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Tips to Improve Your Essay Writing |
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| 1. |
Start early! Give yourself
at least two weeks to prepare an assignment. |
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| 2. |
Read your assignment sheet carefully.
Analyze the language of the assignment and its keywords
(see below). What's the purpose behind the essay?
Who is your audience? If you're unsure about the
language of the assignment, its purpose, or your
audience, seek help. Talk to your professor, your
T.A., or an instructor at the Writing Centre. |
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| 3. |
Pre-write before you write. There
are a number of different tools writers use to generate
ideas before they begin to write: free-writing,
perception games, brainstorming and clustering,
discussion groups, heuristics, talking with friends.
These activities can help you get ideas on paper
and give you some initial guidance, making it much
easier to write your first draft. Our handout "Getting
Started" describes these activities and more.
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| 4. |
If you're writing a research paper,
do your readings. They will help you determine how
to think about your subject and what special terms
you need to use in your essay. Readings give you
the expert opinions that you will incorporate in
your essay to prove your argument. |
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| 5. |
Write out a working thesis (a preliminary
main idea) or a question you plan to answer. Don't
worry if your working thesis changes as you write
and research - it's supposed to. Remember that a
thesis statement is not simply a statement of fact
but a statement saying something about a fact. |
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| 6. |
Before writing the rough draft,
consider creating an outline of what you're going
to say or prove in your paper. Make sure you can
show in the outline how each point you want to make
connects to your thesis. Remember that the outline,
like the working thesis, can change as you go along.
If a point doesn't seem to fit, reexamine the point
and reexamine your thesis. It may be possible or
even necessary to either change the point or change
the thesis. |
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| 7. |
When you begin to write, you don't
have to start at the beginning. Start with the section
that is clearest in your mind. Then go back and
fill in the gaps. This is only a draft. You can
worry about the connections between arguments once
you have something on paper. |
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| 8. |
Write your first draft without
worrying too much about grammar, punctuation, and
style. These things are important, but shouldn't
be allowed to distract you from writing your ideas
down on paper. Don't try to write the perfect introduction,
either. Many writers write their introduction at
the end of the writing process. |
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| 9. |
Make sure your argument reaches
a conclusion. In the conclusion, you should tell
the reader what the highlights of the essay are
and what the reader can learn from this essay. |
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| 10. |
Always rewrite your rough draft
at least once. Read your draft and write the main
idea of each paragraph in the margin of your essay.
There should be only one main idea in each paragraph,
and the main ideas of each paragraph should follow
on each other logically, all connecting to your
thesis. |
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| 11. |
Keep your audience in mind when
you're rewriting. Write the essay as if the reader
were reading over your shoulder and constantly asking
you, "What does this mean?", "How
does this idea or paragraph link to the last one?" |
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| 12. |
If you're citing sources, check
your documentation style. Know what documentation
style your professor expects. Three main styles
are used in the Humanities and Social Sciences:
APA, MLA, and Turabian (Chicago). |
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| 13. |
Always revise your work before
submitting it. Delete anything in the essay that
does not relate to your main argument. Do you use
transition? Are your introduction and conclusions
more than summaries? Did you find every single grammatical
error? |
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| 14. |
Finally, before you turn your essay
in, when your argument and ideas are clear, read
your essay aloud, listening to what you've written.
Listen for and correct difficult or awkward phrases,
and mistakes in grammar and punctuation. |
Step by step essay guide
