Writing an essay can be a dreadful assignment. I remember myself sitting in front of a blank paper, while my parents expected me to write my very first several pages-long essay, without explaining to me how to do it. That was a dead end. But thankfully, we have a whole worldwide network today that offers instructions on every minor detail of the task.

Do you write your essay for a college or university? Is it about history or the need to protect the environment? The gist of great essay writing falls into these eight simple steps.

Focus on your subject question

An obvious piece of advice, but many students end up diverging from the topic too much. Which leads to the loss of grades. In most cases, the topic of your essay is given to you in a complete state.

Read your assignment topic carefully and use it as a base for your research. Every word of your topic matters in the eyes of your professor, so use them as the launching point of your flow of thought.

Research the matter

Now that you have your directions, start looking up the material in the libraries and on the internet. This is going to be the meat of your essay. This task might be overwhelming because you have to read and note a lot of text, more than you’ll have in your essay. But if you want to write something worthwhile, you need to know about the subject a little more than you actually need.

A good idea at this stage would be to write down all your sources. So you won’t look for them at the final step of essay writing.

Create a plan

When I had to write my college paper, I put some extra effort into writing a thoughtful plan. This will be the carcass of your essay that holds the rest. And the carcass defines what material will constitute your document. The plan usually goes like this:

• Introduction – you present the problem and emphasize why it is so important for the reader to get answers to it.
• The body – should consist of several distinct headings that explore the problem and the solutions to it.
• Conclusion – you present your reader with a condensed answer to the problem.
• Sources – this is where you list every book or article you have used for your essay.

Make a draft

Now is the time to fill in your designated paragraphs with words. If you have read enough on the matter, you would have lots of things to say about the subject. The job is to present it cohesively and consequently. Make sure, you mention every important point that gives the solution to your topic.

Look for feedback

You might think that showing your essay prematurely to someone is dangerous because the person can insist on rewriting parts of your work. But that’s the whole point. You need these suggestions to know, how to sculpt your text in the most efficient form. And it is best to find feedback as soon as possible, so you won’t have to redo it at the later stages of your writing. The best source of feedback would be your professor, of course. But fellow students and other academics could serve the need too.

Revise your writing

When you will have the bulk of your essay formed, give it a second look. Use the feedback you’ve collected to improve your document. You will have your own ideas too about how to edit it for a better result. Think about it as if you’re trimming the branches of an overgrown tree to make it healthier and more suitable for your garden.

Cite your sources

This is where your notes about the sources will come in handy. Your university should give you the rules about the formatting of this section. It is important to cite your sources and quotes to avoid being punished for plagiarism.

Check your grammar

Use a writing assistant to catch every grammar and syntax errors your essay might have. Grammarly is one of the best choices but you might find other useful tools on the internet. It takes only a quarter of an hour to catch and fix any writing mistakes with a grammar-checker. But in the end, you will win in the form of good grades.

Another important thing to do during this post-production step is to ensure that your writing doesn’t look like plagiarism. Your professors most probably will check it with the Hemingway app. So, you might want to do it as well beforehand. 

Final words

An essay is not that dreadful when you know what steps constitute great writing. This process can be highly enjoyable, so use this guide to make your writing journey a splendid experience you’d want to prolong. After all, sharing your thoughts should be both useful and pleasant.