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It’s 2023, and you are still writing mediocre essays. Not cool!
A new year is all about resolutions, self-reflection, and self-improvement. Hence, it is the perfect time to work on your writing skills and write the best essays. Because let’s face it, essays are that one assignment you can never get rid of. Besides, essays account for some significant academic achievements.
So, what should you do to write an impressive essay this year?
Well, if you follow a simple process and know exactly what kind of information to include, you can master this skill easily. Here are seven simple steps to make your writing process incredibly easy and efficient and help you write remarkable essays in 2023. Meanwhile, you can seek help with your homework from DoMyHomeworkAbc, a top academic help service for students, to ensure your assignments are score-worthy.
7 Simple Steps to Write Excellent Essays in 2024
Choose the Right Topic
Most times, you are given an essay prompt. It can be an idea to help you select a topic or a question for you to answer in the essay. Read and understand the prompt and conclude a topic. If you are asked to choose the topic yourself, look for some relevant topic ideas that are trending currently and modify them with the subject matter you are working on.
For example, “Should the Money Spent on Space Exploration Be Used to Solve Current World Problems Instead?” or “The Role of Mental Wellness in Achieving Success,” etc.
The best topics are those you are interested in and familiar with. If you have to write an informative essay, you must study the topic well and use credible sources for research. And if you are writing a persuasive essay, you should be passionate about the subject.
Research and Prepare an Outline
Now that you know the topic, you need to organize your thoughts and information. Research the topic to develop a deeper understanding and collect all the relevant information and ideas. You can use note-taking apps like Google Keep or OneNote to make this process faster.
The next step is to prepare a rough structure that serves as the foundation of your essay. You can write the topic at the top of your doc and note subheadings below it to list the main ideas you will cover in the essay. Ensure the subheadings are connected so that you can create a flow between them.
Outlining aids your process of writing and makes connecting the dots easier.
Write a Thesis Statement
The essay’s thesis statement summarizes its central theme. It makes the readers curious and helps them understand what they can learn from your paper. A good thesis statement lets you be specific and follow a clear direction to write your essay.
You can start by developing a question out of the essay topic and answering it in a concise way. A powerful thesis statement should be to-the-point, simple, and focused on one idea only.
For example, if the essay topic is “Global Warming,” the question could be, “What are the impacts of global warming?” And the thesis statement could be, “Global warming poses serious risks to human beings and wildlife as it results in hotter temperatures, rising oceans, and destructive storms.”
Craft an Introduction
The introduction attracts the readers’ attention and entices them to read your paper. Hence this section must be creative and attention-grabbing.
You can include a hook in the first line, a thought-provoking question, an interesting story, or a surprising fact. For example, if you are writing about the impacts of global warming, your hook could be, “We are losing 1.2 trillion tons of ice each year.”
The introduction should also share some background information on your topic to help readers understand the context of your essay. Make sure this section goes well with the thesis statement, which you will place at the end of your introduction. Also, ensure this section is less than 10% of your text.
Write the Body
The body refers to the main part of your essay. Here you will be presenting your arguments and explanations that support your thesis. The length of this section should be around 80% of your essay.
Here you will write paragraphs under each subheading you created while outlining. These paragraphs will be centered around one idea that would be introduced in the first sentence, also called the topic sentence.
Topic sentences should be specific and give a clear sense of what one can expect from the paragraph. The sentences following the topic sentence would support its idea with specific details like evidence, data, case studies, and examples collected during the research.
Compose a Conclusion
The conclusion is the last paragraph of your essay that brings the topic to a close. It provides a summary of your key ideas and shares your final perspectives on the topic. Its length should be less than 10% of the text.
Make sure your conclusion relates to the thesis statement and shows the importance of your arguments. Also, never add any new ideas or evidence in this section. A good conclusion should end with an impactful sentence that creates a lasting impression on the readers.
Edit and Proofread
The last and crucial step is editing and revising the paper. Since a small mistake can create a bad impression on the reviewer, you need to fix all the gaps and errors you created in the first draft. Here are some editing tips:
- Fix all the grammar, phrasing, and spelling errors with the Grammarly app.
- Use Hemingway software to increase readability.
- Reduce the use of passive voice and adverbs.
- Ensure the paragraphs are written in the right order to create a smooth flow.
- Read your essay out loud to know how it will sound to the reader.
- Let your peers or parents review your paper and suggest improvements.
- Check plagiarism to ensure your content is original.
- Make sure to review your citations and references before submission.
Summing Up
Essays define your academic success. They help you receive scholarships, get accepted into your dream college, or earn impressive grades. The above seven steps can help you make the essay writing process easier and less stressful. You can try them in your next paper to compose strong arguments and make effective plans for writing impactful essays.