Although writing assignments are common in college, many students still face difficulties completing them. The problem often lies behind instructors’ negligence to explain how to do such tasks correctly. As a result, students have to turn to academic writing services, like assignmentshark, and get their papers done quickly. This guide enumerates essential and practical tips so that you can buckle down any assignment on your own.
Learn your Task
Before writing any assignment, you must learn what actions you are required to take. And to do that, thoroughly read the task, its requirements, and instructions. Look at keywords and determine their meaning.
If your educator has left you with the freedom of choice, make sure your topic is:
- Pertinent to the course
- Informative, i.e., interesting to the readers
- Debatable
Brainstorm Ideas and Outline Your Paper
Once you have a topic, proceed to brainstorm ideas for the paper. The primary purpose of brainstorming is to stimulate your brain and make it focus solely on the subject. The most effective brainstorming techniques are mind-mapping, listing, step-ladder, and rapid ideation. You can use any method you find efficient and involving.
When you develop such ideas, start laying them out and summarizing what every paragraph will be about. Creating an outline will help you remain organized and effective. Also, it won’t allow you to include additional information during the writing process.
You don’t necessarily need to make an outline detailed or properly formatted (unless your professor requires attaching it along with the assignment). You can write several sentences about every section. Even this list will come in handy.
Start With the Main Part
Kicking off an essay can sometimes be daunting. Writer’s block is a common pitfall. This condition makes the writer unable to produce creative content. The best way to combat it and save you some time is to start working on the body. Writing the central part will help you get rid of the creative slowdown and give you some ideas for composing an opening sentence and a thesis statement.
Follow the structure and proper academic style
Every essay must have a vivid introduction, body, and conclusion. Without indented paragraphs, chances are you will get a low grade, no matter how stunning your content is. Academic writing is strict, so make sure to indent your paragraphs and make them clear and accurate.
Besides, ensure including citations relevant to the formatting style your subject belongs to. The most used styles are MLA and APA. MLA (Modern Language Association) is for language, literature, and arts. In turn, APA (American Psychological Association) is for social sciences. Other popular styles are Chicago and Harvard.
Apart from that, remember to:
- Avoid contractions: Make sure to replace isn’t, aren’t, doesn’t, don’t, and so forth with complete forms, e.g., is not, are not, does not, do not, etc.
- Reduce passive voice instances: Use passive voice only when referring to past studies. A passive voice is hard to read, and it takes much space compared to an active voice.
- Eliminate slang, idioms, and cliche: Academic writing calls for formal language, so make sure to stick to it even when composing a narrative essay.
- Watch your fillers: Writing due to the fact that and similar fillers take much space. Consider using shorter alternatives.
Edit Thoroughly
When you write the first draft, don’t rush to submit your work to the teacher. You still have to do plenty of things with the assignment. Editing is imperative, as it helps you perfect your piece of work and increase the chances of scoring a high grade.
Editing can be time-consuming, but as long as you employ the following steps, you will manage to polish up your paper promptly:
- First, drag your text into any spell checker and correct punctuation, lexicon, and grammar mistakes. Even though such tools are helpful, don’t blindly rely on them, as they can alter semantics.
- Once you correct errors, read your work aloud. Highlight repeated words and sentences that sound unnatural. Correct them and read once again.
- Use Thesaurus Dictionary of Synonyms to diversify your writing. Replace repeated words with equivalents, but make sure sentences don’t lose their meaning.
And that’s it. The mentioned list of tips is elementary. It doesn’t require putting in lots of effort. Yet, following this guidance, you are sure to tackle your writing assignment quickly and successfully.