Academic Writing Tips

by Ryan Hickey on May 22, 2013

It’s tough to believe, but the end of the 2012-2013 school year has arrived. For those of you who haven’t yet graduated or finished your current year, or maybe even those of you who will be enrolling in a summer session, you’ll probably be writing papers, reports, theses, and other academic work over the coming weeks. Don’t worry, though – EssayEdge has you covered with a few simple tips that will help you boost your grades when academic writing is required. And if you want more help to ensure your essay really shines, be sure to check out our full set of helpful academic essay editing services, where you get one-on-one assistance from outstanding writers who attended Ivy-League schools like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton!

Give Yourself Time

This is the single most important thing that you can do to ensure the success of your academic essay.  If you leave the writing of your essay until the night before it is due, you may spend all night writing your essay and then find, to your horror and just one hour before it is due, that it does not work for you.  And if it does not work for you, it is not likely to work for your professor. You will avoid this common disaster if you begin your essay well before it is due.  Effective writing, after all, is mostly a process of rewriting – your work will get better with each passing draft. You will not have time to do this if you wait until the last minute.

Don’t Skip the Outline

What is your thesis statement? What is the single most important message you wish to convey in your academic essay?

If you have an answer to this question, you are well on your way to developing a very effective academic essay. But even if you know what your thesis statement is, how will you prove it?  There is nothing worse than spending days developing an essay that, when complete, simply does not work.  So, save yourself all that time! If you develop an outline first, you will know whether or not you can prove your thesis statement.

If you do not have experience developing outlines, no problem. Here’s a tip from the pros at EssayEdge: find two or three academic essays that you really like (and that have been judged to be well written), and develop outlines for those. By outlining something that is already written, you’ll get the hang of the process.  This will give you two or three outline models that can help you develop an outline for your own essay before you write it.

Ground Arguments in Fact

Effective academic essays offer clear, concise proof, throughout their development, of the various points that are being made.  The thing to avoid is “over–referencing” your work, so that it turns into a series of footnoted sentences. Footnotes and supporting quotations are critical, of course, but what is even more critical is the original thought that is contained in your essay.  Be sure that your original thought is introduced early, in your introduction, and summarized clearly in your conclusion. In other words, tell the reader what you are going to say, say it, and then summarize it.

And keep it simple! It is a misconception that the most effective academic essays are the most complex academic essays.  Your professor has read through countless essays characterized by convolution, obfuscation, unclear thinking, and the absence of a thesis statement. If you open with a clear thesis statement, develop it effectively, and then re-present it in your conclusion, you will go a long way toward winning over your professor and getting the A+ you want.

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New Common Application Essays for 2013-14

by Ryan Hickey on February 13, 2013

With the vast majority of applications for the 2012-2013 application season already submitted and the start of the 2013-2014 app rush still half a year away, you may think that there’s not much going on when it comes to college admissions. Think again.

Last year, the Common Application announced that it would be making some substantial changes to its widely used application solution. While details were scarce at that time, the last week has shed significant light on what will be different for users of the Common App in 2013-2014 and on. Overall, the most notable change involves the essay required as part of the application packet.

Starting this coming fall, students will face an entirely different set of essay questions along with slightly different requirements for composing the essay. The new prompts are:

1. Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

2. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?

3. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

4. Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?

5. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Here are the six most important things to know about essay-related changes on the 2013-2014 Common Application.

1. There is no longer a “Topic of your choice.” In previous versions of the Common App, students were given five fairly detailed essay prompts along with one that simply said, “Topic of your choice.” That option, which appealed to many applicants because it allowed them to write on pretty much anything with which they were comfortable, is now gone.

2. All essays must be typed and submitted online. As part of this new application, students will no longer have the option to upload files or even print and submit hard copies of their work. If you use the Common App you’ll have to use the online application, which will include a text box where all essays must be cut and pasted for submission.

3. You have an additional 150 words with which to work. For several years, the Common Application did not put an length limit on the essay it asked students to write, instead only specifying a minimum. Unsurprisingly, that elicited complaints from countless admissions departments, who found themselves deluged with multi-page submissions that in some cases read like short novels rather than essays. In response, the Common Application added a 500-word maximum limit to their essay, which pleased admissions departments but frequently frustrated applicants, parents, and counselors who felt it was too short. Just goes to show you can’t please everyone. The new essay requirements seem to seek a compromise between the two sides, giving applicants 30% more words to work with while still capping submissions at a reasonable length.

4. The 650-word limit is hard, with absolutely no room to go beyond it. While the Common Application is giving applicants more space to use in their essays, they are also changing submission options so that even an essay that is 651 words long will no longer be accepted. I’ve always advocated that applicants adhere to length limits as written, while some others have argued that it is acceptable to go over so long as it is only by a small amount (often claimed to be 5%, 10%, or 50-100 words). On the new Common Application, applicants will be forced to cut and paste their essays into a text box on the online application. That text box will automatically count the words in the submission, and will not allow students to submit if the essay exceeds that 650-word maximum.

5. All submissions will have to be in plain text. This is closely tied to the point above and is directly related to applicants now having to submit all essays online. While programs such as Microsoft Word allow you to accent your writing with things like boldface, italics, and underline, those formatting elements will not carry over when applicants copy/paste their essays into the submission box on the application itself. If you’re someone who relies on those formatting elements to clarify or add color to your writing, you’ll need to find a different way to accomplish those ends.

6. The short essay asking you to elaborate on an extracurricular activity is gone. Not much to explain here. Applicants will now only have the single essay (not counting any supplementary ones requested by individual schools) to complete as part of the Common Application.

If you want more information about these big changes, including in-depth analysis of the new essay prompt options, be sure to check back often. We’ll be exploring these changes in detail over the coming weeks and again when the 2013-14 application season begins in earnest.

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Personal Statement Content to Avoid

February 7, 2013

Share The undergraduate admissions season is winding down, but there are still many graduate-level programs, including law and business, that will accept applications well into the spring. If you’re targeting one of those programs and haven’t yet written your personal statement, this post is for you. Actually, this post is for anyone who hasn’t written [...]

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Writing for Money

January 30, 2013

Share No, I’m not talking about renting a secluded and sparsely furnished cabin and holing up there, subsisting on little more than coffee as you crank out a piece of literature that makes Moby Dick read like a Dick and Jane story. Nor am I talking about falling for one of those ****Make Trillions of [...]

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What to Do After College Applications are Submitted

January 18, 2013

Share Ahhh, Friday. Nothing like the end of a long week to put a little bit of extra spring in your step. And if you’re an applicant who has finally finished putting together and submitting your applications, this Friday could be particularly relaxing. For the vast majority of college applicants, mid-January marks the point at [...]

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The Procrastinator’s Guide to Admissions Essays

January 7, 2013

Share January 7th. Early and first-round application deadlines were so long ago that you can barely remember them. Even many regular and second-round deadlines have faded into the past. At this point, there are just a handful of late application deadlines left to take advantage of. If you’re planning to submit an application but haven’t [...]

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The Twelve Dos and Don’ts of Essay Writing

December 21, 2012

Share This December has been a big month for the number 12. To continue in the spirit of 12/12/12 and even that beloved (or possibly, vehemently hated) holiday tune, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” today EssayEdge presents to you, ” The Twelve Dos and Don’ts of Essay Writing.” Enjoy! 12. DO give yourself time. Two [...]

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Writing with a Purpose

December 6, 2012

Share If someone were to ask you, “Why are you doing this?” as you worked on your application essay or personal statement, you’d probably give a quick and straightforward answer: you’re writing to [hopefully] gain admission somewhere. You’re not just writing for fun, nor are you undertaking a purely creative exercise. At a root level, [...]

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The Third C of Great Application Writing: Compelling

November 15, 2012

Share Even if your writing is as clear and concise as it can possibly be, it will fall flat if it doesn’t say something that captures the reader’s attention. Pretty words are just pretty words; without strong ideas behind them, they’re nothing more than a facade. And believe me, admissions officers know when they’re reading [...]

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The Second C of Great Application Writing: Concise

November 13, 2012

Share For our purposes, concise means precisely what you think it means… unless you think it means angry or purple… in that case, you’d be wrong. Concise writing says what it needs to say while using words economically. In this definition, don’t be confused by our use of “economically” – this has nothing to do [...]

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