Common Writing Mistakes That Offend Your Inner Genius

Every student dreams about getting the highest grade for written paper, but we all understand that the key point is not only to want but to be aware of according to what criteria the assessment of your writing is carried out. Specific and common writing mistakes are what affects the quality of your academic assignment, and therefore, on your grade, the most. In order to learn how to avoid making errors while preparing an essay, research paper or another assignment, you need to have a correct idea of what these errors are, how to define them and prevent their making in future tasks. In this article, we will tell you more about common mistakes in writing, their consequences, and how to make your paper completely refined.

Of course, the most popular mistakes are just random typos, when we confuse some letters in a word. However, there is a whole series of common writing errors, which we make without thinking that it is wrong. Such errors are made not only by foreign students for whom English is not the first language but also by students who may be not attentive enough while writing a paper. Therefore, it is essential to control the flight of thought and follow important grammar rules. Let's begin our guidelines from making up a list of most common errors in writing any paper:

• Verb forms mistakes.
  The use of proper verbal forms seems obvious, but these are exactly the mistakes that we make very often without noticing it. For example, we can write "He have," "We was," "I been," etc.
• Coma placement.
  It can be difficult to understand where to put this or that punctuation mark, and it can cause a writing mistake. For example:
  
  • Correct: In the conclusion of my essay, (coma is important here) I would like to...
  • Incorrect: There are international students in our college (no comma) but their number...
• Sentence division.
  Many students use simple sentences in order not to get confused in the correct and coherent presentation of their ideas and thoughts, and to set logical accents. However, sometimes it can make sentences too short, which is inappropriate in for many assignments, and your paper becomes filled with illogical pieces, and the text itself can be difficult to understand right. Besides, you are to make sure that your sentences have all the necessary components, whether it is a verb, noun, etc.
• Incorrect: Yesterday I helped John with his homework on mathematics. Despite our quarrel.
• Correct: Despite our quarrel, yesterday I helped John with his homework on mathematics.

These are the mistakes that you can easily avoid and correct in at least three ways:

1. Learn or revise the corresponding rules.
2. Reread and edit your work attentively before handing it to the professor.
3. Read more appropriate literature to see how good sentences are built.

However, there are also mistakes that don't relate to specific rules of grammar, punctuation, etc. These are errors related to the content of your academic paper, and how appropriately you follow the requirements of a particular assignment.

Common essay mistakes: Quotes, contractions, pronouns

We offer you to go through some specific writing mistakes using an example of the essay assignment since dealing with this task, in particular, students are usually more free to write what they want and express their own original ideas. And that is what exactly can be a reason for the majority of mistakes made, and influence your paper's quality a lot. What are the most common essay mistakes?

• Purpose.
  One of the most challenging tasks while writing an essay is to prepare it following its primary purpose. The content of your essay may vary depending on whether it is persuasive, descriptive, argumentative, compare & contrast, etc. Therefore, before starting, it's better to make sure that you understand the aim of your essay, and the idea you are to develop corresponds to it well. Otherwise, there would be a risk to get an unsatisfactory grade for misunderstanding the task.
• Quotes.
  Since any essay implies providing different evidence, examples, quotes and other things to make your writing well-grounded, you are to be aware of how to format these elements appropriately. Be sure that quotation you would like to include in your writing will correspond to your main idea and support it. A somebody's quote is not just an opportunity to meet the length requirements but also an excellent chance to demonstrate the relevance of the described issue. Also, use information from reliable sources in order not to raise any suspicion from your readers.
• Contractions.
  Using contractions in essays, you can reflect certain peculiarities of the speech (e.g., quotes), save some space, and make your writing more friendly and acceptable. Don't forget that overdoing with contractions can make your essay lose its academic character. Always consult with your professor about the use of contractions. Here are some common contractions:
• Can't (cannot)
• Should've (should have)
• Could've (could have)
• Won't (will not)
• Wouldn't (would not)
• Shouldn't (should not)
• Isn't (is not)
• I'm (I am)
• Pronouns.
  In the previous paragraph, we mentioned a pronoun, so let's take a closer look at it. Can you use I in an essay? The use of this pronoun is possible, but it depends on the type of your future essay a lot. For example, you are unlikely to use "I" often if you write a definition essay since this essay implies a more non-personal narration. On the other hand, if you are dealing with a personal essay, the use of "I" pronoun seems unavoidable, because you will mostly focus on your own thoughts, ideas, and experience. This answer may be applied for the "can you use you in an essay?" question as well. All you need is to make sure that writing your essay allows a direct address to the reader.
• Idea.
  Maintain your thesis statement throughout the whole essay. That will help your audience understand that you are competent in the chosen issue, and make your essay more coherent and easy to read. Do not select too broad or too narrow topic. Remember that you must make your main statement at the beginning of your essay, and answer it (repeat it) at the end of the paper. Make your writing logically completed.

We have provided you with a simple overview of common writing mistakes and gave you some instructions about what aspects of your paper you are to pay attention to. Hope all this will help you in avoiding any writing errors and preparing an ideal assignment!