Our world is shrinking every day – how do you like it? From the telegraph to the internet, from rails to jumbo jets, advances in communication and travel technology have connected people across the globe. Some of these connections have promoted prosperity while others have been problematic. For better or worse, globalization is a complex …
So you’ve carefully read your professor’s instructions and picked your research topic. Awesome — but now what? The long and winding road to a great research paper starts with a strong thesis statement, but theses don’t grow on trees! You must first come up with a great research question, which will act like your paper’s …
I’m a traveler. During my journeys, I have met myriad travelers, each with different ways of traveling. One of the most interesting differences I’ve noticed has been the various ways in which travelers prepare for a trip. Interestingly, it mirrors the different prewriting strategies writers use to prepare for an essay. On one end of the …
You’ve done all the leg work—identified your topic, crafted the perfect thesis statement, researched like crazy, and prepared your outline. Now you sit staring at a blank screen ready to put it all together. Maybe you’ve already written an introduction, maybe not. In either case, diving into your body paragraphs, crafting the perfect paragraph structures, …
Despite what your grade-school teacher might have told you, poetry isn’t all hearts and flowers, especially not when you have to analyze a poem in an essay. When you delve into the realm of poetry, you’re much more likely to stumble into madness and decay, especially if you are reading Edgar Allen Poe or Charles …
Ah, the infamous James Joyce, bane of millions of high school and college students, and now it’s your turn to face the coming-of-age trial: writing a literary analysis of Araby by James Joyce. You might be thinking “I didn’t sign up for this.” You might not be an English major or really interested in literature …
There are a few age-old debates in this world, and you have just been assigned one for your next persuasive essay—nature vs. nurture. Biologists, psychologists, sociologists and others have been arguing for decades about whether nature (a person’s biology or genetic makeup) or nurture (a person’s environment) has more of an impact in the person’s …
“Man, this essay is going to be impossible.” We’ve all been in this boat before, confronted with an essay assignment that is beyond difficult. What if I told you that I can teach you how to write an essay about pretty much anything under the sun? Even … hmm …wombats. “What? Why wombats?” you wonder. …
Are you feeling frustrated by another 5-paragraph essay assignment? Do you feel as though your creative freedom has been stymied once again by the powers that be? Do you want to be free to explore essay organization like the effervescent honey blossom butterfly that you are? Well, you must break free from the 5-paragraph essay …
Why does that word – analysis – strike fear into the hearts of so many college students, and just what the heck is a literary analysis, anyway? Analysis is typically the last skill your brain learns, and most students don’t encounter this term until college. But never fear – I’m here to help you conquer …
Panic (noun) 1. sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior “A wave of panic washed over him as he realized he didn’t have a topic for his definition essay.” If this definition applies to you right now, and you’re panicking because you have a paper due tomorrow (okay, so you’ve procrastinated just …
If I asked why you love the pizza place across town but hate the pizzeria two blocks away, you’d be able to give me a list of reasons, right? If you can answer this question, then you can write an evaluation essay. Okay, it’s a little bit harder than telling someone why you love a …
You know what I always liked about Batman and Iron Man over the rest of the superheroes? The fact that they are (relatively) normal guys. They don’t need any special powers to fit into the same category as Spiderman, Superman, or Wonder Woman. Heroes can be, and usually are, real people. And that’s exactly what …
You vacantly nod your head as your teacher keeps repeating the words, “It won’t be that hard. It’s just a book report,” but inside, you’re quaking. When was the last time you wrote a book report? Do you even remember how to write a book report? You look around at your peers who don’t seem …
So, you think you’ve got what it takes to write a good descriptive essay? What about a great one? Writing a descriptive essay usually requires you to describe something – an object, place, person, event, experience, emotion, etc. – making use of details and sensory imagery. Description allows us to show rather than tell. Think …
Describe your whereabouts on the evening of the 18th. Okay, this isn’t CSI, and you’re not under investigation, so this isn’t the type of description we’ll be learning about in this post. Describe your summer vacation. You’re not in third grade, either so no one is going to ask you to write a paper describing …
“I want to tell you about the time I almost died.” I really don’t have such a tale to tell, but I bet I piqued your interest, didn’t I? Why? Because it’s a great opening line that makes you want to learn more. You keep reading because you want to know how the story ends. …
Ever sit under a tree on a beautiful summer day and reflect about your life and what you’ve learned? No? That’s okay if you haven’t. A lot of students are way too busy to spend their days reflecting. But if you’ve been assigned to write a reflective essay, here’s your chance to do so. Are …
Your doctor does it after you leave. Your waiter does it in front of you. Reporters do it all over the place. No no no, not that. They take notes! Even the best of us have rather limited capacity for storing information in our brains, let alone knowing exactly where that information came from and …
After years of being told that you shouldn’t use “I” or other personal pronouns in your essays, you get to break all the rules! Here come the personal pronouns! Finally, a topic that is actually interesting to you: YOU! Finally, an essay topic that is actually interesting to you: YOU! Click To Tweet The excitement …
Whenever you’re writing an essay for a class, to get into your dream school, or for some other reason besides “just for the heck of it,” you usually need to write a minimum number of words or pages. And while there are probably topics you could write about forever — an ode to your pillow …