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Essay writing tips.

As a former English and Spanish major, I have written a lot of essays. A lot. And as an admissions counselor, I’ve had the opportunity to read more essays than I’ve written in my entire life.

I really enjoy reading and writing (and even editing) essays, so for this post I thought I’d give you all some essay writing tips. I was initially planning to specifically focus on college application essays, but since it’s the end of the school year and many of you are probably working on final essays for some of your classes, I thought I’d broaden my advice a little bit. Hopefully you’ll find each of these tips helpful, whether you’re working on an essay for an English class or for a college application!

• Make sure you actually answer the prompt. This piece of advice might seem very obvious, but it’s something that often trips people up. I’ve read several essays where people don’t actually answer the question that was posed. I’ve even been guilty of this at times. There are a lot of things you have to focus on when you write an essay: structure, gathering details, grammar, etc. Sometimes people get so focused on all of those things that they never end up actually answering the prompt, or they briefly address the prompt and then veer off to talk about something that’s only tangentially related. One way of tackling this problem that I’ve found helpful is making sure to write your thesis statement before you write any other part of the essay. Depending on the type of essay you’re writing, this thesis may be a little bit vaguer or a little bit more explicit; the important thing is that your essay does have a central “point.” Once you’ve done that, ask yourself: “Does this thesis statement answer the prompt?” If it does, you’re on the right track! From there, each time you finish a paragraph, come back to that thesis statement and make sure that what you’ve written supports it. You may end up needing to tweak your thesis as you write and examine your evidence more closely (this almost always happens to me), but each time you do, double-check to make sure that it still answers the essay’s prompt.
• Don’t skip the pre-writing process. Before I write an essay, I always take some time to outline. First, I try to come up with a rough number of paragraphs that I want my essay to be. From there, I make a note of the evidence I’ll be using for each paragraph and write a brief description for myself of how I’m planning to use that evidence in my argument. This may seem like extra work, but it actually saves a lot of time later on in the process. You don’t have to think about what you should be doing next while you’re writing, which saves you from having your writing flow interrupted. Outlining also helps you stay on track and keeps you from repeating points you’ve already used earlier in the essay or leaving important things out. No matter what kind of essay you’re writing, outlining is sure to make the overall process easier.
• Do at least one round of edits. It drives me absolutely crazy when people tell me that they submitted a first draft without even looking it over once. One time, I edited nine different drafts of a paper before I turned it in (my friends still make fun of me about this to this day). I wouldn’t recommend doing this, but there is a happy medium to be found between nine drafts and one draft. To state the obvious, giving an essay at least a second read will help you catch small errors like grammar mistakes. It can also help you notice problems with the content. Hopefully you won’t have to do a complete overhaul with your second draft, but even doing some light editing can make the paper a million times better.
• Start early. If you want to write a second draft, it’s important to give yourself enough time to do so. I know it’s easier said than done to start something early. I can procrastinate with the best of them, but starting an essay early makes things easier all around. In addition to having enough time to do a second draft, you’ll also be less stressed. One of my biggest regrets to this day is not starting my college application essays earlier. I could have saved myself a lot of stress and worry by starting them a bit earlier in the school year, or maybe even toward the end of the summer before my senior year. The same thing applies to essays for school. It’s unlikely you’ll start working on any essays for your classes months in advance (unless it’s something like an IB Extended Essay), but even just starting to brainstorm ideas as soon as you get the prompt for an essay can make a huge difference.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help, but don’t let your voice get lost. Getting help with your essays is always a great idea. Whether you ask a peer or a teacher to look at an essay before you submit the final version, getting a second pair of eyes on something you’ve written is always helpful. When you write an essay, you can get so entrenched in the material that you’re not able to see the mistakes anymore. Having someone else look at the essay can help you catch errors and see things that aren’t necessarily bad but could use some improvement. It’s also important to make sure that you ask the appropriate person for advice. Another way of putting that is to think about who is the most qualified to look at a particular essay. For example, teachers and counselors are both great resources, but the former is probably a better person to ask for help with essays for class, while the latter is definitely who you should go to for help with college essays. With all of that being said, you also need to stay true to your own voice when you’re writing an essay. Taking the advice of others can be helpful, but at the end of the day, it should be your work and your unique voice that is showcased in the final product.
• Have fun with it! This can be easier said than done at times, but you should try your best to have fun with whatever it is you’re writing. Sometimes you might have to write about something that’s not super interesting to you, but try to find some way to psych yourself up and get excited. And if you do have a choice between multiple prompts (like for our Uncommon Essay ), don’t just go for the one that sounds the easiest. Go for the one that most stands out to you! I can tell you that my writing was always miles better when I was working on something that I was excited about.

There’s a lot more that goes into essay writing, so this list of tips isn’t exhaustive, but hopefully they are a good starting point (or reminder!) for you. Best of luck to all of you essay writers out there, no matter what you’re writing your essay for! Now get writing!

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College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
• All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
• Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
• If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
• Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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College admissions

Course: college admissions   >   unit 4.

• Writing a strong college admissions essay
• Avoiding common admissions essay mistakes
• Brainstorming tips for your college essay
• How formal should the tone of your college essay be?
• Taking your college essay to the next level
• Sample essay 1 with admissions feedback
• Sample essay 2 with admissions feedback
• Student story: Admissions essay about a formative experience
• Student story: Admissions essay about personal identity
• Student story: Admissions essay about community impact
• Student story: Admissions essay about a past mistake
• Student story: Admissions essay about a meaningful poem

Writing tips and techniques for your college essay

Pose a question the reader wants answered, don't focus exclusively on the past, experiment with the unexpected, don't summarize, want to join the conversation.

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10 Tips to Write an Essay and Actually Enjoy It

by Joe Bunting | 41 comments

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Writing an essay may not be easy. It may not come to you naturally. After all, writing is a skill, and skills take practice, whether it's playing a sport, performing an instrument, or playing video games.

But writing an essay   can be fun,  if  you have the right attitude.

With that in mind, here's an infographic with ten tips to write an essay without hating every moment of the process.

Click the image below to see a larger view:

Click here to view an enlarged version of this infographic .

To make it through high school and college, you're going to have to write essays, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the time you write them.

The secret is to stop trying to write a good essay. Instead, write an  interesting  essay, write an essay you think is fascinating.

In other words, start by writing what you think is interesting about the topic you're assigned. Then, when you’re finished, go back and edit with your teacher or professor in mind.

How about you? Do you like writing essays? Do you hate writing essays? Let me know in the comments section .

Use tip #3 and ask yourself, “What surprises me about this topic?”

Then, spend fifteen minutes writing an answer to that topic (here's a handy tool to help you keep track of your time ). Just write whatever comes to mind. Write for you, not for your teacher or professor.

When your time is up, share your answer in the comments section as a way to get feedback encourage others to have fun writing essays, too.

Happy writing!

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Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

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41 Comments

This is excellent! I’ve been struggling with my essay for two days and I already know that this is going to help me tremendously! Thank you so much, for writing this at the perfect time:)

Awesome! Good luck!

These are great tips, not only for those writing essays, but also for bloggers too. Thank you!

Very true, Em. Thanks for reading!

You’re welcome Joe. Thank YOU!

Although the article is geared toward school essays, I found some good tips to use in my personal essay. Thanks.

Great! Glad you found it helpful, Jayne.

This came at the perfect time! I’ve been putting off writing an essay for a week now since I dread writing them. This post helped me have a new perspective; I can’t wait to try these tips out on my work. 🙂

That’s so great, Dara. What’s the essay about?

This essay is about the power of silence. It filters through our culture being so “noisy” that many of us don’t have time for quiet or solitude anymore.

Those 10 tips are great and they all say writing is for fun and relaxation so stop stressing and I guarantee you will bring that inner you to the top and your reader will be dazzled and amazed at the mind-blowing and interesting essay you have developed.

My hardest goal in writing an essay is I can do the research as a matter of fact I love the research, but until I have determined by target audience, I can’t seem to put a word on paper and I decided that my professor and his colleagues are not my target audience.

That’s a great point, Parker. It’s much harder to write when your target reader is your teacher/professor.

I love essay writing! I have always done all of the tips you mentioned naturally. To me it is a way to organize what I know about a subject. Essays are usually done because they are required for some reason, but when you relax and start organizing your thoughts they(essays) can be very enjoyable.

That’s so cool! I’m glad these principles are working for you (also, I wish I had this perspective when I was writing essays!).

I love making my 13 year-old write them. They are pretty funny.

Um, can you please post one of them!

I had never thought of essay writing in the way you have described. Many thanks. These are really helpful!

Great! Thanks for reading!

This couldn’t have come at a better time! I have a rough draft of a surprise paper due Monday about Rhetoric in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, and that is literally all we have discussed for three weeks. Pathos, Ethos, Logos, Fallacies… ugh. I’ll give the out-of-order method a try and see how it goes.

Ha, I hear you Laren. Just remember all those Latic words are just code for intense and emotional situations and ideas. People like to dress them up in serious sounding words, but they’re the same emotions you see in your own life and on TV. Don’t take them too seriously.

Okay, here’s my essay:

Inspired by a young man’s account of being thrown out of work in 1930 and surviving through the Great Depression, I started studying that history and the facts behind the Stock Market Crash in October 1929.

I was intrigued by the similarity between conditions leading up to the 1929 Crash and conditions leading up to the economic recession the US went through in the 1990s. I guess what surprised me most is how little we seem to learn from history. Even some of the greatest man-made tragedies get repeated.

Historians tell us that in the “roaring Twenties” the stock market was booming. Share prices were rising and everyone and his pup wanted in on the action. The market seemed so secure that banks began making collateral-free loans to individuals wanting to buy stocks. So many people with money to buy drove the demand and the price of stocks through the roof. Then the building collapsed.

In the 1980s the builders unions started putting pressure on US banks to make home mortgages more readily available, even to home buyers with no collateral. This was to boost home sales and stimulate building. Great idea in theory. Bank loans officers started handing out “no-down payment” mortgages. People started buying houses on spec. But when these mortgages came up for renewal, reality hit home. Owners tossed their keys on the bankers’ desks and walked away.

Collateral-free loans didn’t work for long in the 1920s and they didn’t work for long in the 1990s either. Were there not a few historians saying, “Wait a minute here”?

There are other events of those years that we would do well to remember. Sometimes I fear we lack the connection to history that would spare us further grief. Maybe It’s time we delve into our past again so we can avoid repeating bad history?

A couple of friends (who remains “friends” despite reading my most private documents without permission or even a good excuse) have described my journal entries as “like little snippets of David Foster Wallace’s essays, except not quite as good” (which to me is still a great compliment, apart from, you know, the total rape of my privacy and peace of mind). If that’s the case, I find essay-writing cathartic, rather than painful (and probably ought to write an essay on encryption, in the interest of finding a better way to store my files).

When you think as much as I do—and, that probably sounds like boasting, but it’s not; I should say, when you *ruminate* as much as I do—trying to put your inchoate, rambling, chaotic thoughts into a more-or-less coherent and cohesive form, without the impetus for perfection attendant to publication, imparts a certain freedom to just *riff* … and riff, and riff, and riff, occasionally for hours at a time, talking at length about nothing, or something, or something ex nothing. Trying to explain this sort of Vesuvian vernacular vehemency to a normal, functional human being is an exercise in vanity; people don’t care, and aren’t interested in being convinced to care. It’s easy for me, with sedulous attention to detail and a few shots to loosen the nerves, to make basically anything interesting, if you can get into it—my trouble lies in getting people into it. I’m bad at marketing. It’s not that I think it’s not important, mind; I just suck at it. As easily as I understand how people work in my absence, I’m totally incapable of comprehending their behavior before my own work.

The biggest surprise, that being the point of this little exercise, comes in the ease of writing it: being a complete narcissist, I can make absolutely anything about myself, which makes anything easy to write about. It’s probably the ultimate source of Gonzo journalism; when you like talking about yourself too much not to include yourself in the content of your writing. When your head races a mile a minute, the trick is not in coming up with things to write about something, but in figuring out what *not* to write, and trying to find ways to include all the little prosodical gems you uncover in the course of your excursus—there’s a million different little ways to impress people, which is, ultimately, the point, far and above convincing anyone of anything.

And that, in itself, reveals so much about the process: at this point, in the blither[^1]-saturated internet media, the subject of the essay becomes a secondary concern, at best; in the traditional fashion of celebrity culture, the author of the essay is the paramount concern; the validity of the opinions therein are of, at best, second concern—everything now revolving around the self, the informative nature of the essay falls short of the opinions and personal anecdotes conveyed thereby. It isn’t that people don’t care about facts or perspectives or reality, it’s merely that it is no longer possible to discern truth from fiction, or reality from fantasy, at least not without a Ph.D. in the subject matter: maybe an M.D. could tell the difference between a legit article in the Lancet or the NEJM, but I sure can’t, and it’s true across all professions, even scientists between disciplines—a molecular biologist is no more apt to descry the falsities of any essays or articles written on the Alcubierre drive than I am, and the same holds true for pretty much anyone, across any field.

Personality has supplanted information; entertainment has supplanted enlightenment. The spin doctors of the nineties and early 2000s got smart—verisimilitude is the key to belief, and with everyone believing everything they write (and they write it because they believe it), the truth is, at best, an abstract principle. It’s a philosophical issue, one totally unrelated to the vagaries and vicissitudes and batshit insanity of modern living.

And but the point of all this remains unknown to me—somehow it related to essay-writing, and the attempt to convey opinions or state of mind (cf. actual facts, which are few and far between), but the relation thereof to the subject of today’s practice—whatever the hell it is—remains elusive, or illusory, or something, and I don’t know where I stand anymore. I think that’s the end point of most supposedly illuminating pieces, anyway.

[1]: Here synonymous with “information.”

It’s probably hard to believe I wrote that in fifteen minutes but I promise I did; I was (am) drunk and not really thinking about it and I type like 150 wpm and etc. This will probably be a total embarrassment tomorrow morning.

I could never figure out the difference between an essay and an opinion piece. I’ve hesitated before submitting to publications that welcome essays but say things like “please, no opinion pieces.” I thought an essay was, basically, an opinion piece, in which you try to convince the reader that your way of interpreting or evaluating an event or series of events or life or whatever is the most objectively correct or least painful interpretation.

I guess essay-writing could be hard if you’re being forced to write about things you could care less about. I think the solution, there, is to find a way to be unboreable. If you can make yourself interested in anything, you will thrive no matter where you are or what ringers they put you through.

Since my pet peeve is fiction writing, I never thought about essay writing yet now that I’m reading about it, it makes sense that I need to keep in mind a few basic tips. I like journal writing, and to an extent, I can say it’s similar to essay writing since I make it a short writing on a particular subject, not just random thoughts.

What surprises me about this subject is that some people might actually hate the process, especially in a writing group. Perhaps someone does not like it, or realises that it’s not their strong suit . These ten tips are simple and useful, and of course, I am going to use Wikipedia, who wouldn’t?

But I if I were to boil it to one tip would be tip number seven. Whatever I write, I want it to be best in class.

Super cool info graphic! Good tips too. I actually love writing essays too (as long as I’m interested in the topic) but I’ll keep your graphic in my downloads to help me out sense it’s got some great, well organized advice.

Being a writer I’ve loved these tips, because they not only for those writing essays. I’m a contributor to many websites and I’m finding helpful this infographic for me.

Joe, thank you.

Yeah post it here!

I’m so glad to see you used Wikipedia as source tool. As someone that is more of a technical writer, research scientist/business person and who sells his work in the form of technical reports and occasional publications – I am a huge proponent of Wikipedia.

There is no better way for the average person to research a subject (and that is a fact, see below).

I am always saddened when I run into some severely handicapped and uninformed soul who thinks that Wikipedia is not a valid source because it isn’t on paper. Few people take the time to read the comparison studies that have been done regarding the accuracy of Wikipedia and other encyclopedic sources, none of which are 100% accurate and or unbiased. The first of such comparisons was done by Nature in 2005:

“For its study, Nature chose articles from both sites in a wide range of topics and sent them to what it called “relevant” field experts for peer review. The experts then compared the competing articles–one from each site on a given topic–side by side, but were not told which article came from which site. Nature got back 42 usable reviews from its field of experts. In the end, the journal found just eight serious errors, such as general misunderstandings of vital concepts, in the articles. Of those, four came from each site. They did, however, discover a series of factual errors, omissions or misleading statements. All told, Wikipedia had 162 such problems, while Britannica had 123.”

Since 2005 there have been several other comparisons and Wikipedia fairs very well in all. One article I found in Forbes also reveals a curious phenomenon, conservative personality types tend to have a general bias against Wikipedia – and are also uninformed as to accuracy. Not unlike conservative college professors who have biases against even high quality online courses. Never underestimate the limitations of the conservative personality type. Here are some the references I’ve found regarding Wikipedia accuracy:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/full/438900a.html

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7084/full/440582b.html

http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/02/seven-years-after-nature-pilot-study-compares-wikipedia-favorably-to-other-encyclopedias-in-three-languages/

Conservative bias and Wikipedia

http://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2015/01/20/wikipedia-or-encyclopaedia-britannica-which-has-more-bias/

Thanks so much for this. I teach 12th grade English and will share this info-graphic with them tomorrow. They have an essay coming up and I’m always looking for new ways to push the idea that essays really aren’t so evil. I completely agree with you that they can be fun.

I would’ve loved to see you add an example of an essay you’ve written or one you find to be a well-written piece as well.

Thanks again for the great post!

I’m on Facebook a lot, but Facebook can be a true learning experience. For instance, I learned something truly amazing. The universe began at midday on the 23rd of October 4004 BC. I never knew that. That makes the universe, that’s the universe mind you, all those millions and millions of stars you see on a dark and starry night, are only a maximum of 6,000 years old. It seems that in 1650 Archbishop James Ussher conducted his own literalistic exegesis of all those begets and begots in the book of Genesis, and determined that time and date.

So close all those science books, put away all those instruments of measurement because the Holy Bible says they ain’t so. Really? Absolutely and positively it tain’t possible for the center of the galaxy to be 25,000 light years away, ‘cuz da Bilbe say da universe be only 10,000 years old. The Andromeda spiral galaxy cannot possibly be 2.1 million light years away because the universe tain’t old enough for the light to get here. ‘Cuz da Bible says it’s so. Einstein was WRONG. The speed of light cannot possibly be a constant, ‘cuz da Bible says da universe is only 6,000 years old and if Andromeda appears to be 2.1 million light years away dat means light had to move ever so much faster to get here long long ago. Why did it slow down. I dunno, da Bible don’t say.

See there, Facebook can be such a front, or is that fount of information.

Wow, impressive infographic and great tips, Joe! Practice part is also awesome, I like the way you advice to think about. Truly, it’s so simple – write about your thoughts on this topic without trying to adapt them to your professor.

In your infographic, you mentioned some words and phrases which are highly desirable to avoid. Adding clichés is not a good choice for making your essay more wordy. Everyone is sick of them already, and – foremost – teachers and professors. Reading similar and not pure writing daily could simply lead to educators’ contempt of all students. Besides, one of modern problems in writing is lack of originality. It’s easy to google and find some short reviews of any more or less well-known book. Some ignorant people without any slight doubt could use that material. Or articles from Wikipedia. Or some other resources on the web, without any citations or with incomplete quotations. It is called plagiarism. For discernable reasons, being part of such situations, it’s extremely undesirable both for the students and for any creative person – writer, blogger, content creator. Because easiness of taking credit of the other’s person proceedings transforms into the complexity of getting out of this situation. Sometimes, plagiarism problems could even destroy a starting writing or academic career.

Moreover, occasionally students face with unintentional plagiarism – when they have non proper citation – they didn’t intend to commit plagiarism, but it happened. What are the best ways to prevent such situations? Do more deep research, learn how to make proper quotations, use plagiarism detection tools. These tools could be free of charge (as PlagTracker) and those you have to pay for (as Unplag plagiarism checker). If you have career connected with writing is more rational to choose a more proficient tool. Or use both, if they had a different working algorithm. Personally, I prefer software for a fee, because using it, I could be sure that the team of professionals is working for me

Love the tips! I never liked writing essays. But, I have grown to learn my own tricks to make sure I do it right the first time. Thanks for the tips! Just in time to work on my second essay!!

I write plenty of essays for school, all the time. I have actually learned to enjoy them. The best thing about an essay is that although you have a question and a style in which it likely has to be written, the approach you take to it is all yours. And I have fun being creative and inventive with the way in which I approach the subject and support my opinion.

Not even sure if this is an essay, but neither is it fiction. After listening to the webinar I had to get up out of bed zzz to check out The Write Practice… so, if this is an essay or not, here’s 593 words: Morning Musings. Christmas your way.

So beautiful, sitting here in the half dark of early morning, fire already lit, candles and lamps making puddles of yellow light in corners and on floors and against walls.

Feels like Christmas.

Christmas. When beauty hangs in the house, it having been decorated in seasonal favourites speaking of all those other years, leaning back into the comfortable familiarity of my children’s childhoods, when the world was often tired, frequently stretched, sometimes stressed but always simpler. And full of the joy of children emerging, little people growing into their next surprising iterations.

Christmas at home – not the manic version on the city streets. This Christmas, the one you make yourself within your four walls, be they big or small, literal or metaphorical. Be they the walls you want, or the walls you don’t. Within them: its yours to make. Even if that means starting in your own head.

This Christmas, the one you make yourself. When the air seeps with good will and we can set aside the conflicts and irritations and it seems easier, somehow, to have grace for everyone’s shortcomings. When you steal precious moments away from the distractions and sit in the candlelight and with the lamps throwing yellow puddles on the floor. When forgiveness comes easier and peace, as Yeats so famously said, comes dropping slow.

And when, despite the financing of it all which could darn near break the bank if you weren’t wise, at least somewhat planned and decidedly restrained, there is the joy of plotting and finding something just right for someone and anticipating their face when they get it.

A joy for every sorrow. Other times, it seems there is a sorrow for every joy, that every good thing is marred with a disappointment or a difficulty. What’s the difference? What my eyes see? Both are there. How come sometimes I see only one, and other times I see the other?

What if we were to live life with eyes wide open, knowing that sorrow abides in every corner, pain is rife out there and often in here, and difficulty or trouble is just the nature of everyday stuff. LIke men of old might say, it is a fallen world. And then, then look for the joy, look at, look for, the childhood that’s emerging not the exhaustion of accompanying it. Look for the grace to overlook the shortcoming, not the fact of the shortcoming being there. (Of course its there, duh!). Look for the potential in the problem. Looking for, creating, enjoying, the mastery of managing the budget – despite the pain and strain and limitation of the budget.

I have a premise and its this. If we quit (if I quit) moaning about the problem and start being grateful for what’s good about it, we will (I will ) actually become more able to actually tackle the darn problem in the first place. The real problem… is that my problem with the problem binds me to it… rendering me unable to tackle it: therein lies its power. The problem is definitely a problem in the first place. Giving it power by not accepting it enough to actually tackle it constructively… not that just takes the biscuit.

Givin’ that up this year! Gonna make this Christmas my Christmas. The one with the joy for every sorrow and the lift for every drag – the one full of wonder and people and loving them and ourselves and loving life and the beauty nestling hidden within it… however we are able to.

Thanks, Joe. I will keep this handy to share with my students! Peace, Sherrie

Awesome tips, Joe. But I’m just curious about the number 8 – if you write about too many things, won’t your essay be messy? For example, if you check this discrimination essay out, you’ll see there are many points and nothing concrete about either of them. But if the author wanted to go more deeply into each and every of them, he may have ended up with a research paper. Besides, when it comes to editing, lots of things are crossed out because 90% have nothing to do with the topic. So, I guess this tip may be good for those who are writing big papers but if you have to write a one or two page essay, isn’t it better to stick to the topic?

Nice tips. Hope they can help me to write better.

It was very informative when any student ask or would like to know about the do’s and don’ts about a great essay. To improvise a proper structure in essays it would be wise enough for any writer to take advantage from these aforementioned tips and rules. There are multiple essay writing service that are presenting available services for the students who are just learning to build an informative and detailed essay. Top essay writing services UK are also available online for assistance for UK students that deals with essay writing tips for competitive exams UK.

A 500 word essay is a common assignment for high school and college students. Many students ask how long is this kind of an essay? It is approximately 2 pages. Preparing a 500-word essay for college often means that you will need to conduct preliminary research in order to have useful materials and prepare a good topic for your paper. Once you complete your research, you will need to prepare an outline before starting to write the first drafts. Do not forget about proofreading, i.e. fixing grammar and spelling errors. In order to conduct research, you may visit numerous libraries and search for the books which cover the topic of your paper. Make sure you take notes on the cards. This will help you remember some very important facts related to the topic of your research.

We work with doctoral and masters’ hopefuls, helping you get from a plan to an endorsed proposition and onto a complete theory or paper. We give reasonable, tweaked administration to enable you to conquer obstacles, meet your doctoral level college’s prerequisites, pass your graduation on time, and push forward with the profession and life. Thesis Dissertation Assignment Help is sought after by all students seeking after Thesis Dissertation Assignment examines. It is one of the ways that Thesis Dissertation students need to apply things what they are realizing. For more, you can visit papernow.org

Excellent tips! Many students have a hard time finding the right words to express their thoughts and feelings in writing. Online tutors from platforms like Sweetstudy or Homeworkmarket can help with this. A tutor will work with you on your specific needs and goals in order to help you achieve them. They’ll work with you to form a plan for success that is tailored specifically for your needs as a learner. Tutors can also be a great resource for those who are looking to improve their writing skills or build confidence in this area of academic study. They’re trained professionals who have been through the process of learning how to write effectively themselves! This means they have experience guiding other learners through this process as well as knowledge about what works best when it comes time for students to submit their work online.

Great Post, Keep it up always.

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From Karl Marx to Toga Shortages: Reddit’s Funniest Essay Mistakes

Pursuing higher education is a long and challenging adventure demanding hard work, analytical thinking, and well-crafted writing. Yet, in their willingness to express themselves, students sometimes come up with odd, funny, and even ridiculous conclusions. Funny enough, they earn them high grades at times. Hard work pays off, as we know. And so does unplanned creativity, apparently. 

Key Takeaways:

• Student essays often contain humorous mistakes because of stress, time pressure, and misunderstandings
• Grammar errors, factual inaccuracies, tautologies, and redundancies are frequent errors in student writing
• Some mistakes don’t pose much of a threat, while others will significantly lower your score.

It’s hardly a shock that essays with bizarre sentences, weird ideas, or outlandish theories often get the nod from the teachers. This likely comes from professors being well-acquainted with their students’ communication (and consequently, writing) styles. When they see something in an essay that deviates from norms or common sense, they tend to chalk it up to a simple accident. The student, perhaps overwhelmed by the whirlwind of ideas and arguments, might have simply lost their narrative thread without realizing it. Or, which is also possible, some professors genuinely embrace fresh, daring, or even revolutionary perspectives, and actively encourage such originality, even if these ideas are rather grotesque, so to speak.

This takes us to an interesting account provided on Reddit by a user who tells about their experience with the AP World History Exam. The author revealed, “I took the AP World test, and during the LEQ, I said that revolutionaries such as Karl Marx postulated new economic ideas. I did not cook using that statement. Seriously, the exam was completely free.” The post received a lot of attention, prompting hilarious and empathic reactions from other Redditors about what they believed were stupid things written in academic papers. 

Stupidest thing you’ve written on an essay? by u/ElectroBOOMFan1 in APStudents

Common Hiccups in Student Essays

Ah, the curious subjectivity of mistakes! For some, what passes as the norm might be a terrible mistake in the eyes of another. Remember the beloved late 80s sitcom featuring the extraterrestrial Alf, who lived with a typical American family? In one of the episodes, Alf accidentally switches on the television that Willy, the family patriarch, is repairing. Electrified by the incident, Willy proclaims it a tragedy, whereas Alf, ever the interstellar optimist, downplayed the event to a less dramatic term – “a mistake.” Such is the disparity in perspectives!

Sadly, most teachers belong to the old school of traditional education and aren’t quite the bastions of open-mindedness. They have a habit of cataloging mistakes, assessing their severity, and eagerly deducting points. We, mortals of the student body, are left to put up with it and do our best to avoid making errors. But, let’s face it—who doesn’t make them? We’ve all faltered in our academic attempts to a certain degree. Some of the most frequent missteps include the following.

Grammar Mistakes

Grammar mistakes are our constant companions, stubbornly persisting despite our best efforts to dodge them. These slip-ups range from minor, like a missing letter in a word that doesn’t alter the intended message, to major blunders that completely flip the meaning of a sentence on its head. 

Spelling Errors : Spelling errors are one of the most basic and prevalent mistakes in student essays. These mistakes can range from simple typos to more consequential misunderstandings of word spelling. Spell-check tools can catch many of these errors, but reliance on technology can sometimes lead to overlooked mistakes, especially with homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings, like “their” and “there” ).

Punctuation Problems : Punctuation errors can drastically change the meaning of a sentence. Common issues include misplacing commas, incorrect apostrophes, and wrong use of periods, semicolons, and colons. For example, “ Let’s eat, grandma ” is quite different from “ Let’s eat grandma .” Proper punctuation secures clarity and precision in writing.

Sentence Structure : Issues with sentence structure can include run-on sentences, sentence fragments, and awkward phrasing. Run-on sentences occur when two or more independent clauses are improperly joined, while sentence fragments are incomplete thoughts presented as sentences. Awkward phrasing can make sentences confusing or difficult to read. Clear and concise sentence structure is crucial for effective communication.

Context Mistakes

These inaccuracies aren’t always as obvious as a misplaced comma. If your mistake is contextual, it could lead to being misunderstood at best, or at worst, being regarded as unhinged. So tread carefully and steer clear of the following mistakes:

Fact Confusion: Confusing historical facts or events is a common mistake, especially in subjects like history or social studies. For instance, a student might write that “ Abraham Lincoln was the first president of the United States, ” mixing up a key historical fact. Such errors can arise from a lack of thorough understanding or simply mixing up facts under pressure.

Tautology: Tautology involves repeating the same idea using different words, which can make writing redundant and tiresome. For instance, saying “The beginning of the start was at dawn” is repetitive. Students should strive to convey their points without unnecessary repetition.

Redundancies: Redundancies involve including unnecessary words or phrases that do not add value to the sentence. This can clutter writing and make it less effective. For example, writing, “In my personal opinion, I think that…” is redundant, as “I think” already indicates it is a personal opinion.

Lack of Fact Knowledge: Sometimes students write confidently about topics they do not fully understand, leading to bizarre or incorrect claims. For example, “The invention of the airplane in the 18th century revolutionized travel” shows a misunderstanding of historical timelines. 

Why do we make mistakes? Several factors contribute to all these types of errors in student essays. Stress and time pressure from high-stakes exams and tight deadlines often lead to hasty writing and this results in overlooked mistakes. A lack of understanding of grammar rules or the subject matter can also cause errors, as students struggle with complex language rules or misunderstand the topic. Overreliance on technology, such as spell-check and grammar-check tools, can further deepen the problem, as these tools are not foolproof and may miss context-specific errors or suggest incorrect changes. Additionally, inadequate proofreading , whether due to time constraints or negligence, results in missed mistakes that could have been corrected. Finally, the pressure to meet specific word counts can lead students to add unnecessary words or phrases, resulting in redundancies and tautologies. Therefore, quality should always take precedence over quantity to guarantee clear and accurate writing.

Laughter and Empathy on Reddit

The Reddit post about the AP World History exam generated a lively discussion, with many users chiming in to share their own funny and often embarrassing essay mistakes. The original post captured a common experience among students who have faced the pressure of high-stakes exams and the resulting brain freezes.

There’s a general understanding among students that exam graders often prioritize the essence of the argument over the precision of the language behind it, recognizing the constraints students are under during exams. One user reassured the author by saying, “You made your point very clearly, I don’t see a problem here. The wording just sounds off. I mean, it’s not Shakespeare. But they grade these as rough drafts so it’s more about the content than the actual writing, if that makes sense.” 

Another user added their own funny recollection: “I once wrote that Alexander the Great conquered Europe in the 18th century. My teacher’s comment was, ‘Impressive, considering he lived in the 4th century BC.'” 

This kind of factual error is, of course, embarrassing, but it is also relatable and could have been caused by the intense pressure students face. After all, the difference in 22 centuries isn’t that big of a deal (historically speaking).

The thread quickly filled with similar stories, each more amusing than the last.   One user mentioned,

This example explains how teachers often appreciate the creativity and effort students put into their answers, even when the facts are off.

Another Redditor commented, “I advocated for teleportation as a solution to traffic congestion in a serious economics essay. I got an A for thinking outside the box, but my professor suggested I stick to more feasible solutions next time.” This illustrates how outlandish ideas, even though not always practical, can sometimes be rewarded for their originality and the unique perspective they bring to the discussion.

A particularly memorable comment read, “I wrote about how the Roman Empire fell because they ran out of togas. My teacher’s note was, ‘Interesting theory, but let’s explore some historical evidence next time.'” This kind of playful feedback from teachers shows that they often recognize the effort and creativity behind these mistakes, and use them as teaching moments rather than harshly penalizing students.

The overall tone of the Reddit discussion was friendly and empathetic. Many users expressed relief at finding out they weren’t alone in making silly mistakes under pressure. Comments like, “Glad to know I’m not the only one who has written something ridiculous during an exam” were common throughout the thread. This shared experience of making and laughing at mistakes created a sense of community among the participants. Errors are a natural part of the learning process and even the most bizarre mistakes can lead to growth and improvement. The supportive environment encouraged students to view their mistakes with humor and to learn from them rather than feeling discouraged.

Follow us on Reddit for more insights and updates.

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Essay and dissertation writing skills

Planning your essay

Writing your introduction

Structuring your essay

• Writing essays in science subjects
• Brief video guides to support essay planning and writing
• Writing extended essays and dissertations
• Planning your dissertation writing time

Structuring your dissertation

• Top tips for writing longer pieces of work

Advice on planning and writing essays and dissertations

University essays differ from school essays in that they are less concerned with what you know and more concerned with how you construct an argument to answer the question. This means that the starting point for writing a strong essay is to first unpick the question and to then use this to plan your essay before you start putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).

A really good starting point for you are these short, downloadable Tips for Successful Essay Writing and Answering the Question resources. Both resources will help you to plan your essay, as well as giving you guidance on how to distinguish between different sorts of essay questions. 

You may find it helpful to watch this seven-minute video on six tips for essay writing which outlines how to interpret essay questions, as well as giving advice on planning and structuring your writing:

Different disciplines will have different expectations for essay structure and you should always refer to your Faculty or Department student handbook or course Canvas site for more specific guidance.

However, broadly speaking, all essays share the following features:

Essays need an introduction to establish and focus the parameters of the discussion that will follow. You may find it helpful to divide the introduction into areas to demonstrate your breadth and engagement with the essay question. You might define specific terms in the introduction to show your engagement with the essay question; for example, ‘This is a large topic which has been variously discussed by many scientists and commentators. The principle tension is between the views of X and Y who define the main issues as…’ Breadth might be demonstrated by showing the range of viewpoints from which the essay question could be considered; for example, ‘A variety of factors including economic, social and political, influence A and B. This essay will focus on the social and economic aspects, with particular emphasis on…..’

Watch this two-minute video to learn more about how to plan and structure an introduction:

The main body of the essay should elaborate on the issues raised in the introduction and develop an argument(s) that answers the question. It should consist of a number of self-contained paragraphs each of which makes a specific point and provides some form of evidence to support the argument being made. Remember that a clear argument requires that each paragraph explicitly relates back to the essay question or the developing argument.

• Conclusion: An essay should end with a conclusion that reiterates the argument in light of the evidence you have provided; you shouldn’t use the conclusion to introduce new information.
• References: You need to include references to the materials you’ve used to write your essay. These might be in the form of footnotes, in-text citations, or a bibliography at the end. Different systems exist for citing references and different disciplines will use various approaches to citation. Ask your tutor which method(s) you should be using for your essay and also consult your Department or Faculty webpages for specific guidance in your discipline. 

Essay writing in science subjects

If you are writing an essay for a science subject you may need to consider additional areas, such as how to present data or diagrams. This five-minute video gives you some advice on how to approach your reading list, planning which information to include in your answer and how to write for your scientific audience – the video is available here:

A PDF providing further guidance on writing science essays for tutorials is available to download.

Short videos to support your essay writing skills

There are many other resources at Oxford that can help support your essay writing skills and if you are short on time, the Oxford Study Skills Centre has produced a number of short (2-minute) videos covering different aspects of essay writing, including:

• Approaching different types of essay questions  
• Structuring your essay  
• Writing an introduction  
• Making use of evidence in your essay writing  
• Writing your conclusion

Extended essays and dissertations

Longer pieces of writing like extended essays and dissertations may seem like quite a challenge from your regular essay writing. The important point is to start with a plan and to focus on what the question is asking. A PDF providing further guidance on planning Humanities and Social Science dissertations is available to download.

Planning your time effectively

Try not to leave the writing until close to your deadline, instead start as soon as you have some ideas to put down onto paper. Your early drafts may never end up in the final work, but the work of committing your ideas to paper helps to formulate not only your ideas, but the method of structuring your writing to read well and conclude firmly.

Although many students and tutors will say that the introduction is often written last, it is a good idea to begin to think about what will go into it early on. For example, the first draft of your introduction should set out your argument, the information you have, and your methods, and it should give a structure to the chapters and sections you will write. Your introduction will probably change as time goes on but it will stand as a guide to your entire extended essay or dissertation and it will help you to keep focused.

The structure of  extended essays or dissertations will vary depending on the question and discipline, but may include some or all of the following:

• The background information to - and context for - your research. This often takes the form of a literature review.
• Explanation of the focus of your work.
• Explanation of the value of this work to scholarship on the topic.
• List of the aims and objectives of the work and also the issues which will not be covered because they are outside its scope.

The main body of your extended essay or dissertation will probably include your methodology, the results of research, and your argument(s) based on your findings.

The conclusion is to summarise the value your research has added to the topic, and any further lines of research you would undertake given more time or resources. 

Tips on writing longer pieces of work

Approaching each chapter of a dissertation as a shorter essay can make the task of writing a dissertation seem less overwhelming. Each chapter will have an introduction, a main body where the argument is developed and substantiated with evidence, and a conclusion to tie things together. Unlike in a regular essay, chapter conclusions may also introduce the chapter that will follow, indicating how the chapters are connected to one another and how the argument will develop through your dissertation.

For further guidance, watch this two-minute video on writing longer pieces of work . 

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Essay Writing: A complete guide for students and teachers

P LANNING, PARAGRAPHING AND POLISHING: FINE-TUNING THE PERFECT ESSAY

Essay writing is an essential skill for every student. Whether writing a particular academic essay (such as persuasive, narrative, descriptive, or expository) or a timed exam essay, the key to getting good at writing is to write. Creating opportunities for our students to engage in extended writing activities will go a long way to helping them improve their skills as scribes.

But, putting the hours in alone will not be enough to attain the highest levels in essay writing. Practice must be meaningful. Once students have a broad overview of how to structure the various types of essays, they are ready to narrow in on the minor details that will enable them to fine-tune their work as a lean vehicle of their thoughts and ideas.

In this article, we will drill down to some aspects that will assist students in taking their essay writing skills up a notch. Many ideas and activities can be integrated into broader lesson plans based on essay writing. Often, though, they will work effectively in isolation – just as athletes isolate physical movements to drill that are relevant to their sport. When these movements become second nature, they can be repeated naturally in the context of the game or in our case, the writing of the essay.

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Planning an essay

The Boys Scouts’ motto is famously ‘Be Prepared’. It’s a solid motto that can be applied to most aspects of life; essay writing is no different. Given the purpose of an essay is generally to present a logical and reasoned argument, investing time in organising arguments, ideas, and structure would seem to be time well spent.

Given that essays can take a wide range of forms and that we all have our own individual approaches to writing, it stands to reason that there will be no single best approach to the planning stage of essay writing. That said, there are several helpful hints and techniques we can share with our students to help them wrestle their ideas into a writable form. Let’s take a look at a few of the best of these:

BREAK THE QUESTION DOWN: UNDERSTAND YOUR ESSAY TOPIC.

Whether students are tackling an assignment that you have set for them in class or responding to an essay prompt in an exam situation, they should get into the habit of analyzing the nature of the task. To do this, they should unravel the question’s meaning or prompt. Students can practice this in class by responding to various essay titles, questions, and prompts, thereby gaining valuable experience breaking these down.

Have students work in groups to underline and dissect the keywords and phrases and discuss what exactly is being asked of them in the task. Are they being asked to discuss, describe, persuade, or explain? Understanding the exact nature of the task is crucial before going any further in the planning process, never mind the writing process .

BRAINSTORM AND MIND MAP WHAT YOU KNOW:

Once students have understood what the essay task asks them, they should consider what they know about the topic and, often, how they feel about it. When teaching essay writing, we so often emphasize that it is about expressing our opinions on things, but for our younger students what they think about something isn’t always obvious, even to themselves.

Brainstorming and mind-mapping what they know about a topic offers them an opportunity to uncover not just what they already know about a topic, but also gives them a chance to reveal to themselves what they think about the topic. This will help guide them in structuring their research and, later, the essay they will write . When writing an essay in an exam context, this may be the only ‘research’ the student can undertake before the writing, so practicing this will be even more important.

RESEARCH YOUR ESSAY

The previous step above should reveal to students the general direction their research will take. With the ubiquitousness of the internet, gone are the days of students relying on a single well-thumbed encyclopaedia from the school library as their sole authoritative source in their essay. If anything, the real problem for our students today is narrowing down their sources to a manageable number. Students should use the information from the previous step to help here. At this stage, it is important that they:

●      Ensure the research material is directly relevant to the essay task

●      Record in detail the sources of the information that they will use in their essay

●      Engage with the material personally by asking questions and challenging their own biases

●      Identify the key points that will be made in their essay

●      Group ideas, counterarguments, and opinions together

●      Identify the overarching argument they will make in their own essay.

Once these stages have been completed the student is ready to organise their points into a logical order.

WRITING YOUR ESSAY

There are a number of ways for students to organize their points in preparation for writing. They can use graphic organizers , post-it notes, or any number of available writing apps. The important thing for them to consider here is that their points should follow a logical progression. This progression of their argument will be expressed in the form of body paragraphs that will inform the structure of their finished essay.

The number of paragraphs contained in an essay will depend on a number of factors such as word limits, time limits, the complexity of the question etc. Regardless of the essay’s length, students should ensure their essay follows the Rule of Three in that every essay they write contains an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Generally speaking, essay paragraphs will focus on one main idea that is usually expressed in a topic sentence that is followed by a series of supporting sentences that bolster that main idea. The first and final sentences are of the most significance here with the first sentence of a paragraph making the point to the reader and the final sentence of the paragraph making the overall relevance to the essay’s argument crystal clear. 

Though students will most likely be familiar with the broad generic structure of essays, it is worth investing time to ensure they have a clear conception of how each part of the essay works, that is, of the exact nature of the task it performs. Let’s review:

Common Essay Structure

Introduction: Provides the reader with context for the essay. It states the broad argument that the essay will make and informs the reader of the writer’s general perspective and approach to the question.

Body Paragraphs: These are the ‘meat’ of the essay and lay out the argument stated in the introduction point by point with supporting evidence.

Conclusion: Usually, the conclusion will restate the central argument while summarising the essay’s main supporting reasons before linking everything back to the original question.

ESSAY WRITING PARAGRAPH WRITING TIPS

●      Each paragraph should focus on a single main idea

●      Paragraphs should follow a logical sequence; students should group similar ideas together to avoid incoherence

●      Paragraphs should be denoted consistently; students should choose either to indent or skip a line

●      Transition words and phrases such as alternatively , consequently , in contrast should be used to give flow and provide a bridge between paragraphs.

HOW TO EDIT AN ESSAY

Students shouldn’t expect their essays to emerge from the writing process perfectly formed. Except in exam situations and the like, thorough editing is an essential aspect in the writing process. 

Often, students struggle with this aspect of the process the most. After spending hours of effort on planning, research, and writing the first draft, students can be reluctant to go back over the same terrain they have so recently travelled. It is important at this point to give them some helpful guidelines to help them to know what to look out for. The following tips will provide just such help: 

One Piece at a Time: There is a lot to look out for in the editing process and often students overlook aspects as they try to juggle too many balls during the process. One effective strategy to combat this is for students to perform a number of rounds of editing with each focusing on a different aspect. For example, the first round could focus on content, the second round on looking out for word repetition (use a thesaurus to help here), with the third attending to spelling and grammar.

Sum It Up: When reviewing the paragraphs they have written, a good starting point is for students to read each paragraph and attempt to sum up its main point in a single line. If this is not possible, their readers will most likely have difficulty following their train of thought too and the paragraph needs to be overhauled.

Let It Breathe: When possible, encourage students to allow some time for their essay to ‘breathe’ before returning to it for editing purposes. This may require some skilful time management on the part of the student, for example, a student rush-writing the night before the deadline does not lend itself to effective editing. Fresh eyes are one of the sharpest tools in the writer’s toolbox.

Read It Aloud: This time-tested editing method is a great way for students to identify mistakes and typos in their work. We tend to read things more slowly when reading aloud giving us the time to spot errors. Also, when we read silently our minds can often fill in the gaps or gloss over the mistakes that will become apparent when we read out loud.

Phone a Friend: Peer editing is another great way to identify errors that our brains may miss when reading our own work. Encourage students to partner up for a little ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’.

Use Tech Tools: We need to ensure our students have the mental tools to edit their own work and for this they will need a good grasp of English grammar and punctuation. However, there are also a wealth of tech tools such as spellcheck and grammar checks that can offer a great once-over option to catch anything students may have missed in earlier editing rounds.

Putting the Jewels on Display: While some struggle to edit, others struggle to let go. There comes a point when it is time for students to release their work to the reader. They must learn to relinquish control after the creation is complete. This will be much easier to achieve if the student feels that they have done everything in their control to ensure their essay is representative of the best of their abilities and if they have followed the advice here, they should be confident they have done so.

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