For those of you who aren’t exactly fans of essay writing, standing in front of a firing squad might seem like a better option than having to write another essay about the death penalty. I hear ya. This is a long-debated topic and one that can be challenging to write about because it can seem …
Ever been nervous on a first date or freak out the moment you’re supposed to start a new job? Most people have. Why? Because you want to start on the right foot. You don’t want to call your date “Kay” when her name is actually “Kali.” And you don’t want to trip over a chair …
Classification: It sounds like one of those terms a mobster might use in a 1940s film noir. “Hey, Mac! Get that dame over here. This place could use some classification. Someone needs to class up this joint!” Okay, classification doesn’t mean “to class up a joint.” To understand the meaning of the word, think about …
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY DUE NEXT WEEK! You cannot escape it any longer. Your essay is due a week from today. (Thank goodness for homework apps, or you would have completely forgotten about it!) Remembering that you have to write an essay is only half the battle, though. Now you have to figure out how to …
If you’re anything like me, you probably read through The Scarlet Letter the first time and wondered how on earth colonial Puritans could possibly be relevant to your life today. Well … that’s the beauty of literature. Even though a story may be set in a time period you cannot relate to, the idea behind …
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of those stories that could be made into a box-office hit. It has action, adventure, love, and seduction. Sir Gawain’s reputation precedes him in many instances, and he tries to live up to people’s expectations. While some students may have a hard time finding the entertainment and …
Some semesters can seem like the perfect storm—reading unfamiliar material, advanced writing, and seemingly not enough time to do it all. Before you start feeling like you’re drowning, learn how to take charge of your essay and be the captain of your own ship. Although it might feel like you’re trying to pilot a boat …
Don’t know how to write an article review? Don’t panic—it’s easier than you think. Even if you’ve never written an article review before, the skills you’ve gained writing other types of essays will come in handy. Expository, descriptive, analytical, and argumentative essays have all prepared you to write an article review. Even if you haven’t …
I absolutely love film. But I don’t absolutely love bad films. So you can understand why I appreciate good film critics. They essentially save me from wasting my life in two-hour increments. Although critics can be quite critical (read: negative) at times, they aren’t always this way. In fact, they can be downright gushing when …
It’s pretty easy to look at a poorly written piece of writing and say, “Here’s what you shouldn’t do.” After all, most of us can recognize bad writing when we see it. We can recognize good writing too. But it’s not always that easy to identify what makes good writing good. It can be even …
You’ve just been assigned to write an opinion essay. “Opinions?!” You think, “I’ve got plenty of those!” But slow down, cowboy, you’re going to have to narrow it down to a single opinion. More than that, you must be able to support that opinion with facts, figures, or examples from the real world. “You are …
What’s your first reaction to these opening lines? The Egyptians lived a long time ago. Back in the day, kids worked in factories. If your reaction is a big yawn, I understand. Who wants to read lifeless writing like this? You might as well start your paper with, “Attention: this essay will bore you to …
Remember the days of elementary school reports when you had to write about events like the first Thanksgiving or the signing of the Declaration of Independence? Those were the good ol’ days when you could look up a few facts about a historical event, summarize the highlights, and voila, you had an A paper! Life …
Do you take everything you see or read at face value, or do you think about it on a deeper level? Or think about it this way: if you were in The Hunger Games, would you be an inhabitant of The Capitol—carefree and enjoying the “entertainment” of the Games—or more critical of the government and …
You know those classes that seem to drag on forever? The clock on the wall mocks you by moving slower. The breeze sweeps in through an open window and calls to you. These are examples of personification—the clock mocking and the breeze calling. I know you might not be looking forward to your essay on …
Ever watch an episode of CSI (or maybe binge-watched an entire season … or two)? If you have (or have watched just about any other TV crime drama), then you’ve seen a group of detectives investigating a crime. You’ve seen them trying to figure out if they’ve identified the correct perpetrator. They look at the …
There are lots of times when doing something in reverse isn’t the best idea—like walking backwards through town or driving in reverse down the interstate. Neither of these serve any useful purpose (and can actually be dangerous). So don’t try these at home. What you definitely should try at home (or in your dorm room, …
Take a look at these four essay topics, and tell me why they won’t work as a topic for your paper: psychology Romanticism World War II music If you said that all of these are great subjects but they aren’t great topics because they’re too broad, you’re right. You cannot possibly write a good essay about …
You’re cruising through your writing class just fine. No speed bumps in the road to a decent grade. But then your instructor decides to put up a roadblock—a texting while driving essay. You screech to a halt. You weren’t paying attention to how to write essays most effectively and, instead, just wrote whatever came naturally. …
How many times has a professor given you a list of assigned topics and told you to write about one of them? How many times did you complain that you didn’t like any topics on the list? I bet you’ve done it at least once or twice. You yearn for the freedom to choose your …
Any reader of some or all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 60 Sherlock Holmes detective stories knows the author follows a certain formula. First, a stranger visits Detective Holmes and his sidekick Watson, presenting them with a mysterious criminal quandary. Then Holmes and Watson visit the scene of the crime where Holmes is able to …