10 Tips to Improve Academic Essay Writing
10 tips we are going to talk about do not typically concern paper or legit essay writing. We are talking specifically about formal writing, which includes business and academic types of work.
If the information presented below is not enough, you can always apply to a professional paper writing service as another source of credible information.
10 Steps to Better Formal Writing
- Forget about contractions. Never use contractions in formal writing, especially in essays and research papers. For example, «don’t», «can’t», «isn’t» must be replaced with «do not», «cannot», and «is not». Write out all words in full.
- Passive Voice or Active Voice? Passive voice is inappropriate for most academic writings. Yes, you can use passive (but don’t too much) if you are in the sciences. But in other cases, use the active voice instead. Passive voice makes sentences sound weak. In academic writing, we want only strong sentences.
- Strong verbs over weak verbs. Academic essay requires strong verbs only. For example, «objected» over «made an objection», «audited» over «did an audit», etc.
- Ask a question. Ask a question and think over the answer. When you figure out what you think the answer is, write it down. This automatically leads you to the thesis of your future essay. The thesis is the answer to your question. It has to be strong and contain a precise idea. Thus, you will know what you want exactly to write about and the readers will understand it too. So, a stated thesis is the core of the whole essay.
- Create an introduction first. When writing an introduction, put your thesis inside of it. This makes essay interesting, so the readers want to read more. If you create a good intro, your whole essay will be easier to write.
- Do not focus on the length of your paper. If you constantly focus on the number of pages you have to write, you will not avoid the pressure and stress. Pay your attention to the quality of the essay rather to its length. Do not think about how long it has to be and how many sentences you need to fill all papers. In case, you have nothing to write about, check other sources and make your opinions based on someone else’s research. But use it smartly. The citation is a good way to add length to your writing. The most important thing is to be giving your own thoughts about ideas you put in your essay or paper.
- Small breaks. Even a 5-minute break is important when writing a paper. If you are getting stuck in writing, give yourself a little time to focus on other things. Refresh your head and sit down to think about the topic and where you need to go with it. Or break your paper into several parts, and give your brain little breaks after each part. Small rewards are also a good idea.
- Divide your writing time. Evaluate the period you have for an essay and divide it into several parts. Give 5-10% of your time for thesis, 15-20% – for writing an outline of arguments, 20-30% – research, 40-45% – actual writing, and 10% — polishing (proofreading+editing). Adjust the time as needed.
- Edit, edit, and edit. Polishing up your essay is as important as an actual writing. Make sure that the sentences flow smoothly from one paragraph to another. Check grammar and punctuation. Eliminate excess.
- Give your paper to a friend. It is the best way to check if the readers are into your writing or not.