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Best Essays
The best essay writing tip - from the essay experts
Throughout academic life you need to write essays. They are still the principal means of academic assessment no matter what subject you study and you grow accustomed to the familiar format so that it becomes a way of life, very familiar in both style and structure.
The problem is that they can almost become too familiar – especially to the people that have to read them i.e. you tutors. Imagine if you had to read hundreds of essays every week you would become hungry for something that was that little bit better than the rest, wouldn’t you? This guide sets out to try to show you how to write the best essays.
Starting out
There are a few essays that stand out from the rest, not just because they are well written but because they have an original style. They get your attention quickly with a good opening sentence then develop that so you follow the argument through with enthusiasm rather than just the necessity of having to proceed. What we are aiming for here is an essay that makes you want to read on.
The opening sentence
It is a well-know fact that most readers make up their minds about whether to read an article or book within the first few minutes or even seconds of beginning to read it. Think of what you do yourself when you are glancing through a magazine or browsing in a bookshop you decide very quickly which articles interest you and which do not.
Part of this is down to professional layout, of course, but it is also true that the title and the opening sentence are crucial in pulling in the reader and the best essays employ this method, too.
Now, of course, in an academic essay you have very little control over the structuring of the title – unless the choice has been left to you – usually you are told what to write and you have to use the title given to inform your work but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be interestingly and intriguingly responded to in the sense of interpretation.
So, the idea to take on board here is that in writing the best essays, how you interpret the title, as reflected in the opening sentence is all important in getting the attention of your reader – now you have to set about holding it!
Moving on
The best essays maintain the standard and established structure of the academic essay, that is:
- The introduction - with thesis statement, methodology and primary texts to be used
- The main body - formed of sequential, connected paragraphs, each one dealing with a separate aspect of the main topic but linked to the central argument and supported throughout by evidence and analysis.
- The conclusion – which provides a summation of your essay’s thesis and a synthesis of the ideas within it whilst also acknowledging the present essay’s limitations and possible areas of future research.
- The bibliography – containing an alphabetical list of all the books to which you have referred and even consulted in the formation of your essay.
This is all very mundane, of course, but you need to bear in mind that when you try to improve your essays these basic skills should be added to not left behind.
The best essays use the academic structure with which all essay writers are familiar but change or add to it so that it seems fresh and original.
We have already talked about how you can improve the introduction in order to write the best essays by making the opening sentence attention grabbing and the thesis statement different in its perspective.
Now we need to look at how in the best essays the main body successfully builds the argument but has an original slant which sets it apart.
One of the best ways of doing this is through your research. The best essays use research as the backbone of everything contained within the essay and as soon as the question is handed to them, the best essay writers immediately begin to look at how they can research the topic widely and well whilst also ensuring that the evidence they uncover is appropriate to the subject.
When you research for your best essay, remember the following:
- Evidence must support your argument but it can also inform it by clever use of analysis.
- Extra sources can be found in the bibliographies of the critics to whose texts you regularly turn.
- It is a good idea to note down, in the correct referencing style of your academic institution, the details of every book you consult, not just those from which you quote, as you read for your essay – this saves time later and ensures that you do not forget where you sourced your evidence.
The evidence and the argument connect seamlessly in the best essays and counter inform one another.
The final stages
When you reach this stage, there is a temptation to feel that you have already finished and that the conclusion is merely a few sentences that confirm the essay is complete. The best essays, however, do not do this.
Instead, they look at the conclusion as the final chance to impress, to leave your reader with a strong sense of what you have achieved and importantly what you might further achieve in the future.
This does not mean, however, that you should introduce new evidence in the conclusion. The best essays merely suggest ways in which what has been uncovered in the essay – primarily in the research and analysis – could be investigated in future work. This can help identify your essay as original and that will help you to achieve a better grade.
The bibliography to the best essays is not a hurried last minute job but evolves as the research does. This should be no problem if you have followed the earlier advice of keeping a correctly structured list as you research. The best essays also include some measure of subdivision within the bibliography, for example into primary and secondary texts.
