Writing essays in college can be a daunting task. Often times, students don’t know where to start and then flounder through the entire process. Today, we’ve got some tips that will help you write better essays.
Write To the Teacher
One of the things that you’ll quickly find out in college, is that every teacher you encounter will have a slightly different idea about what makes an essay great. Therefore, your first job is to find out what your teacher expects from the assignment. Oftentimes, this can be accomplished by simply reading the instructions for the assignment carefully.
If you’re lucky, your teacher will provide a rubric by which he or she grades these essays, and that will also provide you with invaluable information. For example, if your professor considers the thesis to be the most important part of your essay, than you need to put a lot of effort into making that thesis statement shine. Then, a year later, if you have a literature professor who is looking for really strong analysis skills, then you will want to focus on that.
If your teacher does not provide you with a rubric or a detailed set of instructions, then just ask! Teachers have office hours for a reason, so drop by his office at that time. Sit down and seek clarification on what the expectations of the essay are.
Write Multiple Essay Drafts
It’s very likely that you expect to just write the essay once and be done with it, but that’s not a recipe for success. Great essays undergo many drafts and revisions. Starting with an outline is always a great idea, but the revision process is about finding what works for you. The most important takeaway here is revision, which is the process by which you go back through the essay and make changes to improve it.
Revision
Good revision also requires careful time budgeting. If your essay is due in three weeks, then you should try to hammer out a first draft as soon as possible. Then, let that draft sit for a few days, so it’s less fresh. After a little while has passed, look at the draft again. One of the nice things about making use of multiple drafts is that you can take the pressure off a little bit.
Global Issues
Instead of worrying about getting the essay perfect the first time, consider your first draft as just getting all your thoughts and ideas on the page. Then, when you revise that first draft, you will want to look for global issues that your essay suffers from.
This means you should be ignoring the grammar problems for now; chances are that you’ll end up changing those sentences anyway and the error will soon be irrelevant. Global issues can be organization and structure of the essay, clarity of the main and supporting ideas, and the all-important question of whether or not you’re addressing the essay prompt. You will not get a good grade on an essay if you don’t follow the prompt.
Local Issues
Now, once you’ve revised and addressed all the global issues, you can let the essay sit again for a few days. Then, pick it up, and this time look for local issues. Addressing local issues requires you to look at every sentence carefully, combing through for errors.
This can also be a great time to bug that grammar friend of yours, your roommate, your mom, anyone who is willing to help.
Errors can be difficult to find and the more pairs of eyes you have looking at your essay, the more mistakes will be found. Another great tip is to actually print out the draft, and then read it out loud. It doesn’t sound fun, and maybe even sounds a bit silly, but by reading your essay aloud, mistakes will register better. When you read silently to yourself, often times your brain auto-corrects any errors it comes across, so you miss them.
Find What Essay Writing Method Works For You
Writing does not work the same for every person. As long as you make the effort to understand your teacher’s expectations and write multiple drafts, the rest can be up to you. Do you work better if you make yourself write at least 100 words every day? Do you prefer to write in complete silence or with music playing in the background? Feel free to experiment.
Some students are successful with writing their thesis last, after they know what they really want to say. Others start from figuring the thesis out first, so they know what to do with the rest of their essay.
So remember: write to the teacher, write multiple drafts, and from there, just keep writing and looking for feedback, so that you improve. You can even make appointments with your instructors to go over drafts with them personally, and that’s as helpful as it gets!