Photo by Judit Peter

You can be a novice or an essay writing guru, one thing is certain - there is always room for improvement. "Growth mindset" has been one of the most popular psychological concepts of the XXI century. Carol Dweck, who coined the term, argues that the key ingredient to success is believing in your own potential. Dweck's theory is based on groundbreaking research on brain plasticity and the positive influence of practice on the connectivity between neurons. In a nutshell, when your mindset is fixed, it becomes an obstacle on the way to improvement. But when you develop a growth mindset and believe in your own ability to get smarter, you work harder and ultimately achieve better results. So, no matter if you are a beginner or a professional, you can always upgrade your essay writing if you set your mind on it. And we are eager to help you with the following useful tips and resources that can make your essay writing practice more enjoyable and effective.   

1. Practice a lot

There is only one silver bullet that will never fail to improve your writing skills. You might have guessed that it is just a lot of deliberate practice. And while sometimes it might be really hard to pull yourself together, there are helpful apps that will turn your writing practice into a fun pastime you will not want to miss. Writing Challenge is an app that offers you several creative prompts and challenges you to write a story based on them. 750words is another writing-productivity app that inspires you to write 750 words daily to get your creative flow unstuck. You can also try journaling with the Day One app as a way to collect ideas and get organized. Finally, check out Blurt: this helpful app will encourage you to build a daily writing habit by setting word count goals and sending you email reminders. Whichever you choose, the most important rules are: commit to your schedule and have fun while writing!

2. Work on your style

Your style of writing can never be polished enough. There will always be a better synonym you could think of and a comma you have missed. "If you look for perfection, you'll never be content," wrote Leo Tolstoy. Grammarly is always here to help you. This popular app can not only check your grammar but also explain what went wrong and how to improve your writing. If you use Grammarly consistently, you will be able to upgrade your style on the basis of the regular reports. Another great app is called ProWritingAid. It is a three-in-one solution: a grammar checker, a style editor, and a writing coach covering such advanced writing issues as repetitive words, transitions, vague and abstract words, etc. There are also specialized apps that aim at honing your academic writing skills, such as Academic Writing in English and Mastering Academic Writing. So, the choice is yours. The secret to your success is the effort. 

3. Learn from the professionals

Another great strategy to boost your writing skills is to examine the best specimens of the essay writing craft and learn by example. You can find a list of the best essays written between 2010 and 2020 in Emily Temple's article "The 10 Best Essay Collections of the Decade." Another great list you could use is "17 Personal Essays That Will Change Your Life" by Sandy Allen from BuzzFeed. And if you are looking for more personalized examples that will suit your unique requirements, professional writers from essaywritingservice.com will provide you with the best samples of academic writing you can use to master the intricacies of the essay writing art.

4. Use advanced academic libraries.

We bet you already know that Wikipedia is not your go-to resource to be cited in an essay. It is high time you tried some more specialized digital libraries that will give you access to rare materials and help you showcase your connoisseurship. World Digital Library is an online treasury full of old manuscripts and books, films, images, and maps. The Perseus Digital Library focuses on Ancient Greek and Roman history, but it also includes Arabic and Germanic materials, books, and articles on Early Modern English literature, sources devoted to the history of the 19th-century United States, and other amazing artifacts. Another digital jewel box is Century Past, a helpful library offering a wide range of non-fiction books on multiple subjects, including art, history, teaching, economy, religion, political studies, exact sciences, medicine, and many others. The more you read, the better you write.

5. Make your writing reader-friendly

In fact, the art of composing a good essay is not about writing. It is about reading. When working on your paper, you should always remember about your readers and their convenience. Keep asking yourself if your writing is clear and concise, if you offer enough examples, and if you are writing in an engaging and easy-to-read manner. If you think that you might have stylistically overloaded your essay, you can receive assistance from such clarity-enhancing apps as Hemingway and Readable.

And here is one last extra tip from the literary father of the Little Prince. "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away," said Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Work on each word so that you are finally sure it is in the right place, and without it, your essay will not be complete. Good luck!