You just got into college, and you don't have a solid grip on essay writing. Don't lose your nerves because every student faces a tough time when it comes to writing an essay. It can give you sleepless nights even if you are great at writing. After all, writing an academic essay is no easy feat.
It’s never too late to learn something, is it? This essay writing guide can make things simpler for you.
This guide consists of seven unique steps that will make the process of essay writing 10X easier. However, you must be deliberate and thorough with the guide to be an expert essay writer in Australia. Let’s begin with the first step.
Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing. – Miles Davis
The length of essays can differ from one department to another. It can be anything from 500 to 3000-word essays. Usually, Australian universities assign the task of writing no less than 2000-3000 word essays. In that case, start your work at least three weeks before the due date.
Make sure you spend about 50% of the time planning, researching and analysing the essay. Spend another 25% of the time in drafting it and the other 25% in revising, proofreading, editing and referencing.
For instance, say you expect to spend an overall 30 hours on a 2000 word essay. Therefore, 15 hours should be spent analysing the topic, finding relevant research material and reading. Thus, you will have 7.5 hours to work on the first draft and another 7.5 hours to revise, proofread and edit your work.
This is just an example to help you manage the time like a master. The main purpose of time management skills is that you allow yourself adequate time to work on various aspects of essay writing. Time management is the stepping-stone to help you achieve the best results. Take it seriously.
Stay calm while choosing the essay topic
After managing the time to research and write the essay, the next step is to choose a brilliant essay topic. You can have a look at the list of questions that are often provided by lecturers. Consider the following while selecting your essay writing topics.
What Interests You The Most?
This is the best way to prevent yourself from dozing off while writing the essay. Select a topic that you would want to explore.
What Resources Are Available?
It is always suggested by expert essay writers that students should do preliminary research before writing the essays. This will help to understand whether adequate resources are available or not.
Is The Topic New To You?
You can think about potential arguments if you already have some ideas about the topic. Alternatively, you may want to broaden your horizons by choosing a topic you have no idea about.
Check out the essay topic examples for your University if you are completely out of ideas. Take inspiration from the examples you come across. Never hesitate to talk to your professors regarding the topics that you intend to choose for your essay.
At times, students misunderstand the question and end up writing only part of what has been asked. Your professors expect you to deliver a well-structured essay that focuses on the topic or question. You need to analyse the question to achieve that. Look for three kinds of words in your topic while analyse the topic.
Directive or process words- These words tell you what you are required to do in an essay. Check out some examples here.
Content words and phrases- These establish the general focus of the question. The content words are underlined in the following examples:
Discuss the development of French Opera.
Outline Piaget’s theory of development.
Limiting words and phrases- These limit the scope of your topic, making the essay more manageable. Check out the examples here.
Discuss five perspectives on…
How relevant is this to American Society?
These essay writing guide will help you identify the scope and focus of your essay topic. Once you understand the requirements of the topic, you can start planning about how to answer the question. This step is known as brainstorming.
Let the essay topic trigger as many questions as it can
In this step, you need to address the topic and jot down your preliminary thoughts and ideas. You can become aware of the details you need to locate during the research and reading stages. Brainstorming is the step that will let you explore your ideas in an uncritical and open way.
Include the following while brainstorming your thoughts and ideas:
Questions required to know the context of the essay
Evidence to support your arguments
Any ideas triggered by the question
Possible lines of argument, research and thought
Brainstorming gives you the beginning of a writing plan. This is a preliminary guide to essay writing. You can focus your research by raising more specific questions to answer your essay prompt. The more you discover about the topic, the more your ideas will shift.
Those who fail to plan, should plan to fail.
This university essay writing guide will prove the reality of this proverb. After brainstorming, start developing a tentative plan for the essay. You must be able to create a rough outline of your essay even if you have limited knowledge regarding the topic.
A plan will help you formulate the central argument or idea of your essay. It will help you generate sub-arguments too. You can stay on track as you begin to research and write.
What if you have limited knowledge about the topic, or you have no such arguments to include in the essay? In that case, it would be better if you could break down the topic, as shown in the example below.
Say your topic is:
Discuss the legal approach to euthanasia and criminal responsibility in the Victorian era. (2000 words). Break down this topic into the following parts:
Introduction (150 words)
Discussion (400 words)
Evaluate the problems with the current law and talk about the reform proposals. (600+700 words)
Conclusion (150 words)
You can try breaking down the topic into relevant sub-sections, as shown in the example. If you estimate the number of words you would need for each section, you can also understand the amount of time you want to invest in those sections. Do not forget to follow your university essay writing guide while planning the structure of the essay.
There’s no shortcut to success
After reading this guide for essay writing, start collecting details related to your topic from various sources. The quality of your essay depends on the sources you will gather details from. You must be familiar with university libraries, search engines, journal databases, newspaper collections and other reference materials.
Consider the following questions before using an author’s work in your essay.
Why did the author come to this conclusion?
How logical and sound is his methodology?
What are the weaknesses and strengths of the author’s arguments?
Is the author’s proposition valid?
Gathering information from an essay writing study guide is not enough. You must filter the information so that whatever details you add to enhance the credibility of your paper. Authors with contrasting points of view are an excellent resource to fill your essay with essential details.
This is the toughest part of the academic essay writing guide. Remember that nobody is perfect. This is your first draft, and it is okay to make mistakes. Write freely to get the right content down. Let's get you familiar with the basic structure of an essay and how to write an academic essay as per the format.
The introduction is meant to set the focus of your essay. It provides a map to your readers. You can write it at first and make changes after completing the essay. The introduction lets the readers know about the main idea of your essay. It should give a brief and clear overview of the arguments you hold in regards to your topic. You also need to define the key terms of your essay right in the introduction.
Keep several books, journal articles, notes, etc., open in front of you when you start writing the body of your essay. This will ensure that each point used in your essay relates to the essay question and adds value to your argument.
Paragraphs are an integral part of a proper essay. Each paragraph should develop a specific point along with relevant evidence.
Check out this example here.
Hurricanes have a tremendous power
The violent storms are usually a hundred miles in diameter. Their winds can reach a velocity of 75 miles per hour or so. Natural disasters can destroy a small town within a matter of seconds. The energy released by a hurricane in a day is way more than the total energy consumed by the human race in a year.
This is where you need to summarise the essay in a clear and concise format. Bring together the different strands of your arguments and string them together in conclusion. Your conclusion should have the following:
Importance of your research
Implications of your conclusion
Limitations of the essay writing approach that you have taken
Unlike the body of the essay, the conclusion is the wrap-up of everything you have talked about in the essay. You should not include any new information in this section. Check out other examples of the online guide to academic essay writing to know more about the structure of your essay as per your University in Australia.
See how easy essay writing can be if you follow the right techniques? The essay writing guide or tips for students doesn't end here. After you have finished writing the essay, start editing and proofreading the paper after a few days. You may not be able to identify your mistakes if you edit them the same day you wrote the essay. You can hire tutors online if you are not sure about your editing skills.
Hopefully, this step by step essay writing guide will help you understand the basic techniques of essay writing in Australian universities. Discuss with your professors when you encounter any problems. Good luck!
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Ans.An essay is a piece of writing that presents a thoughtful and structured argument or discussion on a particular topic. It is typically composed of an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Ans.There are several types of essays, including:
Ans.When choosing a topic for your essay, consider something that interests you or that you have a strong opinion about. You should also consider the purpose and audience for your essay. For example, if you are writing an essay for a college application, you may want to choose a topic that showcases your unique qualities and experiences.
Ans.A common structure for essays includes an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Ans.Before you start writing your essay, it's a good idea to create an outline to help you organize your thoughts and ideas. This can help you ensure that your essay has a clear structure and flow. Once you have an outline, you can begin writing your essay by starting with the introduction.