The most commonly seen mistakes in English essays

Throughout a students life in English one thing is unavoidable and that is the writing and construction of essays. This skill or art of constructing such a piece of writing can sometimes be challenging although if students avoid the common errors stated below they will be able to improve their writing. Such errors stated below are common and are seen as significant contributors to a markers opinion on a specific piece of work.

Initially, an important stylistic device in which students should always pay close attention to is underlining any reference to the core text being studied. This simple stylistic method of writing shows the marker that you are aware of the proper conventions of academic writing. This is ultimately one of the key aims of the student to portray to the marker that they are engaging with basic academic constructs. Furthermore, this underlining of the set text allows for the clear distinction between when a text is being references or a character is being spoken about. This confusion could take place for example in such a text as Hamlet as both the protagonist and the text is similarly named. Thus, confusion could ensue to the reader of the essay if there was no clear distinction. Though, with the use of the underlining of the set text there will be no confusion at all.

Another common error constantly seen across most forms of essay writing is student’s inability to directly address the question. Student’s main focus should be on aiming to prove to the marker that they are conveying an opinion in answering that question. Thus, students who do not address the key question but rather just decide to produce a generic essay response will provide markers with a clear reason as to mark down there work. This also displays to the marker that the student in question that has produced such a piece of work was underprepared or decided to reproduce something previously prepared. Essay writing in general should be considered as a way to provide an opinion on the set question and text. Therefore it is important for students to engage with the question in every topic sentence and link sentence. An easy way of engaging with this concept is to re word or use key words directly from the question.

Moreover, when students construct essays they must make sure that a conclusion is included in there writing. This concept of including a conclusion although sounds simple, can be quickly forgotten under exam conditions. Though, it is important for a student to retrospectively see that a conclusion is insurmountable in concluding an essay. A total disregard for a conclusion will cause students to have a piece of writing in which is both poorly constructed and incorrectly completed. Thus, students should pay close consideration to the fact that if time is running out under exam conditions it is always important to include a conclusion. This would mean that a student would have to compromise on adding extra points to include a conclusion. This would definitely be worth the compromise as it shows the marker that there has been some attempt to complete and summarise your points.

It is clear to see that if students keep these simple tips in mind they will have a greater chance at producing a clear and coherent essay. This mainly falls down to the fact that students engage with the question, while including definitive links back to the question in addition to pertaining to all academic constructs.

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