How to Become a Good Essay Writer: 5 Practical Tips

Many students dread writing assignments, and it’s understandable. The writing process can be challenging to navigate through if you don’t know the basics. However, nobody was born a great author. You have to practice in order to build your “writing muscle.” Or you can apply to Best Custom Writing and use it as reference for your future essay. In this article, we’ve compiled a list of five tips that will help you write better essays.

Ask for Help

Writing can be tricky, especially if you’re a beginner. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you feel confused. Most educational institutions have specialized writing centers where you can find additional resources. You can also use EssayService and get perfectly written drafts. With the assistance of expert writers, you’ll easily handle your current assignments and learn how to deal with similar tasks in the future.

Another way to build your writing skills is to take classes or online courses. This option requires commitment as you’ll need to deal with some extra writing assignments in addition to your usual coursework.

You can also find a tutor who will look through your drafts to determine your strengths and weaknesses and offer personalized guidance – having someone to talk through your struggles in writing with helps a lot. Even professional writers often have mentors they refer to for advice.

Develop a Clear Outline

Organization is key. To plan your paper and make sure it follows a logical structure, you need to develop a detailed outline. It will help you overcome the fear of a blank page and avoid being stuck in the middle of the essay, not knowing what to write next.

The outline should be concise and focused. Treat it as a roadmap for your paper that marks major points of your work. It organizes your ideas in a logical order and helps incorporate evidence and comments.

A traditional outline for an essay includes three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. Each of them holds a brief note about the content of the section.

  • The introduction covers some general information and provides context. It must end with a solid thesis statement.
  • The body includes three paragraphs, each focused on a particular claim. Determine the focus of each body paragraph and include this information in your outline. You can also plan what evidence and comments you’ll use to prove your point.
  • The conclusion provides a summary of the essay and ties all the claims together.

A well-thought-out outline determines the success of your essay as it helps you stay focused on the task and make your piece coherent.

Edit Ruthlessly

Editing is the final and most important stage of the writing process. When you ask an essay writing service to help you with a paper, you can be sure that the author will double-check every detail to edit your essay ruthlessly. You should do the same thing when working on the assignment by yourself.

Editing is challenging for beginner writers. They often tend to be too lenient and limit editing to a grammar check. However, the process is much more complex. Here is how you can improve your draft:

  • Eliminate fluff;
  • If necessary, don’t be afraid to make structural changes like reorganizing the order of paragraphs;
  • Make sure the essay has smooth transitions between ideas;
  • Every claim you make in your essay should refer back to the thesis statement;
  • Add supporting ideas if your point isn’t clear;
  • Pay attention to style, subject-verb agreement, punctuation, spelling, pronoun references, and sentence structure.

Beware of Plagiarism

An important part of being good at academic writing is to learn how to work with sources and avoid plagiarism. Intentional or not, it is a serious offense. A single plagiarized sentence in your work can undermine all your efforts.

You should always acknowledge the use of someone else’s ideas and give proper credit to the author. It involves learning how to quote, paraphrase, and summarize information as well as to provide citations. Note that plagiarism doesn’t only refer to copying someone else’s work word-for-word. It’s also about copying ideas. Every time you use material that doesn’t belong to you, even if you summarize or paraphrase it, cite it properly and help the reader locate the original source.

How to cite your sources? Citation methods vary from department to department. Some of them use common systems like APA, MLA, or Chicago, while others develop their own citation manuals. So make sure you clarify the citation method with your instructor.

Practice As Much As Possible

You can read a hundred guides to better essay writing, but if you actually want to improve your writing skills, you need to practice too. Your initial goal is to make yourself more comfortable with writing consistently. Try a freewriting technique to get started. It allows complete freedom of expression. You can write anything you want for as long as you want. Even a 5-minute practice will help you progress if you do it daily.

The next step is to write with a purpose. You can find essay prompts online and use them to practice. Be mindful of this task and try to organize your writing process properly. Start with brainstorming and outlining, and go on until you have your first draft. It’ll teach you how to approach any essay prompt. Commit to this practice for at least a month, and you’ll be amazed by the results.

To Sum Up

When you take a closer look at the basics of essay writing, it doesn’t even seem too difficult. Everything revolves around organization and attention to detail. Keep our tips in mind when working on your next essay, and you’ll notice improvements in your writing in no time. It requires some conscious effort to progress. Yet, the results are definitely worth it as good writing skills will help you be successful in school and beyond.

 

Kimberly Atwood’s books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. Kimberly lives in the Rocky Mountains with her husband, an exceptionally perfect dog, and an attack cat. Before she started writing historical research, Kimberly got a graduate degree in theoretical physical chemistry from Ohio State University. After that, just to shake things up, she went to law school at the University of London and graduated summa cum laude. Then she did a handful of clerkships with some really important people who are way too dignified to be named here. She was a law professor for a while. She now writes full-time.

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