writing

A simple guide to writing a first-class essay

How often should you reference?

What is an essay?

A stitch in time saves nine… so the old proverb goes. Before rushing to start writing your essay, take a moment to read the below and familiarise yourself with what an essay actually is – and what is expected of you when writing one – to ensure you get off on the right foot. So, what even is […]

Writing to persuade

Amongst the different essay writing styles you may be asked to adopt, both at GCSE and KS3 level and throughout your academic studies, one of the most important to master is writing to persuade. Unlike writing to advise or writing to argue, when writing essays to persuade you are trying to coerce and convince the reader without the hands-off gentleness of advice or the emphatic force of argument. This calls for several new assignment writing techniques.

Effective essay writing: academic style

One top essay writing tip is to use hedging. In your writing, ‘to hedge’ means that you protect yourself from criticism by using language that doesn’t commit you firmly to a particular point of view.

This means you use words and expressions like “It may be”, “Mitchell’s work appears to say”, “It could be concluded that”. Academic writers use careful words so that they don’t make claims that are definite when the evidence is uncertain. This may be particularly useful when you want to criticise another writer’s work. You don’t want your assertion that their work is wrong to sound like a personal attack, so writing something like “Mitchell’s work seems to ignore the changing economic circumstances” is not as combative as “Mitchell’s work completely ignores the changing economic circumstances”.

Writing Revision Sheets: Concentration

If you’re having trouble concentrating on your studies this can really ruin a revision session. Feeling upset about something someone said to you, daydreaming about a night out or just feeling bored can mean that you fail to get the most from your studies. You can sit dutifully at your desk for an hour, but if you’re not making any progress on compiling your revision sheets, then you’re wasting your time. You need some tips to help you focus and maximise the productivity of your study period.

Making yourself understood: Essay sentences

Badly written sentences can lead to all sorts of misunderstandings – from poor grades for essay writing through to upsetting someone with the wrong tone in an email. Here are some pointers to help you tackle sentence construction.

Writing incomplete sentences is becoming common. The informal nature of written communication on the internet means that there are many times when you can construct an incomplete sentence and yet – in context – it makes sense. However, in an essay, informal writing can damage your grade.

Finding Reliable Essay Examples

Before writing your essay it is really helpful to study earlier essay examples or custom essays so that you understand what is required of you. However, you want to be sure that the essays you are looking at are reliable and achieved a decent grade.