Tips to Write Great Personal Statements – PapersHelm

Personal statements are an essential part of any application required for any undergraduate or graduate program. It is a vital part of the admission process and can sometimes decide your fate with accretion or rejection from a college or university.

Personal statements help others understand you better. An admission form and documentation can only get them so far. A personal statement can help the admissions officer know who you are. What kind of a person you are. What your goals are and what you aspire to be.

Different schools have different things they require from your personal statement, but the essence of it is the same. To get to know whom they are letting come through their gates. This article provides some tips that you can use to write the perfect personal statement for yourself.

·         It is good to write about your life, your friends your family, education, background, talents, passions, and hobbies. The admissions officer wants to hear about momentous events in your life and the places you’ve been. He wants to know about the books you read, people you know, your inspiration, the people you admire and everything that describes who you are. They want to know you better, so it is best not to lie or hold back and put forth your best qualities. The best thing you can do is be yourself and not pretend.

You should explain why you should be accepted. You should mention why you are a good candidate for the school and what you can do for the college. Your goal should be to distinguish yourself from the other applicants. Many schools want to see diversity in their students, so the more different you are, the better.

Every college has different criteria on which they judge its applicants on. If you are applying to different colleges, making a universal personal statement is not a good step. You must tailor each essay according to the requirements of each college. You need to do some research regarding what it is that a certain college prefers and then base your statement on that.

Writing more about yourself may seem like you are doing a good job with yourpersonal statement, but you are in fact hurting your chances of getting selected. Many hopeful applicants do not read the directions carefully and exceed the word limitation that is requested. This only results in your application being thrown out.

GPA and Grades are an important part of an admission process, but it does not mean you can shirk your duties and not write a good personal statement. In fact, a good personal statement can even help you explain your strengths and weaknesses.

It is always a good idea to write a personal story in your personal statement. An interesting story can not only create interest but also boost your chances of getting selected. The worst thing you can do is bore your admission officer with a boring statement. Find something that distinguishes you from the crowd and make it the highlight of the statement.

With the above advice, your personal statement

has a chance to shine. It will not only catch the admission officer’s attention but will boost your chances of acceptation.

Tips for Writing Book Reviews – PapersHelm

Book reviews are a great way for the readers to know how great a book is;  based on the opinion of someone who’s read it. They are purely based on the reader’s opinion and, therefore, are biased. Regardless of whether you love the book or not, if your review is honest and detailed, others will see it as a helpful guide. However, many people either get stuck about what to write when it comes to writing book reviews. Here are a few tips to become good at book reviews.

Synopsis:

Start off your book review with a few sentences that describe what the book is about without giving away any plot details or twists. To avoid giving away spoilers, try not to go into detail especially about the events that occur near the end of the book. If the book you are reviewing is part of as series, mentioning that in the review is always a good thing, along with you letting the reader know whether to read the other books in the series or not.

Likes and Dislikes:

Let the reader know what you liked and disliked in the book. Don’t go into details but let them know which part of the book you liked and which part you didn’t like. Try letting the reader know why you found a certain ending frustrating, or prolonged or what your favorite part of the book was.

Key Characters:

Try focusing your review on the main character or characters. The more the reader knows about the key characters, the more they will be intrigued by them and would want to know more. An interesting review about the personality of the character can make the reader want to know more and will persuade him to read the book.

Keep Balance:

Try not to be overly negative or overly positive when it comes to writing your review. A little biasedness is okay, but sugarcoating or bashing a book or its plot or characters is just wrong. A good way to avoid this is to keep a balance between the good and the bad. Highlight the negative, but keep the positive as well.

Talk About the Author:

While the main purpose of the book review is the book, it is always a good thing to mention the author. Write about his motivation and personal life, about how he came across the idea of the book, what motivated him to write the book or a specific character. Knowing these details creates interest in the reader.

Ending a Review:

Summarizing your thoughts by letting the reader know what kind of a person would like the book and what is in store for them. Let them know whether the book is suitable for young adults, tweens, older readers, or fans of a particular genre.

Giving a Rating:

By rating a book, you automatically improve or deteriorate the chances of the readers reading the book. You can give it stars or rate it out of 5, 10 or 100. Many people will base their decision solely on how a particular book gets rated on a scale.

While you can develop your own personal style when it comes to reviewing a book, it may take time. Until then, it is a good idea to stick to these tips when it comes to writing a review for a book.

Dos and Don’ts of Creative Writing – PapersHelm

Creative writing is not an easy task. We learn, we practice, and we improve. However, mistakes are a part of life, and it is only natural that you make mistakes in writing. While creative writing seems like a thing anyone can do, it is not the case. It is only possible if you have a creative and imaginative mind. When it comes to creative writing, there are many common mistakes that are disregarded by writers and people as they have become accustomed to them. Many writers do not even correct these mistakes now because they are widely accepted by the world.

However, if you want to become exceptionally good at what you are doing, then you must avoid these mistakes. You not only become better with your content, but you will also be able to find great content among the debris of bad content.

Following is a list of dos and don’ts that you must follow to become a better writer. Once you’ve memorized these tips and tricks, you can write articles, fiction, short stories, reports and much more far better than you did before.

Dos of Creative Writing

• Write, write, and write! Write as much as possible. The more you write, the more you will get better at it. Have a regular writing schedule and write every day for a few hours. However, creative writing requires an open mind and imagination to strike, and it is not possible to write something productive every day. Make sure you write when you are at the height of your creativity.
• Make sure that your introduction is compelling and attention grabbing to the audience. Make sure your opening is as interesting as possible and related to the target audience’s preference. You must avoid clichéd introductions and openings at all costs as such openings kill your creativity as well as diminishing your credibility as a good creative writer.
• It is ok to follow a certain type of method for your writing, but it never hurts to give it your own personal twist. You can follow the path of great writers like Shakespeare and Jane Austin, but it is much better to come up with your own style and technique or writing. You need to step out of your comfort zone and experiment with ideas, writing techniques and styles.
• You need to read the works of other creative writers. Not only for inspiration but to evaluate your competition. You need to read to get inspired. Be it poetry, essays, reviews, critiques and so on. You need to know how it is done to get it done.

Don’ts of Creative Writing

No matter how easy it looks, never plagiarize someone else’s work. It is easy to copy and paste someone’s work or just changing a few words and calling something your own, but you can be rest assured, it will have its consequences. Plagiarizing someone else’s work will not only weaken your credibility as a writer but can also land you in a lot of legal trouble along with you losing your reputation.

• Having a vast vocabulary is a good thing for a creative writer, but he must make sure that the people, whom he is writing for, can understand what he is trying to write. Using complicated phrases and words will only confuse the readers. People want to read things that are short, understandable and interesting. If they pick up a book and can’t even go through the first paragraph without picking up a dictionary then, you are not doing it right.
• Plagiarism does not only involve copying someone else’s work. Writing style can also be copied. Make sure you are not copying the writing style or voice of another writer. Everyone has a unique style, and if someone has written many books, it becomes quite easy to distinguish the writer’s style. It is important to find your own writing style so that you have your own uniqueness to bring to the table.

Now that you know some of the dos and don’ts of creative writing let’s see how well you do in the creative writing field. Here’s to hoping you gained enough information from this article that you can now write something and be proud of it.

Dissertation Writing – PapersHelm

Choosing a dissertation topic is definitely the first thing you do in your dissertation process. But along with being the first, it is also the most important. While it may seem like an easy task to come up with a title, it is, in fact, one of the most challenging facets of writing a dissertation. The best way to find the best topic for your dissertation is to choose something that you love. But even then, there are quite a few mistakes everyone makes and this article will tell you how to avoid them.

Mistake 1: Asking Everyone You Know

Choosing a dissertation topic can be daunting. And it’s only natural that you seek help from everyone you know regarding your topic. The trouble, though, is that while you do end up with a lot of great ideas from a lot of different and reliable people, you start to forget the main purpose of what you are trying to do. You can end up getting so many options to choose from that it becomes a problem choosing just one. While asking for ideas is always a good thing, it can get overwhelming pretty fast. So it’s always best to sit back, relax and sift through all the options at the end of the day.

Mistake 2: Choosing an Overly Complicated Topic

The only time you can relax while writing a dissertation is when you are done with it. The topic for your dissertation should be simple and easy. Selecting a topic that is too complicated can create problems in your entire process. It can be difficult to find data about your topic, doing research can be hard, writing the dissertation can prove to be troublesome and much more. Therefore, it is best to choose a topic that is not only easy, but familiar; something that you feel comfortable writing about.

Mistake 3: Keep It Limited

You need to know when to stop when it comes to finding a topic for your dissertation. The more research you do related to your topic, the more information you will gather. This will only expand your dissertation requirements. You need to know when and where to draw the line if you ever want to get your dissertation complete. Looking too much into your topic can create complications that weren’t even there. So make sure to know when to limit your research and set boundaries.

Mistake 4: Choosing a Topic without Knowledge of the Big Picture

You can’t just choose a topic for your dissertation without prior knowledge of how you want to execute it. You must have the bigger picture in mind. You must know how you want to write your dissertation and what path you want to take. You need to collect data and do your research based on how you want your dissertation to be concluded.

Mistake 5: Impossible Topics

Many people choose topics that have virtually little to no data available online. They think that choosing a topic that has no previous data on it will lead to their dissertation being praised. Now that might be true, but the trouble is, with no data available online, it can get pretty hard to do your research. And if you can’t complete your research, how can you write a dissertation. And if you can’t finish your dissertation, how will you graduate?

If you are someone who is about to begin their dissertation, I strongly recommend that you read these tips and steer clear of all the mistakes listed here.

5 Ways to Improve Your Academic Essays – PapersHelm

Essays are vital for admissions and scholarships. And as much as people dread over writing them, it is a skill that anyone can learn. No matter what you are writing your essay for, be it a scholarship, a classroom assignment, or even a contest, you can write one that is solid, persuasive and able to attract the reader. Granted, essay writing is a tiresome task, but with a clear mind, a little creativity and a few helpful skills, you can improve your essay writing skills by a long shot.

Let’s discuss some of the ways you can improve your essay writing skills without making a lot of effort.

Construct An Outline

To begin any essay, you need an outline. You can’t just start off writing and see where it leads. You need to think of an outline carefully, make notes of what you want to discuss, what topics you want to touch and how you want to shape the entire essay. It should have all the necessary ingredients that create a good essay. It should have a proper structure: an introduction, an argument, a counter for your argument and a well-versed conclusion. All these things should be considered beforehand if you want to write a good essay.

Grammar Is Key

Grammar, spellings, punctuation and style is as important in essays as the subject and body. You need to have basic knowledge about grammar and sentence structure. You should have knowledge of when and how to use certain punctuation marks. Another thing to look out for is the voice. An essay should be in active voice rather than passive, as it makes your essay look sharper. Make sure your sentences are well formed and grammatically correct and avoid using jargons and unnecessary words that do not relate to your topic.

Vocabulary

Now this is a very important thing when it comes to essay writing. You must have a vast vocabulary if you want to write something good. And you must know which word to use at what point. You need to use words that are not too complicated to understand, as sounding smart can make your reader not understand what you mean. You should also try to use words that exactly describe the situation. If your vocabulary isn’t vast enough, you can always use a thesaurus and find the perfect word for your sentence.

Give A Strong Argument

While writing an essay, it often happens that the writer derails from the main argument. The best way to improve your essay is to discuss things that are relevant to the topic instead of rambling on about unnecessary garbage. Ask yourself whether or not what you’re writing is relevant to the topic and argument and also how it would affect the conclusion. The best way for that is to think of the conclusion you want beforehand so you can steer your essay to the desired conclusion from the start.

Compelling Conclusion

Many people often disregard the conclusion when it comes to essays. But that should not be the case. Your conclusion is what brings your entire essay to a close and proves your statement. A proper conclusion can make or break an essay. It should include outlines of what should be discussed throughout the essay and should support the writers’ argument.

So the next time you sit down to write an essay, make sure to remember all these guidelines so your essay can be as great as you’d always hoped.

How to Handle Multiple Assignments and Deadlines – PapersHelm

As a student, you always have to multi task and manage different assignments at the same time. You have to juggle between assignments, quizzes, projects, tests and all things related all while worrying about the deadlines. Granted, some projects and assignments are shorter and don’t take as much time as others, but it doesn’t mean that you aren’t stressed about them.

Managing multiple assignments along with worrying about their deadlines can be stressful, so it’s important that you make a schedule and be organized when it comes to working on your assignments. Here are a few ways in which you can take a little load off yourself while working on your assignments.

1. Make a list of all the homework assigned to you. Write down the names of all the assignments, their deadlines or completion dates and post this list somewhere you can see all the time. This will not only serve as a reminder, but will also help you realize your duties. You can also use a calendar to mark down the deadline, so you can keep track of how many days you are left with before your assignment deadline ends.

 

2. The next thing you can do to improve your assignment handling is to write down exactly how much time you think each assignment will take. Give yourself a little extra time for each assignment as the chances of you running into distractions are high. By writing down the time required for each assignment, you can make yourself sit down and work on the assignment no matter what. Give yourself some extra time in case there is a delay. By giving a certain amount of time to each assignment, you start to expect results from yourself.

 

3. Make a do to list based on each assignment’s deadline. Start working on the assignment that has the nearest deadline. And then once that is done, start working on the assignment whose deadline comes second. Make sure to give yourself at least two days extra for each assignment before the due date so you can make any sudden changes or variations that you might like without stressing out due to time restraint.

 

4. Work on your assignments with your friends. Working with other people can not only help share the workload, but it can also be fun. You can hang out with friends and work on your assignments as well. And it can also help to have 2 or more people coming up with ideas for your assignment. Brainstorming sessions can help the quality of your assignment by a long shot. Working with friends can not only be extremely helpful, but also fun.

 

5. Keep the conversation going with your teacher regarding your assignment. Ask your teacher if there is any problem with your assignment or if you have trouble understanding it. Communication is the key, and it can also help the teacher ease up to you. Inform them about any problem you are facing and get their help. You never know, seeing your dedication might make your teacher give you an extension and a good grade.

I hope you now know how to manage multiple assignments and have a better understanding of multitasking when it comes to deadlines and homework.

Writing a Term Paper – PapersHelm

An outline for your term paper can not only serve as a decent writing tool, but also help you with finishing your term paper in an organized manner before the due date. Many students don’t consider doing this and decide to “wing it” which is just simply a bad idea.  An outline can help you work on your term paper in peace because you can divide different areas of the term paper and work on each one individually. That way you can easily finish a section without getting tired and have plenty of time for research and writing. Once you make the outline, it becomes easy to work on the rest of the term paper.

What To Include:

You should be able to know what to include in your term paper. It not only helps your mind from getting sidetracked but also helps you with getting organized.  You need to do your research according to what you want in your term paper. That way you can avoid all the rest of the information provided on the internet.  You can choose what is relevant, make notes, and write what is required.

While doing research, you must know which information needs to be included in the term paper. You should know what to write in the introduction, the summary, the body and the conclusion. Before starting the term paper, you need to make up your mind about how you want to steer the information. Do you want to be neutral; do you want to portray the positive side of the selected topic, the negative, or both?

You should also know what to include in each section of the term paper. The introduction should include the main purpose of your term paper. The body can be divided into arguments, counter arguments, headings, subheading and much more. The summary should provide the main idea of what it is that you want to let the reader know. The conclusion should sum up all the information into one small paragraph that includes all the key points of the term paper.

Changes Are A Natural Process:

Of course, you can change the outline of your term paper according to your requirement as more and more information is gathered. You can play around with different ideas, restructure your paper, and choose a flow of words that best serve your term paper. The overall idea should be to convey content that is clear, understandable and also easy to read.

Making an outline helps you make sure you are going on the right path and helps you not get derailed from the topic. The outline serves as a base for your term paper. It not only helps you save time but also helps you utilize it properly.

Once you have a complete outline made, you can start writing your term paper.

Academic Writing Qualities of Good Academic Writing – PapersHelm

Academic writing is very different than personal writing. It has its own set of rules and guidelines. As compared to personal writing, academic writing is difficult as it deals with a more formal approach towards writing. Academic writing has a theme where everything is relevant to one main topic without unnecessary opinions, ramblings and repetition of facts. The purpose of academic writing is not to entertain, but to inform. Academic writing is often judged on a few qualities. Some of them are discussed in this article.

Structure

A good academic format requires some sort of structure. It should have a beginning, middle and an end. You should know what format you need to use and how to execute the given topic. Academic writing is more complex than spoken language as it requires more focus on sentence formation, grammar, vocabulary, phrases and spellings.

Make It Formal

Academic writing is much more formal than any other form of writing. You should avoid using words and terms that are ordinary and can harm your academic writing.

Make It Objective

Unlike personal writing, academic writing needs to be objective. It should focus more on the topic and the data rather than what the writers’ opinion on the matter is. You should let the information you provide speak for you, rather than doing it yourself.

Make It Precise

You have to be precise about the facts and figures in academic writing. You can’t assume facts on your own just because they help you come to a conclusion. Don’t use words like “a lot”  “many” etc. instead, use exact numbers.

Make It Explicit

You should be clear about what you are writing. Your words and sentences should be understood by the reader. The writer should be able to connect the information provided by them. You can do that by using words such as “therefore”, “however”, “furthermore” etc.

Make It Accurate

You need to be accurate about what you are writing. You need to know the meaning of all the words you use no matter how simple or complicated. And you must be aware of where and how to use a certain word in a sentence. Using the accurate word at the accurate place can make your academic writing look perfect.

Hedging

Although you can’t be biased when it comes to academic writing, you can however, state your opinion. You need to be sure how you want to portray a certain topic before you even start writing about it. This is known as hedging.

Justification

In any kind of academic writing, you must be able to provide justification or evidence for any opinion or statements you make. You are responsible for all the data you provide, and you must be able to back it up with an explanation.

These are just a few of the qualities of academic writing. There are many more that can help you know more about academic writing, but it’s always better to start from the basics.