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Personal Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:05:02 +0000

The overall application package will represent who “you” are to people whom you will most likely not know personally. The written expression of your qualities as an applicant will often be a very important way for committee members to get to know why you are an acceptable candidate for their program. Thus, it is essential to take great care in preparing this part of your application. Because graduate schools make important selection decisions that are partly based on what you say in this essay, the writing of it can be an intimidating prospect.
To begin your essay, brainstorm using the following questions:
* What might help the evaluating committee better understand you? What sets you apart from other applicants? Who will be applying for the same program?
* Why are you interested in this field? What things have stimulated and reinforced your interest?
* How did you learn about this field (classes, seminars, work experience)?
* What are your career aspirations?
* Are there any gaps or discrepancies in your academic record that need to be explained?
* What skills or personal characteristics do you possess that would enhance your chances for success in this field?
* Why should an admissions committee be interested in you?
Write the first draft from this, then try to find an angle or a hook which can sink into the admissions committee; a good place to start is with an original and provoking opening paragraph. One of the worst things you can do with your personal statement is to bore the admissions committee, yet that is exactly what most applicants do. Admissions committees see thousands of “I have always wanted to be a…” opening paragraphs, so a good way to make the essay more interesting is to write about an anecdote or memorable incident that led you to choose the particular profession. This can help add drama, vitality, and originality to the statement. It is important, however, that the anecdote is related to the questions asked and not just a retelling of a catchy life drama.
After you have written the first, second, or third draft, there are another set of evaluative questions that you can work through to help you revise your essay.
* Does the opening paragraph grab your attention?
* Is the statement interesting or does it put you to sleep?
* Is it a positive portrayal? Is it upbeat and confident?
* Is it an honest portrayal?
* Have you answered all the questions thoroughly?
* Has anything relevant been omitted? Work or academic experience?
* Does the statement provide insight into your character?
* Is it well-written? Is the grammar, tone, and verb agreement perfect?
* Are there any typos?
For your final draft, be sure to avoid sloppiness, poor English, spelling errors, whining, manufacturing a personality, avoiding the questions that are asked on the application, high school experiences, personal biases about religion, ethnicity, politics, sexist language, revealing of character weaknesses, and arrogance.
The personal statement is extremely important in gaining admittance to graduate and professional schools. Although it can be frustrating to write an original and well-devised statement, through time and drafts it will be written. The ones that are good take time. The ones that are bad can sabotage your chances for success. It is also important that you show your drafts to a Writing Center tutor, your academic advisor, Career Planning advisor, and friends; they will help you write an essay that reveals the right balance of personal and academic characteristics and specifics.
Once you have developed a sense of the faculty’s interests and the department’s special features, you can make it clear in your application exactly why you want to attend that particular school. What is it about the department’s curriculum structure or general approach to the field that makes you interested in being a student there? Don’t waste your valuable essay space, or your reader’s valuable time, telling the reader how wonderful or prestigious their institution is; people on the admissions committee already know this. They want to know about you.
Nonetheless, if there are special programs or institutes at the school that seem appealing to you, briefly mention that you are interested in becoming part of them. For example, state that you “want to be a member of the XYZ Group for Blank and Blank Studies because …”, but don’t tell them how great, well respected, and world-renowned this part of the school is.
If, during your research on the department’s faculty, a faculty member strikes you as someone whom you might be interested in working with, indicate this in your essay; be concise and specific about why you want to work with this person in particular. A word of caution here: Do not try to use this as a way to “butter up” the admissions committee, because if there is any reason to believe that you are not sincere, your application may be adversely affected. Again, mention the person and how their work relates to your interest, but don’t load this statement with what might be interpreted as false or superfluous praise.
Personal Information
Some applications may ask you to give a personal history, telling about experiences that you have undergone which have led you to decide to pursue graduate education in a certain field of study. (If personal information of this sort is not required, then you are under no obligation to provide it.)
The information that could be included in a personal-type statement is limited only by your own imagination and life history, but you should be highly selective about what you include. There are two things to watch out for: (1) saying too much and/or (2) not saying enough.
Some applicants may ramble on about themselves in a manner that may appear self-indulgent and not very appealing to the committee. Remember, this is an application essay, not an autobiography. Conversely, some applicants tend to say too little, perhaps hesitating to promote themselves too explicitly or not knowing what about themselves would be interesting to people whom they don’t know. In such cases, perhaps focusing more on what you want to do than on what you have already done (let your record speak for itself) may help in getting beyond self-inhibition.
Generally, keep in mind that the points about your life that you highlight should be somehow relevant to both your own interest in the field of study, as well as to the concerns of the admissions committee. In judging what information to include or exclude from your essay, try to balance academic, work-related, and personal information in a manner appropriate to your situation, goals, and the application requirements.
Additional Considerations
If you have additional, relevant information about yourself that does not easily fit into the essay, or into any other section of the university’s application, you may want to include a condensed resume or curriculum vitae with your application package. This is especially applicable to those who have worked professionally since having graduated from school. Relevant items here might include work experience, publications, and presentations, as well as language and computer skills.
Also, if you have experienced times of great hardship or extenuating circumstances that have negatively affected your academic performance at any time, provide a short explanatory statement. This is another one of those places where caution should be exercised: you want to explain the cause of your poor grades, etc. without alienating the reader by overdoing it. Once again, be specific and concise.
Tips for Writing a Personal Essay for Your College Application
Do start early. Leave plenty of time to revise, record, and rewrite. You can improve on your presentation.
Do read the directions carefully. You will want to answer the question as directly as possible, and you’ll want to follow word limits exactly. Express yourself as briefly and as clearly as you can.
Do tell the truth about yourself. The admission committee is anonymous to you; you are completely unknown to it. Even if you run into a committee member in the future, he will have no way of connecting your essay (out of the thousands he has read) to you.
Do focus on an aspect of yourself that will show your best side. You might have overcome some adversity, worked through a difficult project, or profited from a specific incident. A narrow focus is more interesting than broad-based generalizations.
Do feel comfortable in expressing anxieties. Everybody has them, and it’s good to know that an applicant can see them and face them.
Do tie yourself to the college. Be specific about what this particular school can do for you. Your essay can have different slants for different colleges.
Do speak positively. Negatives tend to turn people off.
Do write about your greatest assets and achievements. You should be proud of them!
But…
Don’t repeat information given elsewhere on your application. The committee has already seen it-and it looks as though you have nothing better to say.
Don’t write on general, impersonal topics-like the nuclear arms race or the importance of good management in business. The college wants to know about you.
Don’t use the personal statement to excuse your shortcomings. It would give them additional attention.
Don’t use cliches.
Don’t go to extremes: too witty, too opinionated, or too “intellectual.”

Narrative Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:59 +0000

As a mode of expository writing, the narrative approach, more than any other, offers writers a chance to think and write about themselves. We all have experiences lodged in our memories, which are worthy of sharing with readers. Yet sometimes they are so fused with other memories that a lot of the time spent in writing narrative is in the prewriting stage.
When you write a narrative essay, you are telling a story. Narrative essays are told from a defined point of view, often the author’s, so there is feeling as well as specific and often sensory details provided to get the reader involved in the elements and sequence of the story. The verbs are vivid and precise. The narrative essay makes a point and that point is often defined in the opening sentence, but can also be found as the last sentence in the opening paragraph.
Since a narrative relies on personal experiences, it often is in the form of a story. When the writer uses this technique, he or she must be sure to include all the conventions of storytelling: plot, character, setting, climax, and ending. It is usually filled with details that are carefully selected to explain, support, or embellish the story. All of the details relate to the main point the writer is attempting to make.
To summarize, the narrative essay
* is told from a particular point of view
* makes and supports a point
* is filled with precise detail
* uses vivid verbs and modifiers
* uses conflict and sequence as does any story
* may use dialogue
The purpose of a narrative report is to describe something. Many students write narrative reports thinking that these are college essays or papers. While the information in these reports is basic to other forms of writing, narrative reports lack the “higher order thinking” that essays require. Thus narrative reports do not, as a rule, yield high grades for many college courses. A basic example of a narrative report is a “book report” that outlines a book; it includes the characters, their actions, possibly the plot, and, perhaps, some scenes. That is, it is a description of “what happens in the book.” But this leaves out an awful lot.
What is left out is what the book or article is about — the underlying concepts, assumptions, arguments, or point of view that the book or article expresses. A narrative report leaves aside a discussion that puts the events of the text into the context of what the text is about. Is the text about love? Life in the fast lane? Society? Wealth and power? Poverty? In other words, narrative reports often overlook the authors purpose or point of view expressed through the book or article.
Once an incident is chosen, the writer should keep three principles in mind.
1. Remember to involve readers in the story. It is much more interesting to actually recreate an incident for readers than to simply tell about it.
2. Find a generalization, which the story supports. This is the only way the writer’s personal experience will take on meaning for readers. This generalization does not have to encompass humanity as a whole; it can concern the writer, men, women, or children of various ages and backgrounds.
3. Remember that although the main component of a narrative is the story, details must be carefully selected to support, explain, and enhance the story.
Conventions of Narrative Essays
In writing your narrative essay, keep the following conventions in mind.
* Narratives are generally written in the first person, that is, using I. However, third person (he, she, or it) can also be used.
* Narratives rely on concrete, sensory details to convey their point. These details should create a unified, forceful effect, a dominant impression. More information on the use of specific details is available on another page.
* Narratives, as stories, should include these story conventions: a plot, including setting and characters; a climax; and an ending.

Comparison Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:42 +0000

To write a comparison or contrast essay that is easy to follow, first decide what the similarities or differences are by writing lists on scrap paper. Which are more significant, the similarities or the differences? Plan to discuss the less significant first, followed by the more significant. It is much easier to discuss ONLY the similarities or ONLY the differences, but you can also do both.
Then for organizing your essay, choose one of the plans described below whichever best fits your list. Finally, and this is important, what main point (thesis) might you make in the essay about the two people/things being compared? Do not begin writing until you have a point that the similarities or differences you want to use help to prove. Your point should help shape the rest of what you say: For example, if you see that one of your similarities or differences is unrelated to the point, throw it out and think of one that is related. Or revise your point. Be sure this main point is clearly and prominently expressed somewhere in the essay.
Plan A: Use Plan A if you have many small similarities and/or differences. After your introduction, say everything you want to say about the first work or character, and then go on in the second half of the essay to say everything about the second work or character, comparing or contrasting each item in the second with the same item in the first. In this format, all the comparing or contrasting, except for the statement of your main point, which you may want to put in the beginning, goes on in the SECOND HALF of the piece.
Plan B: Use Plan B if you have only a few, larger similarities or differences. After your introduction, in the next paragraph discuss one similarity or difference in BOTH works or characters, and then move on in the next paragraph to the second similarity or difference in both, then the third, and so forth, until you’re done. If you are doing both similarities and differences, juggle them on scrap paper so that in each part you put the less important first (”X and Y are both alike in their social positions . . .”), followed by the more important (”but X is much more aware of the dangers of his position than is Y”). In this format, the comparing or contrasting goes on in EACH of the middle parts.
The following outline may be helpful; however, do not be limited by it.
1. Intro. with thesis
2. 1st similarity
1. 1st work
2. 2nd work
3. 2nd similarity
1. 1st work
2. 2nd work
4. 1st difference
1. 1st work
2. 2nd work
5. 2nd difference
1. 1st work
2. 2nd work

Cause and Effect Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:33 +0000

What is a cause and effect essay?
Cause and effect essays are concerned with why things happen (causes) and what happens as a result (effects). Cause and effect is a common method of organizing and discussing ideas.
Follow these steps when writing a cause and effect essay
1. Distinguish between cause and effect. To determine causes, ask, “Why did this happen?” To identify effects, ask, “What happened because of this?” The following is an example of one cause producing one effect:
Cause
You are out of gas.
Effect
Your car won’t start.
Sometimes, many causes contribute to a single effect or many effects may result from a single cause. (Your instructor will specify which cause/effect method to use.) The following are examples:
Causes
liked business in high school
salaries in the field are high
have an aunt who is an accountant
am good with numbers
Effect
choose to major in accounting
Cause
reduce work hours
Effects
less income
employer is irritated
more time to study
more time for family and friends
However, most situations are more complicated. The following is an example of a chain reaction:
Thinking about friend:forgot to buy gas:car wouldn’t start:missed math exam:failed math course.
2. Develop your thesis statement. State clearly whether you are discussing causes, effects, or both. Introduce your main idea, using the terms “cause” and/or “effect.”
3. Find and organize supporting details. Back up your thesis with relevant and sufficient details that are organized. You can organize details in the following ways:
* Chronological. Details are arranged in the order in which the events occurred.
* Order of importance. Details are arranged from least to most important or vice versa.
* Categorical. Details are arranged by dividing the topic into parts or categories.
4. Use appropriate transitions. To blend details smoothly in cause and effect essays, use the transitional words and phrases listed below.
For causes
because, due to, on cause is, another is, since, for, first, second
For Effects
consequently, as a result, thus, resulted in, one result is, another is, therefore
When writing your essay, keep the following suggestions in mind:
* Remember your purpose. Decide if your are writing to inform or persuade.
* Focus on immediate and direct causes (or effects.) Limit yourself to causes that are close in time and related, as opposed to remote and indirect causes, which occur later and are related indirectly.
* Strengthen your essay by using supporting evidence. Define terms, offer facts and statistics, or provide examples, anecdotes, or personal observations that support your ideas.
* Qualify or limit your statements about cause and effect. Unless there is clear evidence that one event is related to another, qualify your statements with phrases such as “It appears that the cause was” or “It seems likely” or “The evidence may indicate” or “Available evidence suggests.”
To evaluate the effectiveness of a cause and effect essay, ask the following questions:
What are the causes? What are the effects? Which should be emphasized? Are there single or multiple causes? Single or multiple effects? Is a chain reaction involved?

5-paragraph Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:25 +0000

Introductory paragraph
The introductory paragraph should also include the thesis statement, a kind of mini-outline for the essay. This is where the writer grabs the reader’s attention. It tells the reader what the paper is about. The last sentence of this paragraph must also include a transitional “hook” which moves the reader to the first paragraph of the body of the essay.
Body - First paragraph
The first paragraph of the body should include the strongest argument, most significant example, cleverest illustration, or an obvious beginning point. The first sentence should contain the “reverse hook” which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the introductory paragraph. The subject for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This subject should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the second paragraph of the body.
Body - Second paragraph
The second paragraph of the body should include the second strongest argument, second most significant example, second cleverest illustration, or an obvious follow up the first paragraph in the body. The first sentence of this paragraph should contain the reverse hook, which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the first paragraph of the body. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the third paragraph of the body.
Body - Third paragraph
The third paragraph of the body should include the weakest argument, weakest example, weakest illustration, or an obvious follow up to the second paragraph in the body. The first sentence of this paragraph should contain the reverse hook, which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the second paragraph. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional concluding hook that signals the reader that this is the final major point being made in this essay. This hook also leads into the concluding paragraph.
Concluding paragraph
The fifth paragraph is the summary paragraph. It is important to restate the thesis and three supporting ideas in an original and powerful way as this is the last chance the writer has to convince the reader of the validity of the information presented.
This paragraph should include the following:
1. an allusion to the pattern used in the introductory paragraph,
2. a restatement of the thesis statement, using some of the original language or language that “echoes” the original language. (The restatement, however, must not be a duplicate thesis statement.)
3. a summary of the three main points from the body of the essay.
4. a final statement that gives the reader signals that the discussion has come to an end. (This final statement may be a “call to action” in a persuasive essay.)
Example
1Stephen King, creator of such stories as Carrie and Pet Sematary, stated that the Edgar Allan Poe stories he read as a child gave him the inspiration and instruction he needed to become the writer that he is. 2Poe, as does Stephen King, fills the reader’s imagination with the images that he wishes the reader to see, hear, and feel. 3His use of vivid, concrete visual imagery to present both static and dynamic settings and to describe people is part of his technique. 4Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a story about a young man who kills an old man who cares for him, dismembers the corpse, then goes mad when he thinks he hears the old man’s heart beating beneath the floor boards under his feet as he sits and discusses the old man’s absence with the police. 5In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a careful reader can observe Poe’s skillful manipulation of the senses.
The introductory paragraph includes a paraphrase of something said by a famous person in order to get the reader’s attention. The second sentence leads up to the thesis statement which is the third sentence. The thesis statement (sentence 3) presents topic of the paper to the reader and provides a mini- outline. The topic is Poe’s use of visual imagery. The mini- outline tells the reader that this paper will present Poe’s use of imagery in three places in his writing: (1) description of static setting; (2) description of dynamic setting; and (3) description of a person. The last sentence of the paragraph uses the words “manipulation” and “senses” as transitional hooks.
1The sense of sight, the primary sense, is particularly susceptible to manipulation. 2In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe uses the following image to describe a static scene: “His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness . . .” Poe used the words “black,” “pitch,” and “thick darkness” not only to show the reader the condition of the old man’s room, but also to make the reader feel the darkness.” 3″Thick” is a word that is not usually associated with color (darkness), yet in using it, Poe stimulates the reader’s sense of feeling as well as his sense of sight.
In the first sentence of the second paragraph (first paragraph of the body) the words “sense” and “manipulation” are used to hook into the end of the introductory paragraph. The first part of the second sentence provides the topic for this paragraph–imagery in a static scene. Then a quotation from “The Tell-Tale Heart” is presented and briefly discussed. The last sentence of this paragraph uses the expressions “sense of feeling” and “sense of sight” as hooks for leading into the third paragraph
1Further on in the story, Poe uses a couple of words that cross not only the sense of sight but also the sense of feeling to describe a dynamic scene. 2The youth in the story has been standing in the open doorway of the old man’s room for a long time, waiting for just the right moment to reveal himself to the old man in order to frighten him. 3Poe writes: “So I opened it [the lantern opening]–you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily–until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.” 4By using the metaphor of the thread of the spider (which we all know is a creepy creature) and the word “shot,” Poe almost makes the reader gasp, as surely did the old man whose one blind eye the young man describes as “the vulture eye.”
The first sentence of the third paragraph (second paragraph of the body) uses the words “sense of sight” and “sense of feeling” to hook back into the previous paragraph. Note that in the second paragraph “feeling” came first, and in this paragraph “sight” comes first. The first sentence also includes the topic for this paragraph–imagery in a dynamic scene. Again, a quotation is taken from the story, and it is briefly discussed. The last sentence uses the words “one blind eye” which was in the quotation. This expression provides the transitional hook for the last paragraph in the body of the paper.
1The reader does not know much about what the old man in this story looks like except that he has one blind eye. 2In the second paragraph of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe establishes the young man’s obsession with that blind eye when he writes: “He had the eye of the vulture–a pale blue eye, with a film over it.” 3This “vulture eye” is evoked over and over again in the story until the reader becomes as obsessed with it as does the young man. 4His use of the vivid, concrete word “vulture” establishes a specific image in the mind of the reader that is inescapable.
In the first sentence of the fourth paragraph (third paragraph in the body), “one blind eye” is used that hooks into the previous paragraph. This first sentence also lets the reader know that this paragraph will deal with descriptions of people: “. . . what the old man looks like . . ..” Once again Poe is quoted and discussed. The last sentence uses the word “image” which hooks into the last paragraph. (It is less important that this paragraph has a hook since the last paragraph is going to include a summary of the body of the paper.)
1″Thick darkness,” “thread of the spider,” and “vulture eye” are three images that Poe used in “The Tell-Tale Heart” to stimulate a reader’s senses. 2Poe wanted the reader to see and feel real life. 3He used concrete imagery rather than vague abstract words to describe settings and people. If Edgar Allan Poe was one of Stephen King’s teachers, then readers of King owe a debt of gratitude to that nineteenth-century creator of horror stories.
The first sentence of the concluding paragraph uses the principal words from the quotations from each paragraph of the body of the paper. This summarizes those three paragraphs. The second and third sentences provide observations which can also be considered a summary, not only of the content of the paper, but also offers personal opinion which was logically drawn as the result of this study. The last sentence returns to the Edgar Allan Poe-Stephen King relationship that began this paper. This sentence also provides a “wrap-up” and gives the paper a sense of finality.

The Descriptive Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:05 +0000

What is a Descriptive Essay?
The descriptive essay is a genre of essay that asks the student to describe an object, person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc. This genre encourages the student’s ability to create a written account of a particular experience. What is more, this genre allows for a great deal of artistic freedom (the goal of which is to paint an image that is vivid and moving in the mind of the reader).
One might benefit from keeping in mind this simple maxim: If the reader is unable to clearly form an impression of the thing that you are describing, try, try again!
Here are some guidelines for writing a descriptive essay:
Take time to brainstorm
If your instructor asks you to describe your favorite food, make sure that you jot down some ideas before you begin describing it. For instance, if you choose pizza, you might start by writing down a few words: sauce, cheese, crust, pepperoni, sausage, spices, hot, melted, etc. Once you have written down some words, you can begin by compiling descriptive lists for each one.
Use clear and concise language.
This means that words are chosen carefully, particularly for their relevancy in relation to that which you are intending to describe.
Choose vivid language.
Why use ‘horse’ when you can choose ’stallion’? Why not use ‘tempestuous’ instead of ‘violent’? Or why not ‘miserly’ in place of ‘cheap’? Such choices form a firmer image in the mind of the reader and often times offer nuanced meanings that serve better one’s purpose.
Use your senses!
Remember, if you are describing something, you need to be appealing to the senses of the reader. Explain how the thing smelled, felt, sounded, tasted, or looked. Embellish the moment with senses.
What were you thinking?!
If you can describe emotions or feelings related to your topic, you will connect with the reader on a deeper level. Many have felt crushing loss in their lives, or ecstatic joy, or mild complacency. Tap into this emotional reservoir in order to achieve your full descriptive potential.
Leave the reader with a clear impression.
One of your goals is to evoke a strong sense of familiarity and appreciation in the reader. If your reader can walk away from the essay craving the very pizza you just described, you are on your way to writing effective descriptive essays.
Be organized!
It is easy to fall into an incoherent rambling of emotions and senses when writing a descriptive essay. However, you must strive to present an organized and logical description if the reader is to come away from the essay with a cogent sense of what it is you are attempting to describe.

Make Your Essay Flow

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:03:07 +0000

Your written report, whether it is a creative, three-paragraph essay, or it is an extensive research paper, must be organized in a way that presents a satisfying experience for the reader. Sometimes it just seems impossible to make a paper flow—but that generally happens because your paragraphs aren’t arranged in the best possible order.
Two essential features of a great-reading report are logical order and smart transitions.
Create Flow With Better Paragraph Order
The first step toward making creating flow is making sure your paragraphs are put together in a logical order. Many times, the first draft of a report or essay is a little choppy and out of sequence.
The good news about writing an essay of any length is that you can use cut and paste to rearrange your paragraphs. At first this might sound terrifying: when you finish a draft of an essay it feels much like you have given birth—and cutting and pasting sounds pretty brutal. Don’t worry.
Once you have finished a draft of your paper, save it and name it. Then make a second version by selecting the entire first draft and pasting it into a new document.
1. Now that you have a draft to experiment with, print it out and read it over. Do the paragraphs and topics flow in a logical order? If not, assign each paragraph a number and write the number in the margin. Don’t be at all surprised if you find that a paragraph on page three looks like it could work on page one. It’s entirely possible!
2. Once you’ve numbered all the paragraphs, start cutting and pasting them until they match your numbering system.
3. Now, re-read your essay. If the order works better, go ahead and insert transition sentences between paragraphs.
Create Flow With Transition Words
Transitions can involve a few words or a few sentences. Transition sentences (and words) are necessary for making connections between the claims, views, and statements you make. If you can imagine your report as a quilt made up of many squares, you could think of your transition statements as the stitches that connect the squares.
For some types of writing, transitions can contain just a few simple words. Words like also, furthermore, and yet, can be used to connect one idea to another.
For more sophisticated essays, you’ll need a few sentences to make your paragraphs flow:
Example:
While the research was conducted at a university in Colorado, there is no evidence that altitude was considered…
…A similar exercise was carried out in the mountain state of West Virginia, where similar extremes of altitude exist.
You will find that it is easy to come up with transitions, once you get your paragraphs arranged in the most logical order.

College Essay Writing Tips

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:02:57 +0000

Write an Effective Application Essay
A great application essay will present a vivid, personal, and compelling view of you to the admissions staff. It will round out the rest of your application and help you stand out from the other applicants. The essay is one of the only parts of your application over which you have complete control, so take the time to do a good job on it. Check out these tips before you begin.
Dos
Keep Your Focus Narrow and Personal
Your essay must prove a single point or thesis. The reader must be able to find your main idea and follow it from beginning to end. Try having someone read just your introduction to see what he thinks your essay is about.
Essays that try to be too comprehensive end up sounding watered-down. Remember, it’s not about telling the committee what you’ve done—they can pick that up from your list of activities—instead, it’s about showing them who you are.
Prove It
Develop your main idea with vivid and specific facts, events, quotations, examples, and reasons. There’s a big difference between simply stating a point of view and letting an idea unfold in the details:
* Okay: “I like to be surrounded by people with a variety of backgrounds and interests”
* Better: “During that night, I sang the theme song from Casablanca with a baseball coach who thinks he’s Bogie, discussed Marxism with a little old lady, and heard more than I ever wanted to know about some woman’s gall bladder operation.”
Be Specific
Avoid clich?d, generic, and predictable writing by using vivid and specific details.
* Okay: “I want to help people. I have gotten so much out of life through the love and guidance of my family, I feel that many individuals have not been as fortunate; therefore, I would like to expand the lives of others.”
* Better: “My Mom and Dad stood on plenty of sidelines ’til their shoes filled with water or their fingers turned white, or somebody’s golden retriever signed his name on their coats in mud. I think that kind of commitment is what I’d like to bring to working with fourth-graders.”
Don’ts
Don’t Tell Them What You Think They Want to Hear
Most admissions officers read plenty of essays about the charms of their university, the evils of terrorism, and the personal commitment involved in being a doctor. Bring something new to the table, not just what you think they want to hear.
Don’t Write a Resume
Don’t include information that is found elsewhere in the application. Your essay will end up sounding like an autobiography, travelogue, or laundry list. Yawn.
* “During my junior year, I played first singles on the tennis team, served on the student council, maintained a B+ average, traveled to France, and worked at a cheese factory.”
Don’t Use 50 Words When Five Will Do
Eliminate unnecessary words.
* Okay: “Over the years it has been pointed out to me by my parents, friends, and teachers—and I have even noticed this about myself, as well—that I am not the neatest person in the world.”
* Better: “I’m a slob.”
Don’t Forget to Proofread
Typos and spelling or grammatical errors can be interpreted as carelessness or just bad writing. Don’t rely on your computer’s spell check. It can miss spelling errors like the ones below.
* “After I graduate form high school, I plan to work for a nonprofit organization during the summer.”
* “From that day on, Daniel was my best fried.”
This article is based on information found in The College Application Essay, by Sarah Myers McGinty, which is available through our online store.

The English Critical Essay. Steps in Writing an Essay

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1.1 Investigate the selected TOPIC, taking careful, accurate notes on “note cards” — on paper or on computer. You may choose to use annotated photocopies of pages from books or journal articles, or computer files with downloaded material. The advantage of these methods is that errors of copying are avoided and you have a copy of the original material for last-minute checking.
1.2 If you use secondary sources, remember that you must have grasped (and be able to express) the overall argument of the work before extracting any one point from it. You are expected to understand and evaluate, not merely copy. See 4, Documentation.
1.3 Find a THESIS. In order to narrow and define your particular subject, assemble your material and review it until you are familiar enough with it to form a judgement or take a position on the TOPIC selected. You should be able to formulate this THESIS in a single sentence or two. Ask yourself: what exactly is the point I want the reader to understand?
1.4 Organize your information in light of this argument or THESIS.
1.4.1 Gather all material that supports your argument. If there is not enough proof to be convincing, abandon that thesis and begin again.
1.4.2 Divide this material into the separate points of the argument and arrange these in order of increasing strength, ending with your best point.
1.4.3 Deal with opposite points of view. Disposing — in a fair and logical manner — of counter-arguments in the body of your essay actually strengthens your own THESIS.
1.5 Prepare a detailed outline or PLAN before writing the FIRST DRAFT. As you do so, check that there are:
* no contradictions in your argument
* no gaps in your reasoning
* no irrelevant points included
* no relevant point not supported by evidence
* no unacknowledged assumptions (about the text, the method, the reader)
1.6 Write a FIRST DRAFT based on the STRUCTURE outlined in section 2. Then consult the CHECKLIST (3) before rewriting.
1.7 Your FINAL VERSION should be written or preferably typed, double-spaced, with wide margins (1.5 inches) all around. Proofread before submitting, using CHECKLIST. Try to finish the essay a few days before it is due. This will allow you time to read it a final time (with some critical distance) and make any revisions.

Lesson Six: Editing and Revising

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Introduction
“If one thing could be perfect, it should be the essay.” - Admissions Officer
Writing is not a one-time act. Writing is a process. Memorable writing comes more from rewriting than it does from the first draft. By rewriting you will improve your essay — guaranteed. If you skimp on the rewriting process, you significantly reduce the chances that your essay will be as good as it could be.
Once you have taken a break from your essay, come back and read it through one time with a fresh perspective. Analyze it as objectively as possible based on the following three components: substance, structure, and interest. Do not worry yet about surface errors and spelling mistakes; focus instead on the larger issues. Consider reordering your supporting details, delete irrelevant sections, and make clear the broader implications of your experiences. Allow your more important arguments to come to the foreground. Take points that might only be implicit and make them explicit.
In order to figure out where revisions are necessary, you are going to need as many different sets of eyes to read your essay as possible. Whether it is you or one of your friends, family members or teachers, these questions will help guide your revision process.
When editing, make sure to pay careful attention to:
*Substance
*Structure
*Interest
*Proofreading
SUBSTANCE
Substance refers to the content of the essay and the message you send out. It can be very hard to gauge in your own writing. One good way to make sure that you are saying what you think you are saying is to write down, briefly and in your own words, the general idea of your message. Then remove the introduction and conclusion from your essay and have an objective reader review what is left. Ask that person what he thinks is the general idea of your message. Compare the two statements to see how similar they are. This can be especially helpful if you wrote a narrative. It will help to make sure that you are communicating your points in the story. Here are some more questions to ask yourself regarding content.
* Have I answered the question asked?
* Do I back up each point that I make with an example? Have I used concrete and personal examples?
* Have I been specific? (Go on a generalities hunt. Turn the generalities into specifics.)
* Could anyone else have written this essay?
* What does it say about me? After making a list of all the words you have used within the essay — directly and indirectly — to describe yourself, ask: Does this list accurately represent me?
* Does the writing sound like me? Is it personal and informal rather than uptight or stiff?
* Regarding the introduction, is it personal and written in my own voice? Is it too general? Can the essay get along without it?
* What about the essay makes it memorable?
STRUCTURE
* To check the overall structure of your essay, conduct a first-sentence check. Write down the first sentence of every paragraph in order. Read through them one after another and ask the following:
o Would someone who was reading only these sentences still understand exactly what I am trying to say?
o Do the first sentences express all of my main points?
o Do the thoughts flow naturally, or do they seem to skip around or come out of left field?
* Now go back to your essay as a whole and ask these questions:
o Does each paragraph stick to the thought that was introduced in the first sentence?
o Does a piece of evidence support each point? How well does the evidence support the point?
* Is each paragraph roughly the same length? Stepping back and squinting at the essay, do the paragraphs look balanced on the page? (If one is significantly longer than the rest, you are probably trying to squeeze more than one thought into it.)
* Does my conclusion draw naturally from the previous paragraphs?
* Have I varied the length and structure of my sentences?
INTEREST
Many people think only of mechanics when they revise and rewrite their compositions. As we know, though, the interest factor is crucial in keeping the admissions officers reading and remembering your essay. Look at your essay with the interest equation in mind: personal + specific = interesting. Answer the following:
* Is the opening paragraph personal?
* Do I start with action or an image?
* Does the essay show rather than tell?
* Did I use any words that are not usually a part of my vocabulary? (If so, get rid of them.)
* Have I used the active voice whenever possible?
* Have I overused adjectives and adverbs?
* Have I eliminated clich?s?
* Have I deleted redundancies?
* Does the essay sound interesting to me? (If it bores you, imagine what it will do to others.)
* Will the ending give the reader a sense of completeness? Does the last sentence sound like the last sentence?
PROOFREADING
When you are satisfied with the structure and content of your essay, it is time to check for grammar, spelling, typos, and the like. You can fix obvious things right away: a misspelled or misused word, a seemingly endless sentence, or improper punctuation. Keep rewriting until your words say what you want them to say. Ask yourself these questions:
* Did I punctuate correctly?
* Did I eliminate exclamation points (except in dialogue)?
* Did I use capitalization clearly and consistently?
* Do the subjects agree in number with the verbs?
* Did I place the periods and commas inside the quotation marks?
* Did I keep contractions to a minimum? Do apostrophes appear in the right places?
* Did I replace the name of the proper school for each new application?
* Have I caught every single typo? (You can use your spell-checker but make sure that you check and re-check every change it makes. It is a computer after all.)