Five ways to get better essay marks

1. Cut the crap! What I’m trying to say is: write simply. Instead of saying things like “From my analysis I have found…” just cut to the chase: state what you have found. The reader already knows it’s the product of your analysis and it’s you who did it (unless you are plagiarizing, in which case you should write “from the analysis I am stealing, the original author found…”). If you want to be persuasive, then state your finding as a fact.
2. Cut the crap! (Part 2) Do not try to use fancy words that you are not 100% sure you understand. I find it very amusing to edit essays where someone wrote “A-wall” when they meant the person was missing or went “AWOL”. But worse is to say avascular (not having veins) when you mean avuncular (like an uncle). I know the pride you get from showing off your vocabulary, buy as the Bible says, “pride goeth before a fall.”
3. Use quotes properly. Only quote when the writer has said something so beautifully and succinctly that no other words could come close to rendering the meaning. By all means use quotes when quoting from literary work to show what a character says or does to back up your arguments, but in a history or social science essay, quote judiciously. After a quote always explain it in the context of the paragraph you are writing at the time. Do not randomly drop quotes into your essay as if you are on a first name basis with Albert Einstein and he just happens to have some useful words for you. When I’m editing, I find it very frustrating to come across quotes that have no context. By the way, part two of this rule should be: do not refer to quotes as quotes. What I mean is do not say something like “According to a quote by Einstein…” It’s not a quote until you quote it. Just say “According to Einstein…” And then follow it by “from this we can see…” not, “In Einstein’s quote we can see…”
4. Know what you want to say. It’s easy to see when someone completely has nothing to say, and they take five sentences to (not) say it. There are a lot of sentences that vaguely refer to the subject at hand without actually giving some insight. There are often a lot of “and” and “or” statements that want to try to broaden the analysis, but really water it down to nothing. This can be fixed by using an outline to decide what you want to say in each paragraph before you even begin to write the sentences. If each paragraph has a point you are trying to make, then each sentence has a purpose toward making that point.
5. Use logic properly. Pay attention to cause and effect. The peasants were not starving because of the French Revolution; the starving peasants were a cause of the French Revolution. One of the most common easily fixed problems is when people link two events with the wrong logic. This shows your lack of critical insight and will be reflected in your grade. Often it’s just plain sloppiness. It’s very important to make cause and effect statements in essays. But you must be sure to put the cause before the effect and link them with the right words.

When I’m editing term papers for people, I see these errors all the time. These are not due to to poor writing skills, but just not being careful. All through my English degree I only once broke the B+ barrier in my essays. Why? Because I didn’t use an outline and I just wasn’t careful. When I returned for my Education degree, after having edited for several years, I found I was writing A papers with less effort. Be careful, use an outline, and keep it simple. You will improve your essays by at least one letter grade.