Nigerian British University
Explore Our Campus Virtually
Upcoming Events
Our Partners
News and Blog
8 Reasons Your Expository Essay Fails
A lot of people say that it's better to learn from the mistakes that you make. That's an ugly truth. When writing an expository essay, you believe things are under control until you see "C" under your text. So, the question is, "What is it that you do in the process of writing that your explanatory paper turns into a disaster?" It's time to learn from your mistakes!
Mistake 1. You Fail to Organize the Writing Process
It's no doubt that most expository essay topics are tough. The truth is that they contain a lot of interconnected social, cultural, and psychological issues. If you don't take the task seriously and simply write whatever comes to mind, you'll end up in a chaotic situation. Creating a schedule and sticking to it is the first step to getting an A+ for an expository paper.
For example, you may create a concise schedule on any gadget at hand, highlighting each stage of the process – choosing a good topic, preliminary literature research, building an outline, writing an introduction, a thesis statement, the body of the essay, editing, and so on.
Mistake 2. You Fail to Include a Thesis Statement
How to write an expository essay? By providing it with a solid core, i.e., a strong thesis statement. It is one of the most effective ways to make your expository essay consistent and logical. Start the process by creating a thesis statement to which you will alight your facts and arguments later in the body section.
To build a great thesis statement, ensure you know the chosen topic well enough to form the main idea. This simple ingredient of the essay will help you ensure that every argument you include in your work is on topic.
Mistake 3. You Waste Your Time Collecting Unimportant Info
Most students tend to make the same mistake of wasting precious time on research. There's nothing wrong with performing some initial research. However, make sure you don't dive into the never-ending flow of information and get stuck there up to your neck. Collect some information and begin to write your expository essay. As a result of avoiding all irrelevant material, you will be able to focus more on the key points in your paper.
Mistake 4. You Don't Hook Your Readers
Considering that the main reason for an expository essay is to boost the knowledge of your target audience on a topic, you have to attract your readers. In other words, you must create content to keep your readers hooked until the last sentence. Use impressive stats, anecdotes, facts, and other hooks to make your work great.
Mistake 5. "I" Is Everywhere
One key mistake in expository essays is the repetitive use of "I." Students use this personal pronoun in all sentences, making them look identical. That's what you have to stay away from in every other paragraph. The best way to do it is by pointing out every personal pronoun in the editing process. You will remove all unnecessary "I's" to make your piece less messy.
Mistake 6. Your Include Jargon Here and There
Whether you start or conclude an expository essay, clarity is a must. Most students use loads of jargon or include words with double meanings. It is one of the most typical mistakes made by undergrads. However, you can avoid this pitfall by avoiding complex vocabulary terms. The point here is that an expository essay that includes simple sentences, phrases, and words is more likely to get you an A+. When a complex term pops up in your head, replace it with an easy-to-understand one.
Mistake 7. Your Essay Has No Transition Words
Unfortunately, many college and university students underestimate the importance of transition words in an expository essay. In order to create consistency in your work and avoid troubles in the future, ensure your expository essay has all the words, sentences, and phrases like "coupled with," "accordingly," "equally important," "to say nothing of," and others labeled as "transition words." Thus, you help your readers to switch from one idea to the other logically and smoothly. As a result, they don't lose track of what their expository essay is about.
Mistake 8. You Don't Stick to Any Particular Citation Style
Regardless of your expository essay's academic level, you must follow a particular citation style in the work process. Whether it is APA, MLA, Turabian, Chicago, or any other style, you must know how your text should be organized before taking the first step in the writing process. If you're allowed to pick the citation style to follow, ensure to stick to it from A to Z in your expository essay.
After reading this article, we hope you will avoid the most obvious mistakes in your expository essay and get the desired grades.
3 Terrible Ways That College Students Deal With Stress
Stress is a big part of college life; sometimes, you cannot avoid it. When you have a heavy workload and finals are coming up, you will be stressed out. But as long as you know how to deal with stress properly, you can avoid any more serious mental health issues resulting from severe stress. Unfortunately, that is where the problem lies; many people do not know how to deal with stress appropriately. There are plenty of things you should be doing to deal with stress, but there are also many things you should not be doing. People often turn to those harmful coping mechanisms when stressed, which worsens their situation. The key to managing stress is knowing the wrong way to do it and finding better alternatives. These are the unhealthy coping mechanisms you should avoid and what you should do instead.
Studying Too Much
It makes sense to stay up late and study as much as possible when you have a lot of work to get through, but it will not help. Your brain can only take so much, and the quality of the work will suffer after a while. It would be best if you had a break from time to time. Otherwise, you're just going to make yourself more stressed. Sticking to healthy study habits and writing a good schedule that includes regular breaks is far more helpful. Giving yourself time to recharge your batteries will make you more efficient when you sit down to study, so you'll get things done faster by working a bit less.
Losing Sleep
It is tied to the last one because many people stay up all night studying, but sleep is so important. You will be way more stressed out if you are not sleeping correctly. Some people also struggle to sleep because they're worried about their workload, which becomes a vicious cycle. If you're having a lot of trouble, you could try high-potency sublingual CBD to help you relax or CBD vape juice. It's essential that you have a proper sleep schedule and that you're not staying up late every night. Otherwise, you will need help handling your stress correctly.
Partying
Partying is a big part of college life; people use it to blow off steam when stressed out, but that can be dangerous. It is true that taking a break from work and spending time with friends is an excellent way to relieve stress, but usually, those situations involve drinking. Drinking might seem like a perfect way to relieve stress because it calms you down at that moment. Still, it increases feelings of stress and anxiety afterward, especially if you regularly drink. That does not mean you can never go out and have fun. Just make sure that you are not drinking excessively and that you are not relying on it as a way to relax and relieve stress.
If you are using these unhealthy methods for dealing with stress, you will make your situation worse, so avoid them at all costs.
How To Nail Your First College Essay
Breathe. Relax. You are going to be okay, and you are going to be okay. The first thing to remember when you are sitting in front of your computer to write your first college essay and the blank, white, empty document is just staring back at you is that "you can do this."
You have this childhood dream or long-term aspiration to enter this college or university, and you are afraid that this college essay will be your undoing as your hands sweat and your heart palpitates. Fear not! You have made it this far in your academic life. It is a minor hurdle you will need to jump over. Instead of looking at this as an examination, you need to pass, think of it as a platform to show them who you are beyond what your grades and extracurriculars have already said.
5 Tips on How to Help you Nail that College Essay
Be true to yourself.
It is an ancient saying that people use daily; sometimes, it just goes through the listener's ears. However, this is a good reminder, as you are just starting to write. Do not try to impress your reader by being someone you are not. Thousands of people do it, try to be someone they are not, and write about all these things that do not reflect who they are. That kind of writing came out as fake and staged.
How do you write truthfully?
Be honest. Tell the admissions reader your flaws as a human being and how you are trying your best to be better. Do not copy someone's work and then claim it as your own. It creates a culture of trust between the reader and you. Instead of something impressive and accessible, write about something you overcame, even though it was hard. Talk about experiences of getting out of your comfort zone, persevering through many defeats, and pushing through life with determination. Write an essay on things your grades and test scores cannot reflect. Show your character.
Grab their attention and leave a lasting impression
Writing honestly in a way that reflects your true self will never be boring. After deciding on the topic you want to write about and making that first draft, think about how you can grab their attention by crafting an attention-grabbing first line. You can try the following suggestions and see what best fits your essay and personality:
Start with a question
Use a quote
Speak directly to the reader
Create a slightly exaggerated phrase (but remember to clarify what you mean afterward)
In addition to grabbing their attention, leave your reader with a lasting impression of you that will make them want to know you more. Like the audience at a concert, make them want to shout for more.
Refrain from cramming so that you can edit as needed.
There are a lot of people who cram well. They work well under pressure and create their best work when they squeeze. However, only some people are wired like that, which is not advisable.
It is best to prepare early by writing several drafts before settling on one. It is because several drafts give you many options on what you can write about and pick the best topic to reflect who you are. Another reason for not cramming is that not all good ideas come to you in one sitting. If given ample time to write, thoughts and anecdotes might come to you as you build your essay through the days.
Please keep it simple and accurate.
Filling it with beautiful words and paying attention to the grammatical rules is essential when writing a college essay. Make it easy to read by not using different kinds of fonts or making unnecessary phrases bold. Be clear and concise in your short sentences. Use a word counter to keep track of how many words you've written already. Do not plagiarize anything.
College essays' common mistakes are run-on sentences, commas, and pronoun-antecedent agreement errors. Be on the lookout for these.
Ask for help from your teachers, parents, or other people you trust.
Having another pair of eyes look over your work is always good. Ask for their help to see if you can communicate the idea or story you want and be open to criticism. Turning to people you trust is essential so that you will not lash out when they comment on your work because you know they want the best for you. Sometimes they can also offer a fresh perspective on what you are talking about that you may not have initially thought of.
How to Improve Your EQ and IQ
Many of you may know that your IQ is a measure of your intelligence and that EQ is a measure of your emotional intelligence, but are you aware that there are things that you can do to improve both? That’s right, your intelligence and emotional quotient are developed based on several factors, such as the characteristics and traits you were born with, the environment in which you were raised, and the work you do in later life to improve these skills. Studies conducted by Genos International have found that those with high levels of emotional intelligence are much more likely to be successful than those who do not. IQ and EQ combined can increase your chances of success, both professionally and personally. Here are some tips if you’d like to improve your IQ or EQ.
IQ Improvement
Many think that they are born with the IQ that they have and that it cannot be improved, but there are, in fact, ways in which IQ can be significantly boosted. You can play several games that will help with your IQ. Chess, for example, is a great way to increase IQ dramatically, and this has been repeatedly proven. Because of the complexity and intricate nature of the game, it will help to improve concentration, problem-solving skills, and memory. Meditation and exercise are two other activities that have been proven to help significantly increase IQ, and sleep plays a crucial role in improving IQ levels.
Reading books is also key to increasing IQ. This will help to broaden vocabulary and increase patience levels and organization abilities. Even learning an instrument can make connections in the brain, which will significantly help you to increase your IQ.
EQ Improvement
With the right amount of work, you can also significantly impact your emotional intelligence, which will help you become a more receptive, sensitive, and well-rounded person. You must first understand where you are now to improve your emotional intelligence. To do that, it is essential to reflect on yourself and consider your relationships. How you perform in those relationships will help you understand what kind of emotional intelligence you have right now.
To increase that intelligence, you should practice your communication skills, think about how empathetic you are with others, and aim to invest more time in understanding other people’s lives. Listening is a big part of being emotionally intelligent, which you must practice. An additional activity you can look at doing is trying to be more positive, Find out what makes you optimistic, and whenever pessimistic thoughts come to mind, aim to turn them into positive ones. The challenge for those wishing to improve their emotional intelligence is to learn to be sensitive to other people’s feelings while avoiding becoming overly sensitive to the point where they will become easily offended or insulted.
The key to increasing both your emotional intelligence and your IQ is to be aware of your weaknesses and aim to improve them. Regardless of what you are working on, the key will be to consistently be mindful of making these improvements, ensuring that you are doing something that works towards improving your IQ and EQ every day.
Ideas to Help You Improve Your Studies Right Now
As a student, your studies are among the most important, and you must ensure you get the best grades possible. It would help if you were taking steps to make the most of your future, and getting the best grades is a great way to achieve this right now. If you are serious about achieving this, consider what you can do to make the most of your studies.
College life is about experiencing new things and seeing how you can give yourself as many opportunities as possible. You are going to need to think about the best ways of making the most of this, and there are a lot of ways in which you can achieve this. Here are some of the key ideas that will help you play a role in taking things to the next level and boosting your college education right now.
Go to Class
When you are in college, you need to get into the mindset of attending your classes as often as possible and think about what it takes to get the most out of them. You have a lot to think about when it comes to achieving this, and you have to remember that there are many benefits. Make sure you do as much as possible to improve your studies and grades. Try to ensure you focus on absorbing and learning in class wherever possible.
Join a Study Group
A study group is one of the best ways to get the perfect results and make the most of your experience. There are a lot of factors you will need to keep in mind when it comes to improving your studies, and joining a study group is the best way to achieve this. So, you will need to make sure you look into this. If you cannot find a study group, you could join one, which significantly improves your chances of success.
Use Online Resources to Help You
There are so many online resources you could use to help you improve your studies, and this is something you will need to consider. Make sure you do what you can to use these online resources as much as possible. For instance, you could head to Numerade.com to find an example of the CO Lewis Structure, which will help you with your studies. Countless online resources play a role in this, and you need to get this right as much as possible.
Stay Healthy
You might not think it, but keeping healthy is one of the best ways to improve your studies and give you the best possible chance of success. There are a lot of things you need to get right to improve your mental and physical health. There are plenty of health factors to aid your studies, and you should look into them to help improve your education.
Improving your studies is essential, and you must look at some of the best ways to achieve this. Make sure you do what you can to improve how you approach your college education. You can do plenty of things to accomplish this, and you must consider the best ways of improving your studies.
How to Deal With a College Addict You Live With
College and university have always been places where youngsters experiment with alcohol, sex, and drugs. It is almost part and parcel of that growing-up process, and while not advised, many people practice such experiments and establish their thoughts upon them.
Unfortunately, with the likes of drugs and alcohol, it can prove to be a slippery slope that can lead to addiction, and today there are a huge number of people suffering from addiction in college, which is both challenging for the person suffering and for those who are living with that person.
In college, you're thrust into the company of others, living in dorms and making new friends for the first time. It can be difficult enough trying to mix and establish each other's quirks, personality traits, and habits. Nevertheless, what if one of those habits is drug addiction?
There are many reasons someone may suffer from drug addiction at university or college. Many people are developing that dependency these days as a result of the stresses of prescription drugs. One of the most common forms of addiction, and studies have found that as many as 16% of students have misused stimulants alone.
The fact is that those people suffering from addiction will also have a significant impact on their own lives. So what do you do if you live with an addict at college?
Firstly, understanding addiction.
An excellent first step is to understand addiction and the forces behind it. Addiction is an awful condition that can take over someone's life and body, manipulating the brain and influencing a person's behaviour.
It will help you understand why your housemates are the way they are and give you insight into when you should support them or avoid them.
Have a plan if things escalate
You never know quite what you are going to get with an addict. Behaviour can be hugely sporadic and change in a matter of seconds. There can be extreme volatility involved with addiction, so have a response or backup plan if things start to become too much.
When intoxicated, that person may become dangerous or unbearable, and ultimately, that can hugely affect your safety and not to mention your studies. If you can have your support network of friends and family you can escape to, that can be helpful, and do not be afraid to report it to the relevant authorities, including the police.
Keep your money and belongings safe.
Addiction can cause people to do things they would not normally do, and you are much more likely to resort to criminal activity to get your next fix. For you, as a housemate of a person addicted to drugs, that could mean suffering, including having any stolen funds.
Encourage treatment
In most cases, you will grow to care about your housemate, so encouraging them to seek help is the best thing you can do. They may not listen, but if you can address the situation with the facts, including how they are affecting you, as well as options for treatment, then they are much more likely to listen to you and get the help they need from a rehab clinic or even at the college itself.