Effective Tips On How To Write A Plan For An Academic Essay

When planning for an academic essay, it is important that you keep in mind the overall structure of your work. Here are a few tips to guide you through;

Identify a topic

The topic is perhaps the most important part of the essay. Without the topic, you have nothing to write about. When choosing a topic, ensure that it isn’t too broad. Choosing a broad topic may make it difficult to write a comprehensive paper because covering every aspect of the topic in detail might be impossible.

Also, choose a topic that interests you. You don’t want to get to the middle of the essay then realize that you’re not interested in writing anymore.

Plan and research

There is no other way of getting the points you need to build the essay. Start by working out a timetable on how you intend to cover every step of the writing process. There will always be problems that might cause you to stray from the original plan so you need to plan for that too. Once you have an elaborate plan, stick to it. In this modern age, research starts on the internet. But feel free to use books and any other relevant reading materials that you can find. Other ways of conducting a research include handing out questionnaires. To avoid time wasting, approach the whole process with specific questions in mind. This way, you will only be answering questions that you already have. Once the first question is answered, move to the next one.

Structure the essay

An essay has the title page, an abstract, an acknowledgements page, the table of contents, a table of figures (where applicable), the introduction, the main body/discussion, the conclusion, a bibliography, and the appendices – in that order.

Every section of the essay must be structured accordingly. Avoid footnotes unless you’re using a numerical referencing system. Also, avoid too many brackets; keep away from underlining; and use bold and italics sparingly.

Content and style

An academic essay is an intellectual piece. It must demonstrate your understanding of key issues and theories; evidence of sight and thought; your ability to think critically and analyze facts/situation; and in general your ability to research a topic professionally.

Use appropriate academic writing styles while avoiding contractions and colloquialism, phrasal verbs, contractions, and vagueness. Also, use neutral gender; not he/she.

Referencing

Finally, reference your content appropriately. Try out this agency to learn about acknowledging your sources.