Essay Writing Problems Students Face and Their Fixes

When I was a student, my weakest academic skill was writing. And I often used to think why do we have to work on such academic tasks, especially essays? Oh, I hated that moment when I was assigned to write a 1000-word essay on a topic of which I neither had any knowledge or interest. In addition, it actually gave me anxiety to my core. Research shows that 92 students in a private university in Pontianak experience writing anxiety. 

Well, I really couldn’t understand its benefits at that time but soon I realized that I am capable of critically thinking about a topic. Not only that but I also understood how to gather information, create my own opinions, and present them backed up by credible sources.

However, now I feel the need to address this problem because it’s a MUST-HAVE skill for pupils.

In this blog, we will discuss the common essay writing mistakes and their fixes.

Common Essay Writing Issues Students Face

1. Lack of topic understanding
2. Low-quality research
3. Poor time management
4. Plagiarism
5. Weak or inaccurate thesis statement
6. Poor structuring or formatting
7. Low-quality editing or proofreading

Let’s discuss each of these issues in detail and also find out their solutions

Lack of topic understanding

Issue: A student can be assigned to write an essay on any topic and subject. There are literally no limitations! Lack of topic understanding and knowledge leads to low-quality essays.

Solution: Spend more time researching your topic. Completely understand the academic requirements and ensure to know the guidelines as well.

Low-quality research

Issue: An essay that is not backed up by relevant and credible sources is considered a low-quality essay. Pupils often find it hard to look for relevant information or to stay in the right direction while researching.

Solution: Know the right direction where you are going to take your essay. Once you recognize that, make sure to perform solid research on the topic. For that, ensure to use credible sources such as academic journals, peer-reviewed content, published work of scholars, books, etc. 

Poor time management

Issue: In your academic years, you must have been assigned various written tasks at the same time or attend classes, seminars, etc. Also, pupils begin to write their essays just a few hours or a night before submission. As a result, they fail to manage their time and submit the assigned task on time.

Solution: Firstly, you must know the word count, academic guidelines, and create an outline accordingly. Also, divide your task into smaller and more manageable sections. In addition, set mini-deadlines for completing each task.

Pro Tip:

Every student has his own time suitability to work on academic tasks. If you are more comfortable writing it in day/night then follow your routine to get better results. However, if you are still not capable of managing your task then it’s best to look for essay writers for hire and get their assistance. 

Plagiarism

Issue: Plagiarism is an act of copying someone’s content or idea and presenting it as your own. It’s also known as academic theft in academics. Due to lack of motivation or knowledge about the topic, pupils prefer copy-pasting someone else’s work as their own.

Solution: You can avoid plagiarism by gathering data from credible sources. These include academic journals, scholarly articles, and much more. Moreover, it’s suggested to run your content through online plagiarism checkers such as Copyleaks.

Weak or Inaccurate Thesis Statement

Issue: To understand the topic of an essay, a thesis statement plays a major role. Thus, if you’re unable to write a strong and understandable statement, there is a high chance that your content might be misunderstood by the readers.

Solution: It’s crucial to know the right steps for writing a thesis statement. Make sure to keep it concise in 2-3 sentences. Highlight the important points that share the actual point of your essay.

Poor structuring or formatting

Issue: Most pupils think that writing great content is all you need to get good grades and to impress your teachers. However, that’s not true. Yes, there’s no lie that your content has to be accurate, informative, and perfect. However, pupils who ignore the importance of structuring and formatting often struggle to achieve good grades.

Solution: A student must connect with his teacher to know all the academic guidelines. These include formatting and structuring as well. In addition, these rules involve margin, page numbering, font, size, and many other minor details that are essential to look at.

Low-quality editing or proofreading

Issue: Once you have completed your essay, you might feel relaxed that YES, I HAVE ACHIEVED IT! However, there’s still one last step remaining. Most pupils are super confident that their content doesn’t need any kind of editing or proofreading. However, that’s not true. A writer be it a professional or a newbie, always make errors while writing content.

Solution: Are you done writing your essay? Now, give yourself some time away from your essay. If you are on a tight deadline then a few hours will work. However, if not then have a break of 1-2 days. After that, read your content aloud as it’s a great way of detecting mistakes in your essay. Also, it’s best to edit and proofread in hard copy.

• Editing: This involves to check the clarity, structuring, formatting, information of the content.
• Proofreading: This only includes checking the typographical errors such as grammar, punctuation, spelling, typos, etc.

Final Words

So, what do you think of writing an essay after reading this blog? Do you still think that it’s a really hard academic task? Is it impossible to write an amazing essay and impress your professors? Well, not anymore!

There are just some issues that a student needs to look at. In addition, these include a lack of topic understanding, low-quality research, poor time management, plagiarism, and the list goes on…

Also, there’s no rush to achieve it perfectly in the first go. Instead, you must take your time, understand these problems and their fixes in detail, and then work on your essay. The best part is that you can also seek help from professional essay writers if you ever struggle in this process.