How to Use a Thesaurus for Essays

Video Transcript

"Hello! This is Peggy Charlton from Expert Village on how to write an essay. This is your best friend. A thesaurus book or the thesaurus on the computer. If you say something is good or even great in an essay that is poor quality. Let's get a thesaurus and see what it says. Good would be upright. It could be honest, reliable. Instead of saying he is a good person, say he was reliable and trustworthy. Pleasant, agreeable, satisfying, genuine. Those are so much better words than a simple word like good. A common mistake that people make in writing is the word a lot. I have graded numerous essays over the years that write a lot. First of all, that's misspelled. A lot is 2 words; always 2 words. Another thing, a lot says nothing. You should say numerous, many, things like that instead of the word a lot. Okay, you've got your essay written, you've got a great intro, you've got 3 points, a great transition and a conclusion. You've proof read it, you've typed it up, you've got good margins, good spacing. You haven't triple spaced, you've doubled spaced if that's what your professor wants. Get it on time. When you write your essay make sure that you make where you are going to get that essay in on the due date. If you will follow all these steps of writing an essay I think that you will be surprised at what a great grade you will receive. Thank you."