Guide on How to Write a Good Essay

If you want to write a good essay but you are not good at academic writing or you lack sufficient time to do it properly, be sure you can rely on our custom writing service.

Rather than worrying about how to write a good essay for several days, create a simple manual and follow the effective steps from this article. Our useful tips will help you make some early preparation and create a self-belief that you can understand how to write a good essay.

1. From the variety of good essay topics, choose the best one
   • If the topic is assigned manually by your professor think about how you can make it interesting;
   • Highlight keywords, and it will help you concentrate your attention on the most useful things;
   • Identify a particular subject that should be analyzed (For example, the gender inequality in “A Doll`s House” by Henrik Ibsen);
   • Identify the words that characterize your task – analyze, discuss, explain, etc;
   • Spend some time brainstorming ideas.
2. Before writing a paper, conduct good research choosing the most reliable and up-to-date sources
   • Be selective: all the sources should be relevant and support or oppose your key arguments;
   • Reading a book or an article, do not forget to make some notes that can be useful for your essay;
   • Be sure to fill your essay with in-text citations that are particularly useful for developing your topic;
   • When working with some sources, do not forget to write down all the information about the author, title, publisher, and year of publication. This information will be needed for creating a reference list.
3. Think about your essay’s development
   • If you do not know how to start a good essay, create a simple outline that will help you manage your schedule;
   • Use a mind map that will stimulate the thinking process;
   • Make note of every thought or idea that comes to your mind;
   • Put your ideas into a logical order.
4. Create a workable thesis statement
   • A thesis statement is the key idea of your essay; it is a thread that permeates the whole essay;
   • Avoid simplicity and generalization when writing your thesis statement;
   • In good essays, a thesis statement is put at the very end of an introduction.
5. Think about the proper organization of the essay
   • Make sure that every idea is relevant to the topic and the thesis statement;
   • A classic organization of the essay should include an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion;
   • Make sure your paragraphs are divided logically;
   • There should be smooth transitions between the paragraphs;
   • Each paragraph should have a clear topic sentence and develop only one idea.
6. Writing an introduction
   • An introduction should grab the reader’s attention from the very first line;
   • It should contain a general description of the problem;
   • An introduction should identify the questions to be answered in the essay;
   • It should also introduce a thesis.
7. The main body paragraphs
   • A good college essay requires each point to be covered in a separate paragraph;
   • Use transition words to make the essay coherent. Such words as in addition, on the contrary, what is more, significantly, etc. helps the reader to follow the development of your ideas;
   • The classic structure of a five-paragraph essay requires three main body paragraphs;
   • Make sure to provide evidence for every argument (in-text citations, visual aids, some statistics, etc.);
   • Express your thesis in different ways;
   • Drawing a conclusion;
   • In the conclusion, try to empathize with how the problem was addressed. (Did the writer manage to analyze the problem stated?);
   • A conclusion should summarize your key ideas and re-state your thesis;
   • It should not contain citations and introduce new information;
   • Creating a final copy;
   • When the paper is written, read it aloud for several times to see its flaws and inconsistencies;
   • Fix grammar, spelling, and punctuation;
   • Make sure your paper is free of plagiarism;
   • Submit your essay on time;
   • Voila! Writing a good essay is not a problem anymore!

Common Writing Tips for Students

Tip 1. Do not even start writing your essay without having a clear plan on what to write in it. We know how it can be tempting to start writing your essay right away, especially if your deadline is very tight. However, we can assure you that by having a clear plan of action; your writing process will be much more organized. When it comes to writing an essay, which should follow a classic structure, having a plan is a must. Depending on the assignment you need to complete, your plan can have a form of a simple list of bullet points or a detailed outline that will uncover the main ideas you want to discuss in your paper. Having no plan, you risk including irrelevant information that has nothing in common with your topic.

Tip 2. Do not procrastinate. You probably know that waiting until the last minute to do something is not a good strategy. Yes, if you have a lot of assignments to complete, leaving some of them on the last night is unavoidable. However, doing your paper on the last night of your deadline, you will never demonstrate your best work. Also, you should think about your health. Working for all night will negatively influence all your body systems. A good technique that can be helpful in overcoming procrastination is to break a huge task into pieces. For instance, if you have to write a lengthy research paper, set deadlines for writing each of its parts. If you have a short essay due in three days, we recommend you to create an outline on the first day, write your paper on the second day, and revise it on the last day.

Tip 3. Know the time of the day when your productivity is the highest. All people live according to specific biorhythms that define their productivity within the day. To demonstrate excellent result, you need to know when your work is the most effective. Since high school, some people know that they are early birds. As such, they know that leaving their writing tasks until night, they will not be able to write, structure, and format them properly. It does not mean that you should act equally. Every person is unique. You just need to listen to yourself and find out what part of the day is the most convenient for you to work.

Tip 4. Ask your professor to provide you with a sample of the paper you need to write. Undoubtedly, having a good example, you will find it easier to understand what is expected of you. When your professor provides you with one, take a closer look at this paper and figure out what makes it good. Maybe the writer has applied a creative approach. Maybe it is the logical flow of ideas that makes the reader follow them one by one. Be attentive and never copy-paste from these samples. Doing so, you will be accused of academic dishonesty and will suffer from numerous negative consequences. After all, violation of the author’s rights is a serious crime and if you take care of your academic performance, your paper should be fully original.

Tip 5. Format your paper correctly. You probably know that there are several common formatting styles. Of course, you should not learn the essential features of all of them. However, if you are asked to use a specific format, you need to use it correctly. Formatting defines the use of citations and the general layout of the paper. If you are unsure about some rules, look for the practical manuals from the reputed websites. We assure you that consulting with the proper sources will only enhance your writing competence.

Tip 6. Look for the misused words or phrases. If your essay contains some words of word combinations that are used incorrectly, you need to fix them to make your essay easy-to-read. Remember that correct wording is an integral part of your grading rubric and if you want to get a good grade, you need to follow it precisely.

Tip 7. Edit your paper thoroughly. We do hope that you realize the importance of editing your papers before submitting them. If not, we assure you that you have to do that. Yes, most students do not like to re-read their papers trying to find out the logical inconsistencies and various mechanical mistakes. However, we are sure that you are one of those determined and goal-oriented students, who realize the importance of editing for getting the anticipated grades. You should realize that when editing your essay, you do not only fix your mistakes, you also learn from them. When editing your paper, do not look only for the typos but try to find out the areas that could be improved in general. Whereas there are a lot of websites offering fast checking of your paper, we are certain that there is nothing better than manual editing.

Tip 8. Show your essay to your classmate and ask for feedback. It is always good to have someone, who would look at your paper before its submitting and suggest what can be improved in it. We assure you that your classmate will find it easier to notice the potential problems you could overlook. However, ask your friend to be as objective and unbiased and possible. Remember that reasonable criticism will help you improve your proficiency.

We do hope that our tips for essay writing will help you facilitate your writing process. Should you have some comments or recommendations, feel free to leave your comments below. If you want to share your own essay writing tips, you are welcome!

It is very difficult to learn how to become a good writer. A good writer is not a person, who writes without mistakes (though, it is also very important). A good writer is an artist, who is able to think creatively, and analytically, and knows how to introduce the techniques and experiences received in everyday life into the paper. Yes, not all people can be good writers. However, it is not the reason not to develop your potential. Who knows, maybe you are just a perfect writer, who hides behind the figure of a shy girl?

Classic Three-Paragraph Essay

Though there are a lot of academic papers, most of them follow the universal structure that contains only three major elements: an introduction, the main body, and a conclusion. Indeed, for many decades, this structure is just perfect for developing a specific idea from different angles.

Commonly Made Mistakes in Essay Writing

Deducing that you have got interested in this article and are in the process of reading it right now, it can be presumed that you need some professional help with writing essays. Probably you are interested in how to write a good essay. Normally, students are looking for some specific tips and strategies for good essay writing but we have decided to provide you with a list of commonly made mistakes. Check them out below.

1. Talking about nothing. If a student is not passionate about the topic he/ she is writing on or if a student is too lazy to prepare for the essay writing well enough, he/ she will not find some solid facts to write about. Normally, such students are to lazy to carry out in-depth research of the topic, find some interesting facts, and make the essay appealing to the reader. Normally, essays written in such an indifferent manner contain simple vocabulary, repeated facts, and repetition of the same statement again and again. This is one of the biggest mistakes one can make when it comes to paper content.
2. Lack of focus. If you want to write a good essay, remember that you need to concentrate on the writing and research process. If you are not focused on your central research question and you are floating in clouds, you will surely lose the right path and will make the essay unorganized. In order to ensure the proper and smooth development of ideas and make them logical, you need to practice concentration.
3. Providing unsupported claims and statements. Whenever you are working on an academic essay, remember that one of the core principles of writing a good essay is to use supporting evidence as well as proper examples and illustrations. Whenever you are putting forward some idea, be sure that you need to support with expert opinion as well as some specific facts, statistics, examples, quotes, etc. You need to sound strong and convincing when presenting some claims.
4. Lexical tautologies. If you are interested in writing a great essay, do not forget about using a good dictionary. Do not think that there is something to be ashamed of if you are consulting a dictionary. On the contrary, it is a sign that you want to make the composition essay rich in vocabulary. In any case, some essays are really specific and you need to be well-versed in some specific concepts and terminology.
5. Ignoring the assignment. There are numerous essay types and each of them has its own peculiarities and differences. Therefore, you should be particularly careful and attentive when reading the essay prompt. You have to focus on the essay’s purpose, objectives, and requirements towards its structure. This is particularly important when you have to write an argumentative or persuasive essay.
6. Introducing new information in the conclusion. This is one of the worst mistakes. One of the major essay writing rules is not to include any new facts in the conclusive paragraph. A new idea should be introduced merely in the new body paragraph. The conclusion is aimed at summarizing information and providing a logical conclusion to the paper.
7. Absence of a strong (or any) thesis statement. Each essay or research paper should have a strong and clear thesis statement. The thesis should finish the introductory paragraph and it should reflect on the main principles of the essay. The aspects mentioned in the thesis should be further elaborated in the main body paragraphs. From the thesis statement, it should be clear what you are going to write about in the essay and which idea you will convey.
8. Using colloquial language. Such words as ‘4u,’ ‘wanna,’ ‘gonna,’ and similar should not be used in essay writing. An informal style is totally unacceptable. Please be sure to use formal academic language. The vocabulary you use should correspond to a high academic level and should adhere to the level of your paper’s complexity.
9. Length of sentences. Many students want to prove to their professors that they can write in a sophisticated manner. That is why they want to make the sentence structures as sophisticated and complex as possible. Make sure you maintain balance and remember that the sentences should be clear to the reader. They should first and foremost clearly convey the idea you want to communicate.
10. Misused words. Make sure you use the dictionary to double-check the meaning of specific words that are unknown to you or that you find confusing. Students are frequently mistaken “affect” and “effect,” “quite” and “quiet,” etc. Therefore, proofreading is a must.
11. Undermine the importance of references. If you refer to outside sources, be sure that you will cite them properly in text. This is to avoid plagiarism issues that are frowned upon by professors. In some severe cases, students may be even excluded from college.
12. Punctuation mistakes. As a rule, students pay most attention to grammar and sentence structures. When it comes to punctuation, though, they overlook many important issues or are simply too lazy to study punctuation rules in depth. When proofreading punctuation, pay attention to the following aspects:
    • comma splice;
    • missing subject or verb;
    • unnecessary commas;
    • missing commas before yet, but, and, nor, etc.
    • missing commas around interrupters.

Reliable and Dubious Sources to Be Used in the Paper

The usage of proper sources is crucial for essay writing. If you use unreliable sources or those that are not peer-reviewed, your statement may not be taken seriously. Expert evidence is particularly important in specific essay writing, such as argumentative or persuasive papers. Therefore, apart from fluent writing skills, you should also develop formatting and referencing skills.

Some journalists claim that, for a fact to be considered trustworthy, it should be proven or supported by at least three sources. The same rule also belongs to the basics of essay writing.
The Internet contains a wide range of data and a plethora of different information. However, among the numerous sources, you should be able to choose those that can be trusted. Below you will find some important strategies how to select a proper source. If you use online sources, you should be aware of what domains can be trusted:

• .edu: this domain signifies that the source belongs to a specific educational affiliation. Normally, when you take information from this domain, be sure that it is controlled by that educational establishment, so do not be afraid to cite it. The information will definitely be reliable.
• .org: this is the domain of non-profit organizations. One of the greatest things about this website is that it will not surely sell you anything. So, they can be also trusted.
• .gov: as it can be easily inferred, this domain is used by governmental institutions. Therefore, if you are searching for a legal essay source, be sure they are reliable here.
• .com: be particularly attentive when you come across these sources. These domains are mainly used by commercial organizations. Therefore, there are risks of coming across some hidden advertisements.

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25 Exclusive Essay Topics for You

Great essay topics can be hard to find. Writing a great essay without a great topic is impossible. If you need a perfect essay, ask for help or choose from the 25 outstanding topics listed below.

Argumentative Essay Topics:

1. 1. Is college education more valuable than high school diplomas?
   2. Should immigrants have the same rights as citizens?
   3. Should TV shows and movies distort the reality of life?
   4. Why politics is so dependent on news and media?
   5. How do media impact society and people?

Persuasive Essay Topics

1. 1. Should students have the right to use course materials and cell phones during exams?
   2. Should immigration be banned in America?
   3. Should teenagers have the right to attend a gynecologist without being accompanied by their parents?
   4. Should President become the sole legislative and executive figure?
   5. Should the death penalty be banned for child and adolescent offenders?

Narrative Essay Topics

1. 1. Why do you think society is corrupt?
   2. Why bravery and courage are the standards of moral excellence in society.
   3. Describe an instance when you had to challenge your own principles.
   4. Why diversity and mutual respect benefit companies.
   5. Should voters be allowed to vote online?

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

1. 1. How does fascism differ from Nazism?
   2. Is gender an issue when it comes to organizational and workplace performance?
   3. How does being a part-time employee compare to being a full-time worker?
   4. Twitter and Facebook: commonalities and differences.
   5. Differences between anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa – which one is more dangerous?

Informative Essay Topics

1. Methods used in the healthcare system to promote public health.
2. Improving the quality of evidence-based care in hospitals.
3. Traveling to isolated places – issues of vaccination and safety.
4. Reducing air pollution in communities.
5. Using robust firewalls to minimize the risks of cyberbullying.

Choosing a Good Essay Topic

Selecting great essay topics can be a problem because many of them have been used by other students more than once. Simple essay topics are no longer popular; tutors want something extraordinary. They want to see a paper that stands out among others. With a good essay topic, you know the direction and can follow it, step by step. Choose among good essay topics to earn the highest grade.

At the same time, when it comes to topics and themes, the process of choosing the best one is not an issue. Rather, it is an opportunity. Just imagine how much new and interesting information you will find while looking for the best topic. Once you locate an interesting topic, be ready to defend your choice. Your instructor must approve it! Then you will have everything needed to produce a brilliant, memorable academic masterpiece.

Sources, Sources, Sources

Even when you have chosen a brilliant topic, and even when your tutor has approved it, you may have difficulty looking for information. You should be very careful managing data. Choose reliable sources. Take sources from reputable databases. Paraphrase them. Cite them properly to avoid plagiarism. Consider the following options:

• Printed materials. You can find plenty of them in your university’s library. Any of these sources can provide great information. Of course, many students today prefer digital sources to printed ones. However, do not disregard the relevance of online databases, as they contain an abundance of printed sources to suit any academic need;
• Internet (online). Most students use the Internet as the primary source of information. However, remember that the Internet also contains falsified, confusing, and erroneous data. Choose only credible resources such as government websites. Avoid Wikipedia. Check with your tutor if you have any questions or concerns;
• Lecture notes and course materials. Use them just as a starter. Most of the time, they will provide little information to support your thesis or topic. At the same time, your lecture notes can become perfect guidance as you are looking for a unique topic or developing an outline for your essay.

Now you can see those great essay topics are rare. However, they are possible. You may be confused or lost, but do not be hopeless. A great essay topic can increase your chances for academic success. Should you have any difficulty, do not hesitate to ask for help. Our academic writers will locate superb essay topics, especially for you!

Why Choose Essays-Panda.com

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Common Formatting Styles Used by Essays-Panda.com

We value the importance of formatting styles and we make sure that our writers are well-versed in all the latest academic standards of formatting. Our company administration cares for writers’ self-development and we always make sure that the writers are aware of the principles of writing styles and their peculiarities. Different disciplines use different formatting styles, so we make sure that our writers are well-versed in many of them so that our clients could easily place orders with us regardless of the academic complexity or formatting style.

1. MLA stands for the Modern Language Association, and it mainly deals with such disciplines as Liberal Arts and Humanities. Therefore, if you are assigned a paper in Literature, Music, Philosophy, and adjacent disciplines, you will most probably have to format the paper in MLA style. MLA style does not require a separate title page but it has to contain a student’s name, a professor’s name, a course name, and a date in the left-hand corner of the paper. References should be included on the “Works Cited” page. To get to know specific features of MLA style, please check the presentation provided on the website.
2. APA format stands for the American Psychological Association. It is commonly used for formatting essays and research papers in psychology, sociology, economics, management, history, and other disciplines. When it comes to APA, it requires a title page with a running head. The information that should be included on the cover page is the following: the paper topic, the student’s name, and the name of the educational establishment.
3. Chicago. The rules are taken from the Chicago Manual which is dedicated to the style, grammar, and punctuation rules. One of the striking peculiarities of the Chicago style is that it has endnotes and footnotes.

We hope that the article we have provided has covered the information on what a good essay is. Still, if you are still not sure how to write a great essay, you may simply address our company for help and order a custom-written paper. Our customer support team operates 24/7 to help you deal with any inquiries.