| It's one of the most despised requirements by | | | | research paper, then brainstorm on how to organize |
| college students: writing an essay. They vary in | | | | the information in a fashion that will captivate your |
| length, subject, citation style and format. The one | | | | Professor. Speaking of organization, you should |
| constant is the general frustration and anxiety an | | | | always write down, step by step, how you plan to |
| essay can inflict upon a college student. But even | | | | write your essay. Break it down into a list, starting |
| before a student enters the college world, they still | | | | with the Intro then moving to Paragraph 1, 2, 3, and |
| have to battle with essays during the application | | | | so on and so forth until you get to your conclusion. |
| process. There's usually at least one essay required | | | | This will make it much easier to stay on track when |
| when applying to college. Now once you're in college, | | | | writing a big essay. |
| you'll be faced with what I call "semester essays." | | | | 3.)Make sure you are using proper citation and |
| These are the big ones; at least 10 pages in length | | | | format. I've seen so many students get points taken |
| requiring hours of research and count for more than | | | | off their essay due to simple mistakes like not |
| 20 percent of your overall grade. | | | | formatting their paper properly and using incorrect |
| Here are some basic tips that can help you get A's | | | | citation. When I talk about format, I mean the text |
| on all of your essays... | | | | size and the spacing of your paper. The common |
| 1.)Research, research, research. This is essential when | | | | format requirements are size 12 text, Times New |
| writing a quality college essay. You must have some | | | | Roman, and double-spaced. But this can vary from |
| knowledge about what you're writing about. This | | | | class to class, so be cognizant. Regarding citation, |
| doesn't mean you have to know every detail or | | | | make sure you know exactly what citation form the |
| insignificant fact, but you do need to acquire a basic | | | | professor desires. This can range from MLA, APA, all |
| sense of what the subject is and where to find the | | | | the way to Turabian/Chicago Style. Each citation has |
| pertinent material. I've found that doing copious | | | | its own set of requirements when making in-text |
| Google and Yahoo searches is great to acquire such | | | | citations and creating your bibliography/works cited |
| knowledge. But don't just use the basic search engine | | | | list, so make sure you have a firm grasp of the one |
| function. Use "Google Scholar" to find academic | | | | required for your college essay. In-text citations |
| journals. Also, take advantage of the research tools | | | | usually feature (insert info here) or footnotes which |
| of your college's library. They can be extremely | | | | feature small numbers next to your text followed by |
| helpful when trying to obtain information about major | | | | a small line of information at the bottom of each |
| subjects, especially in specific fields that may not | | | | page. |
| provide alot of information on the web. | | | | Summation: If you follow those 3 steps, you should |
| 2.)Brainstorm and organize. Some people think | | | | be on your way to creating a thought-provoking, |
| brainstorming is so silly, but it's extremely beneficial | | | | detailed, and quality college essay that will truly |
| when creating the foundation of your essay. You | | | | impress your professor and land you an A+ in the |
| must think about how you want to present your | | | | class. |
| topic and the stance you want to take. If it's a | | | | |