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10 Great Essay Writing Tips

Knowing how to write a college essay is a useful skill for anyone who plans to go to college. Most colleges and universities ask you to submit a writing sample with your application. As a student, you’ll also write essays in your courses. Impress your professors with your knowledge and skill by using these great essay writing tips.

Prepare to Answer the Question

Most college essays ask you to answer a question or synthesize information you learned in class. Review notes you have from lectures, read the recommended texts and make sure you understand the topic. You should refer to these sources in your essay.

Plan Your Essay

Many students see planning as a waste of time, but it actually saves you time. Take a few minutes to think about the topic and what you want to say about it. You can write an outline, draw a chart or use a graphic organizer to arrange your ideas. This gives you a chance to spot problems in your ideas before you spend time writing out the paragraphs.

Choose a Writing Method That Feels Comfortable

You might have to type your essay before turning it in, but that doesn’t mean you have to write it that way. Some people find it easy to write out their ideas by hand. Others prefer typing in a word processor where they can erase and rewrite as needed. Find the one that works best for you and stick with it.

View It as a Conversation

Writing is a form of communication, so think of your essay as a conversation between you and the reader. Think about your response to the source material and the topic. Decide what you want to tell the reader about the topic. Then, stay focused on your response as you write.

Provide the Context in the Introduction

If you look at an example of an essay introduction, you’ll see that the best essays give the reader a context. Think of how you introduce two people to each other. You share the details you think they will find most interesting. Do this in your essay by stating what it’s about and then telling readers what the issue is.

Explain What Needs to be Explained

Sometimes you have to explain concepts or define words to help the reader understand your viewpoint. You also have to explain the reasoning behind your ideas. For example, it’s not enough to write that your greatest achievement is running an ultra marathon. You might need to define ultra marathon and explain why finishing the race is such an accomplishment.

Answer All the Questions

After you finish writing the first draft of your essay, make sure you’ve answered all the questions you were supposed to answer. For example, essays in compare and contrast format should show the similarities and differences between ideas, objects or events. If you’re writing about a significant achievement, describe what you did and how it affected you.

Stay Focused as You Write

Writing requires concentration. Find a place where you have few distractions and give yourself time to write without interruptions. Don’t wait until the night before the essay is due to start working on it.

Read the Essay Aloud to Proofread

When you finish writing your essay, read it aloud. You can do this by yourself or ask someone to listen to you read it. You’ll notice places where the ideas don’t make sense, and your listener can give you feedback about your ideas.

Avoid Filling the Page with Words

A great essay does more than follow an essay layout. It has something to say. Sometimes students panic and write everything they know about a topic or summarize everything in the source material. Your job as a writer is to show why this information is important.

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What Is Effective Communication? Skills for Work, School, and Life

Improving your communication skills can benefit your career, education, and personal life.

Many of us communicate with people every day, whether in person or on the countless digital platforms available to us. But how much of our communication actually reaches the intended audience or person the way we hoped? Effective communication requires us to be clear and complete in what we are trying to express.

Being an effective communicator in our professional and personal lives involves learning the skills to exchange information with clarity, empathy, and understanding. In this article, we’ll define what effective communication looks like, discuss its benefits and offer ways to improve your communication skills.

What is effective communication?

Effective communication is the process of exchanging ideas, thoughts, opinions, knowledge, and data so that the message is received and understood with clarity and purpose. When we communicate effectively, both the sender and receiver feel satisfied.

Communication occurs in many forms, including verbal and non-verbal, written, visual, and listening. It can occur in person, on the internet (on forums, social media, and websites), over the phone (through apps, calls, and video), or by mail.

For communication to be effective, it must be clear , correct , complete , concise , and compassionate . We consider these to be the 5 C’s of communication, though they may vary depending on who you’re asking. 

While the effectiveness of communication can be difficult to measure, its impact is hard to deny. According to one study, surveyed companies in the United States and United Kingdom with at least 100,000 employees lost $62.4 million per year on average due to poor communication. On the flip side, companies led by effective communicators had nearly 50 percent higher total returns to shareholders over companies with less effective communicators at the helm [ 1 ].

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Benefits of effective communication

The benefits of communication effectiveness can be witnessed in the workplace, in an educational setting, and in your personal life. Learning how to communicate well can be a boon in each of these areas.

In the workplace, effective communication can help you: 

Manage employees and build teams

Grow your organization more rapidly and retain employees

Benefit from enhanced creativity and innovation

Build strong relationships and attract more opportunities for you or your organization

In your personal life, effective communication can lead to:

Improved social, emotional, and mental health

Deeper existing connections 

New bonds based on trust and transparency

Better problem–solving and conflict resolution skills

Say it with your body

In face-to-face conversation, body language plays an important role. Communication is 55 percent non-verbal, 38 percent vocal (tone and inflection), and 7 percent words, according to Albert Mehrabian, a researcher who pioneered studies on body language [ 2 ]. Up to 93 percent of communication, then, does not involve what you are actually saying. 

Positive body language is open—your posture is upright and receptive, your palms are open, you lean in when speaking or listening, and nod encouragingly. Negative body language can include biting your lip nervously, looking bored, crossing your arms, putting your hands on your hips, or tapping your foot impatiently.

How to improve your communication skills

Communication, like any other skill, is one you can improve upon with practice. Here are a few ways to start improving your communication skills, whether at home or on the job.

1. Consider your audience.

Who are you communicating with? Make sure you are aware of your audience—those you intend to communicate with may differ from those who actually receive your messages. Knowing your audience can be key to delivering the right messages effectively. Their age, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, income, education level, subject knowledge, and professional experience can all impact how they’ll receive your message. 

If you’re advertising a fast food restaurant, for example, you might want to deliver your message to an audience that’s likely to be hungry. This could be a billboard on the side of a busy highway that shows a giant cheeseburger and informs drivers that the closest location is just two miles away. 

Or suppose you’re telling your family about your engagement. You might host a gathering after to celebrate, send them photos of the engagement in a group chat, surprise them in conversation over dinner two weeks later, or post on social media. Your chosen form of communication will depend on your family dynamics.

2. Practice active listening.

Active listening is the practice of giving your full attention in a communication exchange. 

Some techniques include paying attention to body language, giving encouraging verbal cues, asking questions, and practicing non-judgment. Before executing your communication, be sure to consider your audience and practice active listening to get to the heart of their needs and desires. This way, you can improve your communication as a counselor, social worker, marketer, professor, colleague, or friend. 

Here are some examples of active listening in practice:

If you work in marketing, you might engage in social listening to gather consumer data on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. 

If you are a professor, you might take advantage of end-of-semester feedback forms and act on your students' needs by hosting one-on-one meetings during office hours. Likewise, your students might choose to participate in discussions after your lecture or at least sit attentively and ask questions.

If you are a team leader, you might read Slack messages from your teammates, gauge that they are frustrated with the workload, and respond by resetting priorities for the next few weeks. This communicates to the team that their voices are heard.

If you are a parent, you might have a disagreement with your child about finishing their homework, but if you probe deeper with open communication, they may confess that their teacher made a discouraging comment that left them unmotivated.

3. Make your message as clear as possible.

Once you have successfully identified your audience and listened to their intentions, needs, and desires, you may have something to communicate. To do this effectively, turn to the 5 C’s of communication to ensure your message is:

Compassionate

Prepare to communicate in a way that achieves most of these characteristics.

4. Use the right medium or platform.

Using the right medium or platform to communicate matters. Effective communication requires you to consider whether you need to meet in person or if Zoom would suffice. Is your message casual enough to use WhatsApp, or would a formal email be more efficient and thorough? If you are catching up with a friend, do you two prefer to talk on the phone or via old-fashioned letters? Whatever you choose should be intuitive and appropriate for you and your current situation.

You might assess the priority level and the type of communication needed. In a marketing campaign, is there a visual component on Instagram or is it a spoken podcast ad? Will the platform be a Facebook post, product placement in a film, or a printed poster hung in cafes? For a university lecture, do students prefer to be online or meet in person? Will there be a discussion afterward, and would it be fruitful to conduct it in a pub, cafe, or in a field outdoors? 

By considering your audience, practicing active listening, clarifying your communication, and choosing the right medium or environment, you are well on your way to exercising communication effectiveness.

Effective communication starts here

Start building better communication with Improving your Communication Skills from the University of Pennsylvania, Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills from the University of Michigan, or Effective Communication: Writing, Design, and Presentation from the University of Colorado Boulder. 

Article sources

PRovoke Media. " The Cost Of Poor Communications , https://www.provokemedia.com/latest/article/the-cost-of-poor-communications." Accessed May 18, 2023.

The University of Texas Permian Basin. " How Much of Communication Is Nonverbal? , https://online.utpb.edu/about-us/articles/communication/how-much-of-communication-is-nonverbal/." Accessed May 18, 2023.

This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

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• Communication

Communication Mock Interview

To help you prepare for your next job interview, here are 20 interview questions and answer examples focused on your communication skills.

Get More Information About Our Communication Interview Questions

Question 4 of 20

Rate your communication skills from 1-10 with proper examples backing your given rating.

How to answer, answer example.

Community Answers

The interviewer would like to know how you rate your communication skills. First, on a scale of 1-10, discuss how skilled are you in communication. Try to avoid giving yourself a 10, and nobody is perfect, and you do not want to come across as overly confident or someone who has no room for feedback and improvement. Alternately, avoid giving yourself too little credit. You do not want to paint the picture that you are a communication dud! Try to remain in the 7.5-9.5 range while staying honest and accurate. Use an example of your excellent communication to back your answer.

"I rate my communication skills as a 9/10 as I will, on occasion, have times when I am not as clear as I would like to be. My supervisor and co-workers will attest to my clear and concise communication skills. Because I am an open leader, my team will let me know if I need to clarify anything."

"I will rate myself an eight because I value communication but, just like most people, I have things to learn. Some ways that I ensure clear communication are by utilizing multiple methods of delivering messages, and I give ample time for questions before implementing changes."

"I will rate myself an 8.5 because I consider myself a strong communicator, especially when relaying important policy changes to my team. It is the foundation of all success in business. I am always striving to be a better communicator, so I leave the rest of the scale as an aspirational measure."

"Communication is at the heart of what we do in marketing. We have to communicate messages, brand stories, and more. I am an exceptional communicator and will rate myself as a 9/10 and always improving."

"I will rate my communication skills a 7.5/10. I am newer to my career, but I have gone through a great deal of training in customer service. I plan only to become better! If you have recommendations on books or training, I would love to hear them."

"I should not rate myself as a 10/10 because I do not believe everyone is perfect in communication. I would describe myself as an advanced communicator since the majority of my job requires the exchange of important information."

"Teachers need to be excellent communicators! In addition to my formal training in education, I have also taken workshops focused on dispute resolution, communication styles, and body language. I would rate myself 9/10 and continually improving!"

Community Answer

"I will rate myself as 8.75 out of 10 because I value communication, but just like most people, I have things to learn. One way to do so is by asking questions and fully understand and internalize what is being conveyed."

Written by an Anonymous User

Our Professional Interview Coach Rachelle Enns Reviewed the Above Answer

Asking for clarification and ensuring full understanding are great ways to approach communication in the workplace. As a positive, can you also discuss what makes you a strong communicator?

Next Question

How to Answer: Rate your communication skills from 1-10 with proper examples backing your given rating.

4. rate your communication skills from 1-10 with proper examples backing your given rating., user-submitted answer.

Nice work! Your answer is well organized and you give yourself a realistic rating showing that you know there is always room for improvement.

"My communication skills are an 8 out of 10. I especially excel when placed on project teams, where I have to collaborate with other coworkers."

Our Professional Interview Coach Kevin Downey Reviewed the Above Answer

To back up your claim of being an 8 out of 10, you’ll want to present as an excellent communicator in all situations. Suggesting that you especially excel on team projects suggests this is the one situation where you shine. Instead, broaden your brush stroke by detailing not when you shine but describing what techniques you use around the clock that consistently make you shine.

"I would rate my communication skills as an 8 out of 10. I actively listen, ask a lot of questions, and never assume. I am quite literal in my approach, and once I have a cursory understanding of what a person is explaining, I mirror it back to them in my own words, to be absolutely sure we’re on the same page. I am as adept at non-defensive communication as one can be. I never cast blame or point fingers. I take a situational approach to everything, and take every measure to enhance communication. I am adaptable to other styles of communication, which ensure consistency in my end. I truly believe in the adages that the message sent is the message received, and perception is reality. When it comes to delivering feedback, I always deliver it promptly, often and with specifics. I try to enhance communication on every level as often as I can."

"I will rate myself an eight because I value communication but, just like most people, I have things to learn. One way that I ensure clear communication is by asking a lot of questions to make sure I fully understand and internalize what is being conveyed."

Wonderful! Your answer is well supported and clear.

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Classroom innovation

How to Encourage Participation in Your Classroom

by Hey Teach Staff

Hands down, this is the best way to see all the hands up in your classroom.

In my class, I ask open-ended questions—sometimes I even call on students who don't have their hand raised—and I put students in groups and pairs to encourage participation. But sometimes my students still struggle. One student in particular, Anise, never participated or raised her hand in class, and I was quick to slot her as a student who just wanted to make it to June. But one day, halfway through the school year, Anise came to see me during her lunch break. When no one else was around, she seemed much more curious about the subject matter. She asked questions, she listened to my answers, and we had a thorough conversation related to the class curriculum. Who was this girl?

The next class, I tried to spark the same curiosity from Anise but I received a mumbled, monosyllabic response. I sought out Anise's mom for more insight, and she said her daughter had always been quiet in class. That's when I had a light-bulb moment. If Anise "had always been that way," she likely felt like her insights weren't important enough to share with the class. I needed to fix that, but I knew it wouldn't happen immediately. I designed a four-step process to get me to the result I wanted and Anise needed.

Further reading: Mindfulness Activities to Reduce Stress

1. Find Out Why Students Don't Participate

When I asked my students what kept them from participating, I got the usual responses: I don't know the answer; I hate being wrong; Someone else knows a better answer; I wasn't prepared. Noticing that these reasons centered around the concept of failing, I led a discussion about why it's acceptable to not be perfect. I shared the story of Ragish and the school egg drop contest. On the day of the event, in front of the entire school, Ragish's egg cracked wide open when he dropped it. Instead of moving on to the next student, the teacher judging the contest suggested that Ragish do some reading and try again the next day, which he did—and then the next day and the next after that. Finally, his project ended up among the top five champions. He eventually took that lesson in bouncing back from failure to MIT and then to Khan Academy, where he now works.

2. Show Students Their Fears Are Unfounded

Once I knew that the fear of failure was keeping my students from participating, I began demonstrating subtle failures in class. I gave the wrong fact, acknowledged my "mistake," modeled how to resolve the situation, and moved on. This removed the fear associated with being wrong and gave my students permission to make mistakes. I transformed my classroom into a safe space for trying, failing, and trying again. I could almost see students' relief as they realized that if their teacher made mistakes, they could too.

3. Create an Atmosphere That Encourages Participation

I knew I needed to reset students' expectations for in-class discussions, and they had to stop limiting themselves by thinking the only way to participate was knowing the right answer. As a class, we reviewed our policy for maintaining a safe, collaborative space and came up with the following rules:

• Be respectful.
• Speak loud enough so everyone can hear.
• Listen to classmates.
• Don't interrupt who is speaking.
• Build on your classmate's comments with your comments.
• Use participation to not only answer questions but to seek help or ask for clarification.

To further encourage participation, I challenged my students to choose one of the rules they've struggled with and focus on it over the next few days. When my class had these rules and techniques at the top of mind, conversations became more respectful, supportive, and in-depth, and my students were more comfortable participating.

4. Give Students Another Outlet

In the past, when my class hasn't responded well to the above tips, I turn to using a less direct way for them to participate. I have my students log in to Twitter (using either their own account or a class account), and use a unique hashtag to participate in the conversation. This can be done via class computers or tablets, and allows students to ask questions and comment without feeling like their interrupting, or front and center of, the class. If your students are too young for Twitter, you can set up a shared Google Doc and apply the same process. If you don't have technology that's easily accessible to your classroom, allow your students to submit anonymous questions on paper. As you answer the questions and discuss, build the confidence of your class by assuring them that their questions are valid and great conversation starters. This will help to reinforce the mentality that "there's no such thing as a stupid question" and your class will be more likely to ask questions and discuss out loud in the future.

Further reading: How to Regain Classroom Control  

After several months of following these steps, our class discussions became less about how many students raised their hands and more about a shared learning experience. I had succeeded in my goal to encourage participation, but I had also grown as a teacher. I learned a lesson I should already have known: don't expect something from students that they don't know how to give. If you want your students to participate, you have to show them how.

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