5 Practical Tips To Rock Your Next Essay | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Student Life

5 Practical Tips To Rock Your Next Essay

College is tough, but writing doesn't have to be.

187
5 Practical Tips To Rock Your Next Essay

In This Article:

I'm an English major. I enjoy writing.

Wait. Let me rephrase that: I enjoy having written. Because, in all honesty, the writing process sometimes makes me want to bang my head against the desk until my brain finally gets the necessary words and inspiration to form a coherent thought.

"But you're an English major; doesn't that mean you're already really good at writing?"

Not necessarily! I love English (which is a gift in and of itself) and that motivates me to write well and write better. That being said, here are five tried-and-true tricks to produce quality essays and develop your writing skills.

1. Read it out loud.

A major problem with writing is that sentences can sound unnatural, forced, or too long. Maybe you used the adjective "eclectic" in every other sentence. Maybe you chose words that are overly long and will confuse your reader. When you read your writing out loud, you get a feel for how your reader (often a professor or TA) will hear your words.

2. Action verbs are better than passive verbs.

Is, are, was, were, had, have, has, be, been, being.

These are all very useful words, to be sure. How else am I supposed to say, "I am about to fall asleep while writing this article"? There are a few different ways to say it, but in this case, the word "am" states my sentence clearly and concisely.

In contrast, read the sentence: "The ball was spiked by our team captain who is named Katie."

Now read this one: "Katie, our team captain, leapt into the air and spiked the volleyball over the net."

Notice the difference? In the first sentence, the action is done by Katie, but Katie is not the subject of the sentence. In the second, I placed Katie as the subject, so that the verbs of the sentence communicate the action going on.

3. Use the "Find" feature in Microsoft Word.

After reading step two, you may be wondering how to remove every use of passive verbs in your latest paper... Never fear, the "Find" feature is here!

In Microsoft Word, you can use the "Find" feature to search for words in your essay. I use this most often to locate passive verbs in order to reword the sentences to contain more action. Simply type in words like "be," "is," or "had been" to find and replace them.

4. One paragraph = one idea.

Keep it clean, folks! Each idea deserves its own paragraph, and you'll only weaken your argument by combining two ideas into one.

5. Say what you want to say.

Like, yes, please do say what you want to – or at least what will get you an A.

But also, if you're having trouble explaining your point clearly, take a break for a second. Shut your laptop and simply say what you want to say out loud, as if you were explaining it to a friend. Oftentimes, you will find that your thoughts come out much more coherently when spoken because speech is the primary mode of human communication.

If you want to record your thoughts while talking, pull out the voice memo feature on your phone and record what you have to say. When you're done, pull out your laptop, play the voice memo, and see how much more clearly your thoughts flow!

And when all else fails, when you've stressed and edited and written and rewritten, sometimes all you can do is bite the bullet and submit it!

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Gilmore Girls
Hypable

In honor of Mother’s Day, I have been thinking of all the things my mom does for my family and me. Although I couldn’t write nearly all of them, here are a few things that moms do for us.

They find that shirt that’s right in front of you, but just you can’t seem to find.

Keep Reading...Show less
Relationships

10 Reasons To Thank Your Best Friend

Take the time to thank that one friend in your life you will never let go of.

2172
Thank You on wooden blocks

1. Thank you for being the one I can always count on to be honest.

A true friend will tell you if the shirt is ugly, or at least ask to borrow it and "accidentally" burn it.

2. Thank you for accepting me for who I am.

A best friend will love you regardless of the stale french fries you left on the floor of your car, or when you had lice in 8th grade and no one wanted to talk to you.

Keep Reading...Show less
sick student
StableDiffusion

Everybody gets sick once in a while, but getting sick while in college is the absolute worst. You're away from home and your mom who can take care of you and all you really want to do is just be in your own bed. You feel like you will have never-ending classwork to catch up on if you miss class, so you end up going sick and then it just takes longer to get better. Being sick in college is really tough and definitely not a fun experience. Here are the 15 stages that everyone ends up going through when they are sick at college.

Keep Reading...Show less
kid
Janko Ferlic
Do as I say, not as I do.

Your eyes widen in horror as you stare at your phone. Beads of sweat begin to saturate your palm as your fingers tremble in fear. The illuminated screen reads, "Missed Call: Mom."

Growing up with strict parents, you learn that a few things go unsaid. Manners are everything. Never talk back. Do as you're told without question. Most importantly, you develop a system and catch on to these quirks that strict parents have so that you can play their game and do what you want.

Keep Reading...Show less
friends
tv.com

"Friends" maybe didn’t have everything right or realistic all the time, but they did have enough episodes to create countless reaction GIFs and enough awesomeness to create, well, the legacy they did. Something else that is timeless, a little rough, but memorable? Living away from the comforts of home. Whether you have an apartment, a dorm, your first house, or some sort of residence that is not the house you grew up in, I’m sure you can relate to most of these!

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments