Most students want to know the key to writing the best essays, so they look all over the Internet for advice or they ask their friends to write their essays for them. What most students do not know is that the only advice they need is how to format an essay and how to read an essay assignment.
When teachers and professors assign essays, they usually provide their students with an assignment guide. This gives the prompt and their expectations for the assignment. If students want to write a high quality essay, they need to follow that guide exactly as it is written. Teachers and professors want to know that you can create an essay that shows your thinking, but they also want to see that you can follow directions.
For example, if the essay is about how the Industrial Revolution changed the world of work, you should certainly stay focused on the Industrial Revolution. If your professor requires that you include five examples from actual voices who lived during that time, you should find at least five first-person accounts of life during the Industrial Revolution. Then, if the professor requires that the essay be at least 1,000 words, write at least 1,000 words. If you do not meet the minimum requirements, you will not get a good grade. So many students neglect to follow the directions and it hurts their grade.
The next important thing to know about writing a great essay is to know how to format an essay. The essay format stays the same, no matter the length or the topic. All essays need a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning needs to include a hook and a thesis statement. The middle needs to include support for the thesis and the examples. The end needs to have a conclusion that calls the reader to action, leaves the reader thinking, or wraps up the main points.
That is all there is. A great essay follows the format and follows directions; this is all that the teachers want to see. Once you have mastered these minimum requirements, you can begin to add your personal creative voice and style, but many students try to be too clever and it often brings down the quality of the essay. Start simple by following this advice and watch your grades improve.