Key tips to write an effective critical essay

[Nicholas Thomson]

Writing an effective critical essay requires critical analysis skills. The first part is critically reading to understand the topic and the second most important thing is writing the essay.

I will provide you with all the important tips you need to know for writing a critical essay. You might be a great essay writer but using these tips will greatly enhance your critical essay writing. So let’s get started!

Your critical analysis essay demonstrates your understanding of the subject. You have to know the requirements of your teacher to write the essay. So some basic considerations for the essay are;

•       Your essay should indicate that you have read extensively
•       Your essay should reflect a deep understanding of the topic
•       Your essay should address all aspects of the question
•       It should have clear arguments, supported by evidence
•       It should be properly structured and formatted
•       The ideas should flow smoothly and coherently
•       It has accurate and authentically sourced evidence
•       Uses professional language and academic style of writing
•       It is free from grammatical errors and it is properly proofread

You should always plan your essay carefully, to ensure that all essential elements are covered and you get the time for reading, writing, and proofreading your essay.

Always take out time for your essay writing so you can easily plan out all stages of your essay. If you are thinking that I should write my paper and then make edits as I keep reading more then this strategy will not work. You should always divide your time for reading and writing equally. 

Never start writing too soon as your analysis requires a deep understanding of the topic and you should spend time deeply reading the relevant content.

The proper steps and strategies to guide your essay writing should include the following

1.     Decoding

First of all, you should write down your essay topic and try to decode and understand it.

1.     Reading and analysis

After this, you would start reading the material that you need to assess. You have to understand the perspectives of the author, the meaning or implications of the writing, and the writing style depending on the type of essay. 

1.     Thesis statement

Now make a thesis statement that you can use to convey your argument about your readings. Your thesis should be concise and comprehensive to convey your understanding. You have to use evidence from your sources to support the thesis in the essay. This thesis acts as an anchor for supporting the entire essay.

1.     Introduction

Once you have decided on your thesis argument you can start writing your essay. The first or introductory paragraph has to catch the attention of the reader.

Use an interesting opening or hook sentence for your introduction. Your hook can be a bold assertive statement or a rhetorical question.

Now give a general overview or context of what your essay is going to be about. You can mention the name of the book or the story or the paper that you are analyzing in the introduction. 

The last sentence of the introduction would be the thesis statement that would guide the entire essay.

1.     Body paragraphs

The next step is writing your body paragraphs and organizing your essay. Each body paragraph will have a different topic or theme which would be reflective of the thesis statement.

The body paragraphs serve as arguments to support your thesis by using evidence and supporting arguments. The length of the body would depend on the length of the essay and the scope of the topic.

Each body paragraph starts with a clear topic sentence that summarizes the contents of the upcoming paragraph. The topic sentence also serves to connect each paragraph with the thesis paragraph.

1.     Evidence and arguments

The essay cannot provide strong arguments or analyses without supporting them with sufficient evidence. Statistical and theoretical supportive evidence can be used from the same source or other sources. The analysis and evidence should be complementary and sufficient.

 

Using too much evidence can make the essay appear too dry and informational. Whereas, using too much analysis without supporting it with evidence looks baseless.

So try to ensure the right balance of evidence and analysis in your essay. If you are feeling confused about how to implement this information you can take help from a essay writing service. They would provide you sample papers and help check your paper.

1.     Conclusion

Your concluding paragraph would contain the summary of the analysis presented in your paper. Make sure to include all major points in this paragraph, while omitting the unnecessary details. It should be like a quick recap of the entire essay, no matter the length of the essay. The conclusion should not be too long but it should be comprehensive.

1.     Revise and proofread

Once you have completed your essay you should carefully read it to identify any errors in the grammar, spellings, sentence structure, choice of words, and other concerns.

You should ideally read your essay a few hours or few days after completing the first draft. This would give you time to view your work from a fresh perspective. You would be able to identify errors quickly and would be able to make new additions to the paper.

Ensure that the essay provides a clear analysis that is unbiased and supported by sufficient evidence. It should not be biased or opinionated. 

1.     Final draft

You can write a final draft after proofreading and incorporating the identified edits.