Essay writing is a burden that every student faces. Like it or not, it is an academic requirement to hone every student’s writing and comprehension skills. Thus, to keep the battle with composition a little easier on the mind, here are the five basic guides to great essay writing:
Pick an Interesting Topic
This is the first crucial hurdle to overcome in essay writing. Some writers unwisely breeze through this part without the proper understanding of what a topic exactly requires. As it goes, a topic fiercely demands both a comprehensive knowledge and a substantial amount of interest from the writer; wherein the former can be achieved through persistent research, but the latter cannot. Thus, it is never a good excuse to pick a topic for the sole reason of sounding intelligent or impressing someone (the teacher, perhaps). Those shallow reasons make the essay suffer, together with the essay writer, and ultimately followed by the essay grade. The right reasons then for choosing a main theme should always stem from either an ardent interest or from a solid point of view of the particular topic.
Get Guided by an Outline
Most times, the writer tends to be overwhelmed with all the personal opinions and information gathered for the essay that consolidating all these becomes a problem. This is where outlines come in handy. True enough, when a writer utilizes an outline for the piece, the writer’s jumbled thoughts strategically becomes sorted out, thus producing a smooth and cohesive flow of information. Aside from that, the use of outlines ensure that no relevant data will get bumped off from the essay. Indeed, with an outline, the writer is guided accordingly towards the path of easy readability and coherence.
Begin with a Captivating Introduction
As logic would have it, convoluted and long-winding introductions suggest to readers that the rest of the piece will probably be in the same mess, which then results to readers skipping the material altogether. That’s the value of a good introduction. Simply put, the introduction serves as a short sampling of what the readers can expect from the essay writing paper. It should ideally keep prospective readers on the edge of their seats, intriguing them just enough to actually delve into the entire piece. To achieve such a reaction, the writer should craft introductions that are short, direct, a bit mysterious, and a lot engaging. Specific methods may include a catchy quotation, a brief story, a thought-provoking question, or any other strategy that entices some level of intellectual participation from the reader.
End Strongly
Imagine all that hard work for an attention-grabbing introduction and a cohesive content body, only to be thwarted by a feeble ending? Writers should not lose steam on this area as the conclusion is the part where all the key points merge together into one united stand. Indeed, conclusions should always end with a strong note, providing that final emphasis on all discussed arguments.
Proofread
Read, Reread, Edit. Nothing ruins a supposedly good essay other than grammatical errors and unintelligible words. Grammatical errors pertain to writers who cannot be bothered to check their essays for a second time, while an overload of big words suggests a sort of writer haughtiness that can turn off readers.
There are other tips and guidelines to achieve great essays, but these five are the basic ones. It is best for students to learn and practice these tried-and-tested methods first before attempting to jump to other probable essay writing techniques.