You can learn from your mistakes. True! But it’s possible only when you know you have made them; when you get to see your mistakes, you elevate the chances of learning and progressing. The same applies to academic writing too. When you make a mistake, you can take a lesson from it and improve yourself. But when you make mistakes and there is no one to correct them, your writing standards fall and quality deteriorates. This is why MyAssignmenthelp.com has decided to give you a compiled list of 10 most common mistakes that students usually commit in essay writing.
The 10 most common mistakes in essay writing
Here, we have categorized the mistakes according to the key areas of
essay writing so that you can become your own editor and get rid of the mistakes. Use these suggestions to progress as an expert writer.
A. Mistakes in content
Mistake#1: Lack of evidence
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass” – Anton Chekhov
You can use all your adverbs and adjectives that sound good to the ears. But the usage of adjective remains futile if your point is unclear.
We have the solution:
Don’t simply describe people; try to explain your description of them. For example, If you say, ‘My tutor teaches me excellently’. Do not forget to explain what made you think she is an excellent teacher. Don’t describe what they do; rather define how they do it.
Similarly, use examples, evidence and information from scholarly articles in your writing.
Mistake#2: Including too much information
If you happen to cover 20 topics in one essay, you will find yourself including information that is either unnecessary or avoidable. The problem arises mainly in two areas: you involve facts and data that are off-focus from the subject or you create a too broad and vague thesis.
We have the solution:
Ask yourself the following questions:
• What is your essay question?
• What are the requirements of essay writing?
• Do you have enough testimony to back your each paragraph?
• Are you good enough to inform, narrate, argue or persuade your readers?
For example, if you are asked to write about your mother’s behavior at home. Instead of stating how your sister and father behave at home, only focus on telling how your mother takes care of everyone at home.
B. Mistakes in structure
Mistake#3: Weak thesis statement
Many a times the writer fails to write a strong thesis. As a result, the essay does not get proper shape and clear direction. When thesis is not strong, it fails to declare your position or give your readers an idea how you intend to develop the essay.
We have the solution:
Your evidence, facts, logic and statistics should support your thesis and not the other way round. You should not find evidence after creating thesis in order to support it, but create thesis after gathering the required data. If you conduct research after creating thesis, it would not accomplish what you have set out to convey.
Mistake#4: Incomplete sentence
Two types of sentence errors occur in essay writing — fragments and run-on sentences.
Fragment sentences are mainly incomplete sentence. It fails to function in text because there is no subject-predicate unit in them. Run-on sentences consist of two subject-predicate units in them, joined together without a conjunction. This leads the readers to confusion.
We have the solution:
• Fragment: Check out the following examples to understand how to avoid writing fragment sentences.
Incorrect: Difficult to develop an idea
Correct: Many students find it difficult to develop an idea
Correct: It is certainly difficult to develop an idea properly.
• Run-on sentences: Check out the following examples to understand how to avoid writing run-on sentences.
Incorrect: Proficient essay writing skills are important for achieving good academic results they are not easy to develop
Correct: Proficient essay writing skills are important for achieving good academic results. They are not easy to develop
Correct: Proficient essay writing skills are important for achieving good academic results. But they are not easy to develop.
Mistake#5: Writing passive sentences
Passive voice sentences are acceptable when the act delivered by the doer needs more attention; that’s when passive voice occurs. But it often creates confusion for readers. So you should write sentence using active voice.
We have the solution:
Changing passive into active voice starts with identifying the subject and turning the tense from past/present participle to simple past/present or continuous past/present, ending the sentence with receiver of the action.
For example,
Passive: The novel Romeo Juliet was written by William Shakespeare
Active: William Shakespeare wrote the novel Romeo and Juliet.
C. Mistakes in style
Mistake#6: Word repetition
Using the same lexical sets can make your essay boring and uninteresting. When you want to emphasize on an idea, you naturally repeat the word. But it does not sound apt when you use the same words again.
We have the solution:
A good way out in this case is to use synonyms. Another effective way is to use word substitutes like one, the former, the latter etc to avoid repetition of the same noun.
D. Mistakes in using sources
Mistake#7: Plagiarism
It is easy to copy-paste information from internet. But you need to remember that college universities have strict policies against plagiarism and use various tools for plagiarism check. Plagiarism can bring serious consequences for you.
We have the solution:
Referencing style guides such as APA, MLA, Chicago are available on internet that you can review. Remember citing sources properly is not only a way to acknowledge other people’s work, but also boost your credibility and commitment towards writing.
Mistake#8: Overuse of quotes
Writers use a quote when they have to back up an argument. But overuse of quotes undermines your authority over the topic. It show lack of competency in the subject when you overdo your paper with quotes.
We have the solution:
Quotes should be used with caution and only when they take you towards the point that you cannot present your ideas with your words.
E. Mistakes in grammar and punctuation
Mistake#9: Spelling errors and using commas and apostrophe at inappropriate places
It is difficult to notice incorrect spelling, wrongly used words, incorrectly placed comma and apostrophe, but you actually lose marks for these silly mistakes.
We have the solution:
For spellings —
• Get your contractions right
For example, You’re = you are
Your = second person possessive
It’s = it is
Its = third person possessive
• Make sure your subject and verbs agree
• Use spell check software, but also check spellings manually
• Avoid using first person in your essay, it should be written in third person.
For comma and apostrophe —
• Use apostrophe when you mean the possessive case of nouns. Mind apostrophe’s position for singular noun (before ‘S’) and plural nouns (after ‘S’)
For example,
Incorrect: Lets take care of our planet
Incorrect: We could’nt get there on time
Correct: Let’s take care of our planet
Correct: We couldn’t get there on time.
• Use commas to join clauses of compound sentences.
For example,
Incorrect: Many years ago the experiment was conducted
Correct: Many years ago, the experiment was conducted
Correct: The experiment was conducted many years ago.
F. Mistakes in vocabulary
Mistake#10: Non-standard vocabulary and misuse of homonyms
Usage of non-standard words like wanna, gonna, kinda etc are strictly prohibited in academic writing. They actually produce unfavorable impression on the readers. On the other hands, homonyms (words that sound same but differ in meaning, spelling and usage) can be easily confused. As a result, readers fail to get the sense of the sentence.
We have the solution:
Only proofreading can save you from committing such mistakes. Plan your essay writing so that you have enough time in hands to revise your paper.
‘Writing is an exploration, you start from nothing and learn as you go’ – E. L. Doctorow
We support every word of this famous author. After reading this article, now you know in what areas you need improvement or what mistakes your were repeating. We are confident you will now easily avoid the 10 common mistakes in your essay writing.
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