Just as the books you\nread subconsciously help mould your own writing style, so reading other\npeople\u2019s essays can help you develop and build on your own essay-writing style.\nTry to read a range of other essays, including those of your peers and of\nacademics. Read essays on a wide variety of subjects, not necessarily just\nthose that you\u2019re studying; different disciplines might apply different kinds\nof arguments or styles, so the wider you read, the more possible techniques\nthere are for you to pick up and use in essays of your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you read other\npeople\u2019s essays, don\u2019t just take them at face value. Be critical: what do you\nlike about them? What don\u2019t you like about them? How persuasive do you think\nthey are? Is the argument a balanced one, with points adequately supported with\nevidence? Has the writer used any techniques you\u2019ve not seen before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another good source of essays is the broadsheet newspapers. Read the opinion pieces and dissect how the writer has supported their points with evidence, and again, be critical; note where they\u2019ve left things out to try to persuade you to a particular opinion. Essays should be balanced, so you can learn from the best of these writers and pick up some techniques to help you shape a balanced piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Build your vocabulary and use it\nproperly<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A good vocabulary will\nallow you to express exactly what you mean, as clearly and concisely as\npossible. Economy with words is a characteristic of all good essays, because\nreaders (and essay-markers) don\u2019t like having their time wasted with long,\nrambling points that could have been expressed in half the number of words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One way of ensuring that\nyou can communicate clearly and to the point is through accurate and effective\nuse of advanced vocabulary. A good essay writer should never rest on their\nlaurels when it comes to vocabulary; it\u2019s something you should be working on\ncontinually, as there are always new words to learn that could help convey a\npoint more effectively. What\u2019s more, deploying a good vocabulary displays\nintelligence and allows you to be more persuasive in your essay-writing. Here\nare some ways in which you can build your vocabulary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Subscribe to a \u2018word a\nday\u2019 email (such as this one from Merriam-Webster). Create a folder in your\nemail account for new word emails, so that you can file each email away and\nhave them all in one place ready to flick through and learn from in an idle\nmoment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Read widely, and refer\nto a dictionary for words you don\u2019t know as you go along; this way, you\u2019ll\nlearn the new word as well as seeing it in context so you know how to use it\nproperly. Read different genres of fiction, and non-fiction covering a range of\ntopics, and you\u2019ll have the added bonus of widening your general knowledge as\nwell as your vocabulary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Use a thesaurus \u2013 if\nyou find yourself using the same words over and over again, add variety to your\nlanguage by looking up those words in a thesaurus and finding other words that\nmean the same thing. A word of warning: words you find in a thesaurus can\u2019t\nalways be used interchangeably; even words with similar meanings can differ\nsubtly in a way that makes them inappropriate in certain contexts, so find\nexamples of a word used correctly before you use a new word for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Learn prefixes,\nsuffixes and roots \u2013 it sounds boring, but this shortcut will help you learn a\ngreat many more words. Many roots come from Latin and Greek words, such as\n\u201cbene\u201d in Latin, meaning \u201cgood\u201d, which gives rise to words such as\n\u201cbenefactor\u201d, \u201cbenevolent\u201d and \u201cbenefit\u201d. It\u2019s often possible to deduce the\nmeaning of a new word if you know its root and read it in context. Prefixes are\nadded to the beginning of a word to change the meaning, such as \u201csemi\u201d or\n\u201cante\u201d, while suffixes are added to the end, such as \u201c-able\u201d or \u201c-ance\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Start a vocabulary book\n\u2013 you probably have one if you\u2019re learning a foreign language, so why not have\none for your native language as well? Buy yourself a nice notepad and use it to\ncollect new words and their meanings. The act of writing down the definition\nwill help you remember it, and you could include an example of how the word is\nused to increase your chances of memorising it for use in essays. It may help\nto have different sections for words on particular themes; you could have a\ngeneral section, and then further parts of the notebook could be dedicated to\nwords of use in history essays, science essays and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Elevator pitching your essays<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve probably all had it\nhammered into us that we should write an essay plan before we start writing,\nbut before you even do that, you need to know what the argument you\u2019re going to\nmake actually is. Only then can you start writing the structure for an essay\nthat builds up to your overall conclusion. To condense what you\u2019re trying to\nsay into a short, snappy summary for you to work from, try making an \u2018Elevator\nPitch\u2019 style summary of what you intend to write and why readers should be\ninterested in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Elevator Pitch is a\ntechnique used by salespeople when condensing the arguments for buying a\nproduct into the shortest possible summary of why a customer should consider a\npurchase. The salesperson is told to imagine themselves in a lift; in the time\nit takes for that lift to reach the desired floor, they should have given a compelling\nargument in favour of that product that would result in the customer buying it,\nor at least wanting to know more. Your Elevator Pitch for your essay should\nsell the idea of it to a reader, leaving them wanting to read the essay in\nquestion. This is quite a tough exercise, as it forces you to be ruthlessly\nconcise in your thinking and choice of words; but you can use this summary to\nhelp you write your introduction, and it\u2019ll help you achieve clarity in what\nyou\u2019re trying to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Tell the reader what other people\nsay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve mentioned this on a\nprevious article on essay writing, but it seems pertinent to mention it here\ntoo. Essays are a chance for you to show off how widely read you are, so make\nsure you quote other people\u2019s opinions, and original sources, on what you\u2019re\nwriting about. For example, if you were to write a history essay on early\nreligious practices in Britain, you could quote original texts on that topic\n(such as Bede\u2019s Ecclesiastical History of the English People) and also mention\nwhat a range of modern scholars have to say about the topic. Contrasting views\nshould be sought; it\u2019s unlikely that everyone agrees on the topic, so show\nyou\u2019ve looked at all the possible angles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For each of the subjects\nyou\u2019re studying, start a page in a notebook for important people in that field,\nwith a summary of when they lived and what their views are. That way, you\u2019ll\nhave something to refer to when you\u2019re writing an essay and want to consult\nappropriate scholars or other writers whose opinions you might wish to include.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t quote too much; mix citations with your own opinions so that it doesn\u2019t look as though you have to hide behind other people\u2019s words. It\u2019s fine to disagree with a scholar you quote, provided you can give evidence and reasoning for doing so. This shows that you have thought about it and made your own mind up, rather than blindly accepting what that scholar has said; this demonstrates strong critical reasoning skills, one of the hallmarks of brilliant students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Syntax, punctuation and tone of\nvoice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You may not consciously\nrealise it when you\u2019re reading, but sophisticated sentence structures make the\nworld of difference to how intelligent you sound. As we\u2019ve already said, the\nmost important consideration when you\u2019re writing is making yourself easy for\nreaders to understand; but you can still do this and utilise a range of\ninteresting syntax at the same time. Employ a variety of sentence structures,\nlong and short, but don\u2019t let your sentences become too long and rambling, or they\nbecome difficult to read. Effective punctuation is vital in conveying your\narguments persuasively; the last thing a teacher or lecturer wants to read is\nan essay riddled with poor grammar. What\u2019s more, the reader shouldn\u2019t have to\nread a sentence more than once to understand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You probably already have\na tone of voice you use for writing essays, but is it interesting and engaging?\nRead through some of your old essays and ask yourself honestly whether you find\nthem absorbing. If they\u2019re not, it could well be because you\u2019ve not established\nthe right tone of voice. Essays constitute a formal, academic context, but that\ndoesn\u2019t mean you have to be boring. A confident tone of voice will help show\nthe reader that you know what you\u2019re talking about and reassure them that\nthey\u2019re in safe hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing in the active\nrather than the passive voice is a well-known trick of the trade that writers\nuse to give their writing a sense of immediacy and make it more compelling; you\ntoo can deploy this technique in your essays by steering clear of the passive\nvoice (for example, rather than writing \u201cMuch work is being done to\u2026\u201d, say\n\u201cScholars are putting a great deal of effort into\u2026\u201d). Over the course of an\nentire essay, you\u2019d be surprised what a difference this makes to your tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, review what you have written.\nReread your paper and check to see if it makes sense. Make sure that sentence\nflow is smooth and add phrases to help connect thoughts or ideas. Check your\nessay for grammar and spelling mistakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cradits : <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thesis4u2000.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Picture6-1.png\")
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