- Good time management is a key issue, as you only have 60 minutes to write your essay. This means that writing a full draft copy and a clean copy may be problematic. However, preparing a kind of rough draft outline may help you organise your thoughts into an essay fluent enough to read. You can do this by following the major steps of the writing process. At the beginning, take a couple of minutes to brainstorm any ideas related to the topic. Then, sift and organise these ideas adding any new ones to complement the backbone structure of your paper and discarding any (much as you may like them) that do not bear any direct relevance to the assigned topic. Make sure that you keep to the assigned topic and do not ramble on about irrelevant material. It is a good idea to arrange your ideas into a mind map format. Next, collect any relevant vocabulary to be used for the respective ideas. Finally, write the composition and then revise your paper checking for possible mistakes. When writing your clean copy, remember to observe the format requirements.
- A good composition has an introduction, a body and a conclusion. In the introduction you should introduce the topic on a general level and state the main issue. In the body of your paper you must develop your line of argumentation to defend your views. You also have to present the other side of the issue by mentioning a couple of possible counter-arguments trying to refute them. Both your own arguments and the refutation of the counter-arguments must be followed by supporting statements, which can be facts, figures or opinions. In the concluding paragraph it is advisable to briefly summarise the major points first and then repeat your views on the issue offering a solution to the problem if you can.
- Good readership awareness is a prerequisite for writing a paper which is a pleasure to read. You can achieve this by trying to think with your reader’s mind when writing your essay.
- On of the major aspects of good writing is coherence, which means that your ideas follow each other in a logical order, and your reader can also spot this logic in the structure of your paper.
- The other major feature is cohesion, which means the linguistic devices indicating the coherence of your composition. Such cohesive devices are e.g. conjunctions, pronouns, synonyms, etc. So make sure that you are well acquainted with them and use them appropriately.
- Read the instructions carefully and observe the requirements, as ignoring them will affect your scores.
- Pay attention to appropriate paragraph subdivision. Note that there are no single-sentence paragraphs, so a well-written paragraph must consist of at least two (or, preferably, rather three) sentences.
- In an academic paper you are only allowed to use formal language, so rule out any colloquial expressions.
- As far as grammar is concerned, you should write complex sentences, which are neither too long nor too short. Make sure you exploit the full potential of the Passive Voice in English.
- In the final stage of revising your paper, you should check spelling and punctuation, as well.
Last update:
2023. 06. 08. 11:03