Ultimate Essay Rules to Craft Meaningful Written Works

Essay Rules, Which Facilitate the Overall Writing Process 

Not every freshman suspects that essay writing will constitute a major part of their student life. Naturally, not every person is a keen writer, so composing research papers and even narrative or descriptive essays may be a challenge for many learners. What is enticing and creative for some individuals may turn out to be a nightmare for people prone to analytical thinking.

The main problem is that you have to produce essays as part of your regular homework. So, stating that it’s not your cup of tea will only aggravate the overall struggle. Yet, there are some secrets or specific essay rules, which are supposed to help you out. 

For a start, you should discover the benefits of academic writing you can make use of. If you think about the possibility of participating in foreign exchange programs, then you should definitely be an eloquent writer. Knowing everything about the conventional essay types will contribute to more sophisticated projects.

Those works can be sent for academic contests to win grants or get scholarships in the desired educational establishments all over the globe. Moreover, you will learn how to craft seamless personal statements and cover letters. In other words, you will start expressing yourself diligently, drawing the attention of various creative and scientific communities to your personality. 

The purpose of an ordinary essay can be quite common. Some essays are deemed to persuade your target audience on the relevance of the chosen subject matter. Other essays can be unsophisticated informative or descriptive pieces. In any case, your readers should not lose interest in the process of reading your work.

It may not be so easy to persuade your target audience, especially if they are experts in the field. In contrast, if you possess more expertise than your audience does, it may be difficult to find simple ways of elucidating the topic. The uniting factor in both instances is a logical flow of your ideas. 

One more facilitating factor of any essay writing is the unchangeable structure. Each paper consists of the main and supplementary sections. The most typical essay structure encompasses the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. It is enough to create five paragraphs for standard essays.

Yet, it does not mean you can write anything you want – all the presented ideas should be brief but still all-embracing within the set limits. If your task is to create an extended research paper or dissertation, then it is not enough to produce only five paragraphs.

Remember that it is a serious mistake to overwhelm your reader with a range of diverse ideas within one paragraph. Thus, the information you present should be proportionally distributed throughout your essay.

Select a topic 

Do not overleap yourself by choosing complex topics, especially those that belong to a higher academic level than you currently have. Also, stick to the subject matters within your discipline. It may happen that all the related topics do not reflect your interests. In this case, try to scrutinize similar ideas, considering the potentially interested audience. Before choosing the exact topic, ponder on the purpose of the research. It will be easier to come up with the topic, knowing the major aim in advance. 

Try to choose the topic you are already knowledgeable in. Even if you lack knowledge about the issue, it is favorable to think of something you would like to know more about. Besides, do not limit yourself to the topics that inspire you or generally evoke positive reactions. You may write a much more compelling piece on something that puzzles you or evokes skepticism. Focus not only on positive thinking but on strong reactions regarding the issue. 

Also, it is a mistake to choose broad topics, especially if your essay should be brief. Too narrow themes are also not beneficial, as there may be a lack of scholarly resources to produce an enticing investigation. Despite the particularity of your task, you should always be aware of your essay’s aims and intentions, as well as the possible achievements of the set goals. 

Carry out your research within the chosen context 

Fortunately, there are only two dominant categories of non-fiction writing in the academic setting. These are either topic papers or research papers. Topic papers are supposed to be easier because your instructors provide you with a list of topics to choose from. Usually, those topics revolve around the course readings and debates you have already participated in. Hence, you do not have to experiment much with additional resources because your task is to concentrate on the ones you are currently studying. 

As for research papers, you may be assigned with independent preparation. It implies choosing the topic on your own within a certain discipline. You can find relevant sources to use in university or public libraries. Search for the additional material in online archives and scholarly journals.

In the process of scrutiny, you have to think about your prospective audience. So, you need to collect some background data and provide an overview of the issue. Make sure you elucidate all complicated terms. 

Full-fledged research often entails interviews with experts or cross-examinations of the related social groups. Such interviews and information become primary sources for your research paper. You can discover other pertinent details in books, blogs, and academic journals.

Avoid jotting down extra details, which may be deemed unnecessary. It is important to learn not to waste your time on supplementary facts and opinions, which you leave in your notes for whatever it may be worth. 

Learn to plan and create an essay writing schedule 

One of the most useful essay writing rules is to learn to manage your time. This rule is interrelated with thorough planning of your subsequent written work. Put effort to create a writing schedule and divide each section of the creative process into well-adjusted clusters of time. It should be done to avoid the frustration of the approaching deadline. 

Set goals to produce a final draft a few days before your actual deadline. Even if you think you still have enough time to turn in your essay, you can make use of the remaining days to proofread everything you have written. It does not entail incessant proofreading. Have a rest and then come back to revising your final draft. Be as objective as possible. 

It creates a certain paradox: what seems to be time-consuming actually saves your time. Thus, learning to create a meticulous plan and outline of your papers is one of the essential skills you should gain. This way, you will avoid riding yourself into a corner. Of course, it may all seem to be overwhelming at first, so you may feel some discomfort of the impending writer’s block. Still, the more you practice planning, the more agile your flow of thoughts becomes. 

Another inner rule here is to keep jotting down ideas despite having doubts about them. It is a small trick of almost subconscious brainstorming. The last tip in the planning section is to create mind maps with separate ‘bubbles’ for each paragraph. 

Make your essay readable

You must have read the advice to prefer shorter sentences to longer sentences many times. Brief sentences make your key points more visible. Avoid using “this” and “it” too often. When you finish your first draft, look through the whole essay and highlight lengthy and ambiguous sentences. If those sentences reflect the topic pretty well, do not delete them. Break lengthy sentences into a few smaller ones. 

In essay writing, coherence is crucial. Hence, when crafting a concluding part, check its connectedness with the thesis statement in your introduction. The conclusion should not contain off-topic concepts, but it should encourage further investigation of the topic. To keep the flow of your thoughts seamless, employ transition phrases. It is also allowed to substitute the main concepts with synonymic expressions.

Create an insightful conclusion

A decent concluding part is not an extra reflection on the subject matter. The final paragraph is the last chance to attract your audience to the issue and make them see its relevance. 

There is an interesting suggestion by professional writers: learn to perceive your conclusion as an additional introduction. To make it work, return to your thesis statement and reiterate it in the concluding part. This way, you will remind your readers of the original intention of your work. Look through the claims and arguments you have made and present them from a refreshing perspective. Your last statement should reflect the closing thought.

The major discrepant factor between introduction and conclusion is the suggestion for further investigations. Your readers must be aware of the possible implementation of your arguments, which leads to practical implications. 

Last but not least, there may be a temptation to plagiarize some ideas on the topic expressed by reputable experts. Yet, original thinking and research are the cornerstones of every good essay. Appropriating the ideas of others, calling them your own, is one of the harshest forms of deliberate plagiarism.

Instead of committing such academic misconduct, stick to the essay writing rules, which focus on the importance of proper citing and quoting. If you found an especially compelling expert thought you would like to share, make sure you give credit to the original author. 

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