Writing a great college-level essay requires a lot of critical thinking involving beginnings, middles and ends. It’s never a good idea to start thinking about an essay the night before it’s due. It usually creates a number of headaches for students and causes high levels of stress. What students should do instead is make sure to have read plenty of content beforehand to at least give them a chance to make plans for completing their assignments. Here are some tips to make your essay shine:
Make a plan the moment you receive your assignment from your instructor. Schedule days for research and days for writing. Be sure to include plenty of time for revisions, proofing and editing. Plan for unexpected distractions and be sure to give yourself a few days off. Crafting a great paper isn’t just about getting the content down; it’s about getting the best content and organizing in a form that clearly transfers your ideas to your reader.
Your introduction is one of the most important components of a well-written essay, but it’s also one of the hardest to write. Many students don’t know how to start, and while there may be different approaches, a great introduction will usually have a great hook, and a few great sentences leading up to a well-thought thesis statement that clearly expresses your central argument.
Your body paragraphs may feel a little disorganized if you don’t have great transition sentences leading your reader from one topic to the next. This is a skill many students don’t bother practicing. But in ignoring transition sentences you run the risk of leaving your readers tremendously confused and even annoyed. Spending more time mastering these kinds of sentences will greatly improve your writing.
Your paper needs to come to a close and your conclusion paragraph accomplishes just that. It shouldn’t simply summarize your major arguments in your work; instead, it should show your audience how your points relate to one another and how they work together to prove your central argument. The process is called synthesizing and you should spend plenty of time learning how to get it right.
Now that you’re done with your paper you might find that your thesis can be improved if you revise it so that it fits the rest of your paper. This is fine. You want to take every opportunity to make your work comprehensive and connected. So if any part of your thesis doesn’t feel right, go ahead and change it.
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