One of mine would be to remove unnecessary words from your sentences. Think about the impact every word makes. If you took this word out, would it make a difference? Would it change what you’re saying? If it has no reason to be there, take it out.
What are your best essay writing tips? -
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Source correctly. Poor sourcing/referencing is an easy way to loose marks. Make sure you check your list over and once again just to be sure.
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Mine is to pull shit out of your ass and hope it gets you a passing grade.
Mine is to make sure you know what you want to say before you sit down to write. Those extra 30 minutes spent planning your essay can make all of the difference.
For fuck's sake, make an outline! It amazes me that some people just wing an entire essay without at least trying to make an outline. This article explains how to create an outline and why it's so helpful. I created an in-depth outline for every single essay I wrote in college and most of my high school essays and it helped immensely. The best thing about outlines is that, after you put the work into them, it makes writing the actual essay pretty easy. All you have to do is plug in points from the outline and then flesh them out a bit.
Another tip is to not procrastinate, and I'm saying this as a procrastinator (albeit one who's trying to recover). I would try to make it so I'd have 5-7 days to work on a paper, working for a couple of hours each day. If I had, let's say, an 8-page essay due, I'd spend 1-2 days on the outline (it took so long because I made really thorough outlines with a lot of info) and then try to write 2-3 pages every day (and, again, the outline made it so it really wasn't that hard). That may sound like a lot, but it's much better than scrambling to write an 8-page essay in 1-2 days.
Another tip is to not procrastinate, and I'm saying this as a procrastinator (albeit one who's trying to recover). I would try to make it so I'd have 5-7 days to work on a paper, working for a couple of hours each day. If I had, let's say, an 8-page essay due, I'd spend 1-2 days on the outline (it took so long because I made really thorough outlines with a lot of info) and then try to write 2-3 pages every day (and, again, the outline made it so it really wasn't that hard). That may sound like a lot, but it's much better than scrambling to write an 8-page essay in 1-2 days.
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kiwifarms.net
Most people don’t allow themselves to be bad writers.
You miss every shot you don’t take.
Your first work is always going to be a Mary Sue, wish-fulfilling fanfic. Just get it out of the way. It’s not like anyone has to see it.
You miss every shot you don’t take.
Your first work is always going to be a Mary Sue, wish-fulfilling fanfic. Just get it out of the way. It’s not like anyone has to see it.
Be clear, be concise, and very importantly- be on time.
Since your intro paragraph explains what your essay is about, it's easier to write the intro after the body paragraphs are written.
Write.
You can have an outline or idea, but unless you actually write the damn thing it's going to go nowhere. By the time you have a finished piece ready for publishing, you will have edited nearly 70% of what you started with, scrapped the entire thing twice, and come up with several new approaches.
You can have an outline or idea, but unless you actually write the damn thing it's going to go nowhere. By the time you have a finished piece ready for publishing, you will have edited nearly 70% of what you started with, scrapped the entire thing twice, and come up with several new approaches.
Don't write your introduction first and fuck every teacher who told you to do it that way, you'll just paint yourself into a corner, *unless* you know for sure what you're going to talk about, in which case go for it.
Personally, I find that, much like how I write fiction, I let myself come up with a definitive statement to make in the body of the essay and then build from there, adding things around it or whatever. It may not be entirely cohesive, but it's a great way to get *something* down.
The thesaurus is your friend, but for the English language especially it takes years to fully understand the nuance of the language. You can't just put some random synonym in place of a simple word and expect it to come off eloquently. There's a certain style and flow that comes with practice. Reading extensively helps you pick up these hints.
Personally, I find that, much like how I write fiction, I let myself come up with a definitive statement to make in the body of the essay and then build from there, adding things around it or whatever. It may not be entirely cohesive, but it's a great way to get *something* down.
The thesaurus is your friend, but for the English language especially it takes years to fully understand the nuance of the language. You can't just put some random synonym in place of a simple word and expect it to come off eloquently. There's a certain style and flow that comes with practice. Reading extensively helps you pick up these hints.
TomFerna
kiwifarms.net
As for me, online education is an alternative in such a time of pandemic, but I still have a negative attitude towards online education, since students and schoolchildren do not receive sufficient knowledge, they are not in society, and the university is primarily a school of life, at home children are distracted, play games and do not pay attention to study
Exactly why I didn't volunteer for Reading Partner's online tutoring program. Little bits of body language like uncomfortable silences and staring are good for getting students back on track, but they only work in person.
Anyways... I half agree with outlining, but I think outlines are over-designed. Since it barely qualifies as a rough draft, simple indenting will suffice and spending time writing out Roman and regular numerals is a waste of brain power when you're trying to build up writing points. If we're talking about a college writing assignment, then being absolutely autistic with your citations is the most important factor. Also whatever you cite should contain your argument or interpretation as it shows that you spent some time thinking about what you read rather than mindlessly quote-mining for page length. The rule my favorite English teacher said was every one sentence of quote needed to have at least one sentence of interpretation.
Gar For Archer
kiwifarms.net
Personally, I’m a much better editor than an actual writer. Like, if you show me someone else’s writing, I could tell you what I dislike about it and what I’d do to make it better, but if I try to carefully plan my writing, I always get blocked up. Thus, I’ve found out the best way for me to write is to start out with an unplanned, unstructured, stream-of-consciousness draft, and then edit it into something that’s not shit.
The way this works is, after you have a basic outline of the points you want to make, just... start writing. If there’s a particular turn of phrase you want to use but can’t fit into a cohesive structure, just slip it in there anyways. Don’t do it in a careful, planned manner, just get the flow of your thoughts down on paper.
After you’ve shat out a rambling first draft, take a break for a few hours and come back to reread it. You should be able to see where you ramble and repeat yourself, and how well the actual structure of your argument holds together, and which expressions work and which don’t. From that stream-of-consciousness draft, you’ll cut and paste pieces into a separate document to create your ACTUAL first draft, which should be a pruned selection of the best bits from the unplanned draft organized in a more sensible way.
This way, instead of writing and organizing all in the same step, you split the actual generation of sentences and the organization of said sentences into a coherent structure into two separate steps.
Also, by far the best thing you can do is just constantly reread your shit. It’s the best way to identify stuff that you’re not happy with and stuff that just sounds weird.
The way this works is, after you have a basic outline of the points you want to make, just... start writing. If there’s a particular turn of phrase you want to use but can’t fit into a cohesive structure, just slip it in there anyways. Don’t do it in a careful, planned manner, just get the flow of your thoughts down on paper.
After you’ve shat out a rambling first draft, take a break for a few hours and come back to reread it. You should be able to see where you ramble and repeat yourself, and how well the actual structure of your argument holds together, and which expressions work and which don’t. From that stream-of-consciousness draft, you’ll cut and paste pieces into a separate document to create your ACTUAL first draft, which should be a pruned selection of the best bits from the unplanned draft organized in a more sensible way.
This way, instead of writing and organizing all in the same step, you split the actual generation of sentences and the organization of said sentences into a coherent structure into two separate steps.
Also, by far the best thing you can do is just constantly reread your shit. It’s the best way to identify stuff that you’re not happy with and stuff that just sounds weird.
verygayFrogs
kiwifarms.net
Use comic sans when drafting bc its dyslexia friendly and you brain won’t take it seriously so you’ll just write more
McMitch4kf
kiwifarms.net
Just do one draft, written either during the class the essay is assigned or the morning before it’s due.
Actually read books and actually write. I read so much terrible English from native speakers it baffles me how society continues to operate. Don't use long words or go on tirades without reason if they don't serve to further illustrate your point in a clear and concise manner, it makes your writing unreadable garbage like Simulacra & Simulation.
When you are actually finished with your essay, change the font color and print it out for a final edit. I can’t stress how much easier this makes finding your own errors. After you’ve written/rewritten something a bunch of times your brain just kinda glosses over mistakes (even very obvious ones), and getting this different perspective is helpful. Reading out loud to yourself can help as well.
Ideally, you would get someone else to read it over and edit for you. Editing is a very necessary step in the process and it is why literally no people who write professionally go without having an editor review their work.
Ideally, you would get someone else to read it over and edit for you. Editing is a very necessary step in the process and it is why literally no people who write professionally go without having an editor review their work.
This isn't helpful to people who are currently struggling to write a paper. But a good setup for writing a lot in the future.
Just journal. No formats or deadlines or wordcounts to stress over.
You dont even have to be right or do research. Just ask yourself a question and answer it with more questions if you want.
This way you have a library of original material to draw from, in a similar way to professional artists building "visual libraries"
Plus its an easy way to form opinions with no obligations. A lot of people get fucked up and burn bridges by forming all their political opinions via social media hardball.
Just journal. No formats or deadlines or wordcounts to stress over.
You dont even have to be right or do research. Just ask yourself a question and answer it with more questions if you want.
This way you have a library of original material to draw from, in a similar way to professional artists building "visual libraries"
Plus its an easy way to form opinions with no obligations. A lot of people get fucked up and burn bridges by forming all their political opinions via social media hardball.
I got this from an English class in college, and I feel his methods were legit, even though “America needs to take in all refugees .. even the terrorist *unironically grinning and nodding his head*”:
3 writing phases: Planning, Composing, Revising.
Planning is the longest phase, should take days. You get your topic or whatever you’re writing about, and you make a list of as many THANGS as possible. Like, 50 bullets point may not be enough thangs if your doing a paper for college, or even essay on a poem or a short story.
After listing said Thangs, look over your list, and notice the things that a similar and put a symbol next to them, these symbols are categories (paragraphs) and the bullet points are sentences. Organize your paragraph order here. You cannot do a thorough enough job here.
When composing, you focus on Paragraphs exclusively, this way you only spend a few hours writing. Just sit down and write what you planned out the whole paper. Your catagories will each be a Topic Sentence, beginning ever paragraph. Each listed item is a Sentence of Detail (literally turn you bullet points individual sentences,) each one followed by 1-3 Sentences of Elaboration, to flesh out your Sentence of Detail. This way, you’ve got 6 or more sentences per paragraph.Once finished, you conclude your essay with a paragraph of 4-7 sentences, just summing up what you wanted to impart to your reader, as obviously as possible. After concluding your whole essay, write the introduction paragraph, because you can’t introduce what doesn’t exist.
Finally, revision, two goals: Sentences and clarity. Before, you just write, fuck grammar, spelling, all of it, just write. But now, you look over you ENTIRE essay , look at each and every sentence and make every point you wanted to make as clear as possible, if someone might be confused, it wasn’t a good enough sentence.
Congratulations, you can now write at a college level.
3 writing phases: Planning, Composing, Revising.
Planning is the longest phase, should take days. You get your topic or whatever you’re writing about, and you make a list of as many THANGS as possible. Like, 50 bullets point may not be enough thangs if your doing a paper for college, or even essay on a poem or a short story.
After listing said Thangs, look over your list, and notice the things that a similar and put a symbol next to them, these symbols are categories (paragraphs) and the bullet points are sentences. Organize your paragraph order here. You cannot do a thorough enough job here.
When composing, you focus on Paragraphs exclusively, this way you only spend a few hours writing. Just sit down and write what you planned out the whole paper. Your catagories will each be a Topic Sentence, beginning ever paragraph. Each listed item is a Sentence of Detail (literally turn you bullet points individual sentences,) each one followed by 1-3 Sentences of Elaboration, to flesh out your Sentence of Detail. This way, you’ve got 6 or more sentences per paragraph.Once finished, you conclude your essay with a paragraph of 4-7 sentences, just summing up what you wanted to impart to your reader, as obviously as possible. After concluding your whole essay, write the introduction paragraph, because you can’t introduce what doesn’t exist.
Finally, revision, two goals: Sentences and clarity. Before, you just write, fuck grammar, spelling, all of it, just write. But now, you look over you ENTIRE essay , look at each and every sentence and make every point you wanted to make as clear as possible, if someone might be confused, it wasn’t a good enough sentence.
Congratulations, you can now write at a college level.
