The Advanced Guide to an Economics Essay Writing

The majority of students – when they hear the “E” word – instantly see equations, numbers and axioms in their mind. Another part of students think that Economics is all about money. Well, the truth is that both are mistaken because this discipline deals with weighing up and making choices like whether it’s better to stay at home tonight or go out with friends, which cinema to choose, what apartment to rent, etc. You even can’t imagine how important economics is till you get to the bottom of it. But let’s be honest – you won’t do that out of sheer curiosity. That’s exactly why there are professors who task you with writing assignments within this discipline in order to make you research and comprehend its value.

But apart from understanding what the economics is, these kinds of tasks also have the purpose of testing and improving your skills. When you need to write an economics essay, your professor actually wants to find out the answers to the following questions:

• Do you know something about economics? Are you aware of the very basics?
• How well do you understand the topic?
• How can you apply this knowledge in practice?
• Are you able to explore a particular concept and draw conclusions?
• Can you see the bigger picture? How can the results of your research be estimated in terms of their value?

Keep those questions in mind while planning and writing because they will help you to live up to your professor’s expectations. But before you dive into the world of wordcraft, first you need to make up your mind what you are going to write about. How can you do that? Just keep reading our economics essay writing guide and find out!

Picking a Suitable Topic for an Economics Essay

You have to be ready for the fact that there is no magic trick or secret formula that will match you with the topic that will satisfy you and your supervisor. But, at least, you can do your best to spot it, and for this you need to be:

• Open-minded. It means to consider every idea that comes to your mind even if it sounds odd. It also implies for you to look for inspiration not only in economics books or articles, but around you as well – as we said before this discipline is about your everyday choices, so you can find a lot of interesting concepts to research even in your routine.
• Critical. If you finally spot an interesting topic, take into account questions we’ve discussed earlier – will it help you answer them and “show off” your skills?
• Down-to-earth. Frankly speaking, anything can be analyzed within the framework of economics. The question is whether you know how to explain the chosen topic using economic terms. For instance, you want to research the questions “Why I need a roommate?” – you may justify that by saying that you feel lonely sometimes, but we think you’ll agree with us that it doesn’t look like an economic explanation.
• Long-sighted. Make sure that when you explain economically that a roommate will bring many benefits, you will be able to test your hypotheses. Otherwise, your essay will be just filler text with a purpose to meet the word count set by the assignment. No one gets good grades for that.

While you’re processing the economics essay writing prompts we’ve provided, we will present you with 10 sample topics that will show you in which direction to move and give you some excellent ideas.

1. Finishing the College vs Taking a Job in a High Growth Startup
2. The Pitfalls of Cheap Flights: How to Find the Most Beneficial Routes
3. Pros and Cons of Getting Oneself a Pet
4. The Minimum Wage for Part-Time Working Students and How It’s Counted
5. Why Do Gas Prices Rise in the Summer?
6. The Impact of Millennials on the US Economy
7. Consumerism Habits of Modern College Students
8. True Reasons Behind the Employment Problems Fresh Graduates Have
9. How to Manage a Student Maintenance Loan the Right Way
10. Different Forms of Money – Their Advantages and Disadvantages

You’re welcome! After you decide on the topic, it’s important to understand how exactly you should write about it and which concepts to keep in mind while analyzing. So, let’s find out what they are.

The Main Terms of Economics Essay Writing

When you reflect upon some certain topic that you’ve picked and, then, lay out all your thoughts on paper, you need to remember about the 3 pillars of the economics essay writing: application, analysis and evaluation.

1. Application

This is a very important concept that all professors look into while reviewing your essays. It implicates that you can take your economic knowledge and apply it in practice, meaning within the topic that you’re going to research in your writing. Knowing terms and definition is obviously not enough, that’s why this part is checked very carefully.

2. Analysis

Well, the original definition suggests that this is a process of dividing something into smaller parts and looking into them separately. In the economics writing, it can be performed using the chain of reasoning – you give a statement and explain it step-by-step with the help of special linking words like consequently, furthermore, as a result, etc.

e.g. Do a little research before buying goods online. If you don’t do that, you may purchase a product for a much higher price than on other shopping platforms. Consequently, you will spend more money that you could actually save up. Moreover, while researching you can learn about special offers that some of the web sellers provide.

3. Evaluation

This is the hardest part because it demands your maximum participation. You need to provide the wider context and be able to express it in writing like, for instance, how your research results can be applied in other situations. It’s also important to show that you take into account positive arguments as well as negative ones – if there are statements that oppose your hypotheses, include them in your essay and, this way, try to strengthen your evaluation. While in analysis and application you take ready claims and only then act upon them, in evaluation everything should come out from you.

These are the elements that have to be present in your essay if you count on a really good grade, so read them again to get a better understanding.

The Ultimate Structure of an Economics Essay

Now, when you know your topic and are aware of the most important skills you need to apply in economics essay writing, we will tell you about the structure of this type of assignment. To tell the truth, the skeleton of the paper stays the same as in any other paper – introduction, main body and conclusion. But that, what you put there and how you present it, is exactly what is different. Let’s look into each segment in detail.

Introduction

As the name suggests, in this part you introduce the reader to your topic, but first you need to grab his/her attention with a good hook to spark some interest. The hook can be mind-blowing statistical data, a quote from a famous economist, bold statement, etc.

After you focus the attention of the reader on your writing, you include a general sentence that outlines your topic. And, then, goes the most important element of the introduction – a thesis statement.

The thesis statement is a simple and short summary of the goal you want to achieve in your essay. It has to encompass one main idea that you will prove throughout your writing and mention again in the conclusion, so it’s main purpose is to inform the reader what and why exactly you will explore.

Main Body

Well, that’s when the real fun begins. Your main body may consist of as many paragraphs as you need – just make sure you fit into the word limit because if you write not enough or exceed it, you will be equally downgraded.

All your paragraphs must be structured in the right way:

1. State your point;
2. Explain the cause;
3. Include the consequence;
4. Use evidence (example);
5. Present your evaluation;
6. Add a transition to another paragraph.

It is possible that elements like cause and consequence may be omitted, but other parts are essential for your successful economics writing. This paragraph plan allows you to quickly draft short sentences for each point so you certainly won’t have any writer’s blocks or situations when you don’t know what to write next.
As for main body as a whole, we advise you to structure it this way:

• Analysis. Take your topic to pieces and analyze each segment separately. Consequently, you may need several paragraphs for this kind of activity.
• Evaluation. Assess the information you received in the process of analysis.
• Opposing argument. As we’ve written before, it is a good practice to include a statement that disagrees with the result of your research. If you know how to appropriate it, it will only strengthen your writing.

The thing is that all your paragraphs may include elements of application, analysis or evaluation. But there has to be a general direction for each chunk of the text to control the attention of your reader.

General Economics Essay Tips That Will Make Your Writing Better

You’re almost all set for your writing adventure – you know how to choose the topic, how to write about it and in what way to structure your thoughts. But there are also significant details that you have to remember about because they may cause some damage to your overall grade if you foul up on them. Let’s see what they are:

• Don’t just restate the economic theories – apply them to the problems you mention in your essay;
• Don’t include too many quotes; we know it’s quite tempting because there are loads of good words of great economists, but professors want to read your opinions;
• Cite only reliable sources;
• Make your sentences short and to-the-point;
• Use words with specific meanings – avoid modal verbs when proving something (may, might, can, etc.) or verbs like seems, appears, etc.
• Be logical;
• Stick to the present tense;
• Don’t plagiarize.

It’s better to go through this list right before writing, and during your proofreading sessions which we’re going to talk about in our next paragraph.

Proofreading Tips to Get Your Eagle Eye Activated: What Our Writers Use

The most important thing is to check your essay for errors only after you completely finish it. It’s essential because if you do it simultaneously with writing, you will not be able to concentrate either on creating text or editing. But that also doesn’t mean that you need to start proofreading right after your last word is written. In order to do everything properly, you must follow a certain sequence.

Put off Your Writing at Least for a Day

You need to forget what you have written. Why? Because when you pore over the assignment for quite a long time, your eye is not so eagle anymore – it gets used to your style and just doesn’t notice any errors. That’s why you should leave your work for a day or two (of course, if the deadline allows you), and only after that start editing.

One small hack: also change the font of your essay – you’ll be surprised as it will seem like you’re reading someone else’s writing.

Divide Proofreading for Several Sessions

Don’t look for everything at once; plan your editing carefully. Firstly, review the essay and look for spelling errors. After that check thoroughly the grammar. Devote your next session to evaluating the actual content (logic, meaning, etc.). This way, step by step, you will eliminate the majority of mistakes that could ruin your mark.

Organize the Last Check

Make sure to plan the last review session before the submission. It is equally significant for your writing because while editing you will surely make some changes that might influence sentences or even paragraphs. You certainly need to check the consistency of the content you’re going to hand in to your professor.
This guide contains the full range of economics essay writing tips you need to write an economics essay. Its advantage is that you don’t have to rummage through the Internet to find additional information because everything is here in one place. So, use it to the maximum to save up time and produce an excellent academic paper!