A Small Guide on How to Write a Diagnostic Essay

Essays are common in schools and universities. An essay is defined as a short piece of writing that expresses information as well as the writer’s opinion. These tasks of writing essays are given to check the relevance, hypotheses, and thesis skills of the students. Therefore, it is important to understand how to come up with the right structure for the essay. Precisely, there are several types of essays that students are asked to write. One of them is the diagnostic essay. In this article, we will provide you with a detailed guide on how to write a diagnostic essay.

What is a Diagnostic Essay?

Most students find it challenging to write diagnostic essays and often ask questions about them. Specifically, diagnostic essays are given at the beginning of the academic year. It allows the professors to evaluate the knowledge infatuated by the student for their selected discipline. However, mostly the time frame is limited with strict deadlines, and there is no space for thinking in between. In these cases, these essays can become extremely challenging as you will not have enough time for the research part.

Notably, the purpose of a diagnostic essay is to allow the professors to identify the writing style and the necessary skills. A diagnostic essay example is exactly what it means: an essay in which the professor diagnose the writing skills and aptitude in a specific subject or course. You are not required to read the entire book in-depth, but it’s only about determining your strengths and weaknesses. Here, your professor analyzes your grammar, sentence structure, and format.

How to Write a Diagnostic Essay?

In writing a diagnostic essay, students may find difficulties sometimes as they have limited time to complete it. Furthermore, most students do not have any idea on how to write a diagnostic essay. Therefore, while creating a diagnostic essay, the first step you need to remember is to create a mind map. Precisely, it would help if you kept in mind to formulate the correct structure. However, if you are struggling in writing a diagnostic essay, here are a few tips and structures that you can follow.

Choose a Topic

The first thing you need to do is to respond to a particular topic given to you or choose your own. The subject should comprise a significant problem. This is so that you can diagnose the problem and then provide a relevant solution and share your thoughts on the topic.

Frame an Outline

Building an outline is essential for an essay irrespective of its kind. Precisely, it eliminates the challenges that you might face while writing your diagnostic essay. Furthermore, it will allow you to organize your thoughts and effectively structure them. Write down all the main headings, subheadings, and arguments that you need to mention in your essay and use it as a standard to frame your content.

Build a Strong Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is one to three sentences in the introduction of an academic essay outlining what the reader can expect. It is an argument or claim that will be defended through your research. Here you will introduce your topic and provide a direction to the readers. Understand that a thesis will clearly state the topic and includes the points that need to be discussed.

Introduction

Your introduction should be short, compelling, and an attractive paragraphs that provide a clear picture of what the paper will address. So, start with a hook statement to intrigue the interest of the readers. Secondly, you can use a quote or a question or even begin with an anecdote. Finally, introduce your topic and explain the relevance of your diagnosis for that particular issue. Remember to sync your introduction with your thesis statement.

Topic Sentences

Precisely, topic sentences are the beginning of your body paragraphs. Here you should start explaining your arguments and back them up with evidence. Also, give examples and justify your examples to make your essay more real and convincing.

Conclusion

This is a closure to your essay. Here you will first restate your introduction and summarize all the important points of your essay. Then, offer a relevant solution or your thoughts about the issue discussed and provide some recommendations by your side. In addition, end your essay with a great closing line that will have an impact on the minds of your readers.

Proofreading and Editing

This is an essential part of an essay as it eliminates errors that prevent your essay from being perfect. Here, you will read all the things you have written in the content and look for any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, faulty sentence structures, and language issues. Also, you need to make sure that you check your grading rubrics and map them with the content.