Following a Great Example Essay to Craft Your Own One
Many people find essay writing rather challenging. If you are one of them, you can try to solve this problem by studying several examples of good essays. Bear in mind that sample essays that you use for this purpose must be really good.
Whether you decide to imitate the author’s style completely or just take some pointers from their work is your personal decision. However, you need to be careful that you do not accidentally plagiarize someone else’s paper. If you decide to use direct quotes or some ideas from the sample, you will need to add its author to your list of references.
Where Do I Find Good Samples?
You can find samples of different essay types online, and the vast majority of them will be free. However, you need to choose the sources carefully, as some free databases offer poor quality papers.
Focus on college websites and popular databases that get a lot of credit on student forums. These resources should provide you with some of the best essays to study.
You can also turn to your school library in order to look into the copies of essays that are stored there. This is the best option when you need to find samples of serious academic papers like dissertations or theses.
Personalize Your Essay
Using a good essay as a guide is a smart move, especially if you don’t have much experience in writing academic papers. This will allow you to learn many important tricks and actually see how all the formatting rules must be implemented.
The only drawback to this method of perfecting your essay writing skills is that many people focus on imitating the example instead of developing their own styles. This is a huge mistake, as personalizing the paper is extremely important, especially if you are working on an application essay.
In order to avoid this mistake, you should study the sample closely and make a list of things that impress you the most about it. Then, put it away and attempt to write something on your own. Read over the piece you’ve just created and compare it to your list, not directly to the sample.
Does it contain all the highlights that inspired you? Does it have any unique distinctive features?
Edit the piece for as long as you need to refine your personal style by using the tips you’ve learned from the sample. However, do not forget that the final product of your work must be 100% unique.