The best tips that you should follow each time you write an essay to ensure that you get the best results and get your message through to the audience.

To some students, writing good essays comes naturally whereas to others, they have to practice more often for them to master the art of good writing. Mastering the art of responding to the requirements of an essay in a proficient way is something that has to be learned as well as practised regularly. The good thing about learning how to write a great essay is that the same skills can be applied in writing any form of academic writing; whether it is a research, dissertation, or a reflective essay. One of the reasons why individuals encounter challenges in writing good essays is because they do it for the sake of external rewards such as scoring good grades or impressing the examiner. The problem is that when an individual pays too much focus on external rewards, it makes writing less fun and more difficult. When you focus too much on the external rewards, your subconscious, which is the source of your creativity, will shut down. It is also essential to understand some critical elements, such as the structure of a good essay. This essay will provide the most useful tips on how to write a good essay.

The primary thing that students forget when coming up with their essays is the fact that they need to communicate with their audience in a way that makes sense. They also need to ensure that they answer all the questions or prompts that may be provided in the instructions while remaining relevant to the topic. They also need to conduct proper research and use good references that show their readers that they actually took time to investigate the topic. When all this is done, the writer needs to find a way to write the essay and also a way to guide the audience by coming up with a good thesis statement for their work. This can be extremely challenging, especially to individuals that do not have experience. Another challenge is how to structure an essay properly based on the required format. Let us discuss some of the steps that you can follow when attempting to write a good essay.

Understand the requirements of the question

Although this may sound like a piece of general advice, the fact of the matter is that failure to have a good understanding of the question may result in disappointing grades. It is essential that you understand whether you are required to critically analyse, compare and contrast, or write about the importance of a given topic. When it comes to writing an essay, there are a given set of expectations, which are based on typical phrases found in the essay questions. When you are asked to provide the usefulness of something, you do not necessarily have to go so much deeper into the topic. Although you may comment on the weaknesses and the strengths, most of the essay should be devoted to the mentioning the usefulness.

Write a powerful thesis statement

As a student, it is important to conduct your research on how to come up with a good thesis statement or hypothesis from your essays. Not only does this powerful statement direct your writing, but it also helps the readers understand your main arguments early on in the paper, therefore, preparing them for what to expect in your writing. After you have a great thesis statement, it becomes easier to write your essay since you will work towards defending that thesis and showing your audience why your point of view is relevant. Always ensure that you can easily defend your position using research whenever you choose your hypothesis. Ensure that you write it our using proper language and write it at the beginning parts of your paper (opening paragraph). The reader should have an idea of what you want to show and hence the importance of doing it early.

Plan and schedule

The first step of writing a good essay is developing a good understanding of what the essay entails. The second important thing is making good use of the available time. It is unfortunate that most students underestimate the amount of time that is required to write a good essay. As a result, such students result in either spending late nights in the library or scoring disappointing marks. If you want to write a good essay, you should begin planning for the essay from the time you receive the instructions. Through developing deadlines, you will be determined to abide by them hence ensuring that most of the tasks are completed in time.

Read widely

Although writing is the main task, reading widely is also essential. You should ensure that you read different sources of information before you start writing your essay. One of the most important academic skills is learning to sift through a large volume of information. One of the tools that can be used to perform such activity is Google scholar since it can be used to search for information using keywords. Rather than spending too much time reading an entire article, one can simply go through the abstract. If the abstract is not providing sufficient information, one can go through the conclusion as it contains the summary of the article. A student would not want to spend too much of their time going through an endless number of articles only to find out they are not relevant.

Learn how to reference properly

When you are writing, you are most likely going to borrow ideas from other people or even use some of their work to defend your main arguments. Although time-consuming, it is imperative to learn the different styles of referencing academic articles, books, texts, websites, and other important sources. There are many styles, including APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard, to mention but a few. All these styles using different arrangements of information, and it is always expected that you will use the demanded technique. When you are able to reference your work well, you show your audience that you actually conducted good research and allow them the opportunity to verify your information. This is very important in all good essays, and you should ensure that you properly structure and reference all your essays for good results. Always try and look up the various structures and formats for each style each time you attempt to write an academic essay to avoid errors and inconsistency as you reference

Think critically

It isn’t easy to come across an article or theories that are perfectly written. Most of the theories, concepts, and articles have flaws. Although it is okay to be descriptive, it is important to show that you are able to make logical and critical reasoning when writing academic content. Your essay will be unique because of critical reasoning. It will show the examiner that you are not reiterating what has already been published but using the ideas presented academically. You can learn how to be critical by reading other published literature reviews where you will find that instead of the authors summarising the previous studies, they presented a critique to identify the gap, which they would fill.

Plagiarism and paraphrasing

Every time you use borrowed information, it is important that you give credit to the authors through citing where the information was retrieved. Students need to understand the difference between paraphrasing and quoting. The general rule of thumb when it comes to academic writing is to paraphrase whenever it is possible and using quotes only when an individual is clarifying the point they are making. Most students have difficulties in paraphrasing the words of the author without losing the intended meaning. Proper citation of sources will not only aid in proving the legitimacy of your content but will also assist in ensuring that you are not accused of cases of plagiarism. It is important to note that most learning institutions do not tolerate incidents of academic dishonesty. Therefore, to come up with a good essay, you must paraphrase well and evade from incidents of plagiarism.

Always edit and proofread your work

After you have conducted all your research, written the paper and ensured that you had included the proper references, you will most likely be very excited and want to submit your work as fast as possible. This is a wrong approach that has led to many students scoring lower grades than they expected. We are all human and human is to error. You will most likely make some mistakes that you will not easily notice in your paper unless you proofread and edit your paper. Ensure that you take your time to read the paper again and look out for any mistakes that you may have unintentionally made in your work and correct them as well as possible. Also, try and get the opinion of an independent individual by letting them read over your work. Once you have their comments, ensure that you go through your work again and perform all relevant edits. Remember to use great online tools like plagiarism and grammar checkers before you finally submit your essays to the relevant parties.

The life of a student can be challenging since an individual has to balance between working and school. The fact that an individual has tones of essays, which they are supposed to hand in, within a limited timeframe makes the student’s life more difficult. Most scholars who have enough time claim that they do not have enough skills to come up with high-quality essays. Some of them even add on by stating that writing essays are boring and that they do not have a clue of where to start. However, with the above tips, it is easier for students to write good essays. Writing a top-notch essay should not so difficult for a student.

The summer officially starts in the United States on June 20th, and that typically means barbecue. However, if you’ve never barbecued before or you’re looking for new inspiration, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of recipes you can find online!

We’re here to help you out. Whether you’re looking for salty or sweet, sides, or main dishes, we have all the necessities listed below.

Read on for our top five smoker recipes for you to try out this summer!

1. Sweet Smoked Pork Ribs 

The summer isn’t complete without some smoked pork ribs, and if you’re a fan of a little sweet with your salty, then this is the recipe for you.

The sweetness of these ribs comes from the brown sugar and white sugar that the recipe calls for. There’s also the surprising element of tanginess that the apple juice ends.

This is balanced out with onion, garlic, and chili powder, followed by some ground paprika and cumin. The rub balances out all of that sweetness and creates an extra layer of suprising flavor.

This recipe receives 4.5 stars out of 138 ratings. Users stated that the aroma and look of the ribs are just as good as the taste, and the rub can even be used with chicken or fish.

2. Smoked Mac and Cheese

No barbeque is really complete without great sides, and mac and cheese will always take the top spot as the ultimate comfort food. Cutsandcrumbles.com posted a great foundational recipe because you can add as many different toppings as you want.

The trick is to create a smooth roux, or a mixture of flour and butter, before you add cheese to the saucepan. They recommend a full 24 ounces of grated cheese for the cheesiest, creamiest result. In the recipe, they used 12 ounces of Colby Jack and 12 ounces of Sharp Cheddar, but it all depends on you.

Once the elbow macaroni and cheese has been prepped, they recommend adding them to an aluminum tray and cooking on indirect heat at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for about two hours.

Here are a few toppings ideas once your mac and cheese are all cooked:

• Hot sauce
• Grilled chicken
• Green onions
• Bread crumbs
• Crumbled bacon
• Lobster

3. Smoked Salmon

If you’re a pescatarian or you simply want a change of pace from the usual chicken, pork, and beef dishes, then this recipe from Honest-food.net is for you. It has a delicious sweet and savory flavor profile due to the addition of birch or maple syrup to baste your salmon.

It’s important that you plan ahead for four to eight hours to brine your salmon, but don’t exceed 48 hours or your fish will taste too salty. Once it’s out of the brine, you’ll want to dry your fish in a cool, breezy place for up to two hours. Next, you’ll use oil to peel off the skin.

Once you start cooking the fish, you’ll want it in the smoker for about an hour at 140 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. If the heat is too high, your fish will dry out.

We like this recipe because it shares the foundational knowledge you need in order to properly smoke a fish. Users that had never smoked a fish before were happily surprised by how well their fish turned out after following the recipe.

4. Smoked Veggies

Smoked vegetables may not be as exciting as your main meat dish, but they make a healthier barbecue while also adding a burst of variety that makes your barbeque taste all the better. We liked this recipe from Gimmesomegrilling.com because of how easy it is to prepare the ingredients.

Prep and toss all your veggies in a bowl, then add some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, sea salt, and black pepper. Then, it’s as simple as tossing your veggies in a grilling basket and keeping them on the smoker for about 30 to 45 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Here are some veggies you can use:

• Red onion
• Red pepper
• Zucchini
• Yellow squash
• Eggplant
• Carrots
• Mushrooms
• Brussels sprouts

5. Semi-Smoked Apple Crumble Crisp

A barbeque without a little dessert just isn’t complete, and this smoked apple crumble will go well with a big scoop of cold ice cream on a warm summer day. This recipe of perfect for people who own a grill but not a smoker but still want that slight smokey flavor. If you’re looking to invest in a smoker, you can use a Masterbuilt electric smoker.

It’s recommended to use a cast iron pan for this and to place it over indirect heat. They recommend cast iron since it can hold up to extremely high heat, which is necessary on a grill or smoker where you don’t have complete control over the temperature.

If you notice the fire going down, add more wood chips. However, you should always have a grill thermometer on hand so you can keep track.

Keep the dish covered for the first fifteen minutes, then uncover it and finish it up. The topping contains delicious oatmeal and brown sugar, while the filling has apples, orange zest, lemon zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

The addition of citrus ingredients adds a nice acidic balance to all the sweetness.

Smoker Recipes: The Key is Variety

You may have noticed that these smoker recipes all have variety. Having a great barbeque is more than just cooking the best meat dish and calling it a day; they also come with great sides and desserts.

No matter if you have a grill or a smoker, these recipes are also flexible enough to adapt to the tools you have on hand. Want more barbeque tips for this summer? Keep reading our blog for more tips and tricks!

What’s Gun Fu and How is it Impacting the Action Genre?

What’s Gun Fu and How is it Impacting the Action Genre?

Modern American culture has been affected in so many ways by Kung Fu, and nothing has been more influenced than American cinema.

The action genre is more alive than ever thanks to innovative directors like John Woo and their innovative visions to create more fantastical fight scenes on screen. It has even led to the creation of a term called “Gun Fu”.

But what is Gun Fu, and how is this new term affecting the action genre and our modern American silver screen?

If you want to know how blockbusters like John Wick get to be so great, here’s your chance to find out.

The Term: Gun Fu

Everyone these days knows the terms of martial arts and especially Kung Fu, a coined term made famous by Hong Kong and Chinese action movie stars like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and so many others over the latter half of the 20th century.

But Gun Fu, also known as Gun Kata, is now widely recognized as well. Gun Fu is a portmanteau word that fuses the term Kung Fu with Gun. But it has a meaning that is a bit deeper than just the term

The Meaning

Where Kung Fu focuses on the techniques and mostly unarmed combat of individuals using Chinese martial arts, Gun Fu mixes the elements of graceful, ballet-like martial arts combat with the blood and brutality of firearms.

It is intentionally choreographed to look almost superhuman. So there isn’t much difference in realism of Gun Fu between movies like John Wick or The Matrix.

The Impact

You can find Gun Fu and its influences all over the entertainment industry these days. Since its introduction as the “Heroic Bloodshed” genre by directors like Ringo Lam and John Woo, it hasn’t been uncommon to see our action stars running around dual-wielding an STI Staccato R, kicking ass and taking names.

Many that pioneered this genre in Hong Kong were also attached to the American movies that made the Gun Fu genre famous.

Some came on as choreographers, such as the acclaimed Yuen Woo-Ping who was the mastermind behind many of the Gun Fu hits that we know and love today.

The Future

With Gun Fu firmly planted in the entertainment industry, it is only reaching astronomical heights. John Wick and all its Gun Fu, gory splendor went from being a standalone film to an entire franchise with a cult following.

You even see glimpses of Gun Fu in the superhero genre. Characters such as the Winter Soldier and Deadpool could not exist on the big screen, nor could movies like X-Men Origins: Wolverine or the Underworld series have been possible without Gun Fu.

“Yeah, I’m Thinking I’m Back”

Action movies have always been interesting, but Gun Fu has made watching American action movies fun again. It may be unrealistic, it may be bloody, but there is a certain appreciation to be had when watching them.

We know you’ll probably never see this in real life. But who cares? Watching Gun Fu movies allow you to appreciate how far cinema has come and how far it’s willing to go. And you can only imagine where it’ll be headed next.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show because Gun Fu is here to stay. Go ahead and get in on the action!

Did you know that you can make a battery out of a potato? Maybe it’s not the longest-lasting battery, but at least you get a cool experiment!

However, if you’re looking for the longest-lasting battery brand, you’ve come to the right place. There are tons of options out there when it comes to picking batteries, so why not pick the best option possible?

Lots of factors contribute to the longevity of a battery; lithium batteries usually perform better than alkaline batteries but cost more money, and batteries differ in AA and AAA. On this list, most of the batteries are alkaline and all of them are AA in order to provide a general idea of battery performance that you’ll use most in everyday life.

So without further ado, here is the ultimate countdown when it comes to which battery brands last the longest.

1. Sunbeam

Sometimes you’re in a bind and just need to buy good batteries for sale. Maybe that means going to the dollar store or doing some online searching.

If it’s the former, one of the dollar store brands that lasts a long time is Sunbeam. Sunbeam batteries usually come in a pack of four and, if you’re at your local Dollar Tree, only will cost you a buck.

The Sunbeam battery brand when tested lasted four hours and thirty minutes. That’s a pretty solid battery life considering other dollar store brands can end up lasting only around two hours!

2. Walgreens’ Brand

Next up on the list is the Walgreens brand of battery. We’re moving from the dollar store to your local drug stores, which surprisingly provide batteries that last a pretty long time!

Walgreens brand of batteries lasted four hours and thirty-nine minutes, which is only nine minutes more than the Sunbeam brand from the dollar store. What’s interesting is the price difference, where the Sunbeams cost $1.00 for a pack of four compared to the $3.99 pack of four that Walgreens offers.

So technically the Walgreens batteries do last longer, but they cost three times more than the Sunbeams for only nine minutes more of use. Is it worth it? That’s up to you!

3. CVS’s Brand

Lasting thirty minutes longer than Walgreens is the next drugstore brand of batteries: CVS. CVS batteries lasted around five hours and nine minutes when tested, which is a pretty notable difference.

However, another notable difference is the price point for four of these batteries. A pack of four batteries at CVS for the CVS brand is $4.39, meaning each battery would cost over a dollar.

Again, you need to ask the question, is that price worth the thirty extra minutes of use? Maybe!

It all comes down to what you prefer. At the end of the day though, this battery does last longer than both the Walgreens brand and the Sunbeam batteries from the dollar store.

4. Energizers

The next longest battery may come as a surprise to you depending on your expectations for big name brands. The Energizer brand’s battery lasted five hours and eleven minutes when tested.

That’s only two minutes longer than CVS’s brand of batteries! Over five hours is a pretty long time, but only two minutes longer than a drugstore brand is a pretty interesting result from a big brand like Energizer.

However, a pack of four Energizer batteries at somewhere like Walmart is only $3.77 compared to the price of CVS’ batteries.

5. Rite Aid’s Brand

The final drugstore brand of batteries is the Rite Aid brand. These batteries last around five hours and twenty-seven minutes, almost twenty minutes more than the Energizer batteries.

By now we’ve learned not to underestimate the power in longevity that drugstore brand batteries carry! However, like CVS, the cost of four AA batteries is pretty steep: $4.49.

Ten cents more than the previous most expensive battery on the list, Rite Aid takes the lead with both the cost of the battery as well as how long the battery lasts.

6. Costco’s Kirklands

Our penultimate battery is the Costco Kirkland brand. These batteries lasted a whopping five hours and fifty-one minutes, just nine minutes short of six hours!

And because Costco sells everything in bulk, these batteries give you a great bang for your buck selling in packs of 48 for around $12.79. It seems like a big investment for batteries, but the cost per battery in this pack is actually under thirty cents, making them one of the cheaper batteries on this countdown.

Granted, you do need a Costco membership to shop at Costco, so there is that limitation with this option. But otherwise, these batteries really come out of the shadows on this list.

7. Duracells

Finally, the longest lasting battery comes in the Duracell brand. These are name-brand batteries that seemingly prove their power, being the longest lasting batteries on this list, but the time may surprise you.

In fact, the Duracell brand lasted five hours and fifty-six minutes, which is only five minutes longer than Costco’s Kirklands. They cost about the same as the Energizers too, making them more expensive in a pack of four for five more minutes.

Of course, if you don’t have a membership at Costco, these last about thirty minutes more than the Rite Aids at a cheaper price point!

Everlasting Energizer Bunny With The Longest Lasting Battery

Whether you’ve given up on your potato clock or are just looking to replace the batteries in your kids’ toys, now you know what you should be picking! This ultimate countdown shows you the longest lasting AA battery for all of your everyday needs.

Don’t forget that there’s other work to do when it comes to battery purchase. Remember to think about what you prioritize in batteries, like cost per pair for your budget, accessibility, storage care, and if having lithium or alkaline is more important to you.

So what are you waiting for? Get to using your appliances again with the best batteries in your hands.

If you enjoyed reading this post, why not check out some of our others? And don’t forget to come back for new content!