Writing an academic essay is a compulsory requirement during competitive exams and assignments, regardless of the institution or course you’re studying. Through these academic essays, your lecturers get to gauge your critical thinking skills, knowledge, and opinion about a particular topic. And with essay writing having such a significant role, it’s a skill you need to master to boost your chances of being accepted into your dream college or university and continuing your studies without many challenges.
However, perfecting your writing of academic essays is easier said than done. It’s because you need to understand what to do and what not to do. All this can sound intimidating but worry not. Below in this guide is a look at the do’s and don’ts of writing an academic essay that you must always observe. Let’s get started!
Do’s
Do Your Research Using The Right Sources
It would be best to do extensive research when writing an academic paper. Today, it’s made easier thanks to the internet, which, besides giving you access to essay editing services, helps you find many sources for referencing and citations. When quoting information, make sure to do this properly to avoid being flagged for plagiarism, which can tarnish the whole academic essay. It also applies when you paraphrase content and don’t give credit.
With this in mind, you must remember to cite where you got a quote, especially if your university or college has zero tolerance for plagiarism. You must also always use the right sources because not all are accepted as ideal references for academic papers. The ideal sources you should consider the need to have verifiable and factual information and good examples include the following;
Educational material such as research papers, books, and journal articles.
Current events and news sources like media publications written by credentialed journalists and established newspapers.
History and general documentation books, for example, history books and encyclopedias.
Discipline-specific details, for instance, reports by governments or research companies.
Its only information researched from any of these sources that’ll be deemed appropriate. However, you should confirm that the information being outlined isn’t outdated. Thus, know more about editorial services like Editor World for writing an effective essay.
Do Use Technical And Advanced Vocabulary
There’s no better way to show your knowledge and mastery of a particular subject than using technical vocabulary. This is why you must include technical terms in your academic paper or essay. Many of the technical terms you should use when writing an academic paper can be found either at the end of a book or chapter. But before you use them, make sure to first familiarize yourself with them to know how you can use them correctly in your academic essays.
In addition, you should incorporate advanced vocabulary when writing your essay, which reveals your language expertise despite not showing your greater knowledge on the topic. You can best do this by using a broad range of words and phrases, expressions and synonyms rather than repeatedly using a particular word. For instance, you shouldn’t repeatedly use the word convince in your essay, and it would be better to find suitable synonyms such as persuade, entice, coerce or coax. Doing this also makes your essay appear more precise and well-pointed.
Do Use Transition Sentences Between Paragraphs
Your academic paper needs to be coherent and smooth, from the introduction to the conclusion. And the best way to do this is by incorporating transitions between paragraphs to better connect one idea to another. This way, your paragraphs will be well linked to each other, and the flow makes it more fun for the reader to read through your essay.
Don’ts
Don’t Write Very Long Sentences
If you make the mistake of writing very long sentences in your essay, you can lose your train of thought and mix things up. As a result, these sentences become very hard for the reader and grader of your academic paper to understand. And when the lecturer grading your essay faces difficulty understanding the point you’re trying to get across, they’ll automatically give you low grades.
Knowing this, you need to reduce the length of your sentences when writing an academic paper. The best way to do this is by avoiding unnecessary words that don’t add any value to your essay. Instead, sticking to short and precise sentences broken down logically and following a straightforward format would be better.
Don’t Forget The Formatting Requirements
The first impression last, which is why you must ensure that your academic paper is well formatted. The formatting requirements should relate to layout, spacing, and font. However, you should limit yourself and only use the fonts advised in your college, for instance, Times New Roman or Arial in black and 12 points.
The most popular essay formats you should consider using are APA, MLA, Harvard, and Chicago styles. You should find out which of these essay formats is preferred because some professors prefer one over another. And by following their desired formatting, your academic essay from the thesis, introduction, paragraphs, supporting ideas, and conclusion will be well connected.
Don’t Use Colloquial Or Informal Language
While it’s advisable not to write your academic paper in an overly formal tone, you still shouldn’t use colloquialisms, that is, informal phrases or words. Many of these informal words are what you might be using in your everyday conversations. However, you shouldn’t make this mistake because using colloquial or informal language makes it difficult for the reader of your academic essay to understand the message you’re passing across.
However, removing informal language such as qualifiers, cliches, and slang from your academic paper isn’t that easy, considering that’s how you speak in the outside world. This is why you must always proofread your essay each time you’re done writing and remove all the informal words, phrases, and sentences.
Takeaway
You need to follow specific basic rules when writing an academic essay. Doing this will help make the entire process less stressful and ensure the essay paper attains the minimum set requirement standards. The place to start would be by knowing the do’s and don’ts of writing an academic essay which this guide has elaborated on in detail. If you implement these insights, academic paper writing will no longer be a challenge when writing your essay, term papers, research papers, articles, and books.
