How To Write An Effective University Essay: 5 Helpful Hints

To write an effective university level essay, there are a few things every writer should remember. In remembering these pointers your essay will be effective, and complete. These key points should also drastically reduce the amount of time, and stress you will need to expend in completing your paper.

  1. 1. Choose and develop a thesis statement
  2. Your thesis statement is going to inform the readers what the essay is about. It should be worded strongly, avoiding words such as maybe, perhaps, and other indecisive wording. This implies that you the writer don’t believe your own statement. If the writer doesn’t believe the thesis 100%, there is no hope to convince readers you are right. An example of indecisive wording in a thesis is: “The colour black may be better than white.” An example of a confident statement would be “ The colour black is far superior to the colour white”. Notice the placement of the word “is” instead of “may be”. Your thesis statement belongs in the first paragraph of your writing. Informing readers what your intended topic is.

  3. 2. Paragraph Structure is important
  4. A paragraph consists of a handful of sentences grouped together. Should have a beginning, middle, and end. Commonly these are referred to as the topic sentence, body sentences, and the concluding sentence. Discussing only one topic in each paragraph.

  5. 3. Your essay needs an introductory paragraph
  6. You can not begin your paper with a thesis statement alone. You must develop an introduction. Something to catch the readers interest while explaining intended topic. If your introduction is, boring readers are less likely to want to continue reading past this paragraph.

  7. 4. It is now time to write the main body of your essay
  8. The main body should be no less than three paragraphs. Each paragraph is containing a main reason or idea supported by three facts or supportive ideas proving your thesis.

  9. 5. Write a conclusion
  10. Your conclusion should include your thesis. The whole point to a conclusion is to sum up what you have written and end the paper. Similar to the ending of a story. Don’t just repeat what you have written. The conclusion should be a brief explanation of the points you made, and the supporting facts you used to fit your points together. Keeping in mind you do not want to bring new ideas to the table in this paragraph. All new ideas and supporting facts should be in the body and not your conclusion.

If you follow this general outline, you should have no issues writing your essay, and achieving a satisfactory grade. As long as your paragraphs and sentences are structured properly, your paper should be easy to read, and flow effortlessly from one paragraph to the next.