Sunday, June 7, 2009

Writing Great Essays - Some Useful Tips

Writing a good essay, whether in an exam or at any other time, is a task that many find difficult. Essays are required in most subjects, and your exam results may largely depend on your ability to write them so it is well worth tackling the problem energetically.

Why do we have to write essays any way?

Essays test more than your factual knowledge. They also test your ability to understand the significance of the knowledge you have; to apply it to the solving of particular problems; and to communicate this to someone else. So there are three things necessary to write a good essay, whatever the subject:

1. the necessary information;

2. the use of this information to solve the problem;

3. the ability to communicate in the most appropriate way.

But there is one essential point before you can even begin. You must be quite certain you know what the question means. Even if instinct urges you to start writing immediately, resist it. Make quite sure that you have read all of the question carefully, and 'all' means the instructions as well as the actual content of the question.

To summarize:

When you look at an essay question following are the points you should have in your mind:

Is there just one question or is it an Either ... Or?

How many things are you being asked to do? (Look out for the word 'and')

If more than one thing is required are they of the same kind? Or are they of different kinds (Describe and explain)?

Are you clear in your mind about the meaning of all the terms used?

Planning

Once you have got a clear idea of what the question is about, you must start planning your essay. There are two basic steps to planning: collecting and selecting the material and organizing it.

Starting and stopping

Once you have got the general structure of your essay clear, you can start writing. All you need now is a way of getting into it and a way of getting out. The first rule for starting an essay is 'don't put the reader off'. Your opening sentence can refer directly to the question. This is safe and can be helpful to the reader but take care that it is not also too dull. Never repeat the question word for word in your opening sentence. You may also start with an example that is relevant to one or other side of the argument or that simply underlines the question. Whatever style of opening you choose the important thing to remember is that it must lead you smoothly to your first point.

Endings

These are easier. Unless you are writing an imaginative essay, the best kind of conclusion is usually one that reminds the reader briefly of your arguments and states your opinions based on those arguments. The important thing is to leave the reader satisfied that the essay has indeed finished and not just stopped.

Writing

The style of your essay will vary to some extent depending on whether you are writing a factual or an imaginative piece, but two rules must apply no matter what the subject is:

1. What you want to say must first be clear in your mind or it will never be clear on paper.

2. The language you use must be as simple and direct as the subject allows.

The rule 1 does not mean that you must have every sentence complete in your mind before you start to write it down, but that you must have the thought clear. To achieve the aim of rule 2, you must use proper vocabulary, sentence structure, spellings and punctuation.

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Thursday, June 4, 2009

Writing Essays Is Essential To Your Academic Wellbeing

Essays are the bed-rock of most university classes and courses these days, and even traditional science-based courses require its students to have some form of verbal dexterity.

As well, you're probably going to encounter any number of courses that unrelated to your major over the course of your study; so even if you're a Chemistry major, chances are there is a History of Mathematics philosophy course, or a Introduction to World Religions course, figuring brightly sometime in your future.

And all these courses cumulatively add up in your GPA, and it's absolutely not worth it to flunk or gain a barely passing grade in that course only to have it adversely affect the rest of your GPA.

Your professors will appreciate the fact that you're able to articulate your thoughts in a manner that's befitting a scholar, and trust us on this... you'll want to keep your professors happy.

In the long run, as well, learning how to write a good academic essay is like riding a bike with the training wheels on. Once those training wheels come off, you'll be able to ride a bike through any terrain without much hassle, as you've already learned and mastered the basics.
Consider the skills of writing an academic essay your basic bike riding skills - the training wheels come off, you go off into the big bad Adult World of Work and Responsibilities, and you find that you're able to write well, no matter what the circumstance - and get promoted ahead of the other buffoons who send wrongly-worded emails to their clients and cost their employers tons of money.

Well... it may not be that gratifyingly dramatic, but it could be!

For those of you who are just beginning your academic careers, here are some tips that might help you to survive. These are handy not just for general survival, but also apply specifically for academic essay writing:

- First of all, keep up with your reading and go to class. You can't hope to be part of a conversation if you are absent from it.

- Pay attention not only to what others are saying, but also to how they are saying it. Notice that sound arguments are never made without evidence.

- Don't confuse evidence, assumption, and opinion. Evidence is something that you can prove. Assumption is something that one can safely infer from the evidence at hand. Opinion is your own particular interpretation of the evidence.

- Pay attention to the requirements of an assignment. When asked for evidence, don't offer opinion. When asked for your opinion, don't simply present the facts. Too often students write summary when they are asked to write analysis. The assignment will cue you as to how to respond.

- Familiarize yourself with new language. Every discipline has its own jargon. While you will want to avoid unnecessary use of jargon in your own writing, you will want to be sure before you write that you have a clear understanding of important concepts and terms.

- Don't make the mistake of thinking that because something is in print it has cornered the market on truth. Your own interpretation of a text might be just as valid (or even more valid) than something you've found in the library or on the internet. Be critical of what you read, and have confidence that you might say as much.

- Pay attention to standards and rules. Your professors will expect you to write carefully and clearly. They will expect your work to be free of errors in grammar and style. They will expect you to follow the rules for citing sources and to turn in work that is indeed your own. If you have a question about a professor's standards, ask. You will find that your professors are eager to help you.

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Monday, June 1, 2009

A Controversial Essay

This type of essays will also help you to be logical and factual. It will help you to develop your oratory skills as well. Since you will require enough ideas and points to present such an essay you can gauge which points will be important and which ones are not. The skills developed in writing this format of essay will help you to compete in debates and various contests in the future. While working on the theme of the essay the writer must know the essence of a controversial topic. The topic will generally be well read by many people and most will have heir own notion of the subject. Hence, be aware of what you are writing.

While writing the introduction, mention the problem statement of the topic, because the main factor of any controversy is a problem. The thesis statement will give the reader an idea of what you intend to cover in the essay. The reader will most likely have a pre-determined notion of the subject; hence your next step should be to give the reader a hint of what you intend to do mention in the rest of your essays paper. It will be a brief synopsis of your analysis and what is the single most important point that you want to drive into the reader's mind. The next phase will include the main body of the essay. It will e well structured and provide the arguments that you want to portray in the essay and the supporting ideas which will strengthen your ideas. The conclusion should be in line to the introduction and body of the essay.

In a controversial essay you can not be too judgmental, rather you must give to the point information and provide concrete arguments to prove your view. In order to stand your points you must be well versed with the subject matter and also have sufficient knowledge of the various views opinionated on the topic. Make sure that you have gone through different resources which give you the opportunity to come across various arguments and views. With the understanding of such views you will be have the idea what needs to be incorporated in your essay and how you can counter other arguments on the topic. To make significant impact through the essay you must maintain a definite structure and plan all through the paper.

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Sunday, May 31, 2009

4 Steps To Creating A Five Paragraph Essay

An easy way to write and think of an essay is to write a short one that comprises of just five paragraphs - commonly known as the five paragraph essay. This type of essay follows a simple structure that anyone can easily follow, and makes the process of writing an essay, for the first time, all that little bit easier.

Yes, the word count may differ for this type of essay, but it has a simple format and structure that enables writers of academic essays to complete this type of paper easily, through the use of five simple steps. This is achieved through five separate sections: the introduction, 3 paragraphs in the body, and then a paragraph at the end to conclude.



Step 1 - Introduction: you will want to provide a brief overview for the reader here, and also want to make sure that the reader knows what they can expect to learn/read when looking through your paper. Your introduction, therefore, needs to jump out and grab the attention of the reader, captivating their thoughts and understanding, as well as recognising that you have something to state/prove in this essay. This paragraph is similar to when you read a book from one of your favourite authors, you need to love, or at least be interested, in the book from the first chapter. Otherwise, you're going to want to discard the book and move onto the next; this is the same when you are writing your five paragraph essay, or any other essay for that matter.

Step 2 - Content Creation: The main body of the five paragraph essay will be the main three paragraphs that 'tell the story' of what you are writing about. You will want all three to follow from one to the next seamlessly, but at the same time be independent of one another. Here, you do not want to shy away from the thesis statement, but embrace it and introduce, in more detail, the points that were identified in the introduction of this essay. You should keep the harmony between the main body and conclusion, but not forget about the conclusion at the end - not doing so will cause your reader, and often yourself, a great deal of confusion.

Step 3 - Conclusion: having an effective conclusion at the end of your essay is crucial. You don't just want to repeat what you have said in the three paragraphs above, but you will also want to summarise and review what has been stated here, and how this has made an impact on what you have/will be researching. Effective conclusions need to be short, to the point and full of rich content.

Step 4 - Edit and Review: if you write your essay without reviewing it, then you will be considering going over some uncharted territory that could end up coming out the other side a little worse off. Many students do check their essays and papers, whether themselves, a friend, or indeed an editing company. However, many do not, and it is these students who will suffer in the long run. Many students who do not have their work reviewed will see a considerable reduction in grades when compared to other students who have done so. It makes sense to check your work and to make sure everything is 'picture perfect' before you go ahead and submit it.

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

How To Write Academic English Essays

The first step in writing a good essay is making sure you completely understand the question posed in your essay topic.

Begin researching your topic. Go to your local library to find publications related to your topic and also search the Internet for additional information.

Once you collect enough material to begin, you should plan your essay. Think about how to assemble all the information you have collected including your your own ideas and interpretations.

Begin writing your essay. Write clear sentences which encapsulate the main ideas arising from the information you have gathered, and the ideas you have formed yourself. Start with formulating topic sentences that will begin each argument (paragraph). Try to write active sentences with active verbs. Make sure your topic sentences link with the previous paragraphs.

Once you have written the body of the essay you should then proceed to write the introduction to your essay. Including an interesting fact is a very good beginning and may capture the reader's interest.

After you finish writing the introduction you should proceed to your conclusion. Remember that the primary function of the conclusion is to summarize the main points in your essay, and to confirm your arguments which supported your topic.

Often presentation is worth up to 20% of the allotted marks. Observe correct spelling and grammar and essay formatting rules. You may want to use our essay marking service to help you out with the presentation of your final piece.

Always write multiple drafts and make sure your ideas flow from one argument to the next. Never plagiarize! Always keep track of any quotes or citations and include them in footnotes and bibliography. Remember that universities often use computer software that can turn-up plagiarism.

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Essay Cover Page

Most students find an essay cover page the easiest one to write. Whether you are a student or a researcher, writing such cover page is considered quite important. It forms the very first part of writing any essay. It prompts any reader to dig deep into the rest of the paper. If such page makes an impression in the readers' mind then they will be prompted to look further into the essay and find out what is the idea behind it. Hence the cover page is considered quite important by many.

When you are writing the cover page you must follow a few basic formats and include some basic features. You can not just start of with the idea of the essay; rather start with the date and names that are related to the essay. There can be different formats of writing the essay cover page and this will depend entirely on the subject matter of the essay and what are its requirements. But a few features are considered important while writing the cover page. These can be mentioned as follows:

1. The cover page should include the name of the researcher and the essential dates related to the essay. In most cases the name of the student is provided and mentions the subject of the essay. The dates will mention the start date and end date of the paper. Include the course name and number which is related to the essay.

2. If the cover page requires any specified format then verify the same with your teacher or professor. This needs to be done at the time when you are working on the essay plan. In most cases the font and style are mentioned beforehand by the teacher or professor. Generally the bold and normal fonts are used. The reader should be able to gather the vital information at one go, hence it needs to be clear and unambiguous.

3. Whatever you write on the cover page must be checked and scrutinized. These might seem very minute and unimportant, but its use is rather critical. Hence, it should be dealt accordingly. It is considered quite seriously by the reader especially the teacher or professor who will evaluate it. Pictures and tables are not used on the cover page, as it might cover the words mentioned on the page. What you write on the page will percolate in the readers mind and they will start making deductions about the essay from then onwards. They will see the professional approach of the cover page and what it depicts. If it suits their understanding, they will look further.

The basis of writing an essay cover page is to start with a methodical approach, just like what we see in any planned project. Treat the essay as a project and use the same practice that you would have used in order to make the project successful. At times you can also seek external help from your teacher, supervisor or senor in order to deign an effective cover page.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Types of Admission Essays

An admission essay is written to demonstrate the applicant's reasons to apply for some course, educational establishment or position. The primary advantage of an admission essay lies in its capability to represent the writer in the face of an evaluator in a lively and original manner. In some cases, an admission essay may determine whether an applicant is admitted or not, as an admission essay demonstrates an applicant's writing skills and general educational background.

There are two types of admission essays: specific and general specific admission essays provide a topic about which to write. General admission essays give the writer/student the opportunity to select a topic about which to write. The ability to demonstrate one's personal uniqueness, creativity and originality is decisive for a successful application. In other cases, admission essay is an effective way to supplement an application providing the evaluator with specific details. The preliminary stage includes the thorough collection and systemization of available personal data. An admission essay should describe all personal achievements, awards and activities during the last five years. An applicant should pick out 10 major achievements of his life and try to emphasize the most appropriate ones in the essay.



Further, it is necessary to intensify the shaping image of a unique personality by introducing the hobbies, interests, events and personalities that influenced the applicant's individuality or motivated him for crucial decisions. It is normal to describe ordinary people (friends, family, teachers, etc.) who have influenced or shaped the applicant's character. The applicant may tell what other people tell about him and give his personal assessment of these judgments.

It is useful to start or finalize the essay by including some expression, positioning it as a personal motto and stating the personal prospects for the future using this motto. The writer should avoid the "events chronicle" and describe more of experience taken from the event rather than the event itself. The writer should remember about the audience and be persuasive in every sentence. An admission essay should be viewed as an "advertisement": the student attempts to draw attention to him in a creative way, so that to prove that he deserves being accepted to the educational institution. An overall positive tone is crucial as it is poorly advantageous to complain about the personal misfortunes or disadvantages. The writer should strive to indicate the positive sides in every experience or at least concentrate on its outcomes. Specificities of the institution should be considered and linked to the applicant's motivation and personal characteristics. It is equally important to disclose the personal skills and attainment relevant to peculiarities of the claimed position.

It is important to demonstrate the applicant's motivation: why is he interested, what mutual benefits does he conceive and so on. In case there is some specific topic of an admission essay (e.g.: how would your relative describe you?, predict the development of some event, etc.), it is necessary to build the essay around the requested topic. The writer should be selective and prioritize the primary ideas as it is impossible and unnecessary to include all details about one's personal life into an admission essay. It is crucial to follow the format and volume requirements. The writer should proofread the final version thoroughly diminishing the possible misuses of words or phrases.

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Monday, May 25, 2009

Common Mistakes In Admission Essays

College admission essay services require essays from applying students in order to further determine their skills and worthiness to be accepted in the organization. Thus, it is crucial to present the best possible essay that will play up the best possible traits of the applicant.

To ensure such a paper, here are common pitfalls to avoid in writing the admission services' requisite essay:

Failing to Answer the Question
Even with a sharply written narrative, admission services will still reject the essay when it totally misses the question. Why? This failure to answer the main question automatically points to a student's inattention and low comprehension, traits that are normally unacceptable in all advanced academic levels.



Failing to Follow Proper Directions
Similar in failing to address the question, failure to follow the directions also implies the same level of inability to understand basic regulations. As this is a major turn-offs for admission officers, it is best to be careful on the varying requirement of application essays.

Sounding Like a Resume
One of the primary objectives of an admission essay is to highlight the personality of the student from the GPA ranking and academic accomplishments. This can hardly be achieved when all the admission staff reads is a detailed declaration of scholastic feats. To check oneself, refrain from integrating details that can be otherwise viewed in the other application pages.

Long-Winding Composition
In writing an admission essay, it is advisable to assume that the attention span of the designated reader is shorter than usual, what with all the applications coming in. Thus, using long-winding compositions and too profound words will only hurt the eyes of the reader, and possibly hurt the student's chances of being accepted.

Grammatical Mistakes
This should be an unspoken rule already. Unfortunately, more than a few students still become trapped in this situation. Just to reiterate the obvious: Typos, spelling, and grammatical errors are strictly forbidden in admission essays. As the student is trying to get the acceptance of the admission services people, it should be a no-brainer then that the student should put his best foot (in this case, writing) forward.

Indeed, the admission essay is a crucial requirement in getting accepted by a good College. As the academic future is at stake here, every detail needs to be examined, every mistake needs to be taken out.

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Great Essay Writing Process

Many students find essay writing a cumbersome and painful assignment. That is because they are still not sure how to approach essay writing. If you get the approach right, you find that essay writing is not painful at all. In fact, it can be a very fun and fulfilling process.

Essay writing is often referred to as an art and with good reason. It can take years of practice to perfect the craft. Most often students really become good at writing essays when they reach the end of their school careers. Here is a basic guide to essay writing.



1. Read and comprehend the essay topic/question

This is the most important part of the essay writing process. Once you have properly understood what the essay question is asking you can analyze what kinds of supporting research you will need. There is no need to formulate your entire argument yet save that for later in your essay writing sample. For now you need to understand exactly what the question is asking you. Highlight key terms and brainstorm some possible angles.

2. Research the topic

Go to the library, internet, read some books, look over your notes. Hone in on the specific question at hand and read information pertaining to it.

3. Write an outline

As elementary as it seems sometimes, outlines are the scaffolding for all successful writing. It does not have to be a formal outline, but just sketch out the order of your essay in some method that you understand.

4. Write a thesis statement

The thesis statement is the foundation of your essay. Write that one sentence that argues the point, the debate, and the crux of your essay. It will be the final sentence of your introduction and the starting point for the rest of the writing.

5. Write the paper

Just write. It does not have to be a masterpiece as you write that first draft. Just get something on paper that you can eventually mold into a final product.

6. Edit the paper for content

Edit the paper to make sure you are staying on target, following your thesis, and have enough supporting evidence to prove your thesis.

7. Edit the paper for grammar

Give your essay a quick look solely for grammatical problems (spelling, punctuation, transitions, and so on).

The easiest part and definitely the most enjoyable. Going through your essay with your own red pen and editing it ruthlessly will ensure that you have a perfect essay to turn in when the deadline comes.

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Monday, May 18, 2009

Successful Essay Writing: A Step-By-step Guide To Essay Papers

There are some things you can't learn quickly. Spelling, grammar, word choice and sentence construction take years of practice before you feel comfortable expressing your ideas. However, there are a few simple things you can do to improve your writing today. In this tutorial we'll give you the tips to write a successful essay, even if English is not your native language.

The main focus of this tutorial will be organization. If the word "organization" makes you uncomfortable, you're not alone. Everybody hates the idea of structuring our sentences into some cookie-cutter format. When I was a kid I refused to cooperate with my teachers as they tried to teach us any kind of method for writing. I was creative, had a flare with words, and got straight A's anyway. Why should I have to do the 5-part process which included brainstorming, pre-writing, a first rough draft, a second rough draft and finally a finished paper?

Now that I'm older and wiser (and spend a great deal of my time writing and editing academic essays) I've learned that organization is a necessary tool to make writing easy, quick and great. Unless you're trying to write the next post-modern novel, any kind of writing can benefit from proper organization.

Step One - Organizing Your Essay

Never, ever start writing an essay without knowing what you want to say. An outline is a simple way to organize your ideas into manageable content. It will not only let you write your essay much faster, but also much better.



Many people will want to skip past this step to learn "more important things". You probably know all about outlines and don't think they can help you - you want to learn to write better. Take my word for it, making outlines a writing habit will make a huge difference in your writing.

Why? Because it will also help follow these rules:

An essay should have only one subject

Each paragraph should have one topic which supports the subject

Each topic should give at least three specific examples as evidence

Each sentence should be organized and linked with transitions

Most people start by writing the essay, and then go back and try to organize it later. I tried this process when I wrote my first book, and 5 years later it's still not as organized or clear as I want it to be. The problem is, after you have a bunch of great sentences, it is really difficult to move them around or have the ideas link together logically. You'll spend a lot of time moving things around, which can actually make the paper more complicated and difficult to read.

Even if your writing is excellent, bad organization can kill a paper. And its such an easy thing to do! So, at the risk of repeating myself: always make a detailed outline before you start writing.

Step Two - The Content:

Now that you're ready to start with an outline, you've got to figure out what to put inside. In other words, what kind of content should be in your paper. Here is a basic plan for a typical five-paragraph essay:

INTRODUCTION: The introduction is your chance to make a good first impression on your reader - you have to capture their interest. Also - you need to say exactly what you're essay will be about.

Background information. Get the reader's attention using one or more of the following:

Anecdotes

Quotations

Questions

Facts and Statistics

Thesis Statement. Your thesis statement should have two aims - to provide the topic and the approach of your essay. The topic is what you will talk about, the subject, and the approach is what is interesting about the topic, or the focus.

For example, the thesis statement "I will talk about the rain forest" is too broad. What about the rain forest? If you think the US consumption of beef is a major factor in rain forest depletion, then say so in your thesis statement. It should be clear: "The US consumption of beef is a major factor in rain forest depletion." If this is your thesis, you can catch the reader's attention immediately with some fancy data, like "89% of the world's oxygen supply comes from South American rain forests - forests which are being cut down at an alarming rate."

BODY: The body is where you can provide evidence to support your thesis. A typical essay will have about 3 paragraphs in the body. Each paragraph will begin with a Topic Sentence which states the main supporting point of the paragraph. The rest of the paragraph will be filled with supporting details, examples and facts.

CONCLUSION:The conclusion makes final comments by doing one or more of the following:

Restating Main Points

Asking a Question

Suggesting a Solution

Making a Recommendation

Making a Prediction Step Three - The Writing:

Once you have your outline, you can start filling in blocks of text with sentences. As long as your paper has one clear focus and you write topic sentences for each paragraph, your essay will be pretty clear.

Try to write in a smooth, conversational voice as if you were talking to someone on the phone. Use transitional words to introduce ideas (also, another reason, besides, finally, first of all, furthermore, in addition, moreover, most importantly, one reason, the third reason) and to give examples (especially, for example, for instance, specifically, such as).

Generally, you want to avoid complicated or flowery language for an academic paper. Focus on clear, smooth writing. Let the facts and data speak for themselves. However brave students and writers can use stylistic techniques to write a stronger paper. It is risky when you're just learning, but great writers - even academic writers, make their writing stand out with by adding style.

HOW TO WRITE BEAUTIFULLY: Style is the hardest thing to learn, and to teach. Read magazines like National Geographic to get a feel for stylistic writing. They use run-on sentences, began sentences with 'And', and drop little-used-gems like "Moniker". They can get away with it because they are aiming for an intelligent consumer base who enjoys beautiful and intelligent writing.

In general, you can improve your writing style with these tips:

Use a lot of adjectives and adverbs

Describe each thought as fully as possible

Link ideas together in longer sentences

Try to create mental images by using metaphors and similes

Choose your words carefully - pick words that carry emotion

Instead of saying, "the man rode a horse to school", you can say, "The strong man rode his horse roughly towards the school," or "The elegant man and his horse moved as one, racing across the plains like a gust of wind towards the school."

Step Four - Editing:

Read your paper again. Sentences that have more than one main idea need to be broken up. Sentences that do not support a paragraph's topic sentence, or do not directly support the Thesis Statement, should be removed. Flowery language, big words, and artistic writing should usually be cut out. You want your writing clean, simple and easy to read. (At least for an essay - you are writing to inform or persuade, not to entertain.)

Take another look at your title - make it sharp and engaging.

Now that you've finished your essay, check your Thesis Statement again and make sure it covers exactly what your essay is talking about. Sometimes your essay will evolve, and cover a more interesting, but slightly different topic. That's fine, but change your Thesis Statement to agree with it.

Step Five - Proofreading:

The last step to writing an essay is proofreading. Check your essay for punctuation, capitalization, and indentation. Make sure the format is consistent, the line spacing and page numbers are right, and the references are formatted correctly. Check your "Its" and It's", and your "There" and "Theirs". Little things are the hardest things to catch, especially editing your own paper.

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Friday, May 15, 2009

How To Love Essay Writing

Raise your hand if you:

- Have always gotten poor grades

- Constantly put off essay writing until the last minute

- Are under extreme academic pressure

- Hate essay writing?

All these factors can result in students who do not enjoy essay writing. How can you love something that is always associated with stress and fear?

And the sad part is that most students feel the same way. . .

For most students essay writing is a chore they suffer through until they learn how to write essays that score well every time. Almost everyone feels the same in the earlier part of their school careers. If you plan to study further then you are going to make peace with essay writing. For many students university is the time when essay writing becomes easier. Thus there is no choice but to learn to love essay writing.

Essay writing is often referred to as an art and with good reason. It can take years of practice to perfect the craft. Most often students really become good at writing essays when they reach the end of their school careers!

The good news is that you can make essay writing fun through some simple shifts writing the essays assigned to you.

The key to academic success is to become efficient and to learn to love the process. After all by writing essays you are expanding your mind.

Efficient Essay Writing

With any essay the hardest part is to begin. The act of sitting down and putting pencil to the paper is the biggest hurdle.

Leaving an ample amount of time before an essay deadline is crucial. If you are always time pressed you will not have time to absorb the question, do the research and come to educated conclusions. By adding a little buffer you will be able to think, research and write up a beautiful essay with minimal fuss.

By removing some of the stress associated with your essay writing you can help create a good feeling about essays.

The essay writing process

Begin by breaking each part of the process up into steps. By breaking down what needs to be done you make the overall task easier. Tackle each part of the process one at a time and you can make the task less daunting.

This also leaves more possibility for fun!

1. Thinking/absorbing/processing the question:

This is the most important part of the essay writing process. Once you have properly understood what the essay question is asking you you can analyze what kinds of supporting research you will need. There is no need to formulate your entire argument yet save that for later in the essay writing process. For now you need to understand exactly what the question is asking you. Highlight key terms and brainstorm some possible angles.

2. Research:

Thanks to the Internet - research has become much easier and more fun that it was in past generations. Without this super research tool we would all have to spend a great deal of time in the library searching for information.

But this doesn't mean that libraries are obsolete. You can still find better information in a library (although soon there will be vast libraries in the Internet too!). If you are even slightly interested in the topic simply typing the keywords in your assignment and googling them can provide a wealth of information and viewpoints. Be careful to keep the two separate. Whatever resources you use you must be sure to take good notes for referencing. Include the year, page number and any other information you can. This will make the process of writing much easier for you later. When writing university level essays you will have to reference each point you make so you will do yourself a huge favor by getting into the habit early.

3. Mapping out your argument:

With all that great research under your belt you can be sure that the next step will be easier. Take good notes and fit all your points into sections. Mind mapping is a great tool for organizing information in an efficient and fun way.

4. Writing it all up:

Undoubtedly the hardest part of the process is crafting the essay. But now that you have prepared thoroughly you will be able to relax and have some fun putting together your essay.

5. Referencing:

Because you took such good notes you are going to sail through the reference pages.

6. Polishing/Editing:

The easiest part, and definitely the most enjoyable. Going through your essay with your own red pen and editing it ruthlessly will ensure that you have a perfect essay to turn in when the deadline comes.

For many students these kinds of tips can do little to ease the struggle of essay writing. You can also improve your academic performance by buying a custom essay. Custom essay writing experts of Exclusive-Essays.com provide custom research papers for students who are struggling academically. Let a professional write your essay for you and use it to learn about how to answer essay questions.

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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Academic Provocative Essay Writing

It was the latest news that a bunch of teenagers protest near the White House. They didn’t like the fact that their teachers involve them in essay writing. Well, Santa said he’s not going to bring these kids presents for Christmas (we’ll leave out the fact that one of his deer broke down; we don’t want to humiliate Santa). I think it’s not fair.

How do you like my essay writing? It’s only the beginning, but it’s certainly catchy. Wait until the part where I describe Santa’s socks. Do you know what is essential in writing an essay? To set your mind free. Absolutely free. Writing an essay paper is a creative process. It’s like an adventure that sends you wandering around your thoughts and ideas. One of them you should chose as a topic.



There are several styles in essay paper writing. Provocative style differs from narrative and expository. It becomes evident from its name. In this type of essay writing you give your readers a problem and your point of view on it. Don’t freak out about public opinion. You are an essay writer. You share your ideas. And it’s okay if not all of your readers support them. I’ll tell you even more: if the topic of your essay paper causes debates around itself, it means that you found something really significant. You found something that all the tips for writing an essay talk about: the one, the only, the great-great topic!

In my essay writing I’m unfolding the idea about mean teachers. But I can’t win only by throwing around groundless accusations. It reminds me of the “dear-dear diary” thing. Horrible! In my essay paper writing I want to prove this point of view. But not by stating that my teacher’s hair looks awful (well, actually it can be a proof if I add a Cosmo page with hairstyling tips to my essay paper). Learn to think critically. By writing an essay you address your ideas to different people. Some are easy to persuade. Another will want to see a lot of strong evidence in your essay writing.

Here’s an essay writing tip. If you don’t know how to influence people’s opinion, try to put yourself into their shoes (not literally, for I don’t think they’ll appreciate it!). Say, if you were my mother (and my mother loves teachers that make me work hard), how would you react on this essay paper? I now need to hear your arguments and defend my point of view. This is how it works in writing an essay.

Now, in academic essay paper writing we want to be somewhat polite; we need to think about our enemies. In my case – the teachers. An essay paper has to give some light on her point of view, too. She may as well read Cosmo and be sure that it is my hair that looks awful (this would’ve been fun). But I am a good essay writer, and good essay writers try to eliminate the weak sides in their essay writing. The readers will have questions about why I am so critical. Responding to these questions will give me the chance to explain why my viewpoint is the best one.

Wrap your essay writing up with a strong conclusion. Imagine that all your arguments and proofs are strong, but you finish writing an essay by saying, “Potatoes!” In this case, what in the world do you hope for? All your evidence and explanations should build toward a strong ending in which you summarize your view in a clear and memorable way. The conclusion in provocative essay writing can include a call to action. But don’t overdo on it. Asking a National Security Agency for help will be just too much.

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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Effective And Productive Tips Online For Writing Essay

You may be walked out of a class and got the homework of writing an essay. You must be confused about writing an essay as it should be meaningful, interesting, and grammatically correct. Before writing an essay, you must follow some tips that would make your essay interesting and meaningful. Here are some great tips for writing an essay:

1) Think well and then start – Before writing any essay, you should do little research on the topic or think properly about the concept how you are going to write that includes the start up, body of the essay and in the end conclusion. Little research on the topic will really help you to write a perfect essay.



2) Create clear direction and understanding – If you want that people will read your essay to know that you are confident in writing essays and able to understand the topic, then you must have clear point of view about writing an essay. It would be best if you start with the slogan, create a direction, argument and structure. These factors are attractive aspects of an ideal essay.

3) Your thoughts and research materials requires to be organized – This will make a clear point; you should thoroughly read and understand research materials. If you read it carefully and notice each and every point by highlighting, alphabetical–Ising and make sure that you know which quote is where so that it would be easier for you to find information to address quickly and find opinionated arguments to support your flow of argument.

4) Go through the essay written by other writers – If you confused about how to write and what to write then, then you should go through the sample articles that are written by other writers. You can take a look and see how other essays are written.

5) Presentation of Essay – It is well known fact that presentation is everything. After writing essay, you should go through the essay and spell checks your essay and also check it grammatically.

If you follow these tips then you must be able to write a perfect essay. As you know that technology becomes very advanced and it becomes simpler for you to find essay help online. There are lots of online essay help providers that help you to write essay.

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

College Essay Writing Techniques

Writing college essay can be the most challenging part of the whole process of application for a college. Choosing a college and writing an impressive college essay can be equally important for your future. College questions can varied but the point of writing a college essay will only boils down to one – to know you through your writing. Usually the college essay questions can directly asking you to write something about yourself, or it may be indirectly requiring you write about an event, a book or even about a quotation.

As your college essay is your first impression that you are about to give to the administrative of the college, therefore every word that you put in is crucial. Starting from your choice of title, the college can regard that as a way to evaluate your personalities, which include your mental processes, creativity and depth of knowledge.



The way that you craft your college essay can also reflect your standard of English, power of persuasion, style etc. So your college essay will reveal your preferences.

So in other words, your college essay is piece writing about yourself. So there is no correct or wrong answer. However, if your writing appears to be sloppy, confusing, insincere or unorganized, then it might hurt your cause. Therefore, try to make your course of writing clear to the reader. Try to focus on one point, instead of butterfly several topics at once. This will only confused your readers and make your college essay to be too general.

Brainstorming on what to write for your college essay can be a daunting but it is a vital process. Some of you might get overwhelmed with lots of things to say in your college paper, some of you might be trying to impress and some of you might simply have nothing to say. Usually a student might take up to a week or two to brainstorm of what to write about in their college paper. After deciding about what to write, you must then try to make an outline about your essay.

Though the college essay can be all about you, but you can still ask helps from your parents, friends, neighbours or even your colleagues to help you with your writing. After all, they are the one that play a huge part in your live. It can also help you better decide on what to write in the college paper.

Another way to help get a better idea about the college essay is read about other college essay that had been done by others. Log in to the internet, there are many sites that provide the sample college essay. And you might also find some great tips and ideas on what you can write in your college paper.

Another important process while writing the college essay paper is to have a framework before writing your first draft. It is always a good practice even for other types of writing as well. The process can help to ensure that you are still on the right track.

After finished writing, you might want to read your college essay to someone that are close to you or know you well. They can help you firm up your essay and together, you can polish up your essay.

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Sunday, May 10, 2009

Are You Concluding Your Academic Essays Correctly?

You’ve just written the bulk of your paper and want to finish it off – let it be complete before you leave it, as coming back later will only mean more time (and possibly more torment). This isn’t the case though, as you should leave a short time between completing writing your essay and writing the conclusion for your academic essay. Go for a walk and clear your head, try to go over the steps in your essay and what you have achieved – you will need this when you sit down to write your conclusion in a shirt while.

Is it conclusion or conclusions?
One key thing to clear up here is the difference between a ‘conclusion’ and ‘conclusions'. Conclusions are made throughout your paper, when you are recognizing that a certain author made an advancement in rabbit fertility, or organinisational culture change management, etc. Conclusions are made by you to the reader re-enforcing what you have just been going over (i.e. what the reader was just reading) and clarifying what meaning it had and moving on. Many academics term these as ‘sign posts’, elements in your work where you close on point and head for another.

On the other hand, a conclusion appears at the end of your academic paper. It ‘wraps things up’ and concludes the arguments that you have put forward in your paper. This part is often the part that the reader remembers and so needs to be the best part of your paper. Do you go to a journal article, read the introduction and conclusion to see if it is any good, or worth reading? Well I know I definitely did in graduate school, so you need to allow your conclusion to make an impact on your reader.



Answer Questions
You want to answer a major question(s) in your conclusion – so what? (possibly the most fundamental question in academia) You need to show people that your paper was (or indeed is) meaningful when they read it, and is useful to them; whether this is due to it being a paper that they can quote from or whether it identify answers to certain questions for your academic marker.

Don’t just repeat
You don’t want to repeat and summarize your paper. You need to draw on the main points of your paper that are of interest and need to be highlighted. You will need to support your academic essay writing here by referring to examples and not leading them down the path to seem that the information contained is not just some random paper.

Direct your Readers
You will need to relate your conclusion to the reader so that they can understand your conclusion in a real world context. If you introduced the essay generally, then have gone specific during your writing, then consider writing specific and looking in general context how your conclusions can be concluded to a global stance.

Create meaning that is unique
Creating and having new meaning in academia means not that you need to have new information, or some ground breaking theory, but will entail you encapsulating your own ideas, with other author’s work and putting them into a new and understandable picture. In general, the summary of the paper and its meaning is worth more than any single part of the paper.



3 Strategies to success:

– Challenge the reader – Challenge the reader to understand what you have read and apply it to their own lives in some way

– Look to the future – By looking to the future in your conclusion you can direct your readers to look towards the future and allow them to think more globally about the impacts your conclusions could have on them

– Pose questions – Posing questions to your reader or the topic in general will allow their minds to wonder and allow your readers to gain a new perspective on the topic that your paper is about. It can also help when you are wanting to bring your main ideas about.

The key points in this article are helpful if you are just wanting a quick guide in your writing in academia, but you should remember to get your work checked by a professional proofreader.

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Friday, May 8, 2009

How To Score Well For Academic Essays

If you are given the task of writing an academic essay, you want to know the best approach to adopt so that you get the best possible grades. On the surface, this sounds easy enough but there is more than meets the eye, as you shall soon see.

Most students think that just by submitting a well researched paper that is written with perfect grammar means that they have a chance for scoring well. Unfortunately, this approach will most likely get them an average score. Let's take a look at why this is on.



An academic essay is often used as a tool by educational institutions to assess the students in various areas. Different educational systems may have different grading systems. But in general, most will want to grade students according to: amount of research (or the equivalent of effort), understanding of topic, originality of ideas, and expression of ideas. These are the four key areas.

As you can see, it is easy to assess a student's ability to write and to conduct research. It is also easy to see whether a student has a good grasp of the subject at hand just by reading the paper. For instance, if a student has good command of English, he has a good command of English. There is no two way about it.

The problem is, it's not so easy when it comes to assessing originality of ideas. What if all the students start coming up with original ideas? Does that mean all of them should get distinctions for their papers? In theory, they should. But in reality, we all know that this is not the case. That is because educational institutions sometimes set thresholds as to how many students can score As, how many can score Bs, and so on. That means even if you have a whole cohort of geniuses, not everyone will get As. Only a handful will be able to get the top grade.

So what does that mean for the student?It means that in order to have a higher chance of scoring top grades, you need to know what your fellow classmates are writing about. Often, you can get a good feel of what the other students are writing just by talking to them.

But note that this does not mean seeing your classmates as the competition. In fact, all of you have the same goal - to score good grades. The challenge, therefore, should be to elevate everyone's standards by having open discussions about the ideas that you are going to write about. That way, everyone shares and the writing process becomes more fun. As students, the common "enemy" is whoever will be grading the papers. So make the job of the graders as tough as possible by submitting top notch academic essays.

This is the secret that very few students know about. Usually, in any given cohort, only a few students know this. And guess what? They are the ones who score top grades. And they continue to do so on a consistent basis. Know that you know the secret as well, maybe you can score better than them!

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Thursday, May 7, 2009

Academic Essay Writing

Academic writing is an important part of your academic excellence. Essay writing has become a typical and common assignment that is used in most subjects. In order to achieve skillfulness in writing an essay, you need to be acquainted with its varieties. One of them is compare-contrast essay paper writing.

It’s simple. For your essay paper you choose two subjects that are familiar to everyone. Make sure they are well-known because not a lot of people are familiar with terminology in different spheres of activity. Let’s say, we pick journalism and designing, or even more specifically – journalists and designers. Now you need to either compare, or to contrast them. By doing first, you show similarities between them in your essay paper. By doing second, you show their differences.



A logical sequence is important in this style of essay paper writing. Journalists and designer are similar because they never listen. They use a free interpretation of customer’s words. Ask anyone, who was interviewed, about the results of his interview. He’ll tell you that he didn’t say half of what was printed, or meant something else. Now ask a customer. Did he receive what he ordered? Ask any customer what he thinks about designers and their associative row. The results are pessimistic.

Now follow the structure of writing an essay and state the differences. Journalist – 10 letters: 4 vowels, 6 consonants. Designer – 8 letters: 3 vowels, 5 consonants. That’s the difference. Isn’t it enough?
There is one more way of writing an essay paper. First describe one object of your essay paper (in my case it’s journalism), and then describe the second object of essay writing (designing). The overall impression in this way of essay writing will be somewhat different. The evidence of contrast/similarity begins to appear after getting to a second part of an essay paper.

Journalists don’t use fact-checking. They can get enough information from the fist ten sources in Google. Looking at next ten sources is just toooo much. Designers don’t care how a web-site should look like. They go to GettyImage and use pictures from the very first window, for they think it takes too long to draw something themselves, and on GettyImage everything’s ready.

Sometimes essay writers only compare, or only contrast. What can be easier in writing an essay? But it also requires some researches on the topic to be able to pick the most comparable/contrasting sides of an object of your essay writing. Essay writers who only compare two ideas in their essay papers sometimes briefly mention the contrast in the introduction, and then move on so that they don't lead readers to think they can't make relevant distinctions. Essay writers who only contrast ideas in their essay papers sometimes briefly summarize similarities in the conclusion so they don't leave the impression that they are thinking in opposites.

Of course, nobody cancels a text structure in essay writing. In all possible tips for essay writing you will find out about the necessity of using an Intro, Main Body, and a Conclusion. Just remember that there are differences between academic writing and high school essay writing. And a five-paragraph essay that satisfied your teacher may not (and will not, that’s for sure) satisfy your college professor. This is why any academic essay writing has to be more thoroughly researched. It also has to be more thoughtfully written. Before handing it in, make sure it’s checked for punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Even a well-written essay papers can be a fiasco if you skip double-checking it.

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