We are proud of how comprehensive our website is and try to stay ahead of the curve and predict the questions and concerns that students are experiencing. However, we work with thousands of students a year, from universities all around the world. Every once in a while, a student has a question that we have not yet addressed in our tutorials and guides. That is why we developed our student questions section. Not quite a FAQ, our student question section is where students can go to find out more information about the art and craft of academic writing.
What type of questions do students ask us? Honestly, it depends on the student. Some of our previous customers have asked very specific, technical questions about different writing types. We answer those questions for the students, and sometimes use those questions to develop guides and tutorials for our entire customer base. For example, we began to get a number of questions about the synthesis essay, and realized that many professors had begun to use this term to describe a very specific type of argumentative/persuasive essay that requires the student to call on class reading lists for their supporting information. Once we saw that need, we expanded our answer from the student question section and into our tutorial section.
Other students ask very specific questions about their own projects. We have answered student request on topics as varied as can we suggest sources for a particular type of essay and how a student can avoid run-on sentences in their writing. We get a lot of questions about the writing process, and the answers vary for that because each of our writers has his or her own process. In other words, our student questions section is designed to give you an opportunity to ask a professional writer any and all of the questions you may have while working on your own writing assignments.
Imagine the structure of an essay as a map or step-by-step guide to conducting research and for organizing and reporting the results of students’ own interpretation of the information they find. It is important to note, though, that there are no hard-and-fast rules for structuring a given essay, but there are some general guidelines available that can help students with the process depending on what type of essay is involved. It is also important to structure your essay according to your own thinking rather than relying on the structure of your sources. Regardless of whether it is an argumentative or Continue Reading...
An essay outline provides the framework in which research and writing can be organized and presented in an appropriate fashion. Many students were likely first introduced to the basic essay outline process early on when teachers explained how to use Roman numerals to organize their written work, but college-level work requires a more thoughtful approach. Although it is possible to write an essay from start to finish without an outline, the process is significantly facilitated when students develop an outline from the outset that can guide their efforts. Moreover, an essay outline helps students remain focused on what is needed Continue Reading...
Unfortunately, while some students lack the experience and skills to write a good essay on their very first try, fortunately, it is possible to learn how to write a good essay by following some common sense steps, including those listed below. Read and fully understand the assignment guidelines (don’t just jump in and start writing). Think about the topic and what you might want to say about it (analyze the key words in the assignment guidelines and what do you think about them). Plan ahead and organize your time (avoid the tendency to procrastinate until the night before it is Continue Reading...
In general, an essay is a simply a written work using academic language that provides an author’s own views about an issue or topic of interest. Although some essays can be lengthy, most are relatively brief based on the definition provided by English professor Frederick Crews who states that an essay is “a fairly brief piece of nonfiction that tries to make a point in an interesting way.” Essays are also nonfictional works that seek to make a specific point rather than a summary of what is known about something such as would appear in an encyclopedia article. There are Continue Reading...
After military engineering, civil engineering is the oldest engineering field, so there are plenty of topics available for this field, including an analysis of the history of the discipline. Students may also want to select a civil engineering topic based on their classroom discussions, areas of personal interest, based on specific assignment guidelines or using a specific civil engineering sub-specialty. The civil engineering field is typically segmented by area of specialty (i.e., surveying, coastal engineering, water resources engineering and so forth), and any of these sub-specialties can form the basis for a scholarly analysis. If students are stuck finding a Continue Reading...
Students who are searching for topics from past A-level papers have a number of sources available to them, but care should be taken when using these model papers to ensure that they are properly cited as a source (if they are used) or are otherwise revised to the extent that plagiarism-detection services will not identify matches between the model paper and their own. In addition, there are some sample exemplary papers available here, as well as past question and specimen papers together with their corresponding marking schemes through Cambridge International Examination’s Web site. The Cambridge International Examination’s Web site also Continue Reading...
Not only is it reliable, the survey data provided by the Pew Research Center can be an invaluable resource for social science researchers, analysts and students alike. Established in 2004, the Pew Research Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that administers public opinion surveys on a wide range of issues. This organization is fully committed to using the highest quality, evidence-based research methodologies for its surveys and it does not express an opinion concerning the findings that emerge from its data analysis. While the Pew Research Center concedes that response rates to all public opinion surveys have been generally Continue Reading...
Many students ask this question. Research questions are those questions upon which your research project will be focused and for which timely and informed answers can be directly developed based on an analysis of the data you collect. For example, if your topic is the pros and cons of legalized marijuana, an appropriate corresponding research question might be: “What are the economic, political and health implications of legalized marijuana?” By contrast, research objectives are directly linked to your research questions and are used to describe the general and specific aims and outcomes that are intended to be achieved by a Continue Reading...
Although there remains a lack of agreement concerning what the average number of words per page for an academic project, a good rule of thumb is that a double-spaced page using Times New Roman 12 point will require between 250 and 300 words (some authorities suggest 275 words per double-spaced page) and a single-spaced page will require about 400 words. The vast majority of academic projects are double spaced. If you use a great deal of section headings, longer words, lists or graphics, the word count may be significantly lower, but it’s difficult to get more than 300 words on Continue Reading...
No, it’s never a good idea to swear in a college essay, unless the essay is specifically on the origin of curse words (which would most likely not be a good idea either).
