In fact, successful students who want to be ahead of all the others enjoy writing essays and other writing assignments. These assignments give them the opportunity to shine and to stand out among the other students. Students may be interested in the intellectual assignments because they may be very enthralling. For example, while writing an essay student has to pick out compelling arguments on different complex and sophisticated topics.
It’s great that some students consider essays as something that makes them better and smarter every time. They always try to make their work better. But there is a thing that can make essay writing hard and routine.
If you write essays on a regular basis, there is an opportunity to get stuck in some rut due to which you will be repeating your personal formula, so it will be the same for each essay. And when you get a good grade, the temptation to repeat the same formula or the structure of the essay increases. So here you can find six practical tips which will help you to make your essay brilliant. All these techniques are used even by the essay writing professionals, and they will help you to write great essays.
1. Read other essays
Read essays of other people regularly, and it will help you to create your own essay writing style. It works subconsciously. You will not be noticing it for a while, but this tip really works. Try to read the essays of your colleagues and academics. It is important to read writing assignments on different topics. You should cross the borders of your specialty or discipline because different subjects can apply to different arguments and include different writing styles. That’s why the more you read, the more writing techniques and styles you will be able to use in essay writing.
Don’t only look through essays as the ordinary reader. Be critical about them. Distinguish what arguments are persuasive and what are not. Which writing style is more attractive and which style is forceful. Good essays should be well balanced. If you read paper works of the best writers, you have an opportunity to pick up the best techniques which can develop your personal style and shape.
2. Create your own vocabulary and use it correctly
In fact, a rich vocabulary is a key to success in essay writing. It will allow the writer to express his thoughts exactly and more clearly. Good essays shouldn’t be long because readers don’t want to waste their time on reading long and boring papers. So it’s important to have an ability to express thoughts concisely and convincingly.
A successful writer should always improve his skills when it comes to vocabulary because he should be able to communicate clearly and effectively and to use advanced vocabulary in his work. There are many techniques which will help you to improve your vocabulary. Here are the main of them:
Subscribe to daily direct mail with some “word of the day”
You can subscribe and get an email with the word of the day every day. You can create a special folder in your email box and collect new emails with words in this folder. You can look through these emails when you have time for that. These daily emails will keep you in good shape.
Refer to a dictionary to discover new words
Find unfamiliar words which you don’t know when you read the texts in the dictionaries. In this way, it will be easy for you to learn new words and to know how to use them properly in different contexts.
Use a thesaurus function
Sometimes you may find yourself while using the same words many times during one paper. In these cases, you can look for words which have the same meaning in a thesaurus. It can add variety to your vocabulary and writing style. But be careful. Not all words which you can find using a thesaurus can be interchangeable.
Learn roots, suffixes, and prefixes
It may sound tedious, but this tip will help you to study and use a lot of new words. It’s great that it’s possible to discover the meaning of many new words if you are aware of its root and origin. It can enable you to use these words in the proper context.
Keep a vocabulary book
This is a great tip for successful writers. You can buy a notepad and after that use it to collect meanings of unfamiliar words. You know that the act of writing down some words can make it easier to remember it. Write down also examples of how these words can be used in the speech and you will be able to use them in the essays.
But remember you shouldn’t use difficult and unfamiliar words just for the sake of it. Always prefer simple words, if they reflect your thoughts. Using a long and obscure word can make you sound bombastic and stilted.
3. Words which can help to develop an argument
Don’t repeat yourself during the writing and focus on using every single word effectively. This rule will help you to build persuasive arguments and give the reader a sense of structure. It’s important to avoid using the same words and word structures many times. For example, there is no need to use the word “also” several times in one essay. Enrich your essay-writing style with other words with the same meaning, such as “furthermore” or “moreover,” etc.
4. Use “Elevator pitch” technique
You know that you should write a plan of your essay before you start writing. But it’s important to find out what arguments you are going to use in your essay before planning. Only after that, you can create the structure of the paper and the main part and conclusion. Make a summary in an ‘Elevator Pitch’ style about what you want to write and why your readers should be interested in this paper.
Originally the ‘Elevator Pitch’ was a technique which was used by sales managers when they were collecting the arguments for buying a product. The procedure assumed that the sellers imagined themselves in an elevator. They had to give any argument in favor of the product which would encourage the customer to purchase in order to reach the desired floor. The Elevator Pitch of your paper will result in selling the main idea of it to the reader. It can encourage them to read the essay.
5. Tell your reader what other people think
The essay can become a great chance for its writer to show how widely read he/she is. That’s why using quotes of other people and link to original sources can show you as the professional in the field you’re writing about.
You can use contrasting views of other writers to show that not everyone agrees on the topic and you have read and studied all the possible sides and points of view. Find important people who studied the topic that you are writing about.
Read their works and write down summaries of their view to your notepad. In this way, you will have an opportunity to refer to the original sources when you’re writing an article on a particular topic. But remember that a happy medium is good in everything so don’t use quotes too much when you write an essay. First of all, it should contain your own thoughts.
6. Tone of voice, punctuation and syntax
Complex and sophisticated word structures can make the real difference in your sound. It is important to be easy to understand for your reader. But at the same time, you can utilize a wide range of complex and interesting syntax when you’re writing an essay. It makes your essay more professional and persuasive. Use different sentence structures, but make sure that your sentences are not too long. In this way, it can become difficult to understand.
The competent punctuation is also important for conveying your arguments to the readers. Poor grammar wouldn't definitely make the essay better.
Your tone of voice which you use for writing essays should be interesting and engaging at the same time. So it’s extremely important to establish the right tone of voice.
Although the writing papers are usually formal and academic, it doesn’t mean that you may be uninteresting and boring. Your uninteresting should be confident enough to show that you are well-versed in the topic you are talking about.
One more great tip is using active voice rather than the passive voice. It can give a sense of immediacy to your essay.
So these are the main tips and techniques which can make your essay great and persuasive enough. Hope that they will be useful for you and can raise your writing skills. And if essay writing is still hard for you or you don’t have enough time for that you always can order an essay from qualified professionals. And you will definitely like it!