Effective Tips to Help You Write a Successful Scholarship Essay

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The chance you may not have to pay for all, or part of your college tuition is important. No sane person wants to be paying for school years after they graduate, it takes the fun out of going to school to get a well-paying job. This fact can make the scholarship writing process stressful, or even downright scary. There are some tips and tricks you can do, though to make it not seem as bad!

Read All the Requirements

The worst thing that could happen is your essay and hard work are tossed out because you don’t meet a page or word requirement or left out the part where you needed a personal story. Take notes while reading through the application, you can make a checklist to go over before you turn it in. Most scholarship essays have either a minimum and maximum page requirement or a minimum and maximum word count requirement.

Make sure to check and see if any title and references pages are to count in these requirements. Also, make sure you are honest about everything you write and fill out because honesty will get you everywhere. If the question is asked why you think you deserve the scholarship, be honest.

Don’t make a fake overly dramatic sob story, be honest and matter of fact. Using real-world examples can be a great way to show the judges what makes you different from the other applicants, as none of us see or experience things in the exact same way. Some scholarship essays may also dictate a specific font, text size and line spacing to maintain uniformity between all applicants. This is to ensure any length requirement is met and make it easier on the scholarship essay judges.



Some students may have trouble formatting the essay according to all the requirements, so it may be a smart move to check out writing services for scholarship essays. Such services specialize in writing all types of papers, so they may be useful to copy-edit and format your essay.

Pay Attention to the Format

There are a lot of different writing styles out there, with APA and MLA being the two biggest ones. If you don’t know how to format in the style you requested, do research! If they are asking for a certain format, then that is what you need to do. If it is not mentioned, do what is comfortable for you. If the essay is going directly to a college, ask the college what format they teach, and use it! It will give you brownie points to show you are familiar with their style and will not have issues with your assignments.

 

Do Not Plagiarize!

Grammarly is a great site that checks your spelling, grammar, and for plagiarism. A lot of schools give you an account for a site to use, so if you are already in school you may have something you are familiar with using. You don’t have to run it through one of these sites, but a lot of institutions do these days and want to see 20% or less as a score. If you even get a free trial just to run some scholarships through, or borrow the account of a friend, it can make you certain you will be fine.

Brainstorm the Topic and Create an Outline

If you are given a topic, great! If you are not, the best tip I can give you is to write about something you are passionate about. If you are writing about a controversial topic, set up your paper debate style. Make sure you include arguments for and against the topic. Showing you can do this and have these skills will be important in showing you are capable and deserving of the scholarship. Writing about something you care about also gives the scholarship awarder a glimpse into your personality, which can be helpful. 

Most scholarship essays do give you a prompt or question to answer. It can help to make an outline to make sure you stick to the topic and don’t stray on random subjects. If you need to, don’t be afraid to research. You can actually go to https://scholar.google.com/ to get scholarly sources if necessary. IF you do research, make sure you have a resource or works cited tab. Always cite anything you use to avoid plagiarism. There are a lot of paper formats and templates that you can find online, both for references and for essay structure. Starting out with a template is a fail-safe move as long as you get the right writing style, MLA or APA.

Editing and Review

The editing and review process is crucial in the scholarship essay process. There should be no spelling, grammar or formatting issues. If you are not confident or sure you have it right, a lot of schools have a paper review help in the library you can use. IF you are not currently in school but trying to get into school with the scholarship you are hopefully awarded, then there are other options. You can ask friends or family that have a higher education or even coworkers or neighbors.

If none of this is an option, there are websites you can go to and pay to have your paper edited and reviewed. This can be pricey but most offer guarantees, so it is worth the risk if you have no other choice or don’t feel you know anyone up to the task. Get more than one person to proofread and edit as well. There is never just one essay judge. Spend a lot of time on your introduction, introductions are huge in the world of essays.

An introduction paragraph is supposed to give the reader a glimpse at what is to come in the essay. When you are proofreading, make sure you check your tone. A winning essay will be full of hope and positivity, not be negative and pessimistic. When you are hopeful for your future, your hope can be contagious. The judges will notice and be inspired by your essay. An inspiring essay is a winning essay.

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