Effective College Writing: Tips and Techniques
Introduction
Writing is a major part of a student's college life. College students get to write a lot. For this, their writing needs to be very effective and persuasive for their essays to be considered good. Various elements which are usually ignored by people play a major role in writing a good essay. The elements are such that people ignore them and then are left with essays that are not graded properly.
Techniques and Guidelines
Effective
writing is not an easy task. The student not only gets to research a lot
over the topic, but he or she also has to take into consideration many
other aspects such as the style, quotes, bibliography etc. First of all,
the topic of the essay must be well-researched. The essay should not
have anything not directly linked with the topic. Another one of the
most basic techniques that are required for a good essay is to have a
brief yet explanatory introduction. This gives a general overlook of the
entire essay and informs the reader of what to expect from the essay.
The introduction is provided so as to give a succinct declaration about
the issue that the student is answering or solving. Secondly, it has
been noted that students quote a lot from various sources. Quoting is
not a good habit. It cuts your own knowledge and understanding of the
entire essay short. It is said that, "Quotations
are a minefield. There are a thousand ways to go wrong-putting too
much stress on quotations, quoting too much, quoting the wrong passages,
blurring the line between your voice and those of the sources you quote,
disrupting the flow of your argument, and so on" (The Nuts and Bolts
of Effective College Writing, p.1). This proves that quoting does not
provide substance to the essay, but one or two small quotes in the essay
are fine.
Another aspect that is now being considered strongly by students
is that of paraphrasing. Previously, students used to plagiarize a lot,
but now if plagiarism gets detected, it can have ruinous consequences
for the student. Students should be very afraid of plagiarism and can destroy the entire career of
a student as now teachers can check essays over the internet. The
student has to be very careful while paraphrasing as well and must
provide necessary citations or it would be considered plagiarism.
Moreover, a good essay must have a strong argument.
The argument should be such that it has a strong supportive argument and
that the argument can be proved by other facts. This provides much
substance to the essay and also makes it interesting. Quotes can be used
for this purpose, but not too many and paraphrasing is usually
considered better. Numeric data can be used as well as other supportive
data for the argument under consideration. Correct documentation styles
are also extremely important. Any document style (as asked by the
teacher) must be followed by the student for citation as well as
bibliography.
Last but not the least; the student should thoroughly
revise the entire paper, the introduction and the conclusion in
particular. As it is said, "If you are satisfied that you have made a
claim, supported and qualified it; that the parts of your paper hang
together, you are probably ready to write your last draft introduction
and conclusion. These are important, because the first thing your reader
reads creates a "frame" through which your reader reads,
understands, and interprets everything that follows. Your conclusion is
your last opportunity to shape your reader's memory of your
paper" (Williams and McEnerney, p.1).
Conclusion
In the light of the above discussion we can hereby culminate that essay writing is not easy and there are many factors that should be considered so as to produce a good and an effective essay.
Works Cited
The Nuts and Bolts of Effective College Writing. Retrieved on May 26, 2007 from:
http://nutsandbolts.washcoll.edu/quoting.html
Williams, Joseph and McEnerney, Lawrence. Writing in College, Part IV. Retrieved on May 26, 2007 from:
http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/resources/collegewriting/revising_the_introduction.htm
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