10 Mistakes to Avoid in Essay Writing
Essay Writing Mastery Essentials: Tips, Strategies, and 10 Mistakes to Avoid
Introduction
In the 1839 play “Cardinal Richelieu”, English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton is first cited stating that “the pen is mightier than the sword.” Edward had observed that while the sword could wage wars, the pen could sway cultures for generations.
Almost 500 years later, the pen has maintained its powerful allure with words carrying incredible power to convince, persuade, and inform people.
It is no wonder essay writing is such a popular skill taught and tested in high schools, colleges, and tertiary levels of education. Essay writing is about crafting compelling, persuasive, and informative narratives while avoiding a number of snags.
Just like riding a bike, essay writing is a skill best mastered through practice. But before mounting the bike, I want to arm you with some basic needs to know.
Come with me as I outline a bunch of essay-writing strategies, tips, and some obvious mistakes you can spot from a mile away and duck.
Let us harness your power of effective essay writing through strategic planning, meticulous execution, and a steadfast commitment to avoiding common errors.
What is an Essay?
An essay is any prose form of writing in which you will be required to discuss a particular subject.
Its non-fictional nature characterized by a focus on a particular topic with a clear thesis and structured presentation of a central idea makes it a common academic and professional communication tool.
Essay writing is meant to convey information, argue points of view, analyze topics, or narrate stories through creative writing.
Key features of an essay
An introduction is the typical foundational paragraph of an essay that gives background information about the topic and outlines the main point the essay will be discussing.
The next section of the essay is the body which is typically comprised of several paragraphs that discuss different supporting ideas about the main point. These are backed with supporting evidence from reliable sources.
Essay writing employs transitions that link ideas and guide comprehension from one to the next for logical flow and coherence.
Finally, a typical essay will contain a concluding paragraph that summarizes the discussion, highlights implications, and could also suggests areas for further discussion.
Other defining elements of an essay include varied sentence structures, a purposeful tone, audience consideration in terms of tone and style, and finally clarity and conciseness in language for effective communication.
What is the importance of writing planning?
Writing a research paper or any other college essay without a plan is akin to setting sail without a destination or compass. Planning upfront almost guarantees you will deliver a coherent essay.
Mastering essay writing has to begin with mastering planning since this is the foundation upon which the structure of the essay is birthed, thoughts are organized and key points to be explored are identified.
Essay planning will guide you to write clearly, and coherently and form the basis for a compelling argument.
Each paragraph becomes a streamlined contribution to the overall narrative by strategically placing arguments and evidence making an easy roadmap for the reader to follow.
Simply put, essay planning helps you develop a logical structure by organizing ideas and preparing the best evidence to support the argument and avoid writer’s block.
Tips for Writing a Winning Introduction Paragraph
Since our essay-writing plan is at hand, let me show you how to capture your essay readers’ attention from the onset and excite them to read on with a captivating hook.
I am sure you have opened a video on YouTube and immediately left the page because the introduction was either too long or it did not “catch you”.
To write a captivating introductory paragraph, first note that you have to keep it short and very catchy. Go straight to the point with a memorable statistical fact, famous quote, common misconception, controversial statement, shocking fact, or pose a question.
A hook can also be a short anecdote but it shouldn’t be cliché, a dictionary definition, or a generalization with sweeping statements like “always”, and “everywhere”.
Include the word “you” at the beginning and associate it with the pain point you will be writing about so that the reader knows it is worth reading and it is meant for them. You can also
Once you have your reader hooked, explain to them what the essay will be discussing. State the main point and context of the essay.
While keeping the introduction not more than 9% of the total word count, wrap it up with a thesis statement as the last line.
If this already sounds like a mammoth of a task, you can always seek professional essay writing help online while to take a rest. I understand college can be a lot!
What is a thesis statement?
Everybody rushes to look for a sentence or two that condenses the argument of an essay early before reading through and this is what is called the thesis statement.
The statement which comes at the end of the introduction paragraph which states the specific argument which the whole essay will be attempting to prove.
What is the significance of the thesis statement?
A thesis statement serves two main purposes in an essay: first, it gives the essay direction and focus and second, it condenses the main point of the essay for the reader.
It answers “why” and “how” about the topic, invites debate, and guides the essay content. Here is my cheat; combining a specific noun + action verb + an assertive predicate gives you a perfect thesis statement for your essay.
Here is an example:
“The tax policies of the current administration (specific noun) threaten to reduce the tax burden on the middle class (action verb) by sacrificing education and health-care programs for everyone (assertive predicate).”
So if you are still wondering why your essay should contain a thesis statement, it is to distill the main idea into a sentence or two for better organization and development of your essay.
By stating exactly what your essay will be discussing, it will guide the reader and justify your discussion before they go too far.
We already hooked the reader and now we have their full attention, it is now time for the rubber to meet the road.
Writing Strong Body Paragraphs for an Essay
Body paragraphs are the supporting texts that back up the thesis statement we just formulated for the essay. A classic college essay should have at least 3 body paragraphs.
A typical body paragraph has three sections: the topic/key sentence, supporting sentences and a closing sentence. This combination keeps it clear and concise to the main idea.
What is a topic sentence?
It is the first sentence on every body paragraph that states the point that will be discussed on that paragraph of the essay. It serves to prepare the reader for what you are about to prove.
What is a supporting sentence?
These contain statistics, examples, research findings and text citations that back up the claim stated in the topic sentence.
The textual evidence from both primary and secondary sources to back up your thesis statement claim are the flesh on the body paragraphs.
What is a concluding sentence?
This is the last line of the body paragraph and that summarizes the information mentioned on that paragraph before moving to the next.
5 Tips on how to write impactful body paragraphs
Theoretically, the reader should be able to understand the outline of the idea on a paragraph from reading only the topic sentence.
However, to make the paragraph more compelling, we recommend the following tips:
- Debunk the Topic sentence
Each of these body paragraphs should be supporting the thesis statement by providing background information or contrasting viewpoints. Do not parse many discussion points on one paragraph and keep only one main idea per paragraph.
- Give evidence
To prove why your argument is stronger on the subject matter, you need to present facts and arguments from other credible sources. Referencing primary sources like books, journals, peer reviewed articles or personal experience adds credibility and the reader will trust your claims more.
- Analyze the evidence
You need to ensure the evidence works in service to your thesis statement by linking it to the main idea. Explain, expand, comment or interpret the evidence to show prove your point.
- Prove your objective
Here, I suggest that you show what the claim on the topic sentence has proven and ties back to the main thesis statement. This will serve to solidify the connection between the point and what it was trying to prove.
- Provide paragraph breaks
Before introducing a new topic, point, contrasting idea or, give the reader a white space to breath. Don’t pack too much information on one paragraph. Paragraph transition breaks bridge the reader from the current topic and deposits them to the new albeit related idea.
Before we move on, I’d also recommend that you make it a habit to reread what you have written as you move.
Revising your essay as you write helps you eliminate redundant words or points, keeps the writing concise with new ideas and maintains the clarity of the essay.
Want to learn more about college essay writing? Check out this link.
How to incorporate evidence to strengthen your essay's arguments
Writing an essay is like trying to convince jury with valid arguments using evidence. When writing essays, we use evidence to persuade the reader to accept our claim.
Relevant evidence works like cheese luring the reader to your assertions. Evidence may be quotation from a poem, data from an experiment, findings from other people’s research or peer reviewed journals.
Add onto evidence that agrees with your argument, and against evidence that contradicts your stance to strengthen your position.
Debate sources against each other like a discussion on a panel using quotations to support your assertions.
How to incorporate evidence correctly in an essay
Choose relevant evidence; your evidence should have a direct correlation to your thesis statement. It should also be recent (less than 10 years old), pertinent to your topic and credible.
Introduce evidence clearly and seamlessly; clearly show your reader how the evidence relates to your discussion to avoid abrupt transitions. Use signal phrases like “According to,” “As noted by” to introduce a quotation.
Give context for stats; a reader needs to understand the methodology used to collect statistics and this context helps them to understand the significance of the data.
A variety of consistent, well formatted, accurate and reliable evidence will make your essay appear more professional and should marry with the main argument.
While avoiding overloading evidence on an essay, you should cite evidence correctly using the appropriate citation style for accurate attributions to avoid plagiarism. See below how to use using the various citation styles:
How to cite Sources Correctly on college essays
Citing sources correctly is part of the credit scores on your academic college essay. There are three common citation styles used in college essays -APA, MLA, and Chicago—and here is how to use them correctly:
1. APA (American Psychological Association) Style:
APA stands for American Psychology Association and is mainly used to cite sources in social sciences such as psychology, sociology, and education.
The in-text Citations that defines APA includes the author's last name and the year of publication separated with a comma e.g. (Trump, 2018).
Finally, a list of all sources is arranged alphabetically by the author’s second name and the bibliography labeled as “References”.
Example In-text Citation:
"The impact of technology on cognitive development is a subject of ongoing research (Trump, 2018)."
Example References Entry:
Trump, D. (2018). The Digital Mind: Exploring Cognitive Changes in the Internet Age. Academic Press.
2. MLA (Modern Language Association) Style:
MLA is used to cite sources in humanity, literature, arts, and language courses. Intext citation in MLA includes the authors last name and page number instead of year of publication without a comma between them e.g. (Trump 27).
All sources used on the essay are also listed alphabetically by the author’s last name.
Example In-text Citation:
"The poet's use of symbolism reflects the complexities of human emotion (Trump 27)."
Example Works Cited Entry:
Trump, D. (27). Symbolism in Contemporary Poetry. Oxford University Press.
3. Chicago Style:
The style is not very common but is used in disciplines like history and some social sciences. It uses footnotes for bibliography which are also listed alphabetically at the end and superscripts (7) for in-text citation.
Example Note Citation: "The city's architectural heritage is a testament to its rich history."¹
Example Bibliography Entry: ¹Trump, D. Architecture through the Ages. Chicago University Press, 2017.
General Tips for All Styles:
Be keen and consistently use the same citation style throughout the essay. Also, follow style guidelines for punctuation, italics, and formatting. Include URLs or DOIs and date of access for online sources as per the style requirements.
Mastering these citation styles is essential for scholarly writing, ensuring that your work is both accurate and respectful of intellectual property.
Consult the respective style guides for comprehensive information and examples on citing various types of sources.
Overcoming Writer's Block
I bet you are wondering what is writer’s block and I guarantee you it is not a fun hood but I want you out of it!
It is a condition where you run out of things to write. Expert writer Mike from The University of Illinois describes it as when you are unable to begin or continue writing despite the strong will and ability to write.
Writer’s block is a creativity slowdown that manifests as demotivation, lack of ideas, fear of failure, perfectionism, procrastination, or feeling uninspired to write which is very common even to great professional writers.
It emanates from fatigue, stress, lack of confidence or pressure to deliver and is very common among college students while writing essays.
9 Simple Ways to Combat Writer’s Block
Finding inspiration and dealing with writer's block to start and finish writing your essays can be challenging. With these strategies, you can navigate through and spark your creativity:
1. Take Breaks and Recharge: Take a moment and engage in another activity that will relax your mind like a short walk or listen to a song.
2. Change Your Environment: break the monotony of where you are writing from and move to a different space. Changing scenery has been known to spark new ideas and stimulate fresh perspectives in writers.
3. Freewriting or Brainstorming: write freely without minding about accuracy or speed for some time allowing your mind to flow freely.
4.Set Small Goals: break down the task into small manageable milestones like subtopics. Seeing yourself complete these small tasks will boost your motivation and confidence to continue.
5. Read and Research: Explore new ideas from books, essays, or related articles can trigger inspiration and more ideas to continue with your writing.
6. Discuss Your Ideas: If you are feeling stuck writing, hearing your own thoughts out loud while explaining them to a friend can also spark creativity within and help you get over the block.
7. Create an Outline: one of the reasons why planning writing before embarking on working on an essay is to avoid writer’s block. Having a structured outline provides a roadmap for your essay and makes it easy to overcome writer’s block.
8. Change Your Writing Time: Experiment with writing at different hours of the day. You might discover that you are more creative during certain hours like mornings than mid-day.
9. Reward Yourself: - whenever you achieve a writing milestone such as a number of pages or topics, celebrate with a small reward to keep yourself motivated.
Remember, writer's block is a common challenge, and finding inspiration is a process. Be patient with yourself and try different techniques to discover what works best for you.
5 tips for managing your time and writing effective essays during exams or under tight deadlines
Writing essays with tight deadlines results in concentration pressure which could potentially make you to write poor quality essays, score poor grades or miss deadlines all the same.
To avoid this, effective time management and strategic planning is paramount in addition to these 5 hacks:
- Quick Prompt Analysis
Before embarking on the actual writing, ensure you understand the essay prompt and all the key instructions. Highlight all the pertinent details you need to address to remain focused and on course.
- Get Help from Professional Essay Writers: there are experienced online essay writers with the skills, experience and expertise to work with tight deadlines and deliver high quality college essays.
- Clear Thesis and Outline: When paired with a comprehensive outline with logically organized ideas, a concise thesis statement will guide you while writing your essay and help you complete the essay in time.
- Concise Writing Style: to save time, avoid being verbose on your writing and go straight to the point. Straightforward language will avoid unnecessary details and convey your ideas effectively thus saving time.
- Practice Under Time Constraints: During your free time, practice timing yourself to write essays and be familiar with the process and enhance effectiveness when writing under time procedure.
The Role of College Essay Writers
To unlock the full potential of your writing skills you can seek the invaluable assistance of professional college essay writers.
These seasoned experts who play a pivotal role in guiding students through the intricate landscape of essay writing, offering personalized support tailored to individual needs.
By leveraging their expertise, students not only enhance their writing abilities but also gain insights into effective strategies for overcoming the challenges inherent in essay composition.
Our team of dedicated writers is ready to provide the support you need to excel in your academic journey. Contact us today and embark on a path to writing excellence!
10 Common Essay Writing Mistakes and Steps to Avoid Them
Writing an essay is fun and easy ones you get the gist of but it can also prove to be a challenge when you are not keen about it.
While you can always seek professional essay writing help, you should also learn to be keen and avoid these simple mistakes when writing essays.
Here are ten such mistakes to be aware of and proactive steps to elude them:
- Lack of Understanding of the Topic
Most college students embark on writing an essay without comprehensively understanding the essay prompt therefore missing the key requirements being tested.
The solution to this mistake is doing thorough research and ensuring a clear understanding of the topic before starting to write.
- Poor Planning and Time Management
As aforementioned, essay writing planning is very integral in the process. Most college essay writers and students underestimate this step.
Instead, they should first structure a plan, set a realistic time plan and clear their schedule to write an essay effectively.
- Weak Introduction
The mistake that emanates from a weak introduction is that the writer fails to captivate the reader from the onset of the essay.
Alternatively, take your time and craft a strong opening as discussed earlier, clearly stating a strong thesis statement and setting stage for a winning essay.
- Lack of Clarity and Flow
This results to an essay that lacks coherence and ideas do not flow smoothly.
The solution to avoid this mistake is to use clear transitions to bridge ideas from one paragraph to the next.
- Neglecting Evidence and Examples
The support you accrue to your argument should be supported with credible evidence and factual information which should be correctly cited.
Including accurate citations to back your evidence will greatly increase the authenticity of your essay and bolster your assertions.
- Overly Complex Language
Using too many jargons and complex language might confuse the reader or lose the intended meaning all the same.
Opt to use clear language that is easily understandable by your target audience instead of complicated words.
- Ignoring Counterarguments
While arguing out points and ideas on an essay, ensure you also address counterarguments.
Refuting counterarguments will strengthen your assertions since it demonstrates nuanced comprehension of the subject you are discussing.
- Inadequate Conclusion
Essay writers commonly conclude their essays without making a summary of the key points.
The conclusion of an essay is as important as the introduction since it reinforces your arguments throughout the essay. Conclude your essay well to leave a lasting impression on your audience.
- Inconsistent Tone
The main mistake here is shifting from one tone to another throughout the essay which confuses the reader.
Instead, you should be consistent and maintain a single tone through out to sound professional and ensure your ideas tie well together coherently.
- Clichés and Overused Phrases
Inexperienced writers make the mistake of overusing phrases and adding so many cliches in the essay which make the essay sound stale.
To avoid this mistake, strive to use unique expressions and learn fresh language to write an outstanding essay.
Keeping off these 10 common mistakes when writing your essay will elevate your writing skills and ensure you deliver high quality and compelling essays.
Conclusion
As we conclude this exploration into "Essay Writing Mastery Essentials," remember that essay writing is a powerful tool, akin to the enduring might of the pen.
Crafting compelling narratives involves mastering planning, honing thesis statements, and strengthening arguments with evidence.
Don't shy away from seeking professional help or overcoming writer's block; these are part of the writer's journey.
By avoiding common mistakes and embracing strategic tips, you'll ascend to essay excellence. The journey may have challenges, but with our guide, you're equipped to navigate the intricate landscape of essay composition.
Contact us for personalized support, and let's embark together on the path to writing mastery!