The Basics Of Essay Writing

The Basics Of Essay Writing Academically, the information provided will help students from upper grade school to adult writers. Learn to write essays with skill which will help with all written assignments whether for school or work. There should also be an appropriate balance between these two essay components. Most students make the mistake of writing too much knowledge and not enough evaluation . A Global Structure - structure the material in a way that allows for a logical sequence of ideas. Each paragraph / statement should follow sensibly from its predecessor. You need to be concise, and clearly articulate your argument. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences. The introduction, main body and conclusion should all be linked. Students who complete the course and apply the lessons learned will have a full understanding of the essay writing process and how to achieve the best results. Make sure that you read the assignment sheet thoroughly and are sure about what it asks for before you start reading for the essay. While you are reading, bear in mind what sort of material you are looking for in order to address the assigned topic. Even if you do come across a lot of interesting material when researching for your essay, be selective. Interesting material won’t gain you extra marks unless it is relevant. Good essay writing is a skill acquired rather than learnt. Write an answer to the question in just one or two sentences â€" this can form the basis your thesis statement or argument. This is the main point of your paragraph and everything within this paragraph should relate back to it. Originality is one of the hardest things to achieve in an essay, but any effort you make at being original will be noticed by the marker. This doesn’t mean that you have to invent a new theory each time you write an essay. Your essay should have a definite ending, in the form of a conclusion. Here you should summarize what it is that you have said in your essay, stating what your answer to the question is and why. Often, there is no simple answer (which is why you are writing an essay, and not a two-mark answer on a class test), so you should state what the complexities of the issue are. You may feel that you are repeating yourself, as the body of your essay should have made your argument clear already, but the reader will appreciate a good summary. Remember that good essays don’t just give evidence for their point of view, but also demonstrate why opposing views are flawed. Imagine a reader, then try to predict their objections to your argument, and then demonstrate why they are wrong. In essence, an essay is an argument, so your structure should be based on the particulars of your argument. Although this may sound obvious, a lot of essays lose marks for containing material that is simply irrelevant. If you are unsure of what to write read the essay question and answer it in one paragraph. So many students either forget to write a conclusion or fail to give it the attention it deserves. If there is a word count for your essay try to devote 10% of this to your conclusion. A well-structured essay should consist of a series of paragraphs that progress logically through the series of points that you intend to cover. Obviously, the difficult part is working out what that order should be.