How to Write a College-Level Essay?

It's one of the most important skills required at the college level: the ability to write a strong essay. From biology to political science, essays are used in nearly every field of study to express research and ideas. A college-level essay presents complex material in an easy-to-follow format without oversimplifying the content. Essays come in many shapes and sizes at the college level. For students, it could be a term paper or in-class exam. For professors, it could be departmental research. Whatever the case, college-level writing is simple. It just takes some work.

1. Research: First, choose a topic. Then, make sure to research it as much as possible. Know the material inside and out and become an expert on it. This will help connect the dots between various points in order to form a compelling argument. Within the essay and develop an outline. Research facts, statistics and academic writings that relate to your topic through your school library or Internet.

2. Study: After immersing yourself in your research and learning all there is to know about the topic, analyze the information. Don’t think just surface level- what is the author actually saying? What is his or her argument and why is he or she trying to prove that point? Is the author accurate? Credible? Dissect their piece and read like the author.Conventions are methods used in writing to enhance the product and make it more readable and understandable. They also determine what category or genre the piece belongs in. Types of conventions include but are not limited to mechanics, format, sentence structure, and word usage

3. Take your stance and form your argument: While researching and your argument are forming, mark pieces of evidence in the research that could be useful pieces of evidence for your paper. Don’t be afraid to mark more than you need because it’ll give you more options later on when you finalize what evidence you’re using.

4. Free write: This is a part of brainstorming. At this point, a million different ideas and connections are forming in your head and it is important to get them all out. Don't pay attention to the format or flow. In fact, use a pen to keep yourself from erasing anything because everything that comes out is important. Just write and write for ten minutes straight and get everything in your head on paper. Later, you will shift through it all and pick out the most important points that fit together the best.

5. Construct your thesis: What your essay is going to be about. The thesis sentence is generally located in the final sentence of your introduction. Synthesize your main points and argument of the paper into a coherent sentence or two. This doesn’t need to be permanent and is subject to change. It will serve as a guideline for the paper in the time being.

6. Create an outline: Next, make an outline of your essay. Separate your points into appropriate paragraphs and write notes about what you are going to include. After you have this all written down, ensure your ideas flow and you have enough points by picking evidence for each point.

Go back through the evidence you marked earlier or flip through your research again to find additional evidence if it does not sufficiently back up your claims. After this is complete and your outline logically flows, you are ready to begin writing.

7. Write your introduction: Provide a preview of what you're presenting in your essay. Explain what you're arguing and how you're going to argue that point. Compose your introduction that starts with a hook to capture the reader’s attention. In the paragraph, include your sources, thesis, and a “road map” for your essay.

8. Expand with body paragraphs: Make sure each body paragraph has a single main idea. If there are more than one, the paragraph can get confusing and one point will get overpowered by the other. Each paragraph should also have a topic sentence that tells the reader what that paragraph is going to tell them. Once again, don’t explicitly say, “In this paragraph I will explain.

9. Form your conclusion: Tie together your essay with a final conclusion of your argument. Give your reader something to walk away with after reading your essay. For example, have a call to action, leave them pondering a question or with something memorable, or maybe you’ll even end up blowing the reader's minds with something they’ve never thought of or considered.

10. Revise your piece: First, set your paper aside. Give yourself a little break to refresh your mind and then come back to revise. One helpful technique is to slowly read your essay out loud to yourself. The key is to read it out loud because you will catch more mistakes that way.

11. Take time to reflect: Reflect on your writing, the process of how you completed it, and how you feel about your work. This process identifies the positives and the negatives of the paper, which could help improve it. Write down what you consider to be the downfalls of your paper and you can even go back to the revision stage and fix these once they are identified.