Account Login

Top 20 Essay Writing Tips

Custom Written Essays ... Click Here

  1. It is important when you start to look at writing a good essay to work out just exactly what type of essay it is. Is it a factual review which will demand insightful analysis and strong comparative skills? Is it a persuasive piece where you will need to utilise a range of skills to entice someone towards your point of view? Or is it a descriptive essay which will require sophisticated vocabulary and creative skills?
  2. Once you have determined the requirements of the essay it is useful to thought-shower as many different and disparate elements as possible in order to best equip yourself with a range of possibilities from which to choose for selection in the essay. The good essayist should be prepared to ‘think outside the box’ at this stage. You can always choose not to select an idea!
  3. The next step is to prepare a rough initial model of an essay plan. This will allow you to focus more clearly on the possible elements for research or further planning. This is a sifting and sieving process that will reap dividends later on, particularly in terms of time.
  4. Research is a crucial factor in many essays. What sources do you need to track down? Do you have good access to databases or libraries? It is crucial at this stage to be extremely analytical and selective in your choices, particularly when it comes to internet based research.
  5. Now the essay model can be reformulated. The requirements are in place, the research is underway and you should be starting to have firm ideas about the format. Plan it out again, thinking about the ideas you are weighing up. A diagrammatic model will be useful.
  6. It is crucial at the outset of the piece that you have a clear and well-founded idea as to the main thrust and point of your essay. You can’t afford to be too lax here. An indecisive beginning will doubtless be reflected throughout the piece.
  7. It is not a paradox to say that, even at this early stage of your essay, you should certainly be thinking about the end! A good essay will flow seamlessly towards a solid and believable conclusion or dénouement.
  8. Even if it is an academic paper a good essayist should always be mindful of some basics of good writing. Therefore they should always ask themselves ‘What audience am I aiming this at?’ In addition, they should consider the purpose of the piece. When both of these points are clear, then it should be apparent what tone or mood is the most applicable.
  9. A good introduction sets a clear benchmark for what is to follow. In it, the essay writer should clearly point out the task at hand and what they are going to do towards fulfilling the criteria. The old mantra ‘Tell them what you are going to do’ is a reliable guide!
  10. Now the essayist should be looking to display their ideas via the use of good, clear paragraphing, introduced by a strong and understandable topic sentence which illustrates what is going to follow. These paragraphs, perhaps denoted by your diagrammatic essay model, should form the body of your work.



  11. It is important to get your key arguments or strongest ideas down first. Remember, like a catchy pop record, it is useful to get into the ‘hook’ or major ideas of the essay early on. This may be crucial in terms of impressing an examiner!
  12. The good essayist will train themselves to show discipline during an essay and always look back to the question. Even if the creative or analytical juices are flowing, it is sometimes easy to tangent and move ‘off-task’.
  13. Similarly it is very useful to develop an analytical approach. Even if this means physically putting your pen down or moving away from the keyboard, make sure you are always looking back to assess the quality of your work. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, just a brief perusal to make sure you’re not making silly errors.
  14. When quoting, stick to these two rules. Don’t over-quote and always try and integrate or work your quotes into the explanatory sentence. This is much more sophisticated than simply quoting a phrase then explaining it.
  15. Never forget to utilise the technical tools at your disposal. Even if the essay is not particularly expressive or creative, it is always a good option to write with a clear, crisp, simple style enriched with good vocabulary and a pleasing turn of phrase.
  16. To that end, a working essayist should always have a good dictionary and a reliable thesaurus at their side. This will enable the writer to more explain ideas and theories clearly and explicitly and will provide further evidence to an examiner that this is a serious piece of work they are reading.
  17. It is crucial to display a keen eye for the grammar, spelling and punctuation of a piece of work. Not only do many essays run the risk of losing style marks but a slipshod and half-hearted approach to such technicalities is likely to weaken the piece regardless of its content!
  18. Once all the key arguments have been denoted, quoted on and explained, it is crucial to round off the essay with a neat, direct and thoughtful summary or conclusion. This should serve to encapsulate the major points or ideas. There may also be the necessity to outline the next part of the process or suggest further actions.
  19. Once the written part is completer comes perhaps the most important part. It is good practice, as previously stated, to briefly be checking thorough as you go, making sure the task is being fulfilled and the writing is good. Do this again at the end but more thoroughly and with the keenest possible eye for unexplained ideas or technical errors.
  20. With the work complete the good essayist has to ask themselves the crucial question. Is the essay complete or is it merely finished? It is in this appreciation of detail the good essay writer shines!

If the Top 20 Essay Writing Tips helped then you may also be interested in:

Free Dissertations

If you're looking for free dissertations then all you have to do is click here.
We have an extensive library of free dissertations that cover a huge variety of topics.
See below for more information.

You May Also Be Interested In Our How To Guides:

Are You Ready To Order Not Yet I Need More Info Yes Take Me To The Order Form