Writing a college essay is always a challenge, but when you have to write a paper for a college literature class, you might face twice the challenge because you not only have to write the essay but also need to read, analyze, and understand a work of literature to write about. This doubling up of work can make your literature class paper difficult to complete, but the good news is that there are ways to make the challenges less challenging and to help you stay on track to produce a stellar paper every time. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of ten tips to make sure your literature paper comes out well.
- Read the book. It might seem obvious, but the most important step is to make sure that you have read the book in question. Many students don’t read books or think they can write their paper based off of online summaries or printed study guides. You need to be sure you both have read the book and understand it in order to fully discuss the literature.
- Read the assignment. Again, it might seem obvious, but reading the essay question is also essential. You need to be sure that you are reviewing the full question and understand all of the requirements of the assignment. Nothing will tank your grade faster than writing a paper that doesn’t fully address each part of the assignment or that is off topic.
- Review the rubric. Similarly, reviewing the rubric is an important step to ensure that your paper addresses all of the requirements. The rubric establishes what needs to be done and how you are being graded. Use it as a guide to make sure that you address everything you will be graded with the depth and quality that the rubric asks you to produce.
- Conduct a literature review. Before you write about your book, visit your school’s online library to read what other scholars have already said about the book. It will help you to gain a broader perspective and may also spark some new ideas that you hadn’t considered. At the very least, it will give you a great bibliography to draw on as you write.
- Create an outline. Before you write, create an outline to lay out what you plan to do at each stage of the paper. It may seem like extra work, but you’ll be glad that you did it when it comes time to write. Creating the outline helps create a roadmap for the paper and ensures that you won’t go off on a tangent or write yourself into a corner you can’t get out from. It’s basically creating your own cheat sheet.
- Take Breaks. The writing process, you need to take breaks to give yourself time to rest, reflect, and make new connections between ideas. A general rule of thumb is to try to take a five-minute break every half hour. Too many breaks and you won’t get anything done, but too few and you may find your energy lagging.
- Write the body first. Writing the body of the paper first can be easier than starting with the introduction. By writing the body first, you will get the easiest and most straightforward sections done first and will also work through any analytical issues that may arise as you write. You can then save the introduction and conclusion for the end, where you can tailor them to the final analysis.
- Proofread and then do it again. Proofreading is essential to make sure you catch all of your errors. Proofread at least twice to catch lingering errors.
- Sleep on it. Take a break after writing in order to give yourself a chance to reset your mind and to look back at what you’ve written with a fresh set of eyes. This will help you to catch errors that you’ve made and also to identify areas where your writing may not be as clear as it could have been. Ideally, leaving it overnight would be best, but even a few hours can help.
- Seek out professional help. If you are concerned about the quality of your college paper, contact a professional essay writing service and ask them to process your urgent online request to write my paper. Highly qualified academic writers can create a customized essay that you can use as an effective guide to your own work.
