As a college student, writing essays is a big part of your academic work. If you are new to essay writing, writing college level essays can be overwhelming, but it does not have to be this way. Most students end up unnecessarily seeking College essay help online from various sources, some of which are unreliable. Proper planning your research and writing process by breaking them down into easy steps can help to make the experience better each time. A Custom essay writing service can come in handy if you aren’t confident in writing your first essay.
The first college essay you wrote was your admissions essay. While this is generally a personal essay, college level essays are formal and require you to cite your sources. Before you start writing, it is important first to pick the most appropriate topic and come up with an outline before writing the actual essay. You can learn more about how to write an introduction for a research paper in our blog segment. Here is a comprehensive guide on how to write the best college level essays each time. There are different types of essays and each has a unique style and tone. Some of the most common Essay writings you’ll encounter include
- Reflective essay writing
- Profile essay writing
- Compare and Contrast essays
- Informative speech writing
- Persuasive speech writing
- Expository essay writing
Beginning your essay writing process.
Carefully read your assignment.
Before you begin the research process, you need to carefully review the assignment to ensure you have a clear understanding of what is required of you. Look out for keywords like ‘analyze,’ ‘explain’ or ‘compare and contrast.’ These words tell you what type of essay you are expected to write.
When you are asked to analyze a given topic, you are being asked to dig deeper into the topic and explain different components and how they work for the topic. A compare and contrast topic requires you to compare two subjects: stories, people, or titles.
Some assignment instructions come with notes on how the professor will grade your work. It is important to understand these marking criteria to ensure your work meets the guidelines to increase your chances of getting a favorable grade. Before you start writing, ensure your professor clarifies any areas of the assignment that are difficult to understand. You should also be farmiliar with the various writing and citations style.The assignment could be an MLA format essay, APA format essay or other various writing styles so ensure that you are clear on that.
Compiling your evidence and sources
Part of writing an academic essay is to support your writing with credible evidence and sources. The library is a great resource for literary references for your work. The internet is also a rich resource for academic references from authority sites and resources.
You will need to compile primary sources form the information articles you analyze and even letters written by the people in your paper. Secondary sources for your work include scholarly articles and books as publications made by experts in the field you are writing on. You will need to cite your secondary sources to show evidence of your argument.
If you experience a deadlock when looking for credible sources, you can seek help from the librarian or your professor. You can also refer to the course syllabus for useful texts. Most college universities are registered to academic research databased like J-STOR and EBSCO. You only need to log into the library website to gain access to these resources.
Brainstorming for ideas
With your research and sources, you are prepared to create ideas for your essay. There are several ways to brainstorm ideas based on your preference. When brainstorming, ensure you write down your ideas by hand as opposed to cramming them in your head.
One way to brainstorm for ideas is by writing the ideas and keywords in clouds or bubbles. You can draw lines between the clouds to show related concepts, while smaller bubbles can be used for terms related to larger ideas.
The use of bullet points is also an ideal way of brainstorming, which gives you a bird-eye-view of our ideas. You can list down examples for different categories, like the key elements and literary resources. You can also try freewriting or journaling if you want to get your creative juices flowing. Write down what you understand about the topic for at least 15 minutes, without censoring the ideas.
Organizing your ideas into an academic argument
Before you can start writing, you need to review your prompt, research notes, and brainstorming ideas. You need to write down the main points from your research, as this is what you will base your essay on. Revise these points in assertions that respond to the essay assignment requirements.
When organizing your ideas, find an overarching ideas or argument that includes the major points you want to address in your essay.
Write your thesis statement.
Your thesis statement will be made up of a clear and concise argument encompassing all the major points without going into detail. The thesis statement is meant to ensure you stay on track when writing your essay. However, you may need to tweak it as you develop your essay.
The thesis statement is included in the introduction. It is meant to inform the reader what the essay is about and the points you are trying to prove. Ensure you do not start a thesis statement with terms like ‘it will be shown that’ or ‘I will prove that.’ Instead, state your claim without using too many words.
As your essay begins to take shape, you should remember to tweak your thesis statement to ensure it matches your essay's body.
Writing your essay
Outlining the structure of your essay
Begin with writing the thesis statement at the top of the page and list down the body paragraphs in numbers or letters. In each paragraph, write down the main idea you wish to explore in the section. Under the main paragraph section, you can list down the list of points to be covered under the main point.
At this point, you can refer to your citations and sources and mark where you need to use them. For instance, you can include the citation to include next to a section like A (II) 3 as “Smith, French Poetry, p. 123.”
Outlining the essay makes it easier for you to write since you will only need to fill the details under each point to complete your writing process.
Writing your introduction
Depending on the assignment requirements, you can start your introduction with a statement that will grab the reader's attention. However, most academic essays go straight to the point with a brief introduction, followed by the thesis statement. The purpose of the introduction is to let the reader know what your essay is about.
The introduction should mention in brief the points and evidence you plan to use to prove your thesis. Some people prefer writing the introduction before writing the outline. Whichever process you choose, ensure you write a clear outline and a clear introduction for your essay.
Filling the paragraphs
This is the main part of an essay writing process. With your points clearly highlighted in sections and paragraphs, you need to fill out your paragraph with relevant information to put together your argument pieces. The use of transition statements is key when moving from one paragraph t the next. This will show a logical connection between your points and paragraphs.
Address a counterargument
While not necessary in most academic essays, a counterargument can be used to strengthen your thesis statement. Once you have built your argument, you can introduce an opposing perspective, and explain why it is not right and find evidence to prove it wrong.
The best way to address a counterargument includes refuting claims, where you provide evidence to weaken the opposing perspective and the use of rebuttal, where you table evidence to prove that your argument is stronger.
Write the conclusion
Once your article is fully formed, you need to close your essay with a strong conclusion. A conclusion is a repetition of the introduction written in different wording. You will need to restate the thesis statement in your conclusion and recap the evidence provided. You will also need to offer a resolution to the reader. Give them an insight or a broader implication of the argument you presented in the essay's body. You can also give them a practical way of applying the information in the essay.
Revise your essay
Once the essay is complete, you need to edit it and make changes before submission. Reading the essay aloud allows you to take note of the mistakes like abrupt transitions and convoluted sentences. Correct the parts that seem off or odd as you go along.
Take note of any areas in your essay that have repetitive sentence structures. Where possible, diversify your paragraph and sentence phrasing to make it more enjoyable and engaging to the reader. Ensure you use clear words in your essay to avoid confusing the reader. Always ensure you use active voice as much as possible throughout your essay.
When revising your essay, ensure you fix all spelling mistakes, typos, and grammar errors. Go through the essay one more time after making corrections, ensuring it has a natural flow and that it maintains the purpose of the assignment.
If possible, have someone else read the essay before you hand it in. once you are sure it is perfect, you can submit your work for marking. On this end a reliable and affordable writing service may come in handy as you can hire a cheap essay writer to edit and proofread your essay.
Writing college essays should not be complicated. With this guide, you will be able to create the best-written college level essays every time.
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