Parcc English Essay Samples

Mistakes that Every Professor Hates to See in an Essay

Mistakes that Every Professor Hates to See in an Essay Writing essays is an integral part of students life. At times its challenging, and at times its are fun, but at all times, its a cumbersome core. This is especially because so much can go wrong with this task: grammatical errors, incorrect essay vocabulary, citing mistakes and plagiarism, to name a few. How many times have you feared showing your work to others simply because you were not sure if you missed out on some embarrassing errors, or failed to write a convincing essay that delivered the message effectively? If yes, then you probably know the perils of submitting essays rampant with common, embarrassing errors! Whether you are looking to write a book, or churn up great essays, this guide is sure to help you out! So, rather than facing the challenges blindly, take a glance at the following checklist of 5 mistakes that every professor hates to see in an essay. Mistake #1: Description Without Explanation As a student striving to pen down a persuasive essay, its natural to become obsessed with adverbs and adjectives and miss out on the explanation in the process. For example, you may be always describing people and the way they do certain things, like: My mother is beautiful. She is a good teacher as well. Now, this statement is wrong for a number of reasons. Your readers might ask: Why did you come to the conclusion that your mother is beautiful? What made you say that she teaches well?. So, bottomline is that you can very well go on filling your essay with strong adverbs and adjectives that sound pleasing to the ears, but the point still remains unclear. Solution: Do not describe people and things, instead explain the reason behind your description vividly. Do not describe the things they do and how they do, rather back up your statements with evidence to show exactly how they do those things. It is always advisable to quote examples, information, or evidence from authoritative sources. Now, take a look at the next sentence. My mother has sparkling blue eyes and flaming, red hair that makes her beautiful to behold. Moreover, she always encourages me to read and manages to explain even the toughest of things with alarming ease. Isnt this a lot clear than the previous sentence? Mistake #2: Passive Voice A sentence written in passive voice occurs when the main subject of the sentence does not perform the said action, rather the action is done on it by someone else. Professors believe that using the passive voice in an essay leads to awkward sentences and doesnt quite convey the thought very well. However, it is still acceptable when the action being performed deserves more attention than the main subject or doer of that action. Solution: Writing in active voice helps to capture the attention of the reader and makes your essay stronger by showing responsibility, or highlighting a certain action. By using the passive voice, you tend to avoid showing responsibility and hence fail to give enough information to explain the problem in detail. This is especially detrimental if the main core of your essay is centered around that problem/action. In order to change passive into active voice, start by recognizing the subject. Thereafter, make the verb of the same tense as that of the helper, and then end the sentence with the receiver of action. Consider the following example: Passive: The novel Black Friday was written by S.Hussain Zaidi. Active: S.Hussain Zaidi wrote the novel Black Friday.