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College essay don’ts: 37 Things to Avoid In a college essay
Knowing what not to write about in a college essay is just as important as knowing what to write about!
This post is all about college essay don’ts , including college essay topics to avoid and how not to write your college application essays.
It’s so important to know what NOT to write about in your college application essay. Whether you’re crafting your essay for the Common App or writing shorter college-specific essays, you need to know how not to write a college essay.
Choosing the wrong topic for your college application essays could mean that you don’t get admitted to your dream school or you miss out on scholarship money.
Since you really only have one chance to get it right, you need to know what topics to avoid in your college admissions essays, general college essay don’ts, and what other pitfalls to avoid when writing your college essays.
Essay writing may feel overwhelming and stressful, but knowing what not to do will help you write a great college essay!
What not to write in your college application essay
So you know exactly what not do in college admissions essays, here are 37 college essay tips about college essay don’ts. Follow this advice to know what not to write about in your college essay!
1. Don’t restate the Essay prompt
Start your essay with a hook. Start with dialogue. Start by setting the scene.
Don’t start by restating the essay topic! The reader knows the essay prompts, so just start telling your story.
A great story will immediately grab the attention of the admission officers and make them want to keep reading!
2. Don’t try to be funny in your college admissions essay
There’s a good chance that what you think is funny may not be funny to the admissions officer. And even if your admissions officer thinks it’s funny, the dean of admissions may not agree.
Clever writing that naturally tells a funny story will get you further than trying too hard to make everyone laugh.
![what not to do when writing a essay](https://collegeeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ADHD-college-student-planner-1024x788.jpg)
3. Don’t swear
You might not mind vulgar language, but many people do. It will come off as tasteless and crass. Simply put, curse words should not be part of your college admissions essay.
4. Don’t just tell the reader what you think
Tell the reader what you did, how you felt, how you changed—not just what you think. Admissions officers don’t want to read about what you think in the abstract.
They want to know what has happened to you in life, how that’s affected you, and what you did as a result.
Write an engaging, interesting story that shows the reader how you’ve grown and what you’ve learned.
5. Don’t try to Appear perfect
It’s okay that your life is messy and you don’t have it all together. It’s okay that you’re not super organized and you don’t know what you want to be when you grow up.
Your college essay doesn’t need to be about how awesome you are (really, it shouldn’t be!). It just needs to be about the real you. Remember, your personal essay for college should be just that—personal!
6. Don’t brag
Your achievements are all listed on your resume.
Writing about how great you are, how you saved the day, or how you’re a hero to others is not going to make a positive impression on the reader.
Leave the bragging to the people who wrote your letters of reference.
7. Don’t emphasize status
Avoid topics that emphasize your financial privilege. Voluntourism trips to aid people living in poverty in far-flung areas of the world is a key example of this.
Don’t write about going on a mission trip to a third world country to volunteer to help the less fortunate and how you learned how privileged you are. Just don’t.
![what not to do when writing a essay](https://collegeeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/college-essay-donts-1024x576.jpg)
8. Don’t lie
Don’t inflate your accomplishments. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not.
If you write something dishonest in your essay, it won’t match the other parts of your application. If you were found to have been dishonest when writing your essay, you will not be offered admission at that college.
9. Don’t reveal too much
If you have faced personal challenges, like addiction, mental health struggles, or learning disabilities, those struggles are part of you. You should feel proud of overcoming them.
But your college admissions essay is not the place to share your most deeply personal experiences.
Some college admissions officers may read about your challenges and want to welcome someone with your tenacity and spirit to their campus.
Unfortunately, most admissions officers will read about your challenges and worry that you will face similar issues at their university.
Many colleges choose not accept applicants who have demonstrated past mental health issues. This might not seem fair, but it is reality. Don’t hide your true self or be dishonest, but carefully consider how much you want to reveal in your admissions essay about your private struggles.
10. Don’t write about illegal activities
It’s a safe bet that most colleges do not want to admit students who have a history of participating in illegal activities.
Even if you plan to talk about drug use, alcohol use, jail time, or committing crimes as a way to show growth and discuss lessons learned, illegal activities show a lack of maturity and questionable judgement.
Writing about criminal behavior will not reflect well on you as a candidate for admission. Illegal activities make bad topics for college essays.
11. Don’t summarize your resume
This is one of the biggest college essay don’ts! Your college essay is your opportunity to tell the college admissions office who you really are and what really matters to you.
Your resume already lists your activities, and your transcript details your grades. Your college essay isn’t the place to review these facts; it’s your chance to stand out by telling your story.
12. Don’t tell a general story
Be specific. In fact, be very specific. Focusing on the details of your story will help make your college essay unique so that it stands out.
A good college essay will tell a story that could only have been written by you—no one else.
Instead of telling a biopic story of your life, focus on one aspect of your life—your beliefs, a meaningful experience, a key event—that explains who you are and what matters to you.
![what not to do when writing a essay](https://collegeeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/donts-college-essay.jpeg)
13. Don’t write about cliché topics
Avoid writing about the sports victories and defeats. Winning a big game or losing a championship game might mean a lot to you, but sports are common topic and best avoided.
Don’t write about overcoming an academic setback or a romantic breakup.
14. Don’t write about something controversial
You don’t know who will be reading your college admissions essay, and they might not agree with your views on controversial topics.
Moreover, your reader might not appreciate how you approach a sensitive topic. You might appear close-minded and unempathetic.
The last thing you want to do is make the admissions officers reading your essay think you would bring discord to the campus community.
15. Don’t undervalue the small stuff
Great essays can be crafted from the small, personal details of daily life.
Don’t underestimate what interesting essays can be written about your morning routine, your favorite family recipe, your relationship with your sibling, or what you do on a snow day.
In fact, some of the most memorable, best essays have been about a random item, food, or daily routine.
16. Don’t go negative
Criticizing other people, your current school, or anything else will probably just make a bad impression on your readers.
Don’t whine about your life. Negativity says more about you and how you perceive the world around you than it does about anything else. Certainly don’t criticize the college you’re applying to!
If you do want to write about negative experiences you’ve had, quickly move on to discussing what you’ve learned or how you’ve grown as a result of those experiences.
17. Don’t be pompous
Never assume that you know better than your readers or that your approach is the only way.
Don’t tell your reader what they should think. Avoid making generalized value judgements.
18. Don’t go completely off topic
Don’t try to stand out by submitting a poem or creative writing sample.
Write a thoughtful, well-crafted essay about yourself, just like they asked for.
Show that you respect the school admissions committee’s request and can follow directions.
19. Don’t ignore the prompt
College admission essay topics are designed to allow you a lot of freedom in how you answer. Craft a story that tells something about you, within the framework of the prompt.
Just double check that your essay answers the prompt, to make sure you didn’t veer off topic as you wrote and edited the essay.
Also know that you can write about whatever you’d like to . In your essay writing process, if you find that the first prompt you chose isn’t working out, choose a different one and start again.
20. Don’t get the tone wrong
Your college admissions essay is not an expository essay, formulaic and devoid of warmth. Nor is it the right time for you to use all the fancy words you’ve been studying for the SAT.
Your college admissions essay should be engaging, show your personality, and sound like you—a teenager reflecting on your life thus far.
21. Don’t write a trite conclusion
If your essay has done its job, you shouldn’t need to sum it all up for the reader in a neat little final sentence.
If you have shown your reader what you’ve learned, how you’ve grown, or who you are, you don’t need to say it explicitly at the end of your essay.
The conclusion is often the hardest part of the essay to get just right, so don’t worry if it’s hard to find the perfect words. Take a break from writing it and come back in a few days to get a fresh perspective on what you’re trying to say.
22. Don’t wait until the last minute to Write
Start writing your college admissions essay weeks, if not months, before its due. Senior year is an incredibly busy time, so it’s a great idea to get started on your college admission essays as early as possible.
Leave plenty of time to think about what you want to say, revise and edit, and finalize the essay. You’ll be amazed at how your essay can improve if you allow ample time to work on it.
If you’re going to apply early decision or early action, consider starting to work on your main essay the summer after junior year, before your senior year even starts, or early in the fall of senior year.
23. Don’t ignore the word count
You don’t want to write too much or too little. Aim to be within a few words of the word limit. Express yourself clearly and concisely.
![what not to do when writing a essay](https://collegeeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/college-essay-draft.jpeg)
24. Don’t repeat your resume
When you’re writing your personal statement essay, don’t just repeat your high school resume.
Your personal essay is your chance to talk about an aspect of your personality or life experiences that can’t be found anywhere else in your college application.
The list of courses you’ve taken (and your grades) tell about your academic interests. So there’s no need to turn your essay into a list of your academic achievements!
Your extracurricular activities show what you’re interested in and how you use your time. If you want to discuss how your extracurricular activities have been formative experiences for you, focus on one particular example. Don’t re-list all your volunteer experiences!
Your personal statement essay should reveal something about you that doesn’t show up in the rest of your application.
25. Don’t write about an “example” topic
If you have read some amazing examples of college essays, and you’re thinking that you could write on that same topic, don’t.
Chances are, if your English teacher pointed out those examples, or you found them via a Google search, every other high school senior (and every school admission officer) has seen those essays too!
Instead, dig deep and write your own amazing personal statement !
26. Don’t copy and paste
It’s completely fine to use the Common App to submit your personal essay to every school on your list (as long as they accept the Common App, of course).
But for each college’s specific essays, tailor your essay to each school. Include specific details about each college that make you want to go there. And make sure your responses are appropriate to the culture of each college.
If you do copy and paste your essays, be sure the essay doesn’t refer to the wrong school!
27. Don’t overuse the thesaurus
Everyone gets stuck using the same words over and over again, and it’s fine to check a thesaurus when you’re writing.
But don’t use big words just in an attempt to impress the college admissions officers. Don’t use words you don’t really understand to try to sound smart.
For a great college application essay, write naturally in your own voice and let your true personality show.
28. Don’t plagiarize
If you’re submitting someone else’s college essay as your own, you’re giving up the chance to share your unique story with the admissions office.
You’re also risking an automatic rejection if you’re caught!
29. Don’t be fake
Use your essay to tell the admissions officers what you want them to know about you.
Don’t try to guess what the admissions officers would like for you to say or try to be someone you’re not.
Don’t invent a tragic event in your past, claim to have done hours and hours of community service you haven’t done, or exaggerate any aspect of your life.
Be authentic, write with your own voice, and craft an essay that stands out from the other applicants.
Simply take your time to craft a thoughtful essay that tells your personal story. Talk about your unique perspective on one specific experience in your life, using your authentic voice.
30. Don’t write a school essay
Your college admissions essay is not a five-paragraph expository essay that you would write for English class.
A winning college essay should have a beginning and an end, but the part in the middle should tell a good story, not make an argument in three points.
The expository essay style of writing might be what your English teacher wants, but it makes for bad college essays.
For a college application, a well-written essay will examine your personal growth, your unique experience in life, and the different perspectives through which you see the world. And you should do this by crafting an intriguing story about a specific moment or experience that was significant to you.
![what not to do when writing a essay](https://collegeeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/College-Essay-donts-1.jpeg)
31. Don’t Avoid feedback
If you’re feeling stuck, feel free to ask someone else—a teacher, parent, family member, or friend—to read your essay. Getting feedback on your entire essay is the best way to get a sense of how admissions officers will respond to reading it.
Feedback does not mean that they tell you what to write or how to write it.
Feedback should mean getting input from someone else can help you learn where your essay veers off point or where you need to dig deeper to tell a better story.
32. Don’t skip editing
Please allow enough time to write AND edit your essay. Ideally, you will write a first draft of your essay, then edit it, then get feedback, then edit it again, then write a final draft (then proofread it—see below).
Expect to write at least three or four, and maybe many more, drafts of your college application essay. Your essay will improve with each round of editing.
The essay writing process can be time consuming, but in the end you’ll have a strong essay to share with college admissions offices, so it will be worth it!
33. Don’t overedit
What? Didn’t I just tell you to edit?
Yes, absolutely. Just be sure that after you’ve shown your essay to trusted readers and you’ve made your edits, your story still remains.
The essay should still have your voice and should tell the story you want to tell.
34. Don’t skip proofreading
After you make your edits and write a “final draft,” you might want to click send and submit your essay. But not so fast!
Take time to do a final proofread of your essay.
Better yet, ask a teacher, college counselor, or someone with excellent grammar and spelling skills to proofread your essay. Having a fresh set of eyes on your essay will help ensure it is error-free.
35. Don’t just rely on Spellcheck
It’s really important to have an actual person proofread your essay.
Spellcheck and other editing software won’t necessarily catch grammar errors, typos, or poorly structured arguments.
It’s always a good idea to trust the final proofread of your essay to a person, rather than technology.
36. Don’t submit your essay at the last minute
You never know when a website will get glitchy!
Don’t take a chance that the Common Application or an individual university’s website won’t act up at a crucial moment. Do your best to upload your college essay at least a day before it’s due!
The admissions process is stressful enough without adding in technical errors. Don’t risk missing the deadline by procrastinating!
37. Don’t submit an incomplete essay
When you’re in the Common App website or a specific college’s application portal, and you attach your admission essay, scan it quickly before hitting the submit button.
Be sure you attached the correct file or that the complete essay transferred when you copied and pasted it into the online form.
It won’t matter if you write a great essay if you don’t submit it correctly!
Final thoughts on college essay don’ts and what not to write in your college essay
Personal essays are a key part of the college application process. College admissions counselors, especially at smaller colleges, use college essays to learn more about the applicants applying for admission at their school.
An amazing college essay might not make up for bad grades or a lack of extracurriculars, but a poorly written essay may push your application into the reject pile. This is especially true now that test scores are usually optional.
Successful essays allow admissions officers to learn about your personal qualities, your take on global issues, and how you might contribute to campus life.
Writing a great college admission essay is the most important thing you can do to make a great impression on the admissions team.
After looking at so many college applicants, test scores, GPAs, and awards all blend together. It’s the personal essays that stand out when admission counselors are deciding which high school seniors will be accepted.
So, it’s worth taking your time to write the best college admissions essays you can.
By avoiding all these college essay don’ts, you’ll know what not to write in your college essay.
![what not to do when writing a essay How to Write an Amazing College Essay: 25 Tips](https://collegeeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Girl_Writing.jpg)
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What NOT to Do When Writing Essays
Brian Bonilla
Writing essays isn’t always easy. Professors generally have different preferences when it comes to writing and they have to read and grade hundreds of papers, so the last thing they want to read is a bad essay. Instead of telling you what to do, I’m going to tell you what to avoid, so you don’t end up submitting an essay that’s unique for all the wrong reasons.
Here are 7 tips on what you shouldn’t do when writing an essay.
1. Don’t use clichés
The first thing I can remember a writing teacher telling me when I was younger is “avoid clichés,” and this still rings true today. Clichés in writing are overused expressions that have lost their luster over time. Some examples are phrases like “plenty of fish in the sea” or “add insult to injury.” We’ve all heard these expressions millions of times, and they just feel outdated and unoriginal. Even phrases used by many essay writers should be avoided, such as “at the end of the day” or “in this day and age.”
2. Don’t use meaningless sentences
When I write an essay, I start with a mindset that each sentence should have a purpose. Of course, no writing is ever perfect, but you only get a limited number of words to write what you actually want to write. Don’t use up your space with thoughts or sentences that should be in the trash bin. When writing, think of each sentence as a bridge to your next one. This is why outlines exist. Even though I’m not always a fan of outlines, half of writing an essay comes before you even type a word.
3. Don’t use filler words
Yes, completing your word count is important, but it shouldn’t be prioritized over the quality of your essay. Words like “basically,” “very,” “really,” “that,” and “additionally” are words that are often used unnecessarily. It’s the equivalent of saying “um,” and you don’t want that.
4. Don’t be redundant
Redundant writing is a pet peeve of mine. This topic ties into the idea of having meaningful sentences. Always vary your vocabulary, so you don’t end up using the same words throughout an entire essay. Don’t make every sentence long and don’t make very sentence short. You have to spice it up. You don’t want to each chicken everyday for the rest of your life; sometimes you want steak. The best way to avoid redundancy is to read your essay out loud. Once you hear the flow of your essay, you’ll notice the changes you have to make.
5. Don’t waste your quotes
Of course, it’s important to know the fundamentals of writing quotes in essays, but it’s also important to know how to use quotes. Quotes should not be used haphazardly; they should only be used if the person you’re quoting said something that you couldn’t say better yourself. A common mistake writers make is to forget to introduce the quote. Quotes aren’t meant to just be plopped into a paragraph. The other important thing to remember is that quotes should only be used to expand your thoughts on the essay. Follow your quotes with substance that shows the reader why you picked the quote.
6. Don’t stray from topic
Don’t start essays without having an idea on how you want the entire essay to go. This may sound simple, but it’s actually an easy mistake to make if you aren’t focused enough. Professors don’t like to read essays that start off strong but taper off by the end. Even the best writers in the world had to learn discipline. This can be avoided by constant revision and a strong foundation or outline.
7. Don’t throw away your conclusion
Don’t use your conclusion as a throwaway. The conclusion is a vital piece of your essay, which will round up your thoughts and leave a good or bad impression on your professor. While your conclusion should not introduce new thoughts, be sure not to repeat exactly what you’ve said in your essay already. A good way to start a conclusion is by reminding the reader of your thesis. Make sure your last sentence is interesting and makes a lasting impression on the reader.
There is always something you can do to improve an essay. Follow these steps, and you’ll write a cohesive and thought-provoking essay!
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Write Better Essays: 7 Mistakes to Avoid
![what not to do when writing a essay Cari Bennette](https://marketing.prowritingaid.com/caribenette.jpeg)
By Cari Bennette
![what not to do when writing a essay ProWritingAid essay writing](https://marketing.prowritingaid.com/aaron-burden-90144-unsplash.jpg)
Academic essays are an unavoidable part of the educational journey. Learning to write well may be one of the greatest skills you gain during your college years. Most students, however, will commit many errors before learning the art of academic essay writing.
While you can't avoid writing essays, you can avoid making some of these common mistakes:
Writing a Synopsis, Not An Analytical Essay
Not having a strong thesis statement, using too many quotes in an essay, making grammar, spelling and pronoun mistakes, not having a good bibliography, using resources that aren't credible, want to improve your essay writing skills.
The point of an essay is to create an argument and defend a thesis. If you're writing about a work of literature, some background to clarify the topic can be helpful. But the majority of your essay should involve your analysis based on credible research. Don't simply restate what happened in the book.
Coming up with a strong thesis statement is essential to writing a good essay. The thesis statement is the hook on which the rest of your essay hangs. It should state an opinion and be as specific as possible. Example weak thesis statement: The Great Gatsby is a great example of American Literature. Example strong thesis statement: The Great Gatsby captures the essence of America's Jazz Age in its decadence, materialism and ultimately, its tragic emptiness.
The essay is supposed to reflect your understanding of the topic and the research you've done to back up your argument. Overuse of quotes either from the work you're analyzing or from the research you've done undermines your authority on the topic. Quotes should be used sparingly and only when they drive home a point with an eloquence you can't match with your own words.
Defined as “the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own,” plagiarism is a serious offense. Colleges and universities have strict policies against plagiarism and use various tools to check your work for plagiarised content. You won't get away with it, and sometimes it can even get you suspended. Professors can recognize if something sounds like a student wrote it or if it came from another source, so don't try to fool them.
There are two kinds of plagiarism:
- The first kind is directly taking the words from a source and using them in your paper without quoting or giving credit.
- The second kind is trickier and you should take special care to make sure you're not committing this kind of plagiarism. It consists of rewording an entire article or section of an article. In this case, instead of coming up with your own original ideas and analysis, you're just rewording someone else's ideas including the order in which they present those ideas.
Your essay should contain your own original thesis, analysis and ideas backed up by credible research from academic authorities.
Worried about plagiarism? ProWritingAid's plagiarism checker checks your work against over a billion web-pages, published works, and academic papers so you can be sure of its originality. Did you know that many of the free plagiarism checkers online sell your writing to other sources? With ProWritingAid, you can be certain that your original work is secure. Paying for this kind of service might feel like a lot, but trust me, it's worth it.
Okay, let's break these down:
- Get your contractions right. You're = you are. Your = second person possessive. It's = it is. Its = third person possessive. They're = they are. Their =third person plural possessive.
- Make sure your subjects and verbs agree.
- Beware of incomplete sentences (there must be both a subject and a verb to be complete).
- Use your spell check.
- Essays should be written in the third person (he/she/it/they). Don't use the first or second person (I, you or we) in an essay.
- Follow proper formatting ( MLA formatting is a common example.
You can check for all of these errors using ProWritingAid. The Homonym report will highlight all of the words in your essay that sound the same as others but are spelled differently. This will help you avoid any 'its/it's or 'their/they're/there' mistakes.
![what not to do when writing a essay homonym report](https://marketing.prowritingaid.com/homonyms.png)
The bibliography format for academic essays is usually the MLA style unless your professor specifically requests a different format. For a complete list of how to cite resources in MLA style, check out this site . Don't lose points over your bibliography. The hard part of your essay should be coming up with an original analysis of your topic. The bibliography is formulaic and easy to get right if you give it a little effort. In the age of the Internet, it's easy to type in a keyword and find dozens of articles on it. But that doesn't mean all of those articles are credible. Make sure that the resources you use come from academic experts. For tips on how to find credible academic resources online, check out this site . Avoiding these mistakes will improve your essay writing, so you can achieve higher quality and confidence in your academic writing. And it will make your professors happy, too. Use ProWritingAid!Are your teachers always pulling you up on the same errors? Maybe your sentences are too long and your meaning is getting lost or you're using the same sentence starter over and over again. ProWritingAid helps you catch these issues in your essay before you submit it. ![]() Be confident about grammarCheck every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send. Cari BennetteCari Bennette is an avid blogger and writer. She covers different aspects of writing and blogging in her articles and plans to try her hand in fiction writing. Get started with ProWritingAidDrop us a line or let's stay in touch via : Ultimate Guide to Writing Your College EssayTips for writing an effective college essay. College admissions essays are an important part of your college application and gives you the chance to show colleges and universities your character and experiences. This guide will give you tips to write an effective college essay. Want free help with your college essay?UPchieve connects you with knowledgeable and friendly college advisors—online, 24/7, and completely free. Get 1:1 help brainstorming topics, outlining your essay, revising a draft, or editing grammar. Writing a strong college admissions essayLearn about the elements of a solid admissions essay. Avoiding common admissions essay mistakesLearn some of the most common mistakes made on college essays Brainstorming tips for your college essayStuck on what to write your college essay about? Here are some exercises to help you get started. How formal should the tone of your college essay be?Learn how formal your college essay should be and get tips on how to bring out your natural voice. Taking your college essay to the next levelHear an admissions expert discuss the appropriate level of depth necessary in your college essay. Student StoriesStudent Story: Admissions essay about a formative experienceGet the perspective of a current college student on how he approached the admissions essay. Student Story: Admissions essay about personal identityGet the perspective of a current college student on how she approached the admissions essay. Student Story: Admissions essay about community impactStudent story: admissions essay about a past mistake, how to write a college application essay, tips for writing an effective application essay, sample college essay 1 with feedback, sample college essay 2 with feedback. This content is licensed by Khan Academy and is available for free at www.khanacademy.org. ![]() Essay Writing Tips: 10 Steps to Writing a Great Essay (And Have Fun Doing It!)by Joe Bunting | 118 comments Do you dread essay writing? Are you looking for some essay tips that will help you write an amazing essay—and have fun doing it? ![]() Lots of students, young and old, dread essay writing. It's a daunting assignment, one that takes research, time, and concentration. It's also an assignment that you can break up into simple steps that make writing an essay manageable and, yes, even enjoyable. These ten essay tips completely changed my writing process—and I hope that they can do the same for you. Essay Writing Can Be FunHonestly, throughout most of high school and college, I was a mediocre essay writer. Every once in a while, I would write a really good essay, but mostly I skated by with B's and A-minuses. I know personally how boring writing an essay can be, and also, how hard it can be to write a good one. However, toward the end of my time as a student, I made a breakthrough. I figured out how to not only write a great essay, I learned how to have fun while doing it . And since then, I've become a professional writer and have written more than a dozen books. I'm not saying that these essay writing tips are going to magically turn you into a writer, but at least they can help you enjoy the process more. I'm excited to share these ten essay writing tips with you today! But first, we need to talk about why writing an essay is so hard. Why Writing an Essay Is So HardWhen it comes to essay writing, a lot of students find a reason to put it off. And when they tackle it, they find it difficult to string sentences together that sound like a decent stance on the assigned subject. Here are a few reasons why essay writing is hard:
The biggest reason writing an essay is so hard is because we mostly focus on those external rewards like getting a passing grade, winning our teacher's approval, or just avoiding accusations of plagiarism. The problem is that when you focus on external approval it not only makes writing much less fun, it also makes it significantly harder. Because when you focus on external approval, you shut down your subconscious, and the subconscious is the source of your creativity. The subconscious is the source of your creativity. What this means practically is that when you're trying to write that perfect, A-plus-worthy sentence, you're turning off most of your best resources and writing skills. So stop. Stop trying to write a good essay (or even a “good-enough” essay). Instead, write an interesting essay, write an essay you think is fascinating. And when you're finished, go back and edit it until it's “good” according to your teacher's standards. Yes, you need to follow the guidelines in your assignment. If your teacher tells you to write a five-paragraph essay, then write a five-paragraph essay! If your teacher asks for a specific type of essay, like an analysis, argument, or research essay, then make sure you write that type of essay! However, within those guidelines, find room to express something that is uniquely you . I can't guarantee you'll get a higher grade (although, you almost certainly will), but I can absolutely promise you'll have a lot more fun writing. The Step-by-Step Process to Writing a Great Essay: Your 10 Essay Writing TipsReady to get writing? You can read my ten best tips for having fun while writing an essay that earns you the top grade, or check out this presentation designed by our friends at Canva Presentations . 1. Remember your essay is just a story.Every story is about conflict and change, and the truth is that essays are about conflict and change, too! The difference is that in an essay, the conflict is between different ideas , and the change is in the way we should perceive those ideas. That means that the best essays are about surprise: “You probably think it's one way, but in reality, you should think of it this other way.” See tip #3 for more on this. How do you know what story you're telling? The prompt should tell you. Any list of essay prompts includes various topics and tasks associated with them. Within those topics are characters (historical, fictional, or topical) faced with difficult choices. Your job is to work with those choices, usually by analyzing them, arguing about them, researching them, or describing them in detail. 2. Before you start writing, ask yourself, “How can I have the most fun writing this?”It's normal to feel unmotivated when writing an academic essay. I'm a writer, and honestly, I feel unmotivated to write all the time. But I have a super-ninja, judo-mind trick I like to use to help motivate myself. Here's the secret trick: One of the interesting things about your subconscious is that it will answer any question you ask yourself. So whenever you feel unmotivated to write your essay, ask yourself the following question: “How much fun can I have writing this?” Your subconscious will immediately start thinking of strategies to make the writing process more fun. The best time to have your fun is the first draft. Since you're just brainstorming within the topic, and exploring the possible ways of approaching it, the first draft is the perfect place to get creative and even a little scandalous. Here are some wild suggestions to make your next essay a load of fun:
3. As you research, ask yourself, “What surprises me about this subject?”The temptation, when you're writing an essay, is to write what you think your teacher or professor wants to read. Don't do this . Instead, ask yourself, “What do I find interesting about this subject? What surprises me?” If you can't think of anything that surprises you, anything you find interesting, then you're not searching well enough, because history, science, and literature are all brimming over with surprises. When you look at how great ideas actually happen, the story is always, “We used to think the world was this way. We found out we were completely wrong, and that the world is actually quite different from what we thought.” These pieces of surprising information often make for the best topic sentences as well. Use them to outline your essay and build your body paragraphs off of each unique fact or idea. These will function as excellent hooks for your reader as you transition from one topic to the next. (By the way, what sources should you use for research? Check out tip #10 below.) 4. Overwhelmed? Write five original sentences.The standard three-point essay is really made up of just five original sentences surrounded by supporting paragraphs that back up those five sentences. If you're feeling overwhelmed, just write five sentences covering your most basic main points. Here's what they might look like for this article:
After you write your five sentences, it's easy to fill in the paragraphs for each one. Now, you give it a shot! 5. Be “source heavy.”In college, I discovered a trick that helped me go from a B-average student to an A-student, but before I explain how it works, let me warn you. This technique is powerful , but it might not work for all teachers or professors. Use with caution. As I was writing a paper for a literature class, I realized that the articles and books I was reading said what I was trying to say much better than I ever could. So what did I do? I quoted them liberally throughout my paper. When I wasn't quoting, I re-phrased what they said in my own words, giving proper credit, of course. I found that not only did this formula create a well-written essay, it took about half the time to write. It's good to keep in mind that using anyone else's words, even when morphed into your own phrasing, requires citation. While the definition of plagiarism is shifting with the rise of online collaboration and cooperative learning environments, always err on the side of excessive citation to be safe. When I used this technique, my professors sometimes mentioned that my papers were very “source” heavy. However, at the same time, they always gave me A's. To keep yourself safe, I recommend using a 60/40 approach with your body paragraphs: Make sure 60% of the words are your own analysis and argumentation, while 40% can be quoted (or text you paraphrase) from your sources. Like the five sentence trick, this technique makes the writing process simpler. Instead of putting the main focus on writing well, it instead forces you to research well, which some students find easier. 6. Write the body first, the introduction second, and the conclusion last.Introductions are often the hardest part to write because you're trying to summarize your entire essay before you've even written it yet. Instead, try writing your introduction last, giving yourself the body of the paper to figure out the main point of your essay. This is especially important with an essay topic you are not personally interested in. I definitely recommend this in classes you either don't excel in or care much for. Take plenty of time to draft and revise your body paragraphs before attempting to craft a meaningful introductory paragraph. Otherwise your opening may sound awkward, wooden, and bland. 7. Most essays answer the question, “What?” Good essays answer the “Why?” The best essays answer the “How?”If you get stuck trying to make your argument, or you're struggling to reach the required word count, try focusing on the question, “How?” For example:
If you focus on how, you'll always have enough to write about. 8. Don't be afraid to jump around.Essay writing can be a dance. You don't have to stay in one place and write from beginning to end. For the same reasons listed in point #6, give yourself the freedom to write as if you're circling around your topic rather than making a single, straightforward argument. Then, when you edit and proofread, you can make sure everything lines up correctly. In fact, now is the perfect time to mention that proofreading your essay isn't just about spelling and commas. It's about making sure your analysis or argument flows smoothly from one idea to another. (Okay, technically this comprises editing, but most students writing a high school or college essay don't take the time to complete every step of the writing process. Let's be honest.) So as you clean up your mechanics and sentence structure, make sure your ideas flow smoothly, logically, and naturally from one to the next as you finish proofreading. 9. Here are some words and phrases you don't want to use.
Don't have time to edit? Here's a lightning-quick editing technique . A note about “I”: Some teachers say you shouldn't use “I” statements in your writing, but the truth is that professional, academic papers often use phrases like “I believe” and “in my opinion,” especially in their introductions. 10. It's okay to use Wikipedia, if…Wikipedia is one of the top five websites in the world for a reason: it can be a great tool for research. However, most teachers and professors don't consider Wikipedia a valid source for use in essays. Don't totally discount it, though! Here are two ways you can use Wikipedia in your essay writing:
You Can Enjoy Essay WritingThe thing I regret most about high school and college is that I treated it like something I had to do rather than something I wanted to do. The truth is, education is an opportunity many people in the world don't have access to. It's a gift, not just something that makes your life more difficult. I don't want you to make the mistake of just “getting by” through school, waiting desperately for summer breaks and, eventually, graduation. How would your life be better if you actively enjoyed writing an essay? What would school look like if you wanted to suck it dry of all the gifts it has to give you? All I'm saying is, don't miss out! Looking for More Essay Writing Tips?Looking for more essay tips to strengthen your essay writing? Try some of these resources:
How about you? Do you have any tips for writing an essay? Let us know in the comments . Need more grammar help? My favorite tool that helps find grammar problems and even generates reports to help improve my writing is ProWritingAid . Works with Word, Scrivener, Google Docs, and web browsers. Also, be sure to use my coupon code to get 20 percent off: WritePractice20 Coupon Code:WritePractice20 » Ready to try out these ten essay tips to make your essay assignment fun? Spend fifteen minutes using tip #4 and write five original sentences that could be turned into an essay. When you're finished, share your five sentences in the comments section. And don't forget to give feedback to your fellow writers! [wp_ad_camp_2] ![]() Joe BuntingJoe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting). Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here. ![]() Trackbacks/Pingbacks
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How to Structure an Essay | Tips & TemplatesPublished on September 18, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023. The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction , a body , and a conclusion . But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body. Instantly correct all language mistakes in your textUpload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes ![]() Table of contentsThe basics of essay structure, chronological structure, compare-and-contrast structure, problems-methods-solutions structure, signposting to clarify your structure, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about essay structure. There are two main things to keep in mind when working on your essay structure: making sure to include the right information in each part, and deciding how you’ll organize the information within the body. Parts of an essayThe three parts that make up all essays are described in the table below.
Order of informationYou’ll also have to consider how to present information within the body. There are a few general principles that can guide you here. The first is that your argument should move from the simplest claim to the most complex . The body of a good argumentative essay often begins with simple and widely accepted claims, and then moves towards more complex and contentious ones. For example, you might begin by describing a generally accepted philosophical concept, and then apply it to a new topic. The grounding in the general concept will allow the reader to understand your unique application of it. The second principle is that background information should appear towards the beginning of your essay . General background is presented in the introduction. If you have additional background to present, this information will usually come at the start of the body. The third principle is that everything in your essay should be relevant to the thesis . Ask yourself whether each piece of information advances your argument or provides necessary background. And make sure that the text clearly expresses each piece of information’s relevance. The sections below present several organizational templates for essays: the chronological approach, the compare-and-contrast approach, and the problems-methods-solutions approach. Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.The chronological approach (sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach) is probably the simplest way to structure an essay. It just means discussing events in the order in which they occurred, discussing how they are related (i.e. the cause and effect involved) as you go. A chronological approach can be useful when your essay is about a series of events. Don’t rule out other approaches, though—even when the chronological approach is the obvious one, you might be able to bring out more with a different structure. Explore the tabs below to see a general template and a specific example outline from an essay on the invention of the printing press.
Essays with two or more main subjects are often structured around comparing and contrasting . For example, a literary analysis essay might compare two different texts, and an argumentative essay might compare the strengths of different arguments. There are two main ways of structuring a compare-and-contrast essay: the alternating method, and the block method. AlternatingIn the alternating method, each paragraph compares your subjects in terms of a specific point of comparison. These points of comparison are therefore what defines each paragraph. The tabs below show a general template for this structure, and a specific example for an essay comparing and contrasting distance learning with traditional classroom learning.
In the block method, each subject is covered all in one go, potentially across multiple paragraphs. For example, you might write two paragraphs about your first subject and then two about your second subject, making comparisons back to the first. The tabs again show a general template, followed by another essay on distance learning, this time with the body structured in blocks.
An essay that concerns a specific problem (practical or theoretical) may be structured according to the problems-methods-solutions approach. This is just what it sounds like: You define the problem, characterize a method or theory that may solve it, and finally analyze the problem, using this method or theory to arrive at a solution. If the problem is theoretical, the solution might be the analysis you present in the essay itself; otherwise, you might just present a proposed solution. The tabs below show a template for this structure and an example outline for an essay about the problem of fake news.
Receive feedback on language, structure, and formattingProfessional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:
See an example ![]() Signposting means guiding the reader through your essay with language that describes or hints at the structure of what follows. It can help you clarify your structure for yourself as well as helping your reader follow your ideas. The essay overviewIn longer essays whose body is split into multiple named sections, the introduction often ends with an overview of the rest of the essay. This gives a brief description of the main idea or argument of each section. The overview allows the reader to immediately understand what will be covered in the essay and in what order. Though it describes what comes later in the text, it is generally written in the present tense . The following example is from a literary analysis essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . TransitionsTransition words and phrases are used throughout all good essays to link together different ideas. They help guide the reader through your text, and an essay that uses them effectively will be much easier to follow. Various different relationships can be expressed by transition words, as shown in this example. Because Hitler failed to respond to the British ultimatum, France and the UK declared war on Germany. Although it was an outcome the Allies had hoped to avoid, they were prepared to back up their ultimatum in order to combat the existential threat posed by the Third Reich. Transition sentences may be included to transition between different paragraphs or sections of an essay. A good transition sentence moves the reader on to the next topic while indicating how it relates to the previous one. … Distance learning, then, seems to improve accessibility in some ways while representing a step backwards in others. However , considering the issue of personal interaction among students presents a different picture. If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!
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The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas. The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas. An essay isn’t just a loose collection of facts and ideas. Instead, it should be centered on an overarching argument (summarized in your thesis statement ) that every part of the essay relates to. The way you structure your essay is crucial to presenting your argument coherently. A well-structured essay helps your reader follow the logic of your ideas and understand your overall point. Comparisons in essays are generally structured in one of two ways:
It’s also possible to combine both methods, for example by writing a full paragraph on each of your topics and then a final paragraph contrasting the two according to a specific metric. You should try to follow your outline as you write your essay . However, if your ideas change or it becomes clear that your structure could be better, it’s okay to depart from your essay outline . Just make sure you know why you’re doing so. Cite this Scribbr articleIf you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator. Caulfield, J. (2023, July 23). How to Structure an Essay | Tips & Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved August 5, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/essay-structure/ Is this article helpful?![]() Jack CaulfieldOther students also liked, comparing and contrasting in an essay | tips & examples, how to write the body of an essay | drafting & redrafting, transition sentences | tips & examples for clear writing, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..". I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes” What are your chances of acceptance?Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance. Your chancing factorsExtracurriculars. 5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing EssaysThis article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Jordan Sanchez in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info. What’s Covered:Essay length, cohesive writing, reusing essays. In this post, we discuss mistakes to avoid when writing your college essay . For more information, check out this post about how to write this year’s Common App essays . A common college essay mistake is writing an essay that’s too short. For example, the word limit for the Common App essay is 650 words, and you should try as hard as you can to reach that number. A 400-word essay is definitely too short. Make sure you’re using all the words available to you. If you’re having difficulty meeting the word limit, your essay topic may be too specific. Also, you may not be including enough details or descriptive language. Conversely, if your essay is too long, you may have sections that could be simplified. Look for any areas where the writing may be repetitive or redundant. Consider whether your essay is too broad. Are you trying to cover multiple topics? It can be helpful to break down your essay paragraph by paragraph and ensure that everything you’ve written aligns with the goals of the essay. Since supplemental essays tend to have low word limits, you can do more telling than showing when writing these. That said, while you don’t want to waste words, if there’s an opportunity to add a bit of personality to a supplemental essay, you should take it. Another common mistake is incohesive writing. Cohesive essays are easy and enjoyable to read. If an essay is jumping around and doesn’t have a clear narrative or connection between ideas, it can be distracting. The reader will be wondering what’s relevant and what they should be caring about, which takes attention away from the content and purpose of your essay. Incohesive writing happens in two major ways. The first is when a writer doesn’t use effective transitions. These show the reader how different ideas are related, and without them, an essay can be disorganized and difficult to understand. Transitions can be as short as one or two sentences or as long as a whole paragraph. Incohesive writing can also happen when the writer is inconsistent. Your essay should maintain the same tense, point of view, and writing style from beginning to end. Don’t use extremely complicated vocabulary in one paragraph and incredibly simple language in the next. Write in your natural style and voice, and you’ll never go wrong. To check the cohesion of your writing, go over your first or second draft and answer the following questions: “What is the main idea of this paragraph? Does it align with the central theme of the essay? How does this relate to the previous paragraph? Do I illustrate the connection here or later in the essay? What point of view is this written in? What about tense? Is it narrative or creative? Distant or close and engaging? Informative or persuasive?” Your answers should be the same or similar for each paragraph. It’s crucial to write your essay in the correct form. The Common App essay is similar to a narrative or memoir in that it’s a short personal story. Many students have little to no experience writing in this form, and if you’re one of them, that’s okay, you’re not alone. Keep in mind that this is not a five-paragraph essay. You won’t have an introduction or conclusion in the traditional sense. Your introduction will be the hook of your essay, whether it comes in the form of dialogue, descriptive language, or imagery. The conclusion will be a short wrap-up, perhaps a few sentences in length. The essay isn’t a thought piece either. You shouldn’t be writing something speculative. You want to include specific personal details from your life. This will ground the essay so it doesn’t feel lofty, and it will help the reader get to know you better. Not sounding like yourself is a big issue in college essays. The admissions committee is not expecting the most beautiful prose or intelligent language. They want to read an essay by you and about you, so be sure to write your essay in your own voice. Don’t include words in your essay that you don’t use regularly. You don’t need big, fancy words to impress admissions officers. Your character and your story will impress them for you. In the same vein, your essay should center around who you are today. It’s okay to write about something that happened in the distant past, but the bulk of your essay should be about events that occurred between 10th and 12th grade. Don’t talk too much about your past without connecting it back to who you are today. Throughout the college application process, you’ll write several essays, including personal statements and supplements. A few of these essays can be used in applications for several schools, but be careful not to reuse the wrong ones. Admissions officers can tell when you’re reusing an essay that you shouldn’t. It shows carelessness and a lack of interest in the school and can lower your chances of admission. To avoid this mistake, before writing any of your supplemental essays, copy and paste all the prompts into a single document, and take inventory of how many you’ll actually have to write and how many you can reuse. Related CollegeVine Blog Posts![]() ![]() Choose Your Test
Bad College Essays: 10 Mistakes You Must Avoid![]() College Essays ![]() Just as there are noteworthy examples of excellent college essays that admissions offices like to publish, so are there cringe-worthy examples of terrible college essays that end up being described by anonymous admissions officers on Reddit discussion boards. While I won't guarantee that your essay will end up in the first category, I will say that you follow my advice in this article, your essay most assuredly won't end up in the second. How do you avoid writing a bad admissions essay? Read on to find out what makes an essay bad and to learn which college essay topics to avoid. I'll also explain how to recognize bad college essays—and what to do to if you end up creating one by accident. What Makes Bad College Essays BadWhat exactly happens to turn a college essay terrible? Just as great personal statements combine an unexpected topic with superb execution, flawed personal statements compound problematic subject matter with poor execution. Problems With the TopicThe primary way to screw up a college essay is to flub what the essay is about or how you've decided to discuss a particular experience. Badly chosen essay content can easily create an essay that is off-putting in one of a number of ways I'll discuss in the next section. The essay is the place to let the admissions office of your target college get to know your personality, character, and the talents and skills that aren't on your transcript. So if you start with a terrible topic, not only will you end up with a bad essay, but you risk ruining the good impression that the rest of your application makes. Some bad topics show admissions officers that you don't have a good sense of judgment or maturity , which is a problem since they are building a class of college students who have to be able to handle independent life on campus. Other bad topics suggest that you are a boring person , or someone who doesn't process your experience in a colorful or lively way, which is a problem since colleges want to create a dynamic and engaged cohort of students. Still other bad topics indicate that you're unaware of or disconnected from the outside world and focused only on yourself , which is a problem since part of the point of college is to engage with new people and new ideas, and admissions officers are looking for people who can do that. Problems With the ExecutionSometimes, even if the experiences you discuss could be the foundation of a great personal statement, the way you've structured and put together your essay sends up warning flags. This is because the admissions essay is also a place to show the admissions team the maturity and clarity of your writing style. One way to get this part wrong is to exhibit very faulty writing mechanics , like unclear syntax or incorrectly used punctuation. This is a problem since college-ready writing is one of the things that's expected from a high school graduate. Another way to mess this up is to ignore prompt instructions either for creative or careless reasons. This can show admissions officers that you're either someone who simply blows off directions and instructions or someone who can't understand how to follow them . Neither is a good thing, since they are looking for people who are open to receiving new information from professors and not just deciding they know everything already. ![]() College Essay Topics To AvoidWant to know why you're often advised to write about something mundane and everyday for your college essay? That's because the more out-there your topic, the more likely it is to stumble into one of these trouble categories. Too PersonalThe problem with the overly personal essay topic is that revealing something very private can show that you don't really understand boundaries . And knowing where appropriate boundaries are will be key for living on your own with a bunch of people not related to you. Unfortunately, stumbling into the TMI zone of essay topics is more common than you think. One quick test for checking your privacy-breaking level: if it's not something you'd tell a friendly stranger sitting next to you on the plane, maybe don't tell it to the admissions office.
![]() Too Revealing of Bad JudgmentGenerally speaking, leave past illegal or immoral actions out of your essay . It's simply a bad idea to give admissions officers ammunition to dislike you. Some exceptions might be if you did something in a very, very different mindset from the one you're in now (in the midst of escaping from danger, under severe coercion, or when you were very young, for example). Or if your essay is about explaining how you've turned over a new leaf and you have the transcript to back you up.
![]() ![]() Too OverconfidentWhile it's great to have faith in your abilities, no one likes a relentless show-off. No matter how magnificent your accomplishments, if you decide to focus your essay on them, it's better to describe a setback or a moment of doubt rather that simply praising yourself to the skies.
![]() Too Clichéd or BoringRemember your reader. In this case, you're trying to make yourself memorable to an admissions officer who has been reading thousands of other essays . If your essay makes the mistake of being boring or trite, it just won't register in that person's mind as anything worth paying attention to.
![]() Too Off-TopicUnlike the essays you've been writing in school where the idea is to analyze something outside of yourself, the main subject of your college essay should be you, your background, your makeup, and your future . Writing about someone or something else might well make a great essay, but not for this context.
![]() (Image: Pieter Christoffel Wonder [Public domain] , via Wikimedia Commons) ![]() Too OffensiveWith this potential mistake, you run the risk of showing a lack of self-awareness or the ability to be open to new ideas . Remember, no reader wants to be lectured at. If that's what your essay does, you are demonstrating an inability to communicate successfully with others. Also, remember that no college is eager to admit someone who is too close-minded to benefit from being taught by others. A long, one-sided essay about a hot-button issue will suggest that you are exactly that.
![]() College Essay Execution Problems To AvoidBad college essays aren't only caused by bad topics. Sometimes, even if you're writing about an interesting, relevant topic, you can still seem immature or unready for college life because of the way you present that topic—the way you actually write your personal statement. Check to make sure you haven't made any of the common mistakes on this list. Tone-DeafnessAdmissions officers are looking for resourcefulness, the ability to be resilient, and an active and optimistic approach to life —these are all qualities that create a thriving college student. Essays that don't show these qualities are usually suffering from tone-deafness.
![]() (Image: Eduard Munch [Public Domain] , via Wikimedia Commons) Lack of PersonalityOne good question to ask yourself is: could anyone else have written this essay ? If the answer is yes, then you aren't doing a good job of representing your unique perspective on the world. It's very important to demonstrate your ability to be a detailed observer of the world, since that will be one of your main jobs as a college student.
![]() Off-Kilter StyleThere's some room for creativity here, yes, but a college essay isn't a free-for-all postmodern art class . True, there are prompts that specifically call for your most out-of-left-field submission, or allow you to submit a portfolio or some other work sample instead of a traditional essay. But on a standard application, it's better to stick to traditional prose, split into paragraphs, further split into sentences.
![]() Failure to ProofreadMost people have a hard time checking over their own work. This is why you have to make sure that someone else proofreads your writing . This is the one place where you can, should—and really must—get someone who knows all about grammar, punctuation and has a good eye for detail to take a red pencil to your final draft. Otherwise, you look like you either don't know the basic rules or writing (in which case, are you really ready for college work?) or don't care enough to present yourself well (in which case, why would the admissions people care about admitting you?).
![]() Bad College Essay Examples—And How to Fix ThemThe beauty of writing is that you get to rewrite. So if you think of your essay as a draft waiting to be revised into a better version rather than as a precious jewel that can't bear being touched, you'll be in far better shape to correct the issues that always crop up! Now let's take a look at some actual college essay drafts to see where the writer is going wrong and how the issue could be fixed. Essay #1: The "I Am Writing This Essay as We Speak" Meta-NarrativeWas your childhood home destroyed by a landspout tornado? Yeah, neither was mine. I know that intro might have given the impression that this college essay will be about withstanding disasters, but the truth is that it isn't about that at all. In my junior year, I always had in mind an image of myself finishing the college essay months before the deadline. But as the weeks dragged on and the deadline drew near, it soon became clear that at the rate things are going I would probably have to make new plans for my October, November and December. Falling into my personal wormhole, I sat down with my mom to talk about colleges. "Maybe you should write about Star Trek ," she suggested, "you know how you've always been obsessed with Captain Picard, calling him your dream mentor. Unique hobbies make good topics, right? You'll sound creative!" I played with the thought in my mind, tapping my imaginary communicator pin and whispering "Computer. Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. And then an Essay." Nothing happened. Instead, I sat quietly in my room wrote the old-fashioned way. Days later I emerged from my room disheveled, but to my dismay, this college essay made me sound like just a guy who can't get over the fact that he'll never take the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. So, I tossed my essay away without even getting to disintegrate it with a phaser set on stun. I fell into a state of panic. My college essay. My image of myself in senior year. Almost out of nowhere, Robert Jameson Smith offered his words of advice. Perfect! He suggested students begin their college essay by listing their achievements and letting their essay materialize from there. My heart lifted, I took his advice and listed three of my greatest achievements - mastering my backgammon strategy, being a part of TREE in my sophomore year, and performing "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" from The Pirates of Penzance in public. And sure enough, I felt inspiration hit me and began to type away furiously into the keyboard about my experience in TREE, or Trees Require Engaged Environmentalists. I reflected on the current state of deforestation, and described the dichotomy of it being both understandable why farmers cut down forests for farmland, and how dangerous this is to our planet. Finally, I added my personal epiphany to the end of my college essay as the cherry on the vanilla sundae, as the overused saying goes. After 3 weeks of figuring myself out, I have converted myself into a piece of writing. As far as achievements go, this was definitely an amazing one. The ability to transform a human being into 603 words surely deserves a gold medal. Yet in this essay, I was still being nagged by a voice that couldn't be ignored. Eventually, I submitted to that yelling inner voice and decided that this was not the right essay either. In the middle of a hike through Philadelphia's Fairmount Park, I realized that the college essay was nothing more than an embodiment of my character. The two essays I have written were not right because they have failed to become more than just words on recycled paper. The subject failed to come alive. Certainly my keen interest in Star Trek and my enthusiasm for TREE are a great part of who I am, but there were other qualities essential in my character that did not come across in the essays. With this realization, I turned around as quickly as I could without crashing into a tree. What Essay #1 Does WellHere are all things that are working on all cylinders for this personal statement as is. Killer First SentenceWas your childhood home destroyed by a landspout tornado? Yeah, neither was mine.
![]() Gentle, Self-Deprecating Humor That Lands WellI played with the thought in my mind, tapping my imaginary communicator pin and whispering "Computer. Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. And then an Essay." Nothing happened. Instead, I sat quietly in my room wrote the old-fashioned way. Days later I emerged from my room disheveled, but to my dismay, this college essay made me sound like just a guy who can't get over the fact that he'll never take the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. So, I tossed my essay away without even getting to disintegrate it with a phaser set on stun. The author has his cake and eats it too here: both making fun of himself for being super into the Star Trek mythos, but also showing himself being committed enough to try whispering a command to the Enterprise computer alone in his room. You know, just in case. A Solid Point That Is Made Paragraph by ParagraphThe meat of the essay is that the two versions of himself that the author thought about portraying each fails in some way to describe the real him. Neither an essay focusing on his off-beat interests, nor an essay devoted to his serious activism could capture everything about a well-rounded person in 600 words. ![]() (Image: fir0002 via Wikimedia Commons .) Where Essay #1 Needs RevisionRewriting these flawed parts will make the essay shine. Spending Way Too Long on the MetanarrativeI know that intro might have given the impression that this college essay will be about withstanding disasters, but the truth is that it isn't about that at all. After 3 weeks of figuring myself out, I have converted myself into a piece of writing. As far as achievements go, this was definitely an amazing one. The ability to transform a human being into 603 words surely deserves a gold medal. Look at how long and draggy these paragraphs are, especially after that zippy opening. Is it at all interesting to read about how someone else found the process of writing hard? Not really, because this is a very common experience. In the rewrite, I'd advise condensing all of this to maybe a sentence to get to the meat of the actual essay . Letting Other People Do All the DoingI sat down with my mom to talk about colleges. "Maybe you should write about Star Trek ," she suggested, "you know how you've always been obsessed with Captain Picard, calling him your dream mentor. Unique hobbies make good topics, right? You'll sound creative!" Almost out of nowhere, Robert Jameson Smith offered his words of advice. Perfect! He suggested students begin their college essay by listing their achievements and letting their essay materialize from there. Twice in the essay, the author lets someone else tell him what to do. Not only that, but it sounds like both of the "incomplete" essays were dictated by the thoughts of other people and had little to do with his own ideas, experiences, or initiative. In the rewrite, it would be better to recast both the Star Trek and the TREE versions of the essay as the author's own thoughts rather than someone else's suggestions . This way, the point of the essay—taking apart the idea that a college essay could summarize life experience—is earned by the author's two failed attempts to write that other kind of essay. ![]() Leaving the Insight and Meaning Out of His ExperiencesBoth the Star Trek fandom and the TREE activism were obviously important life experiences for this author—important enough to be potential college essay topic candidates. But there is no description of what the author did with either one, nor any explanation of why these were so meaningful to his life. It's fine to say that none of your achievements individually define you, but in order for that to work, you have to really sell the achievements themselves. In the rewrite, it would be good to explore what he learned about himself and the world by pursuing these interests . How did they change him or seen him into the person he is today? Not Adding New Shades and Facets of Himself Into the MixSo, I tossed my essay away without even getting to disintegrate it with a phaser set on stun. Yet in this essay, I was still being nagged by a voice that couldn't be ignored. Eventually, I submitted to that yelling inner voice and decided that this was not the right essay either. In both of these passages, there is the perfect opportunity to point out what exactly these failed versions of the essay didn't capture about the author . In the next essay draft, I would suggest subtly making a point about his other qualities. For example, after the Star Trek paragraph, he could talk about other culture he likes to consume, especially if he can discuss art forms he is interested in that would not be expected from someone who loves Star Trek . Or, after the TREE paragraph, the author could explain why this second essay was no better at capturing him than the first. What was missing? Why is the self in the essay shouting—is it because this version paints him as an overly aggressive activist? ![]() Essay #2: The "I Once Saw Poor People" Service Trip EssayUnlike other teenagers, I'm not concerned about money, or partying, or what others think of me. Unlike other eighteen year-olds, I think about my future, and haven't become totally materialistic and acquisitive. My whole outlook on life changed after I realized that my life was just being handed to me on a silver spoon, and yet there were those in the world who didn't have enough food to eat or place to live. I realized that the one thing that this world needed more than anything was compassion; compassion for those less fortunate than us. During the summer of 2006, I went on a community service trip to rural Peru to help build an elementary school for kids there. I expected harsh conditions, but what I encountered was far worse. It was one thing to watch commercials asking for donations to help the unfortunate people in less developed countries, yet it was a whole different story to actually live it. Even after all this time, I can still hear babies crying from hunger; I can still see the filthy rags that they wore; I can still smell the stench of misery and hopelessness. But my most vivid memory was the moment I first got to the farming town. The conditions of it hit me by surprise; it looked much worse in real life than compared to the what our group leader had told us. Poverty to me and everyone else I knew was a foreign concept that people hear about on the news or see in documentaries. But this abject poverty was their life, their reality. And for the brief ten days I was there, it would be mine too. As all of this realization came at once, I felt overwhelmed by the weight of what was to come. Would I be able to live in the same conditions as these people? Would I catch a disease that no longer existed in the first world, or maybe die from drinking contaminated water? As these questions rolled around my already dazed mind, I heard a soft voice asking me in Spanish, "Are you okay? Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" I looked down to see a small boy, around nine years of age, who looked starved, and cold, wearing tattered clothing, comforting me. These people who have so little were able to forget their own needs, and put those much more fortunate ahead of themselves. It was at that moment that I saw how selfish I had been. How many people suffered like this in the world, while I went about life concerned about nothing at all? Thinking back on the trip, maybe I made a difference, maybe not. But I gained something much more important. I gained the desire to make the world a better place for others. It was in a small, poverty-stricken village in Peru that I finally realized that there was more to life than just being alive. What Essay #2 Does WellLet's first point out what this draft has going for it. Clear ChronologyThis is an essay that tries to explain a shift in perspective. There are different ways to structure this overarching idea, but a chronological approach that starts with an earlier opinion, describes a mind changing event, and ends with the transformed point of view is an easy and clear way to lay this potentially complex subject out. ![]() (Image: User:Lite via Wikimedia Commons) Where Essay #2 Needs RevisionNow let's see what needs to be changed in order for this essay to pass muster. Condescending, Obnoxious ToneUnlike other teenagers, I'm not concerned about money, or partying, or what others think of me. Unlike other eighteen year-olds, I think about my future, and haven't become totally materialistic and acquisitive. This is a very broad generalization, which doesn't tend to be the best way to formulate an argument—or to start an essay. It just makes this author sound dismissive of a huge swath of the population. In the rewrite, this author would be way better off just concentrate on what she want to say about herself, not pass judgment on "other teenagers," most of whom she doesn't know and will never meet. I realized that the one thing that this world needed more than anything was compassion; compassion for those less fortunate than us. Coming from someone who hasn't earned her place in the world through anything but the luck of being born, the word "compassion" sounds really condescending. Calling others "less fortunate" when you're a senior in high school has a dehumanizing quality to it. These people who have so little were able to forget their own needs, and put those much more fortunate in front of themselves. Again, this comes across as very patronizing. Not only that, but to this little boy the author was clearly not looking all that "fortunate"—instead, she looked pathetic enough to need comforting. In the next draft, a better hook could be making the essay about the many different kinds of shifting perspectives the author encountered on that trip . A more meaningful essay would compare and contrast the points of view of the TV commercials, to what the group leader said, to the author's own expectations, and finally to this child's point of view. ![]() Vague, Unobservant DescriptionDuring the summer of 2006, I went on a community service trip to rural Peru to help build an elementary school for kids there. I expected harsh conditions, but what I encountered was far worse. It was one thing to watch commercials asking for donations to help the unfortunate people in less developed countries, yet it was a whole different story to actually live it. Even after all this time, I can still hear babies crying from hunger; I can still see the filthy rags that they wore; I can still smell the stench of misery and hopelessness. Phrases like "cries of the small children from not having enough to eat" and "dirt stained rags" seem like descriptions, but they're really closer to incurious and completely hackneyed generalizations. Why were the kids were crying? How many kids? All the kids? One specific really loud kid? The same goes for "filthy rags," which is both an incredibly insensitive way to talk about the clothing of these villagers, and again shows a total lack of interest in their life. Why were their clothes dirty? Were they workers or farmers so their clothes showing marks of labor? Did they have Sunday clothes? Traditional clothes they would put on for special occasions? Did they make their own clothes? That would be a good reason to keep wearing clothing even if it had "stains" on it. The rewrite should either make this section more specific and less reliant on cliches, or should discard it altogether . The conditions of it hit me by surprise; it looked much worse in real life than compared to the what our group leader had told us. Poverty to me and everyone else I knew was a foreign concept that people hear about on the news or see in documentaries. But this abject poverty was their life, their reality. If this is the "most vivid memory," then I would expect to read all the details that have been seared into the author's brain. What did their leader tell them? What was different in real life? What was the light like? What did the houses/roads/grass/fields/trees/animals/cars look like? What time of day was it? Did they get there by bus, train, or plane? Was there an airport/train station/bus terminal? A city center? Shops? A marketplace? There are any number of details to include here when doing another drafting pass. ![]() Lack of Insight or MaturityBut this abject poverty was their life, their reality. And for the brief ten days I was there, it would be mine too. As all of this realization came at once, I felt overwhelmed by the weight of what was to come. Would I be able to live in the same conditions as these people? Would I catch a disease that no longer existed in the first world, or maybe die from drinking contaminated water? Without a framing device explaining that this initial panic was an overreaction, this section just makes the author sound whiny, entitled, melodramatic, and immature . After all, this isn't a a solo wilderness trek—the author is there with a paid guided program. Just how much mortality is typically associated with these very standard college-application-boosting service trips? In a rewrite, I would suggest including more perspective on the author's outsized and overprivileged response here. This would fit well with a new focus on the different points of view on this village the author encountered. Unearned, Clichéd "Deep Thoughts"But I gained something much more important. I gained the desire to make the world a better place for others. It was in a small, poverty-stricken village in Peru that I finally realized that there was more to life than just being alive. Is it really believable that this is what the author learned? There is maybe some evidence to suggest that the author was shaken somewhat out of a comfortable, materialistic existence. But what does "there is more to life than just being alive" even really mean? This conclusion is rather vague, and seems mostly a non sequitur. In a rewrite, the essay should be completely reoriented to discuss how differently others see us than we see ourselves, pivoting on the experience of being pitied by someone who you thought was pitiable. Then, the new version can end by on a note of being better able to understand different points of view and other people's perspectives . ![]() The Bottom Line
What's Next?Want to read some excellent college essays now that you've seen some examples of flawed one? Take a look through our roundup of college essay examples published by colleges and then get help with brainstorming your perfect college essay topic . Need some guidance on other parts of the application process? Check out our detailed, step-by-step guide to college applications for advice. Are you considering taking the SAT or ACT again before you submit your application? Read about our famous test prep guides for hints and strategies for a better score. ![]() Trending NowHow to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA How to Write an Amazing College Essay What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For? ACT vs. SAT: Which Test Should You Take? When should you take the SAT or ACT? Get Your Free ![]() Find Your Target SAT Score Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests How to Get a Perfect SAT Score, by an Expert Full ScorerScore 800 on SAT Math Score 800 on SAT Reading and Writing How to Improve Your Low SAT ScoreScore 600 on SAT Math Score 600 on SAT Reading and Writing Find Your Target ACT Score Complete Official Free ACT Practice Tests How to Get a Perfect ACT Score, by a 36 Full ScorerGet a 36 on ACT English Get a 36 on ACT Math Get a 36 on ACT Reading Get a 36 on ACT Science How to Improve Your Low ACT ScoreGet a 24 on ACT English Get a 24 on ACT Math Get a 24 on ACT Reading Get a 24 on ACT Science Stay Informed Get the latest articles and test prep tips! ![]() Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education. Ask a Question BelowHave any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply! ![]()
A (Very) Simple Way to Improve Your Writing
![]() It’s called the “one-idea rule” — and any level of writer can use it. The “one idea” rule is a simple concept that can help you sharpen your writing, persuade others by presenting your argument in a clear, concise, and engaging way. What exactly does the rule say?
Most advice about writing looks like a long laundry list of “do’s and don’ts.” These lists can be helpful from time to time, but they’re hard to remember … and, therefore, hard to depend on when you’re having trouble putting your thoughts to paper. During my time in academia, teaching composition at the undergraduate and graduate levels, I saw many people struggle with this. ![]()
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10 College Application Essay Dos and Don’ts![]() Check out our Just Admit It! PodcastIvyWise counselors Rachel and Zach share their top tips on how to brainstorm and write college application essays, and what admissions officers are looking for when they read them on the Just Admit It! college admissions podcast , giving listeners expert insight from former admissions officers. Writing college application essays is often the most stressful part of the admissions process for students, and as a result many tend to put them off until the last minute. Delaying your work on college application essays isn’t the best move, particularly because the National Association for College Admission Counseling classifies application essays as the most important “soft” factor, or non-quantitative elements, that colleges consider when making admissions decisions, right behind “hard” factors, or quantitative components, like grades, curriculum, and test scores. And in a year where more colleges than ever are test-optional , soft factors like the essay will carry even more weight in the admissions process this fall. However, if you’re behind on your college admissions essays, don’t panic. There are a number of steps that students can take to put together the most accurate and compelling personal statements and school-specific supplements that will help their chances of gaining admission to their top-choice colleges. Here are some college application essay dos and don’ts for students to keep in mind as they complete their applications before Jan. 1 deadlines. DON’T use the personal statement essay to repeat your activities list.This can’t be stressed enough. The personal statement is your opportunity to reveal something about yourself that can’t be found anywhere else in your application — use it! Many students use this essay to expound upon activities or interests that are already heavily demonstrated in their application through courses, the activity list, and more. Instead of reinforcing a top activity or interest, write about something that reveals another dimension of your life or personality. If your top activity is swimming, don’t write about the big championship meet. Find something else that reveals something new and that shows you put a lot of thought into your essay. If your study of AP biology conflicts with your religious views, write about that and how you reconciled the two. Dig deep to find a topic that’s meaningful. DO show a slice of your life.When developing a topic that reveals something new, find a way to frame the story or idea that shows a slice of your life or the event. Be descriptive and give details that appeal to the senses – taste, touch, smell, etc. When writing about a meaningful experience or event, you don’t have to give a long timeline of events. Instead, give the reader the piece of the puzzle that conveys your message. Particularly when you’re feeling stressed for time, it can be helpful to remember that your job isn’t necessarily to tell a full-length story; it’s to focus on something smaller that demonstrates who you are and what you stand for. DON’T copy and paste.With upwards of 25 or more essays to write for a balanced college list of 10-12 schools, it’s tempting for students to repurpose essays across applications if the prompts are similar, especially when working down to the wire. While students can use the same main essay on the Common App for multiple schools, we always recommend that students tailor their supplemental essays to the individual colleges. Telling Caltech why you want to attend MIT is a quick way to end up in the “no” pile. At the end of the day, attempting to repurpose essays isn’t the time-efficient solution either. While it might seem like a quick-fix, you’ll likely spend more time trying to rework an existing piece than you would if you started from scratch. Instead, give each essay a fresh start and set aside time to give every prompt your all. DO show your knowledge of the college.When tailoring responses to individual college prompts, it’s important to use specific details you’ve learned through visiting and research. Not only does this show colleges that you’ve have done your homework, but it also demonstrates your interest in the college – and colleges want to admit students who are likely to enroll. Show your knowledge of the college by mentioning specific courses, professors, places of interest, and more. Show how you fit into the campus culture and how you will impact the community through specific examples. DON’T say what you think the admissions office wants to hear.So many students think that they “know” what colleges want from an applicant , and this can have a big influence over their essays. Students will overuse the thesaurus and write about strange topics in an effort to impress and stand out. Instead of writing what you think the admissions office wants to read, write about what you want them to know. Again, the essay is a great space to reveal something new about you, so stand out by being authentic and showing another side of yourself. For students who feel like they’re pressed for time, being genuine is likely also your most efficient strategy. Forget about trying to concoct a version of yourself that you think the admissions office wants to see and let your authentic personality shine through. DO use your voice.Using lofty language and complex sentence structure can make you sound sophisticated, but is that really how you speak? Don’t let your voice get lost in the pursuit to impress readers. Instead, write like you speak – keeping in mind that proper grammar and spelling is still important. DON’T rely only on spellcheck.Spellcheck won’t catch every spelling or grammatical error! Take the time to read over all your essays carefully and keep an eye out for things like “out” when you meant to say “our” and other common typos. Especially when you’re short on time, it can be easy to overlook spelling and grammar, but it’s always worth the few extra minutes to make sure you have error-free content. To be extra safe, have a parent or counselor read over the essay, too, to catch any errors you might have missed. Spelling and grammar errors can take away from an otherwise stellar essay – so be mindful. DO double check that you’ve addressed the prompt.This is one of the most common mistakes that students make . In the pursuit to write the perfect essay, many forget to connect it to the original prompt. While the Common Application prompts for the main essay are general enough to allow students to write about whatever they choose, it still needs to be clear how that essay addresses the prompt. The same applies to school-specific essays. Check and double check that a clear connection is made between the topic of your essay and the question the prompt is asking. DON’T panic.Working down to the wire can undoubtedly be stressful. Instead of beating yourself up for not starting sooner or worrying that you won’t be able to finish everything on time, focus on what you can control. Put all of your energy toward your application essays and devote as much time to writing and editing as possible. Keep tabs on every admissions deadline and prioritize what you will work on first accordingly. Create a strategy for completing every essay and stay accountable to the timeline you’ve created. DO seek feedback when you can.While it’s imperative that students write their own essays and use their authentic voice, every writer can benefit from a second set of eyes. Your college counselor can provide valuable insight into how to improve your college application essays, so seek feedback on your drafts as soon as possible. School-based counselors have a lot of students to advise and are very busy, so don’t wait! Essays are an important component in the college application process. While the essay alone won’t gain you admission to your top-choice college, a poorly written one can send you to the “no” pile pretty quickly. Consequently, it’s important to give every essay your all and seek guidance when you need it – especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed leading up to critical deadlines. If you need additional help with your college application essays, IvyWise offers a number of services designed to help high school seniors with their college applications . Contact us today for more information on our programs for seniors! ![]() KnowledgeBase ResourcesThe IvyWise KnowlegeBase provides the most current information about the admissions process. Select from the content categories below:
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14 Do's and Don'ts When Writing an Informative Essay##14 Do’s and Don’ts for When Writing an Informative Essay Writing a high-quality informative essay can be straightforward when you know what to do and what to avoid in your process. Wondering what to do and what to avoid in your informative essay-writing process? When writing one, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of do’s and don’ts. Keep reading to learn more! Here is our list of do’s for when writing an informative essay: Research the Topic ThoroughlySearch for related topics on Google Scholar . This can help you find additional sources and articles to gain more information from. Also, you can use the search engine to give you the keywords you need for your paper. It is easy to get overwhelmed with the whole research process. However, it is important to remember that you are not expected to read everything you find. Instead, use the keywords that you find in Google Scholar to help you narrow down your search for information. You should only spend a little bit of time reading articles on subjects that are relevant to your topic. This will help you save time and improve your writing since you are providing relevant information to your readers. Brainstorm Ideas for Your Informative EssayBrainstorming is an essential part of the writing process. It can help you generate ideas and discover a topic that interests you. It can also help you plan your ideas and organize your essay. Many students need help with knowing where to start when writing an essay. Brainstorming can help you get started. Brainstorming can help you: Discover a topic that interests you Plan your ideas and organize your essay Organize your ideas and research Get started writing your essay Brainstorming can help you plan and organize your essay, but it's just one part of the writing process. It should not replace other important writing steps such as pre-writing, drafting, and editing Organize Your Thoughts and IdeasThe best way to organize ideas is to write them down. You can write them in a journal or use a word processing program. Using a word processing program, you can use the outlining feature to organize your thoughts. Outlines are a great way to organize your ideas. Outlines can be used in a variety of ways. For example, some people use them to write essays and reports. Others use them to plan speeches or presentations. No matter how you use an outline, it will help you organize your thoughts and ideas. Outlining is a great way to start writing. It helps you think about your topic and write your thoughts down. Once you have an outline, you can start writing. You can start by writing the introduction and filling in each point from your outline. This will help you write a strong paper that is organized and coherent. Outlining is a great way if you want to write an organized paper. Select a Focus and Make a Thesis StatementAllowing yourself a thesis statement can help when it comes to writing. Whether it's a 1,000-word essay or a 100-word paragraph, it makes the writing process easier. However, writing 1,000 words without a thesis statement can be daunting, so it's best to start by making one. Having a thesis statement lets you narrow down the topic and write about it more easily. You'll be able to connect your ideas and tell your reader what you want to say. Start with a thesis statement to make writing a seamless process. Include Relevant Facts and DataWhat is the context of the writing? What is the author trying to convey and why? What is the purpose of the text, and what is the author's intention? Before evaluating the content, dig a little to understand the background. Ask yourself: Is the text written for a specific publication? Is it a college writing assignment? Is it an online tutorial? How is the author trying to engage the reader? What is the author's purpose? What kind of audience is the author trying to reach? The more you know about the text itself, the easier it will be to understand what is being said and how the author is saying it. Support Your Arguments with EvidenceIt’s easy to get caught up in what you’re trying to say and forget to back it up with evidence. Writing is an act of communication, and to be truly effective, you need to make sure your audience understands where you are coming from and why you are making the points you are. Citing evidence is important for a few reasons. First of all, it demonstrates that you understand the context of your argument and are capable of keeping your perspective in mind as you dive into the details. Secondly, citing evidence shows your audience how you came to that conclusion and gives them a path to follow if they want to come to the same conclusion themselves. Finally, citing evidence shows your audience that you are not afraid to admit your sources and creates a sense of trust that you are presenting what you know to be true rather than making unfounded assumptions. Use a Logical StructureA logical structure starts with fundamental concepts and builds toward more complex ideas. This is the most important thing to consider when creating a logical structure for your essay. The first sentence of an essay should always provide the reader with the most essential information to help them understand the rest of the essay. This sentence should provide the reader with the main idea and help them understand the structure of the essay. It should lead into the next paragraph, further elaborating on the main idea. Stay consistent with your main idea, and don’t go off on tangents. An effective essay has a logical structure, meaning it starts with the most important information and builds upon it with each subsequent paragraph. A logical structure can be achieved in many ways, but the most important thing is to stay consistent with your main idea. Don’t go off on tangents or try to include too much information. A logical structure will help you convey your main idea clearly and concisely to your audience. Use Simple and Clear LanguageThe best writing is clear and concise. Readers don’t want to be confused, and they certainly don’t want to re-read paragraphs or sentences to understand your message. So, use simple and clear language. The best way to do this is to avoid using big words when small ones will do, and to keep your sentences short and to the point. Writing that’s complex or difficult to read can often be simplified, so never fear doing that. Instead, you’ll end up with writing that is clear and easy to understand, which is exactly what your readers want. Use a Variety of Sentence StructuresThis means using the correct punctuation. For example, if you are making a statement, use a period to finish it. Do not use a question mark. This is incorrect punctuation. When asking a question, use a question mark at the end of your sentence. It is important to use the correct punctuation as it is an important part of writing. Cite Your Sources ProperlyIf we are not certain of the credibility of a source, we should not use it. It is a common mistake for students to cite dubious sources when they are unsure if the source is credible. This can result in a plagiarized paper with references that do not support the author’s observations or opinions. Checking the source’s credibility prevents such situations from happening. In addition, the student should always ensure that the source they use is relevant to the topic. This can prevent unnecessary repetition of information, which can be a telltale sign of plagiarism. Furthermore, it helps us to stay focused on the essence of the topic and present our ideas more creatively and innovatively. Check Your Work for AccuracyMany teachers primarily focus on the content of a student’s writing, particularly when it comes to essay writing. An essay’s content is the most important, and it’s the hardest thing to master. It’s easier to work on your grammar skills and ensure your writing is error-free. That way, you’ll be well prepared to write an essay that will get you the desired results with the least amount of stress. It’s a good idea to focus on what’s important and ensure your content is interesting, engaging, and informative before worrying about grammar and spelling. Proofread and Edit Your Informative EssayThe combination of writing an essay and balancing a hectic schedule can be quite overwhelming. Mistakes like grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors are bound to happen. Proofreading and editing your essay is a great way to go about it. You can use Rephrasely’s Grammar Corrector, a free online tool that helps in identifying grammatical errors and helps in fixing them. Once you're done with your draft, you can use the tool to proofread your essay. Ask Someone Else to Review Your Informative EssayIt means that your writing is so off-base that you can’t even convince a stranger that your writing is good. That’s a problem. It could be that your writing is just plain bad, or it could be that you’ve been so consumed by your ideas that you can’t even see them objectively. This is a clear sign that you need to get someone else to review your writing. Either that, or you need to take a break, walk away from your writing for a bit, and come back to it with a fresh mind. Revise and Refine Your Informative EssayStudent writing can be hard to come to terms with because it’s not always clear exactly what the teacher is looking for. “Revise and refine” can be tricky because it’s hard to know where to start. Is it a case of just putting some ‘revise and refine’ at the top and hoping for the best? Well, sort of. It’s hard to know exactly what your teachers are looking for, so it’s always best to start with a rough draft of your essay and then revise and refine it from there. Revising and refining your writing can be just as important as the initial draft, so make sure your essay is well-structured, well-researched, and well-written. Here is our list of don’ts for writing an informative essay: Don't Copy and Paste from Other SourcesWhile students may not have the essay writing skills to create a compelling argument, they can at least give themselves a fighting chance by avoiding plagiarism . By not copying and pasting content from other sources, students can at least be confident that the content they are presenting is original and accurate. Some students may have the misconception that using other content is fine as long as they cite it, but they must remember that they are risking their academic standing by doing so. Don't Use Biased LanguageIf you are writing a research paper, ensure that the material you are using is cited properly. This includes the titles, the authors, and the publishers. If you do not do this, you are guilty of plagiarism. Therefore, make sure that you are properly citing your sources so that you can avoid being accused of plagiarism. When you are not properly citing your sources, you steal someone else’s work. When you are accused of plagiarism, you are accused of stealing someone else’s work. Don't Make Baseless ClaimsOne of my biggest pet peeves is when students make claims that aren’t backed up by facts. For example, if a student were to write, “The Beatles were the most influential band of all time,” but didn’t offer any evidence to support this claim, it would leave the reader wondering if this statement is true or just an opinion. As a writer, it’s important to back up your claims with examples, statistics, or any other evidence proving your point. By doing this, you’re ensuring that your argument is sound and well-supported, which will help your readers understand your point of view and make them more likely to agree with you. Don't Use Jargon or Complex TerminologyUsing jargon or complex terminology may make you seem authoritative, but can also make you seem inaccessible to the reader. If your writing is filled with unfamiliar terms that the average reader will not understand, they will be unable to follow your argument. Instead, consider the average reader and write in a style that is easy to understand and engaging. Don't Use First-Person PronounsMany students have a habit of using first-person pronouns in their written assignments. For example, they will use ‘I,’ ‘me,’ ‘my,’ ‘mine,’ ‘myself’ or ‘our’, etc., in their written assignments so that it becomes distracting to the reader. It doesn’t look professional, and it is better to avoid it. While you may want to use them, you should ask yourself, “is it important to know who is saying this?” If it isn’t, then don’t mention it. Just write your thoughts. It is much more professional and easier to follow if you do. It may take a while to get used to, but it is worth it! Don't Exaggerate or Make AssumptionsStudents should use evidence to support their arguments rather than exaggerating or making assumptions to get their point across. In the context of student writing, this means that students should provide concrete evidence for their arguments rather than just stating opinions. For example, if a student is writing an essay about why the death penalty should be abolished, they shouldn't just state that it's immoral and unjust; they should provide specific examples and evidence to support their argument. Don't Provide False InformationWriters should never include false information. Instead, they should write about their experiences in a way that is honest and engaging without exaggerating or including things that never happened. Never underestimate your reader and their ability to detect misinformation! Don't Use Too Many QuotesQuoting is a great way to show that expert opinions support your research and can also be a great way to add some personality to your writing. However, you want to make sure that you don't go overboard and quote too much. Otherwise, your writing can end up sounding dry and uninteresting, which is the opposite of what you're trying to achieve. So as with all things, moderation is key. Don't Be Afraid to Be OpinionatedStudents are often too afraid to be opinionated. They’re worried about coming across as too confident or even arrogant. When students are afraid to express their own opinions, their writing suffers. This is because they aren’t trying to engage with the text. Instead, they’re simply regurgitating what the author has already said. When students are more willing to share their opinions, they have more to say about the text. This leads to more engaging writing, which is exactly what you want your writing to be. So, don’t be afraid to be opinionated! Be confident in your ideas and share them with the world. Don't Forget to Include a ConclusionThe conclusion is the final part of a student's essay. It summarizes what the writer said in the essay’s body, and gives the reader a sense of completeness and closure. Conclusions add to the essay's structure and organization. It also helps the reader remember what the writer said in the essay. The conclusion should not be a summary of the body. Instead, it should be a new and original thought that ties together the main ideas of the body. A conclusion should also leave the reader with an understanding of how the writer's point of view affects their life. The conclusion should be concise and to the point. It should be between one and three sentences long. It should avoid being overly long or overly complicated. The conclusion should also have a transition sentence leading to the essay's body. Don't Ignore the Purpose of Your Informative EssayThe best essay writing services could help you improve your writing without changing your original voice. They want your essay to sound like you wrote it. They just want to help you become a better writer. It's a very rewarding experience that can help you build confidence in your writing abilities. You'll see how your writing has grown and how much progress you've made due to the essay writing service's help. It's a win-win. Don't Be Afraid to Ask for HelpIf you're writing a paper with someone and you're stuck, don't be afraid to ask for help. Your partner might have a different perspective than you, and they can provide some insight that you haven't considered. Even if they can't help, they'll probably be glad to know they're not the only ones struggling! Don't Forget to Check the Formatting RequirementsAll academic papers are required to be formatted and structured in a particular way. It is essential to follow these guidelines to ensure your professor can easily read and assess your work. Furthermore, by taking the time and effort to format your papers properly, you will not only impress your professor but also improve your chances of receiving a good grade. Not sure how to format your paper? Don't worry - plenty of resources online can help you get it right. A quick Google search will reveal many websites and apps showing you exactly how to format your paper in MLA, APA, or Chicago Style. By taking the time to format and structure your paper properly, you will ensure that it is easy to read and understand, which will ultimately lead to better results. Don't Wait Until the Last Minute to Write Your Informative EssayMany students believe they can write a good essay only in the last minutes before the deadline. And they are right. If they don't take care to arrange their ideas and get the first draft done before the deadline, they will be writing from scratch at the last minute. It is better to dedicate time to writing the first draft of your essay and then go over it and edit it on time. If you are stuck for ideas, try brainstorming or using some of the effective writing prompts available online. It helps to have a first draft ready before the deadline and then go over it for editing. This way, you save time on writing from scratch and can focus on perfecting your informative essay. Final ThoughtsFollowing our list of do’s and don’ts for writing an informative essay will help you score top marks. Here is our list of do’s for writing an informative essay: Research the topic thoroughly Brainstorm ideas for your informative essay Organize your thoughts and ideas Select a focus and make a thesis statement Include relevant facts and data Support your arguments with evidence Use a logical structure Use simple and clear language Use a variety of sentence structures Cite your sources properly Check your work for accuracy Proofread and edit your informative essay Ask someone else to review your informative essay Revise and refine your informative essay Don't copy and paste from other sources Don't use biased language Don't make baseless claims Don't use jargon or complex terminology Don't use first-person pronouns Don't exaggerate or make assumptions Don't provide false information Don't use too many quotes Don't be afraid to be opinionated Don't forget to include a conclusion Don't ignore the purpose of your informative essay Don't be afraid to ask for help Don't forget to check the formatting requirements Don't wait until the last minute to write your informative essay We hope you’ve found our article helpful. Don’t forget to share it with a fellow student! Works Cited: How to improve your writing. Rephrasely. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://rephrasely.com/blog/how-to-improve-your-writing Google scholar. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://scholar.google.com/ 20 important questions to consider when writing an essay. Rephrasely. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://rephrasely.com/blog/20-important-questions-to-consider-when-writing-an-essay Google. (n.d.). My word! Google Books. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=J3uv5MQsdIkC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=plagiarism&ots=ef7kSH9Gv7&sig=TN6K7esNMRglDoWhQwQ_XP_O0IE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=plagiarism&f=false Want to generate unlimited academic essays?About rephrasely, getting your wording just right. Paraphrasing is a natural part of the writing process as it helps you clarify your thinking and suit your words to your audience. Using a Rephrasely helps structure and streamline this work, and our paraphrase tool offers 20 modes, many of them free, for accomplishing just this. The 20 modes we offer are diverse, including a summarize tool, a free grammar checker, a mode to simplify text, and a sentence shortener. There are sentence rephrasers and paraphrase rephrase tools, and we pride ourselves on having both, since our reword generator accounts for context at both the sentence and paragraph levels. When you google paraphrase you will get a variety of results, from a free Rephrasely , to an article spinner, to a general phrase tool, and it can be hard to determine which of these rephrase tools will best help you complete your work. If you simply need to get a word rephrase, that is, reword only small elements within the sentence, many tools will suffice, but there is the risk that you end up with a tool that does not consider context and produces very awkward and ungrammatical sentences. Rephrasing is very much an art, and we’ve built our paraphrase bot to produce the most correct results in 20 modes in over 100 languages, making it the best paraphrasing tool at an exceptionally low cost. So whether you need to paraphrase deutsch, paraphrase greek, or paraphrase bahasa melayu, the next time you think, I need something to paraphrase this for me, you’ll know where to turn. From keywords to paragraphsGenerating paragraphs with unique ideas can be challenging, and too often writers get stuck at this stage of the writing process. With our paragraph tool, you can enter keywords and let our AI generate paragraphs for you, so that you can have something to work with, refine the output, and become more engaged in your writing. A paragraph generator creates links between your ideas, such that the output is sensible, unique, and stimulating, very close to what you would expect a thoughtful human paragraph writer to produce. Paragraph makers are nice, but what about a short story generator? Because our AI is generalized, it serves a story generator, an essay generator, a poem generator, and much more. To generate compelling stories, you should provide the story generator with useful keywords from which it can develop plot elements, including characters, setting details, and any situational information. To generate reasonably good essays, you should likewise provide the essay maker with details around argumentative positions and any other pertinent ideas. If you more specifically want an introduction paragraph generator or conclusion paragraph generator, you can provide starter text and keywords that will best enable our essay creator to produce them. You may well ask, “is this essay generator free?” Everything on this site is free within a 3-day trial, so you can test and develop confidence in our products. You may also be wondering where this is an essay automatic writer or if it will take a while to get results. All results appear within a matter of seconds, so you can move through your work as quickly as possible. You may have professional needs for creating paragraphs as well, such as those needed for cover letter. Most of the time a cover letter template includes information that is not relevant to you; by using your own keywords, we can produce cover letter examples that are relevant to your use case and often require very little editing. By using this service, you can also learn how to write a cover letter and achieve the cover letter format you need. Plagiarism checker freeLike everything else on our site, you can check plagiarism free within a trial, which is a great opportunity for those who want to check a paper for plagiarism without committing to paying before they see results. This free plagiarism checker is great for students and clearly indicates how to check for plagiarism by highlighting areas of similarity between the two texts. Just to be sure you are not accidentally plagiarizing, be sure to check all of your paraphrases as well. ![]() Band 6+: Despite better access to education, many adults today still can not read or write. In what ways are they disadvantaged? What can governments do to help them?The notion of poorly educated adults regardless of more approachable education in this day and age has ignited major concerns about the overall development of society. This unwanted phenomenon hinders several demerits, both individually and collectively, which would be discussed in the following paragraph of this essay, as well as proposing solutions of which the government ought to come up with so as to demolish such downfalls. Regarding the drawbacks of the noticeable disability in comprehending and remarking written contexts in a part of mature individuals, out of which there are two most significant. On the one hand, illiteracy would restrict a person’s growth in modern society. For instance, unlettered people cannot keep up with the world’s increasingly rapid pace since they could not understand news, policies, or cautions that are published on paper, which would result in an unsuitably old-fashioned lifestyle. Thus, they are unable to find secured occupations, nor could they put up with their intellectual counterparts. On the other hand, this trend could then lead to unrefined culture, higher crime rates, and pressure on the nation’s economy. Due to the fact that unemployed people could end up living under the poverty line, they would eventually change to sinful options to sustain themselves. Therefore, the obligation to seek and legislate solutions for authorities has become crucial. The most attainable alternative was to make education mandatory, this could be done through reducing tuition fees as low as possible, or in some cases, completely free. To exemplify the aforementioned idea, the U.S. government had made all public schools, from kindergarten to high school, costless. This policy has enabled all American residents to send their children to school without having to worry about the charge of schooling. In conclusion, the consequences of illiteracy are its restriction to an individual’s growth and their ability to endure modern life with little to no chance of earning rightful money, as well as its pressure on the nation’s economy, culture and security. A possible solution is to reduce the price of education to make it obligatory and ensure future generations’ education. Check Your Own Essay On This Topic?Generate a band-9 sample with your idea, overall band score, task response, coherence & cohesion, lexical resource, grammatical range & accuracy, essays on the same topic:, despite better access to education, many adults today still can not read or write. in what ways are they disadvantaged what can governments do to help them. Although people nowadays have the better potential to access education, they still could not read and write. From my perspective, these adults would face numerous problems in their life. Therefore, I strongly believe that the authorities should create some solutions to deal with this issue. In modern life, people without literacy tend to experience a […] It is true that in spite of many technological advancements that help access education better, a number of adults are still illiterate. This phenomenon can lead to many drawbacks, and this essay will suggest several viable solutions that authorities can use to support adults. The illiteracy of many adults can exert negative implications on their […] In the contemporary era, with the advancement of education, there still remain many people who do not have the ability of writing and reading. This essay discusses the drawbacks and gives several solutions to tackle this problem. There are numerous disadvantages of illiteracy. To begin with, the most obvious is the limited knowledge of residents. […] In modern life, education is increasingly developing. However, nowadays many adults are still illiterate. This problem brings many drawbacks in their lives. And the government should create policies to solve this issue. On the one hand, there are several disadvantages about illiterate people. This problem limits their accessibility to general knowledge. Normal people can easily […] Other Topics:Some people regard eating meat as completely wrong. to what extent do you agree. Many humans think that killing and eating animals like cow or goat are unethical practices. I completely agree to this statement. As number of animals in nature are decreasing which causes imbalance and eating meat can sometimes leads to food poisoning. If animals like buffalo or hen dies by natural death it doesn’t create any […] Some people believe that countries should invite foreign companies to open their branches, offices and factories in order to develop their economies. Others think countries should invest in their own companies instead. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.The question of whether governments should welcome overseas establishments to extend their businesses to their countries or provide support to their own companies is controversial. In my opinion, although both viewpoints have their justified rationale, I firmly endorse that authorities need to pay more attention to foreign businesses. On the one hand, investment in local […] Travelling are becoming more popular in society. In this essay, I will examine the factors that lead to many people travelling, and provide some benefits about it.Travelling are becoming more popular in society. In this essay, I will examine the factors that lead to many people travelling, and provide some benefits about it. There are many reasons why travelling is popular among people these days. One of the main factors is that access to transportation is easier and cheaper. The range […] The best way to help underachieving pupils is to have compulsory after school actions which they must attend. This way they will become more involved in schools and their grades will improve.At school, underachieving students should be involved in various after-school activities. And so, students will be more engaged in schools and their grades will continue to improve. I partly agree this idea. On the one hand, underperformers should be more involved in extra curricular activities in an interesting way.These extra-curricular activities help students to acquire […] Many people believe that the primary purpose of a university education is to prepare students for employment. Others, however, argue that university education should provide more than just job-related skills and should broaden students' horizons in other areas. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.People hold different views about receiving university education, whether is employment oriented or enrich students experience. In this essay, I would like to discuss both sides of views and present my own idea that university education is beneficial for students’ future career. On the one hand, the main contribution of higher education sectors is to […] Many people believe that Art and Music should be dropped from school curriculums in favour of more practical subjects, such as Information Technology. To what extent do you agree or disagree?It is commonly believed that some subjects like Art and Music should be replaced other practical subjects like Information Technologies. This essay disagree with this opinion therefore the subjects that they think should be replaced help students to improve their creative thinking that could be beneficial for their school performance, on the other hand not […] Plans & Pricing![]() What to know before you launch your test Getting Ready for LSAT Argumentative WritingLSAT Argumentative Writing ® is a required part of the LSAT, but you don’t need to take LSAT Argumentative Writing on the same day that you take the multiple-choice portion of the test. LSAT Argumentative Writing will become available through your LSAC JD Account eight (8) days prior to your LSAT administration. You can take LSAT Argumentative Writing at home, or in another quiet, well-lit, private space. You must have a completed and approved writing sample in your file to see your LSAT score or have your score released to schools. If you’re registered for an upcoming LSAT, review the steps below to ensure your LSAT Argumentative Writing runs smoothly. Quick Links: Step 1: Check Your EquipmentStep 2: prepare your testing space, step 3: start lsat argumentative writing. ![]() To take LSAT Argumentative Writing, you’ll need:
Please note: Other proctoring software applications may interfere or conflict with ProctorU’s remote-proctoring software. We highly recommend that other proctoring software and/or extensions be disabled. In particular, please remove the Proctorio extension if you have it installed, as a known issue exists between the ProctorU application and Proctorio. For questions or issues related to system requirements, please contact ProctorU at 855.772.8678 . Back to Top Before you begin LSAT Argumentative Writing, make sure to have the following:
Your work area should be a quiet and well-lit space, where you can complete the test without interruption. Please note that transparent glass walls are not considered part of a private room and are prohibited. You may not test in a room where there are tablets, laptops, or additional computers not being used to take LSAT Argumentative Writing. A hard work surface and chair are required. Ensure that your workspace is clean and clear of all prohibited items. It is important to have a strong and stable internet connection in order to have a successful remote-testing experience. Items Allowed in Your Testing SpaceGenerally, your desktop must be clear of anything not test-related and should only have:
Each of these items must be held up and shown to the proctor during the security check-in procedure. If you have a medical need for one or more of the following personal medical items during your test, you may have the item(s) with you: non-tinted eyeglasses, hearing aids, medication (e.g., pills, inhaler, insulin/glucose tablets, eye drops), heart monitor, arm or shoulder sling, cast, brace, cane, crutches, walker, wheelchair, insulin pump/glucometer/diabetic supplies ( Note: Bluetooth-enabled medical devices must be preapproved as a testing accommodation ), TENS unit, service animal (not comfort animal). No prior authorization is required. Bags and printed materials may be in the room, but should not be located within your immediate workspace and may not be accessed or used during the test. Items Prohibited from Your Testing SpaceThe following electronic prohibited items must be removed from the room :
Large electronics that are difficult to move, such as TVs and radio/stereo systems, may remain in the room. However, they must be powered down and may not be accessed during the test. The following nonelectronic prohibited items can remain in the room, but they must be put away and not accessed or referenced during the test :
These lists are not exhaustive. For a complete list of prohibited items, please review the LSAC Candidate Agreement. Review the LSAC Candidate Agreement for Complete Information This is important. Your entire face must be clearly visible throughout the test. Once you begin testing, do not move out of view of the webcam or change working environments until the test is over. Step-by-Step Instructions for Launching LSAT Argumentative Writing
This is important. It is strictly prohibited to take any pictures or screenshots of your completed writing sample, including the “Test Completion” screen. Violation of this policy may result in a cancellation of your LSAT Argumentative Writing session and a referral to the Subcommittee on Misconduct and Irregularities in the Admission Process. 24/7 Technical SupportShould you encounter any problems during this startup process or while completing your LSAT Argumentative Writing sample, please contact the 24/7 technical support line at 1.855.772.8678 . If any technical problems you experience prevent you from completing your writing sample, you’ll be given the opportunity to test again with a different writing prompt. This is important. Unless there is a technical issue with your submission, we will not be able to reset your writing sample to enable you to retake it. After the TestOnce your LSAT Argumentative Writing sample is submitted, it may take up to three weeks to be processed to your account. However, if anything in your video gets flagged for review, LSAC will need to take a closer look. If you have any questions about your upcoming LSAT, please consult the LSAT Argumentative Writing FAQs on our website , call us at 1.800.336.3982 , or email us at [email protected] . We wish you the best of luck on your test and encourage you to keep moving forward on your path to a legal education. ![]() Essay Writing Service You Can TrustWhen a student says “I want a pro to write my essay,” they aren’t happy with average results. They need high-quality writing help from expert writers. BestEssay is a top-notch essay writing service that follows their standards. Our writers rock!
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We ask you to check the paper for any mistakes. It doesn’t matter what element of writing you want us to improve; just send us a request and we’ll cover the revisions for free. You should analyze our terms and conditions before placing the order. They cover your rights to free revisions. As long as you provide detailed instructions for our writers, you can ask for amendments based on those requirements. Even the best writers can make mistakes. Misunderstandings happen, too. Maybe they will do their best work, but the customer won’t like parts of it. We don’t suffer from a big ego. As our customer, you deserve to be 100% satisfied with the work you receive. We Understand Your Need for an Affordable Price!Affordability is of essential importance for each customer. They pay thousands of dollars for their education each year. Even if they earned a scholarship, they still have to cover the expenses for accommodation, books, bills, and everything else you need to support your lifestyle. They deserve to have a decent social life, too. It’s okay to have a share of the partying experience. Do you have the budget to hire essay writers with all those expenses on your shoulders? You may have a job, but it doesn’t provide a good income. That’s why you need cheap quotes. Even if it’s a larger project, it should still fit in your budget. Our pricing system is flexible. It’s based on these factors:
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Do you Have More Questions? Talk to UsBestEssay is non-stop available to offer professional essay writing services to any customer who needs them. You can talk to the representatives of our essay writer service at any moment. Use the live chat, send us an email, or call us by phone. We’ll be happy to attend to you. And if you’re wondering when to place an order, remember: the sooner the better! That’s how you get the cheapest price! What services do you offer?Our professional academic writers offer assistance with college papers, article completion, critical thinking, speech writing, case study, research paper, thesis, term papers, reaction essays, reflective thinking, nursing essays, social studies and science projects, healthcare papers, and more. A writer can complete a dissertation of the finest quality for you. But if the customer only hired us for a college paper, that’s what they get! Why should I choose BestEssay.co?Our essay writing service is special because it delivers the best quality. A customer always works with the writer when they choose us. Each paper writer has a personalized approach to each user. They pay close attention to their requirements. Our guarantees ensure a secure and satisfactory user experience. If the customer has remarks to the paper writing, they can ask for revisions. We revise essays without charging an additional fee. The bottom line is: you get the best quality for your money from BestEssay! How can I be sure the right writer is writing my paper?You want to count on legitimate essay writing services, which assign pro writers to your fast essay order. Hiring writers online is not easy. Not everyone has the skill and experience to work on your topic. We formed the best paper writer team in the industry. Our writers complete good papers that impress professors. Remember this fact: your professional writer will have a graduate degree in the topic’s field of study. That makes all the difference. How fast can you write an essay?You can get a cheap essay in a matter of hours. 3 hours is our shortest deadline. It’s only available for simple assignments. But we make it possible for you to set short deadlines even for the most complex projects. We guarantee that when you use BestEssay to hire writers online, the assignment will be completed on time. Our online essay writing service has experience with fast orders. What if I am not happy with my paper?Even though we hired the most professional paper writers on the market, misunderstandings still happen. Maybe the customer won’t understand something in the assignment and they will need the writer to fill in some gaps in information. Whatever their remarks are, a customer can submit a requirement for revisions to our paper writing service. The amendments are already included in the price you paid. We will not charge any extra fees to the customer. Can I order securely on your website?Our professional essay writing service is protected with legit security standards. We follow strict protocols for customer privacy protection. We never share the information of a customer with third parties. The payment process is safe and legitimate. The paper writing process is fast, secure, and responsive. You’ll get the safest and most convenient user experience when you hire writers from our cheap essay writing service! Read the terms and conditions to see how we protect you as our customer. We use cookies. What does it mean? OK
Advertisement Supported by Guest Essay Aaron Sorkin: How I Would Script This Moment for Biden and the Democrats![]() By Aaron Sorkin Mr. Sorkin is a playwright and screenwriter. Update: Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he would not seek re-election. The Paley Center for Media just opened an exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of “The West Wing,” the NBC series I wrote from 1999 to 2003. Some of the show’s story points have become outdated in the last quarter-century (the first five minutes of the first episode depended entirely on the audience being unfamiliar with the acronym POTUS), while others turned out to be — well, not prescient, but sadly coincidental. Gunmen tried to shoot a character after an event with President Bartlet at the end of Season 1. And at the end of the second season, in an episode called “Two Cathedrals,” a serious illness that Bartlet had been concealing from the public had come to light, and the president, hobbled, faced the question of whether to run for re-election. “Yeah,” he said in the third season opener. “And I’m going to win.” Which is exactly what President Biden has been signaling since the day after his bad night. Because I needed the “West Wing” audience to find President Bartlet’s intransigence heroic, I didn’t really dramatize any downward pull that his illness was having on his re-election chances. And much more important, I didn’t dramatize any danger posed by Bartlet’s opponent winning. But what if the show had gone another way? What if, as a result of Bartlet revealing his illness, polling showed him losing to his likely opponent? And what if that opponent, rather than being simply unexceptional, had been a dump truck of ignorance and bad intentions? What if Bartlet’s opponent had been a dangerous imbecile with an observable psychiatric disorder who related to his supporters on a fourth-grade level and treated the law as something for suckers and poor people? And was a hero to white supremacists? We’d have had Bartlet drop out of the race and endorse whoever had the best chance of beating the guy. The problem in the real world is that there isn’t a Democrat who is polling significantly better than Mr. Biden. And quitting, as heroic as it may be in this case, doesn’t really put a lump in our throats. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in . Want all of The Times? Subscribe . ![]() |
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Follow this advice to know what not to write about in your college essay! 1. Don't restate the Essay prompt. Start your essay with a hook. Start with dialogue. Start by setting the scene. Don't start by restating the essay topic! The reader knows the essay prompts, so just start telling your story.
3. Don't use filler words. Yes, completing your word count is important, but it shouldn't be prioritized over the quality of your essay. Words like "basically," "very," "really," "that," and "additionally" are words that are often used unnecessarily. It's the equivalent of saying "um," and you don't want that.
Writing a Synopsis, Not An Analytical Essay. The point of an essay is to create an argument and defend a thesis. If you're writing about a work of literature, some background to clarify the topic can be helpful. But the majority of your essay should involve your analysis based on credible research. Don't simply restate what happened in the book.
provide when you are writing a paper. Here are some useful guidelines: o If you're writing a research paper, do not assume that your reader has read all the sources that you are writing about. You'll need to offer context about what those sources say so that your reader can understand why you have brought them into the conversation.
Come up with a thesis. Create an essay outline. Write the introduction. Write the main body, organized into paragraphs. Write the conclusion. Evaluate the overall organization. Revise the content of each paragraph. Proofread your essay or use a Grammar Checker for language errors. Use a plagiarism checker.
Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.
DO write an ending, not a conclusion. Building on the idea of not writing a school essay, having a story arc, and breaking away from form, your essay still does need to have an ending. What it doesn't need is a conclusion. Conclusions wrap things up with a bow. You are a human, not a present. Your essay needs to end, but it doesn't need to ...
Sample College Essay 2 with Feedback. This content is licensed by Khan Academy and is available for free at www.khanacademy.org. College essays are an important part of your college application and give you the chance to show colleges and universities your personality. This guide will give you tips on how to write an effective college essay.
Making an all-state team → outstanding achievement. Making an all-state team → counting the cost of saying "no" to other interests. Making a friend out of an enemy → finding common ground, forgiveness. Making a friend out of an enemy → confront toxic thinking and behavior in yourself.
Body #1: Most students think writing an essay is tedious because they focus on external rewards. Body #2: Students should instead focus on internal fulfillment when writing an essay. Body #3: Not only will focusing on internal fulfillment allow students to have more fun, it will also result in better essays.
The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body. This article provides useful templates and tips to help you outline your essay, make decisions about your structure, and ...
A common college essay mistake is writing an essay that's too short. For example, the word limit for the Common App essay is 650 words, and you should try as hard as you can to reach that number. A 400-word essay is definitely too short. Make sure you're using all the words available to you. If you're having difficulty meeting the word ...
There are many challenges students could potentially write about, and many choose to write about what they did after they received a bad grade. It's generally never a good idea to use this as an essay topic, though. First, other students will write about some serious challenges, even things like escaping war.
Going over the word limit. Part of showing your brilliance is being able to work within arbitrary rules and limitations. Going over the word count points to a lack of self-control, which is not a very attractive feature in a college applicant. Repeating the same word (s) or sentence structure over and over again.
Sports is a common topic, though, which can make it much harder for you to stand apart from the competition. Even if this is your strongest area of interest, it's better to choose a different topic. 7. Humorous Topics or Jokes. Topics to avoid in college essays also include jokes or humor. Writing your entire college essay in a humorous tone ...
Step 2: Pick one of the things you wrote down, flip your paper over, and write it at the top of your paper, like this: This is your thread, or a potential thread. Step 3: Underneath what you wrote down, name 5-6 values you could connect to this. These will serve as the beads of your essay.
For instance, let's say you're writing an essay. There are three components you will be working with throughout your piece: the title, the paragraphs, and the sentences.
DON'T copy and paste. With upwards of 25 or more essays to write for a balanced college list of 10-12 schools, it's tempting for students to repurpose essays across applications if the prompts are similar, especially when working down to the wire. While students can use the same main essay on the Common App for multiple schools, we always ...
Avoid These 5 Clichés In Your Scholarship Essays. The essay is the most important part of your scholarship application. It's your scholarship essay that will help you stand out from the thousands of other scholarship applicants. But writing this essay is easier said than done. Many students find this one of the most challenging writing ...
Outlining is a great way to start writing. It helps you think about your topic and write your thoughts down. Once you have an outline, you can start writing. You can start by writing the introduction and filling in each point from your outline. This will help you write a strong paper that is organized and coherent.
LSAT Argumentative Writing's interface offers: Built-in, user-adjustable tools such as a feature to increase text size incrementally and a line-spacing function.; Highlighting and underlining tools, which can be used to mark key points in the prompt.; Digital "Scratch Paper," which enables test takers to type notes, instead of writing them on a physical piece of scratch paper.
Check out this IELTS Writing Task 2 essay written by our user on the topic: Despite better access to education, many adults today still can not read or write. ... In the contemporary era, with the advancement of education, there still remain many people who do not have the ability of writing and reading. This essay discusses the drawbacks and ...
Once you begin testing, do not move out of view of the webcam or change working environments until the test is over. Step-by-Step Instructions for Launching LSAT Argumentative Writing. ... 50 minutes to complete your LSAT Argumentative Writing sample — 15 minutes for prewriting analysis and 35 minutes for essay writing.
First and foremost, plagiarism is not allowed in essay writing. It's one of the most serious violations of all college/university rules. Each student is required to submit a unique essay. That's why a legit essay paper writing service must guarantee the delivery of a plagiarism-free piece, which will be based on your personal guidelines.
Because only at GCSU can you Go Small in a Big Way. Please note: Georgia College does not require the Common App essay, but we do require a personal essay. On the Common Application, the GCSU personal essay will be referred to as "Supplemental Writing." Georgia College & State University is a place where you can pursue your interests, discover ...
Guest Essay. Aaron Sorkin: How I Would Script This Moment for Biden and the Democrats ... But there's something the Democrats can do that would not just put a lump in people's throats with its ...
27 July 2024 IELTS Exam / Writing Task 2 / Academic / Evening Slot / Exam Review / INDIA How to write a Writing Task 2, from understanding the task, to...
about the question, and they do not want you to bring in other sources. • Consider your audience. It can be difficult to know how much background information or context to provide when you are writing a paper. Here are some useful guidelines: o If you're writing a research paper, do not assume that your reader has read