As a university student, writing an essay is an unavoidable part of the process. Every student embarking on this journey aims to secure an A on every assignment. On occasion, it is not quite clear what constitutes an A grade assignment and what students can incorporate in their assignments to ensure they achieve it. Students often ask themselves the question, how am I going to write my paper and get an A. This article will provide you with a few guidelines for ensuring that A is achievable
1. BE CRITICAL, NOT DESCRIPTIVE
Most students have become accustomed to writing essays and assignments in a descriptive or narrative form. In university, those skills are built upon or diversified to analyse instead of describe critically. This key component is what enables students to achieve the highest grades but is often the most difficult to get right.
2. REFERENCING
Ensure you make adequate use of references throughout your essay. They key is to write your paper and express your academic voice by creating a coherent argument using the work of others. Failure to reference the work of others while using their work in your paper will be considered as plagiarism and could result in a student having to repeat an assignment.
3. HIGHLIGHT LIMITATIONS
An A grade paper ensures to highlight the limitations of the research carried out on the particular topic or sheds light on the limitations of the theories the topic is based on. The writer may also expand on the limitations noticed in the research design itself. All this should be achieved using strategic language, explanations and expanding on how the work could have been improved all using tentative language.
4. DIVERSIFY YOUR SOURCES
Ensure your sources cover not only articles, journals and books but also encompass a range of credible sources for example government websites like UNESCO, UNICEF and statistics. University tutors often provide a recommended reading list but sticking to just that list won’t help you achieve a rich A grade assignment or essay. Students can also incorporate the use of diagrams, graphs and tables to pictorially depict their ideas. It helps break up text and is easier on the eyes.
5. USE OF UP-TO-DATE SOURCES
Ensure you are selective in your reading, and it is referencing, and it is as up to date and recent as possible. The use of google scholar is a well-known source but A grade papers expand to take advantage of the university access to exclusive sources through the university library or tutors. In some cases, the use of seminal works on a particular topic is encouraged but should not form the basis of the main argument of the paper and should be used sparingly.
It goes without saying that the best essays follow the rules set out by the university strictly and endeavour to stay within the stated word limit, plus or minus 10%. Exceeding or not attaining the word limit in university essays often results in students being marked down because it depicts the inability of that student to follow simple guidelines or instructions. Whatever topic you choose hopefully one can say I write my paper knowing I will get and achieve an A after incorporating these few tips.
