Writing a college essay is not just about meeting word count or deadlines; it’s more about demonstrating your academic writing, analytical thinking, and understanding of a specific topic. If you want to write a high-quality essay, you must understand the insights into what your professor wants. Meeting your requirements can be one thing, but meeting your professor’s expectations can help you write an excellent essay.
This blog gives you a sneak peek into what your professor wants in a college essay. So, learn it thoroughly and make your college essay stand out.
What Does Your Professor Want in a College Essay?
Here’s what your professor expects you to add to your college essay:
1. A Clear and Focused Thesis Statement
As a college essay starts from a thesis statement, your professor would want you to write a strong and focused one in the introduction.
If you don’t know, a thesis statement is a one or two-sentence summary of the main point or argument of an essay. Everything discussed in the whole essay must connect back to this.
- So, whenever writing a thesis statement, ensure to make it specific.
- Don’t make it vague, as it misguides the readers.
- Also, avoid generic statements like “This essay will discuss…”.
- Just simply state your claim and why it matters.
For example, a weak thesis statement is “Social media affects people”. However, a strong one is “Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok significantly cause young people to compare themselves and impact their self-esteem”.
2. Well-Organised Structure
Along with a strong thesis statement, your professor wants to see your ideas flow logically throughout the essay. An essay must have a clear structure, such as:
- Introduction
- Body Paragraphs
- Conclusion
When writing body paragraphs, you must follow the PEEL paragraph structure, which includes a point, evidence, explanation, and link. It significantly helps to communicate your ideas efficiently and enhance readability.
When transitioning to the following paragraph, use words like furthermore, in contrast, as a result, or however to guide the readers efficiently. A well-structured essay outline significantly saves you time and keeps your ideas on track.
3. Strong Evidence and Examples
No matter how strong the opinions or arguments you present in your college essay, they are meaningless without evidence. So, your professors would want you to support your claims using facts, data, statistics, research, quotes from texts, and real-life examples.
No matter what you discuss, ensure to prove it with evidence. For instance:
- To write a literary analysis, use direct quotes from the text.
- When writing a research synthesis, include statistics and scholarly sources.
- Moreover, you can support your claims with personal reflection and anecdotes.
4. Original Thinking and Critical Analysis
Professors also want students to add their interpretations or personal opinions to the college essays. Most of the time, students only add things that others have discussed, which only leads to repetition.
So, what your professor really wants is for you to treat the main research idea in your own distinct way. An essay stands out not when it is written well, but when it is analysed, connected, and challenged critically. When writing your college essay, make sure:
- To ask good questions
- Compare different perspectives
- Simplify complicated ideas
- Draw meaningful conclusions
For example, don’t say “Climate change is a problem”. Instead, say, “Climate change only affects developing countries, and it can only be mitigated with global cooperation”.
5. Clear and Concise Writing
Most students think that writing complex and fancy words is what makes good writing. However, the reality is completely different. Good writing means that you have delivered your message clearly and concisely, which is what your professor wants you to do in college essays.
Complex and fancy words will only make your essay harder to read. So, when writing your college essay, use simple language, keep sentences short, and avoid passive voice. Moreover, cut filter words like “very”, “just”, and “actually”. Here’s an example:
❌The solution was implemented by the team.
✔️The team implemented the solution.
6. Proper Grammar and Spelling
Your professor also wants to ensure proper grammar and spelling in your college essays, as typos and poor grammar make your essay look careless, even if your ideas and arguments are outstanding.
Professors might not expect total perfection. However, the least they can expect is basic writing competence. So, when working on your college essay, use tools like Grammarly, Hemingway App, and Ginger. Don’t over-rely on them, just use them as assistants.
7. Accurate Formatting and Citation
Professors usually appreciate students who mind formatting instructions while writing their college essays. Every professor sets specific guidelines, such as font size, line spacing, citation style, and word count. So, keep them in mind.
Along with formatting, citations also matter a lot. Common citation styles are MLA, APA, Chicago, and Harvard. Students must adhere to the citation style that is required.
Accurate citation significantly shows academic honesty, gives credit to original authors, and allows others to check your work. Moreover, you can use the free APA Citation generator to ensure efficient referencing.
8. Engaging Introduction and Conclusion
Your professor also wants you to write a compelling and engaging introduction and conclusion to your college essay, as they can instantly hook the reader.
When writing an introduction, surprise the reader with an interesting question, fact, or quote. Then, introduce your topic, and state your thesis statement. However, when you’re writing the conclusion, restate your main argument in fresh words, summarise key points, and leave the readers with a final thought.
The conclusion is not the repetition of your introduction. It must efficiently reflect or connect to bigger ideas.
9. Relevance to the Essay
Relevance is also an important factor that your professor wants you to consider while working on your college essay. Your written essay must showcase that you have understood the instructions and followed them completely.
Before you start writing your essay, determine what it asks you to do. Is it asking you to compare, argue, or reflect? Also, check whether there are any questions that you must answer in your essay. Moreover, consider the required length and source type.
Always stay on topic while writing your essay, as irrelevance will bring you nothing but lower grades.
Stuck on a difficult essay? We can help!
Our Essay Writing Service Features:
- Expert Australian Writers
- Plagiarism-free
- Timely Delivery
- Thorough Research
- Rigorous Quality Control
10. Evidence of Research and Reading
Essay writing is a hectic process, and it involves engaging with course materials, such as lectures, readings, case studies, and assigned books. However, your professor may expect you to present the evidence of your academic research and the reading.
You can also quote your professor’s favourite reading in your essay. When you properly showcase the proof that you have worked hard, it shows that you have taken your course seriously. Moreover, it strengthens your trust and confidence in your professor.
To show your reading in a college essay, mention key authors, refer to discussion from class, and include in-text citations.
11. Polished Draft
Your professor also appreciates it when you submit your polished draft instead of your first draft. Professors can effortlessly differentiate between them, as the first draft is often messy, repetitive, and underdeveloped.
Follow these tips to write a polished college essay:
- Complete your first draft as soon as possible.
- Then, start with your systematic review.
- Revise for structure, clarity, and argument.
- Edit for grammar and language.
- Again, proofread before submitting.
The more you revise, the better your essay will get.
12. Academic Integrity and Credibility
Your professor also wants you to maintain academic integrity and credibility while writing your college essay.
This can be done by avoiding plagiarism. Professors usually use plagiarism checks like Turnitin, which quickly detect whether you have copied anything from other sources, leading to course failure.
With the rise of essay writing with AI writing tools, professors have become more alert than ever. They want students to use their own academic writing, critical thinking, and proofreading skills to write their college essays. Furthermore, they use advanced AI detectors.
Eight Simple Steps to Write a College Essay
Above, we have discussed what your professors want you to write in a college essay. Now, let’s explore how you can write an excellent college essay. Understand this process thoroughly and secure an A+ in your essay. Here are the eight simple steps to write a college essay.
Step 1: Understand the requirements
The first step in writing a college essay is to understand your requirements. This can be done by determining what area you must select, how long it should be, what citation style, and when it is due.
Step 2: Choose a specific topic
When choosing a topic for your essay, explore what interests and intrigues you. When you have selected your area of interest, try to narrow it down. After that, check if there’s sufficient relevant research material available. For example,
❌Social media is bad.
✔️How does Instagram affect self-esteem in college students?
Step 3: Conduct extensive research
Research is crucial for writing a college essay, as it allows you to explore different data and information sources, such as books, scholarly articles, journals, magazines, and case studies. It exponentially enhances your knowledge. Moreover, get case study writing help.
Step 4: Write a strong thesis statement
The thesis statement is the main argument of your college essay. So, make sure to write a clear, debatable, and specific thesis statement. It should be one sentence, easy to understand, and it should not contain any vague words.
❌Exercise is healthy.
✔️Regular exercise improves mental health by reducing stress and anxiety.
Step 5: Make a compelling outline
Having a top-notch outline makes your college essay worth excellent grades. So, make a well-structured outline by following the given pattern:
- Introduction (Hook, background info, and thesis statement)
- Body Paragraphs (Point, evidence, explanation, link)
- Conclusion (Restate thesis statement, summary, and final thought)
Step 6: Write the first draft
After creating an outline, start penning down your ideas. Start with the easiest sections or body paragraphs first. Keep the language simple and clear. Keep everything relevant to the thesis statement. At last, write the introduction and conclusion.
Step 7: Edit and proofread
The next step is to edit and proofread your college essay. Check for grammar, spelling, clarity, strong transitions, and citations. Also, ensure that every paragraph supports your thesis statement, every argument is convincing, and you have avoided plagiarism.
Step 8: Finalise and submit
Get feedback about your written college essay and make changes thoroughly. Double-check everything, including font, spacing, and citations, before finalising. Save your essay as a PDF. Then, submit it before the deadline.
Struggling to Write a Top-Notch College Essay?
We have discussed above what your professor wants in your college essay. He wants you to add a clear thesis statement, logical structure, strong evidence, original thinking, concise writing, good grammar, proper formatting, relevance, revision, and academic credibility. Moreover, we discussed the steps to write a college essay efficiently.
Nevertheless, if you’re still struggling to write your college essay, don’t get stressed; consult professional essay writing services. They will provide you with a well-written essay in no time and help you secure your desired grades.
Frequently Asked Questions
The approximate length of a college essay ranges from 500 to 1500 words.
If your essay is about personal opinions or experiences, you can use it freely.
The choice of English in an essay depends on your college’s standards or your professor’s preference.
As long as you’re using it for brainstorming, it is fine. However, if you submit an AI-generated essay as an original, that can be problematic.
