College Graduates

How To Write The Best College Essay: A Complete Guide

If you’ve ever studied at school or college, you know that writing an essay is a surprisingly challenging task. Many would say that it isn’t difficult at all, but the reality proves that good essays require significant preparation and investment of time and resources.

You can make your professor proud by following a few simple steps, but make sure to follow most of these tips to start writing a college essay! 

The basics that make you great

Every academic environment has its own rules, and if you want to write a paper that will be accepted everywhere, carefully follow these steps. 

  • Always read the instructions. If your assignment requires you to write about Aeneid’s entrance to Tartarus, don’t spend half of your essay writing the biography of Virgil unless you were asked to. Collect all the information you received and check everything: the number of pages to be written, focus, style (formal or informal), and the deadline. 
  • Have a draft. Many students hate to make drafts because it requires them to spend more time on the task they’d rather avoid, but it really helps and makes your further work less daunting. If you have more time, just open a document and slowly add all the important quotes as you read your article or book: just write a very short description and provide a page number. 
  • Always think alone. It’s easier to find yourself in a company of peers who just re-state the same ideas, but the reality proves that it’s much better to have a personalized piece of writing that you’re proud of. No one can write entirely independently, especially when you work on something that requires a lot of research. But after you’ve collected all the information, put everything away and think: what are the conclusions I’ve made? There’s a good indication that you have your own, original thought: if you know that a writer believes in A rather than B but you still think that B is more valid, you’ve formulated your idea already. 
  • Don’t forget to edit. Only a few authors are said to write their books without editing, and we’re unsure if that’s even true. If you’re the next Hemingway, the time will show it, but for now, review your work every time you think it doesn’t need proofreading. 

The structure is the basis of your essay

Structuring your writing can seem like the worst idea, but you should remember that it’s what most professors pay attention to. If you’ve got a good hook, thesis, and concluding statement, you’ve got it. If not, well… maybe you need some additional work. Before doing anything, remember that every high-quality essay is done with a very easy structure. Don’t write; focus on the word count. Let’s say you’ve got 1000 words to be written. How should you divide your essay? Remember about the introduction and conclusion: they should be no more than 10% of your original work, so deduct not more than 100 words from the work per paragraph. You’re left with about 800 words. 

Have you already outlined the approximate number of topics for your essay? Most scholarly writing reviews say that each paragraph should be less than 200 words. If you have 5 topics that you want to cover in your essay, just divide the word count between them. 800 divided by 5 is 160. That’s the number of words you should include in your paragraph. Doesn’t sound hard, does it? And you can make your custom structure any way you like. If you feel like you can’t figure out your topic or the general idea and decide how to arrange it in your essay, you may want to reach out to professional college essay writing services, for example, CustomWritings. When you become a customer and buy your sample from such a website, you receive top professional experience and can become a more confident writer. 

The best way to structure your essay is to follow the typical structure that most universities in the USA follow. Start with an introduction that ends with a thesis statement. Mind you, thesis statements are added after everything else. Then, you can write your body paragraphs, each beginning with a topic sentence. In your conclusion, you can restate your thesis but in a novel, more creative way. Lastly, add a “what if?” statement. Why should your audience care about what you’ve written?

Minor tips to always have a great essay

Although you now know what makes a good essay, here are some suggestions for you to always consider as an essential addition to your repertoire. 

  • Invest in some type of proofreading service. Many services work for free while others have prices that vary from cheap to very expensive, but it’s always a good option to have such a platform. Unfortunately, many educators can even overlook genius ideas if they are written with mistakes. Even after having a service help you, sit and re-read your paper again. Edit. 
  • If you’re interested in creative content making, join a group. In most colleges, there are clubs and companies where learners and writers can meet and discuss their achievements. If you fancy creative writing and need a respectful audience, that’s a great idea. People who also know how to write can offer you great assistance and emotional support. And such clubs are always a chance to find inspiration and even network. 
  • Have a deck with your best and worst pieces. You can find many places for storing your essays online or print them and put them on your walls. By placing your essays in an order from the worst to the best, you can really observe your progress. It may seem like nothing, but wait even a few months and then read your first and last essays, and you’ll see the difference. But remember that sometimes, progress is nonlinear. 
  • Build your own palette. To ensure that you’ve got everything you need, have a list of links with transitions, a dictionary, a website with synonyms, style guiding resources, and other crucial resources that can help you write better papers in English or any other language. 

Become a great essay writer today

Now, you can write excellent essays from scratch; you’re practically an expert! With these tips, you won’t need to worry about organizing your work or preparing for a good result. It doesn’t matter whether you write a strict professional essay, an academic piece of analysis, or a creative analysis of your favorite book. With an expanding portfolio to inspire you and demonstrate your achievements and a habit of writing already in place, you don’t need to think about it at all. It can be challenging at first, but just like a baby’s first steps, every next essay will make you stronger and better. 

Visit Tampafp.com for PoliticsTampa Area Local NewsSports, and National Headlines. Support journalism by clicking here to our GiveSendGo or sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here

Android Users, Click Here To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. Follow Us On Facebook Here Or Twitter Here.

Copyright 2022 The Free Press, LLC, tampafp.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Login To Facebook To Comment
Share This: