Academic essay

Introduction

Advice from the first step of writing a motivation letter will be useful here as well. Your first task when writing any interesting text is to create a "hook", i.e. a certain sentence that can arouse the reader’s interest and is directly related to the main topic. Be original, but don't overdo it. Find what characterizes your thesis or the problem more accurately, for example, the opinion of a well-known specialist in this field or a seemingly unremarkable fact that suits your thesis in the best possible way. It is not mandatory to start work like this — you can also find your hook during the writing of the main part, but in the final version of the text its use in the introduction is extremely desirable.

Develop the idea, so that gradually from the hook you can transition to the main part of your work. In a few words, describe the problem posed, but avoid fillers — everything you write here should directly affect your thesis.

The main mistakes in the introduction

• Tackling a subject from afar. You can start with anything, whether it be facts, a quote, a question or an anecdote from life. However, whatever you choose, the introduction should be directly related to the topic of the essay. Do not try to cover the entire history of the issue “From the very beginning of civilization ...” or make it general-to-specific (if the topic of the essay is the crisis in Europe due to coronavirus, a long preamble on the essence of the economy is unlikely to be relevant). It is not necessary to beat around the bush for a long time^[2].
• Cliches. Most of the applicants use shocking facts from the press, the “rules of life” of famous people or rather flat jokes — inspirational quotes of Steve Jobs will make the members of the admissions committee roll their eyes by now, so they are unlikely to pay attention to another such entry.
• Dryness. Remember, your task is to attract and retain the reader’s attention throughout the text, and if a dry enumeration of facts begins in the introduction, even if there is a hook, the interest of the commission will fade away even before the main part of the essay even starts.
• Inconsistency. Link your thoughts and facts in order to connect the main theme, introduction, and subsequent paragraphs together. Structure the text, do not clutter up the introduction with unnecessary information.

Thesis

After choosing a topic, the first thing you need to do is to form the thesis. A thesis is neither a proven fact, nor an opinion or the result of an observation. This is also not an argumentation, not a complex of cause-effect relationships and not a description of a certain phenomenon — all of this should come next. A thesis is the main idea of ​​your essay, the main essence of which is contained in several statements.

Imagine the situation: you are sitting with an essay in your hands right in front of a member of the commission, and without reading your work, he asks you the question: "What is the main idea of ​​this work?" So, the thesis is those few statements that can answer this question without further clarifications and elaborations. The presence of the thesis in the text not only helps the reader to understand the meaning of the work, but also helps them to see how much you understood it and how the rest of the text is related to it.

Keep in mind that, as a rule, a topic of an essay represents a controversial question or judgment and does not imply a definitive answer. That is why your task is not to search for an objective solution, which, most likely, simply does not exist, but to set up and argue your point of view.

The main mistakes made in the thesis

• Interrogative form. The main task of the thesis is to express your opinion, therefore it is not worth formulating the thesis using an interrogative sentence. By asking a rhetorical question, you run the risk of approaching it too philosophically and ultimately not expressing your opinion. The essay will lose all of its argumentation and become abstract thoughts that have never found an answer. Leave rhetorical questions for another time. Be assertive, but not too radical.
• Length. Remember — an important criterion is compliance with the basic canons. The thesis itself, by definition, is a comprehensive, but short statement. Distinguish the conclusion from the arguments and do not stretch the thesis over the whole page.
• Uncertainty. Do not use the thesis for polemic — the reader should easily follow the chain of your thoughts and its end. The uncertainty of the thesis only raises additional questions and gives the impression that you simply decided not to bring your idea to the conclusion.
• An impossible statement. Try not to appeal to abstract or subjective criteria and concepts that are hard to prove. For example, good and evil, real art and so on. Such a thesis is difficult to objectively prove, which means it will be difficult to come to any specific conclusions^[3].

Need help with documents?

Contact a mentorAbout the service