Don’t Make These Same Mistakes When Writing an Essay

Only a handful of college students enjoy writing essays because it allows them to showcase their writing skills. But the truth is, not everyone has the same talent. And in fact, more people are challenged to write, let alone compose a full-blown essay. For them, it could be a daunting and exhausting task. If you are one of these folks, don’t feel guilty. However, there’s no escaping from it. This is almost always a requirement if you want to graduate from college. 

Instead of procrastinating, start doing your essays the soonest possible time. This way, you don’t have to cram, and you have more time to edit. Come to think of it; you have more chance of getting an A. 

But before you do, make sure you read the common mistakes most college students commit when submitting their essays. Avoid these at all costs! 

Not Creating an Outline

Before you sit down on your computer and start typing, it is crucial that you write an outline first. This is a helpful tool that can make you more efficient when writing an essay or anything for that matter. Review what your professor or instructor said. Make sure to list down all the requirements for your essay. From there, think of your central topic and list down the subtopics you need to write about. This way, it is easier to look for resources. This can substantially cut time when completing your essay. 

Some people are used to writing their outline in bulleted forms. But if you are running out of ideas, new angles, and subcategories to write, a mind map technique could work. 

Not Doing Your Research  

Most of the time, your professors will give a minimum word requirement for essays. It could be as short as 1000 words or as extensive as a 5000-word essay. But to be able to provide valuable content or essays, the required word count should be the least of your concerns. 

We’ve seen many students just trying to target the number of words and ended up writing fluff. This means they added unnecessary and winding statements just to prolong their essays. Your professor can instantly spot those. The best solution for this is to do your research. 

Quite frankly, it’s easier to do research today compared to what we did 10 years ago. Admit it or not, you can Google practically anything. Just a quick search, and you will have thousands of resources. However, we still encourage you to look for other materials. Your local library is a great spot. You can also contact resource persons that can provide expert knowledge on your topic. It gives your paper depth – not to mention, it adds a lot of words if that’s what you’re after.  

Plagiarism 

Plagiarism is a mortal sin when it comes to writing. Whenever you compose an essay, make sure to add the references and include proper citations. 

Trust us, it is easy to identify if your work is copied. There are several tools that your professors are already using just to check if you plagiarized content. If they found out that you are guilty of it, there will be consequences which you might regret. 

Simply put, be responsible when writing an essay and never use shortcuts. 

Using an Informal Language 

Perhaps, you’ve been following and reading different blogs. We have to admit, these are fun to read and highly engaging. After all, blog posts usually use a conversational tone when writing. But as much as it is tempting to use the same approach in your essay, don’t do it! 

Yes, you can still use a lighter approach and simplified terms. But this doesn’t mean you can use informal or colloquial terms. Your college essay should always be professional. Thus, leave all your ‘LOLs, FTWs, and GTGs’ in the meantime! There’s no room for these in your essay. 

Not Proofreading 

So you are done with your first draft – congratulations!  But your task has not ended. We understand that you want to submit it to your professors right away and get it over with. However, you might have a few grammatical and spelling errors which you haven’t checked yet. When these simple mistakes are seen from your essay, your professors will think that you did your work half-baked. Chances are, they will give you a half grade from what you originally deserved. 

Spare yourself from that by proofreading your work. You can also use tools such as Grammarly if you need help. Or maybe ask someone to read your essay so that there will be fresh eyes that can easily spot common mistakes.

Essays can be hard, that’s true! But if you were able to finish it with a good remark from your professor, it would be worth it.