At some point in your life as a student, you will be asked by your teacher or college professor to come up with an academic essay as part of your school requirement.
An academic essay is a specific writing genre—as is the love letter, newspaper editorial, or pop-fiction. As a genre, it functions within a set of norms, rules, and conventions. Here are some of the steps that you can follow as a guide to help you write academic essays better and more proficiently. As a student, you will probably be asked to do some write-up and some class simple free reports as well.
Now, before anything else, please do read the instructions very carefully. Because the thing with essays is that sometimes they do not end up being answered by the students who are tasked to do them in the first place.
If there are things you do not understand in regards to the assignment being given, it would be best to clarify the instructions with your professor or teacher. Here are some of the main concerns that the students might bring up with their teacher. For more reference, you may also refer to formal letter examples.
As simple as this instruction is, this is where most students take this for granted, which results to unnecessary deductions.
From the paper size you are going to use to the font style and the font size you are going to type our document with to the margins and the indents that you have set in the word-processing software and even to the deadline as to when you are supposed to pass it. So double-check your formatting to make sure it is in order before passing the final copy to your instructor. Here are some application writing examples that you can also refer to.
Citation is very important. There is the APA (American Psychological Association) style which is used by education, psychology, and sciences essays. While there is also the MLA (Modern Language Association) style is used by the humanities. You may also see effective ways and examples to start your essay.
While the Chicago/Turabian style is generally used by business, history, and the fine arts kind of essays. But there are also cases wherein the instructor will decide to set his own set of instructions that the students of the course are supposed to adhere to. There are also cases wherein you will be tasked to write down different kinds of essays. If you think you may need further assistance on this matter, you may also refer to the hyperlink.
Do not be afraid when you ask for clarifications from your instructor or professor. It is actually better that you do than getting wrong submitting the wrong kind of essay. If you are too afraid or shy to ask your teacher, you can always bring it up to your friends and classmates if you are more comfortable with them. You may also like essay writing examples.
Do not limit your query to just one or two. Make your questions as complete and as thorough as possible. Ask sensible questions and not the ones that can be found on the instructions. Here are some article writing examples for your guide and reference.
Some topics are given. While there are some that will have to be selected by you. Some college instructors will limit their topic for you to a general concept or even a phrase.
Now, if that is the case, it is your job to simply narrow it down. From a general topic, make it more specific so that your task will be easier. Instead of simply searching Martin Luther King and his achievements, you can narrow it down even further to his message of racial discrimination and how it gained recognition from everyone of different races. Here are some examples of memo writing for further reference.
Now, as you conduct research, the best place to start would always be the school library. After all, libraries do not just consist of books anymore.
These days, libraries are more up-to-date with technological advancements that allow you to easily navigate through all the books and possibly other references that you might find useful and helpful. If you do not know where to begin, you can always consult the librarian for more details and information. He or she will be glad to help students out. You may also like photo essay examples & samples.
Have you ever been tasked to write the minutes of the meeting before? If you have, then you are probably familiar with the format.
Wikipedia is a big no-no in research. For starters, it is editable by anyone and everyone. Only fools and stupid people would actually consider Wikipedia a reference. A suggestion would be to look at the references list since it lists down the sources that the editors of the page got it from. You may also check out short essay examples.
Use those sources instead to get more details and information regarding the subject matter at hand. Another advice would be to look for sources that are reputable, well-sourced, and up-to-date. Because the thing with outdated sources is that they may not be considered valid or ideally reliable anymore in the 21st century. Ideally, most of your sources should have been published within the last 5–10 years. You may also see what are the parts of an essay.
You may also try to refer to scholarly books and peer-reviewed articles from academic journals that are usually acceptable sources, including newspaper articles and magazine articles. There are days that you will be tasked to write a letter of application or any professional letter of the sort. It is important that you learn how to.
A guide to Thesis Research 101: Even if you have the right source, try not to get too complacent. Because at the end of the day, that may not be the source that can provide you with answers. It always boils down to what kind of content you are exactly looking for. Read your sources thoroughly enough that you are able to extract from it. You may also like concept essay examples.
Here are some of the questions that you ought to be asking to help better understand your sources on how you should analyze your sources. There are different kinds of writing examples that you may be asked to write.
Good and reliable sources are extremely hard to come by these days, especially if it is from primary sources. Primary sources are people who lived through the event and lived to tell the tale. They come in many different forms: personal interviews, memoirs, documentaries, books, among others. You may also see student essay examples.
Secondary sources, on the other hand, are very easy to come by. When you look at secondary sources, such as scholarly papers or news articles, you are seeing the data filtered through someone else’s perspective. Looking at primary data allows you to interpret the evidence for yourself. You may also like sample essay outlines.
Writing is not a talent, but a skill that one acquires through constant practice and determination. You should probably consult with your instructor on how you should go about adding primary sources.
Now here’s where it gets tricky. Online sources. The easiest resource to find (e.g., scholarly journals, e-books), but the trickiest to determine from real or fake information.
In this world filled with fake news and fake information, how can you be sure of what they are feeding you is true or not? Include a fake research article in your research with unverified data and fake quotes, and you will end up doing the whole research again from scratch. To prevent that from happening, here are some of the questions you can ask as you read along the various sources: Here are some examples on how one writes an email.
Believe it or not, this is considered the most important part of your essay as this is where you get to elaborate clearly and concisely the main argument that you are planning to make in your essay. Limit your thesis statement into one to two sentences. Afterward, you can work on building an outline and essay that ultimately supports your main argument.
Just like writing a novel or a screenplay, you cannot simply jump and just think you can immediately concoct a story out of thin air. No sir, you need proper planning. Without proper planning, your story would turn out to be a huge colossal mess. Similar to writing your professional essay, there must be some sort of outline that you can refer to so that you do not end up getting sidetracked. Listed below is an example of such an outline.
When you work as a journalist for a prominent newspaper, you cannot simply point out that the leaders of the country are engaging in corrupt practices without concrete proof and evidence. You might end up a laughingstock or even be ridiculed by everyone around you. Your gut and your opinion does not count. Always remain objective. Once you have the proof, analyze it and present your findings to the audience in a way that they can understand. The same goes with a formal essay.
Before you present the main body of your essay, you will need to provide a little background on the topic. It is often easiest to write the introduction after you have already drafted the rest of your essay. The intro doesn’t have to be an exhaustive overview—just enough information to help set the stage and tell the reader the basics of what they need to know. Your introduction should also include a clear general summary of the main point of your essay, and a breakdown of how you plan to approach the topic.
Your essay should not feel choppy and disjointed. Look for ways to segue from one paragraph to another in a smooth, logical way. You might accomplish this by starting each paragraph with a brief sentence that connects it with the topic of the previous one. You may also see self-introduction essay examples.
Plagiarism is a sin and it is a big no-no in anything. But you are allowed to paraphrase and quote directly from the proponents themselves. If you do that, you will not end up in any form of trouble. Acknowledge your sources properly.
If you come across any convincing counterarguments to your thesis, acknowledge them in your essay. If you can, provide evidence to refute these counterarguments.
Addressing alternative interpretations of the evidence will show that you have researched your topic thoroughly and allow you to present your case in a fair and balanced manner. Convincingly rebutting the major counterarguments will make your own argument more compelling to your readers. You may also like informative essay examples.
Once you have presented your arguments and evidence, tie everything together with a concise summary. State, in a clear and confident way, why you think that your argument successfully supports your thesis, and summarize a few of the key points or discoveries that you made. If you have any final thoughts, such as ideas for further research on the topic or questions that still need to be answered, this is the place to state them. You may also check out persuasive essay examples.
Use a few sentences to reflect on the significance of your argument and how it might affect future studies of this topic.
Unless you have the IQ of Albert Einstein, you cannot claim that no research or study assisted you in your research or essay. Worst case scenario, you will be sued for plagiarism and will probably be asked to pay some sort of fine. You might be interested in descriptive essay examples.
Every source or reference or book you borrow, make sure to always take note of the following information:
Inhale and exhale. You are done writing your essay. And that is all that matters in the end. You more or less deserve a break.
An interesting factor on Japanese culture is that they are allowed to sleep during work. You have to first understand that the Japanese are considered very hardworking people, with at least 23% of them render at least 80 hours of work each week, while an alarming 12% put in over 100 hours. You may also see personal essay examples.
This phenomenon is called inemuri, and has been around for at least a millennium according to The New York Times. That aside, it is imperative that you do not delay nor procrastinate in your schoolwork. If you need to take a break, then do so. Here are some dos and don’ts that you can refer to when you will be asked to write a chapter summary.
Now that you are finished with your essay, make sure to review your draft carefully. You cannot really claim it to be perfect until you have gone over the draft. Even with the word-processing software’s built-in grammar check, it still cannot identify whether your ideas seem cohesive enough that transition from point A to point B, or simply just a cluttered mess of ideas here and there. You may also like high school essay examples.
Going over your draft simply says that you have enough respect for your output that you would want to give your very best. As you go over your draft, here are some of the questions that you can ask. You can always refer to script writing examples for more details and information.
As you double-check your essay, make sure that the appropriate language and tone is being used. Avoid informality as much as you can. Because informality would simply indicate on how unprofessional you are as a student and even as a person which shows your skill level in the language itself. Here are some tips that you can follow when writing an effective essay.
If you have noticed that some errors were made in a previous draft of your essay, then do your very best to correct them. If you think that there are parts of your essay that can be improved through more research, then by all means, go ahead. Make your essay as complete and as detailed as possible that leaves no room for loopholes and gaps in your work. Here are some examples of formal emails and how it is written.
Proofreading your essay should only be done when you are absolutely positive in your essay. That content-wise, it is already good and that the only thing left to worry is the worry about is the grammatical errors and verb tenses used. For more information, here are some examples on how to write summaries.
