Writing An Academic Essay: A Practical Guide For Students

There are several instances when an essay is required to be written – it could be used to grade your performances for a given school session or used in determining if you are to be admitted into the school as a student. Whichever instance it is, you should make a spirited effort in coming out tops among other students. Remember, you don’t necessarily need to have great writing skills before you can attempt any academic paper or even excel in doing any of them. The more effort you put in towards being a better writer, the faster you build your writing skills and make significant improvements in future essays and other papers.

Since you need guidance now to get you started in writing your essay, here is a simple guide you will find very helpful in composing a strong paper:

• Choose Your Topic: In most cases, it is the tutor that determines what topics essays are based on but in some cases, students are given the option to come up with their own topics. If no topic has been assigned, then the first step towards writing a strong paper is choosing a strong and interesting topic. You can get ideas from your surroundings, friends, schoolmates and even online.
• Carry Out Research: Based on what topic you have decided to write about, you should then engage in researches to gather the information needed to compose your paper. Although the most popular means now is the internet but you can also search through the libraries and writing centres for ideas that would help you create the type of paper you would proudly present.
• Create Your Outline: This stage is where you list the main ideas and sub points that would make up the content of your paper. You can include as much main ideas and sub points as necessary and as you progress with your writing, you can retain the number of main ideas or decrease the number if necessary.
• Write The Main Paragraphs: Based on your created outline, you should then write the body paragraphs of your essay, making sure that each main idea connects seamlessly with the next main idea.
• Write The Introduction And Conclusion: These two parts of your paper are usually written last, with the introduction coming first. They are similar, the difference being that the conclusion is uniquely rephrased but with the same meaning and intent.

With these steps taken, you then carefully proofread and edit your essay to make sure there are no grammar or punctuation errors contained in it before submission to your tutor. Now you can see you don’t really need to be a skilled writer before you can compose a strong academic essay.