Be it for high school or college assignments and projects, this Dos and Don’ts list is your ultimate essay writing guide.

Essay writing is a crucial skill when it comes to writing essay papers or research papers in academic life. Whether it's about expressing your views or ideas on a topic or presenting debatable or controversial opinions,  or researching a topic and documenting all that you could understand about it. Essays certainly play a key role in all aspects. 

Just like a research report or paper, Essays also require clarity, a specific direction of where it is headed, and the use of precise ideas and words to express the right notions. While essays in school are certainly easier, higher education or college-level essays often attempt to measure your knowledge and understanding of the subject matter or the topic presented. 

Let's get you the only Essay Writing guide you will ever need to master your essays.

There's no rule book to essay writing or a certain way to do it. However certain basics ensure the person reading your essays will love them. Let's have a look at what key elements in an essay should you never forget: 

The Dos of Essay Writing: begin even before putting your first word on the page:

1. Make sure you read and understand your topic or subject of the essay well:  Do ensure that you have the right understanding of the subject matter you are supposed to write on. If you have any doubts you should get those clarified before starting your essay writing.

Frequently the topics for essays could deal with a broad area that touches upon various aspects and it is crucial you know which ones to shed light upon. This is the most important step as this could save you any time that you could waste on making errors in the essay and save excessive overwork.

2. Research and get more facts about your essay topic before you get to writing: Now that you understand your essay topic well, make sure your opinions are backed by factual knowledge. While opinionated and contrasting ideas are appreciated in essays as they showcase your true views on the topic, factually backed information and ideas help set the record for how clear you are about the background of the topic.

Researching your topic will give your a deeper understanding and knowledge of the subject matter.

3. Pen down your ideas on rough paper or make a draft before working on the final sheet or copy:  Once you've done your research, make a rough list of the ideas and concepts you would want to highlight in your essay. Doing so ensures that you don't miss out on any key points while writing your essay. 

4. Separate your ideas into two categories of positives and negatives:  When you have a count of how many positives or negatives you see in your essay writing topic, you can choose the side which makes your argument stronger in the essay.

For eg: if you are to write an essay on chocolate consumption amongst kids and young adults, you should make a note of what are the positives or advantages of it for kids and young adults and also the negatives or disadvantages. If you feel you have more positive points in favor of chocolate consumption, these pointers could give your essay a direction.

5. Start drafting your essay and keep making corrections until you are certain of everything: Make sure you go through your essay a good number of times to avoid any grammatical mistakes, formatting errors, etc. 

6. Follow standard formats and make your essay look clean:  Times New Roman 12 is your font and font size to swear by. No matter what ensure that you use this universally accessible font. Proper spacing, line alignment, and page alignment, and not overcrowding information into a single page will make your essay look nicer and give it a tidy look.

Don'ts of Essay Writing: Mistakes avoided make half your essay easier to deal with:

1. Too many ideas spoil the essay: Too many cooks spoil the broth and the same goes with ideas and essays. Make sure your train of thought doesn't wander frequently and you put across only as much as needed. Remember, essay writing is not about the display of information available to disperse, but about what were your key takeaways from the topic or subject matter of interest. 

2. Choose a side but don't cover up for the other: When you pick the positives or negatives of an essay topic, make sure you don't highlight as if just either one is the ultimate truth. There are pros and cons to everything in the world.

Remember the point here is, if you choose to write about the positives of something for eg- chocolate consumption, make sure you pay due respect to the negatives and at least modestly mention them in a short paragraph. For eg, chocolate consumption keeps stress and anxiety at bay and increases brain functioning and productivity, however, a flaw is excessive consumption can lead to obesity in children.

3. Don't make use of complex words, complicated language, and jargon: Keep it simple. The simpler your ideas and words used to describe those ideas are, the easier it is for the evaluator to understand your viewpoint. Jargons or any field-specific language or words should be avoided unless the readers are familiar with such words. Using too many phrases or metaphors or conceptual frameworks should be avoided. 

4. Don’t break the sequence: Your words must flow in a sequence and arrive at a step-by-step conclusion. You cannot be blundering the statements and the sequence of your ideas however you wish to and expect that evaluator to love your essay. Crisp and Clear essays are always preferred over unnecessarily clouded ones. 

5. Don’t resort to colors and fancy decoration to make your essay look attractive: Be it a hardcopy or soft copy, use of excessive highlighters, unneeded cursive and italic fonts with bold sizing, and underlining entire paragraphs should be avoided. Don't make your essay flashy and a piece of an art project. Always focus on having the right words to express your opinions and that is all the embellishment you need in your essays. 

6. Don’t Plagiarise or Paraphrase, and Don't forget citations:  Be Original! Put your concepts in your own words and don't rely on using copy-pasted information to defend your essay topic. The more original your content is the more it is appreciated.

Essay writing is a creative writing process and it is about putting your thoughts out in the most original of words or As you would say it. If you are to quote someone or use someone’s work make sure you ‘Cite the Source’ i.e give due credit to the original author of the content you use in your essay, or ‘quote the source or author’ give a quotation to any statement that was made by someone else and not you. 

To conclude, all there is to say is there is no rule book for essay writing, but this guide is all that you will ever need for essay writing.