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July 15, 2017

Ability to write an essay assumes a fairly high level of language skills. And few people own this art. We will give you some very useful tips for writing essays or essays in English that will be useful to you in life.

Preparation

It's difficult, but - start in advance. The earlier you start to think about the topic of the essay, the more time you will have to collect the material. When your brain is set up to think about a question, the information seems to fall on its own.

The same happens when you learn a new word: it begins to seem that it occurs more often in the text. The thing is that you become more receptive to a certain type of information, paying more attention to it.

To begin with, it's best to sketch out what you know on the topic of the essay: perhaps you know even more than you thought. This will give you ideas in which direction to move on. In order to act purposefully, draw up a plan and formulate a preliminary set of questions. When you begin to study the material, you will have new, more specific questions, and you will be able to search for answers already on them.

How to overcome the "fear of a clean slate"

Even the most experienced writer at the beginning of work on a new work sometimes attends feelings of indecision and fear. But, as they say, the main thing is not in desire or skill: just start writing. It does not matter where you start: most importantly - do not stop writing and for the time being do not worry about style and spelling. Make preliminary sketches of the main thoughts of the narrative and after that go to the design of the structure of your future creation.

If you write on a computer, for you it will not be difficult to swap fragments of the written, differently grouping them. If you prefer paper and pen, leave space in one or two lines between theses so that you can finish something later.

You can even take scissors and cut the sheet into strips to simplify this process. Try to compose the future of the essay in order to develop the main idea. If, as a result, you get a "golden troika": the beginning (introduction), the middle (the main part of the essay) and the ending (conclusion), then you did everything right.

General structure of the essay

Introduction

The introduction should contain some kind of comment on the topic of the essay - perhaps defining key concepts or explaining how you understand the question. Also in this section you need to list which aspects of the topic you will be considering and why.

Remember that an essay is not a novel, so you need to select only a few basic arguments that reveal the topic. The introduction should give a clear idea of what will be discussed later, and the teacher should see that you give an answer to a specific set of questions posed.

So, a good introduction should:

Demonstrate your intention to answer the question posed;

Show that you understand the topic;

Outline the structure of your answer and the main aspects that you will consider (your plan);

Confirm that you have conducted some research, and refer to one of your sources;

Fully consistent with the topic;

Be concise and take about 8-9% of the total volume of the text (for example, 120 words in a composition of 1500 words).

Note: For those who find it easier to navigate not in the number of words but in the number of characters, the following formula is useful: one English word is taken on average for 6 characters (including spaces), that is, a 500-word composition contains approximately 3000 characters with spaces.

Start an essay with a key phrase that will indicate the direction of your answer. For example:

This essay deals with ... ("This essay is dedicated ...")

This assignment will examine ... ("In this work is considered ...")

This report will analyze ... ("This report analyzes ...")

Use the same or similar wording as in the topic of the essay. If the question sounds like "Discuss recent developments in communication technology", then in the introduction it is possible to write: "This essay will consider recent developments in the field of communication technology ..." Essays will be considered modern developments in the field of communication technology ... "). More certainty: do not leave room for the reader to doubt.

You can also use these words and expressions, which will underline the plan of your work, for example:

The essay is divided into four sections ... ("This essay consists of four parts ...")

It will first consider ... "

It will then continue to describe ... ("After which we will continue to describe ...")

The third part compares ... ("The third part compares ...")

Finally, some conclusions will be drawn as to ... ("And, finally, some conclusions will be drawn concerning ...")

Main part

The main part should disclose each of the arguments using examples and illustrations. The information should be clearly divided logically (for this the text is divided into paragraphs). You need to think over the structure of the essay and make sure that the main part logically leads to the conclusion.

Conclusion

The conclusion must sum up the ideas expressed. Here it is necessary to give an answer to the question formulated in the topic of the essay. Or, depending on the topic, indicate the prospects or consequences of the problem under consideration.

Also, in this section you can formulate related topics worthy of further reflection and express personal views - if they are supported by the arguments that you cited earlier.

A good conclusion is this:

Not just a summary. The conclusion should be a thoughtful completion of the work, for example, applying the written to the real situation.

Quintessence, that is, a short list of the main ideas. It is worth turning to the introduction and drawing parallels with the help of the same keywords or images, but using a different formulation. Do not repeat word for word.

Reinforcement of the ideas of the main part of the work. Different kinds of essays require different conclusions. In a short work, there is no need for a detailed repetition of the main ideas, but in a longer one it may be necessary.

Perhaps suggestive of a further question, a vivid, effective image, a quotation, if appropriate.

As an option - a forecast of the results or consequences, a possible solution, a call to action.

However, there are moments that should be avoided in the conclusion of the essay:

To put forward completely new ideas. If they are really important, include them in the main part.

Use an exculpatory tone. Be sure of your statements. Avoid phrases such as "I may not be an expert" or "At least this is my opinion" ("Maybe I'm not an expert" or "At least I think so").

To focus on too little detail.

To refute the significance of previous arguments.

According to many teachers, the conclusion is the most important part of the essay. In it, you demonstrate that you have good knowledge of the material and thoughtfully approached the problem. Do not worry if the conclusion will force you to rewrite the other parts of the text. In fact, this is a good sign!

As a general idea of the length of each section, you can use the following formula (this is a recommendation, but not a hard rule):

Introduction - 7-8% of the volume of the essay

Conclusion - 12-15% of the volume of the essay

Style Recommendations

Do not abuse complex words and expressions, but avoid slang and abbreviations. In general, try to write short simple sentences, from time to time diluting them with longer ones. The goal is to present the essence clearly and clearly so that the reader can easily follow the course of thought and not be distracted by extraneous reasoning (also about styles in English read in our article).

Recommendations for registration

Needless to say, grammatical and spelling errors in the essay should be absent - make every effort. In addition, you need to remember that you are not writing for yourself, but for another person, so punctuation, division into sentences and paragraphs, a general structure - all this should help the reader.

Avoid elements of spoken language:

Do not use abbreviations (do not, they're, it's), always use the full form;

Do not use slang and colloquial expressions (kid, a lot of / lots of, cool);

Write in essence and do not deviate from the topic;

Try to avoid phrasal verbs (get off, get away with, put in - read more about phrasal verbs in our article), use single-word synonyms;

Avoid too general words (all, any, every), be specific and precise;

Do not abuse brackets, exclamation marks.

Adhere to the academic style:

If possible, avoid the personal pronouns of the first person (I, my, we, our);

Avoid too categorical judgments and generalizations;

Reinforce quotations and data with sources;

In the English language it is important to observe gender equality: if it is an abstract person, use the person instead of man. If possible, it is better to put the subject in the plural and use the pronoun they instead of he or she;

If possible, use an active voice, do not complicate the proposal. For example, instead of "Crime was growing rapidly and the police were becoming concerned," write: "The rapid increase in crime began to cause concern Police ").

Read more about active and passive voice in English.

Strive to give the text objectivity:

Use impersonal constructions: It is believed that ... (It is believed that ...), It can not be argued that ... ("Undoubtedly ...");

Use a passive voice if you do not want to specify the performer of the action: Tests have been conducted ("Tests have been conducted ...");

Use non-categorical verbs, for example: suggest (suggest, suggest, express an opinion), claim (assert, declare), suppose (consider, believe, assume);

To show your attitude to the question, but to avoid personal judgments, you can use adverbs: apparently, arguably, ideally, strangely, unexpectedly;

Use modal verbs would, could, may, might, to soften the categorical;

To avoid generalizations, use the refining adverbs: some, several, a minority, a few, many.

Paragraphs

Each paragraph usually affects one aspect of the basic design. Two paragraphs can deal with different aspects, but be interrelated - for example, cause and effect, positive and negative sides, state of affairs before or after.

Sometimes the first sentence of the paragraph is introductory, that is, explaining what will be discussed.

Connectivity

Logical transition from one paragraph to another sometimes causes the author serious difficulties. To preserve the coherence of the text, it is necessary to direct the reader, to give him signals. This can help the introductory and connecting words, performing various functions. For example:

Opposition: but, however, on the other hand, yet;

Example: for example, that is;

Addition: similarly, besides, furthermore, in addition;

Conclusion: therefore, so, as a result, thus;

Enumeration: then, after that, ultimately.

More about the introductory words in English.

Be sure to use spelling in a text editor, but do not forget to read the text yourself. For example, Word sometimes misses pretty curious mistakes that can greatly spoil the impression of your written work. If you are not sure about something, look in the dictionary. Following all these tips you will be ready to join https://writingarmy.com/ service and be a professional writer.

And one more useful trick: before you finish the work, put it off for a couple of hours (even better - for a day), then to return to it with a fresh look. This is another reason why you need to start writing essays in advance, having enough time in reserve.

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