Common Mistakes When Writing an Essay
Essay writing is an essential skill that students are expected to gain from as early as the third grade.
Writing a good essay can be a bit challenging especially for students whose native language is not English.
Before fully understanding the rules of academic writing, you are likely to make several essay-writing mistakes.
You’ve probably come across several guides on essay writing. Most of them tell you to structure your essay and ensure that it has a solid thesis statement.
That’s a great way to begin, but you must also understand which common errors to avoid. Once you know the common mistakes to avoid when writing essays, your work will automatically improve.
The following are some of the common mistakes to look out for when writing an essay.
1. Content mistakes
2. Stylistic errors
3. Structural errors
4. Grammar mistakes
5. Vocabulary mistakes
6. Spelling errors
7. Punctuation errors
8. Awesome Tricks to Use in your Essay
Content Mistakes in Writing
A good essay has a captivating introduction, well-structured points, and a persuasive conclusion.
Poor essays often lack well-organized content and are not impressive to the reader.
How can you capture the attention of the reader?
Implement these six tips when writing your next essay:
1. Include only the relevant facts and examples in your essay.
If you only have a shallow understanding of the subject that you are writing about, your essay will most likely be lousy.
When you are presented with a topic to write about, first take time to carefully analyze it before you start writing. Pick out the keywords to use and then explain your ideas using facts and specific examples.
Simply writing down paragraphs that have little to do with your topic, will hardly get you a good essay.
2. Write a captivating introduction
An interesting introduction is what hooks a reader to your essay. A good introduction presents the theme of the essay and tells the reader the subject that will be discussed.
The introduction should not just be a bunch of sentences that have something to do with your topic. It should explain the main subject that will be discussed throughout your essay.
3. Write a clear thesis statement
The thesis statement communicates the writer’s opinions on the topic and informs the reader how these points will be developed.
A good thesis statement expresses two essential things to the reader: what you will argue in your essay and how you will argue it.
Your thesis statement should always be supported by your ideas in the central section of your essay.
4. Always write a thesis statement that has enough ideas to support it.
While outlining your essay, you should ensure that you have adequate ideas to support your thesis statement. If you are uncertain, develop another one that you will strongly be able to argue.
If you write a thesis statement that has limited ideas to support it, you might not be able to achieve the required word count for your essay.
5. Include ideas that can be proven with examples.
Always remember: every idea should be elaborated and proven. You should ensure that you have appropriate examples to use for any idea you include in your essay.
If you have difficulties coming up with your own examples, you can use google to search for some appropriate examples that relate to your idea.
For instance, if you are arguing that hate speech encourages violence, you can easily find a case in any country in which this argument has been proven to be true through a google search.
6. Write a strong conclusion.
When summarizing your essay, do not simply repeat the points that you have already explained in the body.
Take advantage of this last chance to emphasize the goal and significance of what you discussed in your essay.
Note:
The thesis statement is the hook on which every idea in your essay hangs.
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Stylistic Errors in Student Essays
Even if you develop interesting ideas and strongly support them, your essay could still be considered lousy if you use the incorrect style.
Some of the common style mistakes that students make include:
1. Repeating words.
Keep in mind: Your essay will appear dull if you use the same vocabulary repeatedly. Ensure that you use synonyms to ensure that you have a variety of nouns or verbs.
If you notice that you are using a certain word family a little bit too much eg. quickly, rarely, or extremely, you should look for appropriate word substitutes. For instance, you could replace the word rarely with seldom.
2. Overuse of passive structures
Sentences that are written in the passive voice may sound objective but they are also harder to read. Unlike active sentences, passive sentences are unclear and indirect.
So, when writing essays, you should ensure that the majority of your sentences are in the active voice.
3. Writing too long or too short sentences.
If your essay has sentences that are too long, it may make it harder to comprehend. Similarly, if they are too short, they may contain underdeveloped ideas.
You should always maintain a balance of both long and short sentences.
4. Starting sentences with coordinating conjunctions
The goal of coordinating conjunctions e.g. and is to join words in a sentence. Although sometimes you may use them to start a sentence, they often make an essay monotonous when overused.
A good practice is to use corresponding conjunctive adverbs like furthermore, which have a similar meaning. They are more formal and less dull.
5. Using words that are too formal or too informal
Writing a good essay often requires using a vocabulary layer that is rarely used in our everyday lives. You should be able to differentiate between slang expressions such as wanna and acceptable verb forms.
If you have difficulty finding a word substitute for slang words, you can look at English slang dictionaries. You should always use high-level vocabulary to avoid being penalized.
If you are uncertain whether you can use a particular phrase, you can always type it in a search engine to see how it is used in other text.
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Structural Errors in Essays
As with every other form of academic writing, there are specific rules for writing an essay.
These rules make it easier to structure one’s thoughts without restricting creativity.
Some common structural mistakes include:
1. Sentence errors
Fragmented and run-on sentences are often the most common sentence errors.
o Sentence fragments:
Fragments are pieces of sentences that are missing the critical components that make a sentence complete. Their meaning is unclear since they do not convey a complete thought.
The two main ways to correct such mistakes include:
• Supplying the missing components such as subjects to the fragment to make it a complete sentence.
Incorrect: likes to run in the morning.
Correct: My roommate likes to run in the morning.
• Incorporating the fragment into a nearby complete sentence.
Incorrect: I forgot to study for the test. On the morning of the exam.
Correct: I forgot to study for the test on the morning of the exam.
o Run-on Sentences
Run-on sentences appear when two or more clauses are attached without proper punctuation. These sentences confuse the reader.
How can you correct them?
• Partition a run-on sentence into independent sentences to correct it.
• Add coordinating conjunctions e.g. and.
Incorrect: Jim loved the cat his mom got him for Christmas however he prefers dogs.
Correct: Jim loved the cat his mom got him for Christmas; however, he prefers dogs.
2. Text structure mistakes
If your essay lacks proper paragraph division, you will end up distorting its meaning.
A good essay must have a minimum of four paragraphs:
• An introduction
• Two body paragraphs
• A conclusion
Each paragraph should have a clear structure that allows for the complete development of an idea.
Grammar Mistakes in Writing
A good essay must be written with correct grammar. Some of the most common grammatical mistakes include:
1. Noun form errors
You should have an adequate understanding of crucial grammar areas such as countable and uncountable nouns.
Ensure that you understand the rules regarding the use of determiners with singular and plural nouns.
2. Subject-predicate agreement
Take notice of instances when words like both or either present compound subjects and still take the plural predicate.
3. Pronouns.
In a good essay, pronouns should always agree with the noun they represent.
A singular noun should always be replaced by a singular pronoun while a plural noun should be replaced by a plural pronoun.
Example:
o The student completed his homework on time.
o The students completed their homework on time.
4. Verb form errors.
Pay attention to grammar rules that state how stative and auxiliary verbs should be used.
To easily notice these grammatical errors, always proofread your essay.
If you are still not sure whether you have used these grammar forms correctly, you can get assistance from grammar and writing resources around the internet.
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Vocabulary Mistakes in Essays
Vocabulary errors can quickly ruin an otherwise good essay.
The common language mistakes that students make in essay writing include:
1. Misapplication of homonyms
Some of the commonly misused homonyms include its vs. it’s, there vs. they’re, and many others.
2. Incorrect word form
When you write your essay in a hurry, you are bound to write word forms that differ from what you intended to write.
Such a mistake can change the meaning of a phrase or sentence thus miscommunicating your message.
For example, you may write disable people rather than disabled people.
3. Confused words.
If you do not carefully proofread your essay you are likely to miss some words that you may have used incorrectly. For instance, instead of accept you may write except.
To eliminate such vocabulary errors, you should;
• Google the meaning of words you are unsure of.
• Outline your writing ahead, selecting terminologies.
• Give yourself enough time to write so that you won’t rush.
• Always proofread your essay, analyzing the vocabulary you used.
Spelling Errors in Writing
The English language contains some tricky words which can easily be misspelled if not well memorized. These include words like island, knight, or weigh.
After you finish writing your essay, read it keenly and rectify any spelling errors.
Create a list of the words that you mostly misspell and try writing them often.
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Punctuation Errors in Student Essays
Punctuation is crucial in essay writing. Without proper punctuation, your readers will get confused pretty quickly.
We are only able to separate ideas and convey clear meaning through proper punctuation.
Understand the rules that govern the use of punctuation marks such as commas, and ellipsis to avoid making punctuation mistakes.
Some vital punctuation rules to keep in mind include:
1. Place a comma immediately after an introductory dependent clause (a phrase that precedes a subject but does not have complete meaning).
Incorrect: Once the teacher realized his mistake he apologized to the whole class.
Correct: Once the teacher realized his mistake, he apologized to the whole class.
2. Put a comma in between non-essential details in a sentence.
If a sentence contains some explanation that does not affect the main idea, you should separate it using commas.
Incorrect: My roommate who recently graduated has found a job.
Correct: My roommate, who recently graduated, has found a job.
3. Use a comma to separate interrupters from the rest of the sentence.
Interrupters offer additional explanations by interfering with the flow of the sentence.
You should always put commas around them.
Incorrect: are you still coming?
Correct: Hey, are you still coming?
4. Use semicolons to separate complex sentences.
In some cases, it may not be possible to separate a long sentence into two independent sentences.
This mostly occurs when the information is intended to be taken together. In such instances, you should place a semicolon between the two parts.
Incorrect: I was expecting to go for a run today however due to the cold weather, I took the day off and decided to stay home.
Correct: I was expecting to go for a run today; however, due to the cold weather, I took the day off and decided to stay home.
Awesome Tricks to Use in your Essay.
Write your Introduction Paragraph Last.
This may appear to be a shocking writing mistake, but, it’s so common even amongst advanced writers.
It’s a natural inclination to want to start writing at the beginning: however, I strongly advocate for beginning from the second paragraph.
Once you have finished writing all the body paragraphs, you can now write your introductory paragraph, then finish off with the conclusion.
Why? Most students tend to use the introductory paragraph to kind of develop a rough idea of what their essay will entail.
This leads to a disorganized, monotonous introductory paragraph that differs from the rest of the paper.
Always remember that the introduction is the first paragraph that gives your professor an impression of what your essay is about.
You should therefore make sure that it is brief and that it properly represents the rest of the paper.
How do you avoid writing a mismatched introduction? Begin by writing down your thesis statement and let that guide the rest of the paper.
After that, write your first body paragraph which contains the opening point that supports your thesis.
Continue listing down all the points that reinforce your thesis statement until you finish writing all your body paragraphs.
At that instance, you’ll have a clearer understanding of what your essay entails as a whole and can then develop a much more accurate introductory paragraph.
Use Credible Sources
Since we have discovered that using different sources in essay writing, is accepted, what sort of sources should you use?
With the internet full of so much information, you may be confused about what sources to trust.
Knowing the right sources to use is the first step in ensuring that the information you present in your essay is credible.
How do you identify credible sources?
1. If the material is presented by a trusted organization e.g. World Health Organization(WHO).
Most of the sites that end with “.org” are often run by government organizations and thus the information presented is most credible.
2. If the material is searchable through google scholar. Most of the academic journals that have been published can be found through google scholar.
This search engine filters out all other information and only presents material that has been academically verified.
3. If the material is part of your recommended textbooks. Before turning to search engines for information, you should always ensure that you have exhausted the information in your course textbooks.
The majority of the information that is on the internet has been derived from the textbooks that you use in class.
Follow your Professor’s Instructions.
Even if you follow all the rules I’ve listed above, without following your professor’s guidelines your essay will end up being lousy.
If your teacher requires you to write a 6-paragraph essay, do not by any means try to write more paragraphs.
I know that sometimes the research paper topic might be interesting and you may be tempted to write a full-length research paper but do not.
Lengthening your essay will not earn you extra points, it will only get you penalized.
In most cases, your professor will expect to spend at most ten minutes on your paper.
If you present him with endless content he may not even take a look at it altogether.
Always read and follow the provided instructions to avoid the risk of your paper being ignored.
Create Even Transitions Between your Paragraphs
Paragraphs are not merely used to make an essay seem organized. They are used to separate ideas. Before jumping from one paragraph to another you should always ensure that you have exhausted all the points you had in your previous paragraph.
A new paragraph often introduces a new idea.
So how do you transition between paragraphs? You do so with the help of words like, additionally, however, and henceforth.
To make the transition easier, always ensure that you properly structure your paragraphs. Every paragraph should have a topic sentence, a body, and a conclusion.
Do Not Plagiarize
Copy-pasting information from another source is the greatest mistake you can make in essay writing. The goal of essay writing is to allow you to express your ideas clearly and to demonstrate an understanding of a specific topic.
Copy-pasting someone else’s work, therefore, goes against the very goal that essay writing aims to achieve. It is considered academic dishonesty and its consequences are severe.
Does it mean that all your ideas should be original? Absolutely not. The majority of what you will be writing has already been researched and written about. In essay writing, you will often be using different sources to back up your thesis statement.
However, you should not simply paraphrase the information and present it as your own. Instead, you should take a different approach to the provided ideas and give proper references for your sources.
Remember: Your professor uses plagiarism search engines to ensure that your essay is original. Do not be tempted to copy-paste material from another source.
See More about Plagiarism
Sometimes Less is More
When your professor tells you to support your thesis with strong arguments, they do not mean that you should write every fact and statistic under the sun.
They simply mean that whichever argument you choose to use should be able to adequately defend the thesis.
For instance, if you are writing a 5-paragraph essay, you should have a maximum of three main arguments.
Having more arguments does not in any way make your thesis statement more believable.
If anything, it makes your essay seem shallow since you are likely to provide a brief explanation of every argument.
Do not complicate your essay by writing irrelevant statements that barely defend your thesis statement.
After Writing, Take Some Time Away from your Work
Most students submit their essays immediately after they finish writing. This is a bad practice. Why?
When you’ve finished writing the essay, your work is far from done. You still need to proofread it and ensure that there are no mistakes.
I recommend taking at least a few hours away from the essay before editing it. Then, you can revisit it and analyze the parts that need changes.
This will give you time to develop a new perspective on your essay. It will be as though you are proofreading it with a new pair of eyes.
Once, you are certain that the structure is correct and the arguments well explained, you can go over it one more time. Then, the essay will be good enough for submission.
Do Not Become a Victim To Writing Myths.
Finally, do not fall prey to writing myths. There is a lot of unverified information out there about what a good essay should entail.
For instance, some people believe that writing extra-long paragraphs makes an essay look detailed. Others think that a good essay must contain complex vocabulary. They believe that using difficult words (which they can hardly pronounce) will make them seem knowledgeable on a particular topic.
Lengthening sentences and using difficult vocabulary does not make an essay any more appealing, it only complicates it and makes it harder to understand. If you want to write a captivating essay, stick to the basics. By following all the rules that I have explained above, you can almost be guaranteed that you will write a high-quality essay.
If All Else Fails, Seek Essay Writing Help.
Do you have countless essays whose deadline is approaching? You have to be able to know your limits regarding how much you can get done. If you realize that time is running out, you should probably ask for help.
There is no shame in relying on a professional writer to get one’s work accomplished. Rather than having to deal with the consequences of late submissions or worse yet no submission at all, it is smarter to ask for help.
Select an agency, among essay writing companies, that offers help with essay writing and work together with a writer who will assist you finish your essay on time.