The most successful students enjoy essay writing so much because it is a chance for them to "shine bright like a diamond" in class. They like to express their opinions in a sophisticated manner and mold separate ideas into a well-developed piece of writing. However, for the rest of students, writing an essay might most probably seem a daunting challenge. Very often, students run out of ideas and don't have a clue how to write impressive essays this time again.
So, we have come up with a list of tips how to write better essays.
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Read essays of other people
Remember how reading books helped you to better express your thoughts? As you read more and more books of different authors, you became more knowledgeable and it was easier for you to elaborate on your writing style. The same thing works with writing essays. When you read essays of your peers and academics, you will improve your writing style and enrich your academic vocabulary. When reading essays, it is not necessary just to find those that refer to your area of interest: get familiar with individual writing styles and see how different people write essays on different subjects. This practice will surely help you pick up interesting writing techniques to implement them in essays of your own.
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Expand your vocabulary and learn how to use it
Proper academic vocabulary will help you deliver your thoughts and ideas in a clear and succinct way. Remember that you should not cram your essays with clichéd phrases as well as flowery and lengthy word structures. As a rule, people reading essays like the ideas to be clear, concise, and written in brief and informative sentences without any unnecessary details. Besides, developing your vocabulary also provides an impression of you as an intelligent person. When you have learned how to convey your opinion and ideas properly, you will be more persuasive in your writing.
To enrich your vocabulary, you might consider:
- subscribing for a "word a day" email, which will help you learn new words and recall the forgotten ones;
- reading fiction and technical literature;
- using a thesaurus while writing
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Learn words and structures that are used in developing arguments
It is very important not to repeat yourself when you develop an argument. Therefore, you will have to write down different useful structures that will enrich your vocabulary in paragraph development. In particular, consider using transitions to ensure smooth flow of ideas between paragraphs.
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Pay attention to the tone of writing, syntax, and punctuation
Ask yourself a question, "Would my tone of writing be interesting for me if I was reading my own essay?" If your answer is "Definitely, no" or if you have some hesitations regarding the answer, it's high time to change something. Investigate some other pieces of writing and write down features that make those essays interesting to read. Then compare those interesting features with your own essay and see how you can improve your own writing style.
