Essays make up a huge part of academic assessments. While some students possess sharp essay writing skills, the majority struggle to express themselves on a piece of paper. If you’re among the latter, there’s no need to be hard on yourself as this is an ability you can easily develop and we are here to show you how. In this article, we’ll be exploring the different ways you can rewrite your essay and combine portions of text as an adept composition author.

USE AN ATTRACTIVE TITLE

  In a world where people are easily distracted, grabbing as much attention as possible for your essay is vital and it all starts with the title. Inscribe something that will get your reader fascinated with the text. It could be a captivating question or a witty phrase but it has to drive home your message.

DO YOUR RESEARCH

        Before trying to pin down your thoughts and opinions, you must ensure you’re well-grounded in the topic. Digest as much content as possible from articles to newspapers to videos, in order to make yourself knowledgeable and build a solid argument. You could even read essays written by other people on the same topic. However, you would need to be very observant when doing that. Take note of the elements of that essay that you really like and then implement them in your own work.

CREATE AN OUTLINE

         It is very important that you design a framework for your write-up in order to keep it organized. It will also give you a guideline on how to approach the subject and deliver your points. A typical essay is made up of 5 paragraphs- the introductory, 3 body paragraphs and the concluding paragraph. In the introductory paragraph, present your thesis. The body should consist of points that support your thesis. In the conclusion, present your thesis again, summarize the whole essay and make a conclusion.

CRAFT YOUR THESIS

      Your thesis is the main point of your essay and it is the assertion you’re making about your title. It will be based on the findings of your research and will only consist of a single sentence. The whole write up will be built around your thesis.

USE APPROPRIATE GRAMMAR, SPELLING, PUNCTUATION AND WRITING STYLE

    A lot of students lose marks because of errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation. These things are a huge turn off for teachers, even if the point you’re trying to make is correct. Ensure that your sentences are in order. Effective punctuation leads to effective communication, so you must punctuate properly. Employ the use of an active voice in your essay as it is more appealing to the audience, for instance, write ‘Mary took out the plants’ instead of ‘The plants were taken out by Mary’.

 ENSURE YOUR POINTS FLOW WITH YOUR ARGUMENT

       Your audience should be able to link your points with one another. Use words like ‘Moreover’ and ‘Furthermore’. It’s easy to deviate from the topic while writing so when bringing proof, check if it directly validates your point. If it doesn’t, scrap it out. There should be a logical correlation between your thesis and your evidence.

EXPAND YOUR VOCABULARY AND APPLY CLEAR LANGUAGE

       Using the same words over and over again in your text will leave your reader feeling bored and uninterested. Instead, utilize words with similar meanings and that can be used interchangeably. You can consult a dictionary for help. It’s not compulsory that you use big words. You also need to be straightforward in your writing so that your readers can easily understand what you’re saying. Remember, Communication is key in essay writing.

LEARN HOW TO WRITE A CONCLUSION

   We talked briefly about this before but now let’s expatiate. A lot of writers take the conclusion for granted. In this section, they either rephrase their introduction or duplicate their thesis which isn’t right. In the conclusion, you are supposed to point out the strongest evidence and show how it connects with your thesis in order to prove or disprove it.

ADD REFERENCES

   In order to avoid plagiarism, it is necessary to note your research sources. You can do this via in-text citation or referencing. There are different formats for doing so- Harvard, APA, MLA etc. Stick to the one your teacher asks you to use but if he/she doesn’t specify, you can choose any. It is highly recommended you quote reliable sources, for example, the opinions of important people in the scope of your research.

EXAMINE THE OPPOSING POINT OF VIEW

        Being open to all possibilities makes for a good argument. Give room to consider ideas from the other perspective and with solid proof and logical reasoning, explain why you do not subscribe to such views. Ensure to quote scholars from that line of thought too.

WHERE NECESSARY, MERGE AND BREAK SENTENCES

             After writing your essay, read it thoroughly. Look for sentences that are too lengthy, break them into two sentences. For short sentences, try to extend them by writing longer versions. For sentences that correlate, you can use a semicolon (;) to merge them. For instance, you can reword the following sentences:

 ‘Working a 9-5 job 5 days a week can be very stressful. This is why you need to exercise in your free time’

 as

‘Working a 9-5 job 5 days a week can be very stressful; exercising in your free time is essential’.

GET A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER TO REWORD YOUR TEXT

        Find someone who is deeply eloquent in English and get him to edit what you’ve noted down. Pay close attention to the errors he points out and make an effort to not repeat them again. However, before giving it to an editor, read the work yourself and see if there are any corrections to be made.

ENLIGHTEN YOUR AUDIENCE

      People should read your essay and learn something new, something that changes their mode of thinking. This will not only keep their eyes glued to your work but it would make them keep coming back for more of your content. There’s a simple trick to this, just look out for eye opening facts in your research and employ them in your work. 

WRITE THE INTRODUCTION LAST

         One part of an essay that gives a lot of writers cold feet is the Introduction. This is because the introduction contains the summary of the whole work and summarizing what you haven’t even written is very difficult. It is the content of the essay that determines that of the introduction and not the other way around.

A good hack will be to write the body of the essay before developing the introduction.

WORDS TO AVOID

     The following are words you should never use in an academic essay and their preferred replacements.

• so -> therefore
• for example ->  for instance
• but -> use ‘however
• also -> moreover
• similarly -> likewise 

       These tips might be a lot to take in but the truth is, it takes a lot of work to create good essays. Having a good ability to handle essays opens a lot of opportunities for you, even outside the classroom. The effort is totally worth it in the end.