Books for Essay Writing You Need To Know About

Everyone wants to improve their way of writing essays. Just like your college student struggling to write a term paper or your professional who is tasked to draft reports, the key to becoming great in essay writing lies in the best resources. For those who need more personalised help, Academized is an academic writing service that assists students with their essays, research papers, and more. It provides expert help for those who may need additional support in meeting academic deadlines or improving the quality of their writing.  

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

This book is a long-standing classic in the non-fiction canon. William Zinsser is laser-focused on clarity and simplicity. He tells the writer to impose on their words a ruthless demand for essentials: eliminating as much of the fluffy verbiage as possible, removing the unnecessary, the self-indulgent, and the merely ornamental. At every point, his goal is to make your essay as easy as possible for the reader. Many insights buried within Zinsser’s On Writing Well will make your writing life easier and the essays that have taken up residence in your noggin a little sharper. Here are two to begin with: good writing is often rewriting; and, like all good texts, this book will challenge you to take a hard look at your essays and then push you to revise them.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to cut unnecessary words
• How to focus on clarity
• Why rewriting is key to strong essays

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

A tiny book, yes, but huge for what it packs – invaluable lessons in grammar and composition. If you are unsure how to speak or write clearly without being long-winded or unwieldy, this book can help you find a cleaner and more concise way with words. If you are a beginner producing sentences that sound clunky and convoluted, the book can give you something to work with, so that you nail down the basics of grammar and style before tackling more complicated exercises. It also offers valuable advice on brevity and clarity. If you want your essays to be more readable, Strunk and White’s book is a must-read.

What You’ll Learn:

• Basic grammar rules
• How to write concisely
• How to make your writing clearer

They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein

They Say, I Say – a great, and somewhat obvious, resource for writing academic essays, should you decide you want to delve into the great depths of academia. It teaches you how to interact with other perspectives and include them in your argument. The main tenet of the book They Say, I Say is to start with what others are saying about your topic, and then introduce your argument – and this will aid you in keeping your essay engaging, as well as balanced. There are also templates to aid you in structuring your argument, helping you keep on track and improve your writing. For further guidance, you can explore options like research paper service review, where different services are compared to find the best one for your needs.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to build a balanced argument
• How to address counterarguments
• Templates for organising essays

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

In Bird by Bird (1994), Anne Lamott’s snuggly title advises against getting hung up on the technicalities of writing. Instead, the author gives some well-worn guidance on the mindset of the writer: she talks about ‘writer’s block’, or feeling paralysed by not knowing exactly what to say or where to start; or about feeling ‘stupid and fraudulent … full of doubts, embarrassments, fears’, as another of her well-worn off-the-cuffs goes. One of Lamott’s famous pieces of advice is to write ‘shitty first drafts’: don’t worry about making the first draft perfect, just get words down on the page and hammer them into shape later. Lamott’s appealing, friendly tone makes this a fun, helpful read for anyone feeling freaked out by writing. It’s about the realities of writing, it’s messy and imperfect – but there’s got to be some kind of order, so get going.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to overcome writer’s block
• Why it’s okay to write imperfect first drafts
• How to enjoy the writing process

Writing Essays: A Guide for Students by Richard Marggraf Turley

Here is a simple visual text for students designed to help them write better academic essays. Through stripping down the process of composing an essay to a series of small, easy-to-handle steps, Richard Marggraf Turley offers practical advice. His book covers everything from planning an essay to structuring an argument, to checking and editing. For students, the book offers concrete tips for producing better essays and getting better grades.

What You’ll Learn

• How to plan and structure essays
• Techniques for strong arguments
• Practical tips for improving essays

The Craft of Research by Wayne C Booth, Gregory G Colomb and Joseph M Williams

I use it with my students as the definitive how-to book for writing research-based essays and academic papers. The Craft of Research outlines the steps of the research process that students must go through to compose their essays. This includes defining your research question, the kind of evidence you need to find, how to arrange that evidence carefully, how to organise your arguments to make your essay make sense and stick in your readers’ minds. If you have to write long essays, the book can help smooth your path when it comes to writing an analytical thesis paper.

What You’ll Learn

• How to conduct research for essays
• How to frame and organise your argument
• Tips for presenting evidence clearly

Comparison Table

My separation from the past has led me to come together with you – to rewrite this original statement from Anne Carson’s The Glass Essay (2018). Although my academic essay might appear full of knowledge, it is also built upon ignorance: ignorance concerning the historical context and the constraints of history itself. This allows me to focus on the present at hand – the need to establish a common academic ground with you. I try to move away from the past when I write, but history has a way of leading us back in unexpected directions. Adapted from The Book of Marshals: A Research-Based Essay by David Córdova (Oxford, 2023)

Conclusion

While becoming a better writer of essays (or any other kind of piece, for that matter) takes practice, the right books can ease the way. If you just want to get started, the basics of clarity and grammar are readily covered by books such as On Writing Well by William Zinsser or The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. For advice about making more sophisticated kinds of arguments and presenting research, They Say, I Say (Gray) and The Craft of Research (Booth et al) offer great direction. If you’re looking for encouragement or are stuck on a piece and looking for insight into the writer’s mindset, Bird by Bird (Lamott) offers an inspiring (and reassuring) perspective on the craft of writing. Whether you’re a student or a professional, these five books will help you write better essays with confidence