Essay Writing Tips

When a professor assigns any type of paper, the first response for many is, "Oh, no! I can't do this! How many pages again?"

This, however, is not the way to think, as this will lead students to feel overwhelmed—that the paper will be impossible to write. Instead, the thought should be, "What can I write about? What am I interested in?" Then, once a topic is chosen, one shouldn't look at the whole—look at the parts: the introduction, the body, the conclusion; the paragraphs, the sentences, the words. If a good sentence is written, with appropriate words, sentence structure, and tense, then the only thing to do is make sure the same tense is used throughout the paper, and that words, sentence structures, and sentence lengths are not overused.

When this system is followed, it renders the writing process much easier, and less overwhelming. Once the paper is finished, the results can sometimes even surprise the author!

To summarize:

1. Look at the parts—not the whole

·         Sections—introduction, body, conclusion

·         Paragraphs

·         Sentences

·         Words

2. Ensure that the paper as a whole does not clash

·         Same tense throughout the paper

·         Make sure words, phrases, and sentence structures and lengths are not overused

If more guidance is needed than what I can provide, I have been informed by numerous professors that the Purdue Owl is one of the best writing help sites online.

Thank you for reading this post, and I hope that it helps both struggling writers and budding authors alike!