The one thing that many international students worry about when they are enrolled in a college or university abroad is the number of academic papers they have to write per semester. Students need to adopt new writing styles and grow their vocabulary if they want to meet the academic standards set at the educational institution they are enrolled in.
Working on assignments early can help a student understand what is required of them. If not, academic essay writing help can be found online. If money isn’t available for a custom writing service, below are ways an international student can improve their academic writing skills in a professional way.
Brainstorming and practicing how to come up with a proper outline
Any college and university paper begins with a good topic and an outline. When a student writes down phrases and ideas, this is called brainstorming. Brainstorming helps students or academic writing services get started with the paper.
Practice makes perfect and the more a student brainstorms, the better they become, and one way to do this is by journaling. Journaling allows a student to practice sentence structure, grammar, and spelling. Brainstorming also helps students better understand things like scholarly articles and dissertations written by others and apply them to their own work.
If they don’t understand what is being said, they can use translation software, and there are so many of them that are free or paid. The only drawback of using translation software is it’s not perfect and can sometimes make mistakes. As long as a student pays attention to the little mistakes it makes, it is a very useful tool.
Hire an essay writing service or get a fresh pair of eyes
Sometimes all a student needs to improve their academic writing skill is to have a fresh pair of eyes look at their work. These can be their classmates, tutor, or professional writing services. If anything sounds off, they will be able to point it out to a student, who will then be able to correct any error spotted before the paper is submitted.
A good way to find out errors quickly is to read the content out loud too. When something is read out loud, a student can hear if they have used the correct vocabulary or grammar. If something sounds off or doesn’t feel right, they can easily edit it before submitting their paper.
Know the different writing styles and forms
Depending on where a student is studying in the world, be it the USA, Canada, UK, or Australia just to name a few, the college or university they are enrolled in will have a writing style. The most popular ones used at many educational institutions across the world include MLA, Harvard referencing style, Chicago, and APA.
There is also IEEE (institute for electrical and electronics engineering) and CSE (Council of science editors) which are used in engineering and biology respectively. IEEE is also used in information technology majors and computer science, while CSE is very common in geology, chemistry, and physics.
The referencing style a student is supposed to use is also down to the discipline they are studying. The citation style used in a computer science course will differ from that used in a project management course, for example. Students that want to practice citations and writing styles without turning to professional essay writers, can find tutorials, manuals, and guides all over the internet.
There are plenty of websites that will teach students both new and old writing styles. A student should always be on the lookout for those sites that specialize in academic writing. Some colleges also have free writing classes that international students can attend to improve their academic writing skills.
Make use of online resources
When a student is busy writing their essay or paper, they need to look at their work for any grammar mistakes before turning it in. There are plenty of proofreading services like Grammarly and Turnitin that will not only check mistakes but plagiarism as well.
Everyone who writes content, either for a living or for academic purposes knows just how serious an offense, plagiarism is. If a student is caught stealing other people’s work and presenting it as their own, they will fail their paper or even be kicked off the course, which will halt their academic progression.
Tutors these days are wiser and know all the tricks students use to cheat their way to a good grade. Plagiarism can be avoided as long as a student uses a good program or website like Grammarly or Turnitin plus, these two allow students to correct any mistakes highlighted on the fly. This makes these services a must-use for any international student studying in an English-speaking country like the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, or New Zealand.
Many professionals in the writing industry with years of experience say that international students shouldn’t just rely on these sources alone. Even after using these services, students should still go over their work to see if the program has missed anything because as good as these services are, they won’t be able to catch every single mistake.
If any international student that wants to be able to spot any mistakes made by Grammarly or Turnitin while writing their work can take English lessons online or at their college or university. They will be able to learn some fundamentals of the English language and ensure that their content is not only plagiarism free but has strong sentence structures and arguments.
Final thoughts
As soon as an international student arrives at the campus, they should ask for help whenever they are struggling. Getting help at the right time is one of the keys to academic success, especially when it comes to writing. International students should do their best to speak to classmates, tutors, and online writing services every time they are stuck. Resources such as libraries found on university or college campuses should be fully maximized. A student will know more about structure, outlines, and what words to use to produce a top-quality paper.