Too many students take academic writing for granted, but that is far from perfect because academic essays demand a well-planned approach. It turns out there are many words to avoid in an essay, and many pitfalls to prevent in order to get the highest mark.
The only way to get the grades you want is to get acquainted with these issues so you can successfully avoid them in your academic papers. Our goal is to introduce you to the most common essay mistakes – and to explain what to do instead. Let’s take a closer look!
What not to do in an essay? Make grammar errors
Mistake number one is obvious, but keep seeing too many students making it all over again. If your essay has even the smallest grammar error, rest assured your teacher is going to raise their eyebrows. This is the main reason why many young scholars seek help from EduBirdie essay writing service. That way, students know that their papers will strictly follow all grammar rules whilst featuring high-quality content.
Here’s an example of frequent writing errors that are super easy to avoid if you truly focus on your work:
- Incorrect: The findings of the study SHOWS a significant trend.
- Correct: The findings of the study SHOW a significant trend.
Though these statements seem the same, their verbs make all the difference from the grammar perspective. The subject “findings” is plural, so the verb must be “show” and not “shows.” Such details may feel negligible, but they mean the world in academic writing.
No meaningful structure
Not developing a logical structure is one of the most frequent mistakes in writing. Without it, your essay will likely feel like a series of loosely related thoughts rather than a solid piece of academic research. Bear in mind that the overall structure isn’t just for keeping things tidy – on the contrary, it gives your paper momentum by naturally leading from one point to the next.
Let us assume that you are creating a paper on the benefits of exercise for mental health. In this case, a bad structure may look a lot like this:
- Listing benefits
- Describing different types of exercise
- Concluding the topic with a few statistics
You can see that all the ideas here are relevant, but they don’t have a clear flow. That’s why it’s much better to break it down this way:
- Introduction (why mental health and exercise are connected)
- Dig deeper to explain specific benefits
- Conclude with a strong summary
The traditional approach (introduction, body part, conclusion) in college essay writing will always work well because it makes for a meaningful structure.
The problem of weak thesis statements
As a student, you must never forget that a strong thesis statement represents the backbone of any well-written essay. The reason is simple – the statement tells readers what to expect, highlights your main argument, and sets the tone for the entire piece.
However, weak thesis statements are way too frequent as writing mistakes. Even if you conduct thorough research, it will be insufficient in the absence of a strong statement. That’s because a weak thesis is too broad or overly simplistic. Allow us to explain it through practical examples:
- Weak thesis statement: “Social media impacts society”. This is too vague as it doesn’t specify what kind of impact, or how this impact is important.
- Strong thesis statement: “Social media has transformed modern communication by fostering instant connectivity. However, it also contributes to rising levels of anxiety as well as misinformation.” This statement is highly specific as it takes a clear position and prepares the reader for the discussion to follow.
A clear thesis will make your essay more effective – bear this in mind when you start preparing for your next paper.
Passive voice overuse
The passive voice is not a mistake per se: It has its own special place in writing. However, overusing it makes essays feel distant, indirect, and sometimes even confusing. Here’s a common example:
- Passive: The data was analyzed, and conclusions were drawn by the researchers.
- Active: The researchers analyzed the data and drew conclusions.
The second version is much more direct because it makes it clear who’s performing the actual task. You ought to follow this activity logic give more energy to your writing.
Improper citations
Citing is the fundamental segment of academic writing, but its rules obviously confuse too many young researchers. More often than not, students forget to cite entirely, do it inaccurately, or rely on unreliable sources.
For example, you can’t just write that “regular exercise reduces stress levels.” Instead, you ought to cite the original source to show where your information comes from and strengthen your argument. We strongly encourage you to remember this: Not citing your sources is more than just a technical error — it’s like taking credit for someone else’s ideas.
Avoid mistakes to get good grades
You can see that all of the issues discussed above are fairly straightforward and easy to avoid. It means you can quickly get rid of common obstacles in academic writing, which in turn leads to better grades. Bear these tips in mind – they will instantly turn you into a more prolific academic writer.
