Abstract
In this essay I am going to address how to write a college paper. There are steps you need to take to write well. These steps include using proper punctuation and proofreading. It is important to be able to address what is commonly wrong with your paper. Some common mistakes student writers make include run-on-sentences, being repetitive, and misusing commas. I will address these mistakes and an effective writing process in the following pages
Introduction
How do you know if you are writing well? Your paper will be coherent to your readers if you are writing well. Writing each paragraph with a topic sentence and unifying the paragraph with your topic will set you apart from other writers. You want to have good writing to show respect to your readers. There are a lot of reasons for good writing. A good reason for a having good writing skills is communicating well with your readers.
My writing has evolved using these different steps. The first step is knowing what you are writing about. Before you get started have a good idea of the topic of the essay. Know what you want to write about or what your instructor would like you to write. I always research what I am learning about, especially if I am not familiar with the topic.
The second step is brainstorming your idea. Once you have familiarized yourself with your idea then you can brainstorm. Brainstorming is an effective and efficient way for writing new ideas and thoughts. I just sit down and clear my head, think about my idea for the essay and start writing everything down. You want to write everything that you are familiar with about the topic.
The third step would be to outline your idea. Now you can write an outline with everything you brainstormed. The outline should be a map of coherent sections, topics, and paragraphs. You want to write an introductory thesis statement, body paragraph with a topic sentence and details, then a conclusion confirming your thesis. You can learn more and get a layout of the out line at this website:
The fourth step should be free writing. Think about everything you brainstormed and wrote down in your outline and just start free writing. Your thesis statement should be your idea for your essay. Each topic sentence should relate to your thesis statement. Try and write for twenty minutes straight. Don’t correct your paper and don’t worry about punctuation.
The fifth step is starting the introduction to your essay. Come up with an eye-catching introduction. Get your readers excited about your writing. Knowing what you are writing about is a good start. Now that you have a clear idea and outline to go off of, you should know what you would like your thesis statement to be. Your thesis should be a catchy sentence that prepares your readers with a clear idea so they are ready to read your essay. The thesis statement is typically at the end of your first paragraph.
The sixth step should be the body paragraphs. Each paragraph should have a topic sentence that unifies the whole paragraph. I like my paragraphs to be at least a couple of sentences long. Your first sentence being a topic sentence and then about three details supporting your topic. When you are writing there are different things you should avoid. It is just a matter of knowing what to look for. Be cautious of using connotation. A connotation is an association your readers might have with a word. You don’t want to upset your reader if they have negative association with a certain word. Don’t use run-on-sentences. This is when two or more independent clauses are conjoined without a conjunction; you could easily loose your readers. Using slang would not be appropriate in that only certain groups of people would understand what you are writing. Avoid being repetitive in your writing. Saying the same thing over and over gets boring and your reader might start skipping over what he or she is reading.
The seventh step is to make sure you use your voice and are bringing your unique personality and vision to your writing. There are different ways to use your voice. You can write in a passive voice. This is a style of writing that the subject of the sentence receives the action of the verb. You may also use verb tense. This indicates that the action is taking place in the present, past, or future. If you use a sentence that uses strong emotion or surprise your sentence should end with an exclamation point!
The eighth step is the conclusion. Bringing your essay to an end and summarizing the key points to the piece. There are different ways you can write your conclusion, my favorite being the parallel structure of the essay where the introduction and the conclusion tie together.
The ninth step is proofreading. I think that proofreading is the most important step in writing. There are different ways to proofread. You can read the writing out loud, and can have someone else proofread for you. Always proofread more then once. When you proofread it shows your readers respect. Proofreading means examining your text carefully to find and correct typographical errors and mistakes in grammar, style, and spelling.
Conclusion
By following all of these steps you will write better structured and coherent essays—you will have a coherent piece of writing that will be communicating with your readers in an effective way. I believe your readers will want to hear what you have to say.
Citation
Flemming, Grace (n.d.) Brainstorming Techniques
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(2013)How to Make and Use a Essay Outline
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(n.d.)Free Writing
Retrieved at: http://web.mst.edu/~gdoty/classes/concepts-practices/free-writing.html
Perrin, Robert (2007) Pocket Guide to APA style
Wadsworth Boston, MA
Robitaille, J.& Connelly, R. (2007) Writers Resources
Wadsworth Boston, MA
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