You’ve probably heard from students “oh not another essay”. If you are a student, this “nightmare” is already very familiar to you, but if you are not, prepare for this experience as well. This challenge will inevitably await you every semester. In addition to affecting your grades, it also speaks volumes about your maturity.
We often lack time, we are not inspired, the topic is not interesting to us, we’re more attracted to social life, sports, going to the cinema, etc. Besides, most students aren’t sure how to write a high-quality seminar paper. In these moments, it’s important not to panic and stay focused.
We have created a writing guide that will help you get through these moments.
How to write a good college essay? Let’s start!
Get organized!
It would be good if you’d start writing it at least 2 months before the deadline. In this way, you will get rid of the pressure and calmly approach the task. Determine the exact day and time that you will dedicate only to writing your paper.
Before you start writing, open the window to let in the fresh air, and clear your head. Make yourself a cup of coffee or green tea- a real little treat. Turn off your cell phone and take some time to devote to writing the paper. By no means you should’t lie down while writing your essay, sit at a desk with your back straight, and get to work.
Choosing a topic
You need to find a topic on which you’ll be able to express yourself in your best light. If you have chosen the topic yourself, then the process of writing this task is very easy for you. However, you will not always write topics that are interesting to you, but you must find satisfaction in writing and show your creativity. According to researchers, not everyone is a gifted writer and people struggle with topics they don’t know much about. However, you can always find professional aid online or ask some friends to assist you.
Literature research
Rule number 1 when it comes to writing “do not copy or just translate some text that you came across by chance”. This is how a bad paperwork is written. What you should do is thoroughly and patiently search the available literature, read more texts on this or similar topics. The goal is to make the theme clear and concise, primarily for you, so that you can understand it, and be able to successfully present it to others. Never write something that is not understandable. You can find literature in the library, on the Internet, going to the archives, etc.
Draft work
You caught yourself as an hour passed and your paper was left blank. Whatever comes to mind doesn’t seem good enough to get you started. Don’t panic: the trick is only in good organization. Make a good sketch first.
Divide the work into subheadings, prepare a framework (to make your final study look visual), and make a plan with realistic goals. There aren’t bad ideas, our warm recommendation is to write them down, since they are easy to rewrite or delete later on.
The structure
The structure of the essay is not something that is discussed but there is a specific form that must be followed (introduction, elaboration, and conclusion). Below we’ll bring you closer to this scheme.
The introduction
In the introduction, you should present the motivation for choosing the topic, the actuality of the theme, briefly the essence, and possibly some history of it. Motivation means answering the questions “Why does it matter?”; “Why are we investigating this?”; “What do we want to learn?”.
The body
Everything that we have hinted at in the introduction, we explain in detail and with arguments in the elaboration. All we have read and learned comes out here. We begin writing by highlighting the main characteristics, facts, and basic concepts. Here it would be good to stick to accuracy and conciseness.
It’s recommended to use as many examples, quotes, diagrams, charts as possible to bring the topic as close as possible to the readers. Your work won’t look nice if you just add information. Try to have some logical sequence and follow the course of the story. Your essay should be comprehensible and you should always observe it from the place of the one to whom it’s addressed. Would anyone understand it? The paperwork you’re writing should be the paper you want to read on the subject.
The conclusion
The conclusion is a cross-section of everything we have written about and what we have stated. The essay must not end abruptly, but we end with a clear message of what has been written about. The conclusion is brief, exhaustive, and clear. You can either sum up all the points or paraphrase the main message.
Double-check the essay
Before the final version, we advise you to take a break and leave the work for a few days. Free your mind, dedicate this time to enjoying and some other activities, relax.
When you feel ready, read your paperwork carefully again, piece by piece. Make sure there are no spelling and grammatical errors, check that the word count is satisfactory, etc.
For better insight, let others read it, in order to point out possible mistakes, or even give you a suggestion. All of this sounds a bit tedious, but keep in mind that it takes a lot of time and rewriting before printing the paper itself.
Citation and literature:
This is a segment that very often causes problems for students. Since we often rely on someone else’s texts or scientific articles, quoting and paraphrasing is an integral part of every essay. When quoting the words of the author, try to state precisely his name and surname, the title of the book, the year of publication, and the numbered page from which the quotation was taken. If you download content from the Internet, just refer to the site from which you downloaded the content.
A good essay must also contain a list of references as a separate chapter. The bibliography is made up of references, that is, a list of information sources that you have used. The Internet has provided us with fast and easily accessible information. However, to be professional, it is important to state where' or when we downloaded certain content.
If you have followed the instructions in order, there is no mistake – the essay will meet all the criteria. If you think you’ve done the job, be patient a little longer: do your best and read the whole text again. Correct all mistakes and ask yourself a few questions – does my work as a whole make sense? Could I complete it with some more examples? Did I get lost in writing and move away from the topic?
If you have removed even the slightest doubt that the work is not good, then congratulations! You did it! Be proud of your work and keep it. Who knows, maybe in the future you will be interested in the topic again, so expand it to a master’s or doctoral thesis!