6 Ways to Upgrade Your Essay Writing Skills
Essay writing is a task every student receives. Basically, it is a short-sized piece of writing that describes one’s thesis. But the trick is not to only express your opinion on the subject, but to also provide some evidence or research to support it. Academic essays also have certain guidelines that can be different.
Being one of the most time-consuming chores in education, it’s no wonder students often give up or don’t even try writing an essay. The ones overloaded with tasks and having no idea on how to come up with a decent text should consider using a paper writer service. This will not only give you more time for the more important duties but will also provide a professionally written sample that should be used to learn from.
For those who want to polish their skills or learn how to become better, here’s a list of 6 ways to upgrade your essay writing.
Know The Basics
Acquiring a solid knowledge of the basic principles and concepts is a foundation for a decent text. You can’t expect your work to be taken seriously if there are spelling mistakes. Some of the topics you absolutely must know:
- Grammar - article and pronoun usage, building a sentence, noun and verb agreement.
- Punctuation - know when and where to put commas and dots.
- Size - try avoiding the usage of unnecessary words and huge sentences.
- Structure - know how to build paragraphs and what to fill them with. Don’t forget about the requirements and guidelines.
- Active voice - using it instead of the passive voice makes your statements sound stronger.
With the understanding of such fundamentals, you’ll be able to compose a text in a faster and more productive way. Moreover, it will raise your skills and comprehension of the language.
Read
Choose any type of books or articles you may be interested in. From fantasy to science news; you know better what suits you. At the start, simply read everything that captures your attention. It will make you get used to acknowledging information this way.
As your brain gets accustomed to reading, try focusing on the professional aspect. Spot bad word choices or wordy sentences and come up with what you would use instead. Analyze the text in front of you and try to understand why the writer made certain decisions.
A better idea is to choose the content based not only on preferences. This means reading certain articles or books that are relevant to the subject of an essay. For example, you need to write about how traffic changes the ecological situation in the world. Reading the information on how and why traffic fumes are released and how it can be solved would be very useful in this situation.
Practice and Analyze
Just like in any craft, trying over and over again with a mindful approach enhances your skill and knowledge. Obviously enough, there are many different types of assignments. From short and long to competitive and timed ones. Choose the one corresponding to your course and subject.
Find the purpose of practicing. It might be the improvement of grammar or the composition of an argument. Spot your weak points and work on them. Keep in mind that mistakes are your friends. Comprehension of what needs to be improved positively affects your performance. But only if you work on your downsides.
Remember, you’re never safe from failing or giving up. Being a human means overcoming weaknesses and becoming stronger. Just don’t give up, nobody produces a perfect piece of work immediately. Take your time and keep working on yourself.
Build an Outline
Before even starting the first sentence, you need to know what the text will be about. Not only that, but also what and where needs to be put. So, the first thing you need to do is to create an outline. A skeleton you will put your points and evidence onto. The most basic and common one looks like this:
- Introduction that includes the thesis itself and some background information;
- Body paragraphs usually come in pairs of two. Each consists of points, their explanation, examples, and evidence;
- Conclusion ties together the body paragraphs in a unifying theme.
Come up with the main ideas you want to express. Then, express and prove each one of them. Don’t forget about transitions between the sentences and topics.
Expand Your Vocabulary
Knowing what you write about is good. But it is worthless if the text itself isn’t understandable or lacks the correct word usage. One of the most common issues is when students make the writing overcomplicated with big words and terms they don’t understand. It is even worse when one uses the words randomly to make the statement look smarter.
The solution is simple. While reading, mark the unknown words. Look up what they mean and how the context changes the meaning. Don’t fill your essays with random terms, as it will have the opposite effect. It’s no shame to lack the understanding of some basic words. Yet, it’s a shame to remain ignorant.
Receive and Share Feedback
Ask your professors or classmates to review your essay. Make sure they are competent enough, though. Discuss the subject and share opinions on it. Spectate everyone’s different approach to expressing their thoughts and points. Organize groups dedicated to helping each other.
Different people may come with different solutions to the same problem. Writing is no exception. You might hear some useful tips on how to improve your text composition. Moreover, professionals will be able to teach you many skills you don’t have yet. It is way more efficient and productive to learn from someone.
Wrapping Up
These are only a few tips and tricks to make your assignments a less stressful and tedious experience. But don’t limit yourself to only these ones. Each one of us knows what works for them better. So don’t hesitate to present new strategies and techniques for everyone and keep progressing!