How To Improve Your Academic Essay Writing Skills
For many students, the thought of writing essays brings along the unique challenge of making sure that it's better than the last one (or at least just as good as that last A+ essay). But, writing essays regularly can cause you to fall into a rut and use the same formula over and over.
How do you improve your essay writing skills? You can work to hone your skills on your own, or you can use the services of an excellent essay writer to help. If you're strapped for cash, honing your services can be a more cost-effective option, and we'll outline steps you can take below.
Make an Outline
One of the best things you can do to improve your writing is create an outline. This is important because it helps you organize your thoughts on what you want to say in your essay. A basic outline will help you narrow down your paper's thesis and create an argument with strong points. Your outline will include an introduction with the thesis, the body with separate paragraphs that support the thesis, and a conclusion that connects all of your points. Ideally, you want at least three solid points to support your thesis.
Use the Correct Vocabulary
How you use your language skills is very important, especially when you're writing academic papers. The entire goal of an academic essay is to persuade people that you are an expert on your paper's topic. If you use big words just to sound smart without understanding what the words mean, you can misuse them. Also, people know when you use big words to compensate for a weak argument. Lastly, using obscure wording can cloud the clarity level of your argument. Keep this in mind when you pull out your thesaurus to change a word into something more grand.
Get a Great Understanding of Punctuation, Grammar, and Style
Punctuation, grammar, and style are all very important components in your essay if you want your audience to understand your essay and take it seriously. You want to make sure you have a good understanding of pronoun usage, verb and subject agreement, and sentence structure. You also want a very good grasp on the common punctuation forms like commas and periods. Active voice is better than passive voice because it makes you essay stronger. Also, use concise language if it's possible.
Understand Your Essay's Argument
When you write your academic essay, make sure that you keep your main argument in mind at all times. It may tempt you to go off on an interesting tangent for your topic, and this can make your writing more convoluted. Before you put any evidence into your essay, ask if it supports your main thesis. If it doesn't, you should consider excluding it from the essay. You want to source the strongest evidence possible to support your essay's thesis.
Use the Elevator Pitch Writing Method
An elevator pitch is very popular with salespeople. You want to imagine yourself in an elevator. In the time it takes your elevator to reach your floor, you should have a compelling argument in place to entice a person to read your entire essay. You want to sell your essay's idea to your reader in a concise summary that leaves them wanting more. It's difficult because it forces you to be extremely concise in your writing and thinking to hook your audience.
Don't Forget Your Conclusion
Your essay should be strong from beginning to end, and a lot of people forget their conclusion. Your conclusion is extremely important because it's where you tie all of your points together and prove your thesis to your audience. You don't want to illustrate your introduction again, and you don't want to copy and paste your thesis. Instead, your conclusion will quickly outline your points and show how they support your thesis. Don't let your essay get derailed by a weak conclusion.
Vary Your Sentence Structure
You want to have a variety of sentence lengths in your paper to help it flow from one point to another. If you use a lot of short and choppy sentences, it can make your essay seem disjointed. Mix it up and use both short and long sentences throughout your entire essay. Also, keep an eye out for repetitive sentences. They can make it awkward to read your entire essay, as well.
Avoid Slang and Informal Expressions
Your essay should sound polished and academic. It can't do this if you pack it with informal expressions and slang. This means avoiding everyday vocabulary like “pretty” or “cool.” You want to write in the third person throughout your paper as well. This can help your audience connect to your paper on a greater level, and they're more likely to read it through from start to finish.
Research Your Subject
No matter if you choose your essay subject or your professor assigns it to you, research is key. Your research will be a foundation for the rest of your essay, and you should be able to find more than enough research to support your topic as a whole. When you lay out your points, make sure there's research to support them too.
Writing an essay doesn't have to be a huge issue, and we've given you several ways how to improve your essay writing skills. You can take them and incorporate them all into your papers, and this can help you get your points across and create concise, clear, and professional papers.
See Also: 12 Essay-Writing Hacks That Really Work
