8 Guidelines for Writing an Excellent Essay

According to research conducted on what students would like eliminated from their curriculum system, a majority of the students suggested essay writing. Not many students enjoy writing an essay as much as they enjoy other subjects. But regardless of whether you like writing essays or not, you will be involved in essay writing at one point in your college life.

So, what is essay writing?

An essay is a piece of a written document presenting the authors’ side of argument regarding a particular topic. Come to think of it; essays are the only part of your curriculum that allows you to give your thoughts and support them regarding a specific academic topic. So, as long you have the proper guideline, and you utilize the excellent grammar you are taught in school, then you will be good to go.

Below are eight guidelines for writing an excellent essay.

1. First, understand the essay prompt.

The essay prompt is the statement provided to the writer in the form of a topic, and they are usually followed by the question that the author must answer. This is the first and the most crucial thing that you need to understand before you begin doing your research. This is because your understanding of the essay prompt will determine the kind of written piece you will come up with. Thus, answer the following questions ones you read the essay prompt.

What is the topic?
What research should I do to have a great understanding of the topic?
What is the length of the essay?
How can I use what I have studied in class when writing this essay?
Is the prompt asking for my opinion, do I need to state the facts or the view of the credible scholarly sources?

Ones you have answered these questions then you will be good to start your writing.

2. Draft a thesis statement.

A thesis statement guides you into writing your essay based on the topic at hand. It consists of all the points that will be included in the body of the essay. Therefore, make sure to make it as attractive as possible, and ensure to cover all the aspects that you will need in your essay. Some of the information to include in your thesis statement include;

Your opinion or what you want to argue in the essay.
Include the audience that the topic is targeted to.

Things to note.

The thesis statement must always be in the first paragraph as an introduction.
It should be exciting and captivating since this is the part which drives the readers’ attention to want to continue reading the written essay. Therefore, make sure it is exciting and captivating as well.

3. Create an essay outline.

An essay outline is a draft from the thesis statement ad it consists of all the information that you will include in the body of the essay. You can create your essay outline in the form of points which you will later transfer to the body in the form of paragraphs.

Here are some tips for utilizing when preparing your essay outline.

Write a simple introduction.

An introduction is a part which contains the first info of what the essay is about. So, list down all the points which explain your topic and who the essay is addressed to.

The body.

This is the central part of the essay which contains your arguments and other supporting points. So, list down the points that you will discuss in your body.

Conclusion.

This is the last part of the essay that summarizes your topic and arguments. The conclusion is what determines whether you were supporting or arguing against the given issue. Write down the points that you wish to include in your end.

4. Consider starting with the body instead.

This is a tip to help you come up with the best-written piece of essay. Most essay writers have a problem coming up with a catchy introduction, and this may lead to a low rating. So, if you are not sure of what, to begin with, consider starting your essay by writing the body first. Then the body will guide you to come up with concrete ideas of what to write as the introduction.

5. Each paragraph should have a topic sentence.

This is another reliable tip that will help your essay appear more understandable and exciting too. Beginning every sentence of the paragraph with the topic sentence helps the reader to have a clear idea of what the section talks about. Other things to note when writing the chapter are that;

You should include quotes where necessary.
There should be contextual information.

These parts of the essay are included in the paragraphs as a way of defending your argument.

6. Ensure to sue a reliable source.

Apart from utilizing quotes and contextual points in your paragraphs, you also need to make sure that they entirely relate to your topic and are credible scholarly sources.

You need to have in-depth research of the scholarly sources before using them in your essay. Some of the most recommended sources include;

Academic journals.
School books such as textbooks.
Accredited authors’ books, and also the NPR articles.
Avoid sources like magazines, common or unverified online sources.

7. Check on the quality of the essay.

The final written paper is what determines whether you fully understood the topic or not, and it also tests your writing prowess. So, make sure each sentence of your essay make sense, and it is directly linked to the subject. Avoid adding fluff words to reach the word count as this may degrade the quality of the essay. Also, combine all the parts of an article including the conclusion at the end.

8. Proofread.

Proofread not ones or twice but as many times as you can. If possible ask someone who is better in essay wring than you are to give you their view of your written piece. Use proofreading tools such as the Grammarly to check on spellings and other grammatical errors that may be on the essay. The bottom line is, make sure you submit a piece that is worth high rating.