Essay writing is both an art and a science. The best writers adopt very basic skills and techniques that help them create exemplary works. Their essays also demonstrate commitment to finding working strategies and processes in writing. This article outlines simple yet effective essay hacks every student should know in 2024.
Simple Essay Hacks for Better Writing
Research Your Title
The title might seem an obvious consideration for writing, but it’s not always simple to create. Most students struggle to develop comprehensive and meaningful titles. The first step in writing a good essay is having a reasonable title. While institutions may provide guidelines for this step, others assume learners can learn the skills on their own. For that reason, one of the most effective essay-writing hacks is learning to research and develop a good title.
Create An Outline
A good topic research should guide you in creating a workable outline. At this point, you generate a reasonable mind map, highlighting your thoughts and major arguments. This is where you build a shell for your essay. You can start with a shortened version of your main argument. An outline is one of the best writing hacks because it allows you to generate precise and concise explanations for your thesis using evidence gathered during the topic research. The stem culminates in a compelling thesis statement, topic sentences, and a conclusion.
Start With A Strong Introduction
With a structure and arguments clearly defined, you can now showcase your writing skills by crafting an attractive introduction. The first paragraph of your essay should introduce the reader to your topic and hint at the main arguments. It should also show a logical flow of reasoning, directing your audience toward the main body. In some cases, you can also explain the essay’s organization or share its purpose.
Regardless, your introduction should always end with a thesis statement. No essay writing tips and tricks can work without a compelling introduction. Start your paper with a hook if possible, but your professor will be more interested in the thesis statement. Thus, a school essay should always have a strong argument with identifiable supporting evidence right at the beginning.
Avoid Repetition
When you start your essay, create a logical flow of ideas while minimizing unnecessary repetition. Use active voice to make your work readable. Writing an essay in passive voice is boring even to the reader. Imagine reading a document whose subject is unknown or impossible to decipher. Make your writing easy to read by maintaining a direct line of communication with the audience. In formal writing, you must use a third-person perspective and avoid addressing the reader directly. However, you speak directly to the audience by incorporating rhetoric, capturing their emotions with pathos, and targeting their logic with logos.
Know When To Get Help
One of the biggest mistakes students make in higher education is not knowing when to get help. Academia is about collaboration, especially since no one knows everything. The most useful essay-writing hacks of all time will always include asking for help. Whether you choose to talk to your professor or a classmate, the conversation might just save your grade. Using a trustworthy writing company like CustomWritings – professional essay writing service may be the missing link to a better essay. Always know when to email your professor, chat with a classmate, or hire an expert writer. Admitting defeat is never a show of weakness. On the contrary, asking for help demonstrates a willingness to learn. It also gives you an opportunity to gather more knowledge faster.
Formal Essay Writing Hacks for Students
Find Reliable Sources And Examples
Boost your writing skills with reliable evidence. Using peer-analyzed scholarly sources may be part of the instructions. However, using reliable and credible evidence is a style of writing. Professional writers know that references make essay writing easier and essays more compelling. Besides, this is one way of appealing to logic. If you can accommodate other people’s arguments in your paper and challenge opposing perspectives, you can appeal to any reader. Learn to integrate academic evidence in your essays to make them credible. Include a list of references in your paper and incorporate in-text citations to give credit to other researchers.
Make Your Transition Flawless
You can never write an essay without transition words. Demonstrate your writing skills through diction, choosing the best phrases, and connecting paragraphs to make your work flawless. Transition words help you make use of the white noise without losing your audience’s attention. It also helps you eliminate gaps between arguments. Words such as similarly, besides, finally, lastly, and however can help you connect different topics within the same essay. The interconnection between arguments is critical to the flow.
Be Concise
For a beginner, being concise means using short and precise sentences. However, as you progress in the field of writing, you can create better sentence structures and write better essays. Being concise means better utilization of the white space to a pro writer. The empty spaces between words and images in your text are vital to your document’s readability. You can make an essay comprehensible by using shorter sentences and smaller paragraphs. You can also improve the quality of your text with more white space. Use similar indentation in all sections, make your paragraphs equal in size, and use a generally acceptable font size and style.
Avoid Jargon, Colloquial Terms, And Slang
Diction is a critical determinant of readability. Simplicity makes your message more effective, while precision makes it appear professional. Conversely, jargon limits your arguments to a specific field of expertise. For instance, using complex medical terms limits communications to nurses, doctors, and other players in the field of medicine. Similarly, slang limits your message to a specific social group. This makes your work less appealing and your arguments ineffective. Colloquialism may seem an effective solution to slang and jargon, but it makes your paper appear informal. Thus, you must always stick to simple English in essay writing.
Proofread Your Work
Writing always ends at the editing and proofreading stage. Since nobody is perfect, errors and mistakes are a lot more common in writing than people care to admit. If you cannot afford a professional editor, you must proofread and edit your essay before submission. The best approach at this stage is to wait a few hours after completing the first draft. This strategy enables you to edit your work when the arguments are still fresh.
Resting before you start proofreading freshens your mind, allowing you to detect errors. Conversely, editing your work immediately after finishing the first draft creates room for confirmation bias. You are more likely to ignore mistakes and inconsistencies. Hence, you must analyze your document with a fresh perspective. Alternatively, you can hire a professional editor to analyze your work.
