8 Steps To Writing A College Essay That Will Fetch You An A+

Writing a college essay reveals more than just your grades and exam scores – it portrays your personality. It showcases who you are and your writing skills to the professors, examiners or other interested parties. However, writing one is not as easy as it may seem. It is indeed a daunting task and may take a substantial amount of effort and hard work before you can satisfy your reader. But it is also a once in a lifetime opportunity to make yourself stand out from the crowd. So, after knowing the significance of writing a college essay, you must be thinking how to proceed so that it can fetch you an A+ in your academic scores. Here, you will get to know all the ins and outs of crafting a college essay that will leave a marked impact on the mind of the examiner.

Step: 1 Organize College Essay

Experts say that starting with an essay topic is the toughest step to take. After you take the first step everything else starts rolling on its own. Every College and University has some laid down principles and rules for proceeding with their academic curriculum. So, you first need to figure out what you need to do to meet the requisite criteria of your Institution. Read the instructions carefully to find out what the topic requires and what questions you need to address. Gathering specific information about the topic makes it easier for you to proceed with the writing part and reduces the workload.
There are few things to look out for, while reviewing the prompt for your college essay –

• Whether your essay topic is asking you to segregate the content into specific elements and explain the functionalities of each.
• The assignment provided in your college might be broken down into multiple grading criteria such as certain marks for content, some for grammar and spelling and the rest for presentation. If the grading criteria are not properly mentioned get it known from the college professor.
• If any part of the instructions provided is ambiguous or confusing, get it resolved before proceeding ahead with the work.

Step: 2 Start brainstorming early

According to experts, starting with your essay writing task early increases your chance of drafting an A+ college essay which examiners will appreciate. You need not have to start your activity without a well-devised plan. Do a brainstorming session to identify the ways you can present your ideas and knowledge about a particular subject. Think about the structure of the essay and how to proceed in an organized manner starting with the introduction going through the body part and ending with a proper conclusion. In order to generate a productive brainstorming session, you should consider the following –

• Reflect: Set aside the time factor and collect all relevant events and experiences surrounding the topic. Here, you need to identify your personal strengths, what the examiner would expect out of you and what features distinguish you from the general lot.
• Write down your ideas: Always remember to pen down every idea that comes to your mind during the brainstorming session. There is no better technique than having your thoughts and ideas on paper.
• Shortlist your options: Identify the concept that will appeal to the examiner the most and provide more weight to your A+ college essay.
• Select the best alternative: From the option you have shortlisted choose the one that you think will be most appropriate for your purpose. Consider the examples, supporting details and evidence available at your disposal.

Step: 3 Choose a suitable topic

What most students do wrong is that they try to select a topic that they think will impress the examiner but eventually end up giving a sub-standard performance. Instead, you should choose a topic which will appeal to you the most. Since an A+ College Essay is all about expressing your understanding about a particular topic you should choose one where you can freely express your opinion and do justice to your essay writing activity. Essay writing is almost always restricted to a specific word count and hence you should not waste your chance of expressing your knowledge backed by proper research and study as every word counts.
While choosing your essay topic you need to have an answer to the following questions which will help you decide the subject matter –

• i. Does a specific topic matter to you?
• ii. Will it convey any valuable information to the examiner?
• iii. Is the topic a specific or a general one?
• iv. Can it be discussed in detail backed by sufficient evidence?
• v. Is the topic too hard for you?

If you can find proper answers to these questions and find it suitable to proceed ahead with the topic your task of topic choice is complete.

Step: 4 Make a proper plan

Once you understand what you need to do to craft a well-written essay devise an appropriate strategy that will help you to reach your desired outcome. If you perform this step well you won’t have any problem expressing your thoughts in the form of writing. To successfully complete this step you need to perform the following sub-steps –
Form an argument: The argument you put forward is the message that you want to convey to the examiner through your college essay. Since you have already analyzed the requirement of your essay topic set up a clear argument in the introductory passage which you need to develop in the main body. Ensure that your argument has the following characteristics –

• It is objective and unbiased.
• It can be summarized in a single sentence.
• It conveys a clear and proper message as to the reason for such an argument.
• It is convincing and compelling and lures the examiner into knowing your complete views.

with a new solution to a question is harder than finding an existing solution. Proceed accordingly and let your collected information form the backbone of your essay.
Be open-minded: Whatever be your viewpoint about the topic, make sure that you keep an open mind towards other views during your research process. If the majority of the information that you find tends to contradict your personal opinion then consider rechecking and revising your argument if need be. After all, you need to write an A+ essay that is backed by substantial evidence and facts.
Write down the plan: Structure your essay plan properly so that it can help you prove your argument. For this, you need to organize your proceedings based on the following considerations –

• Give a one-liner for the argument you are going to elaborate on your introduction at the top of the first page.
• Summarize your arguments into a few key points which will help you to support your argument.
• For each point provide a supporting example which will justify your reasons. These can be in the form of quoted texts from authors or paraphrased texts.
• Finally, put the principal opinion that you want to relay through your college essay.

Step: 5 Prepare your first draft

Once you have completed gathering all the necessary information relating to the essay topic, the toughest part is over. Now is the time to put pen on paper and craft an excellent piece of writing. You have the outline of your college essay ready to be drafted. Do not worry about making it perfect as you just need to put the right information in the right place. Any necessary edits should be done at last. Though some experts suggest making an outline before jumping on to the actual writing process it is just a recommendatory step. The writing process varies from one writer to another. Moreover, you need not have to keep the tone of your essay overly formal as long as you can maintain the interest of the examiner. Make sure your college essay is segregated into three distinct parts –

• Introduction: Here you need to introduce the topic of your essay and a hint on what you are going to present.
• Body: This will contain the main content of the topic backed by sufficient evidence and examples.
• Conclusion: here you need to summarize what you have expressed throughout the entire body of the essay along with your personal opinion and suggestions.

Step: 6 Proofread and edit

This is the final step wherein you need to check the contents of your college essay thoroughly and make necessary edits to increase its readability quotient. Every student wants to submit a top-notch content to impress the examiner. Since the purpose of graduate college essay writing is to gauge the writing skills of students, you should always devote a significant amount of time in proofreading and editing. No matter how experienced and efficient writer you might be, you will probably make some grammatical or typing mistakes while developing your draft. Read and re-read several times until you are satisfied that you have given your utmost effort to make it error-free and unique.

• A single typo or grammatical error would indicate that you have been careless towards your work and that is something you would not want your examiner to feel.
• Take some time off from your work and relax before you start proofreading your college essay. Making a fresh approach will increase the chances of identifying mistakes with a proper focus on the content.
• Do not rely only on the computer for checking spelling and grammatical errors. The system might not be equipped to detect all possible errors or identify the context in which a specific word has been used. Therefore, resort to manual proofreading before finalizing your college essay.
• Read the content backward. This may sound silly but reading it in a sequential order might lead your brain to miss out on some errors which could otherwise be detected when checked backward.
• Avoid switching tenses in between your sentences. Make sure the same tense has been used consistently throughout the content.

Step: 7 Finalizing the draft

Anyone who has gone through the complexities and agonies of writing and editing a college essay feels the satisfaction of finishing it. Once you have edited every portion of the article, organized and executed your ideas, and analyzed the evidence provided now is the time to finalize the draft. What you sometimes may think to be simple and effortless can turn out to play a significant part in your work. This holds true for the ultimate steps of writing a college essay, i.e. finalizing the draft. Most students tend to confuse this step with the editing part but there is a little tweak to it, which makes it a crucial step to follow.

• i. Read the content aloud – While editing a write-up by reading it on your mind you might miss out the flaws that it might have when it is read by the examiner. Actually, several mistakes get unmasked when the essay is read aloud. When you read it aloud, there might be some errors that your ear will pick up what your eye has failed to identify. If any portion of the essay tends to bother you try to rectify it as it will most likely to bother the reader as well.
• ii. Check whether the words have been chosen wisely – Ensure that each and every word and phrase that you have included in your college essay has contributed positively to the development of a quality write-up. Do not unnecessarily elaborate a sentence which can be expressed in a precise manner. Try to reflect the essence of the topic as much as you can through your words.
• iii. Remember the le mot juste concept – Putting the right words at the right place is crucial to attracting the attention of the reader. If you fail to get your finger on the right word take professional help such as a dictionary or guidance from an expert professional.
• iv. Beware of inappropriate content – While finalizing your draft you might find few sentences to be irrelevant in the present scenario which might have been relevant in the first instance. So, if you want to be praised as an established writer, replace any pompous, jargon or stilted phrases with more relevant content which will appeal to the reader.
• v. Seek external help - Proofreading and editing your essay is not the end of it, as there is more to do. There still might be some errors which you might have overlooked or are unaware of. Therefore, a fresh pair of eyes will help you identify the mistakes so that you can make the necessary changes before making the final submission. But make sure that the sources you seek are reliable and capable enough to provide you with proper suggestions. Do not take help from more than two sources as each one will have a different opinion to express, and too many suggestions are more likely to confuse you and result in a disaster.
• vi. Get your draft checked for plagiarism through a plagiarism checker to verify that your content is authentic.

Step: 8 Repeat everything from start

Reading the college essay for the second time might seem to be a monotonous work but this time the purpose is different. Now, look at your content from the viewpoint of a reader and not a writer. Try to inspect and analyze the content and judge your content all by yourself. Refer to the checklist that you have prepared at the beginning of the essay and consider every point from scratch. Alongside, keep the deadline in mind and consider revising the second time only if you have sufficient time at your disposal.
This time you need to work on the following considerations -

• Whether the facts and figures mentioned in the essay has been justified.
• Critically analyze all contradictions and counter-arguments.
• Identify sexist language and try to replace them with more gender-neutral content.
• Ensure that only the most illustrative and essential portions of the essay have been quoted.
• Avoid using mixed metaphors wherever possible.

In addition to the above, there are few simple tips that can help you glide through your college essay writing with ease.

• a) Try to be proactive by providing a little additional information which makes the examiner believe that you have learned something new from such essay writing.
• b) Your college essay should not look as if you have written to meet the word count. Instead, it should read as if you have expressed your feelings and thoughts through writing.
• c) Around 3-5 minutes is given by the examiner to read a single essay. Therefore, you should start strong so that it immediately grabs the attention of the reader.
• d) The essay topic might require you to say something about your quality and experience. Be honest and never try to fake it as the examiner is experienced enough to realize what is true and what is false.
• e) Though you are not expected to have an exceptionally good vocabulary, try to prove your eloquence by adding professional jargon in between your content.
• f) Try to maintain an academic approach and avoid using contractions, slangs or any other informal means of presentation.
• g) The last but not the least is how you express your attitude through your essay topic.

So, try to have a personal standpoint and express a positive attitude through your college essay write-up to showcase your skills and expertise in front of the examiner. Once you have diligently followed all the steps mentioned above, you can submit the write-up to your examiner for grading you based on your capability and expertise.