you should only utilize solid evidence. Just providing evidence to back up an argument is insufficient. Along with giving relevant and supported facts, a skilled writer will also offer explanations for their choices of evidence.

  • Effectively wrap up your research

In many cases, students fail to provide sufficient attention to the last section of their essays. All of your hard work culminates in a conclusion paragraph that demonstrates your argument. Your conclusion shouldn't just repeat your opening and thesis statement.

An effective conclusion provides a synopsis of the important points covered in the body of the essay and shows how these points relate to the thesis statement to either support it or refute it.

Poorly thought out or written endings have derailed many excellent essays. The next paper you write should not be one of those.

Author’s BIO

Sylvester Greer is a writer, blogger and content manager at an IT company. Sylvester loves doing research, so he often writes articles for science journals. In his free time, Sylvester also helps students complete their academic assignments and get better grades.