How To Write An Example Essay

How To Write An Example Essay They’re about getting you in touch with the most authentic and vibrant version of yourself. Good writers vary their sentence length but as a rule of thumb, most of your sentences should be short and punchy. The longer a sentence becomes, the greater the risk of it becoming long-winded or confusing. As you saw in the prompts above, we’re big advocates of beginning with a particular story or anecdote. This is NOT the only way to start an essay, but it’s a classic one. Journalists call this a “lede”â€"it’s a hook that brings the reader into a wider topic. Your essay will always go beyond the anecdote, but an anecdote offers a reader an easy, smooth way into your personal statement. It will also support the contention with argument and evidence. Discussion essays require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour. Cause & effect essays consider the reasons for something, then discuss the results . Compare & contrast essays examine the similarities of two or more objects, and the differences. As instructors, we also have to give up some control over our assignments. Tell the story of an argumentâ€"cordial or notâ€"that you’ve had with someone about this issue. Tell the story of a time you are proud of how you handled conflict in relation to this disagreement. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. In order to get into your dream school, you’ll need not only great grades and test scores but also a strong personal statement. Your Personal Statement is the single loudest ‘qualitative’ element of your application. It is where you first address the question and express your contention. It is also where you lay out or ‘signpost’ the direction your essay will take. An essay using this contention would then go on to explain and justify these statements in greater detail. This sentence introduces the paragraph topic and briefly explains its significance to the question and your contention. Good paragraphs also contain thorough explanations, some analysis and evidence, and perhaps a quotation or two. A paragraph should focus on one topic or issue only â€" but it should contain a thorough exploration of that topic or issue. Many consider the introduction to be the most important part of an essay. It is the reader’s first experience of your essay. For some, it’s easier to concentrate in the morning, while others do their best work at night. Some prefer to hand write the first draft on the paper, while for others, typing is easier. Before writing the first draft, decide what ideas you would like to reveal and match them with the information you’ve collected. You may need to do further research before sitting down to write the first draft. Even if you have collected a lot of material, you may face difficulties. It’s the way you communicate with the admissions committee as a person and as a potential member of the campus community. With more people applying to colleges every year, admissions officers know they can have their pick of bright and motivated students. In addition to seeing your talents and achievements on paper, they need a chance to imagine what you might be like as a walking, talking human being. The college application process has a logic to itâ€"and it’s one you, the applicant, can both navigate and trust. All those essays, all those forms, all those questions? Long sentences can easily become disjointed, confused or rambling. Try not to overuse long sentences and pay close attention to sentence length when proofreading. A history essay is only likely to succeed if it is appropriately referenced. Your essay should support its information, ideas and arguments with citations or references to reliable sources. A good paragraph will begin with an effective opening sentence, sometimes called a topic sentence or signposting sentence. There are a number of ways to approach freewriting, and all of them are meant to keep you limber, loose, and free. Is there a prevalent belief in your family or community with which you disagree? For a truly student-centered process to work, we can’t ask leading questions or make decisions for our students. Giving students the reading, writing and thinking skills required for a process like this is, to put it mildly, challenging -- for students and instructors alike. We’re asking students to give up certainties and formulae, to dive into the unknown. We’re taking away the safety of falling back on generalizations, personal experience and conventional wisdom.