What are essay writing rules?
The most important “secret” of the essay is the absence of any hard and fast rules. But it’s good if you come up with a headline and try to keep the typical structure of the text, providing an introduction, body and conclusion. In this case, it is not necessary to make an introduction and conclusion according to some formal rules. An essay is not an abstract or even an article, and therefore does not need such typical phrases as:
- “This article is about …”
- “I want to tell the reader about …”
- “The purpose of this work is …”
- “I came to such conclusions as: …”
There is no need for “service” paragraphs, phrases, words that do not carry any meaning. A clear structure is not needed here either.
Unfortunately for some students and fortunately for future readers, the essay writing still should not be an incoherent set of words and phrases. The lack of clear rules for writing an essay and complete freedom of action does not give you carte blanche for a bad, illegible text full of factual, logical and spelling errors. Therefore, it is better to stick to some kind of framework.
A few guidelines for a novice essayist or essay writing rules:
- Remember the topic and purpose of the essay. Your text should correspond to the title and the topic you are raising. Do not spread your mind along the tree if your idea does not require it. Overly detailed descriptions, even artistic ones, can do you a disservice.
- Check with your teacher or employer about the approximate scope of work and stick to it. Do not think that your zeal will be appreciated if you write a two-volume book on the topic “How I Came to the Profession of a Doctor” or “What Higher Education Means to Me.” Of course, if you are the future Chuck Palahniuk or Nietzsche’s heir and know how to lure the reader with ideas or narration, you can take the risk and write 20-30 pages instead of two or three. Do you consider yourself a talented author? Come to the library, open any essay by a famous writer or philosopher, read. Didn’t fall asleep on the first page? Compare your style to that of the author. Yours frankly does not pull? Keep it short– teachers are people too! Two or three pages are usually sufficient to fully cover the topic.
- Divide the text into paragraphs, dilute with subheadings, if necessary, use visual formatting tools. The time to read canvases of text has passed since the century before last. Nobody is interested in your ability to keep a thought in a paragraph of a whole page – they simply won’t finish reading such a paragraph. Make your text reader-friendly. Even if this reader is alone.
- Skip the lengthy introduction. You are writing for a prepared reader (probably just the one who asked you for an essay topic). You do not need to talk about the relevance of the problem, the importance of solving it for a modern person, you do not need to list the goals and objectives of the essay, as you did in your abstract or coursework. Start right away. The same goes for the conclusion. Don’t waste the reader’s time.
- There should be structure in your text. At least some. The introduction and conclusion should be the default, even if they are one or two lines. It is also important to structure the main part. Decide where you present the problem, where you argue or describe it. The problem and its argumentation must be in one form or another. You can formulate the problem both in the introduction and in the conclusion. Or in the middle of the text. The main thing is to maintain logic and structure.
- Avoid water. There is water “technical” and semantic. All words-parasites, an abundance of introductory phrases and words – in a word, everything that makes the text difficult to read is called “technical”. Semantic water – everything that does not make sense, does not correspond to the set topic and is generally not required in the text. It can be difficult to “squeeze out” the text, so write immediately on the topic.
- Don’t write by hand. Of course, anything can happen. You may be asked to draft a short essay writing at a job interview or during a couple. In such a situation, there is nowhere to go – you will have to take a blank sheet of paper and practice calligraphy. If you can write your essay at home, do not submit your handwritten text. Excuses like “I don’t have a computer” won’t work. 90% of students have a laptop or at least a tablet (and you can write something on a tablet too). If you really come from the provinces, hold in your hands an old Nokia instead of Android and are used to writing essays by hand since school, there is still a way out. Give the manuscript to the computer owner – for a small fee, your text will be reprinted. You can borrow a laptop yourself from a friend or go to the nearest internet café. No money no time? Ask to print the essay at the dean’s office or at the department – a poor student with a sad look and penniless will be helped.
- Use a graphics editor and spell checker. Word is every student’s friend. Indent, highlight headings, set the line spacing to make the text readable. Make sure your essay is a pleasure to read. Well, pay attention to the spelling and punctuation check. As far as punctuation is concerned, Word is not always the right helper, and some grammatical mistakes can be made even with auto check. Therefore, before handing in an essay, give it to a literate person to read it. You can be a fellow student; you can be a professional proofreader or editor. You can use the “Spelling”.
- Reread the text before submitting. We’ll talk about how to “test” a finished essay and what to check later. Until then, at least remove all typos and misprints. Typos spoil the text and the impression of it. Some teachers are ready to forgive even a sea of mistakes (yes, students do not always have perfect literacy), but he will never forgive the lack of attention to the text, which is precisely characterized by an abundance of typos.
An essay is not an abstract or even an article, and therefore does not need such typical phrases as: At least if you don’t want to order essays from professionals.