Writing a good essay shows the academic competence, develops the confidence and promotes the critical thinking in students. I have revised many essays, mostly good, written by brilliant students at the University of Oxford. Here, I will be sharing 10 top tips that improve an essay, make it easier for students to write and enjoyable for audience to read:
1. Structure: A good essay needs to have a proper skeleton, before putting all bricks into it. Use of subheadings make the structure explicit for the reader.
2. Clear objectives: At the beginning, the author needs to clarify what is this essay about and what it is important? Also, the audience can be clarified here, is that for public or policy makers?
3. Connectivity: There should be a connection between consecutive paragraphs to navigate the reader through. This is a recommended structure:
· A topic sentence: What is this paragraph about? What are you trying to prove in this paragraph?
· Supporting sentences: How can you back up the topic sentence? What sources can you use to support your claim?
· A concluding or transition sentence: How will you keep your reader engaged? How can you link this paragraph to the next?
4. Key terms: Each essay is based on some key terms, usually specific to the discipline. Make sure that all key terms are defined at the beginning. After defining the key terms, it is also good to use them as abbreviation to save some words, but make sure that the essay will not be full of multiple abbreviations, that causes confusion. 1-2 abbreviations are usually fine.
5. Examples: When arguing a topic, it is easier to understand if relevant examples are provided. However, they should be short and concise, rather than constituting a main bulk of the essay.
6. Personal opinion: An essay is usually composed of compiling others’ works based on the author’s objectives. However, I often prefer to know where the author stands in terms of his/her personal opinion, which usually appears towards the end of the essay.
7. Bulleted/numbered list: When there are alternative examples, explanations, hypotheses, etc for a topic, that would be great to show them as bulleted/numbered list which is helpful for the reader to follow your argument and structure.
8. Evidence-based/bibliography: Although the author is expected to provide his/her personal opinion, but readers usually wants to see how the topic and arguments are supported by the best available evidence (existing literature). All literatures cited in the essay must be appeared at the end of the essay, under bibliography/references. Make sure they are accurate and follow the same format.
9. Figures/table/illustrations: I like to see them in an essay, as we know that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Nonetheless, too many of them makes the reader confused, so 1-2 is often enough.
10. Layout/appearance: That is what creates the first impression in the reader. Who has written it? When? What is it about? Page numbers? Font size readable? Etc.
Further readings:
· How To Write An Academic Essay (+ Review Checklist) | Oxford Learning