Chances are at some point you’ve been asked to write an academic essay. If it hasn’t happened yet, your probably a kid under the age of 12. For those of you older than that, but younger than full-blown adult—its essay-writing time. But how do you write a good essay? Fortunately for you, I’ve already started to show you!

Webster defines essay as “a short piece of writing that tells a person's thoughts or opinions about a subject.” That is a good start. But there are 5 more pieces of advice I have for you to write the perfect academic essay.

1. Essay Structure

The best essays have three things: a beginning, middle, and end. They should also have three other things: a quote from Webster’s dictionary, an intro paragraph ending in an exclamation point, and a numbered list. These things are in the essay to show your reader that you know what you’re tlaking about. There’s nothing more important than proving you know what you’re talking about, even if you don’t! Your teacher or professor will also appreciate it if you’re essay is written in short paragraphs with concise sentences that don’t run on for very long making it a lot easier to grade and reed than if your sentences weren’t concise and did run on for too long.

2. Proofread. Proofread. Proofread.

There’s nothing that will derail an essay faster then spelling and grammatical errors. Make sure to read your essay multiple times to catch every single mistake. For instance, I read this paper for times before submitting it. It would be embarrassing to me if you found any mistakes, and that is why there are none. Always remember to use spell check. It’s a tool that allows you to check and correct any spelling errors. Grammatical errors will be caught too. Like fragments. It’ll catch those. 

3. Start with the Most Important Point

This is probably the most important thing to remember about writing your essay. Always start your essay with the most important point. Don’t hide it anywhere else in your paper. If its not at the top, your reader might not realize how important it is. You can try to italicize it to make sure it stands out, but their’s no substitute for having it right at the beginning of the essay.

4. Include Citations and Sources

53% of students forget to include proper citations when they reference external sources. This will make 100% of teachers mad.

5. Make Sure to Answer the Prompt

If you were given a specific topic to write about, make sure to answer the question posited. If you don’t, then the essay will miss the hole point. The essay will have been a waste of your time and your teacher’s. Nobody wants to read an essay that doesn’t answer the question. So to make this very clear Mrs. Davenport…No I didn’t understand the assignment. But, this is exactly 500 words long, so I think I deserve at least a C+.