Been spending days marking undergraduate essays. A few tips to (hopefully) help students write better and score possibly a few points higher without a ton of work:

First, you need to know that many universities only pay tutors for 15 minutes of their time to mark one essay. This is how fucked up the academia is. You should ask where your tuition goes if it doesn't sufficiently pay markers to read and give detailed feedback on your essay.

That said, to make it easy for markers to quickly read and understand your essay:

1. Don't wait till page 5 to say what you argue. Explicitly state your argument in the introduction, preferably in the first paragraph.

2. Avoid long sentences. Avoid long paragraphs. Avoid direct quotations.

3. Always break up your essays into sections and give each section a heading.

Have you ever read a 2,500-word essay without sections/section headings? If not, why are you doing it?

4. When in doubt about how to write well, always model your essay after a paper you find super easy to read and follow.

For the love of God, though, please do not model your essay after that of an old white man who has been dead for 100 years.

Other tips from markers? Feel free to share!