How to improve essay writingAnswered
I am a junior who sucks at writing essays. What are some things that I can do to improve before I start writing them?
Is a college essay consultant worth getting for college essays?
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3 answers
Hi! There are a few resources for getting better at writing essays. For instance, there are YouTube videos teaching you what to focus on, how to keep things concise, how to paraphrase, etc. To broaden your vocabulary, you could read more challenging books or utilize Quizlet or other websites. There are also books that are called "The Secrets of Style" or something along those lines; I didn't find them to be too helpful, but you could still check them out.
Another thing is the thesis statements for normal non-college app essays. My teacher told me before that protagonist essays/setting essays/essays in general have a longer thesis statement with more analysis while reports have a shorter thesis statement. The best advice for those types of essays is probably just to go talk with your English teacher. They know what to look for when they're grading your essays and therefore have a better understanding of writing essays. They also know a few tricks such as finding quotes in the book first and basing the essay around the quotes, creating a checklist at the end before submitting, etc, and seeing that they taught English for a while (at least many of them do), it would benefit you. You can also ask them what you did wrong/could improve on when they grade your essays to get feedback and make the next essay better.
For writing college application essays, you can check out some sample essays that got into prestigious schools like Stanford or Harvard. This can let you see the way they structure it, describe their story, how they include their personality, etc. You could also put an essay into CollegeVine for peer review or from an expert to get feedback on it. Another thing is if you have any older siblings/friends who graduated to see if they can help you improve the essay. I don't think it's really necessary to get a college essay consultant considering they're not cheap unless you're really stuck.
Lastly, since college essays take a while and multiple drafts, I recommend you start as soon as possible so you don't rush everything in the last week. Then, when you turn it in, you know that you tried your best with the available time given.
Good luck!
Well, something that helped me improve my writing was reading other essay examples that I could take ideas from. For me, I write about something familiar (for personal essay) and it's easier to elaborate on something that holds meaning to you and your character.
College essay Consultants are definitely worth it because they give you insight on how to improve your writing and tips to make your work better. When you write essays typically you'd want it to have a wide range of vocabulary and easily flowing and readable so it's worth it. I have to do a lot of writing in my AP classes and get feedback on it, but the more I write the better I become. Practice makes better work!
For college specifically I'd recommend doing personal Insight questions so you can get used to talking about yourself and your achievements or just elaborating in general.
to improve your writing, i suggest reading!! it may seem unnecessary, but when i used to read CONSTANTLY i would score on my english tests extremely well at 1300+, but when i stopped it actually dropped down, it helps expand your vocabulary and get used to proper writing. another way is to read other's writings and see how they make their essay's great, and grow from that. there's also videos/sites that explain ways to form/shape essays so they flow well. there's also sites like grammarly and paper rater where you can insert your essay and they "grade" them for free, giving you good feedback!
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