Top 8 Mistakes You Must Avoid to Write a Good College Essay

For some students, the essay can be compared to the nightmare. For other students, each essay may bring with it a new challenge of making it a little bit better this time than the last assignment. The problem of both groups of the student is the same. It is the set of mistakes which prevents the first type of students from achieving the success and doesn’t allow the second type of student to upgrade their writing skills.

If you write essays on a regular basis, it is easy to get stuck in repeating the same formula every time, especially if you already have received a good feedback from the teachers. Essentially, you repeat your mistakes each time as well. So what mistakes should you avoid in order to take your writing skills to the next level? In this article, you can find some useful tips, practical techniques, and advice of writers who provide professional writing services which can make your essays impressive.

1. Inconsistent tense in the course of the narrative

It is so important to choose the tense and follow it across the whole text. That’s why when you write about some events or facts in your essay, you must follow the sequence. First of all, make the decision which tense to use: the present or the past. To be honest, they are both acceptable, just make your choice, and be consistent.

For example:

• Incorrect: Kate has to go to work, but she didn't sleep well and could not get up from the bed.  She is trying to get up for an hour, then she finally got up;
• Correct: Kate had to go to work, but she didn't sleep well and could not get up from the bed. She was trying to get up for an hour, then she finally got up.

2. Giving the summary of the plot instead of the analysis

For sure, sometimes it’s necessary to name some facts of the plot to explain your thoughts or your own point of view. At the same time, your essay should not look like a plot summary. Don’t be afraid of recounting some relevant facts or parts of the plot. But also don’t forget to give some analytical statements about each part of the plot in each passage of your essay. You should show the reader that you have your own thought and point of view on the issue you are talking about. If it is an impossible task for you, you can order the essay.

3. Using of paraphrasing in the essay: don’t do this, use quotes

Avoid paraphrasing. You should better use quotes of the original author’s words. It is essential that the author explains his thought in the best way, you will hardly manage to do it better. Quotations should be included in the text with your own introduction. Don’t insert someone’s words without quotation even if they are a logical continuation of your thoughts or words. Then your paper may fail the check for plagiarism. You can read more about plagiarism in a digital age here.

4. Incomplete sentences: avoid them in your essay

Don't lose a good writing style. Remember that all complete thoughts must be presented by the subject and the verb. Don’t use incomplete sentences if you don’t want your essay to look unprofessional. This tip may seem obvious, but a great number of students make this mistake and thus spoil the impression of their papers. You should follow the rule of the subject and the verb during the whole writing process. Sometimes the author starts an essay in a good way but then forget to make all sentences complete.

5. Lack of author’s personality

Your essay should reflect your own thought, ideas, and beliefs. Before submitting the essay ask yourself a question “who is the author of this paper and is there a possibility that someone else can write it?”. Obviously, the answer must be negative. If your answer is positive, it means that you don’t do a good job. You have not achieved the result and have not represented your own and a unique perspective or point of view. View the samples of good writing pieces and you will understand the difference.

How to avoid this mistake?

• Don’t avoid emotions, show your own voice and personality;
• Don’t appear in the text robot-like and in a cold manner;
• You should put yourself as much as it’s possible;
• Don’t skip over descriptions and different specific details in favor of generalities which often can be vague;
•  Focus your attention on your own feelings, reaction, understanding of the issue or facts you are talking about in your essay.

6. Using many contractions

If you want your paper to be impressive and professional, you should avoid using contractions such as:

• Won't;
• Don't;
• Isn't;
• Can't, etc.

If you want to write a good essay, it’s better to use full forms of these words instead of them:

• Will not;
• Do not;
• Is not;
• Cannot, etc.

7. Off-Kilter writing style

We don’t say that there is no room for creativity here, but a school, college or university paper should not be a free-for-all art class. Sure, there are topics and special types of writing assignments which may call for students’ out-of-left-field submission. But when you write a standard essay, it's better to choose a traditional prose form which is divided into paragraphs and sentences.

 How to avoid this mistake?

• Don’t submit any other materials in any forms besides those which you were asked to submit;
• Don’t use many “fancy” words, you run the risk of getting very far away from being yourself;
• Use only prose form: avoid writing in the form of a play, in verse, etc.

8. Spelling mistakes

It is the simplest but no less important mistake which students make in their essays.  Always use an online spell checker when you write on a PC. Thanks to technological progress poor spelling can be easily avoided. It is inexcusable today.

We named the most common mistakes which can spoil your essay. Try to avoid them and you’ll get the positive result. But if you are not sure in your writing skills, it’s easy to order an essay here. In this case, you do not have to worry about anything, you'll get a well-written essay of a high quality.