If you’ve ever spent what seems like hours staring at a blank screen, piles of notes besides you, and a cursor that seems to mock you with its incessant blinking, while your essay deadline looms ever closer, you’re not alone. Essay writing is the bane of many uni students’ lives, and whether you’ve been searching for the perfect statistic to back up your point, or a quote to align perfectly with your conclusion, you’ll know only too well how stressful it can be. But what if there was an easier way to write more productively, hone your arguments and deliver an essay your tutor will be impressed with? And what if it uses precisely the apps you might be using to procrastinate when you’re struggling to get started? Using social media to improve your writing is entirely possible, and what’s more, it can elevate your essays to new levels.
Research from 2019 shows that a staggering 87% of UK university students used social media regularly, and it is likely these numbers have increased since then. While you might have been warned that social media can be a killer for productivity, platforms like Reddit, Facebook and X (ex Twitter) can help transform the research process, and start conversations about relevant topics that might deepen your understanding of the
subject you’re writing about.
Here, we take a look at the benefits of using social media while researching your essay, as well as ensuring all ethical and academic requirements are met.
Social Media vs Search
While Google scholar and other academic search tools can be extremely useful for research, many of the academic papers you’re likely to find there are not right up to the minute. Not only this, but the insight within them may only show one side of the argument. Add to this the fact that it can be difficult to know where to start with your research, and it’s no wonder that sometimes, getting started can be so difficult. Turning to social media, with its ever-evolving trending topics, will enable you to begin formulating ideas surrounding your topic much more easily.
Diverse Views and Real Time Updates
On social media platforms such as X, you can easily follow hashtags that relate to your essay topic as they evolve. This way, you can discover trending discussions covering your niche, access breaking news, and curate expert opinions from across the globe in a much more up-to-the minute way than by reviewing past papers.
For example, Reddit – with a vast amount of subreddits – gives a huge amount of information on many different topics and covers a range of diverse views, evolving every day. There will be threads there that you can join or read with discussions that might cover angles you never would have thought of otherwise.
Careful Curation is Key
It is important to have a strategy when using social media for essay research, however. First, take a look at who the authorities are in your niche, and join academic groups and communities focused on your essay topic.
Be careful in your use of hashtags when you are searching for specific information to get more useful results. For example, searching #AI when you’re writing about healthcare advances might give you plenty of posts to wade through, but using #AIInHealthcare might be more valuable.
Get to know search filters well so you can remove content that is irrelevant. It is also vital to evaluate how credible your sources are, and cross reference the information they give to ensure you paint an accurate picture.
Be Part of the Conversation
Once you’ve started to find the groups, threads and reddits that are having the conversations about your chosen topic, it’s time to join in the conversation.
Identify Your Audience
There are a variety of useful platform specific communities that might help when it comes to discussing arguments and exchanging knowledge. Academic-based social media choices include:
- Academia.edu – This is a platform where academics can share their research papers. They can also follow other researchers as well as monitor the impact of their research.
- Altmetric – This is an interesting platform backed by data science. It allows for you to track how published research is mentioned, giving you an idea of how wide it has impacted the community.
- Google Scholar – Google’s academic search engine indexes academic literature. Great for finding papers referred to in brief in social media posts.
- ResearchGate – This is often cited as THE social networking site for researchers and scientists, providing a platform on which they can share papers, ask questions and collaborate with others on specific projects.
- Mendeley – This is a useful academic social networking platform, which has a reference manager which can help to share, annotate and store research.
However, the wider public social media networks can bring a wealth of knowledge and a range of views you might not get from the academic community on those platforms.
- LinkedIn – While this is predominantly for businesses, there is a large academic community, whereupon you can connect with industry experts, and join conversation groups that align with your research.
- X (Previously Twitter) – Search the hashtag #AcademicX or #AcademicTwitter as well as your topic and you’ll find a whole host of interesting threads, and further hashtags you can use to hone in on your topic.
It may also be possible to use other social media platforms to gain insight into certain topics. Facebook, however, is less academic in nature and more family-and-friends oriented, although there are academic communities present there. In addition, while TikTok is an extremely popular platform, its academic use has not really been fully realised, so it may take you longer to find something useful. Do not write it off completely, however, particularly if you are looking for real-life experiences of a specific topic relating to TikTok’s demographic.
Social Media Advice and Etiquette
Once you have found your audience, and your experts, it’s vital not to demand what you would not be prepared to give yourself. While they may post often about related topics, academics, industry leaders and experts aren’t on social media to answer your questions, so remember not to spam them with requests or request their time and effort in answering your queries. If they have posted something that interests you, be sure to compliment them on this, and then ask for further clarification, or post relevant questions to deepen your understanding. However, remember that they are not duty bound to answer you.
One way to get people to quickly give you insight would be to post a poll on the particular platform. Not only does this provide a quick way to gain insight on a specific point, it could also promote debate to deepen the discussion around it.
Conversation is a vital part of social media use – and if you build a relationship with someone, it might even be possible for them to give you some time one to one to discuss the subject with you. Being able to quote their unique insight in your essay could elevate it to the next level.
Gaining Feedback and Using Constructive Criticism
Constructive criticism is what can really elevate your essay writing. However, social media platforms may not be the best place to post your essays. This doesn’t mean you can’t have your work peer reviewed, however. There are ways in which you can gain valuable feedback on your work without risking someone else taking your work and using it as their own.
Peer and Expert Feedback
If you join specific academic writing groups, it may be possible for you to gain feedback within a closed forum. However, you will need to be careful when doing so. Check your university’s policies with regards to this. It is likely that your university will allow for person-to-person peer review of draft content but the rules may be different when it comes to posting complete drafts online.
If you’re unsure about sharing your work online before it is submitted, there is another way. Take some of the main points of your essay and start discussions with your social media connections about these points. That way, you can see whether people are in agreement with you and use constructive criticism of your points to enhance your essay. If you’re wondering whether you’ve put a specific point succinctly, then posting a sentence within such a group and asking whether it’s understandable, or whether it could be better put can also help you review your style of writing and improve it.
Constructive or not Constructive
It’s important to remember that on social media, many people write what they would not say face to face, and this is true even in the academic community. Therefore, some comments on your work may be more useful than others. If some criticism is unhelpful, filter it out and focus on those people who provide helpful feedback with guidance on how to improve.
In addition to this, feedback should never be implemented just because it has been given. Consider whether you agree with it and implement it only if you feel it would improve your essay. Not only this but consider reviewing others’ work. It will help you work out what writing styles work best, and give you a deeper understanding of how to avoid common mistakes in your work.
Ethical Considerations for Social Media Use In Essay Writing
There are a great many opportunities for you to harness social media to assist with your essay writing. However, it is vital not to ignore the ethical considerations when doing so. In 2023, Turnitin released the results of a study that revealed 48% of students were using AI tools for their assignments. This exemplifies the idea that while something may be useful, it must be used in the right way to ensure ethical considerations are met. The same must be said of using social media for enhancing your essay writing.
Plagiarism and Sourcing Considerations
While you may agree with an opinion expressed on social media, it doesn’t mean you can use it as your own. Social media can be a fantastic breeding ground of academic analyses of specific situations, but like all your research sources, it must be cited. When using information from social media within an essay, make sure you paraphrase it correctly in your own words, and credit the source.
However, it can be tricky to know where something crosses the line into plagiarism, particularly if the insight you’ve gained is part of a wider discussion you’ve been involved in. It’s wisest to err on the side of caution if you’re concerned in these cases, and cite your source. After all, most universities have extremely strict policies surrounding plagiarism, and falling foul of these could result in severe penalties.
Enhance vs Inform
To become a well-rounded essay writer it’s vital to understand the balance with using research to enhance your essay rather than inform it. Using social media to gain a deeper understanding of the topic you’re writing about is one thing, but it is vital to be able to demonstrate critical thinking and your own opinions. Prioritising your own ideas and developing your own informed views on a specific subject is the way to ensure you keep your own identity as an academic writer.
Final Thoughts on How to Improve Your Essay Writing Skills
As with anything related to essay writing, planning your use of social media to enhance your work is vital in ensuring you can use it to best effect. Do your research into industry and subject matter experts, as well as hashtags and specific online communities, and you’ll be able to weed out unnecessary content.
Make sure to follow accepted social media etiquette, and make sure to credit your sources. This will give you more respect within your online communities, allowing you to continue conversations throughout the rest of your studies.
By following the guidance above, you will be able to harness relevant, expert and academic insight into your chosen topic, as well as useful advice on essay writing practices, to enhance your writing and make your next essay your best yet.