15 College Essay Writing Tips for Successful Studying

College Essay Writing Tips: If you’re a college student, you know how soul-sapping it can be to sit at your laptop staring at a blinking cursor, unable to start your next essay. How many times have you faced down a deadline and struggled to make your word count after running out of things to say? It’s a common problem that every college student faces at some point.

I have seen some of my friends and classmates ask questions like; can I write my essay online?

Well, the simple answer to this question is YES! As technology grows, some platforms have come up with easy ways to write your essays without stress and still turn it in on time.

Today, students are writing more essays than ever before, and eventually, the sheer volume of papers they produce means that they are going to run into essay trouble sooner or later. So, what is a student supposed to do? In this article, we’ll take a look at 15 college essay writing tips that can help you develop better papers faster and avoid writer’s block.

First, though, we should talk a bit about why students need so much essay help. One key reason is that high schools don’t teach writing the way they used to, so a majority of students now come to campus without the writing skills they need to succeed.

That’s why a growing number of colleges now report sending a majority of their freshmen to remedial or introductory college writing courses. It’s not your fault that you struggle with essays! But some tips can help to close the gap.

Effective Tips for Writing College Essays

We bet you have read many similar tips, but we have systemized the most effective here. The trick is to actually start using them, instead of just reading about how to write your college essays better and faster.

1. Read the assignment. The first step in any writing project is to read the assignment and make sure that you know what you need to write about. It might seem obvious to read the assignment, but you should be sure to go through it carefully and make sure you understand each part of the question. If there are any sections you don’t understand or requirements that are unclear, seek clarification from your instructor before you begin to write.
2. Review the rubric. Similarly, before you start writing, you should review any associated rubric to make sure you know how you are being graded. When you review the rubric, you’ll see what aspects of the paper you need to be sure to emphasize to earn maximum points.
3. Develop a research question. Developing a research question that can help you to focus on the research that you need for your essay by giving you a specific question to answer, sharpening your focus, and avoiding irrelevant material.
4. Visit your school’s library. Your school library can give you access to scholarly and academic full-text sources that can’t be found on the open web. Make your paper stronger by using the best-quality research to support your analysis.
5. Build a thesis statement. Use the research that you’ve gathered to develop a strong thesis statement. The thesis statement is the single most important sentence in your paper. It needs to tell the audience what your paper will demonstrate or prove, and it should also indicate the main lines of evidence your paper will develop in order to support and defend your thesis.
6. Outline your essay. While it can sometimes feel like busywork, writing even a brief outline before you start to write will give you an advantage in writing faster and better by frontloading the hard part without the pressure of writing the paper, too. The more detail you put into your outline, the easier drafting the actual essay will be.
7. Consider using an essay-writing service. If you need extra help with your papers online, hiring a professional academic writer from an essay writing service for college can be a major timesaver. A pro helper can produce high-quality custom papers that show you exactly the right way to approach any essay on any topic.
8. Pick a consistent writing time. You can get into the essay writing zone better when you have consistent writing time and train your brain to think about writing at the same time every day.
9. Take regular breaks. Keep your brain fresh by taking regular short breaks during the writing process. A five-minute break every half hour can keep you focused and improve productivity. 
10. Write when you feel most alert. Many students are busy during the day and put off writing until late at night, when they are already tired. You can make essay writing faster and easier by setting aside writing time in the morning when you are most alert.
11. Have a nutritious snack. Before you start writing, have a nutritious, healthy snack to give your brain the boost it needs to think hard. Fresh fruits and vegetables and lean proteins are always good choices.
12. Exercise before you start writing. A quick round of exercise to get the blood pumping can actually improve your writing. Studies have shown that physical activity helps improve mental performance and can combat boredom and sleepiness associated with essay writing.
13. Save time for editing and revision. Your paper isn’t done when the first draft is finished. It’s important to go back and review your paper to improve its clarity and revise any sections that don’t make sense. It’s a good practice to wait a few hours or overnight (if possible) so you can revise with fresh eyes.
14. Always proofread a final time. It’s easy to miss proofreading mistakes, so always give your paper a final read-through before turning it in to catch lingering errors.
15. Ask a friend to read your paper. Getting a second set of eyes on your assignment can help to catch errors, omissions, and unclear sections you can’t see yourself. 

Writing College Essays Like a Pro: One Last Advice

There is very little left to say about tips on writing college essays, but we have one more piece of advice to share with you. It is very simple advice, but if you actually use it at least several times, you will understand how valuable it is.

Do the first step of your writing just the day you receive the assignment, maximum the next day. Open a Google doc, write several points of the outline, do 15 minutes of research, etc.

It is a proven psychological trap or a proven psychological hack you should remember about — when you immediately do at least the smallest step towards your goal, it is much easier to get back to the task.

It reduces procrastination significantly and helps you to submit your paper on time, before the deadline. If you manage to spare an hour for the first step, you will do so much that the rest of the work will seem much easier.