The first thing you need to know about the academic essay is that it is different from the motivational letter. The main goal of the motivational letters is to convey information to the admission committee about you as a person and academician and describe your achievements and goals in the future.
Simply put, a motivational letter is a letter about yourself. If you require professional essay writing help, you can pay for essay online. This way, you can easily get high grades.
An academic essay should disclose your thinking, analysis, and arguments towards the main Thesis. Therefore, the approach to writing an essay differs in many ways from the motivational letter, although there are a lot of similarities.
Choosing a topic
The topic can be predetermined by the university. In other cases, the university only sets the direction of reasoning in a specific area: “In your opinion, what kind of management school has the strongest potential?”.
The third option – you choose the main topic on a given subject at your discretion. With an independent choice, remember that it is important to take the topic at which you can most logically explain your position.
Do not choose topics that are related to religion, politics, personal preferences, etc. The point is not that you have to show your indifference, but that your opinion can go into the incision with the opinion of a member of the Commission.
Even if such questions are sincerely interesting, postpone them for future research, the introductory essay is not the best place for them.
Style definition of academic essay
Often, in the very topic, there are tips to help you understand what style you should use in your academic essay. For example, the following wording can occur:
- Description. In this case, you need to systematically write about the facts, events, or process, highlighting important parts. When describing something, you do not need to explain the essence of the phenomenon, interpret it or express your attitude towards it.
- Explanation. Here it will be necessary to analyze the topic of the subject, and not just its description or generalization. Key questions – “Why?” And How?” – Will become your assistant in explaining the causal relationships.
- Proof. If you are asked to prove something, the main content of the essay should be a consistent argument of its opinion using examples and facts. Also do not forget to show your awareness about the presence of the opposite point of view.
- Discussion. Your task will be to describe and interpret the point of view, reinforcing it with facts and evidence, necessarily taken from third-party sources.
- Critique. Your main goal will be a critical approach to the task or topic. It is important to be balanced to disclose both positive and negative moments. Try to be objective.
- Comparison. With such wording, it is necessary to find and compare the similarities and differences between two ideas, events, or interpretations.
Structure of academic essay
As a rule, the structure includes four main parts: intro, thesis, argument, and conclusion. The thesis is the main idea of the work, so it is possible to have it after an argument, but in this case, it will enter into a conclusion.
If you already have an opinion on a given question, start with the thesis, and then give arguments. The main thing is the coherence and consistency of the text. If you are using passages from other people’s work or quotes from books, place them with the corresponding footnotes.
Introduction
Your first task when writing any text is to intrigue the reader i.e. A certain sentence that can awaken the interest of the reader and is directly related to the main topic. Be original, but do not overdo it.
Find what is characterized by your thesis or the problem set most accurately, for example, the opinion on a well-known specialist in this area or at first glance an incomprehensible fact that is impossible to suit your thesis.
In a few words, describe the problem, use facts and specific data – write only what directly affects your thesis.
Common mistakes
- Unnecessary information. You can start with anything, be it facts, quotations, questions, or a case of life. However, whatever you have chosen, the introduction must be directly related to the essay theme. Do not try to cover the whole history of the issue from the beginning of time (“from the very beginning of civilization …”).
- Cliche. Most of the applicants use shocking facts from the press, the quotes from famous people, or fairly flat jokes – various phrases of Steve Jobs have already probably called the eyes of the admission committee, and they are unlikely to pay attention to the next similar accession.
- Lack of creativity. Remember, your task is to attract and keep the reader’s attention throughout the text, and if a dry outline of facts begins in the accession, even if there is a hook, the Commission’s interest will fade even before the main part of the essay.
- Inconsistency. Trace a clear connection of thoughts and facts that connects the main topic, entry, and subsequent paragraphs. Structure the text, do not clutter the entry with unnecessary information.
Thesis
After selecting the topic, the first thing must begin with the formation of the thesis. The thesis is not a certainly proven fact, not an opinion, and not the result of observations. It is also not an argument, not a complex of causal relationships, and not a description of a certain phenomenon – all this will be further. The thesis is the main idea of your essay, the essence of which is concluded in several statements.
Imagine the situation: you are sitting with an essay in your hands right in front of the commission member, and he, without reading your work, asks you a question: “What is the main idea of this work?” A Thesis is those several sentences that can answer this question without unnecessary clarifications and amendments. The presence of the thesis in the text not only helps the reader understand the meaning of the work but also helps to see how much you understood it.
Note that, usually the set essay theme is a controversial question or judgment and does not imply a definite answer. That is why your task is not to find an objective solution, which, most likely, simply does not exist, but the production and argument of its point of view.
Common mistakes when formulating the thesis
Interrogative form. The main task of the thesis is to express your opinion, so you should not formulate a thesis with the help of questions. By setting a rhetorical question, you risk approaching it too philosophically and eventually not referring to your position. Your essay will lose the meaning of the argument and turn into abstract reflections, and not found an answer.
- Too long. The thesis itself by definition is capacious, but not long approved. Different output from the arguments and do not paint the thesis on the whole sheet.
- Uncertainty. Do not use the thesis for further controversy – the reader should easily trace the chain of your thought and its end. The uncertainty of the thesis causes only additional questions and creates the impression that you just decided not to bring your thought to the end.
Argumentation
In essence, the argument is an attempt by conviction. At this stage, it is already necessary to describe the reasons that identified the thesis. Dedicate each of them along with a small paragraph and follow the completeness of each, play on their contrasts – try to make each next paragraph different from the previous, without disturbing the logical structure.
Avoid single-strokes: For each argument, it is necessary to build a context. Remember that the thesis can be brought at the end of work, do not close on the strict sequence of the selected parts.
Common mistakes in argumentation
- Repetition. Every new paragraph is a new argument.
- Excess information. Make sure that all arguments directly relate to the main topic. Even if you have an insurmountable desire to write an incredibly interesting fact, re-read it and check whether it relates to the Thesis.
Conclusion
In the last part of the essay, it is necessary to briefly and concisely finish your thought. Load the outcome, briefly repeat the thesis, if it was at the beginning of work. Or bring the thesis if you decide to arrange it after the arguments.
- Common mistakes in conclusion
- New arguments. A conclusion should not bring any new arguments.
- Repetition. No need to describe the structure of the written work and repeat the written above – if the reader concluded.
- Work with sources. If your essay requires large volumes of factual data it is necessary to work properly with sources. It is best to find the information you need in the scientific literature and original scientific articles.
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