We’ve all been there. It’s ten o’clock and you just remembered that you have an essay due the next day. Panic sets in and you have no idea what to do about this essay. That’s what I’m here for; using the tips listed below I have gotten 90s and above on essays with quotes, citations and attention grabbers. Keep reading for 5 tips on your last minute essay!
The first mistake you can make when writing your essay is trying to write the introduction first. You have to write the body of the essay first, because how are you supposed to write an introduction to something you haven’t written yet?
You should write the body of your essay first, usually three to four paragraphs. Make your strongest point in your first paragraph, followed by your weakest point and ending with your second strongest point. Make sure you clearly state the idea of each paragraph so that even if someone were skimming your essay they’d know what you’re talking about.
So once you have your body paragraphs written, you can easily write your introduction and conclusion. Start off your introduction with a quote from the material you’re analyzing and tell them why they should care about it. Continue on to the point of your essay and the main points being presented in each paragraph.
Then at the end, make sure you transition into the first paragraph. Now, for the conclusion, you just need to reword your introduction; pretend that your reader only skimmed the essay before the conclusion and restate everything you said in the beginning. Make sure that the end is crisp and clean, so the reader knows that the essay is finished.
I know what you’re thinking. Quotes are tedious and annoying, but professors love them, and they can really bulk up an essay. However, a paragraph needs to be able to stand alone, without depending on the quote. Choose a quote from the text you’re writing about and insert in into the paragraph; nothing too long or too short. If half of the paragraph is a quote, your professor will notice. Once you’ve chosen a quote, have a small transition in the beginning and end the sentence with your citation. Repeat for each paragraph.
We know at this point you just want to be done, and you checked if you reached your minimum word count. If you have, you could still stand to add some extra words to your essay anyway. The way I usually start is using the find feature to pick out the apostrophes and separate any compound words such as “can’t” or “don’t.” It adds extra words to your word count and sounds much more professional. Additionally, you can find spots within your essay that seem a little bland and add some more colorful and descriptive words until you reach just above your word count. Also, if you’re writing a book analysis, you can restate the author’s name a few times.
Last, but not least, it’s time to format. We’d all rather sleep than format, I know, but formatting is an important way to make your paper more professional and appear longer. To start, highlight the whole essay and set it to double spacing. Next, have the first four lines of your essay flush with the left margin, and put your name, your class days and time, your professor’s name and the date you want your professor to think you wrote your paper on. Next, if your essay is longer than one page, add a header with your last name and the page number. And finally, be sure you have a works cited page, even if you only have one source. For easy citations, try this website, which will format your source in whatever format is required.
Congratulations! You’ve finished your last minute essay! Go to sleep knowing that come class tomorrow you’ll be ready to turn in your assignment, assuming you don’t sleep in that is!
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