Home — Essay Samples — Business — Quality Management — The Concept of Quality

test_template

The Concept of Quality

  • Categories: Quality Management

About this sample

close

Words: 907 |

Published: Dec 18, 2018

Words: 907 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Works Cited:

  • Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Namy, L. L., & Woolf, N. J. (2019). Psychology: From inquiry to understanding. Pearson.
  • Myers, D. G., & Dewall, C. N. (2018). Psychology. Macmillan.
  • Cherry, K. (2021). The importance of psychology. Verywell Mind. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/why-is-psychology-important-2794878
  • American Psychological Association. (2021). What is psychology? Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/topics/what-is-psychology
  • Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2014). Social psychology and human nature. Wadsworth.
  • Cacioppo, J. T., Freberg, L. A., & Eastwick, P. W. (2018). Discovering psychology. Cengage Learning.
  • Gross, R. (2019). Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour. Hodder Education.
  • Huitt, W. (2020). Why study psychology? Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta State University. Retrieved from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/intro/why.html
  • Maslow, A. H. (2013). Toward a psychology of being. Simon and Schuster.
  • Seligman, M. E. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Simon and Schuster.

Image of Prof. Linda Burke

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

  • 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
  • Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

author

Dr Jacklynne

Verified writer

  • Expert in: Business

writer

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

6 pages / 2770 words

4 pages / 1996 words

2 pages / 1090 words

2 pages / 785 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

The Concept of Quality Essay

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Quality Management

In conclusion, management is the key to organizational success, and managers must possess the necessary skills to lead their teams effectively. Effective management involves planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, and [...]

Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2012). Strategic management: Concepts and cases: competitiveness and globalisation. Nelson Education.Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M., & DeCenzo, D. A. (2017). Fundamentals of [...]

Six Sigma means a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects in any process from manufacturing to transactional and from product [...]

Forensic science, often referred to as the "silent witness" in the courtroom, plays a pivotal role in the criminal justice system. Its importance cannot be overstated, as it not only aids in solving crimes but also ensures that [...]

Quality stands out as a very crucial organizational element that helps organizations to strike a competitive front against its competitors in the industry. This is because it guarantees the best durability and quality of [...]

Oriental carpets are works of art –unique and exquisite - worthy of collections. But when it comes to buying oriental rugs, most people shy away or hesitate. It’s difficult to judge its quality and they can never know whether [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

  • Instructions Followed To The Letter
  • Deadlines Met At Every Stage
  • Unique And Plagiarism Free

essay about quality

Your Article Library

Essay on quality control (with diagram)| products.

essay about quality

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Read this article to learn about Quality Control. After reading this article you will learn about:- 1. Definition of Quality Control 2. Objectives of Quality Control 3. Principles 4. Functions 5. Phases 6. Advantages.

  • Essay on the Advantages of Quality Control

Essay # 1. Definition of Quality Control :

According to Alford and Beatly quality control is that “Industrial management technique or group of techniques by means of which products of uniform acceptable quality are manufactured.”

So quality control determines what, when and how much to inspect and what steps should be taken so that defectives are not produced i.e. it is concerned with making things right rather than discovering and rejecting those made wrong. Thus it is preventive and not a corrective action.

Quality control may be defined as “the systematic control of those variables encountered in a manufacturing process which affect the excellence of the product.” Such variables may result from the application of 5 Ms i.e. Men, Machines, Materials, Manufacturing techniques and Money required for acquiring these four inputs.

According to Norman Gaither contrary to popular perception, quality control does not start after the items/goods/products are produced. Rather, it begins much before the goods and services are delivered to consumers. As shown in Fig. 9.1 at the initiation of production system, raw materials, components parts and other inputs must be of acceptable quality before they are allowed to be utilized.

Materials must possess the requisite specifications such as weight, strength surface finish, chemical contents and other characteristics.

Further as the inputs of the production system advance through production processes, the quality of these partly finished items is monitored to identify whether the system is operating on the expected lines. Thus monitoring is essential for operating managers to take corrective action before poor quality products and services are produced.

Quality Control during Production

Hence finished products and services are inspected to determine their acceptability.

In other words it may be defined as that function or collection of various duties which must be performed throughout the organization in order that products are made to measure upto specifications determined from consumers demands or achieve its quality objective or other way round quality is every body’s business and not only of inspection personnel.

Essay # 2. Objectives of Quality Control :

The fundamental purpose of quality control is to maintain the quality standard of the manufactured items/products at optimum cost.

However, some important quality control objectives are as follows:

(1) To decide about the standards of quality that are readily acceptable to the customer/consumer and economical to achieve and maintain.

(2) To carefully observe and analyse the extent of quality deviation in product/part/component from the predetermined standards of quality of the product during manufacture and to determine the causes of such deviation, when it cannot be attributed to chance causes.

(3) To apply corrective measures to achieve the real goal of quality control.

(4) To avoid as far as possible items reaching the customer which are of lower quality standard than considered acceptable.

(5) To take different measures to improve the product quality or checking the quality from dropping below the designed level during manufacture.

Essay # 3. Principles of Quality Control:

The principles of quality control which govern the manufacturing system are as follows:

(1) Under the present competitive manufacturing conditions quality of the goods being manufactured is a variable having upward trend.

(2) The quality control increases the sales volume and decreases the cost of production, distribution and hence makes mass production economical.

(3) The conformance of finished products to the pre-decided standards and specifications should be accomplished by using preventive measures instead of following corrective ones.

Essay # 4. Functions of Quality Control Department :

The quality control department in the organization is represented by its head may be quality controller or quality control engineer. He has to perform following functions:

(1) Advises the organization/management about inspection and quality control policy formulation/or modification.

(2) Decides inspection standards in the light of design tolerances.

(3) Drafts the departmental budget and controls the operating expenses.

(4) Supervises the departmental activities.

(5) Participates as advisor in the top management meetings concerning the production distribution and marketing of the product.

(6) Selects inspection points required for achieving the desired quality levels.

(7) Selects inspection gauges, tools and equipment’s, also ensures that these are maintained in good working conditions.

(8) Collaborates with sampling regarding the choice of statistical quality control techniques/charts to be adopted.

(9) Decides whether sampling inspection or 100% inspection to be adopted for achieving decided quality levels.

(10) Collaborates with statisticians on designing the efficient sampling plans for quality control purposes.

Essay # 5. Phases of Quality Control :

In the words of A.Y. Fegorbaum, “Quality control is an effective system for integrating the quality development, quantity maintenance and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organization, so as to enable production of goods and services at the most economical levels which allow full customer satisfaction.”

Thus quality control system consists of the following phases:

Policy of the Organization towards Quality Control of Their Products:

Such policy is generally formulated by the top management of the company as it is dependent upon inter-related factors. The characteristics of the product like price, durability, dependability, appearance and size are the determining factors of quality standards. So the main consideration is the attitude of the product market for the different levels of the quality of product.

Quality and Product Design :

The quality standards provide guidance to designers while suggesting or prescribing the nature of raw materials, manufacturing techniques and other service requirements in order to produce the items/goods of desired standards. Thus standards provide basis for quality control.

In process Quality Control or Quality Control during Manufacturing Cycle:

The following are important stages where quality control techniques can be applied during the course of manufacturing process.

(i) Input materials inspection stage i.e., in coming raw materials/semi-finished/finished parts or components are inspected.

(ii) Product inspection during manufacturing and control/rectification of the process, if needed.

(iii) Inspection and control of the final product.

Thus the quality control techniques try to screen out those products which do not conform to quality standards and suggest corrective action required. Sometimes quality control studies suggest necessity of revision of quality standards or design changes in the product.

Control in Distribution, Installation During and After Sales Use:

The real user of the product is the customer and he should feel satisfied with the performance of the product. So quality control function should be active even after distribution, installation and post-sales use of the product in order to generate the confidence of the consumer in the product.

Essay # 6. Advantages of Quality Control:

The advantages of quality control are listed below:

(1) Quality control may lead to quality improvement of the product which in turn increases sales volume.

(2) It reduces the inspection cost.

(3) Quality control reduces scrap, rejections and rework, thus reducing wastage. So the cost of manufacturing is reduced.

(4) Good quality of the product improves reputation of the enterprise.

(5) Leads to manufacturer and consumer relations improvement.

(6) Results in improvement of technical knowledge and collection of engineering data for process development and manufacturing design thus leading to cost reduction and product standardization.

Related Articles:

  • Essay on Inspection of Products | Industries
  • Steps for Applying for Quality Control Mechanism

Essay , Industry , Products , Industrial Engineering , Quality Control

Comments are closed.

web statistics

  • - Google Chrome

Intended for healthcare professionals

  • Access provided by Google Indexer
  • My email alerts
  • BMA member login
  • Username * Password * Forgot your log in details? Need to activate BMA Member Log In Log in via OpenAthens Log in via your institution

Home

Search form

  • Advanced search
  • Search responses
  • Search blogs
  • News & Views
  • How to improve...

How to improve healthcare improvement—an essay by Mary Dixon-Woods

Read the full collection.

  • Related content
  • Peer review
  • Mary Dixon-Woods , director
  • THIS Institute, Cambridge, UK
  • director{at}thisinstitute.cam.ac.uk

As improvement practice and research begin to come of age, Mary Dixon-Woods considers the key areas that need attention if we are to reap their benefits

In the NHS, as in health systems worldwide, patients are exposed to risks of avoidable harm 1 and unwarranted variations in quality. 2 3 4 But too often, problems in the quality and safety of healthcare are merely described, even “admired,” 5 rather than fixed; the effort invested in collecting information (which is essential) is not matched by effort in making improvement. The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death, for example, has raised many of the same concerns in report after report. 6 Catastrophic degradations of organisations and units have recurred throughout the history of the NHS, with depressingly similar features each time. 7 8 9

More resources are clearly necessary to tackle many of these problems. There is no dispute about the preconditions for high quality, safe care: funding, staff, training, buildings, equipment, and other infrastructure. But quality health services depend not just on structures but on processes. 10 Optimising the use of available resources requires continuous improvement of healthcare processes and systems. 5

The NHS has seen many attempts to stimulate organisations to improve using incentive schemes, ranging from pay for performance (the Quality and Outcomes Framework in primary care, for example) to public reporting (such as annual quality accounts). They have had mixed results, and many have had unintended consequences. 11 12 Wanting to improve is not the same as knowing how to do it.

In response, attention has increasingly turned to a set of approaches known as quality improvement (QI). Though a definition of exactly what counts as a QI approach has escaped consensus, QI is often identified with a set of techniques adapted from industrial settings. They include the US Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Model for Improvement, which, among other things, combines measurement with tests of small change (plan-do-study-act cycles). 8 Other popular approaches include Lean and Six Sigma. QI can also involve specific interventions intended to improve processes and systems, ranging from checklists and “care bundles” of interventions (a set of evidence based practices intended to be done consistently) through to medicines reconciliation and clinical pathways.

QI has been advocated in healthcare for over 30 years 13 ; policies emphasise the need for QI and QI practice is mandated for many healthcare professionals (including junior doctors). Yet the question, “Does quality improvement actually improve quality?” remains surprisingly difficult to answer. 14 The evidence for the benefits of QI is mixed 14 and generally of poor quality. It is important to resolve this unsatisfactory situation. That will require doing more to bring together the practice and the study of improvement, using research to improve improvement, and thinking beyond effectiveness when considering the study and practice of improvement.

Uniting practice and study

The practice and study of improvement need closer integration. Though QI programmes and interventions may be just as consequential for patient wellbeing as drugs, devices, and other biomedical interventions, research about improvement has often been seen as unnecessary or discretionary, 15 16 particularly by some of its more ardent advocates. This is partly because the challenges faced are urgent, and the solutions seem obvious, so just getting on with it seems the right thing to do.

But, as in many other areas of human activity, QI is pervaded by optimism bias. It is particularly affected by the “lovely baby” syndrome, which happens when formal evaluation is eschewed because something looks so good that it is assumed it must work. Five systematic reviews (published 2010-16) reporting on evaluations of Lean and Six Sigma did not identify a single randomised controlled trial. 17 18 19 20 21 A systematic review of redesigning care processes identified no randomised trials. 22 A systematic review of the application of plan-do-study-act in healthcare identified no randomised trials. 23 A systematic review of several QI methods in surgery identified just one randomised trial. 56

The sobering reality is that some well intentioned, initially plausible improvement efforts fail when subjected to more rigorous evaluation. 24 For instance, a controlled study of a large, well resourced programme that supported a group of NHS hospitals to implement the IHI’s Model for Improvement found no differences in the rate of improvement between participating and control organisations. 25 26 Specific interventions may, similarly, not survive the rigours of systematic testing. An example is a programme to reduce hospital admissions from nursing homes that showed promise in a small study in the US, 27 but a later randomised implementation trial found no effect on admissions or emergency department attendances. 28

Some interventions are probably just not worth the effort and opportunity cost: having nurses wear “do not disturb” tabards during drug rounds, is one example. 29 And some QI efforts, perversely, may cause harm—as happened when a multicomponent intervention was found to be associated with an increase rather than a decrease in surgical site infections. 30

Producing sound evidence for the effectiveness of improvement interventions and programmes is likely to require a multipronged approach. More large scale trials and other rigorous studies, with embedded qualitative inquiry, should be a priority for research funders.

Not every study of improvement needs to be a randomised trial. One valuable but underused strategy involves wrapping evaluation around initiatives that are happening anyway, especially when it is possible to take advantage of natural experiments or design roll-outs. 31 Evaluation of the reorganisation of stroke care in London and Manchester 32 and the study of the Matching Michigan programme to reduce central line infections are good examples. 33 34

It would be impossible to externally evaluate every QI project. Critically important therefore will be increasing the rigour with which QI efforts evaluate themselves, as shown by a recent study of an attempt to improve care of frail older people using a “hospital at home” approach in southwest England. 35 This ingeniously designed study found no effect on outcomes and also showed that context matters.

Despite the potential value of high quality evaluation, QI reports are often weak, 18 with, for example, interventions so poorly reported that reproducibility is frustrated. 36 Recent reporting guidelines may help, 37 but some problems are not straightforward to resolve. In particular, current structures for governance and publishing research are not always well suited to QI, including situations where researchers study programmes they have not themselves initiated. Systematic learning from QI needs to improve, which may require fresh thinking about how best to align the goals of practice and study, and to reconcile the needs of different stakeholders. 38

Using research to improve improvement

Research can help to support the practice of improvement in many ways other than evaluation of its effectiveness. One important role lies in creating assets that can be used to improve practice, such as ways to visualise data, analytical methods, and validated measures that assess the aspects of care that most matter to patients and staff. This kind of work could, for example, help to reduce the current vast number of quality measures—there are more than 1200 indicators of structure and process in perioperative care alone. 39

The study of improvement can also identify how improvement practice can get better. For instance, it has become clear that fidelity to the basic principles of improvement methods is a major problem: plan-do-study-act cycles are crucial to many improvement approaches, yet only 20% of the projects that report using the technique have done so properly. 23 Research has also identified problems in measurement—teams trying to do improvement may struggle with definitions, data collection, and interpretation 40 —indicating that this too requires more investment.

Improvement research is particularly important to help cumulate, synthesise, and scale learning so that practice can move forward without reinventing solutions that already exist or reintroducing things that do not work. Such theorising can be highly practical, 41 helping to clarify the mechanisms through which interventions are likely to work, supporting the optimisation of those interventions, and identifying their most appropriate targets. 42

Research can systematise learning from “positive deviance,” approaches that examine individuals, teams, or organisations that show exceptionally good performance. 43 Positive deviance can be used to identify successful designs for clinical processes that other organisations can apply. 44

Crucially, positive deviance can also help to characterise the features of high performing contexts and ensure that the right lessons are learnt. For example, a distinguishing feature of many high performing organisations, including many currently rated as outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, is that they use structured methods of continuous quality improvement. But studies of high performing settings, such as the Southmead maternity unit in Bristol, indicate that although continuous improvement is key to their success, a specific branded improvement method is not necessary. 45 This and other work shows that not all improvement needs to involve a well defined QI intervention, and not everything requires a discrete project with formal plan-do-study-act cycles.

More broadly, research has shown that QI is just one contributor to improving quality and safety. Organisations in many industries display similar variations to healthcare organisations, including large and persistent differences in performance and productivity between seemingly similar enterprises. 46 Important work, some of it experimental, is beginning to show that it is the quality of their management practices that distinguishes them. 47 These practices include continuous quality improvement as well as skills training, human resources, and operational management, for example. QI without the right contextual support is likely to have limited impact.

Beyond effectiveness

Important as they are, evaluations of the approaches and interventions in individual improvement programmes cannot answer every pertinent question about improvement. 48 Other key questions concern the values and assumptions intrinsic to QI.

Consider the “product dominant” logic in many healthcare improvement efforts, which assumes that one party makes a product and conveys it to a consumer. 49 Paul Batalden, one of the early pioneers of QI in healthcare, proposes that we need instead a “service dominant” logic, which assumes that health is co-produced with patients. 49

More broadly, we must interrogate how problems of quality and safety are identified, defined, and selected for attention by whom, through which power structures, and with what consequences. Why, for instance, is so much attention given to individual professional behaviour when systems are likely to be a more productive focus? 50 Why have quality and safety in mental illness and learning disability received less attention in practice, policy, and research 51 despite high morbidity and mortality and evidence of both serious harm and failures of organisational learning? The concern extends to why the topic of social inequities in healthcare improvement has remained so muted 52 and to the choice of subjects for study. Why is it, for example, that interventions like education and training, which have important roles in quality and safety and are undertaken at vast scale, are often treated as undeserving of evaluation or research?

How QI is organised institutionally also demands attention. It is often conducted as a highly local, almost artisan activity, with each organisation painstakingly working out its own solution for each problem. Much improvement work is conducted by professionals in training, often in the form of small, time limited projects conducted for accreditation. But working in this isolated way means a lack of critical mass to support the right kinds of expertise, such as the technical skill in human factors or ergonomics necessary to engineer a process or devise a safety solution. Having hundreds of organisations all trying to do their own thing also means much waste, and the absence of harmonisation across basic processes introduces inefficiencies and risks. 14

A better approach to the interorganisational nature of health service provision requires solving the “problem of many hands.” 53 We need ways to agree which kinds of sector-wide challenges need standardisation and interoperability; which solutions can be left to local customisation at implementation; and which should be developed entirely locally. 14 Better development of solutions and interventions is likely to require more use of prototyping, modelling and simulation, and testing in different scenarios and under different conditions, 14 ideally through coordinated, large scale efforts that incorporate high quality evaluation.

Finally, an approach that goes beyond effectiveness can also help in recognising the essential role of the professions in healthcare improvement. The past half century has seen a dramatic redefining of the role and status of the healthcare professions in health systems 54 : unprecedented external accountability, oversight, and surveillance are now the norm. But policy makers would do well to recognise how much more can be achieved through professional coalitions of the willing than through too many imposed, compliance focused diktats. Research is now showing how the professions can be hugely important institutional forces for good. 54 55 In particular, the professions have a unique and invaluable role in working as advocates for improvement, creating alliances with patients, providing training and education, contributing expertise and wisdom, coordinating improvement efforts, and giving political voice for problems that need to be solved at system level (such as, for example, equipment design).

Improvement efforts are critical to securing the future of the NHS. But they need an evidence base. Without sound evaluation, patients may be deprived of benefit, resources and energy may be wasted on ineffective QI interventions or on interventions that distribute risks unfairly, and organisations are left unable to make good decisions about trade-offs given their many competing priorities. The study of improvement has an important role in developing an evidence-base and in exploring questions beyond effectiveness alone, and in particular showing the need to establish improvement as a collective endeavour that can benefit from professional leadership.

Mary Dixon-Woods is the Health Foundation professor of healthcare improvement studies and director of The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute at the University of Cambridge, funded by the Health Foundation. Co-editor-in-chief of BMJ Quality and Safety , she is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Physicians. This article is based largely on the Harveian oration she gave at the RCP on 18 October 2018, in the year of the college’s 500th anniversary. The oration is available here: http://www.clinmed.rcpjournal.org/content/19/1/47 and the video version here: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/events/harveian-oration-and-dinner-2018

This article is one of a series commissioned by The BMJ based on ideas generated by a joint editorial group with members from the Health Foundation and The BMJ , including a patient/carer. The BMJ retained full editorial control over external peer review, editing, and publication. Open access fees and The BMJ ’s quality improvement editor post are funded by the Health Foundation.

Competing interests: I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and a statement is available here: https://www.bmj.com/about-bmj/advisory-panels/editorial-advisory-board/mary-dixonwoods

Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .

  • Neuburger J ,
  • Hutchings A ,
  • Stewart K ,
  • Buckingham R
  • Castelli A ,
  • Verzulli R ,
  • Allwood D ,
  • Sunstein CR
  • Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership
  • Shortell SM
  • Martin GP ,
  • Dixon-Woods M
  • Donabedian A
  • Himmelstein DU ,
  • Woolhandler S
  • Woolhandler S ,
  • Himmelstein DU
  • Dixon-Woods M ,
  • Ioannidis JPA ,
  • Marshall M ,
  • Pronovost P ,
  • Glasgow JM ,
  • Scott-Caziewell JR ,
  • Nicolay CR ,
  • Deblois S ,
  • Moraros J ,
  • Lemstra M ,
  • Amaratunga T ,
  • Dobranowski J
  • van Leijen-Zeelenberg JE ,
  • Elissen AMJ ,
  • Taylor MJ ,
  • McNicholas C ,
  • Nicolay C ,
  • Morgan DJ ,
  • Diekema DJ ,
  • Sepkowitz K ,
  • Perencevich EN
  • Benning A ,
  • Ouslander JG ,
  • Huckfeldt P ,
  • Westbrook JI ,
  • Hooper TD ,
  • Middleton S ,
  • Anthony T ,
  • Murray BW ,
  • Sum-Ping JT ,
  • Portela MC ,
  • Pronovost PJ ,
  • Woodcock T ,
  • Ramsay AIG ,
  • Hoffman A ,
  • Richardson A ,
  • Hibbert P ,
  • Matching Michigan Collaboration & Writing Committee
  • Tarrant C ,
  • Pearson M ,
  • Hemsley A ,
  • Blackwell R ,
  • Custerson L
  • Goodman D ,
  • Watson SI ,
  • Taylor CA ,
  • Chazapis M ,
  • Gilhooly D ,
  • Liberati EG ,
  • Davidoff F ,
  • Leviton L ,
  • Johnston M ,
  • Abraham C ,
  • “Psychological Theory” Group
  • Clay-Williams R ,
  • Braithwaite J
  • Bradley EH ,
  • Willars J ,
  • Mahajan A ,
  • Aveling EL ,
  • Thibaut BI ,
  • Ramtale SC ,
  • Boozary AS ,
  • Shojania KG
  • Pronovost PJ
  • Armstrong N ,
  • Herbert G ,
  • Purkayastha S ,
  • Greenhalgh A ,

essay about quality

Stanford University

Search form

How to write a quality college essay.

By Steve Aedy

Essay writing is an essential part of college life. Some students will be lucky enough to have professors who will give them guidance on what makes a good essay. Others will be left to their own devices to figure it out as they fumble along. Learning to write good essays means learning how to research a subject and craft an argument. These are skills that will serve you well after college is over.

But quality essay writing has other elements too, such as making sure your essay “flows”, is free of grammar and spelling errors and has a tightly woven argument. Here are some tips on how you can improve your essay writing:

Read a lot of essays. Reading essays other people have written is a great way to study essay writing. Don’t just read for fun, read critically. Look at the author’s writing style: how do they introduce their topic, what tools do they use to formulate their argument? Is it effective? Could it be done better? If so, how? Did they leave anything important out? What would you include that they didn’t? The more you read essays, the more familiar you’ll become with different writing styles and the better your essays will become.

Do a lot of research. While you may have a strong opinion about a topic, it’s best to look to the experts in the subject to find out what they have to say. That’s basically the definition of research. Different scholars may have opposing views on the subject. You can explore these arguments in your essay to present the reader with a more complete view of the topic. An example is this article in which various experts express their arguments on whether or not Shakespeare was a Catholic. You may notice that the author does not express his personal opinion, but rather presents the arguments of both sides of the issue using quotes from authorities on the subject.

Use a thesaurus. Oftentimes, students get caught using the same word over and over again. This can become boring for the reader and sets a monotonous tone for your essay. In the above section on research, I used three different terms for the same idea: experts, scholars and authorities. A thesaurus is a great tool for helping you find new ways to express the same idea. Merriam-Webster has a combined dictionary-thesaurus resource and thesaurus.com has the largest word bank on the web.

Use transition words. Transition words help your essay flow. The cadence and rhythm of transition words are what make your essay enjoyable to read. While the quality of your research and your information are important, it’s also important how you present them. Transition words add finesse to your essay and help guide the reader through your argument, allowing them to follow along. Here’s a great list of 100 transition words to use in your essays.

Leave time to edit. Editing takes time. Literally. It’s like baking a cake. You mix all the ingredients and put it in the oven, you let it rise, then you let it cool. Then , you eat it. You need to leave some time for your thoughts to cool so you can have some perspective on what you wrote. This is essential to the editing process. Leave at least a few hours between when you wrote your last sentence to when you go over it for an edit. During that time, your brain will have a chance to refresh itself, making it easier to spot holes in your logic, spelling and punctuation errors and other issues. You can also use these tips for editing.

Proofread. Make sure your essay contains correct spelling, punctuation and grammar. If you’re not confident in your own proofreading skills, have a friend look it over for you. One thing that helps you spot errors is reading your essay out loud. The eye often autocorrects when you’re reading to yourself, but reading out loud is a way to turn off the autocorrect and allow you to see what’s actually on the page. It’s a good practice to cultivate. Want to brush up on your grammar skills? Check out this list of common grammar mistakes.

Good luck crafting A+ essays and happy writing!

Steve Aedy is a professional writer, editor and passionate blogger. He provides essay writing assistance at Fresh Essays and covers academic writing and education in his articles. Feel free to circle him on Google+ .

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Stanford University

  • Stanford Home
  • Maps & Directions
  • Search Stanford
  • Emergency Info
  • Terms of Use
  • Non-Discrimination
  • Accessibility

© Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305 .

Home / Essay Samples / Business / Management / Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management Essay Examples

A research of total quality management (tqm), its importance, principles, and implementation.

In the past decade, numerous businesses have emerged pertaining to various sectors of industry. This has given rise to a highly competitive market wherein survival for each business has become crucial. Due to the continuous changes in business environment, it is of utmost importance that...

The Role of Total Quality Management in Business

Throughout the years Total Quality Management has been given a tremendous importance in almost every business as a “Quality Guru” towards achieving fascinating quality products as well as improving the flexibility and effectiveness of that business, further, this philosophy was pioneered in 1900s to ensure...

Total Quality Management and Lean Production in Organizational Change

In today’s context, change in an organizational framework is a progressive process. It is no longer a sudden exception to improve an organization existing efficiency. Change in organizational management is a procedure that adjust to personal benefits of employees with business goals, strategies, and culture....

Examining Human Resource Management Challenges in Indian and British Multinationals

This essay aims to first understand the complexities of human resource management in multinational companies (MNCs) located in India and the United Kingdom and presents an overview of the challenges the human resource industry faces. For Indian MNCs, the biggest challenge is managing the cultural...

Total Quality Management in the Market Hospitality Sector: Marriott Hotel

Hospitality and guest service management are responsibilities for managing and handling customers and other hotel operations. A guest service manager is a professional who is engaged in managing and handling hotel operations. He ensures that all functions are carried out smoothly and effectively. There is...

Total Quality Management: Quality Responsibility for Efficiency and Effectiveness in the Performance of a Company

Quality is the standard or measure of excellence on a product or service which is used to manage the future outcome of what has been produced by a company either through more clients or profits. Quality is the new revolution that has been drastically the...

Comparing Leadership and Total Quality Management Theory

There are numerous ideas and opinions that make or constitute what a leader is and how they are made excellent. Moreover, there are loads of theories that explore the characteristics of what it takes to be an impactful leader. Therefore, there are varying viewpoints about...

Trying to find an excellent essay sample but no results?

Don’t waste your time and get a professional writer to help!

You may also like

  • Comparative Analysis Essays
  • Accounting Essays
  • Iphone Essays
  • Nestle Essays
  • Steve Jobs Essays
  • Automation Essays
  • Google Essays
  • Enron Essays
  • Uber Essays
  • Hard Work Essays

samplius.com uses cookies to offer you the best service possible.By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .--> -->