Top 5 Essay Writing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

1. Reiteration in conclusion

          You might lose marks for reiterating your introductory part in the conclusion paragraph. Use the conclusion paragraph to briefly explain your observations. You can also restate the thesis statement for readers to compare your results. A strong conclusion can consist of new questions, additional implications or intriguing information that leaves the readers with new ideas. 

2. Lack of critical thinking and evaluation

          Lack of critical thinking and evaluation is one of the most common essay writing mistakes. Students fail to critically evaluate the information presented in the essay. This leads to biased findings and reduces the value of the essay. To avoid this, add questioning ideas and evidence in your essay and evaluate information from different perspectives. An easy way to include critical thinking is by accessing information from multiple sources and analysing the evidence.

3. Not editing

          If you have spent a lot of time researching and writing your essay you might feel like ignoring the editing part. Submitting your essay without proofreading, revising and editing can make you lose marks. After you finish writing the essay, take a short break and start with the editing process. Editing the essay with a fresh mind will make it easier for you to identify the mistakes. Editing will help you evaluate your content and ensure that it is clearly written and well-organised. 

4. Ignoring university instructions

          Every university has different guidelines for academic essay writing. Although most of these instructions are universal, meticulously following your university’s guidelines is important. These instructions mainly guide the students about appropriate word count, formatting, structure and font selection. 

           Unable to maintain the university format will show your incapability of following instructions. Thus, carefully read the guidelines provided by your professor and follow them in your essay. Brainstorm before writing the essay while going through the material, notes and guidelines. This will help you come up with innovative ideas to write a unique essay.

5. Plagiarism

         Plagiarism is the biggest essay writing mistake that can reduce the credibility of your work. Universities follow strict protocols for plagiarism and have penalties based on the severity of plagiarised work. If you are including someone else’s work remember to add proper citations and references. Do not just copy and paste sentences from the internet. To avoid plagiarism, make sure to understand the topic completely. Refer to books, journals or existing academic essays based on your topic. Use this information to present your own ideas in an innovative way.

        Writing an academic essay can be overwhelming for students in the beginning. Thus, it is essential to follow the guidelines and instructions while writing an essay. Avoiding the above mistakes will help you make your essay free from common errors. Moreover, with proper practice, you can improve your writing skills and write an engaging essay.

  Essay writing is an integral part of a student’s academic life. Despite knowing the basic rules of essay writing, many students find this process challenging and time-consuming. While there is no common template for writing an exceptional essay, students need to know which mistakes to avoid.