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WRITE ESSAY

The concept of an essay is vague, but what everyone associates with it is that it is something you write in school, either to practice or as a test. In order to be able to give some good tips in essay writing, you must think about what the purpose of the essay is. In school, most essays can be placed in one of the following categories:

  • Language exercise – an essay written in Swedish, English, or another language subject, where the main focus is on being able to write a linguistically good text, and perhaps also to understand literary texts (eg if the essay is about writing a comment to a Book) and write essay today.

  • Exercise in interpreting information – this type of essay is more about interpreting information concerning a certain topic. This can e.g. be a test in history where one should comment on the consequences of a historical event. It can also be a “classic” work, where the focus is also on gathering information, but then of course you also get several weeks to write. Scientific research work can also be placed under this category, but it is not very common to write such until a higher level.

  • One thing that usually distinguishes essays is that they are subjective, with a lot of their own thoughts and analyzes. Of course, this does not apply if you e.g. consider that a report or a lab report is a kind of essay, because one they should be objective.

In this guide, we focus on essays that are quite short, ones that you can write e.g. during a test. If you are going to write a longer work, you can read the guide: Writing work.

General tips

  1. If you have to choose the type of text you want to write, keep the following in mind: It is important to get started quickly to avoid a lack of time. If there is a topic/question that you know how to start writing about, it may be a good idea to choose that topic. Also, keep in mind that you should be able to “show what you stand for” in your essay. It can e.g. seem tempting to choose to write a letter, as it is a free type of writing. It can be a good choice, but keep in mind that it can be difficult to get depth in the text if you write an overly “primitive” type of text.

  2. Make an outline before you write, so that you know approximately what to include and when. Not everyone likes to write a draft but wants to write “for real” directly. It is only to do as it feels best for oneself, but regardless, it is always good to make an outline, even if only a few words long. As I said, it is important to get started quickly and get into the flow. Even if you do not come up with a perfect introduction, start writing so that you can move forward. You can always go back and change later & Can Someone Help Me Write My College Essay Online?.

  3. Always be aware of what you are writing and think about the task. It is partly about remembering the type of text you write and partly about the subject you are going to write about. Since you often have time pressure when writing an essay, it is important that you do not take in too many sidetracks.

  4. Be confident when writing. Of course, one must also be humble for the text to be credible, but if you guard yourself too much, the whole text will feel insecure and the content will drown in all the “maybe” and “possibly”.

  5. Think of the time even at the end. It is important that you have time to finish your essay and change the things that you have left. If you e.g. having five minutes left, it may be better to round off than to carry a brand new piece, although this may mean that you do not use the last two minutes. The chance that your new piece would be good is still not very great if you put it together in a few minutes.

  6. Think about the language and structure of your essay. For tips on what to think about, read: General writing tips.

  7. One linguistic thing that is worth addressing, as it is a mistake that is very easy to make, is not to forget to use the same tempus throughout the text. Check carefully if you have time to read through your essay.

  8. Write a commentary on a literary work If you get a text to analyze on the spot, e.g. a poem, start by reading it several times. Then go on to look for and underline important things in the text. Remember to adapt the things you are looking for after the task. Typical things you can look for are:

  • Style means

  • Message

  • The feeling in the text

  • Action

  • People and places that are important in the text

  • Links to other texts by the same author

If you are going to comment on something you have read before, basically the same principle applies: identify things that you remember that contributed to the book's feeling or message and How Much Does It Cost To Write My Essay?

Write these down.

Once you have identified things that you think are important, it is time to think about an outline and how to get everything in a good way in the text. Here, too, it is important that you always have the task in mind. Everything you write should help to answer the task, otherwise, it can be omitted.

Always think about why the author has written in a certain way. If you e.g. find an anaphor, write not only that there is an anaphor, but also how it contributes to the text (it may, for example, affect the rhythm when reading the text?).

Use quotes from the text to support your interpretations. However, remember not to use too many quotes, most of the text should be your own words. If you do not have the text in front of you, it can of course be difficult to remember specific quotes, but do not hesitate to use them if you remember some.

ESSAYS IN OTHER SUBJECTS (INTERPRETING INFORMATION)

This type of essay does not focus on the linguistic, how you write and how you interpret literary texts. The challenge with this type is instead to interpret certain information. It could be something you get to read on the spot while writing, or something you read about before. For example, you can read about human development from walking on all fours to standing on two legs, and then comment on the reason why the development went from four- to two-legged. So the difficult thing is not to take in the information and understand what it says, but to take it a step further and think about the meaning. Below are some tips:

  • Focus on the question as you write. The subject can often be quite broad and then it is important that you stick to what is specifically requested in the task to avoid lack of time. Start by writing a draft where you line up everything that must be included in the essay and things that can be included. This way you can prioritize the parts that are most important and be sure that you do not forget any central part.

  • Be confident. Stick to your interpretations and justify why you interpret the information the way you do. Of course, you must also be able to see other possible interpretations and keep in mind that the essay (usually) does not have to be argumentative. You can thus present several different interpretations and not argue that one is correct.

  • To get a high grade, it is very important that you think about the question: Why? This question can be used in two different ways. On the one hand, you must ask yourself why you interpret the information in a certain way, ie justify your interpretations. On the one hand, it is important that e.g. in a story essay, think about why an event occurred and why it had certain consequences and How To Hire An Essay Writer For Your Paper?.

  • Remember to focus on analysis. In an essay, you always get a higher grade if you succeed in analyzing your topic than if you just describe it. The task/question that the essay must answer almost always contains some form of analysis.

  • In the same way that you have to focus on analysis, it is important that you do not have too many background facts. Think about what needs to be included to answer the question, and omit things that do not contribute.

FINALLY

To summarize, you can say that the most important thing to keep in mind when writing an essay in school is to focus on the task/question, get started quickly, analyze (think: why?) And think about what type of text to write. For further, more specific tips, see our other guides:

  • General writing tips – things that are always good to keep in mind when writing.

  • Swedish texts – detailed guides for different types of Swedish texts.

  • Write work – if you are writing a longer work.

  • Style means – explanations of several different style means, with examples.

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