Ideas on Writing Essays: Part II

What must a good essay include time and time again?

  1. The broad strokes: the introduction, the body, the conclusion.
  2. Ever heard of the 5 paragraph essay? A good starting point: 1 + 3 + 1 paragraphs in the intro, body, and conclusion formula.
  3. While writing, paragraph unity, cohesion, and transitions important.
  4. If research is required, learn how to present other people’s ideas clearly to avoid plagiarism.
  5. Learning to format correctly comes with time and has 3 parts:
    1. You would need to master your school’s referencing system: APA or MLA or other.
    2. Schools all have style preferences over and above the referencing system. Get to know what your school requires.
    3. And then learn how to create formatting using MSWord’s own formatting techniques. Nothing worse than only ever using the Enter and Spacing keys.
  6. Last but not least, you need to proofread your work ensuring correct grammar usage, punctuation, spelling, mechanics.

Okay, so now you know what to do :).

If only that was enough. Probably a good idea to undertake the above journey with a personal tutor. At some point you will be able to set off on your own. That is the whole purpose of a tutor: to accompany you until you are ready for a solo journey.

 

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