Contrary to some students' conspiracy theories, essay writing serves far better purposes other than just being a teacher's tormenting tool. Essays not only mold students to be creative and independent thinkers, this particular art also develops unique and coherent forms of self-expression. Thus, to further guide student writers on these self-improving works, here are five crucial guidelines to enhance essay composition and make the writing process a lot easier:

Think Outside the Box.

Who would want to read a material that has been discussed and dissected for decades already? Naturally, nobody. Everyone prefers a material that's fresh and new. That generalization definitely includes the typical essay teacher, who majority of the time, probably suffers from unvarying and uneventful essay themes. So be compassionate and give that teacher a break. Think different. Being unique doesn't have to be writing on molecular polarity, or cockroach annihilation, or anything different that the writer cares little about. Being unique means focusing on what most interests the writer, and discovering fresh angles from there. With such an end goal, not only does the essay teacher gets rescued from boredom, the writer's original thinking skill becomes further enriched.

Thesaurus should be a friend, but not the BFF type.

To this day, student writers continue to believe that big words make the essay sound smarter and more authoritative. It actually does, but only at a certain degree. Exceed that certain degree for a little bit and the essay turns pompous. Trample on that certain degree and the essay becomes incomprehensible. As George Orwell's rule of writing further emphasizes, "Never use a long word where a short one will do." Writing in a simple and direct manner almost always result to easy reading, whereas chock-full of big words distract, alienate, and even scare away readers.

Just Write.

Students find essay writing quite difficult, not because they don't know how to compose, but because high expectations weigh them down. Ideally, the essay should hit readers with an attention-grabbing introduction, smoothly followed by this phenomenal content body, then closed by a persuasive conclusion. As wonderful as these goals are, these same goals freeze writers. The best way out for this then is to just write. Write without the excess baggage. Throw away all the dreams of a flawless essay, as such thing hardly exists, much more so in the beginning stage. So, keep that pen moving or the keyboard clicking. That first draft may be highly unsatisfactory, but drafts are meant to be that way. There's always room for the perfecting stage later on.

Revise, Revise, Revise.

After the draft of the essay, this is now the appropriate time to free all that blocked expectations. Read and reread every angle of the essay. Check for grammar. Check for a smooth flow. Check for coherence of all the topic arguments. If something sounds off, it probably is. Keep revising until it sounds and feels right.

Force People to Read the Essay.

Finally, just because the writer feels that every angle is covered does not mean it's true. It may just be due to exhaustion that the mind dreams of such ideals. Thus, to make certain that everything is well covered, the writer should include innocent bystanders in his essay work. By forcing other people to read the material and shell out corresponding comments, the essay stands to gain from all those diverging views and perspectives.

Even with those 5 guidelines, essay writing still demands tremendous amounts of effort and hard work. Writers should not despair as much though, as said work's primary objective focuses on the writer's intellectual growth, and not for anything else.