What Is A Good Essay From Your Professor's Viewpoint?

If students knew exactly what their teachers were looking for in a good essay, they would have the golden key to getting a good grade, so long as they could fulfill that expectation. So, what do you think your professor is looking for in a good essay? Here are the main components most teachers want to see their students including in a good essay:

• Did the student inform, persuade or analyze the topic in an interesting and effective way?
• Was the thesis clear and well-written?
• The introduction should catch the reader’s attention.
• The body must present all the supporting ideas and evidence
• The conclusion must summarize what was said in the essay
• Was the essay interesting?
• Was it well-written?
• Did it follow all style guidelines?
• Was the research thorough and well-presented?

Some strategies you can use to make an excellent essay your teacher will love include:

• Follow all guidelines no matter how trivial you think they may seem
• Use all the allowed time to write your essay. If you are given three weeks, don’t try writing it in only 2 days.
• Make sure your essay has a clear focus and doesn’t wander off topic
• Have you used complete sentences?
• Does the essay use proper grammar, and spelling and punctuation have been perfected? A paper riddles with errors is nothing more than distracting.

Writing an essay may seem daunting at first. You can usually get over that feeling by just freely writing. You do this by sitting down and start writing without worrying about spelling or sentence structure. You don’t even worry about content. Just keep writing as long as the ideas keep coming to your mind. Just get it all out. You can worry about making it useful after.

Even great writers use this strategy. Once you feel like you’ve written everything you can think of, take the information and put it into a logical order. Use these ideas either as a basis to start an essay or as support for ideas you have already written.

Before you hand in your final draft, go over your teacher’s list of requirements for the essay and ensure you have followed them all. Even if the professor is only giving 5% for formatting, it’s an easy 5% if you simply follow the formatting rules. Does it need to be double spaced? Do you need to use a particular font? It’s an easy 5% to earn so make sure you claim it!