The 15 Most Common Mistakes
-
Diving right into writing without first thinking or planning.
This is definitely the most common mistake.
- Thinking
that the longer your essay is, the higher your score will be, regardless
of organization or use of language.
- Not
thoroughly understanding the scoring rubric and how readers will
use it to score your essay. It all starts with the scoring rubric. The
rubric determined the Essential Concepts we presented to you and
formed the Essential Strategies and step method you’ve just learned.
- Not practicing the
step method—reading this book is not enough!
- Not
mastering the essential concepts, both of building a strong argument
and of language.
- Worrying
about constructing the perfect argument expressed in perfect language.
You’re writing a first draft!
- Not
taking a particular position on the issue.
- Not
thoroughly supporting your position with an argument made up of
well-chosen reasons and examples.
- Not
varying your sentence structure accurately and appropriately.
- Using
fancy-schmancy words inappropriately without knowing their precise
meaning.
- Deviating
from your outline in the middle of writing your essay. Take the
time to get your thoughts straight before writing.
- “Overwriting”—using
highfalutin sentences incorrectly. You won’t impress anyone. Vary
your sentences, but vary them appropriately and correctly.
- Being
“cute.” Don’t aim to be boring, but don’t take any chances with
structure or language on the essay. Structured does
not equal boring.
- Writing
on another topic. That will get you a score of zero.
- Writing
illegibly. That will also get you a score of zero.
