Myths about essay writing:
Myths are things which were at one point believed by the masses, or still are believed by many. In the world of academic writing myths are things that are believed by many to be true but are in fact not true. If you are working on an essay you should review the 4 rules below that not only can be broken, but must be broken if you want to produce a top notch final product.
You do not need to write the introduction first.
Far too many students are under the impression that because the introduction is the first part of their final piece that it must be the first thing that they write. However, this is a rule that must be broken in order for students to succeed. The introduction serves a very specific purpose and it is that introduction which enables students to outline the course of their entire work, show the reader everything they will encounter as they review the finished piece. But this can prove quite challenging if students try and tackle it first.
Why is this?
The reason is quite simple: by design, the introduction needs to have roughly one sentence to represent each of the key body paragraphs, or one sentence to summarize the topic sentence to the reader so that they know what is coming. But if a student has yet to write any or all of their body paragraphs, they will find it indeed truly difficult to explain even one sentence to the reader about what is contained in that body paragraph. It is for this reason that students are recommended to save this introductory section until the end of their writing, so that they can adequately review all of the concepts they have already written in the body of their work.
You do need an outline.
There are some cases where teachers require an outline of students either before they begin working on their first draft, or even as an attachment to their final product. But the outline is not required of all pieces and it is for that reason that many students fail to use it. This proves quite unfortunate because it is the outline which enables students to organize their thoughts, move around the order of their arguments in order to find the best fit, and to make sure that each point is adequately supported with evidence.
Even if an outline is not required of you, it will behoove you to write one before you set out to work on the finished product.
You do not need to present just one side to the argument
When working on an essay, many students are under the false impression that following the instructions just means presenting their side to an argument. Often, teachers will ask students to do just that. But what goes unspoken is that students need to present both sides to the argument in order to come across as an authority figure on the subject matter. The best defense for any work is to show why your argument is better than the opposition.
You do not need to just conduct one review after your first draft.
It is a common mistake to believe that your first draft needs just one quick run through before submission. Take time to edit and revise and then to proofread your first draft multiple times in order to make sure that you catch not only bigger picture problems but the smaller typographical or grammatical errors which might otherwise have gone unnoticed.