academic essay writing

academic essay writing

The Importance of Academic Essay Writing

1. Introduction

As the first chapter, “An Introduction to Academic Writing” in The Importance of Academic Essay Writing, the book provides a really useful section on how to analyze essay titles. As it explains, students learning English for Academic Purposes need to start not with what they are interested in or what they know about a topic, but what the actual essay title is asking. I often find this is the first thing missed when using a book or internet as a guide to essay writing. We start looking for the best place to begin our research based on our current interests, for example by going to the section on education or computers or global economics rather than working on what the title is asking us to do. The book suggests three types of activity to help in this early stage, starting even before you write your first entry in your reading journal or your own website to keep track of your research. First, write down all the different words and ideas connecting to your work in English that you can think of. Then try to add to the list in your first language, if different, and see if you can use an English dictionary to put even more words on the list. This will give a good overview of what you need to know and understand in the title. However, I particularly prefer the second activity suggested by the book, which is to find other essays that are related to the title set and write a synoptic plan or even an essay plan of what you understand by the essay. Using the essay title quote in your own work and the plan with your own knowledge can not only get you off to a great start, but also help someone reading your work to understand the direction your research and thinking went in.

2. Understanding the Essay Prompt

An essay prompt is a statement that focuses on a certain topic or problem. This statement may be phrased in the form of a question, requiring keen response from the author. In addition, essay prompts are usually set in formats, such as APA, MLA, among others. Using the APA format, the prompt may require you to cite a book or journal article. In such a case, the writer is required to be able to comprehend the essay prompt, so as to be aware of the most appropriate method of responding to it. Indeed, it is a critical aspect of essay writing, provided that the writer’s response will be based on the prompt. There are various strategies for understanding an essay prompt. Firstly, it is very important to identify key terms in the statement. This will not only help to clearly understand the prompt but also to analyze it properly. Secondly, the writer needs to understand the exact nature of the discipline. Different subjects like psychology, history, music, computer science, require different modes of interpretation when it comes to essay prompts. For instance, writing a history essay is an entirely different life undertaking specialized in a particular programming language due to the fact that history is largely based on received arguments, that is, verbal and notational or musical meaning. Thirdly, it is important to identify the most important act that an essay prompt asks the writer to perform. For example, some prompts require the writer to express critical thought while others may require the writer to compare and contrast given concepts. However, it is important to remember that regardless of how well the essay is written and how well the essay prompt is understood, the final grade ultimately depends on the quality of the response, which should be clear and comprehensive to the reader. It’s also worth noting that the reader’s understanding of the response depends on the way the response is structured, that is, the essay should be well planned and written in a way that every paragraph is in tandem with the next. By following an outline and using proper format, the writer is well positioned to present his narrative and critical thoughts. With an outline as the guide, the writer will easily be in line with the essay prompt, although creativity is allowed in essay writing. In light of understanding the essay prompt, students are urged to practice their skills in understanding prompts, so as to better their techniques. This will eventually lead to a high quality essay, written with promptness and accuracy. Through comprehensive practice, a student will be in a position to understand various types of essay prompts, which are unfriendly taught in education as for critical, narrative, descriptive, expository, argumentative, and persuasive essays. It is anticipated that the benefits of understanding the essay prompt may transcend academic. As one learns to synthesize obedience and independence, getting the most out of various learning processes, becoming technology savvy, and more focused in life endeavors may be inevitable. This remains as the main reason why understanding an essay prompt is categorized as the first and most important step in essay writing.

3. Developing a Strong Thesis Statement

In academic essay writing, the thesis statement of any essay ought to be very strong and personal. In simple terms, you may define thesis as the most important sentence in academic essay writing. The main purpose of the thesis statement is to present the topic in the essay, provide a sort of guide to the reader on what the essay seeks to address and give an argument. Having a weak thesis statement is likely to lead to a weak paper; it is the main point or points that the writer will use to support the essay’s claim. For one to write a good thesis statement, there need to be various pointers that the writer needs to take note of. The content should be specific with an aim of making the point of the writer clear to the reader. By doing this, the writer is able to revolve the entire most important sentence around the deep message giving the reader a hint about the findings of the essay. The writer does not need to find online the thesis statements in the different sources and copy them into their essays. Online writers can provide students with effective thesis statements; but, it is not always an assurance that those thesis statements they will provide are effective. The best known way is outlining the main points on what the essay will cover in the introduction. A strong two sentence thesis statement is the need of the hour. A thesis should present the question being argued or claimed and answered throughout the paper; it is not a topic. Lastly, the theses should be complete. This is because a complete thesis will create an overview of the topic being discussed and reflects on the opinion of the writer and the issue at hand. However, these three pointers should be added. A good thesis statement should be restricted to a specific and manageable ideas. Also it must have a pause in the statement. Lastly, the thesis statement needs to be clear and the theses should be summed in one complete sentence. However, the writers may also include a thesis in their sought range. A thesis statement should be in the introduction of the paper, taking up a sentence. Creativity in academic writing is encouraged but it is best known that the creative and interesting the paper is, the appeal of the thesis statement can be heightened. Different instructors may view such writing in a way; the writer may be guided to gain better writing skills through a show of creativity. A thesis is one of the most important components of the academic essay; it is the main point the writer will use to support the essay’s claim. This means that the aspect of developing an effective thesis statement is essential. A strong thesis statement should be specific with what the writer is going to be talking about in the paper and how they are planning to back up. Likewise, a strong thesis must also be arguable. This is to say, the statement carries sense and is acceptable, appealing and manageable in a way but it is not its factual nature. A research essay cannot just report on events or ideas; the writer must have an argument to defend. Well, the importance of developing a strong thesis statement in academic essay writing cannot be seen as irrelevant. Also, the assignment that is presented will seek to prove why the thesis holds not only the claim but the opinion of the writer. The first writer may come across the thesis in almost any sort of academic writing while the second has read the thesis many times especially when reading literature. Meanwhile, I know that my opinion has not changed since the start of the essay.

4. Structuring Your Essay

Incorporate the understanding of the essay prompt in order to properly address the requirements. The importance of initial brainstorming is emphasized in this section. It is crucial to develop a clear and concise thesis statement that will act as the main argument throughout the essay. In addition to these general points, it is very important to note that different assignments will have different specific requirements in terms of the structure. By thinking in a structured way and by working with a plan, you will be able to create first-class work. Work to identify the main subject and key concepts that form the basis of your work. From this, create a thesis. This is where you give the reader the path that your essay will follow. It will act as a guide to what is included in the essay and the order and the way in which it has been written. So you can see why it is so important to have one. It makes it a lot easier for the reader to understand and makes sure that the writer presents the content in a clear and effective manner. From here, you can develop sub-points from each main point. Group the main points and connect ideas with arrows. One of the simplest and most effective ways of structuring an essay is to create an essay plan. A good essay plan helps you arrange your ideas logically and stay on track during the writing process. Your plan should state how you’re going to prove your argument, including the evidence you’re going to use. As you can start to see, working with this type of plan, with a clear goal in mind, can really help to give you direction. If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you expect to get there? First, it’s not always the case where your output will look entirely the same as your initial thought. Very often, you might be just as uncertain, or more so, about the “right” way to interpret what you see as about what the instructor understands. Admittedly, this kind of a big task is quite common with a large piece of work such as a dissertation or extended essay that you might not be as sure about. However, we can use all of this as a way of building up a plan, which will turn into your “argument”. In doing so, you will be behind the steering wheel – guiding the reader through the process as well as directing the way in which the discussion progresses. Through accepting the challenge of essay writing with a structured mindset, you will be able to develop. Every twist and turn, every idea and thought is found in some part of your plan. So, a well-formed plan is essential to the success of an essay. Busy people have busy lives and often forgetful memories, but with the use of the plan, it can help to keep in mind knowledge gained through many hours of study. A plan is a good way to start to write. As it will help to give an overview of the shape and direction the essay will take, in order to aid the main point and critical thoughts. Also, it could be a useful reference to return to when you are not sure about a certain stylistic or structural technique. I always like to go back and start with the initial line of the essay as my final step. Then you can see how the actual writing of the essay works in conjunction with the plan.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, academic essay writing is an important skill that will improve both the writer’s ability to write and critical thinking. It is very important for all students to have good practice in writing, which will lead to good performance in college. It helps create in students the skill of critical analysis. With the help of academic essay writing, evidence should be used, which will help students give their arguments more validity for their assignment. Furthermore, this will become effective in students’ study, so they need to use solid reasoning and evidence that supports a particular view or statement written in the essay. Through the utilization of writing thesis, it will help students have different methods for mastering the work of the studies by developing the method of organizing, reasoning, and critical thinking. It is also important to stay up to date on the newest writing, researching, and publishing requirements in academia. With the help of the progress of science and technology, there are newest things (in terms of software) that have been applied to meet the needs of researchers or academicians. For example, the use of new technology such as the internet, which will help with research, or applying alternative shifts that comprise various methods of research and writing. By using academic essay writing, it offers us many vocations such as personal satisfaction, work that analyzes the intellect, and also significant and financially rewarding work. Let’s not only feed the appetite for discovery but also assist in fulfilling the keenness of the “do something” spirit that leads to many possibilities – including one’s own job. So, in my opinion, it is better for students to involve themselves in academic essay writing and other research strategies discussed in the study for general development and widening the opening of common.