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Essay and report writing skills

In today’s academic and professional world, essay and report writing skills are essential. These skills not only help in expressing ideas clearly but also play a crucial role in achieving success. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the fundamental techniques of essay and report writing, ensuring you can create impactful and structured content every time.

Understanding the Basics of Essay Writing

What is an Essay?

An essay is a short piece of writing on a particular subject. It is a way to express thoughts, ideas, and arguments in a structured manner.

Types of Essays

  • Descriptive Essays: Paint a picture with words.
  • Narrative Essays: Tell a story or an account of events.
  • Expository Essays: Explain a topic logically and straightforwardly.
  • Persuasive Essays: Convince the reader of a particular point of view.

Key Elements of a Good Essay

  1. Introduction: Sets the stage and presents the thesis statement.
  2. Body: Contains paragraphs that support the thesis with evidence and analysis.
  3. Conclusion: Summarizes the main points and restates the thesis.

Developing Report Writing Skills

What is a Report?

A report is a structured document that presents information clearly and concisely for a specific audience and purpose.

Types of Reports

  • Business Reports: Analyze business situations or issues.
  • Scientific Reports: Present research findings.
  • Technical Reports: Provide technical information and analysis.
  • Progress Reports: Update on the status of projects.

Key Components of a Report

  1. Title Page: Includes the title, author, date, and any other relevant information.
  2. Abstract: Summarizes the main points of the report.
  3. Table of Contents: Lists the sections and subsections with page numbers.
  4. Introduction: Sets the context and purpose of the report.
  5. Methodology: Describes the methods used to gather information.
  6. Findings: Presents the information or data collected.
  7. Conclusion: Summarizes the findings and provides recommendations.
  8. References: Lists the sources used in the report.

Effective Writing Strategies

Planning Your Writing

Before you start writing, it is essential to plan. Here are some tips:

  • Understand the Purpose: Know the purpose of your essay or report.
  • Research Thoroughly: Gather all necessary information.
  • Outline Your Work: Create a detailed outline to organize your thoughts.

Writing Clearly and Concisely

Clear and concise writing is crucial for effective communication. Follow these tips:

  • Use Simple Language: Avoid complex words and jargon.
  • Be Direct: Get to the point quickly.
  • Edit and Revise: Review your work to eliminate errors and improve clarity.

Using Evidence and Examples

Supporting your arguments with evidence and examples makes your writing more credible. Here’s how:

  • Use Credible Sources: Reference reliable and reputable sources.
  • Provide Examples: Use real-life examples to illustrate your points.
  • Cite Your Sources: Properly cite all references to avoid plagiarism.

FAQs

What is the difference between an essay and a report?

An essay is a piece of writing that presents an argument or perspective, while a report is a structured document that presents information clearly for a specific audience and purpose.

How can I improve my essay writing skills?

Practice regularly, read extensively, seek feedback, and review and revise your work. Additionally, following a structured approach and planning your writing can significantly improve your skills.

What are the common mistakes in report writing?

Common mistakes include lack of structure, unclear purpose, insufficient evidence, and poor formatting. To avoid these, always follow a clear format, provide adequate evidence, and ensure your report is well-organized.

How important is the introduction in an essay?

The introduction is crucial as it sets the stage for the reader, provides context, and presents the thesis statement. A strong introduction can engage the reader and provide a clear direction for the essay.

Can I use the first person in report writing?

While it depends on the type of report and the guidelines provided, generally, report writing should be objective and written in the third person. However, reflective reports and some business reports may allow the use of the first person.

Conclusion

Mastering essay and report writing skills is essential for academic and professional success. By understanding the key elements, types, and effective strategies, you can improve your writing and communicate your ideas more effectively. Remember to plan your work, write clearly and concisely, and support your arguments with credible evidence. With practice and dedication, you can enhance your writing skills and achieve your goals.

Essay TypeDescription
DescriptivePaint a picture with words.
NarrativeTell a story or an account of events.
ExpositoryExplain a topic logically and straightforwardly.
PersuasiveConvince the reader of a particular point of view.

Guide to Writing In-Class Essays

If allowed, bring a watch or clock so that you can keep track of how much time you have to complete the exam. Don’t rely on the instructor or proctor to keep time for you, or depend on a clock being present in the testing room.

If you are allowed to use notes or texts during the test, make annotations, margin notes, and quick reference signs before the test. This will help you find what you’re looking for without wasting time. Often, students find the most challenging element of an open-book or open-note exam is finding the needed information, and searching for answers causes them to run out of time to complete the exam.

Read all of the instructions carefully. You may not need to answer every question, or you may need to answer in a certain way. Ask your instructor if you’re unclear on anything. You don’t want to lose points because you interpreted a question incorrectly.

Pick out the key terms in the questions. Common key terms include:

  • Analyze: Describe each part, and show how the parts relate to each other and to the whole.
  • Argue: Give your perspective and support it with evidence.
  • Compare: Describe the object, person, or idea and show how they are similar.
  • Contrast: Describe the object, person, or idea and show how they are different.
  • Define: Give the details that separates the subject from similar items. If you are defining a word, do not use the word in your definition.
  • Describe: Give details about the person, object, or idea.
  • Discuss: This general term usually means to analyze, illustrate, and argue.
  • Explain: Like discuss, this term also usually means to define, analyze, and illustrate.
  • Evaluate: Examine the good and bad points and form an overall judgment.
  • Illustrate: Use examples to describe and analyze.
  • Narrate: Give details about a sequence of events.
  • Outline: List the main ideas and the major details within each idea.
  • Summarize: Select the main points and briefly describe them.
  • Trace: Starting with the earliest point, describe the subject’s progression.

Don’t skip directions that ask you to use examples, tell why, or offer support. These are usually key parts of the question; in other words, they’re usually going to be worth a lot of the question’s points.

Before you write anything down, look over the entire test. Assigned point values are typically clues for how detailed the instructor expects your answer to be– you may wish to answer questions with the highest point value first, and keep from spending more time than necessary on one question.

Common types of written questions include:

  • Identification: Typically, 1-3 sentences defining an object, person, event, or idea.
  • Short Answer: Usually about a paragraph, answering a specific question, supported by examples.
  • Essay: Multiple paragraphs supporting a main point (thesis statement).

If you understand how many points each type of question is worth, you can figure out how long you should spend answering it and how much detail your professor is likely expecting. For example, if an identification question is worth 5 points and an essay is worth 20 points, your instructor is probably expecting four times as much length, information, and support in the essay as in the identification question, and you should expect to spend four times as long on the essay as the identification question.

Make notes on the test or scrap paper. Jot down whatever will help you remember your ideas so that you will have something written down to refer to if you get stuck later on. Remember, these notes are only for you, so they don’t have to make sense to anyone else.

Even if you feel rushed, take a moment to stop and organize your thoughts. For essay questions, write a rough outline that makes sense to you. Write a thesis statement — one sentence which sums up your main response to the question. This statement should be clear, direct, and, to help eliminate the chance you’re misinterpreting the question and answering the wrong thing, should repeat some of the question’s wording. Most instructors do not expect in-class essays to be as coherent and thought-out as a revised out-of-class paper, but you will receive better marks if your essay is organized and has a clear main point. Also, reread the question often as you’re writing just to make sure you’re staying on track.

Leave time to read back through your work and review your exam. Unless you’re told otherwise, it is perfectly acceptable to cross things out, add words and even sentences in the margin–so long as the essay is still legible.

Remember to breathe. Don’t panic. If you feel yourself starting to panic, close your eyes and take a deep breath. The goal is to get your point across to your instructor. Think of it as writing to an individual and focus on getting your ideas across to that one person.

If you’re running out of time and don’t think you’ll be able to finish your answers, write down the outline you planned to use. Sometimes instructors will give partial credit if they can see how you planned to respond to the prompt.

Five Creative Steps to Write Great Research Papers

As per Oxford advanced learners dictionary the term research is a systematic investigation of materials, sources etc to establish facts. A research paper is basically a type of academic writing which involves detailed analysis of data and theories. Mere knowledge about the topic should not be enough for a successful research paper. To reflect excellence or perfection in anything you write, you need to do a little bit of hard work and a wide range of reading. Writing a research paper is tough and may be challenging, because of the intensive research that it requires. But if you follow proper steps in writing, then writing a research paper will not be a difficult task.

Following steps help you to write a successful research paper:

1] Select a topic

2] Find a reliable source

3] Write an outline

4] Organize the collected data and notes

5] Preparation of first draft and editing your final draft

Selection of Topic

The first and foremost step of your writing procedure is the selection of the topic. If you are assigned to choose the topic, then you should choose a topic that you have always been curious to know in depth. The curiosity will keep you learning about the subject and this interest will help you to probe into each and every detail and understand it in depth. Try to avoid subjects that require specialized or technical knowledge .Be sure about the availability of source materials. Do not waste time over topics which have limited source materials.

Finding Reliable Sources

Finding reliable sources for your research paper is not an easy job. First you can approach library materials. Check out the printed materials available in the library like, books, almanacs, encyclopedias, dictionaries, government publications, magazines, journals, reports etc. You can also seek the help of the librarians because she/he is a trained person who can suggest you to select apt books or to find out relevant information that you need. You can also make use of web based information or online resources for your research paper.

Writing an Outline

After reading and analyzing the source materials, you can write an outline .Preparing an outline is an important step in writing a good research paper. While writing an outline you must make sure that all your points are covered and later if necessary you can rework on it. Writing an outline helps to lay the foundation of your research paper. In this part you can think about the arrangement of ideas and classification of paragraphs according to their importance.

Organize the Data /Notes

In the next step you can organize all the information according to the outline that you have   prepared .Critically approach your collected data and evaluate it. Find out the supporting views and facts that enhance the quality of your writing. Your written words should ensure effective communication of your thoughts and ideas to those who read your paper. Do not include irrelevant information in your paper because it may affect the accuracy of your writing. Try to express everything in your own words. Avoid plagiarism .Include citations if necessary. Whenever you borrow quotations, be sure that you inserted quotation marks around it.

Writing Your First Draft and Editing

With reference to your outline, prepare your first draft .Considering all the details and points; elaborate your outline in the sense that structures it into sentences and paragraphs. Add enough details to your paper so that the reader can easily grasp your ideas. You can rework on your draft if there is any mistakes or it lacks any information. Check for grammatical and typographical errors and spellings .If you feel that your first draft meets the requirements by your professor or tutor, you can proceed to editing and writing your final draft. Do not forget to write down the bibliographical information which covers the details regarding the author, book-title, page numbers, publishers name and the date of publishing according to the format required by your syllabus.

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Dissertation Writing Help for College Students

It is sure that, you would not familiarize with the term ‘dissertation writing’ during your lower divisions of education. Usually you may get closer to the term, when you reach the higher divisions of schools and colleges. We know that, different types of writing tasks are inseparable with every educational program. It is important that, these writing tasks have become one of the strongest criteria’s for the overall evaluation of students. Among these writing tasks, dissertations are usually assigned to students at their graduate, post graduate or PhD program. So always keep in mind that to write dissertation and scoring higher grades is not a part of child’s play. Students always place themselves at the sea of confusions, when they are assigned by dissertations at their colleges. If you are in search of dissertation writing help, hope the following points will help you at best.

Dissertation and Research
No doubt that, dissertation is a research oriented task. It is a mixture product of proper research and investigation. Research and critical thinking are the essence of dissertation. So try to choose a topic on which you are deeply interested. It will be better if your topic raises a question, so you can convert your dissertation as an answer to that question.

Start Preparation Early
Dissertation writing is a long process; it cannot be completed within a few hours. Select your topic early, because it requires more time. Ensure that your topic is accompanied with sufficient material resources to complete your work. Always keep in contact with your professors, ask them doubts and opinions and accept their advices. You should seek instructions and opinions of your professor after completing each stage of your research and writing.

Be Original
Don’t try to plagiarize ideas and findings of others. Your dissertation should be original and substantial. Novel ideas are always welcomed by professors. So keep trying on it. Approach your topic differently. Analyze the material resources critically. Your findings and arguments are the core part of your dissertation. Reach your own conclusion; don’t forget to include your suggestions on the problem you have chosen.

Follow the Guidelines
Don’t make an attempt to present your ideas and findings in your own way. You have to prepare your dissertation in the prescribed format and style provided by your professor or syllabus. Strictly follow the word limit provided. Use the prescribed font and size and spacing. Maintain a confident and scholarly tone throughout your paper. Complete your work before the deadline.

Importance of Bibliography
Bibliography is the most important part of your dissertation. In bibliography, you have to specify the book, journals, online and offline articles, newspapers, chronicles and everything that you have used for completing your dissertation. You have to follow the prescribed citation rules. A good and error proofed bibliography definitely helps to score higher grades.

Editing and Proof Reading
After completing your final draft, you have to read your paper for many times. It will help you to detect any grammar, spelling and typological errors. After detecting the errors, edit it correctly. Before final submission, seek advices from professor on your final draft. Submit your work on time.

Get Your Essays Written from Professional Writers

It is difficult to find any educational program which is not assigning any writing task during its academic terms. Academic works of schools, colleges and universities will not be complete without any writing exercises. It may be in the form of essays, dissertations, research papers, book reviews, coursework, term papers or any other form of assignments. Why these writing tasks are so indispensable with every academia? Have you ever think of it? This is because; writing is the best way or medium to understand your knowledge, skills and abilities. So teachers or professors cannot evaluate their students without any piece of writing. These writing exercises act as a tool for professors to understand, what you have studied and what you have acquired during a particular period of study. Essays are the most common writing task which is assigned to all students, irrespective to their age and grades. When considering other writing tasks, essay writing is relatively a simple task. Most of the students can write essays. But if an essay determines, who you are or where you have to stand or whether you have to be chosen for any job or not, whether you should be admitted to any institution or not…..in such situations, can you approach it in a very cool and simple manner?? Are you ready to take risks?? Don’t you have any problem, if you get poor marks or grades than your classmates?. we know that on such situations of life, no one want to take risks. So don’t take any chance on your valuable grades, marks or jobs. Get your essays from experienced professional writers.

Thousands of professional essay writers are ready for you to complete your essays. Internet provides you with thousands of essay writing services from USA and UK. Choose a genuine and credible essay writing service after checking their reviews. Genuine and trustful services will provide you 100% original, plagiarism free, error proofed edited papers with unlimited free revisions on your demand. It is your duty to check the experiences and qualification of writers who are going to work for you. Ensure that, you can contact or approach your writer for any required changes and additions to your paper. Choose such a service which would give prime consideration for your needs, interests and requirements. Qualified professional essay writers definitely provide you an outline of the work on which he or she is going to work on.

Great Tips to Write Your College Essays

College essay writing is an academic task which most of the students find a little difficult one for its structure, content and other basic details. A learned person can easily understand an author’s knowledge level, writing style, way of expression and ability to coordinating ideas through a single essay. That’s why a simple essay determines your grade, job and admission on certain occasions. So doubts and tensions are always associated with this task. So one will definitely look for essay writing tips when he/ she is assigned with the task of custom essay writing. Usually college essays are demanded by the authorities at the time of admission of new students to their institution. Sometimes you are provided with the freedom of selecting a topic on your own interest or sometimes questions may already provided. The essay question might ask you about your best quality, goals, an experience that shaped you or the reason you want to attend their college or a specific subject. Nowadays various sites of internet are also providing a lot of essay writing helps.

To write college essays always seems to be big task to most of the students, as it determines their admission or rejection to an institution. Whatever the topic or question is, the first thing you have do is that, prepare an outline of what you are going to write. After preparing the outline, you have to arrange your writing into mainly three parts.

They are 1) Introduction 2) Body of the essay and 3) Conclusion.

INTRODUCTION

Introduction is the first part of your essay. This is the part which introduces your essay. So it must be arresting and should grab the attention of the readers. Ensure it is pertinent to the subject. Whatever you used, it should lead to the subject and generates an interest in the mind of the readers to read your essay completely. It will be better if the introduction confines to a single paragraph.

BODY OF THE ESSAY

This is the main part of the essay where you can express your ideas. Arrange your ideas in paragraphs and it should be connected. You can explain the main idea of the essay with examples. Try to avoid grammatical mistakes, spelling mistakes and repetitions. Don’t exaggerate your ideas and achievements. Maintain a positive and scholarly tone throughout your writing. Be honest about your achievements and experiences.

CONCLUSION

Conclusion is the last and third most part of the essay. It is the part which determines, whether you had satisfied the interest of the reader which was generated in the introduction. You have to write an effective conclusion. Summarize your ideas in the conclusion. This is the part where you have to mark your stand and view point on the topic.

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Guidelines to Write Your Term Papers

Term papers have a great role in determining the grades of the students since they are integral part of higher division courses. Term paper can be simply defined as a research project. It may be a written assignment, which either describes a concept or event or argues a point. According to students, to write term papers is always a hard nut to crack. The main reason for such hardship is that, students follow the same steps for term papers as they were taken in lower divisions, while writing simple assignments. Writing term papers is a matter of great confusion. Are you in search of term paper writing help? Here you are provided with some term paper writing tips.

Planning
Good term paper requires deep and detailed research. Without clear planning and time management, it cannot be completed. It is not a matter of a few hours. In the absence of a detailed research, careful analysis, critical thinking, writing, proof reading, editing, a winning term paper will never be born. So start your preparations early.

Topic
Whatever the writing task is, its topic plays an important role in determining the ultimate success of that work. Approach your instructor before choosing any topic. Select a topic only after the approval of your instructor. If you fail to choose a topic on which you have great interest, it may decreases your chance to get higher grades, as the uninterested topic gradually make feels you sleepy .You have to also ensure that, your topic is supplied with sufficient materials.

Research
A winning term paper would not be complete without deep and proper research. It will be safer to rely upon books than any other material resources. Give first preference to books. If you are not satisfied with the books, you can use articles both online and offline, journals etc. you have to ensure the materials you have taken from the internet have authentic and credible authors and are up to date.

Outline
Without an outline we cannot prepare a good term paper. No matter, how much of information you have collected, the real success lies upon how you organize such information in your term paper. Only after a proper outline, you can decide what you have to include and what have to exclude from your term paper. After preparing an outline, you can draft your term paper by including most relevant matters inclined to the subject.

Structure of Term Paper
A term paper mainly consists of three parts which includes Introduction, the Main body and Conclusion. Through introduction you are giving a promise to the reader, your introduction should offer something valuable about your term paper. The main body includes the logical organization of your ideas and findings. Your each argument should support with evidences. The third part is the conclusion, in this part, you have to prove that, you maintained the promise what you have offered a reader in the introduction.

Some Points to Remember
You should act only according to the instructions of your tutor. At every stage of your work, from the topic selection to final draft, seek guidance and advices from him/her.
Present your thoughts and findings in simple and concise form. Everything you are going to present must be relevant to the topic. Avoid grammar and spelling mistakes. Your words and sentences and way of expressing ideas must be clear and specific. Repetition of sentences or ideas should be avoided.

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How to Write an Excellent Dissertation Proposal?

Dissertations are an integral part of every Master’s Degree or PhD program. The first and essential step towards a dissertation is the dissertation proposal. Through dissertation proposal you have to give a clear idea about your final dissertation. Dissertation proposal is a plan for your final work. It should convey what you are going to do with a specific topic. You have to explain what it is you intend to examine, how you are going to collect and analyze the data. A dissertation proposal should point towards the direction of final dissertation. Dissertation proposal writing helps you to get instructions and proper guidance from your professor. Even an expert can give you proper instructions only after reading your dissertation proposal.  A dissertation proposal will make your dissertation writing easily and correctly. While drafting the proposal you have to pay a great attention on presenting your topic in least words. You must include that, by doing your research, what are you aiming at and how you want to accomplish it. Different courses and subjects requires different dissertation writing format. Prepare your proposal according to the prescribed academic style. By following these guidelines, you can prepare an excellent dissertation proposal.

Structure of Dissertation Proposal

Generally, dissertation proposal contains an introduction, research or dissertation methodology, aims and objectives, review of literature, conclusion and suggestions.

Introduction

In the introduction part, you have to state your main research question, mention about the background of the problem. You have to make clear about the purpose, importance and scope of your study. You should also deal with broader issues surrounding your main question.

Research Methodology

This is the part where you have to mention the sources that you are intending to use for your research, what and which type of data you are going to collect. You have to make clear that how will you analyze your data, which are the methods you are going to adopt and also describe about why you adopt such methods etc.

Aims and Objectives

Aims and objectives are another important part of a dissertation proposal. You have to include the aims of your research, state about your hopes and final results you predict. Also mention about the objectives you want to achieve through your final dissertation.

Review of Literature

The review of literature deals with the books and other material resources you are going to be used. You have to mention if there are any previous studies, researches or published work on the same field of your research problem. If there are any previous studies and works on the same problem, then you have to specify how your methods differ from others.

Conclusion and Suggestions

In the conclusion part, you have to summarize the scope and importance of your topic and what might be the answer for your research problem. At the end, it will be better if you include your own answer to your research problem as in the form of suggestions.