Writing an essay is the most dreaded assignment possible for many college students. Whether your grammar or punctuation is poor, you don't know how to spell or you just can not get the words flowing, writing an essay is one of your least favorite activities. You are not alone. A whole industry exists for both ethical and unethical ways to help you with your essay writing. This article will explore a few ideas on making your essay writing experience less painful while still creating a quality paper.



If you write like you talk you will end up with a very unprofessional paper. However, if you are among the people that can not get started this is exactly what you need to do. Just start writing with out regards to quality. Then after you have twice as many paragraphs as needed cherry pick the best and rewrite them in an academic manner.

Another technique for getting started is the Question and Answer method. Simply write down ten questions about the subject and then research and answer them. It is important to know your audience. The questions need to include a definition of the subject itself to make sure all the readers are up to speed. Of course, when you are done it is necessary to put them in the format needed for the assignment.

A great method to get started fast is to use another essay as a template. The trick here is to use an essay on another topic, but the same style. For example, if you are doing a biography of Abraham Lincoln an essay on Benjamin Franklyn may make a good template. It is important not to use the same topic as that would lend itself to plagiarism. This technique can be used with compare and contrast essays, classification essays, etc.

Choosing the right subject or the right angle on the subject can really speed up your research. The ideal subject is not to broad in scope ( "dogs" to broad -- "dogs at work" better) and with plenty of information available. If a subject is to broad you may have a hard time deciding what to include in your essay and the reader may feel it is incomplete. A narrow subject will tend to write itself as there is only so much to say. It is important that you find plenty of information on the subject so that you can choose the best sources to quote. Do a Google search. If you do not find what you want on the first page of your first search, change you topic.

The second part of speeding up research for your essay is to limit your searches to reliable resources. You need to make sure any source you site is respected and accurate. One way to do this when doing internet research is to limit your searches to .gov, .edu and journal articles. This will remove a lot of the less desirable search results.

Spelling, Grammar. Style and Punctuation.

Here is the hard truth, if you are in college and still struggle with this you probably always will. I do recommend taking a remedial writing course if you believe it may help. There is another option. Ask for help or pay for help. There are plenty of people that can proofread and edit your paper. It is important that the people that edit your work have strong writing skills.

In conclusion, writing essays is like everything else, it gets easier with practice. Remember to try and learn from each essay you write. Keep your completed essays for reference and to use as future templates. Good luck with your next writing assignment.