Techniques You Need to Know to Write an Award-Winning EssayApril 03, 2019

The University of Sydney offers courses on essay writing and improving English for writing for Years 10-12 students, which would prepare them for their High School Certificate (HSC). Institutions like the Australian National University (ANU) has the essay writing basics. And you have lost count of the number of paperbacks you read. Why are you looking at this post? You don't want to miss anything. Your eyes are glazed after long hours of staring at the computer screen, hardly recalling your past lessons on improving your writing skills. And you're starting to doubt your capabilities. It's too late to look for another article and assure yourself one more time.

You might have been spaced out after reading one more piece on how to write an award-winning essay. It would be a confidence booster after your professor was confused at your last essay on "A Passage to India". (You would compare it to "A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" without recalling "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". You blamed it on procrastination.) Moreover, the syllabus in Modern literature would teach you that certain film techniques could improve your paper writing skills. You're at a loss, albeit briefly, after you struggle to get over the special effects. (You're a huge comics fan.) It's time to look at your past essay writing lessons one more time.

This article won't discuss factors such as genres, which you would be too familiar by now. And you won't compare notes with your flatmate, who happens to be a Geography major. It might not be wise to make a bet, asking him (or her) to name all the African countries in a minute, but you can inquire about the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of news on climate change. (It would come to mind after watching "The Day After Tomorrow", where mankind witness the Ice Age. It would force the US government to relocate to Mexico, making you wonder if the director foresaw the ascendancy of Donald Trump to the White House. You're thinking too much, though.) Recall your old lessons once more, as well as your recent experience (in paper writing), one more time.

You Can Write: The Secret Behind an Essay of High Distinction

Are you confident about your writing abilities? Finding answers to this question would turn into a soul-searching experience, prompting you to doubt your professors. You don't have to ask them about their confidence (or the lack of confidence) in their essay-writing skills, as you must force yourself to be aware of yours. Poor writing is old news, but making amends would be another thing. If you're not making any conscientious effort in improving your writing style, then you must be confident about your knowledge in the subject matter. If it happens that it's not one of your favourite genres, then you might relate to one of the characters. A sub-plot reminds you of past experience. And you have a strong urge to finish reading the assigned text immediately. You may be far from the writing abilities of a novelist that you admire the most, but you're a work in progress. And you're making strides.

How to work your angles? Agnes Varda's "Vagabond" was mentioned during a recent lecture in Cinema and Modernism, your curiosity piqued after hearing the interesting discussion (or debate) on it. You were able to see some clips (on the Net), which surprised you at first. You wonder if this would be Varda's definition of a woman wanting to liberate herself from the expectation of others until you stumbled into an article about the diminutive filmmaker and the film itself. It would surprise you that Varda attempted to make a statement on the people’s xenophobic attitude towards a person's poor hygiene. You should have guessed it, as there's a hardly dirt (or scratch) in your area. It should prompt you to look at the other literary works that you have studied before. You're not thinking of British imperialism in Jules Verne's popular works, though.

What to make of the arrangement of everything you see in the book? Mise-en-scène comes to mind, a term that you've heard from your coursemate too often. A film student that you're glad to have around, as the term applies in literature as well. (You don't know how to apply this term in a superhero film, but you won't lose sleep over it.) Pay attention to the characters and the setting of the story. You can figure out the tone after you can link these figures to the place (or how to get the sense of it). The good ones are rather subtle about it, but you don’t have to try too hard (to figure it out). Read it at a leisurely place. Give yourself a few hours. You should know one sooner or later.

It All Starts with a Sentence

You must be able to write a great sentence before you can come up with an award-winning essay. Feedback, from your professor no less, should help you know where to work on. If you still don’t feel confident about your writing skills, then figure out why you like to write. You become aware of your purpose on self expression. The rest will follow.

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