12 Common College Essay Mistakes You Should Avoid

Writing an argumentative essay can be tricky. Every aspect of the essay should be very clear to the audience if you want to gain their confidence. I remember my first argumentative essay; it took me 4 days just to start. I consulted with a essay writing service to give me some tips and that helped me a lot in getting started.

Here I present to you 8 common mistakes made by students while writing an argumentative essay.

Outline of Argumentative essay

A writer's most difficult task is to begin a new piece of writing from scratch. Many students do not devote enough time to preparation and often plunge into writing an essay without creating an outline. To expedite the process, you begin by writing the intro first and working your way through the rest of the document. Unfortunately, if you don't have a strong roadmap for your essay, you may find that your initial thesis statement has changed by the moment you get to the end of your paper.

Long introduction with ambiguous and uninformative claims

This is something that should never be done. It doesn't give your reader any significant information, and also casts a bad first impression. If you want to see an example of how most instructors think about this type of phrase construction, look no further than A Generic College Paper.

A term essay introduction, as opposed to an item introduction in a newspaper, has fundamentally different elements. In your writing or speech, you should get directly to the point and avoid being overly chatty. Give a short introduction on your issue, and then state your main point. If you are very inexperienced at this, you can always consult a professional essay writer in the beginning. In this way you can learn from professionals and over the course of time, you will be a good writer.

Starting your introduction with a question

Students are typically taught how to begin an essay with rhetorical questions in high school. Many of these strategies attempt to get the reader interested by piquing their curiosity. However, this is not a good practice in an argumentative essay. Yes, a hook can be used to grab the attention of the reader but refrain yourself from using any questions to start your introduction.

Starting your paper with a quotation from another author

This transition-word essay strategy is effective for high school but not applicable to university-level writing. The trouble with this writing style is that it appears as clichéd and unreasonable. True, that's how you were asked to write in one situation; however, now when you're in a different situation with a different aim, your writing should reflect that shift.

Many essay writing services recommend that the objective of the introduction of your university essay is to swiftly establish a background for your thesis statement, deliver the thesis statement, and give some idea of the direction in which your reasoning will lead you.

Incorporating as many justifications as possible

This is among the most common mistakes students often make in essay writing. If you have an 1800-word constraint, then, In order to keep your paper focused and detailed, you must limit yourself to one or two claims at most. Many students assume that including 4 or 5 arguments in their papers will help them build a solid case because having 5 reasons to agree with the statement is better. In practice, this nearly invariably leads to a sloppy essay.

Excessive quotation usage

In their writing, many students rely far too extensively on quotations. While you would think that referring extensively from the original text demonstrates that you have put out substantial effort to understand the primary information, the contrary is true. Gathering information from sources is fundamental but referring to them too much in an argumentative essay is bad. A good approach is to develop your arguments using the sources. Your arguments should be strengthened by your resources. Direct quotation is a good way for determining a writer's particular choice of words. Sometimes, the word choice may be confusing; in such instances, you may want to explain why and support your understanding of the phrases.

Do not forget to cite any claims

When composing your essay, use a few quotes to support your ideas, particularly if you are criticizing another writer's work. Furthermore, you should paraphrase some of the notions you are aiming to express while writing your essay. You should be placing the concepts into your own words. As an added bonus, you can reference something you paraphrased from a primary text by putting the author and page number after your paraphrase, exactly like you would have done with a quote.

Plagiarism is also considered as information theft in the academic world therefore, be very cautious about it. I have always asked my siblings to help me to write my essay and then proofread it for me for any mistakes. Their expertise enabled me to understand the importance of citations. Therefore, seeking professional help is always beneficial

Rather than demonstrating, make statements.

A strong case must be made when claiming that someone else’s point of view is wrong. Simply stating that their overarching conclusion is erroneous or improbable in this situation is not sufficient. Your reader should be made aware with the use of facts and logic that the opposing viewpoint is incorrect. Assume that the audience is neutral and has to be persuaded on the subject in order to accomplish this, rather than presuming that the audience supports your point of view.

Useful Links:

Limitations of Case Studies – Guide

Criteria for the best book report - Handy Guide

Improve your essay writing skills – Guide

Elements to be added in the Introduction of a Thesis - Guide

How to format a Research Essay? Guidelines

Common thesis statement mistakes in persuasive essays

Model Papers and Assignments are Great Learning Aid for Struggling Students