How To Be A Better Essay Writer: A Step-By-Step Guide For College Students

How to write better essays? How to get the highest grade? What are some essay writing tips and tricks? These are questions that most college students ask themselves before sitting down to write an essay. It’s never too late to learn how to be a better essay writer, especially since there’s so much conflicting advice. This step-by-step guide will help you figure out what kind of writer you are and how to make yourself more successful in your academic career.

Outline And Research

Writing an essay is like telling a story, but you need to do your research first. Make sure you have all of your sources in order and ready to be used as you go along. Also, outline your essay before diving into writing it. Ensure that you know exactly where it’s going and how it will flow. It’s very easy to get lost in writing an essay if you don’t have a good idea of what needs to happen first, second, etc., so outlining your paper beforehand is key! And don’t forget to cite any outside sources properly; plagiarism is serious business! If you can avoid it, you should—and even if you can’t avoid it entirely, make sure your citations are correct. Always double-check everything when referencing something outside of yourself! It may seem tedious at times, but citing correctly will ensure that you always look professional. And professionalism matters—especially when looking for jobs or internships after college.

Drafting

Once you have an idea of what your paper will be about, it’s time to start drafting. When starting a new essay, follow these three simple steps: first draft, second draft and final draft. It’s important to remember that while writing your drafts and revising them, they should all be short. As you go through each stage of your essay writing process, take notes on what changes need to be made and how you want it to read (but always write in short sentences). Your drafting may change completely once you get some input from your instructor or classmates—or not at all! Either way, try not to stress yourself out too much; just work through each step one at a time.

Editing

First, you’ll want to tackle grammar, punctuation and spelling. You can check for these things in different ways; some people write their essays on a computer and then transfer them to their phone or tablet so they can proofread on an e-reader. Others prefer to use physical paper and pen. Whichever method you choose, spell check your work first—and if you have time, go through it multiple times until you’re satisfied that it’s perfect. If you don’t have time for multiple checks, enlist a friend or family member to proofread it! They might catch something you missed. Once your essay is clean of grammatical errors, consider adding transitions between paragraphs and sentences. This guide readers along as they read your piece. Finally, ask yourself if there are any words or phrases that could be cut out without losing meaning or changing tone. The fewer words you use overall, the better!

Proofreading And Revising

It’s always better to have someone else look over your work before turning it in for credit. That way, you can identify and fix any errors that might be glaringly obvious. If a friend is unavailable, try hiring an editor from sites like Elance (be sure to give yourself ample time to go through a review). You can also use software like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor. You may not notice every error in your paper, but if you run it through one of these programs, most of them will come up. After fixing all of those errors, it’s time to submit your essay!

Finalising Your Paper

The last step in writing an essay is to read over your work and revise it. And it’s a lot easier to see mistakes or places you could improve on if you proofread for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors as you go along rather than waiting until you have finished writing. Once you have written your first draft, give yourself a break of at least twenty minutes before tackling revision; coming back fresh can help prevent you from falling into a downward spiral of rereading and rewriting everything.

Disclaimer:

This article does not endorse the views of Qrius and/or any of its staff. Plagiarism is a serious offense that could lead to expulsion from university or student termination.

Qrius and/or any of its staff is not liable for the advice provided in this article and consumer discretion is advised.