No matter how many essays you have already written, it seems like they will never end. First, you had tons of them when you were in middle and high school, now you are in college and it looks like the number of papers only tripled. Yes, when you are a college student the variety of papers widens a lot. During your freshman year you will be introduced to research papers, term papers, reports, case studies, bibliographies, and many others. Basically, all these various essays will get you prepared to your final paper. Depends on the degree you pursue, you will need to write either thesis statement or a dissertation paper.
For what it’s worth, hiding from writing is impossible. All you need to do is to understand how it works. No matter what kind of essay papers you will need to write the plan will always be the same. Let’s review some basic steps.
- Assignment
So, you are looking at your assignment. Are you completely sure what is required from you? It is always useful to double-check yourself. Ask your college professor or classmates to confirm everything. There is nothing shameful here. It only shows that you are a very accurate person.
- Instructions
In most cases your professor will you give you strict guidelines. Just follow it. You want to meet your educator’s expectations? Well, this is a great way to do so.
- Research
Even if the topic is very familiar and you think that you can write a paper without any preparation, don’t consider taking this chance. Your paper may end up sounding very dull. Spice it up a little. Give it some life by including new even controversial facts. Go to the library where a librarian can suggest where you can find interesting information.
If you aren’t familiar with the topic, then in-depth research is what you have to do 100%. Use Internet, old books and newspapers, read forums, etc. In one word, do your best to get the best material. Be sure, your professor will appreciate the effort. Even if it is not exactly what he was hoping for, he will surely recognize hard work.
- Plan
You have the material. Now, based on initial instructions, create an outline for your paper. By the way, it will be your first (and, hopefully, you won’t need more) draft. Skipping plan is a bad idea. When you have a plan, you know how you need to get from A to B, from B to C, and so on and so forth. Without the plan your essay may sound confusing. You may not even notice how you will jump from one thing to another.
- Writing
Ok, it is time to do the actual writing. Don’t let anything distract you. Choose a quite environment and begin to write.
- Revision
You need to make sure that the paper is error-free and well-structured. Maybe you noticed this, when you do a revision the next day after you accomplished writing, you can actually find many errors. If you have such option, then go with it. If not, then re-read your essay at least to time and, possibly, even out loud.
As you can see, it is simpler than it may appear. Just follow this plan and writing will get easier as you gain practice.