Introduction: Essay writing is an art which can be picked up by anyone who is ready to take the right action to learn and evolve on the go. Many students struggle with essay writing not because they are bad writers but they don’t feel confident as in the role of a writer. If that resonates with you then you are at the right place.
In this article we will help you with tips that if followed correctly will surely make you a good essay writer or a fine writer in general.
We human beings are gifted with an innate talent called learning and when we start on a path of learning we get into a process. Rather, it will take a process to transition you from a plain writer to a writer with finesse.
No big deal, one can practice the writing skill and play around with words just like a juggler whose focus and skill makes their art look easy, yet its hard but they make it look so easy.
Also read our article on Best Gate Exam Preparation Strategy
Without wasting much time let’s get you guys rolling.
What is an Essay Writing?
To define essay we will not use the literal meaning of essay but will try to explain the essay from an academic point of view. How writing an essay can assess you as a student? What teachers are looking for in your writing when you submit an essay? These are the questions that will help you get the right perspective in general and help you create a clear understanding of essay writing.
The topic of essay serve as a question, when this question is answered in the essay it helps to assess the writer’s understanding on the topic and what strong arguments he/she provides to back up the ideas. Perhaps a single topic may have many different points of views at the same time depending on the perspective of the writer.
The point here is to not to be right or wrong on particular a topic but to be convincing enough on your thoughts and ideas on that question. In an independent piece of work one may have to choose to write in a third person. Many topics that are narrative in nature may require you to write in first person which again totally depends on the question asked in the essay.
Different types of essay writing?
We are going to jot down different types of essay but will not get into the technical details as this article is related to Essay writing tips so will focus more on that.
Here is the list of different types of essays
- Descriptive Essay: As the name indicates these types of essay are descriptive in nature like describing people, places and circumstances. Such essays instigate same emotions in the reader which the writer had felt in that moment.
- Narrative Essay: It is the first person and the writer is asked to narrate an incident or a story around the topic.
- Persuasive Essay: The aim of the writer in the persuasive essay is to convince the reader about his point of view on the topic.
- Expository Essay: The writer here gives the complete details about a process with it’s in and out information over the subject such as statistics and facts.
The basic structure of an Essay
Well if it is not your exam and you have an assignment to write an essay at your ease, then one could easily research the topic in depth and makes it clear in his/her mind about what type of essay it’s going to be. This will help you plan the essay in your mind. Once you have grasped the topic now you can follow the below basic structure to give your essay the perfect shape.
The below is the most basic structure that is used by in fact everyone.
- Introduction: The introductory paragraph is the first point of contact with your reader so this should have a crisp opening to it. The introduction should be related to the topic but it has to be made interesting so the reader develops an instant liking to read further with an ardent interest.
- The body: This is the main body of the essay which will include your arguments, statistics, information, narration, ideas and your own thoughts around the subject. The body paragraphs should have a clear opening and the next paragraphs should have transition sentences so that the paragraphs complement each other.
The body should also have supportive information like references, quotes, literature review and material involved.
- The conclusion: The last paragraph is known as the conclusion whereas here you sum up your essay and provides an afterthought on the topic. Only thing you have to check is that you don’t express any new idea on the subject here. You can always leave the reader with “food for thought” or suggest further reading in the future.
- Editing: The more time you spend on editing the more worthwhile your piece of writing will become. Editing is something which is non-negotiable in the writing paradigm. You have to invest time in editing and the piece over and over again until you make it a masterpiece. Give your writing to others for proof reading before finalizing it. Sometimes the other person may find a mistake which you may have ignored, everybody has blind spots.
Finally quick essay writing tips and how to improvise.
- Crisp is appealing: Writing crisp and simple is appealing; it has that crunch to it that keeps them engage to a longer period of time. I am not asking you to write to make your readers happy but still if you are writing about something you always want that your piece should be appreciated or at least you get the full attention of your audience at that moment in time.
- Practice journals/diary writing: The best way to write better is to practice writing. But what if I ask you to write 500 words everyday on your own, eventually it will become daunting as you have to search a topic daily to write about it in the first place. The easiest way to get you started writing is to journal your day to day activity and your emotional reaction to the everyday events this will help you keep digging in daily to write about something.
- Read variety of subject matter: Reading has two very positive points; the first one is that you learn about lot of things and processes and secondary you get to know what are the different styles that writer uses to engage their audiences. One should also interest themselves about all the different subjects like cultures, science, society, current events, history, economics etc. this will diversify the knowledge base of a writer. Apparently you will feel more confident writing over an immense range of topics.
- Expressive writing is relatable: Writers are the most expressive beings on this planet, when it comes to express about your thoughts over a subject never hold yourself back. It’s good to never over exaggerate things but being expressive never goes out of fashion but in fact its becomes more appealing and relatable to wide variety of audiences in general. Everybody likes a piece that is easily understandable to them. Our readers are also like us, unless we are writing for a small group of genius people. Keep it in mind that expressive writing is relatable.
- Grammar and Punctuation: Practice good grammar and punctuation in your writing piece with editing and taking help from someone else is the best way to improvise. You should give more time on editing and correcting the grammar than to writing the essay itself. Read grammar learning books like Pinth to paramount (by Neetu Singh), English Grammer (by S. P. Bakshi), Wren and Martin High School. All of them come in handy while writing difficult pieces.
Conclusion: We have tried to handle the topic with care and have tried explaining as much aspects of essay writing as possible. Lastly, we still like to emphasize that editing is something which is non-negotiable in the writing world so make it a habit to proof read your piece again and again until you are sure that it is ready to be submitted. If you are serious about writing then you can also go for writing courses available out there.
Sharing is appreciated.
