How to Write an Outstanding Essay

Writing essays is something you have to get used to doing if you want to make it through college. You also have to learn how to write and structure the perfect essay if you do not want to score poorly. Essays are used to show teachers that you are learning, and understand underlying concepts. The content of the essay is all up to you, but how you write it and how well you do on your essay must be learnt. Here are a few tips to help you create better essays.

Read and re-read the instructions numerous times

You need to do this in order to memorize the questions and instructions. If you commit them to memory straight away then they will remain in your head as you read and work. This will start to steer your thoughts and essay direction in the right way.

Start by brain storming thoughts and ideas

You have no doubt learnt a lot about your essay topic in the last few weeks or months. So a good place to start is with your own mind. Spend at least half an hour racking your brain for potential pointers and ideas. In many cases you will find subjects and thoughts to research into.

Judge your word count by how many points each question has

Your essay instructions may be broken down into pointers and sub questions. In many cases these sub headers, sub questions, etc. will have points designated to them. Add up all the points to get the total e.g. 30, and divide the word count e.g. 2000 by that point amount e.g. 2000/30 and then times that amount by the points for each question, and you will know how much to write for each question.

Plan your essay

Plan the research, the structure, the different elements and how many words you plan to put in each element. You must plan all of your essay down to the last paragraph. Create a structure tree from beginning to end and make it your plans starting point.

Add to your plan as you write

As you research and write, you will see things that you need to add or rework. Instead of stopping and starting, you need to add a note to your plan and come back to it as you work your way down your plan.

Create a clear structure with modules

When you are planning you should set your plan into modules. You need to be able to move pieces around, and edit pieces without disrupting the rest of your essay. Try adding a few notes and headings in your essay, but put them in red because they are all just notes and headings to help you. Delete them when you have finished the essay.

Proofread your essay at least twice

You need to check it for the usual grammar and spelling, but you also need to check it for flow and accuracy. The flow should be simple, since you will find yourself skim reading the bits that do not flow correctly. Accuracy is up to you, but if you read it a few times you are more likely to pick up on your errors and inaccuracies within the text.

Conclusion

Planning is the key to a good essay. It sets the stage for you to do your work. It helps you to structure your essay and will help to stop you from rambling on about the same topic at the expense of other topics. Re-read the instructions multiple times and start planning and structuring your essay from the very beginning.

About the author. Meghan is a writer for Scholar Advisor, an educational portal for students that provides useful education tips and writing guides.

How to Write a Science Paper

Papers whether scientific or social are given by teachers, whose prerogative determines what you write. They determine the font sizes, formats, procedures and detailed steps to follow when you are writing the paper. It’s your duty and responsibility to follow your teacher’s instructions to get the most marks. 

However, not all teachers give the instructions on how they want their paper presented. You are free to use industry standards to write the science paper. Here are the standard guidelines required when it comes to writing science papers.

Use of headings

Science papers are structured and have sections with headings. The basic headings in science papers are the abstract, introduction, the method, results and discussion. Depending on what type of paper you are writing, try to divide it into different sections with unique headings as much as possible.

Concise statements

Overall, science is objective and so should its language be. Keep off poetic and flowing language in the science paper to get more marks. Science papers dwell on facts and it’s your responsibility to make them interesting by using interesting action words.

Use supporting details

When you write the science report, you need to explain what happened in the experiment directly. However, these alone cannot stand independently. Each time you are enthused to explain a cause and effect scenario in the paper, add details to support the claims.

Measure opinions and use them wisely

Science as mentioned is built on verifiable facts. As much as possible, keep your personal opinions to yourself in the paper, unless you have scientific backing for them. However, during instances where your personal experience is required to get the message right, it’s advisable for you to use scientific facts to explain them. Issue opinion when expressly asked to do so.

Keep off absolute statements

There is nothing absolute in science unless there is experimental proof to support it. As such, all claims must be supported by evidence. Bear this in mind.

Don’t use contractions

A contraction should not be used in scientific writing. This is because science is largely formal and official-more or less like business writing. In report type scenarios such as science papers, contractions must be avoided at all costs.

Avoid slang

Slang is common among the youth and on most occasions; they reflect this in their papers. Could blame this on the texting culture, but it’s totally unacceptable in science writing. Logically, this limits the paper’s effectiveness and sense. Avoid this as much as possible. You can start reading the newspaper on a daily basis to get back to good writing.

Proper tenses

Grammar is what glues a paper making it readable. When writing the science paper, you are better off using the right tenses to make the paper sensible and easy to read. Normally, the paper is more about what happened and you need to articulate this in the right perspective.

Active verbs

The passive voice is hard to read. It also elicits inaction at its best. To make the paper impactful and special, use active voice/verbs to drive your message across.

Avoid misuse of science terms

A recent survey revealed that many students are addicted to scientific jargon. They even love it and in the process, end up misusing scientific terms. Be careful to use the scientific terms correctly to avoid distorting the meaning of words. Also consider using the terms sparingly, but use them anyway.

Author bio: Anita Yeager provides dissertation help at ukbestdissertation.com

Tips for the Essay Exam

The essay exam is one of the most structured and detailed exam questions you’ll ever discover. For most students, the essay exam can be stressful. This article looks at some of the tips you need to ace this exam. The tips come in three parts. 

Before the essay exam

Before the main exam, you need to practice and prepare. This is because; you will not have the time to do this in the exam. You need to start by anticipating questions that may come in the main exam. The best way to do this is by revisiting past papers. What angles were tested in the past papers? And considering you attended class, what did your instructor emphasize? Having answers to these questions is a great way to get started on the right path you will also find it really useful when you want ideas to use in a real exam scenario.

You also need to start practicing how to write. Doing a summary for every theory you study is great. Focusing your skills in defining clarity, understanding and consciousness in the theories also works. To add on this, in order for you to be confident come exam day, you need to intensify revision. You must memorize facts, events and times you can use to support arguments. Once you have these facts, meditate on the best way to organize them. Make comparisons, contrast theories and get different angles that can be used to answer questions. 

During the exam

Most students have the biggest challenge handling this phase. Some are tempted to furiously scan the exam questions and this is bad. Instead, do the following:

- Start by dumping memory-i.e. write all the points you memorized for the exam

- Read-study the questions and instructions that have been provided. Doing this opens up the memory and gives some ideas on where answers to some of the questions are.

- Form a thesis that completely answers the question. Since time is not on your side, just introduce, elaborate and show how you’ll prove it.

- Organize supporting details before tackling the body. This step is critical because it’s what the whole piece is dependent upon. Ensure you have the supporting details done coherently.

- Just start making a persuasive argument. Argument is relative. However, in the exam, you are required to have a clear point of view, adduce evidence and create logical ideas all through until it’s over. 

What you need to avoid

When considering the exam essay, there are a few things you must desist from. One of this is excuses. You need to avoid excuses when writing an exam essay at all costs. That you ran out of time or didn’t have time to study because you were sick are instances that shouldn’t arise. 

You should also avoid bluffing in the essay. Many students because of poor preparation merely bluff their ways through essays. Don’t be among these ones. Finally, you need to answer a question. Don’t follow the kitchen sink approach where you say all you know about a topic. Have a definite goal, facts to a thesis.

About the author: Ryan Gearhart writes sample college essays at RushMyEssay