Tips to Improve Your Academic Writing Skills

Sure, you may get many ideas for writing an academic essay or coming up with a brilliant thesis statement. But, only few are able to express their thoughts through words. Not everyone is as brilliant in writing an essay as professors, especially when it comes to academic essays.

First things first, academic writing is completely different from the standard essays. Academic essays are crafted to educate the readers and inform them about the specific event with the help of proper evidence from the sources. That’s the reason why students struggle to write an engaging and intriguing academic essay that brings curiosity and encourages readers to read the full write-up. But that doesn’t mean you cannot master the academic writing. You do need some research and training but once you get familiar with the basics and rules of crafting academic paper, you are all set to amaze your audience with a wonderful copy.

What is Academic Essay?

In simple terms, academic essay involves a debatable and interesting thesis statement that you have to prove with the proper evidence. You can obtain the evidence either through research or from the reliable sources. So, are you ready to learn the tips for improving your academic essay writing skills? Well, you are in the right place! Let’s have a look at some effortless and effective ways of writing a well-structured and high-quality academic essay.

1. Create an Outline

Before you get started with writing, note all the things you are going to talk about. Basically, you have to note the thesis statement and the argument you are going to support. Unless your institution demands a different format, the regular academic essay writing format is:

- An introduction: Where you have to mention the thesis statement and a brief intro on what your audience will find in the essay.

- Body: the body of the academic essay comprises the necessary paragraphs that also include evidences supporting the thesis statement.

- A conclusion: A short and simple conclusion that doesn’t feature any additional information, but summarizes everything you have mentioned in the essay.

The evidence you use plays a key role in determining how strong and well-written your academic essay is. Make sure that you collect the best sources or conduct thorough research to find the reliable evidences that can prove your point. Though there is no limit to the number of evidences one can use, you should write at least three solid points supporting your thesis.

2. Use the Right Vocabulary

It is not a personal essay where you can use the regular vocabulary that you use for day-to-day conversations. Academic essay is a form of professional writing where the writer has to convince the readers that he is an expert in proving the argument. You should not only focus on writing a perfect argument and adding the brilliant evidences, but the vocabulary you use should easily convey the meaning of the essay to your readers.

Nowadays, students try to write some complicated words to make themselves appear smart in front of the readers. But one wrong word and all your efforts are wasted. Do not risk your academic write-up by using vocabulary you are not sure of.

3. Get familiar with Proper Grammar, Punctuation, and Format

No matter which language you are writing the academic essay in, you must learn grammar and punctuation to engage with the readers. The goal of every writer is to make their content as simple and readable as possible. You don’t want to drive your readers away just because you couldn’t convey your message in simple terms.

Before you write an academic essay, you must get familiar with the grammar, punctuation, spellings, vocabulary, and other linguistic elements. As much as grammar is important, the language and vocabulary matters. Here’s what you must avoid while writing an academic paper:

- Repetitive words

- Transition

- Passive voice

- Too long or too short sentences

- Complicated vocabulary

- Wordy sentences

Whether you are writing it for the audience or professor, you must use active voice and simple sentences. Your essay should give a clear idea of what your thesis is and how your evidence proves it. Remove anything that distracts your readers from the topic.

4. Stick to the Main Argument

What was your thesis? Is the body of your academic essay centered around the main thesis statement? Do you notice any distractions? When you write an academic essay, you must make it in line with the main argument. Adding facts that do not relate to you essay can make your paper look unprofessional.

Whenever you include evidence, ask yourself if the quotation or other evidence you have mentioned support the thesis statement directly. Never include evidences that do not prove the thesis statement. As mentioned before, you can use your own research or other sources to get proper evidences for the thesis. Make sure that you only add the evidences that have a clear connection with your argument.

5. Write a Proper Conclusion

Conclusion is one of the most neglected areas of an academic essay. You take days to craft the essay, so why not spend a few hours writing the best conclusion? Some students add the thesis statement to their conclusion, while others prefer to keep the conclusion just a summary of what’s given in the essay and how it relates to the thesis.

If you want your academic paper to stand out, you must not copy the thesis or mention the new evidences in conclusion. Conclusion is the summary of what you have already mentioned in the essay. A good academic essay conclusion is the one that outlines the main points that support your argument. You don’t want your academic essay to be one of those papers that are disapproved by authorities just because their conclusion is vague. Hence, take time and craft a proper conclusion.

So, these were some tips you must consider before writing an academic essay. Follow the steps and amaze your professor with an excellent academic paper.