essay help

Writing to Argue

Whilst writing good essays will always be an essential skill area for every student, it is important to remember that there are many different forms of essay writing. Some essays might explore or explain a topic, others will give different points of view, but there will be some essays where you are really writing to argue. Whether it is a strong argument on an academic topic or a speech for a debate, argumentative essay writing is an important skill to learn. So read on for key hints on writing to argue in the strongest and clearest way possible.

Essay writing toolkit – Reference books

While you are writing essays it is useful to have some reference books to hand. Although there is a great deal of material online to help with general reference queries, websites are not always reliable. It pays to have some decent reference books. Some of these will be available to borrow from the local library or university library, so that you can try them out and see which titles you prefer. However, in time you will probably want to buy several of these. Below we deal with some of the general language texts that can help you with your writing and essay proofreading.

Essay writing format: paraphrase and summary

As you write essays you will need to paraphrase or summarize the work of others. How can you do this effectively and what are the likely errors when trying to use this vital essay writing skill? Paraphrasing is not as straight forward as it appears.

Cambridge Essays: an essay writing prize

There’s still time for Year 12 or Lower Sixth students to enter the Robson History Prize 2010 with a First Prize of £600 (split between the winner and their school) and a £400 Second Prize (also split between the winner and their school). To enter this essay writing competition, students should submit an essay of 2,000 to 4,000 words by the closing date of 31st May 2010. The topic can be chosen from any of the questions set for this year. Have a look at this list of Cambridge essays to see which question captures your imagination. You also need to be considering university study in order to enter the contest. The winners are invited to visit the college.

Punctuation: commas, apostrophes and quotation marks

As an editor, I see the same simple punctuation mistakes time and again costing students valuable marks when the overall quality of their work deserves a much higher grade. Whether it is everyday essay writing or an undergraduate dissertation, correct grammar punctuation is the quickest way to see a huge improvement in the quality of your work (not to mention better grades!)
The good news is that help is at hand! Listed below are examples and explanations of the most common errors in using punctuation marks, along with some simple tricks to help you remember how to correct them.

UK Essays Structuring Tips

Think ahead clearly, before you begin, about how you want to put your essay together, what you want to say, and the nature of the relevant material. Strict deadlines can tempt you to put something on the page as soon as possible, but thorough planning will save you time by making the writing phase that much smoother.

UK Essay Writing Originality

It can be rather daunting to set about heavily critiquing authoritative texts, and takes some courage to put out fresh ideas of your own. As long as you are comfortable with the basic requirements of essay writing and academic conventions, you should be assured in your intellectual abilities and have the confidence to take a risk.

Top 10 Tips: How to Write a 2.1 Essay

A solid 2.1 grade requires the ability to keep on topic and make all of the text of your essay ultimately relevant to the question. Context and background information is often an important part of academic writing, but should not be detailed at the expense of focus. Limit even the most interesting digressions.

A solid 2.1 grade requires the ability to keep on topic and make all of the text of your essay ultimately relevant to the question. Context and background information is often an important part of academic writing, but should not be detailed at the expense of focus. Limit even the most interesting digressions.