common mistakes in an essay

Top 20 Errors in Undergraduate Writing

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The Top Twenty: A Quick Guide to Troubleshooting Your Writing

Readers judge your writing by your control of certain conventions, which may change depending on your audience, purpose, and writing situation.  For example, your instructor may or may not mark errors in your paper if he’s more concerned with its argument or structure than he is with sentence-level correctness; he could also decide an error is not serious.  Some instructors may even see the errors listed below as stylistic options. However, a large-scale study by Andrea Lunsford and Karen Lunsford (2008) found that these errors are the most likely to attract readers’ negative attention.  Before handing in your papers, proofread them carefully for these errors, which are illustrated below in the sentences in italics.  

THE TOP TWENTY

1. wrong word.

Wrong word errors take a number of forms. They may convey a slightly different meaning than you intend ( compose instead of comprise ) or a completely wrong meaning ( prevaricate  instead of procrastinate ). They may also be as simple as a wrong preposition or other type of wrong word in an idiom.

Use your thesaurus and spell checker with care. If you select a word from a thesaurus without knowing its precise meaning or allow a spell checker to correct spelling automatically, you may make wrong-word errors. If prepositions and idioms are tricky for you, look up the standard usage.

Here are a couple of wrong word examples:

Did you catch my illusion to the Bible?

Illusion means “an erroneous perception of reality.” In the context of this sentence,  allusion was needed because it means "reference.”

Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene is a magnificent sixteenth-century allergy.

A spell checker replaced allegory with allergy.

2. Missing Comma after an Introductory Element

Use a comma after every introductory element—whether word, phrase or clause—to clarify where it ends and the rest of the sentence begins. When the introductory element is very short, you can skip the comma, but including it is never wrong.

Without a comma after the introductory element, it’s hard to see the location of the subject (“they”) in this sentence:

Determined to make their flight on time they rose at dawn.

3. Incomplete or Missing Documentation

Documentation practices vary from discipline to discipline.  But in academic and research writing, it’s a good idea to always cite your sources: omitting documentation can result in charges of plagiarism.

The examples below follow MLA style.  In this example, the page number of the print source for this quotation must be included.

The Social Media Bible defines social media as the “activities, practices, and behaviors among communities of people who gather online to share information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media.”

And here, the source mentioned should be identified because it makes a specific, arguable claim:

According to one source, it costs almost twice an employee’s salary to recruit and train a replacement. 

Cite each source you refer to in the text, following the guidelines of the documentation style you are using. 

4. Vague Pronoun Reference

A pronoun (e.g., he, this, it) should refer clearly to the noun it replaces (called the antecedent).  If more than one word could be the antecedent, or if no specific antecedent is present, edit to make the meaning clear.

In this sentence, it possibly refers to more than one word:

If you put this handout in your binder, it may remind you of important tutoring strategies .

In some pronoun usage, the reference is implied but not stated.  Here, for example, you might wonder what which refers to:

The authoritarian school changed its cell phone policy, which many students resisted.

To improve this sentence, the writer needs to make explicit what students resisted.

5. Spelling

Even though technology now reviews much of our spelling for us, one of the top 20 most common errors is a spelling error.  That’s because spell checkers cannot identify many misspellings, and are most likely to miss homonyms (e.g., presence/presents), compound words incorrectly spelled as separate words, and proper nouns, particularly names. After you run the spell checker, proofread carefully for errors such as these:

Vladmir Putin is the controversial leader of Russia.

Every where she walked, she was reminded of him.

6. Mechanical Error with a Quotation

When we quote other writers, we bring their voices into our arguments.  Quotation marks crucially show where their words end and our own begin. 

Quotation marks come in pairs; don’t forget to open and close your quotations.  In most documentation styles (e.g., MLA Style), block quotations do not need quotations marks.  Consult your professor’s preferred style manual to learn how to present block quotations. 

Follow conventions when using quotation marks with other punctuation. Here, the comma should be placed inside the quotation marks:

"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction", Virginia Woolf argues.

7. Unnecessary Comma

We often have a choice about whether or not to use a comma.  But if we add them to our sentences when and where they are not needed, then we may obscure rather than clarify our meaning.

Do not use commas to set off restrictive elements that are necessary to the meaning of the words they modify.  Here, for example, no comma is needed to set off the restrictive phrase  of working parents , which is necessary to indicate which parents the sentence is talking about.

Many children, of working parents, walk home from school by themselves.

Do not use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet) when the conjunction does not join parts of a compound sentence.  In this example, no comma is needed before the word  and  because it joins two phrases that modify the same verb, applies.

  This social scourge can be seen in urban centers, and in rural outposts.

Do not use a comma before the first or after the last item in a series.

The students asked their TAs to review, the assignment rubric, a sample paper and their comments, before the end of the quarter.

Do not use a comma between a subject and verb.

Happily, the waiters, sat down during a break.

Do not use a comma between a verb and its object or complement.

On her way home from work, she bought, a book at the bookstore.

Do not use a comma between a preposition and its object.

On her way home from work, she bought a book at, the bookstore.

8. Unnecessary or Missing Capitalization

Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives, the first words of sentences, and important words in titles, along with certain words indicating directions and family relationships. Do not capitalize most other words. When in doubt, check a dictionary.

Financial Aid is a pressing concern for many University Students.

9. Missing Word

If you read your work outloud before submittingit, you are more likely to notice omitted words.  Be particularly careful not to omit words from quotations.

Soccer fans the globe rejoiced when the striker scored the second goal.

10. Faulty Sentence Structure

If a sentence starts out with one kind of structure and then changes to another kind, it will confuse readers.

The information that families have access to is what financial aid is available and thinking about the classes available, and how to register.

Maintain the grammatical pattern within a sentence.  Each sentence must have a subject and a verb, and the subjects and predicates must make sense together.  In the example above, thinking about the classes available does not help the reader understand the information families have access to.  Parallel structures can help your reader see the relationships among your ideas.  Here’s the sentence revised:

Families have access to information about financial aid, class availability, and registration.

11. Missing Comma with a Nonrestrictive Element

A nonrestrictive phrase or clause provides additional information that is not essential to the basic meaning of the sentence.  Use commas to set off a nonrestrictive element.

David who loved to read history was the first to head to the British Library.

The clause  who loved to read history does not affect the basic meaning of the sentence.  The clause could be taken out and the reader would still understand that David was the first to head to the British Library.  

12. Unnecessary Shift in Verb Tense

Verbs that shift from one tense to another with no clear reason can confuse readers.

Martin searched for a great horned owl.  He takes photographs of all the birds he sights.

13. Missing Comma in a Compound Sentence

A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses.  When the clauses are joined by a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), use a comma before the conjunction to indicate a pause between the two thoughts.

Miranda drove her brother and her mother waited at home.

Without the comma, a reader may think at first that Miranda drove both her brother and her mother.

14. Unnecessary or Missing Apostrophe (including its/it's)

To make a noun possessive, add either an apostrophe and an s (Ed's phone) or an apostrophe alone (the girls’ bathroom). Do not use an apostrophe in the possessive pronouns ours, yours, and hers. Use its to mean belong to it; use it's only when you mean it is or it has.

Repeated viral infections compromise doctors immune systems.

The chef lifted the skillet off it’s hook.  Its a fourteen-inch, copper skillet.

15. Fused (run-on) Sentence

A fused sentence (also called a run-on) joins clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence with no punctuation or words to link them. Fused sentences must be either divided into separate sentences or joined by adding words or punctuation.

The house was flooded with light, the moon rose above the horizon.

He wondered what the decision meant he thought about it all night.

16. Comma Splice

A comma splice occurs when only a comma separates clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence. To correct a comma splice, you can insert a semicolon or period, connect the clauses with a word such as and/or/because, or restructure the sentence.

The students rushed the field, they tore down the goalposts. 

17. Lack of pronoun/antecedent agreement

Pronouns typically must agree with their antecedents in gender (male or female, if appropriate) and in number (singular or plural). Many indefinite pronouns, such as everyone and each, are always singular.  However,  they can be used to agree with a singular antecedent in order to use inclusive or gender-neutral language.  When antecedents are joined by or or nor, the pronoun must agree with the closer antecedent. A collection noun such as team can be either singular or plural, depending on whether the members are seen as a group or individuals.

Every guest left their shoes at the door.

18. Poorly Integrated Quotation

Quotations should be logically and smoothly integrated with the writing around them, the grammar of the quotation complementing the grammar of the neighboring prose.  They usually need to be introduced (with a signal phrase) rather than dropped abruptly into the writing.

An award-winning 2009 study of friendship "understanding social networks allows us to understand how indeed, in the case of humans, the whole comes to be greater than the sum of its parts" (Christakis and Fowler 26).

"Social networks are intricate things of beauty" (Christakis and Fowler xiii). Maintaining close friendships is good for your health.

19. Missing or Unnecessary Hyphen

A compound adjective requires a hyphen when it modifies a noun that follows it.

This article describes eighteenth century theater.

A two-word verb should not be hyphenated. 

The dealers want to buy-back the computers and refurbish them.

20. Sentence Fragment

A sentence fragment is part of a sentence that is presented as if it were a complete sentence.  The following illustrate the ways sentence fragments can be created:

Without a subject

The American colonists resisted British taxation.  And started the American Revolution.

No complete verb

The pink geranium blooming in its pot.

Beginning with a subordinating word

We visited the park. Where we threw the Frisbee.

These 20 most common errors can be avoided in your writing if you reserve time to proofread your final draft before submission.

Works Cited

Lunsford, Andrea A. and Karen J. Lunsford.  “Mistakes are a Fact of Life: A National Comparative Study.”   CCC 59 (2008) 781-806.

Twelve Common Errors

Download this Handout PDF

This list includes only brief examples and explanations intended for you to use as reminders while you are editing your papers. If you would like to learn more, consider the following options:

• Take one of the free grammar, style, and punctuation classes offered by the Writing Center.
• Set up an appointment for an individual conference in the Writing Center.
• Confer with your course instructor.
• Consult a handbook for additional examples and complete explanations

1. Sentence fragments

Make sure each word group you have punctuated as a sentence contains a grammatically complete and independent thought that can stand alone as an acceptable sentence.

Tests of the Shroud of Turin have produced some curious findings. For example, the pollen of forty-eight plants native to Europe and the Middle East.

[2nd sentence = fragment]

Tests of the Shroud of Turin have produced some curious findings. For example, the cloth contains the pollen of forty-eight plants native to Europe and the Middle East.

Scientists report no human deaths due to excessive caffeine consumption. Although caffeine does cause convulsions and death in certain animals.

Scientists report no human deaths due to excessive caffeine consumption, although caffeine does cause convulsions and death in certain animals.

2. Sentence sprawl

Too many equally weighted phrases and clauses produce tiresome sentences.

The hearing was planned for Monday, December 2, but not all of the witnesses could be available, so it was rescheduled for the following Friday, and then all the witnesses could attend.

[There are no grammatical errors here, but the sprawling sentence does not communicate clearly and concisely.]

The hearing, which had been planned for Monday, December 2, was rescheduled for the following Friday so that all witnesses would be able to attend.

3. Misplaced and dangling modifiers

Place modifiers near the words they describe; be sure the modified words actually appear in the sentence.

Not sure what a modifier is? Check our our FAQ.

When writing a proposal, an original task is set for research.

When writing a proposal, a scholar sets an original task for research.

Many tourists visit Arlington National Cemetery, where veterans and military personnel are buried every day from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Every day from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., many tourists visit Arlington National Cemetery, where veterans and military personnel are buried.

Still unsure? For more explanation and examples, see our grammar and style FAQ.

4. Faulty parallelism

Be sure you use grammatically equal sentence elements to express two or more matching ideas or items in a series.

The candidate’s goals include winning the election, a national health program, and the educational system.

The candidate’s goals include winning the election, enacting a national health program, and improving the educational system.

Some critics are not so much opposed to capital punishment as postponing it for so long.

Some critics are not so much opposed to capital punishment as they are to postponing it for so long.

5. Unclear pronoun reference

All pronouns must clearly refer to definite referents [nouns].

Use it, they, this, that, these, those, and which carefully to prevent confusion.

Einstein was a brilliant mathematician. This is how he was able to explain the universe.

Einstein, who was a brilliant mathematician, used his ability with numbers to explain the universe.

Because Senator Martin is less interested in the environment than in economic development, he sometimes neglects it.

Because of his interest in economic development, Senator Martin sometimes neglects the environment.

6. Incorrect pronoun case

Determine whether the pronoun is being used as a subject, or an object, or a possessive in the sentence, and select the pronoun form to match.

Castro’s communist principles inevitably led to an ideological conflict between he and President Kennedy.

Castro’s communist principles inevitably led to an ideological conflict between him and President Kennedy.

Because strict constructionists recommend fidelity to the Constitution as written, no one objects more than them to judicial reinterpretation.

Because strict constructionists recommend fidelity to the Constitution as written, no one objects more than they [do] to judicial reinterpretation.

7. Omitted commas

Use commas to signal nonrestrictive or nonessential material, to prevent confusion, and to indicate relationships among ideas and sentence parts.

When it comes to eating people differ in their tastes.

When it comes to eating, people differ in their tastes.

The Huns who were Mongolian invaded Gaul in 451.

The Huns, who were Mongolian, invaded Gaul in 451.

[“Who were Mongolian” adds information but does not change the core meaning of the sentence because Huns were a Mongolian people; this material is therefore nonrestrictive or nonessential.]

For more information on commas see Commas: Punctuating Restrictive and Non-restrictive Modifiers and Punctuating Coordinating Conjunctions and Sentence Adverbs , or take one of the free grammar, style, and punctuation workshops offered by the Writing Center.

8. Superfluous commas

Unnecessary commas make sentences difficult to read.

Field trips are required, in several courses, such as, botany and geology.

Field trips are required in several courses, such as botany and geology.

The term, “scientific illiteracy,” has become almost a cliche, in educational circles.

The term “scientific illiteracy” has become almost a cliche in educational circles.

9. Comma splices

Do not link two independent clauses with a comma (unless you also use a coordinating conjunction: and, or, but, for, nor, so, yet ).

Instead use a period or semicolon, or rewrite the sentence.

Comma splice:

In 1952 Japan’s gross national product was one third that of France, by the late 1970s it was larger than the GNPs of France and Britain combined.

In 1952 Japan’s gross national product was one third that of France. By the late 1970s it was larger than the GNPs of France and Britain combined.

Diseased coronary arteries are often surgically bypassed, however half of all bypass grafts fail within ten years.

Diseased coronary arteries are often surgically bypassed; however, half of all bypass grafts fail within ten years.

10. Apostrophe Errors

Apostrophes indicate possession for nouns ( “Jim’s hat,” “several years’ work” ) but not for personal pronouns (its, your, their, and whose).

Apostrophes also indicate omissions in contractions ( “it’s” = “it is” ).

In general, they are not used to indicate plurals.

In the current conflict its uncertain who’s borders their contesting.

In the current conflict it is [it’s] uncertain whose borders they are [they’re] contesting.

The Aztecs ritual’s of renewal increased in frequency over the course of time.

The Aztecs’ rituals of renewal increased in frequency over the course of time.

11. Words easily confused

“Effect” is most often a noun (the effect), and “affect” is almost always a verb.

Other pairs commonly confused: “lead”/”led” and “accept”/”except.”

Check a glossary of usage to find the right choice.

The recession had a negative affect on sales.

The recession had a negative effect on sales. (or) The recession affected sales negatively.

The laboratory instructor chose not to offer detailed advise.

The laboratory instructor chose not to offer detailed advice.

12. Misspellings

Spelling errors are usually perceived as a reflection of the writer’s careless attitude toward the whole project.

Don’t allow your hard work to be marred in this way!

In addition to comprehensive dictionaries, you may want to use electronic spell checks, spelling dictionaries, and lists of frequently misspelled words found in handbooks.

Grammar and Punctuation

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Using Dashes

Using Commas

Using Semicolons

Using Coordinating Conjunctions

Using Conjunctive Adverbs

Subject-Verb Agreement

Using Gender–Neutral Pronouns in Academic Writing

How to Proofread

Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

Clear, Concise Sentences

Essay Writing: Common Grammatical and Mechanical Errors

• Essay Writing Basics
• Purdue OWL Page on Writing Your Thesis This link opens in a new window
• Paragraphs and Transitions
• How to Tell if a Website is Legitimate This link opens in a new window
• Formatting Your References Page
• Cite a Website
• Common Grammatical and Mechanical Errors
• Additional Resources
• Proofread Before You Submit Your Paper
• Structuring the 5-Paragraph Essay

Another Source

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) has a list of common writing errors.

Purdue is also a great resource for citation & formatting rules.

Purdue OWL: Proofreading

Common Mistakes: Presented by the University of Minnesota

Content by the University of Minnesota's  Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

This list includes brief examples and explanations for you to use as reminders while you are editing your papers. If you would like to learn more, take a short writing course, set up an individual appointment at Student Writing Support, or consult a handbook for complete explanations.

1. Sentence Fragments

Make sure each word group you have punctuated as a sentence contains a grammatically complete and independent thought that can stand alone as an acceptable sentence.

Incorrect (the second sentence is the fragment): Tests of the Shroud of Turin have produced some curious findings. For example. the pollen of forty-eight plants native to Europe and the Middle East.

Revised: Tests of the Shroud of Turin have produced some curious findings. For example, the cloth contains the pollen of forty-eight plants native to Europe and the Middle East.

Incorrect: Scientists report no human deaths due to excessive caffeine consumption. Although caffeine does cause death in certain animals.

Revised: Scientists report no human deaths due to excessive caffeine consumption, although caffeine does cause death in certain animals.

2. Sentence Sprawl

Too many equally weighted phrases and clauses produce tiresome sentences.

Incorrect (There are no grammatical errors here, but the sprawling sentence does not communicate clearly and concisely.): The hearing was planned for Mon., Dec. 2, but not all of the witnesses could be available, so it was rescheduled for the following Friday, and then all the witnesses could attend.

Revised: The hearing, which had been planned for Mon., Dec. 2, was rescheduled for the following Friday so that all witnesses would be able to attend.

3. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Place modifiers near the words they describe; be sure the modified words actually appear in the sentence.

Incorrect: When writing a proposal, an original task is set for research.

Revised: When writing a proposal, a scholar sets an original task for research.

Incorrect: Many tourists visit Arlington National Cemetery, where veterans and military personnel are buried every day from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Revised: Every day from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., many tourists visit Arlington National Cemetery, where veterans and military personnel are buried.

4. Faulty Parallelism

Be sure you use grammatically equal sentence elements to express two or more matching ideas or items in a series.

Incorrect: The candidate's goals include winning the election, a national health program, and the educational system.

Revised: The candidate's goals include winning the election, enacting a national health program, and improving the educational system.

5. Unclear Pronoun Reference

All pronouns must clearly refer to definite referents (nouns). Use "it," "this," "that," "these," "those," and "which" carefully to prevent confusion.

Incorrect: Einstein was a brilliant mathematician. This is how he was able to explain the universe.

Revised: Einstein, who was a brilliant mathematician, used his ability with numbers to explain the universe.

Incorrect: Because Senator Martin is less interested in the environment than in economic development, he sometimes neglects it.

Revised: Because of his interest in economic development, Senator Martin sometimes neglects the environment.

6. Incorrect Pronoun Case

Determine whether the pronoun is being used as a subject, an object, or a possessive in the sentence, and select the pronoun form to match.

Incorrect: Castro's communist principles inevitably led to an ideological conflict between he and President Kennedy.

Revised: Castro's communist principles inevitably led to an ideological conflict between him and President Kennedy.

Incorrect: Since strict constructionists recommend fidelity to the Constitution as written, no one objects more than them to judicial reinterpretation.

Revised: Since strict constructionists recommend fidelity to the Constitution as written, no one objects more than they [object] to judicial reinterpretation.

7. Omitted Commas

Use commas to signal nonrestrictive or nonessential material, to prevent confusion, and to indicate relationships among ideas and sentence parts.

Incorrect: When it comes to eating people differ in their tastes.--  (eww!)

Revised: When it comes to eating , people differ in their tastes.

Incorrect: The Huns who were Mongolian invaded Gaul in 451.

Revised: The Huns, who were Mongolian, invaded Gaul in 451.

8. Superfluous Commas

Unnecessary commas make sentences difficult to read.

Incorrect: Field trips are required, in several courses, such as, botany and geology.

Revised: Field trips are required in several courses, such as botany and geology.

Incorrect: The term "scientific illiteracy," has become almost a cliché in educational circles.

Revised: The term "scientific illiteracy" has become almost a cliché in educational circles.

9. Comma Splices

Do not link two independent clauses with a comma (unless you also use a coordinating conjunction: "and," "or," "but,"' "nor," "so," "yet"). Instead, use a period or semicolon, or rewrite the sentence.

Incorrect: In 1952, Japan's GNP was one third that of France, by the late 1970s, it was larger than the GNPs of France and Britain combined.

Revised: In 1952, Japan's GNP was one third that of France. By the late 1970s, it was larger than the GNPs of France and Britain combined.

Incorrect: Diseased coronary arteries are often surgically bypassed, however half of all bypass grafts fail within ten years.

Revised: Diseased coronary arteries are often surgically bypassed; however, half of all bypass grafts fail within ten years.

10. Apostrophe Errors

Apostrophes indicate possession for nouns ("Jim's hat," "several years' work") but not for personal pronouns ( "its," "your," "their," and "whose"). Apostrophes also indicate omissions in contractions ("it's" = "it is"). In general they are not used to indicate plurals.

Incorrect: In the current conflict its uncertain who's borders their contesting.

Revised: In the current conflict, it is [it's] uncertain whose borders they are [they're] contesting.

Incorrect: The Aztecs' ritual's of renewal increased in frequency over the course of time.

Revised: The Aztecs' rituals of renewal increased in frequency over the course of time.

11. Words Easily Confused

"Effect" is most often a noun (the effect), and "affect" is almost always a verb. Other pairs commonly confused: "lead"/ "led" and "accept"/ "except." Check a glossary of usage to find the right choice.

Incorrect: The recession had a negative affect on sales.

Revised: The recession had a negative effect on sales. (or) The recession affected sales negatively.

Incorrect: The laboratory instructor choose not to offer detailed advise.

Revised: The laboratory instructor chose not to offer detailed advice.

12. Misspellings

Spelling errors are usually perceived as a reflection of the writer's careless attitude toward the whole project. Do not allow your hard work to be marred in this way! In addition to comprehensive dictionaries, you may want to use electronic spell-checkers, spelling dictionaries, and lists of frequently misspelled words found in handbooks.

All Content by the University of Minnesota's  Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

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Write Better Essays: 7 Mistakes to Avoid

Cari Bennette

Academic essays are an unavoidable part of the educational journey. Learning to write well may be one of the greatest skills you gain during your college years. Most students, however, will commit many errors before learning the art of academic essay writing.

While you can't avoid writing essays, you can avoid making some of these common mistakes:

Writing a Synopsis, Not An Analytical Essay

Not having a strong thesis statement, using too many quotes in an essay, making grammar, spelling and pronoun mistakes, not having a good bibliography, using resources that aren't credible, want to improve your essay writing skills.

The point of an essay is to create an argument and defend a thesis. If you're writing about a work of literature, some background to clarify the topic can be helpful. But the majority of your essay should involve your analysis based on credible research. Don't simply restate what happened in the book.

Coming up with a strong thesis statement is essential to writing a good essay. The thesis statement is the hook on which the rest of your essay hangs. It should state an opinion and be as specific as possible. Example weak thesis statement: The Great Gatsby is a great example of American Literature. Example strong thesis statement: The Great Gatsby captures the essence of America's Jazz Age in its decadence, materialism and ultimately, its tragic emptiness.

The essay is supposed to reflect your understanding of the topic and the research you've done to back up your argument. Overuse of quotes either from the work you're analyzing or from the research you've done undermines your authority on the topic. Quotes should be used sparingly and only when they drive home a point with an eloquence you can't match with your own words.

Defined as “the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own,” plagiarism is a serious offense. Colleges and universities have strict policies against plagiarism and use various tools to check your work for plagiarised content. You won't get away with it, and sometimes it can even get you suspended. Professors can recognize if something sounds like a student wrote it or if it came from another source, so don't try to fool them.

There are two kinds of plagiarism:

• The first kind is directly taking the words from a source and using them in your paper without quoting or giving credit.
• The second kind is trickier and you should take special care to make sure you're not committing this kind of plagiarism. It consists of rewording an entire article or section of an article. In this case, instead of coming up with your own original ideas and analysis, you're just rewording someone else's ideas including the order in which they present those ideas.

Your essay should contain your own original thesis, analysis and ideas backed up by credible research from academic authorities.

Worried about plagiarism? ProWritingAid's plagiarism checker checks your work against over a billion web-pages, published works, and academic papers so you can be sure of its originality. Did you know that many of the free plagiarism checkers online sell your writing to other sources? With ProWritingAid, you can be certain that your original work is secure. Paying for this kind of service might feel like a lot, but trust me, it's worth it.

Okay, let's break these down:

• Get your contractions right. You're = you are. Your = second person possessive. It's = it is. Its = third person possessive. They're = they are. Their =third person plural possessive.
• Make sure your subjects and verbs agree.
• Beware of incomplete sentences (there must be both a subject and a verb to be complete).
• Use your spell check.
• Essays should be written in the third person (he/she/it/they). Don't use the first or second person (I, you or we) in an essay.
• Follow proper formatting ( MLA formatting is a common example.

You can check for all of these errors using ProWritingAid. The Homonym report will highlight all of the words in your essay that sound the same as others but are spelled differently. This will help you avoid any 'its/it's or 'their/they're/there' mistakes.

The bibliography format for academic essays is usually the MLA style unless your professor specifically requests a different format. For a complete list of how to cite resources in MLA style, check out this site . Don't lose points over your bibliography. The hard part of your essay should be coming up with an original analysis of your topic. The bibliography is formulaic and easy to get right if you give it a little effort.

In the age of the Internet, it's easy to type in a keyword and find dozens of articles on it. But that doesn't mean all of those articles are credible. Make sure that the resources you use come from academic experts. For tips on how to find credible academic resources online, check out this site .

Avoiding these mistakes will improve your essay writing, so you can achieve higher quality and confidence in your academic writing. And it will make your professors happy, too.

Use ProWritingAid!

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5 Common Essay Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Athina hansen.

• Writing Tips

Content Writer at Gradehacker

Updated January, 2023

How frustrating is it to hand in an essay you thought was good only to receive a low grade and a heap of corrections? That’s because you need to learn how to avoid essay common mistakes most students make!

Here at Gradehacker, we have years of experience helping students like you with custom-made essays for college students. We have come across many students who feel defeated as they keep receiving the same feedback on different essays. This can leave you feeling like you’re unable to fix the weaknesses in your writing to increase your grades and have a successful essay.  

Many of those corrections you might find spread throughout your essay are common mistakes in essay writing ! Though you may feel alone in repeating the same mistakes, this is not the case.

Excellent essay writing is a skill you need to complete college successfully . In this article, we share the five most common essay mistakes we have observed in essays and how to avoid them. 

This way, you can solve these essay mistakes and get that A+ essay you desire!

5 Common Essay Mistakes

Mistake #1: thesis statement problems.

A thesis statement is a sentence located at the end of your introduction paragraph that lays out the argument you will be making in your essay and the points that you will include to back this up.

Writing a Vague Thesis Statement

What makes a thesis statement vague and prevents you from making a meaningful essay is leaving out the points that will support why your argument is valid .

Let’s take a look at an example of a vague thesis statemen t:

Children should eat vegetables.

Does this thesis statement make the reader confident that children should eat their vegetables?

This thesis statement isn’t convincing because it presents an argument without any justification . It does not include why children should eat their vegetables.

How do I Make a Strong Thesis Statement?

When crafting a thesis statement, you have to remember to include the why aspect .

When you have an argument, ask yourself, “why is this so?” The answer to this question will be the points that will support your argument and must be included in the thesis statement.

Taking this into account, let’s tweak the previous thesis statement:

“Children should eat vegetables because they provide the necessary nutrients for growth, protect against diseases, and are an excellent fiber source.”

Compare the previous thesis statement to this one. This one sounds a lot more convincing, doesn’t it? This thesis statement was improved by simply including points that back up the claim.

We asked ourselves, why should children eat vegetables? And added on to the thesis statement by putting our answer after a ‘because.’

Thesis statements don’t always address a “why is this so?”. Sometimes, they address a “how did (any event) happen?”

That means that if asking yourself, “Why?” does not fit your thesis statement, ask yourself, “How?” When answering either a why or how, always include your answer as the supporting points.

Ensure you do not just include an empty statement, but you also make a complete sentence to justify your statement.

Choosing a Non-Justifiable Thesis Statement

Another mistake is choosing a thesis statement that you are not able to justify extensively . If you find that you chose a thesis statement but are struggling to find points that will support it, you are making this mistake!

You can end up with a non-justifiable thesis statement for two reasons:

• There aren't many facts out there to support the point you make in your thesis statement
• You chose a thesis statement before researching thoroughly and only based on your personal opinion

If you have a non-justifiable thesis statement, it will affect your entire essay! Your body paragraphs, which elaborate on the supporting points, will suffer as you end up justifying more with opinions instead of facts and information.

How do I Ensure my Thesis Statement Can be Justified?

Simply put, stick to the facts! And avoid:

• Choosing a thesis statement before researching a topic
• Picking an argument that has little evidence out there

Do not be afraid to change your thesis statement! Because you will end up losing more time and points on your grade if you stay put with a thesis statement that isn’t easy to justify.

Here’s a visual template you can follow to know if your thesis statement is appropriate for your paper o not. 

Don’t Forget About the Thesis Statement Throughout the Entire Essay

So, we pointed out that having a good thesis statement is a must-have , but is that it? No! 

A big mistake is including a thesis statement but not connecting back to it throughout your essay.

This common mistake occurs when we lose sight of it in the writing process. We may follow our essay plan and include the points we planned but forget to relate these back to the essay’s stance.

This error involves leaving the thesis statement in the introduction and forgetting about it in the rest of your essay.

How do Address The Thesis Statement Throughout The Entire Essay?

To avoid this, you must understand that each body paragraph(s) explores a separate point supporting your thesis statement.

Have your thesis statement in sight while writing , so you can always be reminded of your essay’s general argument. When you include evidence or facts within a body paragraph, always explain how this backs up your general thesis statement points.

Think of your thesis statement as a string to which each body paragraph is connected and ties back to.

 If you want to learn how to come up with an outstanding thesis statement in a few minutes, check out our video!

Mistake #2: Including Hard-to-Read Sentences

Have you ever had someone else read your essay and ask, what are you trying to say? 

Hard-to-read sentences are common errors found in essays. Many include fancy words and long sentences, thinking it will make them sound “academic.”

These sentences, you think, sound academic but will just be confusing to the reader if they are not concise and have superfluous words.

While academic writing does involve formal words and academic language, simple sentences that show clarity is one of the most important things!

How do I Make my Sentences Readable?

Nowadays you can use many online readers and grammar editors that will help you make your sentences easier to read and more accurate. 

Usually, online editors look like this:

Getting someone else to read your essay is a great way to avoid having hard-to-read sentences. Having another pair of eyes look over your essay will allow them to catch which sentences are difficult to understand.

You can also highlight lengthy sentences in your essay , review them, and ask yourself:

• Is this sentence difficult to read?
• Will this sentence be clearer if I shorten it?
• Will this sentence be more exact if I change the words?

Hemingway Editor is also a great online tool that points out confusing sentences that are hard to read and lengthy. You can learn more about it in our in-depth review .

Mistake #3 Disorganized Essay Structure

Sometimes, even though the ideas you brainstormed for your essay and the evidence you found are excellent, your essay’s structure is not great .

Having a clear and organized structure is what makes or breaks an essay. It facilitates getting your point across.

However, many students don’t pay much attention to the structure and end up with an essay with no apparent organization.

When you don’t have a good essay structure, your paragraphs will seem like they come from a different essay topic that does not relate to one another or flow effortlessly.

How do I Better Structure my Essay?

The only way to avoid this is to structure your essay before writing! This involves planning out each part of your essay, your introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion .

You can make a bullet point list of what you will write in each section and remember each section is supposed to work together to illustrate a point. This point that each body paragraph needs to work together to present is the argument in your thesis statement.

When planning out what to write in each section, don’t forget to list out:

• The thesis statement in the introduction
• The evidence you will use in your body paragraphs to prove each point
• How each point relates to and backs up your thesis statement
• The significance of your argument in the conclusion

This is an example of a good essay structure you can follow so your writing can flow flawlessly. 

Make sure to limit each body paragraph to one idea so the structure isn’t confusing. Also, don’t forget to include transition words between paragraphs so that your essay flows nicely.

Always tie everything back to the thesis statement; this will make sure your paragraphs connect to one another.

Mistake #4: Rewording the Introduction for the Conclusion

There is a widespread misconception that all you need to do in a conclusion is reword the introduction. Yes, you cannot forget to revisit the points you make throughout the essay, but a conclusion is not the same as an introduction !

This is why students make the common mistake of not including the bigger picture of their academic essay.

Another mistake is beginning your conclusion with a generic term that marks finality, such as “in conclusion.”

How do I Make my Conclusion Better?

You should check whether your conclusion does these things:

• Revisit the points you made and how this supports the thesis statement
• Reflect on the argument you made and the "bigger picture"
• Mention any further implications of your argument

Try not to begin your conclusion with a generic phrase like ‘in conclusion,’ as these sound amateur. Also, a conclusion should be able to be identified without these introductory phrases .

If you want more tips on how to improve your essay conclusion , take a look at our quick video!

Mistake #5 Not Editing Your Essay Thoroughly

The biggest mistake you can make is not editing your essay thoroughly before handing it in .

By not rereading your essay, your silly mistakes will distract from what you are trying to say . Any mistakes, such as typos or punctuation mistakes, will make your essay harder to read for your professor and disrupt the point you are trying to make.

Skipping this final step in the essay-writing process will rid you of the chance of perfecting your essay and fixing any mistakes . This simple step has a significant impact on getting you from a C or B to an A!

How do I Revise my Essay Better?

Proofread your essay and pay attention to any:

• Grammatical mistakes
• Spelling mistakes
• Punctuation mistakes
• Not relating back to the overall message (thesis statement)
• Disorganized structure/flow

Asking someone other than yourself to read your essay is very helpful in the revision process. As they are in the reader’s position, they can see which areas are necessary to correct and give you suggestions.

Grammarly is an online tool you can use in the revision process to pick up any grammar and punctuation mistakes you did not catch. If you want more information about it, you can read our honest review to see its benefits, features, and costs!

Learning From Common Essay Mistakes

The best way to avoid making essay mistakes is to identify them in your work and learn from them. Keep these five common errors in essay writing in mind in the essay writing process . You will definitely see an improvement in your essay writing quality.

It is essential to complete each step of essay writing ( research, writing, editing ) precisely. Skipping one of these steps or completing one of these steps half-heartedly will impact your essay’s grade.

We know from personal experience and through our clients, that college essays are not a piece of cake! They involve skill not only in terms of content, but in terms of citing properly and finishing them in a timely manner.

But if you are in a rush or maybe you continue struggling with one essay or even a whole class , we can help you! Here at Gradehacker we have years of experience in the essay writing industry, and offer a variety of services to assist students like you achieve the grades they deserve!

If you need more tips on how to improve your essay writing skills, check out some of our related articles!

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Athina has worked with Gradehacker both as a content writer and a study consultant, where she assisted college students with nursing courses. Athina has a background of educating others and producing content, having tutored college students and produced articles for her school magazine. She brings her experience to her current role, where she writes content to empower and assist the non-traditional college student who is often overlooked. You can find her on LinkedIn

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Common Grammar Mistakes In Writing Essays With Examples

If you’re a student, essay writing is probably the main challenge of your academic life. Not only finding compelling ideas for your essays can be difficult, but you also have to follow strict grammatical rules or your ideas may be entirely rejected. Learning about common grammar mistakes is the first step to avoid grammatical traps.

You’ve probably noticed there are grammatical rules that can easily become confusing in certain contexts. While studying grammar may seem tedious, making a grammar mistake can undermine all your efforts in writing a good essay.

List Of The Most Common Grammar Mistakes

Most  common writing mistakes  can easily be avoided if you pay attention to each sentence and keep in mind some rules that can avoid confusing situation. The grammar mistakes examples below should help you take your writing to the next level.

Subject-Verb Agreement

The subject of a sentence must always be in agreement with the verb. They are both either singular or plural.

The best band at the concert was on the main stage.

The best bands at the concert were on the main stage.

Who vs. That

Formally, when writing about a person or a named animal, you must use “who”. The word “that” must be used only to refer to objects or animals without a name.

The girl who spoke is my sister.

The dog that runs was not mine.

There vs. Their vs. They’re

This is certainly one of the most common grammar mistakes in English that even many native speakers struggle with. To understand the differences between these similar words, it is important to remember that “there” expresses a location, “their” is a possessive pronoun, and “they’re” is a contraction of “they are”.

Their house is there.

They’re in their house.

Your vs. You’re

To avoid this common grammatical error, it is enough to remember that “your” refers to owning something, while “you’re” refers to being something.

Your bag is on the table.

You’re great!

You’re at home, and your sister is at school.

Its vs. It’s

The simplest way to avoid this confusion is to check what exactly you want to express because while “its” is a possessive term, “it’s” is a contraction of “it is”.

It’s great to be here.

My phone is great, but its screen is cracked.

Dangling Modifiers

One of the most common grammar mistakes, a dangling modifier occurs when a word or phrase is improperly separated from the words it describes or modifies. Writing thus gets confusing and awkward.

Incorrect:  After getting dirty, Paul washed the car.

Correct:  After getting dirty, the car needed a wash.

Many people confuse the two in writing, especially since they are both personal pronouns. To distinguish them, remember that “I” is always the subject of the sentence while “me” is the object.

Send the work to me.

He and I work in the same office.

Who vs. Whom

This is one of the most common grammatical errors among native speakers as well. While “who” always refers to the subject of a sentence, “whom” refers to the object of a verb or preposition.

To whom did you send the letter?

Whose vs Who’s

“Who’s” is the contraction of “who is” while “whose” expresses ownership.

Whose jacket is this?

Who’s in the house?

Less vs. Fewer

This is a common confusion that can easily be explained. You can only use “fewer” for quantifiable things and “less” for things that aren’t quantifiable.

I took fewer trips than usual.

I did less work than usual.

Comma Splice

To separate two independent clauses, many believe that using a comma is enough. A comma, however, cannot connect two independent clauses unless you also use a coordinating conjunction such as and, nor, but, or, yet, for, so. To avoid a comma splice, you can use a semicolon instead of a comma.

Incorrect:  Maria left the park, she went to the cinema.

Correct:  Maria left the park, and she went to the cinema.

Was Vs. Were With The Subjunctive

The subjunctive is used to express hypothetical situations or hopes. While it is not difficult to use, there is a rule that people often forget: when the subject is oneself or a singular object, you should use “were” instead of “was”.

Incorrect:  If I was rich, I would buy a mansion.

Correct:  If I were rich, I would buy a mansion.

Faulty parallelism

This grammatical mistake refers to having paired constructions or items in a series which are not grammatically similar in form.

Incorrect:  He loved music, food, and plays football.

Correct:  He loved music, food, and playing football.

Imprecise Use of Pronouns

Pronouns are meant to replace nouns to make writing flow better, but when a person or thing a pronoun refers is unclear, this can leave the reader confused.

Incorrect:  When Ana found her sister, she was happy.

Correct:  Ana was happy when she found her sister.

Colon Mistakes

The colon is useful when you want to introduce a word, phrase, list, or quotation after a complete sentence. The role of the colon is to suggest that what follows is an explanation of a complete sentence.

Incorrect:  I love: music, food, and sports.

Correct:  I love three things: music, food, and sports.

Then vs. Than

These two words are often confused in writing, although they serve different grammatical functions. While “than” is a conjunction most commonly used in comparisons, “then” is an adverb that situates actions in time.

Correct:  My house is bigger than yours.

First I saw you, then I saw him.

Of vs. Have

Due to speech contractions, grammatical mistakes such as writing “should of” instead of “should have” are prevalent even among English native speakers. For many, “should of” sounds like a shortened version of “should have”. The actual shortened version, however, is “should’ve”.

Incorrect:  I should of done my homework.

Correct:  I should’ve done my homework.

The role of semicolons is to connect two independent clauses that are closely related, so it makes sense to join them. The semicolon is also useful when looking to separate items in a list when those items contain commas.

Send me the text; I’ll provide some feedback.

You have two options: go to Paris, where you will spend a lot of money; or go to Avignon, where it is cheaper.

Between vs. Among

The word “between” is used usually to refer to two things that are clearly distinct from each other. The word “among” is used to refer to things that are part of a group or mass of objects, so they are clearly separated.

I walk among my friends.

I chose between pizza or a hamburger.

Missing the Comma after an Introductory Phrase

While some overuse commas, others forget to add them. Without all the proper commas in place, your writing loses its natural flow. Adding a comma after the introductory phrase is essential to maintain a rhythm.

Incorrect:  After I went home I had to do some work. Correct:  After I went home, I had to do some work.

Like many other languages, English is a complex system with some tricky rules which cannot be logically inferred.  Developing writing skills , however, is impossible without a good grasp of all the grammatical intricacies.

Tools That Help Minimize Common Grammatical Errors In Your Essay

If you’re still not confident in your grammar skills and would like some help, there are several professional tools that allow you to keep your writing in check and quickly identify most prevalent grammatical errors in your essay.

A powerful writing assistant based on artificial intelligence, Grammarly is one of the most powerful grammar tools on the web. It can quickly scan your text and identify all common grammar mistakes in writing.

Ginger Grammar Checker

Using innovative technology, Ginger Grammar Checker can quickly correct grammar and spelling mistakes, without disregarding the context of each sentence.

Virtual Writing Tutor

Virtual Writing Tutor is a grammar check and proofreading website. The software provides accurate and comprehensive suggestions that can help you correct your grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Using these tools does not prevent you from all possible mistakes, including those mentioned in the previous paragraphs, but this will definitely provide you with that double-check option to ensure that everything you wrote sounds the way you wanted.

How To Become A Better Writer?

Writing a good essay is a challenge, but there are several  steps to writing an essay  which can make the task easier if you take some aspects into consideration.

Edit Thoroughly

Editing is not a task for a couple of minutes after spending hours or days working on an essay. Good writers suggest you should spend at least two hours editing for every hour you spend writing. When writing, you focus on the content, and during editing you focus on form, correcting grammar mistakes and bringing your essay to a concise and powerful shape.

Know the Rules

Grammar is tedious, but it is more tedious to doubt every sentence because you are uncertain whether you are using the correct structure and whether your punctuation makes sense. Learning grammar rules gives you a certain ease in writing and allows you to write clear sentences fast.

When writing, most of us focus on our ideas, but the truth is, presenting those ideas is equally important. Grammar problems indicate a lack of professionalism and can easily invalidate your great ideas. Learning the essentials of grammar is a long-term investment that will help you carve perfect essays effortlessly.

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Punctuation in Academic Writing: Common Errors | Examples

Published on April 9, 2015 by Shane Bryson . Revised on July 19, 2023.

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These pages outline some of the most important punctuation rules and common mistakes. Punctuation misuse often causes or is caused by other kinds of mistakes, usually on the level of sentence structure.

• Quotation marks (“”)
• Apostrophes (‘)
• Semicolons (;)
• Dashes (– and —)
• Parentheses ( )
• Question marks (?)

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Bryson, S. (2023, July 19). Punctuation in Academic Writing: Common Errors | Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/language-rules/punctuation-mistakes/

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Shane Bryson

Shane finished his master's degree in English literature in 2013 and has been working as a writing tutor and editor since 2009. He began proofreading and editing essays with Scribbr in early summer, 2014.

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11 Typical Essay Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Writing is not an easy task. However it is a part of our lives, especially when it comes in the form of an obligatory academic assignment.

We all know basic rules of writing an essay, starting from the thesis statement and ending with an amazing, unforgettable conclusion. But is it all that simple?

Of course, it is not. People still dread showing their work to others because they are uncertain of their own abilities to identify all parts of the essay that need to be changed. The truth is there is no universal template you can learn in order to solve all your essay writing mistakes.

This is why we decided to assist you in becoming your own editor of the essays you write.

We are sharing with you a carefully crafted checklist of the 11 typical essay writing mistakes, including a guide on how to avoid them.

Neglecting a Thesis Statement

A thesis statement should be a part of both your introduction and the essay in general.

A common problem is when people forget to add this statement in the most engaging part of the essay – the introduction. If you do not reveal the statement as the main idea of your essay, you are unable to tell the readers what your writing is all about.

How to Avoid

• Make sure that your thesis statement is both clear and engaging. Remember, this is a part that should entice readers to continue reading the essay.
• It is a good idea to place the thesis statement at the end of the introduction. In this way, it can blend with the main body of the essay

Repeating the Introduction

People often repeat the beginning of their essays in the ending.

The last paragraph of your essay, i.e. the conclusion, is not the place to repeat the introduction in different words. Instead of being a place of restatement, this part of the essay holds great importance and should not be neglected.

The only way to prove that you have made any kind of progress throughout the paper is to demonstrate this in the conclusion.

• A successful essay ending should consist of an engaging statement on what the essay proved or concluded, leaving the reader with some new ideas.
• Raise questions, explore additional implications or end your essay with a relevant, intriguing quote.
• Never start your conclusion with the phrase ‘In conclusion’. When people see that this is your last paragraph, it will be clear to them that this can only be the essay’s conclusion.

Too Much Information and Too Many Facts

Even though you were taught to create detailed and meaningful essays, this does not mean that you shouldn’t filter the information you provide. Your aim is to present the topic to the reader while giving them sufficient, but narrowed information.

• Stick to the prompt of the essay. If it is complicated, make sure you analyze the final draft before you submit the writing
• Make sure to include the key information your essay needs
• Exclude all unnecessary information and facts

Crafting a Hard-to-Read Essay

Many students mistake the competence of writing an essay with creating a complex structure. When instructors ask students to write a topic that will adhere to the style guidelines, this does not mean that the essay should be hard to read. It simply means that the students need to present the message, but in a clear way.

• Do not use extra phrases and words
• Stick to the main idea of the essay
• Use clear constructions in the essay
• Use simple sentences to include the information you want to present

Wrong Formatting

The essay is not all about the content. No matter how you craft the content, you should never neglect the formatting details. If you do, it won’t really matter how well your content is written. If an essay looks bad, it can be seen as a bad one.

• Choose proper style and format
• Pay attention to paper size, font size, paged numbers, margins and spaces
• Follow the general rules and instructions

Too Many Typos

You may have heard that typos are not an indicator of your grammar knowledge or language proficiency and they can be found in every writing. However, submitting your essay without proofing it is a pointer to you not being attentive enough.

• Revise your writing thoroughly prior to printing it out
• Look for typos, spelling mistakes and incorrect construction
• Do not solely rely on spell checkers

Plagiarism is cheating and no professor or instructor will allow this. Also, today’s advancement in technology allows us to easily detect plagiarism.

• Reference the sources you are using
• Cite examples from literature, scientific work etc.
• Make sure to rephrase the idea you are using from another source
• Never use a quotation as your own sentence.

Lack of Citations

Using proper citations is crucial when it comes to academic essay writing. It shows that you have done your research, and provides a reference to where your information came from. Without citations, you could be marked down on your paper and your work could lose credibility.

• Make sure you conduct thorough research for your paper
• Use credible sources for research
• Make use of an APA citation generator for accuracy

No Transitions Between the Paragraphs

Paragraphs are separate thoughts and should be formatted as such. However, this does not mean that they should sound like separate pieces of two different essays.

• Make sure that you use transitions between the paragraphs
• Make your essay coherent and smooth
• Use phrases such as: To put it briefly, regarding this, speaking about this, despite/according to the previous arguments/statements etc.

Too Many Topics in the Essay

Including too many subjects and topics in the essay will most certainly defeat the statement’s purpose. Your essay must have a topic that fits the idea only.

• Make sure that your topic answers the essay’s question
• Focus on the question of your essay and its answer
• Do not stray from the main idea

Using Wrong or Generic Titles

The title of the essay should be a reflection of its content. When a person reads the title, they should be aware of what the essay will capture. If you present them with a topic that is not related to the essay, they may be enticed to read something you do not have and this cannot result in good impression. Also, try not to use a generic title.

• Do not use big words in your title
• Do not make your title too long. Make it concise and unique.
• Never steal another author’s title
• Make sure to proofread your title, too

Further Reading from Skills You Need

The Skills You Need Guide for Students

Develop the skills you need to make the most of your time as a student.

Our eBooks are ideal for students at all stages of education, school, college and university. They are full of easy-to-follow practical information that will help you to learn more effectively and get better grades.

Essay writing is a key factor in every student’s education.

Following the guidelines of the instructor in crafting a good piece is a key factor in succeeding and learning how a proper essay structure should look like.

Learning the basic guidelines for writing an essay can come in very handy in combination with good writing skills. This is something every student should know and be willing to implement in their writing.

About the Author

Julie Petersen is a private English language tutor and a blogger, who shares educational trends and writing tips in her articles.

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See also: Writing a Dissertation or Thesis | Academic Referencing Reflecting on Marked Work | Time Management

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Write better: The 10 most common writing mistakes you should avoid

A former editor of mine once described wordy article introductions as "throat-clearing," as in, this person doesn't know yet what they're trying to say, so they're hemming and hawing before getting to the point.

You could chalk it up to writers liking to explain things or the need to dramatically set up the scene, but when it comes to everyday non-fiction writing—especially on the web—it's usually better to get to the hook as quickly as possible. The clock is ticking.

(Already I've spent too much time on this intro.)

If you want to polish your prose—whether you're writing a blog post, an email, or a report for your team—the next time you get to typing, consult this checklist of common writing mistakes. It'll help you communicate more clearly and put the focus on what you're saying rather than on stray commas or needless words.

Thanks to the editors, writers, and readers who chimed in with their advice for this post, which no doubt has several errors in it. Let's just consider them Easter eggs.

Table of contents

Explanations are handwavy or lacking backup

Passive voice

Too many words

The conclusion doesn't conclude or doesn't exist

Homophone confusion

Apostrophe catastrophes

Comma and semicolon confusion

Repetitive words

Misused words

The most common m ajor writing mistakes

When approaching a piece of writing, most editors first check for the big picture to do "macro edits." Here, we're dealing with the content of the story—how it flows, if it all makes sense, if the tone is appropriate, and if there are any questions we didn't answer that readers might have. I like to call this "defensive editing," much like defensive driving.

After that, we can get into "micro editing" for the nitty gritty of editing for mechanics and language issues (see the next section if you, too, nerd out on words).

1. The intro is unnecessarily long

Get to the point. The example above isn't as bad as my initial attempt at the lede (the first couple of paragraphs that introduce an article), but, at 152 words, it's long by most web content standards.

To remember the urgent need to get to the point, keep in mind this excerpt from former Guardian editor Tim Radford's advice for journalists (emphasis added):

1. When you sit down to write, there is only one important person in your life. This is someone you will never meet, called a reader. 

2. You are not writing to impress the scientist you have just interviewed, nor the professor who got you through your degree, nor the editor who foolishly turned you down, or the rather dishy person you just met at a party and told you were a writer. Or even your mother. You are writing to impress someone hanging from a strap in the tube between Parson’s Green and Putney, who will stop reading in a fifth of a second, given a chance.

The lede is one of the most challenging parts of writing an article, report, blog post, or even an email or memo —and also one of the most important. Advice from all the writers and editors I talked to? Just write the thing and then after the piece is done, rewrite it as much as needed, which might be several times.

[Re: Writing the lede first or last:] I usually write it first, then delete it, then write it last, then delete it, then delete everything, then drink some tea and contemplate my life choices, then I write something else entirely, and then I write it first again. So... first, then rewrite later. — Joe Yaker (@joeyaker) March 12, 2018

Questions to ask as you're writing or editing the lede: Does the lede make sense—explain briefly what's to come? Is it supported by the rest of the document? Does it quickly hook the reader to continue reading? Bonus if you write for the web: Does the lede have the keywords you're targeting for SEO?

2. Explanations are handwavy or lacking backup

That same editor who introduced me to "throat-clearing" ledes also taught me the word "handwavy," similar to how  magicians wave their hands to draw attention away from the actions behind the magic trick. It's not that we're trying to fool the reader when we're handwavy; it's that we haven't provided the reader all the facts or steps they need to understand what we're trying to explain.

So, for example, if I'm writing an article for the general public about transferring files between computers over the internet, I should explain what SFTP is when first mentioning it, since most people might not know that SFTP stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol and that it's a way to transfer and manage files between computers over a secure connection. In the same vein, here at Zapier, we try not to assume the reader knows what Zapier is when they first come to our blog or what "Zaps" (our word for automated workflows) are.

Pro tip: Just avoid jargon, unless you're going to explain that jargon. No one wants to feel like an outsider. Try the Hemingway app to test writing for readability.

Similarly, you need details to prove your point. If I state that exercise helps prevent colds, I'd best link those statements to research proving that point or to experts, such as doctors, who would back up that claim.

It's about being clear to your readers and also making sure your content doesn't have any "holes," so you can establish trust. As Radford writes: "If in doubt, assume the reader knows nothing. However, never make the mistake of assuming that the reader is stupid. The classic error in journalism is to overestimate what the reader knows and underestimate the reader's intelligence."

Questions to ask as you're writing or editing: Are terms most people don't commonly use explained or linked to definitions? Are claims all linked to relevant research or backed by authoritative sources? If you were the target audience for this content, would it make sense to you?

3. The content was written in passive voice

Passive voice is used too often by writers. Writers use passive voice too often. Active voice, as in the previous sentence, is more direct and stronger because the subject (writers) is doing something (using passive voice), rather than the subject taking a backseat.

Alan Henry , Special Projects Editor at WIRED , said:

By far, the most common thing I wind up editing out or changing is passive voice. It's fairly simple to identify once you understand it, but it can be deceptively difficult to many writers to pick out of their own work, even if they go back and review their writing when they're finished. If the subject isn't clear, undefined, or you're using verb tenses that struggle to describe the action taken by a person or party not named in the sentence, you're probably using passive voice. In the same vein, I find many writers rely too heavily on present participles (-ing words, for example) when the simple present version will work better, and engage a reader more directly. For example, "Bill was setting the table" is fine, but "Bill set the table" is more direct, active, and engaging, which is critical to make sure your reader sticks with you, your story, or your article all the way through—and derives value from what they just read for their own use!

Whitson Gordon , Senior Manager of Marketing Content (Gaming) at ASUS, added:

Passive voice isn't always the worst thing in the world, but when it makes a sentence incredibly wordy, you're doing a disservice to your readers. If you catch yourself saying "One of the reasons for this is," or something similar, you should probably rethink what the subject of that sentence is.

That said, sometimes using passive voice does make more sense than the active voice. When the action is more important than who's doing the action, passive voice is totally acceptable. For example: "My computer was stolen yesterday" is more fitting than "Someone stole my computer yesterday," since it puts more emphasis on the event versus an unknown perpetrator.

Here are some examples of when the passive voice is the right option. Rewriting these sentences in active voice would make them decidedly awkward.

Passive: Sergeant Smith was wounded in Vietnam. 

Active: Someone wounded Sergeant Smith in Vietnam. 

Passive: Joey was hurt during the soccer game.

Active: The soccer game hurt Joey.

Passive: I've been bamboozled!

Active: Someone bamboozled me!

Questions to ask as you're writing or editing: Is the sentence natural and clear? Will active or passive voice make the sentence more direct and engaging? Try to rewrite with as few "to be" verbs as possible and default to active verbs and tangible nouns.

4. Too many words

If you're familiar with the Zapier blog, you've probably noticed that our articles are sometimes more like novellas than blog posts. While we're fans of long-form content, we try not to be wordy .

It's similar to the long lede issue: Wordiness within the body of the piece is beating around the bush. From Strunk and White's seminal guide The Elements of Style :

Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

Common culprits? Overused adverbs and adjectives , such as "very" or "actually" or "quite." Emily Triplett Lentz , Senior Manager of Content Marketing at Calendly, said:

Your writing will be more concise and persuasive when you lose the overused adverbs and adjectives that ultimately detract from the meaning you wish to impart. Does the first of the following two sentences honestly convey any more meaning than the second?

T wo-factor authentication is very important technology. OR Two-factor authentication is important technology.

To take it a step further: Any time you’ve modified a noun or verb with "very," you can probably choose a more precise word, which leads to more powerful writing:

Two-factor authentication is critical technology.

Just like many people use "uh" and "um" to fill space when they're thinking of what to say next, when we write, we often use filler words—or, as Smart Blogger calls them, "grammar expletives." Look for the words "here," "there," and "it" to spot them in your writing: "Common constructions include it is, it was, it won’t, it takes, here is, there is, there will be ." Before-and-after examples:

It's fun to edit – Editing is fun

It takes time to write – Writing takes time

There are many people who write – Many people write

There's nothing better than blogging – Nothing's better than blogging

Here are some things to consider: – Some things to consider are:

Also, you can probably cut "that" from most sentences without changing their meaning, said Bryan Clark , VP of Editorial at Graphite. For example, "I think that waffles are better than pancakes" could just be "I think waffles are better than pancakes," or even better: "Waffles are better than pancakes" (it's assumed that's what you think). (In the previous sentence, "just" could be edited out also. But I'm leaving it in for tone and color—but watch out how often you use "just" in a piece.)

And it's not just about repeating words—repeating ideas across multiple sentences is another easy trap to fall into. Be concise.

Questions to ask as you're writing or editing: Does this word or sentence add anything to the meaning or the flow of the piece? Can you read the sentence without running out of breath?

5. The conclusion doesn't conclude or doesn't exist

If the lede is meant to hook readers and convince them to keep reading, the conclusion is meant to neatly tie up the piece, so readers come away satisfied. Often, though, I see drafts where the piece abruptly stops, as if the writer expended all their energy on the meat of the post and had no room left for the conclusion (the dessert, in this analogy).

Conclusions can be tricky: How do you tie up everything in a way that makes a lasting impression? Triplett Lentz's advice:

When you don’t know how to conclude a piece of writing, try answering the "so what?" question. Why should anyone care about this? How does your idea apply to the reader as a human being? Can you situate your thesis in a broader context? If your post is about how to work a 40-hour week , for example, use the conclusion to address why that's a goal worth pursuing, or discuss the widespread problems that our culture of overwork creates.

The conclusion is an opportunity to ask readers to engage with you further, direct them to relevant content, or give them more to ponder.

Questions to ask as you're writing or editing: What's the takeaway for the reader, and is that expressed in the conclusion? Bonus points if you don't use "Conclusion" for your header for this section.

Micro writing mistakes we all make

Now that we have the major writing issues out of the way, let's talk about micro issues—the punctuation, word choices, and other things that copy editors usually catch, if you're lucky to have a good one. They're little things like using "their" when you mean "there" or "would of" instead of "would've" (a contraction of would have).

Nitpicky as the Grammar Police might be, grammatical and mechanical errors that are easy to overlook can make your readers do a double-take and perhaps doubt your authority.

It would take years to cover every grammatical mistake or point of contention, so for now, we'll just go over the most common mistakes and point you toward more resources for diving deeper.

6. Heed the homophones

Pro tip: The best way to deal with homophones is to create a mnemonic or memory aid to remember when to use which word. For example, I remember the affect/effect example by thinking affect starts with a , which starts "action," while effect starts with e, which starts "end" (as in, the thing that happens at the end after the action).

Here's a list of more common culprits:

Accept/Except:  

Accept means to acknowledge or agree to receive; e.g., "I accept your proposal." 

Except means apart from or excluding; e.g., "Everyone was present except Jane."

Complement/Compliment:  

A complement is something that completes or matches something else; e.g., "That nail polish complements your eyes." 

A compliment is a flattering remark; e.g., "Thanks for the nice compliment on my article."

Principal/Principle:  

Principal can be a noun or adjective. As a noun, it refers to the person in charge of a school, college, or organization; e.g., "Roger was called into the principal's office." As an adjective, it means main, or most important; e.g. "The principal reason for this meeting is to gather content ideas for Q2." 

Principle refers to a fundamental truth or belief; e.g., "Roger's educational principles are sound."

Stationary/Stationery:  

Stationary means not moving; e.g., "The car remained stationary."

Stationery refers to paper, pens, and other writing materials; e.g., "Simon looked for a blue ink pen in the stationery section."

For more homophone fun, head to homophone.com , a site dedicated just to homophones.

7. Apostrophe catastrophes

We can blame many cases of homophone confusion on apostrophes, that pesky punctuation mark that turns "your" into "you're." The former, without the apostrophe, means you own something. The latter, with the apostrophe, means you are doing something or are something. Similarly with "its" versus "it's." "Its" means that thing owns something, while "it's" means "it is."

Pro tip: Any time you use an apostrophe in a contraction, where you're combining the verb with the noun (such as "it's" for "it is" or "here's" for "here is"), expand the contraction in your mind so you get the subject-verb agreement right. "Here's the best apps," for example, does not work when you expand the "here's" contraction—"here is the best apps." It should be "here are the best apps." Just don't use contractions in this case.

As usual, The Oatmeal has a fun graphic explainer on how to properly use apostrophes .

Here are a couple more common apostrophe mistakes:

Who's/Whose:

Who's is a contraction of "who is"; e.g., "Who's calling Alan at this hour?"

Whose is a possessive pronoun that means "belonging to [someone]"; e.g., "Alan, whose phone hadn't stopped ringing all morning, barely ate anything for breakfast."

Let's/Lets

Let's is a contraction of "let us"; e.g., "Let's consider another example of a writing mistake."

Lets means allows; e.g., "The key lets you open the door."

Pro tip: Check out The Little Book of Confusables for lots more examples of spelling and usage tips to help you avoid writing mistakes.

8. Comma and semicolon confusion

Semicolons are a point of contention on almost any content-minded team. You either love them or hate them. Use semicolons to connect two complete thoughts together—more of a pause than using a comma but less of a hard stop than using a period. I used to be on Team Hate and agreed with my former manager Danny Schreiber, who quipped: "A semicolon is just a confused period," but I've been coming around to this punctuation mark; my former teammate Jill Duffy pointed out Annie Dillard's essay "Total Eclipse" in The Atlantic , which has gems like this:

It had nothing to do with anything. The sun was too small, and too cold, and too far away, to keep the world alive. The white ring was not enough. It was feeble and worthless. It was as useless as a memory; it was as off-kilter and hollow and wretched as a memory. When you try your hardest to recall someone’s face, or the look of a place, you see in your mind’s eye some vague and terrible sight such as this. It is dark; it is insubstantial; it is all wrong.

(Hey, if you can write like Annie Dillard, do whatever you want with punctuation.)

That said, if you do use a semicolon, make sure the parts that come before and after the semicolon are both complete thoughts (with both a subject and a verb). "I love semicolons; but hate commas" is incorrect because the "but hate commas" part can't stand on its own, while "I love semicolons; but I hate commas" works—even if you're better off using a comma here. Which brings us to the next point:

Commas are the worst.

They're the trickiest punctuation mark to master and a cause of contention when it comes to style. Should you use the Oxford comma (a.k.a., serial comma) or not? The Oxford comma, if you recall, is the comma that's added before the last item in a list. So, for example: "X, Y, and Z" follows the Oxford comma rule, as opposed to "X, Y and Z" (missing that last comma). Those who are not in favor of the Oxford comma cite aesthetics and one fewer character needed. Those on the side of the Oxford comma cite clarity.

Basically, pick your side, and stick with it. But if you're on the fence, go with the Oxford comma: It can help you avoid a lawsuit that hinges on a single comma .

From our blog style guide, here are other guidelines for using commas correctly:

Remember the FANBOYS rule before adding a comma: If you're connecting two complete thoughts with a coordinating conjunction (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, or So), you should always use a comma before the coordinating conjunction. However, if only one part of that sentence is a complete thought, the comma is unnecessary.

Incorrect: "I'll order the cheeseburger, but don't want the pickles."

Correct: "I'll order the cheeseburger but don't want the pickles" OR "I'll order the cheeseburger, but I don't want the pickles."

"Don't want the pickles" wouldn't be used, in most cases, as a standalone sentence, so we don't need the comma. "I don't want the pickles" is complete with subject and verb, so we add the comma. (Alternatively, you could shorten the sentence to "I'll order the cheeseburger without pickles.")

Also, add a comma after "Also" at the beginning of a sentence, but don't add a comma after "Or" or any of the other FANBOYS unless it's followed by a parenthetical.

Incorrect: "Or, you could download this other to-do app."

Correct: "Or you could download this other to-do app" OR "Or, if you want more features, you could download this other to-do app."

Pro tip: Every time you want to add a comma or a semicolon, consider whether the words after the punctuation mark form a complete thought that could stand on its own.

9. Repetitive words repeat

According to Grammarly , one of the most common writing mistakes is using the same word often in a piece. Sometimes this can't be helped:

But other times repeating the same words or phrases is a sign that you're struggling to communicate or fully explain your topic without beating around the bush. Readers (that is, people) like variety, and, in some cases, the thesaurus is your friend.

Pro tip: Grammarly's advice: Read your piece out loud, then cut down or replace frequently used words. When writing, ask yourself if you've already made this statement before in your piece.

10. Misused words

Writing is all about choosing the right words in the right sequence to convey your thought or idea. Simple, right? The problem is there are so many words at your disposal and picking the "best" word is impossible. But some words are better than others when you want to get your point across and also be precise and accurate.

One of my pet peeves is when people use "less" when they should be using "fewer." As in, "I have less readers than I did when this post was published"—it should be "fewer." Use "fewer" when you can count whatever you're referring to (in this case, readers) and "less" when you can't, such as less readership or audience. Similarly, you'd say "less water" (not countable) but "fewer raindrops" (countable).

If you want to go down the word usage rabbit hole, here are the 58 most commonly misused words and phrases . One example I see a lot is the difference between "home in on" and "hone":

Home in on means zero in on (get closer to a target). 

Hone is what you do when you sharpen a knife (or a skill).

Pro tip: The next time you misuse a word and correct it (or your editor corrects it), come up with a mnemonic to remember the right word.

Fix your writing mistakes

While these are the 10 most common writing mistakes my colleagues and I run into, there's plenty more where they came from. One big mistake that's coming up a lot recently is over-relying on AI. While AI writing generators can help you write better technically speaking, they will absolutely not help you sound like a human . Use them for brainstorming, outlines, and refinement, but also be sure there's a human brain at the helm.

Related reading:

Free writing software: tools to help you create better content, faster

How to write great copy: 11 copywriting tips

How to self-edit: A 5-step process

This article was originally published in 2018. The most recent update, with contributions from David Hartshorne, was in November 2023.

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Melanie Pinola

Melanie Pinola is a NY-based writer. Besides trying out new productivity systems, she enjoys cooking, playing video games with her family, and traveling. Follow her at @melaniepinola.

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Common Essay Mistakes—Writing Errors to Avoid [Updated]

One of the most critical skills that students gain during their college years is assignment writing. Composing impressive essays and research papers can be quite challenging, especially for ESL students. Nonetheless, before learning the art of academic writing, you may make numerous common essay mistakes.

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Such involuntary errors appear in:

• essays’ content;
• academic style;
• structure and overall organization;
• spelling and punctuation;

Good news for you! Our experts prepared a list that contains and explains all of them. Find out about common mistakes in essay writing and do your best not to make them.

• 📃 Content Mistakes
• 🔍 Stylistic Mistakes
• 📝 Structural Mistakes
• 🔤 Grammar Mistakes
• 📘 Vocabulary Mistakes
• ✍️ Spelling Mistakes
• ⁉️ Punctuation Mistakes

📃 Content Mistakes in Essays

A perfect essay usually has an impressive introduction, well-organized content, and a powerful conclusion. Lousy college essays often lack structure or content and do not impress the reader.

What should you do?

Follow these six tips when writing any type of essay:

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• Always write an essay that includes relevant facts, concrete details, and specific examples. If you just write down a few paragraphs that have something to do with your topic, you will not succeed in writing a good essay. Read the question carefully before you start writing. Single out the keywords and then elaborate on your ideas with facts, details, and examples.
• Write a good introduction. An exciting introduction gives the background for the whole essay. In the introduction, you should make your presentation of the essay topic. To write a good introduction paragraph , tell your reader what you are going to write.
• Write a strong thesis statement. The thesis statement expresses the writer’s thoughts on the topic and tells the reader how the idea will be developed. A good thesis statement explains two critical things to the reader: what you plan to argue in your essay and how you plan to do it. Always support your thesis with your ideas in the central part of the paper.
• Never write a thesis statement if you do not have enough ideas to support it. While planning your essay, you should think carefully and ask yourself whether you have enough ideas to support your thesis. And if you are not sure, formulate another one that you will be able to argue.
• Use ideas that you can prove with examples. Keep in mind: Any idea should be clarified and proved. So always give appropriate examples. If some of your writing has awkward wording, you can use an online sentence changer to fix it.
• Write a powerful conclusion. In the end, take advantage of your last chance to say something important to your readers. You should emphasize the purpose and importance of what you wrote in your essay.

The thesis is the hook on which any essay hangs.

🔍 Stylistic Mistakes in Writing

Even if it’s written interestingly, your essay may make a poor impression if you do not use the correct style.

These are five essay mistakes that most students make:

• Word repetition. Here is the truth: Your essay will look dull and childish if you use the same lexical sets. So, use synonyms and word substitutes to avoid repeating the same nouns or verbs.
• Too many passive structures. When you use the passive voice in your sentences, they sound more impersonal and objective, but they are longer and harder to read. On the contrary, active sentences are clear and direct. So, if you want to write a good essay, you should use both types. A good rule of thumb is to write less than 20 percent of your sentences in the passive voice.
• Sentences that are too long or too short. If you use sentences that are too long, you make your essay harder to understand. On the other hand, you can destroy your idea’s logical development if your sentences are too short. Try to use a balance of both long and short sentences.
• Sentences beginning with coordinating conjunctions. Coordinating conjunctions are mainly used to connect words and clauses in the same sentence. Sometimes we can also use them to start a sentence. But if you begin too many sentences with coordinating conjunctions, your essay will be monotonous. It’s better to use corresponding conjunctive adverbs like nevertheless , moreover , or however , which have the same meaning. They are more appropriate in a formal context.
• Overly formal or informal words and phrases. Many students forget that an academic essay requires a vocabulary layer that we do not use in our everyday lives. Never use slang expressions and nonstandard verb forms like gotta or wanna in your academic papers. Check English slang dictionaries if you struggle to find a proper replacement phrase or word. You should use formal constructions and high-level vocabulary.

In doubt, always consult a good dictionary to choose the proper word. If you’re unsure whether you can implement a phrase in context, see it in other text. You can do it by typing it in a search engine.

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📝 Structural Mistakes In Student Essays

An essay is a long-established form of academic writing, and there are strict rules for writing every type. They make it more manageable to organize one’s thoughts without limiting creativity.

The most common structural mistakes are:

• You can expand the fragment into a complete sentence by supplying the missing elements such as subjects, verbs, and clauses.
• You can incorporate the fragment into an adjacent sentence.
• Run-On Sentences: Run-on sentences occur when you join two or more main clauses together without appropriate punctuation. Run-on sentences confuse the reader. What can you do to correct them? Fortunately, this is pretty simple: Divide a run-on sentence into separate sentences to fix it, or add coordinating or subordinating conjunctions.

• the introduction,
• two main body paragraphs,
• and the conclusion.

Your text and sentences should have a clear structure and present your ideas’ complete development.

In the following sections, you’ll see how to avoid grammar, vocabulary, and spelling mistakes.

🔤 Grammar Mistakes in Writing

A successful essay must be grammatically correct. Learn the most common types of such errors in student essays, not to repeat them yourself.

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• Noun form mistakes. You should study key grammar areas to help you succeed. Review the rules concerning countable and uncountable nouns. Make sure you know how to use determiners with singular and plural nouns.
• Subject-predicate agreement Pay attention to the cases when words like both , some , or neither introduce compound subjects and still take the plural predicate.
• Pronouns Pronouns always agree with the noun they refer to. Some indefinite pronouns can have only a plural form or merely a singular form, but some can have both depending on the situation.
• Verb form mistakes. Remember the main grammar rules related to the use of stative and auxiliary verbs and correct use of the infinitive and modal verbs.

For more information about correcting grammar mistakes in essays, consult grammar and writing resources around the web. To avoid them, proofread your writing. Always check whether you have used the grammar forms mentioned above correctly.

Still uncertain about what not to write in a college essay? You can get help from essay writing companies that provide editing and proofreading services.

📘 Vocabulary Mistakes in Essays

Even if you develop your ideas logically, your grammar is correct, and your style is perfect, your writing can be a disaster. How so? You may make vocabulary mistakes that can ruin your paper.

The three most common language errors in essay writing are:

• Misuse of homonyms. Many students typically misuse the following homonyms: hear vs. here , hole vs. whole , its vs. it’s , and many more.
• Wrong word form. When we write quickly, we may write a word form that differs from what we meant to write. For example, students often write verb forms instead of adjectives. This can result in an unintended change of meaning ( disable people instead of disabled people ).
• Confused words. Spellcheck will not identify the incorrect use of such words as loose – lose , affect – effect , quite – quit – quiet , and accept – except . You should proofread your essay carefully to make sure you’ve used the correct words.

You can use the following strategies to eliminate such errors:

• Plan your writing ahead, picking lexicon.
• Use a dictionary or Google to ensure the right meaning.
• Leave enough time for composing so that you won’t hurry.
• Always proofread your writing, paying attention to the language you used.

If you can, leave your paper for several days. Finish your first draft and forget about it for a while. Checking it for essay errors proves to be efficient when you’ve rested and haven’t seen the text some time.

✍️ Spelling Mistakes in Essays

Numerous students say that the English language’s spelling system is the most unpredictable in the world. That is not true. There are some tricky words in English , like weigh , Caribbean , or island . You can do nothing but memorize their spelling. But several other words do follow special rules.

The most common spelling mistakes are the following:

After you have written your essay, read it carefully and correct your spelling mistakes. Make a list of the words that you usually misspell and practice writing them over and over.

⁉️ Punctuation Mistakes in Writing

Punctuation is essential in essay writing. It is used to separate ideas, relate ideas to one another, and clarify meaning. Without correct punctuation, your readers will get confused and frustrated rather quickly.

Proper punctuation is required in college essays and research papers. Learn the rules regarding the use of commas, apostrophes, and hyphens to avoid making punctuation errors.

Here is a list of the vital punctuation rules to remember:

• Put a comma after the introductory dependent clause.

An introductory dependent clause is a phrase before the subject that does not form a complete sentence.

• Incorrect: Since Miss Ostin got promoted to the chief editor position she decided not to change her workplace.
• Correct: Since Miss Ostin got promoted to the chief editor position, she decided not to change her workplace.
• Use a comma to separate non-essential info in the sentence.

Are there some clarifications that may be removed from the sentence, and the reader will still get the key idea? Separate this information with punctuation marks!

• Incorrect: My sister who recently got married is pregnant now. 
• Correct: My sister, who recently got married, is pregnant now.
• Put commas around interrupters.

Interrupters are the words that provide additional detail by breaking the flow of the sentence. Always separate them with commas.

• Incorrect: Hopefully my essay topic is suitable for the given type of assignment. 
• Correct: Hopefully, my essay topic is suitable for the given type of assignment.
• Use semicolons in too complex sentences.

Sometimes the sentence is too long, yet the information should be taken together. In such cases, put a semicolon between two parts instead of separating them with a period.

• Incorrect: I was planning to study abroad however due to certain family issues I took a gap year and stayed at home. 
• Correct: I was planning to study abroad; however, due to certain family issues, I took a gap year and stayed at home. 

And now, last but not least. Here’s a helpful video about the most common mistakes in ESL student essays. The essay writing techniques explained in this video lesson are useful for any student who wants to write good papers.

Thank you for visiting our page! Use our tips and avoid common errors in essay writing. Don’t forget to leave your comment and share the article with your friends!

This might be interesting for you:

• Useful Revising and Editing Checklists
• Essay Checklist: How to Write an A+ Essay
• Effective Writing Strategies for College Students
• How to Control Words per Page
• Basic Writing Rules – Common Mistakes & Fixes
• 200 Powerful Words to Use Instead of “Good”
• List of Credible Sources
• An Ultimate Punctuation Guide

✏️ Frequent Questions

There are several tips to improve grammar in your article:

• Avoid overly complex grammatical structures;
• Use ready-made connecting phrases and collocations;
• Proofread your text several times, perhaps read aloud and correct your mistakes;
• Run your text through a grammar checker (through desktop software or online).

There is quite a few you should avoid in order to write a good essay, e.g.:

• Too colloquial phrases;
• Excessive repetition of some words;
• Misprints, mistakes, and wrong formatting;
• Too emotional and subjective sentences;
• Too long sentences with complex grammatical constructions, etc.

There are particular “stop”-words that you should not include in an article. They can be divided into the following groups :

• colloquial language, rude comments;
• simplified connecting words (e.g., “And,” “But,” “Or” at the beginning of a sentence);
• excessively complex and almost obsolete words.

You may correct your text in various ways. Some possible strategies are:

• Read the essay aloud;
• Ask your friend to proofread the essay;
• Read the paragraphs from the bottom to the top;
• Run an automatic checker (in desktop software or online), etc.
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You’re probably thinking: I’m no Mahatma Gandhi or Steve Jobs—what could I possibly write in my memoir? I don’t even know how to start an autobiography, let alone write the whole thing. But don’t worry: essay writing can be easy, and this autobiography example for students is here to show...

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Who has made a significant impact in your life and why? Essay on the topic might be challenging to write. One is usually asked to write such a text as a college admission essay. A topic for this paper can be of your choice or pre-established by the institution. Either...

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Are you a nursing student? Then, you will definitely have an assignment to compose a nursing reflective essay. This task might be quite tough and challenging. But don’t stress out! Our professionals are willing to assist you.

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is there a set author taking credit for publishing this information ? because i would love to reference the author in my paper

Hello! You can reference it as a web source/web page.

People do not have much time for essays and are usually distracted in different things. Essays writing requires tons of concentration and a particular flow that the writer should maintain. Otherwise, it will not be interesting for the audience. Planning is so important in essay writing. Thanks for sharing these tips.

Totally agree with you, William! Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks for your hard work

How To Avoid Ten Common Mistakes in Essay Writing

• Brian D. Taylor
• Categories : Help with writing assignments paragraphs, essays, outlines & more
• Tags : Homework help & study guides

10. Failure to Be Specific

This essay writing tip involves being specific and clear.

Example: Two boys were talking. He said he was his best friend.

Huh? Who said what to whom? Is he proclaiming himself to be the best friend or is he complimenting his friend on the closeness of their friendship?

Being specific is very important in your writing. Your sentences may make sense in your own head, but if you aren’t clear and specific for your readers, they will be completely lost.

Solution: Use specific names rather than pronouns whenever possible. This is also an important rule to remember for titles and place names. Be specific whenever you can.

Example: Bill and Jack were talking. Bill said that Jack was his best friend.

9. Fragment and run-on sentences

This essay writing tip involves sentence structure.

Example: (Fragment) Because Richard III was evil. (Run-on) Richard III was an evil man he murdered two little boys.

Say the first one out loud. Does it sound incomplete? It should, because it is. You have both a subject and a verb, but the sentence is still incomplete because you’ve begun with the word ‘because’ which makes the sentence a dependent clause (AKA a fragment).

Say the second one out loud as well. If you did not pause between the words ‘man’ and ‘he’ you read it correctly. Did it sound like two sentences mashed together? It should have, because it is.

Solution: For fragments, make sure you have a subject and a predicate. Dependent clauses must connect to an independent clause (AKA a complete sentence). For run-ons, it’s usually best to separate into two sentences. For some run-ons, you can add a conjunction.

Example: (Fragment) Because Richard III was evil, he murdered two little boys. (Run-on) Richard III was an evil man. He murdered two little boys.

8. Straying Off Topic

This essay writing tip involves focus.

Example: I love hamburgers because they have most of the major food groups. The patties and the buns have your bread and meats covered. Hamburgers are also great with vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and pickles. If you’re having a cheeseburger, you also have dairy. I also like to eat hot dogs.

Is the fact that you like hot dogs relevant to your essay about hamburgers? Probably not. This one is tricky because it sounds like it’s related, but it isn’t. If the majority of your paragraph is focused on one topic and you have added a comment about another topic, you will always be off topic.

Solution: Stay focused on your topic. Eliminate random thoughts.

Example: I love hamburgers because they have most of the major food groups. The patties and the buns have your bread and meats covered. Hamburgers are also great with vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and pickles. If you’re having a cheeseburger, you also have dairy.

7. Repetition Repetition Repetition Repetition Repetition Repetition…

This essay writing tip involves not being annoying.

Example: The dog lived with Mr. Johnson, but the dog would not listen to his commands. The dog would only come when Mr. Johnson gave the dog a treat. The dog was otherwise very hyper and inattentive.

Five times. That’s how many times you just had to read ’the dog’ within the last three sentences. After a awhile, it becomes annoying and a sign of lazy writing.

Solution: Avoid repetition and add variety to your language by saying the same thing in another way.

Example: Buddy the dog lived with Mr. Johnson, but would not listen to his commands. The easily excited pooch would only come when Mr. Johnson gave him a treat. Buddy was otherwise very hyper and inattentive.

6. Lazy Introductions and Conclusions

This essay writing tip involves the two most important parts of the essay–the beginning and the end. This essay writing tip is ignored by students overly eager to finish the assignment, regardless of content.

Example: In conclusion, bears are very important animals. Next time you’re at the zoo, make a special visit to the bear pavilion.

Introductory and concluding paragraphs each have a purpose. Introductions are intended to lead the reader into the main topic of an essay. Many students begin introductions with the thesis and a quick highlight of their main points, but this is sloppy and you will almost always lose points. Try to begin with an interesting statement to pull the reader in, then tie in some introductory knowledge of your subject, and end with a strong, but simple thesis.

The purpose of a conclusion is to summarize your main points into a single thought that gives a sense of completion. It is the “falling action” of the essay, similar to that of a story. Lord of the Rings doesn’t just end when the ring is cast into the fires of Mt. Doom. The hobbits must travel back to the Shire, say goodbyes to friends, and face some small remaining evils before the story is complete. Your conclusion must also wrap up any unfinished business.

Typically, conclusions are rushed or overlooked. Many students spend hours grueling over the writing of the essay and get to the conclusion and wish to get it over with as soon as possible. Don’t do this. Give the conclusion its due. What have you been writing about for the last five hours? What have you proven in your essay? Give the reader a quality final thought.

Often, students will repeat themselves in the conclusion. Strive to say things in a new way. Sentence variety matters!

Solution: Remember the purpose of introductions and conclusions. Take your time to make them thorough and meaningful. Lead up to your thesis in the intro. Deal with unfinished business and try not to simply repeat yourself in the conclusion.

Example: After only a brief foray into ursology it becomes clear that bears are fascinating creatures. The bear’s conflicting natures of fuzzy and fierce, playful and powerful, and cute and deadly make it one of mankind’s most revered and feared creatures. Sadly, bears usually get a bad rap. If the public learns the proper ways to respect the bear, the relationship between man and bruin would be greatly improved. To find out more about bears and their habits, or to make a donation to a local bear awareness council, please visit www.bearinfo.com .

5. Copycats vs. Copyright

This essay writing tip involves honesty and integrity.

Example: Plagiarism of any kind such as intentional copying, quoting without giving credit to the author, or paraphrasing.

There are many kinds of plagiarism. Some forms are intentional. Others happen by mistake.

Intentional copying and using quotes without naming the author fall into the intentional category. In the internet era, with seemingly endless amounts of information at your hands, it is incredibly tempting to copy and paste web articles into your essay. Not only is this the most blatant form of plagiarism, but it is also the easiest kind to catch. Never use someone else’s words as if they were your own.

Another form of plagiarism that often happens by mistake is paraphrasing. This is also known as “putting it in your owns words.” Many students fail here because teachers are always telling students to put it in their own words. This is clearly confusing. While teachers do want you to share information in your own, unique way, they do not want you to rewrite the encyclopedia entry. This is how paraphrasing becomes plagiarism. Students simply work their way through an article and change the wording, sentence by sentence. This is plagiarism, because you are not using your own ideas and you are not organizing the information in your own way.

A good way to avoid plagiaristic paraphrasing is to take notes in your own words. Put the notes on a separate sheet of paper. Only take notes on the most important information, you probably won’t need information from every sentence. When you are writing your essay, use your notes only. Do not go back to the original article, just work from your notes. While writing, take the information from your notes and put them into your own words again. In other words, say it in a new way. If you follow this method, you are much less likely to paraphrase in a way that becomes plagiarism.

Solution: Never directly copy someone else’s words unless you have given the author credit. Avoid paraphrasing by taking good notes. Do not go through articles and change each sentence.

4. Broad Topic

This essay writing tip involves choosing a topic.

Example: Baseball is a great sport.

While you could write an essay about baseball, it will probably be very difficult and could end up sloppy and disorganized if you are not very careful. This topic may be too broad. There are far too many points that could be discussed for this topic: positions, players, history of baseball, rules, fans, stadiums, equipment, tips, officiating, professional leagues, amateur leagues, etc. With all that information, how do you choose what should be included in the essay? A broad topic also leads to weak links betweens your main points. While these have a common theme of being related to baseball, an essay about officiating, stadiums, and amateur leagues would seem very disorganized and unfocused.

Topics that are narrow and focused usually assist the writer. A narrow topic narrows the amount of information that can be discussed. You might think this would be bad, but it will really help. Many times narrowing the topic will create three to five obvious main points that you can discuss in each paragraph of your essay. All of your points will be more closely related to one another too.

A focused topic will also help you stay on topic. You’ll feel less tempted to bring up unnecessary information about first basemen if your essay is focused on the topic of catchers.

Solution: Narrow your topic to keep it focused. This also helps with writing because you don’t have too much information to sort through.

Example: Styles of baseball pitches. (which leads to some obvious main points: fastballs, breaking balls, changeups, trick pitches)

3. Poor Formatting

This essay writing tip involves publishing and readability.

Example: Poor choice of font, improper alignment or indentation, and spacing issues.

When writing an essay, it is always important to keep the audience or reader in mind. When you have completed the writing, you must think about formatting. Why is formatting properly so important? Because someone is going to have to read your essay at some point and a poorly formatted essay is going to make that a more difficult job.

First, select a font that can be read easily. Serif fonts are the best choice for large amounts of text. Serif fonts have little lines at the ends of each character that help the eye move from letter to letter. Sans serif fonts do not have these lines. Try using Sans Serif fonts for your titles and headings, but a serif font for the text of the essay.

Alignment and indentation are also important. Typically, the text of an essay should be left aligned. Each paragraph should have a .5" first line indent. Headings typically get right alignment and titles are almost always centered. Indentation can be controlled with the format paragraph window in many word processors.

Finally, check the spacing of your essay. Many teachers require double spacing. This gives them extra space to write comments between the lines. Yes, you do want comments. They are meant to help you become a better writer. Spacing is also controlled in the format paragraph window.

2. Rogue Thesis Statements

This essay writing tip involves thesis statements .

Example: This is my essay about fossils. (or) This essay will teach you everything you need to know about bones (and appearing at the beginning of the introductory paragraph).

Typically, you should not write in first person point of view when writing essays. This means you should not speak about yourself, the reader, or the essay itself. Usually, students do a good job of this until the thesis statement. Resist the urge to use words and phrases like ‘my essay,’ you will learn,’ or ‘This is why I believe…’

The thesis statement is the main topic sentence for your entire essay. Many students want to jump right in with their thesis statement. It often appears as the first sentence, probably because everyone has been taught to begin every paragraph with a topic sentence. Don’t make this mistake. The introduction is a paragraph that is intended to lead up to the topic. If you start with the thesis, then there’s no point for an entire introduction paragraph.

Solution: Avoid first person perspective (my, I, you, essay, etc.). Keep the thesis statement at the end or very near the end of the introduction.

Example: Studying fossils is a very interesting way to learn about the past.

1. Spell Check Fail

This essay writing tip involves proofreading.

Example: The cold man wore a brown cat upon his head.

No, he’s not wearing a cat instead of a hat because he’s so cold. He’s wearing the cat on his head because someone has forgotten the limitations of automated spell check. Now, automated spell checks are great. By all means, use them; however, they do not catch everything, including the examples above. Let’s say the intended sentence was, “The old man wore a brown hat upon his head.” An automated spell check would not catch the two mistakes because those typos actually created real words: ‘cold’ and ‘cat.’

Solution: Do an automated spell check to begin. Then, go back and do a secondary check yourself.

Example: The old man wore a brown hat upon his head.

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– 22 min read

99 most common grammar mistakes

The Writer Team

Does proper grammar seem daunting to you? Not sure if you should use the word “irregardless” or “regardless” in a sentence? Or how to use an infinitive verb?

The English language is finicky enough that a single missing comma can radically change the meaning of, well, everything you were trying to say:

Let’s eat friends!  is more than a little creepy, while

Let’s eat, friends!  sounds warm and inviting.

It’s our hope that this guide helps you avoid such blunders.

99 most common grammar mistakes in writing

One of the questions our subscribers ask most, whether they’re  proofreading  pros or full-time students, is how they can avoid the most common grammar mistakes. In this list, we outline some of the most common grammatical errors we’re seeing, based on millions of data points from  Writer  subscribers.

1. Let’s vs. Lets

Let’s not get carried away here — this one is pretty simple:

Let’s = let us. As in, let us not get carried away here…

Lets = to make something possible. This checklist lets you write better.

2. Its vs. It’s

It’s simple:

It’s = it is. As in, it’s so dang cold outside.

Its = associated with something recently mentioned. As in, the weather has a mind of its own.

3. Your vs. You’re

Your is a possessive pronoun that describes ownership of an item: your jacket is sweet!

You’re is the contraction of you are: you’re probably glad you have that jacket.

4. May vs. Might

May indicates a possibility; might indicates a hypothetical probability. I may quit my job — even though I’m good at it.

Then again, I might get fired.

5. Lay vs. Lie

Lay describes the action of placing something flat: lay down, Fido!

Lie describes the status of something resting flat: Fido likes lying (lie-ing) down.

6. Affect vs. Effect

Affect implies action: “I want to affect the world in a positive way,” said Jane. Effect describes its result. “The effects of your intention should be good,” replied her friend. Find out more about Affect vs. Effect here.

7. Too obvious?

Is this one too obvious, or not? Based on what must be billions of text-message bloopers it’s probably worth mentioning! Too refers to, well, too much of something / too many of something: “I have too much money to live in such a small house.”

It can also be used as a form of agreement: “yeah, I feel that way too.”

8. To vs. two

Two is a number (you know, this one: 2). ‘To’ is a word meant to be used in all sorts of different ways.

9. There vs. their

There refers to a location; their refers to a designation:

“See that restaurant over there?” – “Yep, that’s their favorite one!”

10. Their vs. they’re

They’re = they are:

‘They’re going to love that restaurant!’ – “Yeah, like I said it’s their fav.”

11. Loose vs. lose

Loose refers to something that’s been let out of control. While lose-ing is the opposite of winning! “Don’t be afraid to let loose. After all, what do you have to lose?”

12. Peek vs. peak

Peek means to look at something; peak refers to the top of something.

“Can I take a peek of the scenery?” – “Sure, but I heard the view’s better from the peak”

13. Peak vs. pique

We already mentioned what peak means. Just in case you were wondering, though, don’t confuse it with pique, which means ‘to stir up’ — “my interest was piqued.”

14. Compliment vs. complement

While both of these words refer to nice things, their meanings are quite different. A compliment is something nice you tell someone; complement refers to things that go well together.

Here’s a brain-bending compliment: “Your shoes complement your outfit so well!”

15. Piece of mind vs. Peace of mind

A piece of mind refers to one’s perspective or opinion: “My neighbor’s truck is so loud, it’s about time I gave him a piece of my mind!”

Whereas peace of mind refers to a mental framework: “Yeah…all that noise is really hurting my peace of mind.”

16. Literally

If you use the word literally, be sure to use it, well, literally! Watered-down words are no good for anyone.

17. To comma or not to comma

Commas are tricky little beasts. Sometimes skipping an oxford comma or two (even if using one would be grammatically correct) is actually a good call, so trust your instinct.

“Once upon a time, there was this really good writer…”

“Yeah I heard she didn’t always use commas.”

18. Semicolons

Semicolons are actually more like periods than commas. They usher in a new train of thought.

Semicolons are actually more like periods than commas; they usher in a new train of thought.

19. Semicolons + commas

Sometimes, though, semicolons are best followed up by a comma; in cases such as these, it’s totally okay to use them both!

20. Semicolons vs. commas

Many times commas work just fine by themselves, so don’t use semicolons if you don’t need to.

Many times commas work just fine by themselves; so don’t use semicolons if you don’t need to. (Doesn’t that look awkward?)

21. Parentheses and periods

Normally periods and other punctuation marks go after parentheses (normally).

22. Periods inside parentheses

The exception is if you’re writing an entire sentence within parentheses — like the example in mistake #20 above.

23. Quotation placement

“Periods, commas, question marks, exclamation points, quotations within quotations, etc. should always be placed inside quotation marks,” he explained.

24. Unless you’re outside the United States

That’s right: in most other countries, punctuation marks actually go outside quotations. Go figure.

25. Plural or singular!

It really don’t sound good if you doesn’t stay consistent with plural and singular forms…

26. Hyphens vs. dashes

A hyphen, like the one to the right, connects two or more inter-related words — a dash, like the one just to the left, connects two or more related thoughts.

27. En dash or Em dash?

An en dash is about the width of the letter “N,” and it’s meant to show a range, like 1-10.

An em dash is longer — it’s meant to facilitate those fun connections we mentioned earlier.

28. Inappropriate hyphens

In general, don’t use hyphens to connect two parts of one word. The way we spelled ‘inter-related’ up there? Yeah…that’s incorrect. Unless you’re trying to prove a point.

29. Missing dashes

On the other hand, don’t rule out the use of hyphens entirely. They can be insanely-awesomely-silly-ly useful!

30. Don’t be too negative

Actually, forget that — be positive. After all, why negate a negative when you can present a positive instead?

31. The other kind of double negative…

Ever feel like you can’t do nothing right? Maybe like you can’t spell nothing correct at all? Please, don’t ever write like this. Unless you’re authoring a Southern-twanged novel or something.

32. Dot-dot-dot

Some people like doing dots like this…

Others like this method . . .

But feel free to use whatever resonates most with you.

33. Dash spacing

And some people don’t like having spaces around their em dashes—they can get pretty particular about it. Best-selling author Tim Ferris leaves spaces around his, though — so apparently it doesn’t matter too much.

34. 50 cent(s)

This is like the mathematical version of the double-negatives we mentioned earlier. If you’re trying to denote a certain number of cents, either write out the full decimal, or list the number of cents:

50 cents, or $0.50

Don’t do both: $0.50 cents

…unless, of course, you really are talking about half of one cent…

35. The issue of marriage

In this case, marriage is only an issue if the term is used incorrectly:

“She was married with a football player.”

Saying “she was married to a football player” just sounds way better.

36. Each and every student

The term “every” almost always goes with a singular noun:

“Every student passed the test” is correct, while “every students passed the test” is not.

37. Although/but

The words although and but don’t often work well together. Try to use one of them or the other, not both!

Although it was raining, we still went outside.

It was raining, but we still went outside.

38. You and I

“Pam and me went to get some groceries” is incorrect;

“Pam and I went to get some groceries” is spot on.

39. Amount vs. number

‘Amount’ should be used for something uncountable: “a large amount of dirt.”

‘Number’ should be used for things you can quantify: “a large number of people.”

40. Fewer vs. less

‘Less’ should be used for something uncountable: “less dirt.”

‘Fewer’ should be used for things you can quantify: “fewer people.”

41. Shared possessions

If you’re sharing something, then it’s enough to use one apostrophe: This is Tim and Andy’s house.

42. That’s all well & good…

“I slept well” is correct; “I slept good” makes it sound like you need a little more sleep.

43. Or is it good & well?

If you’re describing the quality of something, however, ‘good’ can be a very good fit.

44. The police is coming!

Actually, the police are coming. Unless this is also part of that slang-infused novel you’re writing.

45. A vs. an

Do you have an idea of whether or not this sentence is grammatically correct? Hint: it is!

46. Amicable/amiable

‘Amicable’ should be used to describe pleasant meetings and such; ‘amiable’ should be used as a synonym for ‘kind.’

47. Write vs. right

This article is meant to help you write…the right way.

48. Beside/besides

“Want to sit beside me?” is more correct than “want to sit besides me?”

49. Farther/further

“Want to bike a little farther?” is more correct than “want to bike further?”

50. Can vs. may

‘Can’ implies an ability; ‘may’ implies a possibility.

51. Since/for

I’ve been in Europe for 3 weeks. I’ve been in Europe since the first. If you try swapping ‘since’ and ‘for’ in the above sentences, it just doesn’t work.

52. No one vs. anyone

“He didn’t know nobody” is incorrect; “he didn’t know anyone” is much better.

53. More smart, or smarter?

If you want to sound smarter, try to avoid talking about being “more smart” than others!

54. A lot/alot

Did you know that ‘alot’ isn’t a word? Use ‘a lot’ instead

55. Alot/Allot

Unless, of course, what you’re really trying to say is ‘allot,’ a word which means “to give or assign.”

56. Wreck vs. wreak

The wreck wreaked havoc on several of the cars involved.

57. Pore vs. pour

A pore is a small opening; a pour is what’s done to a drink!

58. Ran vs. run

“I ran fast” and “I run fast” are both correct, but they do have slightly different meanings. If you’re still pretty quick, use the ‘run’ version.

59. Suppose so?

You’re supposed to use ‘suppose’ in the above type of situation.

60. Collocations

Some words just go better together. “Due to the fact that” is one prime example. If you use collocations like these, don’t try to divide them up!

61. Got know-how?

“I know how to write.” “I’ve got business writing know-how.” While both of these sentences are grammatically correct, one is much less awkward than the other.

62. Keep tense consistent!

“I went to the grocery store and buy some eggs.” → See how improper that sounds? Make sure you keep your tense consistent, whether it’s past or present or future tense you’re talking about.

63. Unless you’re talking about something universal…

If you’re talking about a timeless truth, though, you can switch your tense up a little:

“‘The earth revolves around the sun,’ his parents explained.”

64. Seniority

“He’s senior to me” works, and so does “he’s older than me”…but don’t try to flip these around: “he’s senior than me” and “he’s older to me” are both wrong.

65. Neither/nor

‘Neither’ and ‘nor’ go great together: “She was neither stronger nor faster, but she was still a great athlete.”

66. Cardinal vs. ordinal

Cardinal numbers deal in absolutes; this is grammar mistake #66. Ordinal numbers deal with positions; this is the 66th grammar mistake listed.

67. Spell it out

Typically numbers under 10 should be spelled out, though there may be one or two valid exceptions to this rule.

68. Missing articles

Don’t forget to put the word ‘the’ before appropriate items: the book, the blog , the article, and so on.

69. One should stay consistent

If you’re speaking about another person, use consistent pronouns: “One should stay consistent when they are writing” sounds much better than “one should stay consistent when he is writing.”

70. Hard vs. hardly

“Writing is hard.” → Correct

“Writing is hardly hard when you use  Writer .” → Also correct!

71. Hardly vs. hardy

“Carrots are very hardly vegetables.” → ??

“Carrots are very hardy vegetables.” → Correct.

72. First come, first served?

Though most people (i.e., restaurants) will say “first come, first serve,” what makes much more sense is “first come, first served.”

73. Shoulda woulda coulda

‘Should of,’ ‘would of,’ and ‘could of’ are actually all incorrect, though they might sound decent enough.

The proper usage, of course, is ‘should’ve,’ ‘would’ve,’ and ‘could’ve.’ These are contractions for “should have,” “would have,” and “could have.”

74. Wait, so you could or couldn’t care less?

Many people use the phrase I could care less’ to describe something they don’t really care about. If you think about it, though, what they’re trying to say is that they  couldn’t  care less.

75. “I” shouldn’t come last

“At the restaurant, it was just her and I” just doesn’t sound as good as “At the restaurant, it was just me and her.”

76. But “me” shouldn’t come first

The above  writing mistake  also has an inverse:

“Me and her went to the restaurant” just doesn’t sound as good as “her and I went to the restaurant” — but that’s not right, either. Why? Because if you take away “I,” the sentence would read “her went to the restaurant.“ The correct usage is “She and I went to the restaurant.”

77. Apostrophe calamity

The Johnson’s. The 70’s. The Jones’s…life is simpler without all these apostrophe’s!

For plurals, try the Johnsons, the 70s, and (if you’re trying to keep up with them) the Joneses instead. But if the Joneses own something, it’s the Joneses’ (see number 93).

78. Mmm, expresso

While ‘expresso’ might sound correct to some, it’s actually spelled ‘espresso.’ Just FYI.

79. A sleight of hand

That’s right: a ‘slight of hand’ is actually incorrect!

80. Forte, niche, and other mispronunciations

Forte’s pronunciation =  fort .

Niche’s pronunciation =  neesh .

Just don’t spell either of them that way…

81. Exact revenge!

If you must have your revenge, don’t extract it, exact it!

82. Soggy appetites

“That really wet my appetite.” → Incorrect

“That really whet my appetite.” → Correct

83. Do your due diligence

See what we did there? It’s ‘due diligence,’ not ‘do diligence.’

84. Per say

‘Per se’ is a Latin phrase meaning ‘in itself’… per say  is how you pronounce it.

85. Worse comes to worst

While we’ve all heard the phrase “if worse comes to worse,” it doesn’t really make sense unless “worse” goes all the way to “worst.”

86. Chalk it up…

…don’t “chock it up.”

87. Free rein

To give “free rein” to something means to let go of control.

To give “free reign” implies kingship without effort.

88. Nip it where?

In the bud, not in the butt! For those unfamiliar, this phrase’s literal meaning refers to nipping flowers in the bud.

89. Disinterested vs. uninterested

These two terms aren’t actually synonyms. Being  disinterested  implies that you couldn’t care less; being  uninterested  means you care enough to turn your interest away.

90. Nauseous vs. nauseated

Don’t worry: almost everyone gets this one wrong. “Nauseous” technically means to be capable of making others nauseated; “nauseated” means not feeling well.

91. The impact of impactful

Is impactful a word? Contrary to what you may have heard, it is — so don’t let people tell you otherwise.

92. However vs. nevertheless

Fans of classic grammar will insist that sentences shouldn’t be started with “however,” at least not when they can be started with “nevertheless” instead. We’d say use whichever sounds better to you.

93. Too many s’s

When in doubt, drop the extra s. Arkansas’ is usually preferred over Arkansas’s, for example.

94. Run on sentences

Contrary to popular belief run-on sentences aren’t necessarily long they simply occur when commas and/or other types of punctuation are missing like this.

95. Too many commas

Using too many commas, on the other hand, isn’t good either, because it can reduce the casual flow, from word to word, that you should strive for.

96. A break from parallel

“He was studying math, science, and digital photos” might not sound that bad, but why not say, “he was studying math, science, and digital photography” instead?

97. Sentence splice

I wanted to cook a great dinner, however I was just too tired.

I wanted to cook a great dinner; however, I was just too tired.

I wanted to cook a great dinner. However, I was just too tired.

The first of these three sentences is incorrect. Why? Because it’s spliced together without the appropriate punctuation.

98. Misplaced semicolons

On the other hand; using semicolons where they’re not needed (say, in place of commas) isn’t good either.

99. Incorrect capitalization

You probably know to capitalize proper nouns and the first word of each sentence. But sometimes you also need to capitalize after a semicolon or the first word of a quote.

Christine explained, “Community is key to building a successful online business.”

7 major types of grammatical errors

Bad grammar can make a poor first impression, whether you’re writing a business email or  messaging a potential date . People tend to make assumptions about your abilities based on how you communicate. If you’ve made it this far and want to learn how to write better , let’s look at some examples of bad grammar.

• Verb tense errors

One of the most common grammar mistakes is using the wrong verb tense. The verb tense tells your reader when the action takes place: in the past, present, or future. When writing anything, you want to be consistent on verb tense unless there is a good reason to switch tenses.

The mistake:  I drive to the store and I bought shoes.

Why it’s wrong:  A verb tense shift happens when the writer changes tense in a sentence or paragraph. In this case,  drive  is present tense and  bought  is past tense.

The correction:  You should change  drive  to  drove , or change  bought  to  buy  to make the sentence correct. Be mindful of shifting tenses within a paragraph.

Subject-verb agreement

The subject of the sentence (the person or thing doing the action) and verb (the action) in a sentence must agree with each other. If the subject of the sentence is singular, the verb must be singular. If it’s plural, the verb must be plural also.

The mistake:  Michael and Sue is going to the beach.

Why it’s wrong:  “Michael and Sue” are plural. The auxiliary verb “is” is singular, which is a lack of agreement.

The correction:  The sentence should read, “Michael and Sue are going to the beach.”

Comma splice

A common punctuation mistake is the comma splice. A comma splice happens when two separate sentences take place rather than using a period or semicolon.

The mistake:  I went to Steve’s house, and ate lunch.

Why it’s wrong:  Writers often use a comma splice when they connect two independent clauses with a comma rather than a comma and a coordinating conjunction.

The correction:  Use commas to separate two independent clauses when they are joined by coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, for, so, yet. In the compound sentence above, “and ate lunch” doesn’t have a subject, so you don’t need to add a comma before “and”.

Small punctuation errors like this seem like a small thing, but punctuation helps guide readers through your text smoothly. You can use a punctuation checker to double check your work and correct these grammar errors in minutes.

Misplaced or dangling modifiers

A  misplaced modifier  is a word, phrase, or clause that is separated from the word it modifies or describes. A dangling modifier is a grammatical error where the modifying word is too far away from the subject of the sentence, or there is no subject.

Sentences with these mistakes often sound awkward or confusing. But don’t worry, misplaced and dangling modifiers are common writing mistakes and even trouble the experts in English grammar.

The mistake:  Disappointed, the story took me forever to write.

Why it’s wrong:  The modifier should be as close as possible to the thing it modifies. Since the subject of the sentence is disappointed (not the story), the sentence should have the speaker and modifier closer.

The correction:  The sentence should read, “I was disappointed by how long the story took me to write.”

• Overuse of adverbs

An adverb is a word that describes a verb—they often end in -ly. Writers use adverbs to give more information about the verb and make it more descriptive. Using adverbs every so often isn’t bad grammar, but too many can mean poor verb choices.

The mistake: The wedding went really bad.

Why it’s wrong:  The adverb “really bad” modifies the verb “went”. While “really bad” gets the point across, does it really paint a picture for the reader?

The correction:  Use a more descriptive sentence like “the wedding was a disaster” instead.

Passive voice

English grammar experts and teachers consider passive voice a bad writing habit. With the passive voice, the object of the action becomes the subject of the sentence. It’s recommended to turn passive constructions into active voice, where the subject does the action of the verb in a sentence. Active voice can make your writing stronger and more direct.

The mistake:  The car was driven by Chris.

Why it’s wrong:  The last words in the sentence “by Chris” make up a preposition that tells the reader who is performing the action. Even though Chris is performing the action, he is not the subject of the sentence. You could remove him from the sentence entirely using passive voice.

The correction:  The active voice construction would be “Chris drove the car”.

Sentence errors

Sentence structure mistakes are one of the most common grammatical errors. You can break down sentence errors into three categories: sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and overloaded sentences.

• Sentence fragments

Sentence fragments are clauses that miss one of the following elements: a subject, a verb, a complete thought. You often miss fragments because they are no big deal in  spoken grammar , aka conversation, but can make a big impact on your writing’s clarity.

The mistake:  He still loved his parents. Despite everything that had happened.

Why it’s wrong:  The second sentence “despite everything that had happened” has no subject or verb. You depend on the first sentence to give the second one meaning.

The correction:  The complete sentence for this clause is “Despite everything that happened, he still loved his parents.”

• Run-on sentences

Run-on sentences, also known as fused sentences, happen when two complete sentences are brought together without any punctuation or conjunction, such as a semicolon or period. Run-on sentences don’t have to be long to be considered grammatically incorrect.

The mistake:  Yesterday was the best day ever my family and I began our ski vacation.

Why it’s wrong:  There is more than one idea communicated by two independent clauses.

The correction:  Yesterday was the best day ever! My family and I began our ski vacation.

• Overloaded sentences

An overloaded sentence is one that squashes too much information together and, as a result, becomes hard to understand for readers.

The mistake:  Youth league coaches need to understand that the education of a child is a big undertaking and should be done with care and consistency so that the child can gain maximum benefit from each training in order to set a solid foundation for any follow-up teaching.

Why it’s wrong:  A good sentence focuses on one idea. The example above wanders around and takes too much mental effort before understanding the point.

The correction:  Youth league coaches need to understand that the education of a child is a big undertaking. It should be done with care and consistency. That way, children can get the most from each training and set a solid foundation for any future teaching.

Related reading:  An Introduction to AI Writing Software

Lowering the number of grammar mistakes in your writing

They say rules are meant to be broken — and we’d agree, as long as one is talking about the core grammar rules. Sometimes a missing comma or random sentence splice can make good writing great! So don’t be afraid to follow your intuition. If you’re having fun, chances are your reader will be, too.

(For the words that matter most, take no chances! Make sure you’re using  Writer .)

Common grammar mistakes FAQ

What is a grammatical error.

A grammatical error refers to an occurrence of faulty, unconventional or controversial usage, such as a dangling modifier or possessive noun errors. Grammar errors are also called usage errors.

What are examples of grammatical errors?

• Faulty sentence structures
• Punctuation mistakes
• Passive voice misuse
• Dangling participles

How do you identify grammatical errors?

You can identify grammatical errors by using a grammar checker to find and fix errors, improve word usage, verb tense, and punctuation for English text.

What are the 10 most common grammar mistakes?

Using millions of data points from Writer subscribers, we identified 10 common grammar mistakes:

• Let’s vs. lets
• Its vs. it’s
• Your vs. You’re
• May vs. Might
• Lay vs. Lie
• Affect vs. Effect
• There vs. their vs. they’re
• Loose vs lose
• Peek vs. peak

What are three most common sentence errors?

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5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Essays

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Jordan Sanchez in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered:

Essay length, cohesive writing, reusing essays.

In this post, we discuss mistakes to avoid when writing your college essay . For more information, check out this post about how to write this year’s Common App essays . 

A common college essay mistake is writing an essay that’s too short. For example, the word limit for the Common App essay is 650 words, and you should try as hard as you can to reach that number. A 400-word essay is definitely too short. Make sure you’re using all the words available to you.

If you’re having difficulty meeting the word limit, your essay topic may be too specific. Also, you may not be including enough details or descriptive language. Conversely, if your essay is too long, you may have sections that could be simplified. Look for any areas where the writing may be repetitive or redundant. Consider whether your essay is too broad. Are you trying to cover multiple topics? It can be helpful to break down your essay paragraph by paragraph and ensure that everything you’ve written aligns with the goals of the essay.

Since supplemental essays tend to have low word limits, you can do more telling than showing when writing these. That said, while you don’t want to waste words, if there’s an opportunity to add a bit of personality to a supplemental essay, you should take it. 

Another common mistake is incohesive writing. Cohesive essays are easy and enjoyable to read. If an essay is jumping around and doesn’t have a clear narrative or connection between ideas, it can be distracting. The reader will be wondering what’s relevant and what they should be caring about, which takes attention away from the content and purpose of your essay.

Incohesive writing happens in two major ways. The first is when a writer doesn’t use effective transitions. These show the reader how different ideas are related, and without them, an essay can be disorganized and difficult to understand. Transitions can be as short as one or two sentences or as long as a whole paragraph.

Incohesive writing can also happen when the writer is inconsistent. Your essay should maintain the same tense, point of view, and writing style from beginning to end. Don’t use extremely complicated vocabulary in one paragraph and incredibly simple language in the next. Write in your natural style and voice, and you’ll never go wrong. 

To check the cohesion of your writing, go over your first or second draft and answer the following questions: “What is the main idea of this paragraph? Does it align with the central theme of the essay? How does this relate to the previous paragraph? Do I illustrate the connection here or later in the essay? What point of view is this written in? What about tense? Is it narrative or creative? Distant or close and engaging? Informative or persuasive?” Your answers should be the same or similar for each paragraph. 

It’s crucial to write your essay in the correct form. The Common App essay is similar to a narrative or memoir in that it’s a short personal story. Many students have little to no experience writing in this form, and if you’re one of them, that’s okay, you’re not alone.

Keep in mind that this is not a five-paragraph essay. You won’t have an introduction or conclusion in the traditional sense. Your introduction will be the hook of your essay, whether it comes in the form of dialogue, descriptive language, or imagery. The conclusion will be a short wrap-up, perhaps a few sentences in length. 

The essay isn’t a thought piece either. You shouldn’t be writing something speculative. You want to include specific personal details from your life. This will ground the essay so it doesn’t feel lofty, and it will help the reader get to know you better. 

Not sounding like yourself is a big issue in college essays. The admissions committee is not expecting the most beautiful prose or intelligent language. They want to read an essay by you and about you, so be sure to write your essay in your own voice.

Don’t include words in your essay that you don’t use regularly. You don’t need big, fancy words to impress admissions officers. Your character and your story will impress them for you. In the same vein, your essay should center around who you are today. It’s okay to write about something that happened in the distant past, but the bulk of your essay should be about events that occurred between 10th and 12th grade. Don’t talk too much about your past without connecting it back to who you are today. 

Throughout the college application process, you’ll write several essays, including personal statements and supplements. A few of these essays can be used in applications for several schools, but be careful not to reuse the wrong ones.

Admissions officers can tell when you’re reusing an essay that you shouldn’t. It shows carelessness and a lack of interest in the school and can lower your chances of admission. To avoid this mistake, before writing any of your supplemental essays, copy and paste all the prompts into a single document, and take inventory of how many you’ll actually have to write and how many you can reuse.

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The 5 Worst Academic Essay Writing Mistakes to Avoid

by Suzanne Davis | Oct 9, 2019 | College and Graduate School , Writing Essays and Papers , Writing Process

Everyone writes an academic essay that crashes.

It doesn’t get the grade you hoped it would, there are comments and corrections along the margins or even just a low grade. It hurts, eats away at your confidence, and it’s especially hard when it happens at the beginning of the academic year. But you don’t need to feel that way.  If you want to compose successful academic essays there are writing mistakes you need to avoid. 

As an academic writing tutor and teacher, I’ve seen the 5 most common mistakes students make in their essays every year.   

• Writing a vague thesis statement
• Not having enough facts and evidence to support the thesis statement
• Not including their original ideas and analysis
• Writing too many long and confusing sentences
• Not revising and editing their essays

Fortunately, you don’t have to fall into the trap of repeating these mistakes because we’re diving into these issues. So, you can solve these problems or (even better) avoid them! 

 The 5 Worst Writing Mistakes to Avoid in Your Essays

# 1  A vague thesis statement

A thesis statement expresses your claim or perspective on a topic and why or how.   A vague thesis statement stops at explaining a point of view. Here’s an example of a vague thesis statement: 

High school students should need to complete half a year of community service.   

What makes this vague is that it doesn’t reveal why high school students should do community service for half a year.   A good thesis statement tells the reader why this is so. 

How do you avoid this?  

You ask yourself why or how is this claim valid?  Here’s a revision of the above thesis statement: 

High school students should need to complete half a year of community service before they graduate because it teaches them how to make a difference in the world.  

I fixed this statement by answering this question, “Why? What is my reason for this belief?”   My answer is then filled in after adding the word “ because.” 

Other times you will write a thesis statement that explains how something happens.  In that case, ask yourself “How does an argument or process happen?” Always, go deeper than a general statement of what something is by asking yourself how and why.  

#2 Not enough evidence or facts to support your thesis

Sometimes this is because there isn’t any evidence. You’ve chosen a topic and written a thesis statement that doesn’t have a lot of facts to support it.   Other times it’s because you’ve focused more on your ideas and opinion and not the evidence.   

How do you avoid this?  

Look for evidence and support before you decide on your thesis statement (you should know before you start writing an essay that you can support it).  A lot of people don’t spend enough time in the prewriting phase. So, they don’t evaluate their topics to see if there is support for their claims. Check for sources before you commit to writing an essay on a topic. 

If you can’t find facts and supporting details, you shouldn’t write an academic essay on that topic. If you brainstorm during the prewriting phase of the academic writing process, you should have a list of possible topics. Select another topic and check to see if there is research.  Read more about how to do this in my blog post, https://www.academicwritingsuccess.com/5-prewriting-activities-for-academic-writing/.

#3 Lack of original ideas

This mistake happens when people present facts, but fail to explain how or why they demonstrate a point.  An obvious example is when someone writes a quotation without adding any analysis or interpreting what it means, or this could be a fact a person doesn’t discuss. 

When you are copying and collecting evidence, write a quick note on what that evidence means.  Ask yourself, “What does this mean?” about every piece of evidence. When you draft your essay, these notes help you add your analysis and ideas about the evidence you include. 

When you revise your draft, highlight where you have facts and quotations. Then read it to see if you explained what that evidence meant. If not, add an analysis. 

#4  Too many long and confusing sentences

This mistake is where your sentences are lengthy and contain so many words and phrases that it’s hard to follow your point.  When someone reads your essay, they should see sentence variety. Simple sentences balance out complex and compound-complex sentences.  Creating a mix of sentences makes it easier for your reader to understand your argument.   

Most of the time, this happens because people use too many words and phrases that aren’t necessary or could be said in a shorter amount of time because they want to sound “academic.”  

When you get enough practice writing in a more concise language, you will avoid this more often.  For now, I will advise you on how to spot it and fix it. 

Highlight your long sentences in a different color from what you used before.  Read them over. Ask yourself:

• Is it difficult to read, and are there ways I can make it more transparent?
• Can I take out words and phrases and not change the meaning? 
• Can I break this sentence up? 

This is a skill that needs to be practiced, and you will probably need feedback on making sentences clearer, so get someone else to read the essay.  

Hemingway Editor and Slick Write are 2 useful online tools that will help you edit hard to read sentences.  You can learn more about them in my post, “The Top 8 Free Online Editing Tools for Writing Excellent Research Papers.” https://www.academicwritingsuccess.com/8-free-online-editing-tools-for-writing-excellent-research-papers/

#5 Not revising and editing the essay

It’s obvious when someone hasn’t revised and edited their work. N ot only are there spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes, but often the content of an essay is weak too.  

You should revise and edit every academic essay you write because it often makes the difference between an A or B, B or C, or C and D essay.  

Revising focuses on an essay’s content and organization.  Editing deals with spelling, grammar, punctuation and referencing style. It’s easy for a reader to know when you didn’t proofread something yourself. Teachers and professors will spot those types of errors because they interrupt their reading.   

How do you avoid this?

Make sure your content is on-topic and supports your main ideas and thesis statement.  Also, check to see that the essay has a logical writing organization, and the writing flows well.     

If you’re not familiar with how to evaluate whether your content is strong and well-organized you probably need to work with someone who can read your first draft and give you feedback on it.  Checklists and commenting sheets will help you with that too. Check out my post, “Academic Revising 101: The Essential Essay Revision Checklist” https://www.academicwritingsuccess.com/academic-revising-101-the-essential-essay-revision-checklist/ for a complete breakdown on how to revise your writing.

You avoid spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors by leaving enough time to edit.  If you struggle with editing, I recommend creating a self- editing checklist of things to look for.  Your list helps you focus on the mistakes you usually make. Check out the infographic, “ Self-Editing Academic Essay Checklist ” to see what I look for in my writing. 

Read your essay aloud and focus on each sentence to make sure it is correct.  There are some grammar and spelling checkers that can help you, but none are perfect.  

How to Avoid Making Writing Mistakes in Essays

These writing mistakes can be fixed or avoided during the academic writing process.  Going through each phase of the writing process, prewriting, writing a draft, revising, editing and handing in a final draft helps you craft an essay you’re proud of– one you will love handing into a teacher. 

However, if you feel you can’t spot or fix any of those issues on your own get guidance and feedback on your essays.  A teacher or private tutor can help you, or you might find assistance in an academic writing group. 

If you struggle with these writing mistakes and more, sign up for a free consultation and I will give you advice and strategies on how to advance your academic writing at   https://www.academicwritingsuccess.com/tutoring-services/.

Want to see what goes into writing an outstanding academic essay?  Join the Academic Writing Success Community and get the free PDF “ How to Organize an Amazing Academic Essay Cheat Sheet!” 

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How to Avoid Common Essay Mistakes

Last Updated: October 11, 2022 References

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 17 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 7,645 times.

No matter what field you're in, you will need to write an essay at some point in your life. Essays can be written in a variety of fields of study, styles, and genres. The amount of time dedicated to constructing an essay varies greatly from one assignment to the next. However, one of the ways that you can cut down on the amount of time spent writing an essay is to avoid common essay mistakes by learning how to compose an essay properly.

Pre-Writing

• For example, you do not want to compare all of Africa to all of Asia because that topic would be too broad or too general. Instead, you might write an essay that compares the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramids of Giza, which is focused and specific topic, and which would provide you with enough information to craft an essay that is an appropriate length.

• Reading books on your selected topic.
• Browsing scholarly peer-reviewed articles on your topic. These articles can be found through your school’s library online databases and through search engines like Google Scholar.
• Reading magazine and news articles on your topic.
• Listening to radio interviews or podcasts about your topic.

• Wikipedia [4] X Research source
• Personal Blogs
• Vlogs or video blogs
• Satirical websites
• If you do read an article from a site like Wikipedia, check out the citations provided at the end of the article. Use those sources, rather than the Wikipedia article, in your essay.

• An introduction
• A thesis (your main argument or the main point of your essay)
• Supporting examples
• A conclusion

• An example of an arguable thesis would be: The government should decriminalize all drug use and rather than implementing punishment for people caught using drugs, a drug rehabilitation program should be put into place.

• Avoid ambiguous words, or words that shift in meaning depending on context. [11] X Trustworthy Source US Department of Health and Human Services Federal department responsible for improving the health and well-being of Americans Go to source
• Use words that have force or urgency by using active voice and avoiding passive voice. [12] X Research source
• Avoid professional jargon, highly technical terminology, or overly specialized terms, unless the audience has background knowledge on the subject. If you end up using a technical term or jargon for an article intended to be understood by anyone, be sure to define and explain it in simple terms.
• Utilize words that are understandable to a wide range of readers to avoid creating a document with an exclusionary readership, which will alienate all other readers.
• Avoid clichés. [13] X Research source You might like the idea of a cliché because it is easy to use, but clichés are frowned upon in essays. Clichés are old and overused turns of phrase. [14] X Research source Rather than using a cliché, you should be inventive and consider a new way to say what you might have otherwise communicated as a cliché. Consider avoiding the following:

• For example, if you are writing an essay on why the sky is blue, your essay would read very differently depending upon whether you are writing it for a college professor or for a class of elementary school children. Despite the fact that the reason for the sky being blue remains the same, your writing style and the included content (technical information, citations, explanation, and examples) should differ between the two audiences.

• Do I follow the appropriate structure?
• Do I have a strong thesis statement/main argument at the end of my introduction paragraph?
• Does everything that follows my thesis statement work to support it?
• Have I used enough outside sources?
• Have I properly incorporated my sources into my work?
• Have I properly cited my sources?
• Is my essay specific in its argumentation and logic?
• Is my writing clear and concise enough for a reader to follow without issue?

Editing and Proofreading

Expert Q&A

• Avoid clichés. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Avoid generalizations. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Procrastination will result in stress and frustration when you have a looming deadline. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Make sure that you understand the assignment before you begin working on it to avoid confusion. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to be a great essay writer immediately. Success comes with practice. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Never hand in your first draft as a completed essay. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ http://canuwrite.com/essay_topic.php
• ↑ http://young.scot/information/learning/how-to-do-research-for-an-essay/
• ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 20 May 2020.
• ↑ http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/education/2010/march/The-Top-10-Reasons-Students-Cannot-Cite-or-Rely-on-Wikipedia.html
• ↑ http://www.jessicatiffin.org/common-student-essay-errors/
• ↑ https://www.sterling.edu/documents/academics/ThesisStatement.pdf
• ↑ http://www.jessicatiffin.org/common-student-essay-errors/#2
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/
• ↑ http://www.hhs.gov/web/building-and-managing-websites/web-requests/write-in-plain-language/index.html
• ↑ http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CCS_activevoice.html
• ↑ http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/10-tips-to-bypass-cliche-and-melodrama
• ↑ http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/how-to-avoid-clichés
• ↑ http://www.gbcnv.edu/documents/ASC/docs/00000057.pdf
• ↑ http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/editing-and-proofreading/
• ↑ http://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/vocabulary/

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Finding Common Errors

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Proofreading is primarily about searching your writing for errors, both grammatical and typographical, before submitting your paper for an audience (a teacher, a publisher, etc.). Use this resource to help you find and fix common errors.

Here are some common proofreading issues that come up for many writers. For grammatical or spelling errors, try underlining or highlighting words that often trip you up. On a sentence level, take note of which errors you make frequently. Also make note of common sentence errors you have such as run-on sentences, comma splices, or sentence fragments—this will help you proofread more efficiently in the future.

• Do not solely rely on your computer's spell-check—it will not get everything!
• Trace a pencil carefully under each line of text to see words individually.
• Be especially careful of words that have tricky letter combinations, like "ei/ie.”
• Take special care of homonyms like your/you're, to/too/two, and there/their/they're, as spell check will not recognize these as errors.

Left-out and doubled words

Read the paper slowly aloud to make sure you haven't missed or repeated any words. Also, try reading your paper one sentence at a time in reverse—this will enable you to focus on the individual sentences.

Sentence Fragments

Sentence fragments are sections of a sentence that are not grammatically whole sentences. For example, “Ate a sandwich” is a sentence fragment because it lacks a subject.

Make sure each sentence has a subject:

• “Looked at the OWL website.” is a sentence fragment without a subject.
• “The students looked at the OWL website.” Adding the subject “students” makes it a complete sentence.

Make sure each sentence has a complete verb.

• “They trying to improve their writing skills.” is an incomplete sentence because “trying” is an incomplete verb.
• “They were trying to improve their writing skills.” In this sentence, “were” is necessary to make “trying” a complete verb.

See that each sentence has an independent clause. Remember that a dependent clause cannot stand on its own. In the following examples, green highlighting indicates dependent clauses while yellow indicates independent clauses.

• “ Which is why the students read all of the handouts carefully .” This is a dependent clause that needs an independent clause. As of right now, it is a sentence fragment.
• “ Students knew they were going to be tested on the handouts, which is why they read all of the handouts carefully .” The first part of the sentence, “Students knew they were going to be tested,” is an independent clause. Pairing it with a dependent clause makes this example a complete sentence.

Run-on Sentences

• Review each sentence to see whether it contains more than one independent clause.
• If there is more than one independent clause, check to make sure the clauses are separated by the appropriate punctuation.
• Sometimes, it is just as effective (or even more so) to simply break the sentence into two separate sentences instead of including punctuation to separate the clauses.
• Run on: “ I have to write a research paper for my class about extreme sports all I know about the subject is that I'm interested in it. ” These are two independent clauses without any punctuation or conjunctions separating the two.
• Edited version: " I have to write a research paper for my class about extreme sports, and all I know about the subject is that I'm interested in it ." The two highlighted portions are independent clauses. They are connected by the appropriate conjunction “and,” and a comma.
• Another edited version: “ I have to write a research paper for my class about extreme sports. All I know about the subject is that I'm interested in it .” In this case, these two independent clauses are separated into individual sentences separated by a period and capitalization.

Comma Splices

• Look closely at sentences that have commas.
• See if the sentence contains two independent clauses. Independent clauses are complete sentences.
• If there are two independent clauses, they should be connected with a comma and a conjunction (and, but, for, or, so, yet, nor). Commas are not needed for some subordinating conjunctions (because, for, since, while, etc.) because these conjunctions are used to combine dependent and independent clauses.
• Another option is to take out the comma and insert a semicolon instead.
• Comma Splice: “ I would like to write my paper about basketball , it's a topic I can talk about at length .” The highlighted portions are independent clauses. A comma alone is not enough to connect them.
• Edited version: “ I would like to write my paper about basketball because it's a topic I can talk about at length .” Here, the yellow highlighted portion is an independent clause while the green highlighted portion is a dependent clause. The subordinating conjunction “because” connects these two clauses.
• Edited version, using a semicolon: “ I would like to write my paper about basketball ; it’s a topic I can talk about at length .” Here, a semicolon connects two similar independent clauses.

Subject/Verb Agreement

• Find the subject of each sentence.
• Find the verb that goes with the subject.
• The subject and verb should match in number, meaning that if the subject is plural, the verb should be as well.
• An easy way to do this is to underline all subjects. Then, circle or highlight the verbs one at a time and see if they match.
• Incorrect subject verb agreement: “ Students at the university level usually is very busy.” Here, the subject “students” is plural, and the verb “is” is singular, so they don’t match.
• Edited version: “ Students at the university level usually are very busy.” “Are” is a plural verb that matches the plural noun, “students.”

Mixed Construction

Read through your sentences carefully to make sure that they do not start with one sentence structure and shift to another. A sentence that does this is called a mixed construction.

• “ Since I have a lot of work to do is why I can't go out tonight .” Both green highlighted sections of the sentence are dependent clauses. Two dependent clauses do not make a complete sentence.
• Edited version: “ Since I have a lot of work to do , I can't go out tonight .” The green highlighted portion is a dependent clause while the yellow is an independent clause. Thus, this example is a complete sentence.

Parallelism

Look through your paper for series of items, usually separated by commas. Also, make sure these items are in parallel form, meaning they all use a similar form.

• Example: “Being a good friend involves listening , to be considerate, and that you know how to have fun.” In this example, “listening” is in present tense, “to be” is in the infinitive form, and “that you know how to have fun” is a sentence fragment. These items in the series do not match up.
• Edited version: “Being a good friend involves listening , being considerate, and having fun.” In this example, “listening,” “being,” and “having” are all in the present continuous (-ing endings) tense. They are in parallel form.

Pronoun Reference/Agreement

• Skim your paper, searching for pronouns.
• Search for the noun that the pronoun replaces.
• If you can't find any nouns, insert one beforehand or change the pronoun to a noun.
• If you can find a noun, be sure it agrees in number and person with your pronoun.
• “ Sam had three waffles for breakfast. He wasn’t hungry again until lunch.” Here, it is clear that Sam is the “he” referred to in the second sentence. Thus, the singular third person pronoun, “he,” matches with Sam.
• “ Teresa and Ariel walked the dog. The dog bit her .” In this case, it is unclear who the dog bit because the pronoun, “her,” could refer to either Teresa or Ariel.
• “ Teresa and Ariel walked the dog. Later, it bit them .” Here, the third person plural pronoun, “them,” matches the nouns that precede it. It’s clear that the dog bit both people.
• “Teresa and Ariel walked the dog. Teresa unhooked the leash, and the dog bit her .” In these sentences, it is assumed that Teresa is the “her” in the second sentence because her name directly precedes the singular pronoun, “her.”

Apostrophes

• Skim your paper, stopping only at those words which end in "s." If the "s" is used to indicate possession, there should be an apostrophe, as in “Mary's book.”
• Look over the contractions, like “you're” for “you are,” “it's” for “it is,” etc. Each of these should include an apostrophe.
• Remember that apostrophes are not used to make words plural. When making a word plural, only an "s" is added, not an apostrophe and an "s."
• “ It’s a good day for a walk.” This sentence is correct because “it’s” can be replaced with “it is.”
• “A bird nests on that tree. See its eggs?” In this case, “its” is a pronoun describing the noun, “bird.” Because it is a pronoun, no apostrophe is needed.
• “Classes are cancelled today” is a correct sentence whereas “Class’s are cancelled today” is incorrect because the plural form of class simply adds an “-es” to the end of the word.
• “ Sandra’s markers don’t work.” Here, Sandra needs an apostrophe because the noun is a possessive one. The apostrophe tells the reader that Sandra owns the markers.

Text Response: Identifying and Correcting Common Essay Errors

Many students are taught ‘there is no right or wrong answer in English’; and to our disappointment, there are indeed unspoken rules that, when abided by, can impress teachers and assessors. If you are looking for a comprehensive list of common errors for each section of the essay, logically paired with actionable correction strategies that can be applied to your next practice essay, read this blog carefully and scroll down to the bottom of the page to download a printable version for revision purposes.

This blog will cover errors in introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions, using examples from various texts on the current study design. A printable PDF of this file is attached at the end of this blog!

Table of Contents:

Introductions

1. Lacking contextual details

2. Doesn’t outline how essay addresses prompt

3. Too long!

Body Paragraphs

4. Plot-based topic sentences

5. Not engaging with evidence

6. Missing a linking sentence

Conclusions

7. Too long

8. Too short

Overall Essay – Structure + Interpretations

9. Character-based paragraphs

10. Not considering authorial intent

11. Lacking depth and detail

12. Not closely connected to the topic

13. Too similar

Writing Fluency + Expression

14. Colloquial language

15. Repetitive vocabulary

16. Generic verbs

17. Tense usage

19. Not embedding evidence

20. Spelling/Punctuation/Grammar inaccuracy

21. Word choice

22. Handwriting clarity

23. Metalanguage

24. Referring to the text

25. Line formatting

Finally, a category of its own: time management

An effective introduction sets the stage for your essay, providing context and outlining how you plan to address the prompt. Common errors in introductions include lacking contextual details, not outlining how the essay addresses the prompt, and being too long or too short. By addressing these issues, your introduction will demonstrate your understanding of the text and establish a clear response to the topic.

Lacking contextual details

Error explanation: The introduction of an essay should demonstrate that you (the author) has an understanding of the text’s basic context. Without this, the intro appears lacking in detail and it undermines the reader’s confidence in your knowledge of the text.

Correction strategy: Ensure that you have included (1) the full name of the writer, (2) The time of publication/setting, (3) the genre, (4) the full title. Other details you may choose to include: the time the text is set, the place the text is set, any movements / contemporary events which influenced the text

Example: For the text We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson, the introduction’s contextual details should include:

• “Shirley Jackson” (author’s full name)
• “1962” (year of publication)
• “mystery” or “gothic fiction” (genre)
• “novella” (type of text)
• “We Have Always Lived In The Castle” (full title)

It could also mention that the novella is influenced by the movement of gothic literature / incorporates gothic tropes.

Doesn’t outline how essay addresses prompt

Error explanation: The primary goal of an essay’s introduction is to outline how you (the author) plans to address the prompt. In particular, pre-prepared introductions will appear generic and fail to effectively engage with the essay topic. This will be penalised in both SACs and the final exam.

Correction strategy: Ensure that your introduction addresses the following:

• The topic – what themes are core to the prompt you have been given?
• The text – in what ways does the text explore these themes?
• The contention – what does text propose is in its exploration of these themes

Example: Consider the following topic for the comparative pair Ransom and The Queen. “Compare how the two texts examine leadership and family.”

The introduction should identify that both leadership and family are explored in the texts, and identify a relationship between them. It should also touch on examples and broad trends of how these themes appear in the texts, and propose a contention as to what the texts claim about this relationship, e.g. that the isolating, dehumanising burden of leadership prevent individuals from connecting with their families.

Error explanation: The introduction to an essay serves an important function – to show that you fully understand the text, and outline a clear response to the topic – but it is one which can be achieved quickly. An introduction which is too long is likely including generic details, going overly in depth about examples, and most importantly, is detracting from the time which should be spent developing strong body paragraphs. Those are what ultimately demonstrate your understanding, and get you good marks.

Correction strategy:

• Make sure your introduction doesn’t include any pre-prepared sentences, which are generic and not nearly as useful as sentences which target the essay topic properly.
• For those contextual details which are necessary, include them within sentences that discuss thematic ideas
• Remove anything which isn’t directly relevant

Plot-based topic sentences

Error explanation: Topic sentences based on an event or character narrow the focus of the paragraph, and limit your ability to demonstrate a thematic understanding of the text. It also appears very simplistic, and wastes an opportunity to clearly establish where your analysis and essay is going.

Correction strategy: Make your topic sentences based around the conclusion of your analysis and overall contention. Ensure you are making a statement about their views and values.

Two ways to guarantee you’re creating views and values statements:

• Start the sentence or clause with the author’s name
• Use verbs of analysis to make sure you’re not restating plot e.g. portrays, conveys, suggests, questions, challenges, critiques, endorses, etc.
• “In Women of Troy, Hecuba is displayed as a strong and compassionate figure.”
• “One way Euripedes generates sympathy for Trojan women is through the symbol of Cassandra’s torch.”

Instead, frame around the author’s views + values:

• “Euripedes’ focus on the suffering of Trojan women condemns the atrocities committed in war.”
• “Throughout Women of Troy, Euripedes fosters admiration for humanity’s tenacity in the face of adversity.”

This allows you to then expand on this thematic statement, proving it by invoking examples of plot, characters, and techniques. It is the basis for a much stronger paragraph, and provides direction for where the analysis should lead.

Not engaging with evidence

Error explanation: Including quotes or evidence in your paragraph doesn’t guarantee that you’re engaging with evidence. If quotes are just summarising plot events, they’re limiting the depth of your analysis.

Correction strategy: When you include quotes, note more than just the plot they describe. What is the significance of the word choice? What images are being created? Are there metaphors, or other instances of figurative language?

With this in mind, throughout your study, build up a bank of quotes which allow you to draw comparisons and analyse language use.

Also, avoid using ‘this shows’ and ‘this is apparent’, as it lacks precision. Naming precisely what it is within the quote that evokes a certain feeling or generates a characterisation is much more effective analysis.

Example: (from Station Eleven) “Mandel’s characterisation of the corporate world as “full of ghosts” adds to the repeated metaphor of prep-pandemic society as lacking in life, conveying a disturbing absence of human connection in modern community”

This addresses both the specific language/technique which is used, and connects it to the views and values of the author. Therefore, the evidence is being fully engaged with and analysed.

Missing a linking sentence

Error explanation: It’s vital that the analysis provided in your body paragraphs is clearly linked to your essay’s contention. Therefore, you need a sentence at the end of each paragraph which demonstrates that link.

Correction strategy: Think of each linking sentence as a mini-conclusion for a body paragraph. It can be useful to use conjunctions which signify another layer of analysis (in this case, a link to your contention) – words like ‘therefore’, ‘thus’, and ‘consequently’. The linking sentence should refer back to the views + values of the author. Frame the sentence around the author’s name and se verbs of analysis such as portrays, conveys, etc.

Examples: (from Sunset Boulevard)

• “Therefore, Wilder conveys the devastating consequences of prioritising illusion over reality.”
• “Thus, Wilder condemns the vanity and superficiality of a culture which worships celebrity.”

Error explanation: Sometimes you just don't have the time. Especially because you’ve just finished writing the essay, and you definitely don’t want to sacrifice the end of the last body paragraph (or any other argumentative material) for a conclusion.

Correction strategy: If your conclusion restates material from your introduction, or your topic sentences, you’re doing it wrong. The assessor has already read those points – this should be something new. Simply summarise your key ideas, and focus on the views and values statements, to create a concise and effective conclusion.

Error explanation: One sentence is not enough!

Correction strategy: A conclusion is about more than just listing the arguments you’ve written down already. The conclusion should make a broader statement about the author, which goes beyond the world of the text, and addresses what they believe readers should do/think, how society should be, etc.

The following conclusion expands on the concrete analysis of the world of the text, to make overarching statements about the author’s worldview.

“The crumbling of civilisation in Mandel’s Station Eleven creates a post-apocalyptic setting which displays the tenacity of humanity through conflict. Mandel admires the human resilience required to survive and preserve, yet the novel extends on this, portraying the human capacity to use the remnants of civilisation to construct new communities, relationships and art. In this testament to human adaptability, Mandel places faith into the continued evolution of civilisation, as Station Eleven optimistically implies that, despite all challenges, community and beauty will prosper.”

Character-based paragraphs

Error explanation: An essay paragraph which revolves around a single character is always limiting your analysis, and prevents you from demonstrating a thorough understanding of the text.

Correction strategy: When planning, consider 3 ideas which link to your contention. Then, consider which characters connect to those big ideas. If you find yourself still gravitating towards character-based paragraphs, ask yourself: what is it that this character proves? Search for other characters and evidence which bolster this point, and frame the paragraph around that idea instead of the character.

Use evidence outside of main characters: Minor characters can often echo thematic ideas in the main storyline; Language devices and narrative techniques are also useful evidence.

Not considering authorial intent

Error explanation: To form a solid contention, you need to show consideration of why the author created the text. If an essay lacks consideration of bigger questions – what should society look like, how should people behave – then it will lack depth overall.

Correction strategy: Consider the following questions:

• What is the author’s goal in creating the text?
• What does he/she support?
• What does he/she thinks needs to be changed in society?
• Which characters are designed to be empathised with? What does this reveal about the author’s values?
• Which characters are designed to be condemned? What does this reveal about the author’s values?

This should allow you to formulate statements based on the author’s views and values, and work your essays towards those statements.

Lacking depth and detail

Error explanation: If your paragraphs are too short, or your analysis feels shallow, it can severely limit the quality of your writing. Even if you use plenty of words, that doesn’t guarantee that your analysis is engaging as fully with the text, and values of the author, as it could.

Correction strategy: There can be a few reasons why your essay lacks depth or detail.

• Ensure you are using at least two pieces of evidence, from different parts of the text, per paragraph
• Explain the following for each piece of evidence
• what it reveals within the text (the true feelings of a character, the nature of society, etc.)
• the broader statement of values it connects to
• Combine quotations which connect to each other – layering evidence strengthens a point
• Use choices the author makes about language features and structures as evidence – combining different types of evidence also adds depth
• Check that evidence has sufficient context – when is a quote said? by who? The characters or plot a piece of evidence connects to can provide additional paths for analysis.

Not closely connected to the topic

Error explanation: Every argument needs to clearly address the topic. Sometimes students stray because they bring in a ‘counter point’ in a second or third paragraph, and other times might choose to write out paragraphs they have already written because it’s more comfortable. However, unless the paragraph is entirely relevant and targeted towards the topic, it’s a waste of time.

Correction strategy: Plan clearly, and ensure that each of the three arguments address the topic individually. If you feel an argument is similar to something previously written, ask yourself how you can make this argument specifically to address the topic in front of you.

Too similar

Error explanation: Having two paragraphs which essentially explain the same idea severely weakens an essay. It basically shows that you only have two ideas, and doesn’t allow for enough depth of analysis.

• Use your reading time and a bit of writing time to plan – it may be the case that you’re not giving yourself enough time to think of three distinct points
• If this is a persistent problem, practice planning out essays under time constraints. It only takes ten minutes, and can be a useful exercise to sharpen your skills.

Colloquial language

Error explanation: Language which is too informal renders writing unprofessional, and can affect the accuracy of your writing.

Correction strategies:

• Avoid using cliches/idioms
• Avoid casual language, such as abbreviations or slang
• Write in the formal register – like an English teacher would
• Justice is not “served”, it is achieved
• He’s not a character “with a really hard life”, he has a traumatic upbringing

Repetitive vocabulary

Error explanation: Overusing words can make your writing appear simplistic, and is annoying to read.

• Note the words you overuse, look up synonyms, and use them in your writing
• Note alternative words other students use in their essays
• When you write practice pieces, scan your work to check for repeated words

Be especially careful that you don’t use a word in the essay topic over and over again. In planning time, brainstorm synonyms for key words of the topic.

Generic verbs

Error explanation: Verbs of analysis are, of course, incredibly common throughout text response essays. Words like ‘explore’ or ‘show’, ‘highlights’ or ‘says’ are very common.

Correction strategies: It’s better if you can use more precise verbs which also add flair and variety to your writing. These verbs all have slightly different meanings, so when writing, you need to select carefully.

• Instead of explores: reveals, exposes, warns, criticises, endorses, questions, condemns
• Instead of highlights: underscores, accentuates, emphasises
• Instead of says: states, reflects, claims, declares, suggests

Tense usage

Error explanation: Using the past tense, or worse, switching between tenses throughout the essay, hampers the fluency of writing.

Correction strategy: Use present tense in your essays.

Instead of: In Rainbow’s End, Harrison employed dreamy lighting to demonstrate the wonderful, yet tragic, impossibility of characters’ aspirations.

Write: In Rainbow’s End, Harrison employs dreamy lighting to demonstrate the wonderful, yet tragic, impossibility of characters’ aspirations.

Error explanation: If your writing is too verbose, it can be a struggle to get to the highest level of analysis in the given time limits. Being more concise will save time, and more efficient writing will make your analysis clearer.

Correction strategy: Avoid placeholder sentences – get to the point! This applies to unnecessary clauses and ‘pauses’ in writing.

Instead of: “Throughout the entire novel, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart shows men as being each other's “brothers”, even when they are not actually family, but only clansmen, and this characterisation makes those concepts appear equal, most of the time.”

Write: “Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart equates family and community, as clansmen refer to each other as “brothers”.”

Not embedding evidence

Error explanation: If quotations aren’t embedded, writing doesn't flow as well, and your command over the evidence is slightly undermined.

Correction strategy: Embed your quotations every time.

Example: (from In Cold Blood)

Instead of: “Perry says, “I don’t believe in capital punishment”, demonstrating…”

Write: “Perry “[does not] believe in capital punishment”, demonstrating…”

Spelling/Punctuation/Grammar inaccuracy

Error explanation: Inaccuracies in spelling, punctuation and grammar are harmful to the fluidity of your expression, and leave a bad impression on the reader.

• Request some support to identify spelling errors
• Correct any spelling errors using a good dictionary
• Read over sentences, checking for basic grammatical errors
• Check that your word forms are correct (e.g. “unjust” is an adjective, “injustice” is the noun)
• Write down any errors – keeping a record will help you identify frequent mistakes

Common errors to lookout for:

• Capitalisation – check that all proper nouns (place names, the name of the author, etc.) are capitalised
• Apostrophes – revise particularly in relation to possessions
• Pronouns – check that pronoun use isn't ambiguous
• Full stops and commas – check that these are not used interchangeably
• Ending clauses with ‘is’ or ‘are’ is a common grammatical mistake

Word choice

Error explanation: Often students attempt to use more ‘sophisticated’ words, but can end up with something jarring, because the connotations were a bit off, or just because it didn't suit their writing style. Prioritise precision: above all, your essay has to make sense.

• Check the definitions of any words you’re a little uncertain about.
• Practice using a hard-copy dictionary when you plan essays, as you are permitted to do this in SACs/the exam.
• Build up a glossary of terms that you’re comfortable with
• Remember that your essay can (and will) be impressive without using obscure vocabulary

Handwriting clarity

Error explanation: Assessors can only mark what they can read!

• Practice writing essays to time, and with a pen
• Change up the pen from time to time to see i it helps with clarity
• Time management will allow you to write at a more consistent pace throughout writing time

Metalanguage

Error explanation: Use of metalanguage is a way to demonstrate your knowledge of a text. Not using metalanguage enough, or worse, using it incorrectly, can harm the precision of your writing.

• Review terminology to ensure metalanguage is used accurately Glossaries, samples, and peer work can all be sources of new terms
• Incorporate metalanguage by learning the adjectival/verbal versions Many terms of metalanguage are nouns (e.g. symbolism) but can also be used as adjectives (symbolic) or verbs (symbolises)
• Avoid repeating metalanguage more than once in a paragraph, or more than a few times across an essay

Metalanguage relating to the form and structure of text:

• Omniscient third-person narrator
• Non-chronological narrative
• Non-linear plot

Metalanguage relating to language devices:

• Alliteration

Note that films have lots of metalanguage relating to camera angles and shots.

Referring to the text

Error explanation: The generally accepted format is to underline the full title of the text. Use this, and there is no need to use inverted commas or quotation marks.

In Station Eleven, Mandel…

In Sunset Boulevard, Wilder…

Line formatting

Error explanation: Line breaks are specifically ofr showing where paragraphs start and end.

Correction strategy: Leave one line between paragraphs. Not more, not less.

Additionally:

• Don’t start a new line within your paragraphs
• Don’t label sections of your essay like ‘introduction’ – that's what the line breaks signal for you

Possibly the biggest challenge of a 3 hour, 3 essay exam is cramming all of your best ideas and skills into such a short period of time. However, with enough practice, it won't feel so daunting by the end of the year.

Strategies: As well as practising whole essays within an hour, try the following:

• Writing plans in 5 minutes
• Writing introductions in 10 minutes
• Writing body paragraphs in 12-15 minutes
• Reading an article and planning an argument analysis essay in your head, during ‘reading time’
• Practice writing more by hand – it’s the only way your speed can be accurate, and the more you practise, the faster you get

Don’t forget that you don’t have to budget each essay to one hour. Many students may find Section C quicker to write, and so have a bit more time to dedicate to the other sections of the exam. Experiment to figure out what is comfortable for you.

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• Writing Tips

Common Issues with Tenses

4-minute read

• 6th June 2022

Using verbs correctly is one of the trickiest parts of writing . Anyone can make mistakes with verb tenses, but it’s especially easy for those who aren’t native English speakers. In this post, we’ll explain the nine main tenses and highlight the most common mistakes writers make when using them. So, read on if you want to make verb tense mistakes a thing of the past!

What Are the Main Tenses in English?

Every action happens in the past, present, or future. Each of these time frames is further divided into the simple , continuous, or perfect form. Here’s an example of each:

●  Simple past – things that happened before now:

I wrote an essay last week.

●  Past continuous – an ongoing action in the past:

He was writing a poem yesterday morning.

●  Past perfect – an action that ended before a point in the past:

By lunchtime, he had written six lines.

●  Simple present – a habitual action:

She writes at her desk by the window.

The simple present is also used to describe actions happening at this moment:

I want a desk like that.

●  Present continuous – an ongoing action happening right now:

I am writing a future bestseller!

●  Present perfect – an action that began in the past and is still happening now, or one that happened at an unspecified time:

He has written stories since he was a child.

I have written 1000 birthday cards.

●  Simple future – things that’ll happen and then stop happening:

I will read the first chapter of the book tomorrow.

●  Future continuous – things that’ll begin in the future and continue for some time:

I will be writing a book report.

●  Future perfect – an action that’ll end at some point in the future:

I will have written it by the end of the week.

With so many tenses to choose from, it’s no wonder people make mistakes. Don’t worry, though, because for most academic writing, you don’t need to use all of them. Essays and assignments are nearly always written in the simple present tense, and if you’re describing your own research methodology (e.g., an experiment or survey), you would use the simple past tense.

What Are the Most Common Verb Tense Errors?

Mistakes with verb tenses usually fall into one of three categories:

• Changing from one tense to another.
• Overusing continuous tenses.
• Confusion with irregular verbs.

Use tenses consistently

Your readers will get confused if you switch tenses unexpectedly:

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The car drove into the tunnel, and it comes out the other end. ✘

The car drove into the tunnel, and it came out the other end. ✔

The car drives into the tunnel, and it comes out the other end. ✔

This doesn’t mean changing tense mid-sentence is always wrong. But make sure you’re saying what you intend to say!

I practiced using different tenses, and now I understand them better. ✔

Limit your use of continuous tenses

Your writing can easily become quite clunky if you use a lot of continuous verb forms:

It was pouring rain while we were camping, and the children were complaining because their blankets were getting wet.

It poured rain while we were camping, and the children complained because their blankets got wet.

The first sentence contains four present participles (i.e., verb forms that end in ing ), which makes it quite a chore to read and rather repetitive. In the second version, we’ve replaced three of them with the simple past tense. This makes the writing more concise and easier to read.

Watch out for irregular verbs

We form the simple past tense and the past participle of most verbs by simply adding ed to the base verb (e.g., walk – walked; open – opened ). However, there are many verbs that don’t obey such rules, and we call these irregular verbs . Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to learn how to conjugate irregular verbs because they don’t follow an obvious pattern, as these examples show:

I buyed bought a gigantic jar of honey.

It costed cost $10.

I hided hid it in the back of the cupboard.

I soon forgetted forgot all about it.

As you read English texts and listen to people speaking in conversation, you’ll recognize more irregular verbs and become familiar with how they work.

Proofreading for Perfect Grammar

We hope you now feel confident about using different tenses in your writing. If you’d like an expert to check your work for incorrect verbs and any other mistakes in grammar, spelling, or punctuation, our proofreaders are here to help. Send us a free trial document to find out more.

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IB Extended Essay Rubric. Grading Criteria

Hello, IB scholars! As an experienced IB mentor, I understand the importance of fully grasping the IB extended essay rubric. Your extended essay is a significant part of your diploma, and knowing the grading criteria is crucial for success. From my experience, a clear understanding of this rubric can distinguish between an average essay and one that truly stands out.

What Is IB DP Extended Essay?

The IB extended essay is a core component of the Diploma Programme, aimed at students aged 16 to 19. It is independent, self-directed research that finishes with a paper of a specific word count . The project offers an opportunity for students to investigate a topic of their choosing, giving them a taste of what university study is like.

The extended essay aims to develop high-level research and writing skills and creativity. It allows students to engage in personal research on a topic of their own choice under the guidance of a supervisor (a teacher in the school). It leads to a significant piece of formally presented, structured writing in which ideas and findings are communicated rationally and coherently appropriate to the chosen subject. Students select a topic that interests them and aligns with one of the subjects in the IB curriculum. It could range from history to biology, literature, or even mathematics. I also recommend you avoid overused IB extended essay topics .

Moreover, the IB extended essay is highly valued by universities, as it gives students a chance to demonstrate their ability to undertake serious research projects and communicate their findings effectively. It is also an excellent opportunity for students to research a topic of personal interest in depth.

Key Components of the IB Extended Essay

First things first, let’s talk about the basics. Every extended essay needs a properly formatted title page, a concise abstract summarizing your work, and a clear table of contents. It sets the stage for a well-organized essay, and, believe me, getting these elements right from the start sets a positive tone for the graders.

Remember that your introduction should present your research question and the scope of your investigation. The body of your essay should then methodically break down this question, supported by evidence. Lastly, your conclusion must briefly summarize your findings and reflect on the research process. As I know, a well-structured essay helps maintain focus and keeps your argument compelling.

Moreover, accurate referencing and well-organized appendices are not just a formality. They demonstrate your dedication to academic integrity and detail, which, according to general IB criteria, are essential for a top-grade paper.

Detailed Breakdown of IB Extended Essay Rubric

The extended essay is assessed externally by IB examiners. It is graded based on criteria that evaluate the paper’s formal presentation, the student’s ability to conduct research, the development of their argument, and their overall reflection on the learning process. These criteria focus on the essay’s structure, the research question’s clarity and purpose, the research’s extent and depth, and the findings’ analysis and discussion.

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Criterion A. Focus and Method (6 points)

From my extensive experience as an IB educator, I’ve observed that the clarity of your focus and the robustness of your methodology are foundational to your essay’s success. This criterion evaluates how effectively you define and approach your research question. It’s not merely about choosing a topic but about demonstrating a sharp, precise focus and deploying a methodological approach that is both rigorous and appropriate to your subject.

A strong focus helps maintain the relevancy of your research. At the same time, a robust methodology ensures that the investigation is conducted systematically and scientifically, which is essential for producing credible and reliable results.

Criterion B. Knowledge and Understanding (6 points)

Your essay should also demonstrate a profound understanding of the topic. This criterion goes beyond simply recounting facts. It involves analyzing these facts, connecting different pieces of information, and critically discussing their implications.

It’s about showing your grader that you’re not just repeating information but can interpret and contextualize it within the framework of your research question. A deep engagement with the material will showcase your ability to synthesize knowledge and contribute original insights to the discourse on your chosen topic.

Criterion C. Critical Thinking (12 points)

Critical thinking lies at the heart of the IB philosophy and is essential to your success in the extended essay. This criterion involves the analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of knowledge.

From my years guiding IB students, essays that score well in this criterion typically present well-constructed arguments supported by robust evidence. They also consider and address potential counterarguments, demonstrating students’ ability to think broadly and critically about their topic. It improves the essay’s depth and illustrates the student’s capacity for balanced reasoning.

Criterion D. Presentation (4 points)

The way you present your essay is critically essential. This criterion assesses the organization, clarity of expression, and adherence to the prescribed formatting guidelines. These elements significantly influence your essay’s readability and its overall impact on the reader.

From my experience, a well-presented essay not only makes the content more accessible but also leaves a powerful impression of professionalism and attention to detail. Proper formatting, a clear structure, and a coherent presentation of ideas facilitate effective communication of your research findings.

Criterion E. Engagement (6 points)

Lastly, your engagement with the research question can significantly boost the quality of your essay. This criterion measures how well you demonstrate your motivation, interest, and effort in your research.

Essays that reflect genuine curiosity and enthusiasm stand out; they capture the reader’s attention and make the discussion more compelling. From my experience, students who connect personally with their topic are more likely to persevere in the face of challenges and produce insightful and engaging work. Your investment in the topic is evident through meticulous research, thoughtful analysis, and an enthusiastic presentation of your findings.

Strategies to Maximize Scores in Each EE Grading Area

Focus and method (Criterion A) begins with a well-defined research question that is specific and manageable, guiding your entire research process. Outline your methodologies clearly, showing their relevance to your research question, and justify why these methods best fit your study.

Knowledge and understanding (Criterion B) require a demonstration of both breadth and depth. You should:

• Use a range of sources . Use diverse sources to show a broad understanding, then focus on specific areas for detailed research.
• Link to course concepts . Connect your discussions with theories and concepts from your IB courses, which adds depth and context.
• Focus on analysis . Distinguish your essay from mere description to analysis, providing insights demonstrating a deep understanding of your topic.

For critical thinking (Criterion C) , construct a coherent argument that is evident throughout your essay, supported by robust evidence. Evaluate the reliability of your sources and include various perspectives to enrich your discussion and demonstrate comprehensive analysis.

Presentation (Criterion D) is crucial and should adhere to the IB’s strict formatting guidelines. Ensure that your essay is well-organized, with logical transitions between sections, and rigorously proofread to enhance readability and coherence.

Lastly, engagement (Criterion E) can significantly boost your score. Reflect on your learning and research path, highlighting any challenges and strategies to overcome them. Show your passion and personal connection to the topic, which enriches the authenticity and depth of your engagement.

Common Mistakes in IB Extended Essays

Knowing common pitfalls in writing an IB extended essay can significantly impact the quality and effectiveness of your work. Understanding and implementing strategies to avoid these mistakes boost your final submission.

One major issue that often plagues students is straying from the research question. It’s easy to diverge into tangential areas, especially when the topic is broad or fascinating. To avoid this, always keep your research question in mind as you write and research. Make it a practice to regularly refer back to the question, ensuring that all parts of your essay directly contribute to addressing it. This focused approach keeps your essay coherent and tightly structured.

Another critical mistake is overlooking the importance of formatting and presentation. Many students fail IB extended essays because they don’t realize that a well-formatted work is not just about aesthetics but also reflects the seriousness of your work. Proper formatting helps to organize information clearly and makes it easier for examiners to follow your arguments.

To avoid losing points on presentation, strictly adhere to the IB extended essay guidelines, which include specifications for the structure, font size, line spacing, and citation style. Moreover, thoroughly proofreading your essay to correct typographical, grammatical, and formatting errors can substantially affect how your work is perceived.

Additionally, some students underestimate the importance of a concise, impactful introduction and conclusion. The introduction should present your research question, outline your approach, and capture the reader’s interest. A strong introduction sets the essay’s tone and clarifies what to expect. Similarly, the conclusion should briefly summarize the essential findings and reflect on the significance of the research. It’s your final chance to impress and convey the depth of your analysis and its contributions to the field.

Understanding and adhering to the IB extended essay rubric is crucial. These guidelines help you structure your research and deepen your engagement with the topic. Armed with the right strategies, you’ll be well on your way to excelling in your IB extended essay.

Keep these guidelines in mind, stay organized, and let your curiosity guide your research. Good luck, and remember that our experienced IB experts are always available to help with your extended essay .

Nick Radlinsky

Nick Radlinsky is a devoted educator, marketing specialist, and management expert with more than 15 years of experience in the education sector. After obtaining his business degree in 2016, Nick embarked on a quest to achieve his PhD, driven by his commitment to enhancing education for students worldwide. His vast experience, starting in 2008, has established him as a reputable authority in the field.

Nick's article, featured in Routledge's " Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe: Development through Internationalization ," highlights his sharp insights and unwavering dedication to advancing the educational landscape. Inspired by his personal motto, "Make education better," Nick's mission is to streamline students' lives and foster efficient learning. His inventive ideas and leadership have contributed to the transformation of numerous educational experiences, distinguishing him as a true innovator in his field.

Understanding the IB extended essay rubric is essential for success. The rubric provides a framework that grades students on several key criteria including the sharpness of their research question, the rigor of their methodology, the breadth and depth of their knowledge, the fluidity and clarity of their argumentation, and their personal engagement with the research topic.

IB TOK Essay Rubric. Grading Criteria

This article provides essential insights and strategies for understanding the assessment process and helping you write essays that meet and exceed the rigorous standards of the IB curriculum. Whether you’re striving for clarity of argument, effective integration of knowledge, or personal engagement, our tips will help you achieve a higher score.

IB Internal Assessment Rubric and Grading Criteria

The IB IA rubric is carefully structured to assess students’ understanding, skills and application of subject matter in a nuanced and comprehensive manner. Each subject rubric, whether for sciences such as Biology and Chemistry, humanities such as History and Psychology, or Mathematics, emphasizes a unique set of criteria tailored to assess specific competencies and skills.

Visual Arts IA Topics: The Best Topic Ideas

In the vast world of art, the possibilities for your IA topic are nearly limitless. Yet, this abundance of choice can sometimes feel overwhelming. Whether you’re drawn to traditional painting techniques, the avant-garde movements of the 20th century, or the intersection of digital media and art, your chosen topic should ignite a spark of curiosity and passion within you.

Theatre IA Topics: SL and HL Topic Ideas

Choosing the right topic for IA in the IB Theatre course is a crucial step that significantly influences your research process and overall learning experience. Whether in the Standard Level or Higher Level track, selecting your topic requires careful thought and consideration, aiming to balance personal interest with academic rigor. This guide offers a rich array of topic ideas and research questions to spark your creativity and intellectual curiosity in the vast world of theatre.

Music IA Topics for SL and HL Students

When selecting a topic for your IB Music Internal Assessment, both SL and HL students face a unique set of challenges and opportunities. As a seasoned IB educator with years of experience guiding students through this process, I’ve come to recognize the importance of choosing a topic that aligns with the IB criteria and resonates with your musical interests and strengths.

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Essay length across academic levels

masterización la redacción de ensayos is essential for academic success at every educational level. Essays showcase a student’s understanding of the subject and their ability to organize and clearly express their thoughts. The essay length typically reflects the topic’s complexity and required depth of analysis, underscoring the importance of adapting to different academic contexts. This article delves into the subtleties of essay length across various stages and disciplines, offering guidelines to improve your writing skills.

Understanding essay length requirements

Essay lengths vary by academic level, subject, department guidelines, and course requirements, typically shorter than trabajos de investigación or tesis .

In most academic settings, assignments will specify a range for the required number of words or pages, such as 2500–3000 words or 10–12 pages. These guidelines ensure comprehensive coverage of the topic. If unclear, consult your instructor.

Average word count ranges

Understanding the average word count for essays at various educational levels can help you meet the specific expectations and grading criteria of your assignments. These ranges provide a guideline to ensure that your essays are neither too brief nor excessively long, which can impact reader engagement and grading. Below are the typical word count ranges for essays, from high school to graduate school:

• High school essay length . 300–1000 words. Typically structured as a 5-paragraph essay, this format is designed to teach basic structuring skills and ensure students can articulate a logical argument briefly.
• College admission essay length . 200–650 words. This short personal essay needs to express your interests and motivations within a strict word limit, challenging students to give crucial information efficiently.
• Ensayo universitario de pregrado de largo . 1500–5000 words. Depending on the institution, department, course level, and syllabus, these essays demonstrate deeper critical thinking and the ability to integrate various arguments and evidence.
• Ensayo de admisión a la escuela de posgrado. de largo . 500–1000 words. A longer personal statement or statement of purpose details your academic achievements and motivations, requiring clarity and precision to demonstrate readiness for advanced academic challenges.
• Ensayo de posgrado de largo . 2500–6000 words. These assignments, varying by institution and discipline, typically involve comprehensive analysis and extended argumentation, showcasing advanced research skills and critical thinking.

Proportional length of essay parts

Balancing the length of each section in your essay is key to supporting coherence and engagement. Here’s a breakdown of what proportion of your essay each part should ideally settle:

• Introducción (10-15%). Sets up the thesis and outlines main points. The introduction’s length varies depending on the essay’s total length—from a single, clear paragraph in shorter essays to more detailed introductions in longer essays. This section should effectively prepare the reader for the details to follow.
• Cuerpo (70-80%). This should form the heart of your essay, where the majority of your word count is concentrated. Here, you will develop your main arguments, present evidence, and analyze data. The complexity and depth of your discussion should correlate with the overall essay length, ensuring that each point is adequately supported by sufficient detail.
• Conclusión (10-15%). Summarize key findings and reassert your thesis, tailoring the length to remain impactful yet concise. Aim to leave a strong impression that reinforces your main arguments.

Variability by essay type

Essay length and the level of detail required can vary significantly depending on the type of essay you are writing. Each type has its unique requirements:

• Ensayos argumentativos . Typically longer, these essays require ample space to prepare c onvincing arguments and address counterarguments effectively, highlighting the necessity of comprehensive exploration. For example, In a college English class, an argumentative essay might be expected to be around 2000-3000 words where you argue for or against a particular literary interpretation.
• Descriptivo y narrativa ensayos . These essays are usually shorter and focus on vivid storytelling and sensory details to engage readers. For example, a narrative essay in a creative writing class might only be 1000-1500 words, concentrating on creating a compelling narrative rather than extensive argumentation. The shorter length helps to maintain the narrative pace and keeps the reader’s attention focused on the story or descriptive imagery.
• Analytical essays . Characterized by a balance of detail and conciseness, these essays demand precise analysis to articulate complex concepts clearly, avoiding superfluous information. For example, in a history course, an analytical essay might analyze a primary source document and be expected to be tightly written, typically around 1500-2500 words, to focus intensely on the analysis.

Remember, meeting length requirements is crucial, but the quality of argument and analysis are just as important. The goal is to prepare a persuasive, well-supported argument that reaches and exceeds the minimum word count expectations where necessary.

Impact of discipline on essay length

Building on the general understanding of essay length requirements, this section explores how specific academic disciplines influence these standards, reflecting their unique analytical needs and subject matter. For instance:

• Humanidades . Essays in disciplines such as literature, history, or philosophy typically require extensive critical analysis supported by various sources, which often results in longer essays. These subjects usually employ exploratory and argumentative writing styles, leading to more in-depth discussions and, as a result, longer essays. For example, a common literature essay might involve analyzing themes like freedom and sacrifice in “The Great Gatsby”, necessitating thorough textual analysis and support from secondary sources.
• Ciencias . Scientific essays or lab reports are usually more concise and focused on data presentation and analysis. Although they might be shorter, they require brevity and precision, with a strong focus on results and metodologías rather than extended discussions. For example, in a biology lab report, you might be expected to briefly describe your experimental setup and directly report your findings, using precise language to cover methodological details.
• Ciencias Sociales . Similar to the humanities, essays in social sciences such as psychology, sociology, and political science typically require critical analysis of theories and contextual evidence. However, the extent of discussion can vary greatly based on the topic’s complexity and the specific course or assignment requirements. For example, the length of a sociology essay might change significantly depending on its focus—ranging from broad topics like the effects of globalization on local cultures to more specific issues such as the impact of neighborhood watch programs on local crime rates.

The essay length is not just a numeric target but also reflects the disciplinary context, dictating how arguments are developed to meet academic standards.

Common length-related mistakes in essay writing

Meeting specific length requirements for academic essays presents several common challenges for students. Addressing these issues can significantly improve both the clarity and effectiveness of your writing:

• Over-extension . Some essays become overfilled as students try to meet minimum word counts by adding filler content or overly complex sentences. This hides the main points and makes your essay harder to read. Seek for precision and conciseness, focusing on quality over quantity.
• Insufficient development . Conversely, not meeting the minimum word count can suggest a lack of depth or a superficial understanding of the topic. Ensure that each main point is thoroughly developed with appropriate evidence and analysis, avoiding unnecessary repetition.
• Unnecessary sections . Poor organization of essay parts (introduction, body, conclusion) relative to the total essay length can disrupt the flow and confuse readers. Use a proportional amount of the word count for each section to keep a balanced and well-structured argument.
• Redundancy to reach length . Repeating the same information to boost essay length can detract from the quality. Introduce new insights or additional evidence that strongly improves the argument and supports the declaración de la tesis .
• Ignoring conciseness for essay length . While it’s important to reach a higher word count, do not compromise clarity just to make the essay longer. Avoid complex, unnecessary language and ensure each sentence adds value to your argument or analysis.

Incorporating feedback and revisions

After understanding the common length-related mistakes and how to avoid them, it’s important to recognize the role of feedback in further refining your essays. Feedback not only improves your arguments but also ensures that your essays meet the necessary length requirements effectively. Here’s how to strategically use feedback to fine-tune your essay’s length and depth:

• Understand the feedback . Carefully read and understand the feedback provided. If parts of your essay are noted as too lengthy or brief, discuss these points specifically to make the necessary adjustments. Ask questions if something isn’t clear to fully get the critiques you’ve received.
• Prioritize the changes . Assess the feedback based on its impact on the essay’s overall quality and length. Initially focus on feedback that helps change the essay’s length, such as suggestions to add more to points that aren’t detailed enough or to cut down on wordy sections.
• Revise strategically . Add more details to sections that need more information or tighten the writing in parts where it’s too wordy, ensuring that the details are consistent across the essay.
• Seek further feedback . After implementing major changes, especially those affecting essay length and depth, seek additional feedback to ensure the revisions uphold academic standards and effectively address initial comments.
• Reflect on the process . Reflect on each feedback and revision cycle to see how changes impact your essay’s clarity and length. This will help you master the art of precise academic writing, ensuring you meet essay length criteria while supporting depth.

Improve your essay writing with our professional services

As we’ve explored the complexities of essay length across various educational stages and disciplines, it’s clear that mastering essay writing requires an understanding of these academic requirements. To help you excel in preparing essays that not only meet but exceed these hard standards, we offer a comprehensive suite of services designed to ensure your essays are well-structured, properly lengthened, and of the highest academic quality. Below, are three services that can significantly improve your academic performance.

Revisión de documentos

Upgrade the quality and precision of your essays with our essential document revision service. Our targeted adjustments ensure that your essay is not only error-free but concise and compelling:

• Logical flow improvemen t. By refining the structure and coherence of your essay, we ensure efficient and strong argumentation—essential for keeping your essay within the required length without redundancy.
• Detailed corrections . Experts meticulously check for grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors, guaranteeing a polished text that meets length guidelines.
• Optimización de la legibilidad . By eliminating awkward phrasing and boosting clarity, we help you convey your ideas in a concise yet effective manner, crucial for sticking to the specified word count.
• In-depth style refinement . Our skilled editors deeply analyze your essay’s language and structure to improve your writing style and clarity.

By using our document revision services, your essay will meet high academic standards and precise length requirements, ensuring a polished and effective presentation.

control de plagio y eliminación

Support the integrity and appropriate length of your essays with our advanced plagiarism detection:

• puntuación de similitud . Quickly identifies text matches with external sources, essential for confirming originality. This feature helps you avoid increasing your essay with duplicated material, ensuring it meets the required length authentically.
• Advanced scoring metrics . Uses diverse metrics to detect subtle forms of plagiarism.
• Detección multilingüe . Our service checks texts in 129 languages, providing global content integrity assurance. This wide-ranging detection capability ensures that essays are original and succinct regardless of the language used.

If plagiarism is detected, you can opt for our dedicated removal service to improve and correct your work:

• Ethical editing . We revise plagiarized sections to uphold original meaning while ensuring uniqueness and proper citation.
• Garantía de calidad. Post-edit, another plagiarism check confirms all issues are addressed, ensuring your essay meets both integrity and length standards.

Formato de texto

Ensure your essay’s professionalism and precision with our text formatting services, for achieving specific essay length standards:

• Structure check . Our experts use track changes to carefully organize your document. Structuring chapters and sections correctly and removing unnecessary parts, helps keep your essay concise. This careful organization guarantees that each part of your essay contributes effectively to the overall argument without unnecessary lengthening.
• Clarity check . Improving clarity helps prevent the common issue of an overly verbose essay that exceeds length limits.
• Verificación de referencia . Proper referencing is essential not only for academic credibility but also for precise essay length control. We accurately format and format your references according to set academic standards (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.). This ensures that your citations are correct and efficiently contribute to your essay’s structured presentation, aligning with length requirements.
• Layout check . Skilled editors improve the presentation of your essay by providing consistent paragraph formatting, appropriate pagination, and a coherent table of contents. A well-organized layout is key to presenting your argument in a clear, logically flowing manner, which helps stick to length standards without irrelevant additions.

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