Once you have grasped the basics of writing an essay, academic essay writing is easier than you might realize. The purpose of an academic essay is to provide a solid, debatable thesis that’s supported by as much relevant evidence as possible. Evidence can be from one’s own research, other sources, or a combination of the two. Most research will follow a standard set of guidelines.

MAKE AN OUTLINE

Be sure to know what you’re going to write about before you begin. It’s important to know exactly what you want to say. The easiest way to create a proper argument by narrowing down your thesis is to come up with a basic outline before you begin writing. An academic essay should always include the following:

1. An introduction that includes the thesis
2. The body of the essay, including separate paragraphs to discuss evidence supporting
the thesis
3. A conclusion that connects everything together

YOU’LL NEED GOOD GRAMMAR, WRITING STYLE AND PUNCTUATION

Good grammar, style and punctuation is absolutely essential if you want your research to be taken seriously and understood. Before you begin writing an essay, it’s a good idea to brush up on your understanding of basic grammar. Consider learning more about:

Verb and subject agreement
Proper use of articles and pronouns
Good sentence structure form
The proper uses for the most common forms of punctuation Comma and period usage

ALWAYS CRITICALLY ANALYZE THE EVIDENCE

While writing an academic essay, you should always keep your main argument at the forefront of your mind. It may be tempting to go on a tangent about an interesting side note – and this can be useful in some cases, but only if it supports your thesis. Be careful so as not to make your writing look messy.

Always question any evidence that you use in the essay. Before you use and quote a source, ask yourself whether or not it supports your thesis. Be critical and thorough when evaluating evidence. Always use the strongest research that you can find to back up your points.

KNOW HOW TO WRITE A STRONG CONCLUSION

The conclusion is often one of the areas of academic essay writing that is often overlooked, but it’s also one of the most important. This is because your conclusion is the part that brings all your research and supporting evidence together to support your thesis. Don’t simply restate your introduction or copy your thesis itself. Instead, outline the key evidence you have discussed and directly connect it to your thesis to show how the evidence proves or disproves your argument.

Keep these tips in mind and watch your academic essay writing skills improve.

This article was previously published in Theolivepress.es.

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