Five Common Mistakes When Writing Academic Essays

Writing an essay is different from writing a news story or any academic writing. Besides it is considered as fiction writing and the later falls to non-fiction writings. Although they are different in some other ways, the basic structures of their contents are just the same.

Both require proper formats, correct grammars and spellings. Essay writing is more about the writer’s point of view and how he can convey his message to his readers. It is more about influencing the public and how they are going to react upon the topic. Some might agree and some are not.

Apparently, not all people like essay writing and worst, they eventually discriminate themselves from having no potentials in writing. But I guess essay writing is the easiest form of writing where you are using your ideas freely. However, you should also stick to some rules whether or not you will do all the things you wanted to do.

Truth is, anyone has the potential to write good quality writings if only they possess a strong determination to be a writer. If you think you can’t do it, I bet there are some things that you need to learn before finalizing your decisions.

So you hate writing essays – doesn’t matter. You’ll have to keep doing them if you’re looking to finish school. Best get that in your head and proceed to improving your writing instead of complaining about it.
Apart from improving the correctness and quality of your writing, essays usually require you to exercise your critical thinking faculties.

As such, you’ll have to take a closer look at what your text represents, even more so than its structure. Remember, a grammar software can clean up the worst writing, but nothing will remedy an essay that’s vapid and empty.

1. Being superficial. Too many times, students tend to focus on the surface of things. It’s just easier to write essays on that level, instead of having to dig deeper into more relevant topics. If you’re getting bad grades despite doing things right, try to gauge your essay at how trivial it sounds. Chances are, it’s what’s ruining your scores.

2. Tediousness. When you choose topics or themes that are too shallow or uninteresting, it will bleed through in your words. Don’t even expect to be able to cover it up – your own lack of interest will kill it.

3. A lack of focus. Many writers, when faced with discussing a subject, will tend to go in tangents. While branching out your ideas a little may work to supplement your main points, the most likely outcome is that the lack of focus will water it down.

4. Unprofessional presentation. In academic writing, systematic referencing is an obligation, not an aside. While the rest of the world (from newspapers to bloggers) can get away with it, you can’t. Be professional and give proper credit where it is due.

5. Incoherence. The greatest ideas, without proper organization, can only be presented in a fuddled mess. Make sure your ideas and the way they are rolled out makes perfect sense.