Essay Tips

Essay Tips Regardless of length, and even if yours is a transfer essay, the best writing will tell a compelling story, provide insight to your character and interests, and are written with crisp and engaging prose. To write an engaging and effective 650 word or shorter essay, you need to have a sharp focus. Narrate a single event, or illuminate a single passion or talent. Whichever essay prompt you choose, make sure you zero in on a specific example that you narrate in an engaging and thoughtful way. Allow enough space for self reflection so that whatever your topic is you spend at least some time talking about its significance to you. Finding a cure for cancer, saving the whales singlehandedly, or traveling abroad to build homes for orphans does not automatically make a great essay. It’s all about the delivery, the reflection, the conversational tone, showing not telling that will make for a winning essay. Finally, keep in mind that what you say and how you say it is far more important than whether you have 550 words or 650 words. Be sure to attend to your essay's style, and in most cases you're going to want to avoid these ten bad essay topics. If you've said all you have to say in 500 words, don't try to pad your essay to make it longer. You want to approach writing your essay as if it were a creative writing piece. The only thing you have to keep in mind is that it’s a creative nonfiction piece. This means you are telling a true story in a creative form. However, this opportunity also gives you the advantage to choose a subject that is interesting or relevant to you. Once you have determined the purpose, you will need to do some research on topics that you find intriguing. If your goal is to educate, choose a subject that you have already studied. If your goal is to persuade, choose a subject that you are passionate about. Whatever the mission of the essay, make sure that you are interested in your topic. You can bring creativity into your essay through the hook, a conceit, or through your syntax and diction. If you can make the reader laugh, say “I get that” or “me too”, you are on your way to a strong application. In addition, you are sharing something about yourself that is not anywhere else in your application. Learning how to write an essay is crucial to admissions and scholarship decisions. Want the strategies we have used to get students into top Ivy League schools in your email box every month? Caroline’s admissions consulting service has helped students get into Harvard, Stanford, UPenn, and Columbia. Writing about yourself can be a slippery slope, which is why it is best to stick to the truth and leave the lies behind. The body of your essay argues, explains or describes your topic. Each main idea that you wrote in your diagram or outline will become a separate section within the body of your essay. Each body paragraph will have the same basic structure. Fill in these spaces with relative information that will help link smaller ideas together.5. You may have your topic assigned, or you may be given free reign to write on the subject of your choice. If you are given the topic, you should think about the type of paper that you want to produce. Should it be a general overview of the subject or a specific analysis? If you have not been assigned a topic, you have a little more work to do. Reread your paper and check to see if it makes sense. Make sure that sentence flow is smooth and add phrases to help connect thoughts or ideas. Check your essay for grammar and spelling mistakes. Begin by writing one of your main ideas as the introductory sentence. Next, write each of your supporting ideas in sentence format, but leave three or four lines in between each point to come back and give detailed examples to back up your position. In the end, the admissions committee is just looking for insight into your mind and character. It’s up to you to show them through your writing just what you can add to their school. While writing your essay, you have to keep your ego in check. Although you want to come off as the best version of you, sometimes you can get carried away with the story and lose yourself in over exaggeration.