This paper will explore what is commonly wrong with college papers. I will be writing about common mistakes students make when learning to write. I will also present a series of steps to follow to help you write a well structure and coherent college essay.
Introduction
How is it that most people don’t know how to write a proper college paper? Maybe it’s because they don’t know how to brainstorm or proofread. Or possibly no one has showed them some easy steps in writing a perfect college paper.
After you have your subject, you need to get the topic sentence which states the main idea of the paragraph that expresses an opinion, feeling, attitude, point of view or statement. The topic sentence is usually the first sentence of the paragraph. (Robitaille, 2007)
For the research, look up what you’re going to be writing about and get as much information on it as you can to be more knowledgeable about your topic/subject. It will help you out a lot in writing your paper.
Brainstorming is listing as many ideas as possible to support your thesis, and out of your list you pick the ones that best fit your thesis. The way I learned was to get a piece of lined paper, put a circle in the middle and then draw lines that branch out from that with your ideas. You can use multiple of them, just make sure they all go together.
Note cards can help you put your research in order and also helps to make your paper flow.
You can use outlining for drafts, essays and paragraphs. Outlining is another way to write your essay in the order you want including all your important ideas.
Free writing is just writing everything that comes to mind. Write about why you feel the way you do about the topic. Write as much as you can for five minutes. You don’t have to worry about if your spelling is right or punctuations. That can be revised later.
Then you have to proofread your paper, which is the process of examining “the content and organization of your writing to see how they can be improved.” (Robitaille, 2007) Read it out loud to yourself. That also will help with the revising process if you don’t have anyone around to help.
You should have someone else read your first draft to give you feedback on what does and doesn’t work; what is and isn’t clear. Focus on developing and clarifying your ideas. You may decide you need more supporting details. You can also delete details that don’t relate to your main idea.
Next, polishing up your ideas use precise language, active verbs, appropriate vocabulary and transitions! Be specific on what you’re writing, “Don’t use weak verbs such as is/are, has/have, and does/do.” (Robitaille, 2007)
When editing, read your essay about five to six times to focus on different errors, like spelling, comma errors, the ones you know you have trouble with the most. “Reading your paragraph backwards helps also.” (Robitaille, 2007)
Conclusion
I have explored aspects on what is commonly wrong with college papers and some simple steps on how to improve your college papers. Every essay is different depending on the topic, target audience, and essay format. These are a few basic steps to assist in origination flow and communication. There are many different essay writing strategies. All you have to do is find the one that works for you.
Citations
1 Julie Robitaille and Robert Connely (2007) Writers Resources, from paragraph to essay. The parts of the paragraph. Retrieved from page 25
2 Julie Robitaille and Robert Connely (2007) Writers Resources, from paragraph to essay. Using a map or outline to write a draft. Retrieved from page 38-39
3 Julie Robitaille and Robert Connely (2007) Writers Resources, from paragraph to essay. Generating ideas to support the thesis statement. Retrieved from page 71.
4 Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Sonderluncl, L., and Brizee, A. (2010, May 5) general format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01
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