how to write a composition for essay

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Academic Writing

How to Write a Composition

Last Updated: December 6, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 806,770 times.

You don't have to be a good writer to write well. Writing is a process. By learning to treat writing as a series of small steps instead of a big all-at-once magic trick you have to pull off will make writing a composition much easier and much more fun. You can learn to brainstorm main ideas before you start writing, organize a draft of those main ideas, and revise your composition into a polished essay. See Step 1 for more information.

Composition Template

Pre-Writing

What is the purpose of the composition?
What is the topic of the composition?
What are the length requirements?
What is the appropriate tone or voice for the composition?
Is research required? These questions are good for you to ask.
Pre-writing: gathering your thoughts or research, brainstorming, and planning the compositions
Writing: actively writing your composition
Editing: re-reading your paper, adding sentences, cutting unnecessary parts, and proofreading

Try a timed writing by keeping your pen moving for 10 minutes without stopping. Don't shy away from including your opinions about a particular topic, even if your teacher has warned you from including personal opinions in your paper. This isn't the final draft!

Step 4 Try a cluster or bubble exercise.

Write the topic in the center of the paper and draw a circle around it. Say your topic is "Romeo & Juliet" or "The Civil War". Write the phrase on your paper and circle it.
Around the center circle, write your main ideas or interests about the topic. You might be interested in "Juliet's death," "Mercutio's anger," or "family strife." Write as many main ideas as you're interested in.
Around each main idea, write more specific points or observations about each more specific topic. Start looking for connections. Are you repeating language or ideas?
Connect the bubbles with lines where you see related connections. A good composition is organized by main ideas, not organized chronologically or by plot. Use these connections to form your main ideas.
Don’t worry about coming up with a polished thesis statement or final argument now; that can come later in the process.

Your thesis statement needs to be debatable. In fact, many thesis statements are structured as the answer to a well-formulated question about the topic. "Romeo & Juliet is an interesting play written by Shakespeare in the 1500s" isn't a thesis statement, because that's not a debatable issue. We don't need you to prove that to us. "Romeo & Juliet features Shakespeare's most tragic character in Juliet" is a lot closer to a debatable point, and could be an answer to a question like, “Who is Shakespeare’s most tragic character?” [4] X Research source
Your thesis statement needs to be specific. "Romeo & Juliet is a play about making bad choices" isn't as strong a thesis statement as "Shakespeare makes the argument that the inexperience of teenage love is comic and tragic at the same time" is much stronger.
A good thesis guides the essay. In your thesis, you can sometimes preview the points you'll make in your paper, guiding yourself and the reader: "Shakespeare uses Juliet's death, Mercutio's rage, and the petty arguments of the two principal families to illustrate that the heart and the head are forever disconnected."

Writing a Rough Draft

Introduction, in which the topic is described, the issue or problem is summarized, and your argument is presented
Main point paragraph 1, in which you make and support your first supporting argument
Main point paragraph 2, in which you make and support your second supporting argument
Main point paragraph 3, in which you make and support your final supporting argument
Conclusion paragraph, in which you summarize your argument

Step 2 Back up your main points with two kinds of evidence.

Proof includes specific quotes from the book you're writing about, or specific facts about the topic. If you want to talk about Mercutio's temperamental character, you'll need to quote from him, set the scene, and describe him in detail. This is proof that you'll also need to unpack with logic.
Logic refers to your rationale and your reasoning. Why is Mercutio like this? What are we supposed to notice about the way he talks? Explain your proof to the reader by using logic and you'll have a solid argument with strong evidence.

Step 3 Think of questions that need to be answered.

Ask how. How is Juliet's death presented to us? How do the other characters react? How is the reader supposed to feel?
Ask why. Why does Shakespeare kill her? Why not let her live? Why does she have to die? Why would the story not work without her death?

Step 4 Don't worry about "sounding smart."

Only use words and phrases that you have a good command over. Academic vocabulary might sound impressive, but if you don’t fully grasp its meaning, you might muddle the effect of your paper.

Step 1 Get some feedback on your rough draft.

Try writing a rough draft the weekend before it's due, and giving it to your teacher for comments several days before the due date. Take the feedback into consideration and make the necessary changes.

Step 2 Be willing to make big cuts and big changes.

Moving paragraphs around to get the best possible organization of points, the best "flow"
Delete whole sentences that are repetitive or that don't work
Removing any points that don't support your argument

Think of each main point you're making like a mountain in a mountain range that you're flying over in a helicopter. You can stay above them and fly over them quickly, pointing out their features from far away and giving us a quick flyover tour, or you can drop us down in between them and show us up close, so we see the mountain goats and the rocks and the waterfalls. Which would be a better tour?

Expert Q&A

Write a point, and expand 2 lines on that particular point. Thanks Helpful 9 Not Helpful 2
Open source software called Free Mind can help with the pre-writing process. Thanks Helpful 7 Not Helpful 2
You can always add more circles to your guiding diagram if you think the much you have is not sufficient. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 3

Tips from our Readers

Remember to always proofread your composition after you have finished! Small typos like a missed comma or a misspelled word are easy to miss the first time around.
If you want to outline your composition, try using a mini white board. This makes it easier to erase things and restructure your outline if you need to.
It's hard to write with distractions, so try to pick a quiet place where you won't be disturbed to work on your assignment.

↑ https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/writing-your-essay
↑ https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/academic-skills/essay-writing
↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/01/
↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/05/
↑ https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/how-to-write-an-essay/essay-structure
↑ https://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/writing-well/essay.html
↑ https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/grammarpunct/commonerrors/

About This Article

To write a composition, start with a brainstorming session to get your thoughts down on paper. You can create a formal outline during this time, or experiment with bubble exercises and free-writing. Next, create a clear thesis statement to base your composition around. Then, write an introduction, 3 main paragraphs, and a conclusion that summarizes your argument. Read through and revise your content, and don't forget to proofread thoroughly! To learn more about the "rule of 5" and how to back up your statements in a composition, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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You, Writing! A Guide to College Composition

(25 reviews)

Alexandra Glynn, North Hennepin Community College

Kelli Hallsten-Erickson, Lake Superior College

Amy Jo Swing, Lake Superior College

Publisher: Alexandra Glynn

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Tara Montague, Part-time instructor, Portland Community College on 3/6/22

The text is comprehensive; it covers all of the topics I would expect it to. It has a lengthy (10-page) glossary, but no index. I am undecided as to how useful the glossary is. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text is comprehensive; it covers all of the topics I would expect it to. It has a lengthy (10-page) glossary, but no index. I am undecided as to how useful the glossary is.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I have no concerns about the accuracy or bias of the content.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

For the most part, I feel like the content is up-to-date, though I believe the website and app litmus test (148) could be revisited. I believe any updates would be easy and straightforward to implement.

Clarity rating: 5

This text does a great job of speaking to students with accessible, conversational prose and of defining terms and concepts.

Consistency rating: 5

I don’t have any concerns with the consistency of the text in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

I think the modularity is strong, which makes this text a great candidate for one of the online reading formats with hyperlinked contents. There are many subtopics within larger topics within larger sections. I will likely use this text by selecting sections to assign; the modularity makes this easy to do.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The authors have used the “Basic Writing Process Chart” (page 12) to organize the chapters of the text. For the most part that makes sense as an organizational principle. If I were designing the organization, I think I’d have Exploration before Audience and Purpose, but I can also see that the authors’ arrangement makes sense. I also felt like the very long Modes of Writing section (pp. 56-79) was a little out of balance and out of pace with the rest of the text.

Interface rating: 3

The only available format for this text is PDF, and I don’t think it’s marked up or accessible. The 170-page text is a long, word-processed document. This creates navigation issues as the text is long and linear, with no hyperlinks from the table of contents. Word maps are used to add some color and graphic appeal, but the fonts are difficult to read. (Captions are, however, included.) The use of a few icons here and there is a little confusing. The interface is a big barrier to me because I believe it would create a barrier to learning for many of my students.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

While I didn’t notice grammatical errors, I found some editing errors, including incomplete links, some typos, and a misspelling.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

There is some diversity in examples. I didn’t notice anything exclusive or offensive. Many of the examples are related to life experiences that everyone would have. I am not sure that the “Anglo-Saxon” vs. “Latinate” distinction is helpful or relevant at this point..

This text is a solid choice for an introductory writing course. I found the editing and proofreading sections especially useful; they have impressively accessible and clear (and not over-long) discussions. I particularly like the breakdown of style. My biggest issue with this text is that the only format it’s available in is a continuous essay-style document converted to a PDF without hyperlinks. This makes it a bit difficult to work with and not the most accessible or appealing for students.

Reviewed by Lindsay Tigue, Assistant Professor, Eastern New Mexico University on 12/31/21

This book covers most of the topics I cover in my Composition courses and it includes a lot of helpful information on the topic of writing. read more

This book covers most of the topics I cover in my Composition courses and it includes a lot of helpful information on the topic of writing.

I did not notice any errors in my review of this textbook.

This book contains relevant examples, but overall the suggestions of writing, editing, and revision do not feel as if they will go out of date.

The text is written in accessible and readable language without talking down to students in any way.

I found the texts quality and terminology to be consistent throughout.

I could definitely see pulling relevant chapters and using them as stand-alone resources in a course as the text is designed to be used whole or in parts. I found several parts especially useful--like the chapter on thesis statements and titling the essay. I definitely see myself pulling specific chapters to use with students.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This text is well-organized and the table of contents lays out a clear organization for the text.

Interface rating: 4

The text is clean and easy to read and includes helpful images. It would be even more helpful if the table of contents sections were linkable to that part of the text.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice any grammatical errors in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I found the text inclusive.

I appreciate the clear, helpful information on college writing in this text. I found the parts about thesis statements, introductions and conclusions, and titling especially helpful. I don't think I have ever seen a Composition textbook tackle titling an essay in such a clear, helpful way for students. I appreciate the visuals and how even handwritten examples of things like mind mapping are included to show students what that would really look like in their notes. The only thing I would like to see is the chapters linked in the table of contents to that part of the pdf. At least in the download I was looking at, there were no links. The text doesn't have a very designed look and could be more visually interesting. However, the information is useful and easy to read so that is fine. Overall, I found this text useful and I will definitely pull chapters of it for my Composition course.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Bidinger, Professor, Worcester State University on 7/7/21

This textbook provides excellent coverage of the fundamental topics that are covered in most FYW courses, and is especially well-suited for one that doesn't emphasize writing with sources and research. It is unusually thorough on the basics of the writing process, such as planning, drafting, organizing, and revising, which I find very helpful. Clearly written sections beautifully explain and illustrate skills like organizing paragraphs and writing introductions and conclusions. Especially useful is the chapter on revision, which includes a student essay with inserted suggestions for revision, followed by a revised draft. This text provides the most thorough and instructive discussion of audience of any FYW textbook that I can recall, which I find a perfect place to start. No index, but a comprehensive glossary defines virtually every composition and rhetoric term that might be used in a FYW course. While this book covers the basics in fluid, highly accessible prose, some of its discussions are perhaps too general and even elementary. The section on different modes of writing provides such superficial descriptions of different types of writing that it manages to make them all sound fairly uniform and lacking in the distinctiveness that should make them sound fun to write. It would be an ideal FYW textbook if there was an attempt to supplement the basics with some sophisticated and challenging discussions on critical thinking and cultural criticism, as well as a wider range of examples of writing in different modes. The troubling implication of a college text that covers basic writing skills in depth but totally omits intellectually and aesthetically engaging materials is that students who need to review essay and paragraph organization wouldn't be inspired by reading, or capable of producing, prose that is rich with irony, humor, nuance, or difficult truths. The student example of a report is titled, "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" (Chapter 7: Drafting), which I fear many college students would find offensively rudimentary. I would have also really liked some exercise prompts.

The information in the book is accurate, error-free, and completely responsible and sound.

The authors do a fine job of keeping the focus on the fairly timeless basics of how to craft effective prose, so very little would become outdated in the near future and the few timely cultural references to things like BLM are presented in a way that makes them relevant now and, I would guess, for many years.

One of the great strengths of this book is its clear, conversational, highly readable prose. The explanations are easy to follow and every potentially unfamiliar term is provided with adequate context.

This text is consistent in form, approach, structure, and authorial voice. It conveys professionalism and expertise.

Modularity rating: 4

The book's chapters are designed so that each provides a detailed discussion of a discrete skill set, so that it would be very easy to assign a single chapter within a module or unit. I'm giving it a 4 rating instead of a 5 in this area because I would have really liked self-contained chapters on a few different modes of writing that included planning strategies for each kind of essay described. A discussion of the process of finding a topic could be more illustrative and inspiring if it's geared towards a specific kind of writing, but also, it would be nice to have a self-contained chapter on writing a narrative essay that could be used by itself for a unit focused on that assignment.

The book is thoughtfully organized to follow the steps of the writing process, so for a first-semester, FYW course, the organization works very well. The single chapter on research being added at the end might seem a troubling suggestion, in the view of others, that research is completely separate from the writing process, but I personally find the approach of separating writing skills from research skills to be less intimidating to new college students.

Interface rating: 5

I had no problems accessing or navigating any section or component of this text. I do think it could be presented in a more visually engaging and accessible way, with more highlighted text boxes that separate and emphasize key takeaways.

I found the text to be grammatically sound and effectively written.

There is certainly nothing insensitive or offensive in this book. However, a casual glance at the works cited in each chapter shows how overwhelmingly canonical and traditional the majority of the textual examples and references are: D. H. Lawrence, Steinbeck, Jefferson, Melville, R. L. Stevenson, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Nietsche, Steven Pinker, and G. K. Chesterton. There's a brief excerpt from a children's book by James Baldwin, and a couple examples that refer, in fairly generic ways, to works by Angelou and Douglass. The text would be greatly enlivened, deepened, and culturally enriched by textual examples from a wider range of cultures, communities, literatures, and Englishes.

This is an exceptionally useful book for first-semester, first-year college students, because of its patient, in-depth, and generous explanations of basic writing skills for college writing. For this reason, it would be an excellent resource for a FYW course if it were supplemented with additional readings that helped students see how their own experience and perspective can be transformed into energetic and powerful prose.

Reviewed by Danielle Santos, Adjunct Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell on 6/14/21

For an introductory Composition course, this text covers what I teach. I like the examples given, and many of the diagrams are helpful & similar to what I already use. However, I wouldn't have minded more prompts for practice exercises as I tend to gravitate towards texts that include those. I do think the text lends itself well to developmental instruction (which I also teach), so while accessible and easy to read for all students, I could see myself using it more for certain Composition courses than others.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

I do think the material accurately covers the concepts presented. I am happy to see a short section on annotated bibliographies (because I typically require these when I assign research papers), but I noticed the example wasn't structured correctly in alphabetical order/presented in the appropriate way. A small detail, but something that I would still have to provide my own example for.

The concepts covered are certainly relevant to the times. It's possible that some examples will be outdated in a couple of years and more relevant examples could be substituted.

The conversational, friendly tone is definitely an asset of this text. The authors present the concepts in a straightforward manner with solid explanations, all the while avoiding excessive jargon. This is an accessible text for all levels of learners.

The text is consistently organized and presented, and the voice of the text carries through each chapter.

I think the information is sectioned out well and clearly presented. There are some chapters where the material is more dense; others seem rather short. Chapter 7 is particularly lengthy, but one could easily refer to only the information necessary (specific modes of writing, for example). Chapter 11 is also a long one, and it seemed to be especially text-heavy for the first half of it. I think that chapter would've benefitted from further visuals when discussing how to find sources, using keywords, etc.

"You, Writing!" takes a pretty traditional organization for a Composition text. It starts with the writing process and situation, progresses through topics, thesis statements, and organization, and rounds out with grammar and research. For courses that typically structure basic writing skills early in the semester followed by a research project, this organization works well; however, one could also assign the reading out of sequence and it would be fine.

The interface looks good. I appreciate the additional resources in the form of web links, but a few did not work (I feel this can be common for this type of resource).

There are a few errors in the text, but the writing is clear and consistent. Grammatical errors are minor (though I do believe they should be fixed for a textbook on writing!).

The text is culturally sensitive and inclusive. It includes examples, names, and current events that are culturally-attuned.

Overall, there are a lot of aspects of this text that I liked. I would most likely use it in my course, supplementing with readings and exercises. I appreciate the fact that it is comprehensive and easy to read.

Reviewed by David Beach, Associate Professor, Radford University on 5/21/21

Glynn's text serves as a comprehensive rhetoric to help first-year college students navigate the expectations of expository college writing. A good supplemental text for any FY expository writing course. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Most information on rhetoric and composition are on the mark. I always struggle with the traditional way of teaching "thesis." In FYC, we interpret "thesis" as the controlling idea of an essay. However, the way it is often taught is to develop the controlling idea, then find supporting evidence to that idea. This is not how college students should approach research. Granted, a working thesis may help point students in a particular direction, but if we want our students to be good researchers and writers, then they need to grapple with ideas to come to some conclusion (thesis), and they do this by working from the inside out, not starting with a thesis.

Everything in Glynn's text is relevant...until MLA and APA publish new editions! However, the fundamental information on MLA and APA will be able to stand.

Clarity rating: 4

Glynn's text is overall lucid and accessible, with mostly clear explanations of jargon and technical terminology. By their nature, rhetoric, grammar, and mechanics are not native languages to most FY college students, and I think Glynn does a good job helping FY college students become proficient in the language of writing.

"You, Writing!" reinforces ideas throughout the text through scaffolding and by being consistent in terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 3

While there are some good infographics throughout the text, there are meaningless graphics peppered throughout in an attempt to make the text visually appealing. As it is, the book is a bit text-heavy, despite it being a book about rhetoric and composition! Today's students are visually oriented, so more infographics definitely helps.

Clear, logical organization throughout the text, exploring how we come to writing, how we can write, and the tools and skills needed to write effectively.

As a PDF, the text is solid, with the ability to move to pages easily. It would be helpful to have a hyperlinked sidebar menu so the students can move to sections based on topic instead of page number.

The only grammatical errors are those that were intended to show as examples.

Glynn uses a diverse and wide variety of references throughout the text. Though not a fan of Stanley Fish, I understand using his points for the sake of argument!

I plan to use this text in my first-semester FY writing courses as it is a strong, open-source resource that students can use throughout their college careers and later.

Reviewed by Michele Ren, Associate Professor, Radford University on 5/4/21

The book is certainly comprehensive and provides a glossary; I wish I could give 4.5 because a clickable table of contents would be wonderful. read more

The book is certainly comprehensive and provides a glossary; I wish I could give 4.5 because a clickable table of contents would be wonderful.

Caught a typo pretty early on (page 12 "conclusionn"), but the content itself is accurate and unbiased. Re. accuracy, I especially appreciated that the list of "transition words" is specifically discussed as a way to make transitions within a paragraph rather than between paragraphs. Many texts simply list those words but do not discuss ways of using them and students inevitably will insert a "furthermore" when adding something that is neither further nor more.

Uses specific contemporary detail for writing examples in a way that makes the text relevant for students, but not in a way that it would seem outdated any time soon.

Easy to read, short sections, lots of spacing and bold and graphics to break up chunks of text in ways that are not distracting.

Chapters follow a similar format with subtitles, bulleted information, graphics, and spacing between paragraphs when larger chunks of text are needed to explain a concept. Fonts and font styles (bold, italics) and justification are used consistently from chapter to chapter.

Chapters are short and subdivided in ways that would make creation of handouts or assigning small passages/sections easy.

The placement of thesis and research in different places gives me pause, especially when research is used after an argument is created (I worry about confirmation bias rather than doing research and then formulating a topic), but, the book is set up in a way that sections could be assigned in different order, and the authors address the difficulty in defining one specific writing process in the graphics they provide on pages 12 and 13.

Again, a clickable table of contents would have been so lovely!

These are composition instructors, so errors are minimal. But, again, "conclusionn" page 12 did jump out at me. Also: "Black Lives Matters" should be "Black Lives Matter"

I appreciated the attention to diversity in examples (Black Lives Matter - in spite of the misspelling, Native American traditions), although maybe not college women trying to avoid the "freshman fifteen."

My university has an older OER composition handbook that I have been using for awhile; I am actually considering replacing it with this one because examples are newer and it may work for both freshman courses. I would love to see a clickable TOC, though!

Reviewed by Erica Braverman, Part-time instructor, Portland Community College on 1/12/21

This book is great for a writing class geared toward academic writing. It covers the basics of instructing a first-year student of how to go through the writing process and what they can expect while doing so. I especially liked the section on revision, which clearly laid out critical questions the student can ask themself when making decisions. I also liked the attention to different processes, giving students information about what they are and encouraging students to find the one that works for them.

This book has credible, clear information. The information is presented in a non-prescriptive way, giving agency to students to try things out and find what works for them. The authors also include sources for students to do further research on their own if they want.

The book includes cultural, historical and literary examples to explain concepts. The authors were shrewd in choosing cultural references that are relevant to students now but will also age well (e.g., Google). I also appreciated the attention to writing that has real-world relevancy for students, such as writing resumes or a letter or email to a manager. I thought some of the examples used, however, would not be as interesting to students who aren't as focused on academic studies or obtaining a four-year degree (Shakespeare; Moby Dick; latinate used in Abraham Lincoln's speech). I thought the authors missed an opportunity to engage students who might not make writing, research, or academia their career, but are still interested in learning to write and communicate better in real-world situations outside of the classroom.

The authors explain concepts well, but perhaps a bit too thoroughly. The chapters contain long blocks of text that might seem intimidating to beginner-level students. Again, the examples given tend toward "high-culture," and might not help students connect concepts to their lived experiences.

The book is consistent and easy to navigate.

Instructors can break up the information as they want with relative ease.

It's designed with the student in mind, taking them through the writing process step-by-step. The chapter on editing, though, consists of a lot of information on grammar, sentence structure, etc., which students might find overwhelming. I wanted the information to first be more succinct, before getting into the specifics and details.

The text is easy to read and navigate. I especially liked the way the authors explained how the steps of the writing process may not always be linear. They first listed out the steps, and then marked them up in a graphic to show how the order might be different.

The text is clean and clear of errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

I personally would not use this textbook with my community college students because I don't think the examples would particularly interest them or pertain to them (mostly literary, historical, scholarly examples--very few cultural or real-world examples they could relate to their lived experience).

Reviewed by Matthew Chelf, Adjunct Instructor, Portland Community College on 12/9/20

You, Writing! wonderfully covers the whole of the writing process in 170 pages of approachable, audience-friendly language. Like many contemporary texts on first year college composition, You, Writing! stresses writing as a process, not a product. In addition to covering academic writing, the text also includes other modalities such as professional writing (emails, resumes) and social media postings. What unites the text is a consistent focus on writing as audience-focused.

The text participates in many of the themes you find in first-year college composition texts. With that said, I did not find anything inaccurate or that I would be uncomfortable sharing with students.

In the text’s introduction, the authors seem to anticipate a common criticism of writing, and the humanities in general: why is writing relevant to more lucrative and pursued careers that require a STEM degree? Given the relationship between writing and reading, I found this to be a relevant note to start on, and the authors answer the question “why write?” by demonstrating how many of the skills within writing (critical thinking, communication) transfer to real world applications and careers, like Google for instance. To get their point across, the text is organized in quick, pithy sections laden with different formats that will appeal to students coming of age in the digital era.

The language and sentences are clear and straightforward. There is nothing confusing or complicated. For example, the authors do a great job explicating thesis writing. Often, we teachers treat the components of thesis writing as cumbersome moving parts, but here the elements of a good thesis are three: interesting, limited, specific (32). Using the previous discussion of audience-centered writing, the authors demonstrate in three subsequent subsections how the three qualities of thesis writing play out in unique examples.

The tone, language, and format remains consistent yet dynamic throughout the text. One major theme in particular--audience-focused writing--reminds the reader of previous passages in the text, so as the reader moves forward they integrate new knowledge with previous information. This repetition is wonderful, and each chapter builds upon itself.

I enjoy the brief, concise chapter-and-subchapter format and find them student-friendly. Paragraphs are never more than several sentences. Examples, images, subheadings often follow paragraphs so there is rarely more than 3-4 paragraphs grouped at a time. The table of contents is very thorough, which makes it simple to pick what you want to assign and what you may want to skip. The text is holistic enough, though, that I could see myself assigning the text as a whole.

As I stated, I enjoy the brief, concise chapter-and-subchapter format and find them student-friendly. The chapters build upon each other in a logical fashion. At the end of chapters, there are resources for further reading.

The authors include graphics, charts, bulleted lists, and illustrations to accompany ideas, themes, and lessons in the text without cluttering the page or the meaning. I found the text easy on the eyes and presented in a very streamlined fashion.

I did not find grammar mistakes. In fact, there are even chapters later in the text about grammar.

Sprinkled with references to contemporary life like Twitter, Black Lives Matter, and the intricacies of identity like gender and socio-economic background, part of the success of You, Writing! is that it recontextualizes first year college composition to the current cultural landscape. Moreover, the organization of the text in its streamlined, modular fashion is well suited to the cultural reading style that young students seem to have owing to growing up with the Internet. In other words, I think this text is well suited, culturally, to digitally fluent students.

Reviewed by Charles Prescott, Professor of English, Berkshire Community College on 6/28/20

The text effectively and comprehensively covers the main topics and strategies included in an introductory composition course. I especially appreciate the Basic Writing Process Chart as a graphic introduction of the key steps of the writing process, immediately followed by hand-drawn arrows indicating how messy and recursive that process can be. There are also good examples of how to come up with ideas to write about, how to establish organization, and how to revise. The glossary of key terms, like the rest of the text, is both thorough and approachable to guide new college students through the writing process.

The book is accurate in dealing with the subject matter. I did not find any material I would consider inaccurate.

The strategies presented in the text for brainstorming, drafting, and revising are highly relevant and broad enough so that they should not need updating. The sections on research strategies and citation, especially in APA, may need more frequent updating. However, the less-is-more approach to the basics of citation, should make it relatively easy to update in the text. The text presents enough information so that the individual instructor can easily fill in any holes or mention updated strategies while teaching the course.

The clear, approachable writing style the authors use is by far the best feature of this text! Not only is the writing process presented in a clear, step-by-step manner, the text is actually fun and funny to read! Examples of how to brainstorm topics and how to compose drafts of specific types of essays are clear and approachable. I expect my students to get a lot out of this text, and to enjoy reading it as well!

The text uses the Basic Writing Process Chart to create consistency, explaining each of those steps thoroughly with examples. Visual cues like handwritten annotations also help to build a strong sense of consistency throughout the text. Some of the transitions between sections in the Drafting chapter are a bit clunky, but overall the presentation is consistent.

Modularity is a strength of this text. Smaller sections on brainstorming techniques and grammar could easily be inserted into discussion of other composition topics.

For the most part the organization of this text is fine, but including discussion of different rhetorical modes in the Drafting chapter is a bit odd. I would prefer to see discussion of different styles of writing (narrative, informative, persuasive) as separate chapters, rather than listed as part of Drafting. However, I acknowledge that’s more of a personal preference than a real critique.

I did not notice any interface problems.

I did not notice any distracting grammatical errors. The text is clean, clear, and approachable, making it an ideal model of what good writing can do in the context of an introductory composition course.

The text includes some discussion and examples of culturally relevant topics, such a Black Lives Matter. I did not specifically notice Cultural Relevance as a strength or weakness of the text.

I find You, Writing! to be a fun and flexible, unintimidating introduction to composition. Its combination of a playful tone, emphasis on process, and explanation that writing should not be too bound by that process strikes me as just the right mix. I anticipate that the students will find it a very helpful resource, and that I’ll enjoy teaching with it.

Reviewed by Caroline Stanley, Associate Professor, Bridgewater State University on 6/22/20

The text is comprehensive in covering the major topics pertaining to basic writing. It provides many useful tips about the writing process including proofreading, correcting run-on sentences, and overcoming writer’s block. Likewise, the glossary... read more

The content appears to be accurate and error-free.

The content is up-to-date and rife with examples that are relevant for the college population. Examples are not likely to become obsolete or else can be easily updated.

Readers will appreciate the fact that the paragraphs are short, and the writing is concise. There is little jargon or technical terminology used and new terms are defined very clearly. The authors provide interesting examples and the writing style is casual, relatable, and humorous.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is consistent in terms of its terminology and framework. Likewise, the writing style remains consistent across the chapters.

The text is modular in that each chapter “stands on its own” and can be assigned separately from the others. Each chapter is useful regardless of the order in which it is assigned and the length of each chapter is manageable.

The text is well-organized and the chapters are presented in a logical order.

Some of the “charts” (see page 45) presented are actually lists of words. These lists would be more effective if displayed in a table.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

There are some grammatical errors, some pertaining to tense or subject-verb agreement (i.e., “psychologist Abraham Maslow describe,” pg. 19; “The most important section are,” pg. 19). Though these errors do not obscure meaning, they could (and should) be corrected.

The text is inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. It may be of interest to some instructors that, when discussing how to write a strong thesis statement in chapter 5, the author briefly discusses the Black Lives Matters Movement. In doing so, the author provides content that may be especially relevant for those wishing to expose students to the concept of racial bias.

I find the language to be simple and easy to understand. Some may consider it too elementary for a college sample and more suitable for high school readers.

Reviewed by Colin Rafferty, Associate Professor, University of Mary Washington on 6/19/20

Covers the full spectrum of introductory writing studies, including big picture things like generating ideas and organizing them as well as more local issues like style and grammar. A glossary of commonly used terms is helpful, as the discussion of citations and research. It's a book that's clearly rooted in theory but avoids getting the reader bogged down in it--perfect for the general academic writing class.

Very little in the book is inaccurate; perhaps it might have addressed the emergence of the singular "they" in recent years, but beyond that, the book is almost entirely error-free.

Its focus on the writing process rather than the end product, while still emphasizing its importance, allows the book to stay fresh for generations of students. I was very pleased to see that the book notes the existence of multiple drafts between the first and final ones. Barring a seismic shift in the world of writing pedagogy, this book will remain useful for years to come.

Incredibly accessible to the general audience. The voice is familiar and welcoming without trying too hard to be on the level of the students. As I stated before, it's a book that has done the theoretical work so that the reader doesn't have to get caught up in jargon and esoterica.

The three authors have managed a consistent voice throughout the entire book, and nothing transitions jarringly or confusingly. They remain constant throughout in how they refer to the elements of writing, and at no point do they introduce new knowledge without explaining to the reader just what it means.

Even as I was reading the book, I was thinking about how I could use certain chapters and sections in my existing composition course. The book is easily adaptable to a variety of situations, and the authors are careful to make sure that the chapters, while informing each other, can stand alone, which allows for the professor to use as she sees fit.

Despite the book's potential for modularity, the best way to encounter it is to read it straight through. The ideas follow logically upon one another, and the authors build the sense of writing as a process through their own organization of the text.

Easily readable and clear throughout, even when graphics enter the text.

Nothing that obscures meaning.

Inclusive throughout, whether in the choices of examples--BLM shows up at one point, which is appropriate for my Fall 2020 classes--or in the names used in the text. A good book for all. (Now, about that singular "they"...)

A solid book for the composition classroom. I look forward to adopting it for my general writing seminar this fall.

Reviewed by Katie Durant, Adjunct Professor, Middlesex Community College on 6/17/20

This book covers all the major topics I teach in my class currently. It is written clearly with many interesting examples to help students understand the concepts. The index is very helpful and the glossary in the back defines many of the key... read more

This book is accurate in dealing with the subject matter. I covers much of what I have taught for years in a clear and comprehensive way. I found no bias or errors (besides one typo).

This book is relevant as it mentions only cultural happenings and figures that are significant like lasting political movements and figures as well as well-read authors. There is one mention of a writer who is referred to as living but is now deceased, but that does not affect the relevance of the text. Because the book focuses on basics, it is unlikely that it will need any content updates besides possibly the mention of the author.

The book demonstrates a relatable voice without using vocabulary and sentence complexity that is out of reach for a developmental or beginning-college level. It is easy to read and has a comfortable pacing. There is little jargon or technical terminology in this book, but where new terms are introduced, the definitions are provided in a comprehensive way.

The book retains its consistency throughout. From the beginning to the end the voice of the author is relatable, and the book's vocabulary is not overbearing.

Because each section of the book is self reliant, the book is modular and each chapter can be used alone or in conjunction with other chapters. The self-contained nature of this book makes it more useful in different classes.

The flow of topics in the text is logical and effective with one topic building onto the previous ones. The only exception is the section on basic grammar skills like making complete sentences. This information is found in the last chapter on proofreading. While proofreading does require these skills, It would be more logical to move this section to the beginning chapters and refer back to the basic grammar in the revising section.

The author was careful to create a simple interface without distracting of confusing diagrams and images. One can navigate it easily.

I only found one typo on the text. The rest of it retains the grammatical standards that it teaches.

This book used examples from real life when making points, and I found these to be culturally relevant, inclusive, and effective. The author mentions the Black Lives Matter movement and discusses the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. to cite two examples of inclusivity and cultural relevance.

I will be picking up this book to teach a composition course and portions of it for a developmental writing course. Its clear and conversational tone as well as its modularity make it an ideal OER resource for my class.

Reviewed by Matthew Gilbert, Adjunct Instructor, East Tennessee State University on 4/16/20

This book provides a comprehensive approach for all levels of writers for a range of writing projects. The text works effectively in providing a breakdown of all major aspects of composition: how to determine the audience or purpose of the assignment, how to develop a thesis statement and supporting arguments, and how to write a draft and follow through development and revisions from start to finish. The text is targeted towards beginning college writers, though it is not limited to beginners. The text approaches a wide range of assignments/academic tasking, including but not limited to, professional email etiquette, argumentation, and critical analysis. While the book does demonstrate a wide representation of college writing expectations and skills, the generality of it requires instructors to supplement other materials to further develop student understanding beyond the basic levels. The table of contents provides precise detailing of the materials throughout and I found the glossary incredibly useful.

The book is surprisingly accurate and well-composed. The writers demonstrate a wide and thorough understanding of the writing process conventions of language, style, tone, etc., and they provide informative lessons on where to find current formatting instruction. The grammar section of the text is quite brief but effectively introduces students to many of the major areas of concern in academic writing; However, if a teacher wants to focus highly on grammar, supplemental information or a different text would be more beneficial.

Majority of the information provided works universally and provides a strong foundation to students without experience in writing academically or professionally. The text provides a strong overview or how to brainstorm and develop ideas, how to organize and structure an essay around a claim, how to pitch your idea to an audience, how to properly use subordinating clauses, and how to write introductions and conclusions. The authors provide resources for further studies like Online Writing Labs, where students can find up-to-date APA formatting for example. The writing seems contemporary and addressed composition from current pedagogical approaches.

The writer does well to not only instruct students with their precise writing styles and examples but to showcase these lessons through the text writing itself. The writing is concise, concrete, and easy to read. As an example of the clear writing that sets this book apart from more commercial texts: “Some instructors will also call the clause, ‘As I walked down the store’ an introductory phrase that needs a comma after it. Whatever the instructor calls it, the comma needs to be there.” This passage not only provides clear instruction but highlights the authors’ understanding of diverse terminology that teachers may use in the classroom.

The book maintains its terminology and framework throughout the chapters. Each chapter addresses key steps in the writing process, which works comprehensively with previous chapters to build on developed knowledge.

Structurally the book works well in the order that the lessons and chapters are positioned, though I find that students learn better when they have positive examples to learn from. For this reason, I would recommend that proofreading skills are moved closer to the front, but this can easily be addressed with supplemental lessons and instruction. The text works well in order, but it can be adapted to suit the needs of the instructor and the classroom with a little foresight.

The writing process steps are quite organized in a manner that is easy to scaffold. As mentioned in the structure, I think that proofreading could be moved sooner in the text so that students can learn from seeing proper usage. I also feel that the research, plagiarism, and citation section could have been moved closer to the front; however, the text can be adapted to suit the classroom needs with a little planning. The authors make an excellent point that the writing process is not linear; therefore, the text can be taught out of order to a similar effect as teaching from start to finish of the text.

The text was quite legible so I had no difficulty reading lessons or examples. The images and charts are visually appealing and very contemporary. I think the overall approach to text construction works well to appeal to students regardless of their learning types.

The grammar is excellent and works well to instruct students by example!

The writing samples illustrate a diverse range of writers and backgrounds. This will work well to avoid intimidating students, especially beginner writers.

Overall, I find this text to be written with precision. It seems like an appropriate way to approach composition/ writing instruction for beginner writers and writers who need to broaden their range of writing approaches.

Reviewed by Susan Pesti-Strobel, Adjunct Instructor, Linn-Benton Community College on 1/12/20

_You, Writing!_ by Glynn et al. guides the student writer through successful moves of academic writing. This book would be a very useful companion for both students and instructors. It is clear that the writers have extensive experience with teaching college composition and, accordingly, they cover the writing process for a collection of generally assigned types of papers in early writing courses. They also provide a multi-modal, visually accessible format with plenty of white space to keep it from an overwhelming experience for student writers. The same student writers get a lot of encouragement to build on what they already know and have practiced during their career so far, but they also get plenty of friendly nudges toward taking it to the next level. The authors offer writing samples, ranging from phrases or sentences to paragraph-length samples to sample essays, each of which is a quite helpful teaching tool. Chapter 9 on revising, one of the tougher concepts in freshman composition classes, is a particularly welcome overview of helpful ways to tackle the final stages of the writing process. The relatively detailed section on style is an especially welcome discussion, again, a concept that often gets scant attention in comprehensive composition textbooks. A useful glossary completes the book. I would be tempted to adopt this textbook for my classes, but the one element that gives me pause is the rather belated discussion of research.

The textbook is readable, clear, and for the most part, error-free. It appears, though, that the promised discussion of comma splices, something I find myself addressing heavily in my classes, is missing (see p. 123 and on).

The content is absolutely relevant and reflects the current take on teaching college composition, but without the danger of becoming obsolete soon. It looks to me that it would be relatively easy to update and implement the text.

The text is indeed written in an accessible language that is easy to comprehend by its intended audience. The authors use technical terminology necessary to the content.

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology. The visual framework could, however, be more consistent throughout. The style - color, format, etc. - of call-outs could be made more consistent for the whole text.

As with most of us teaching college composition, assigning units from a writing textbooks will usually follow the schedule of actual writing assignments. This text lends itself to short, select reading assignments to complement the curriculum.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

Overall, the topics are organized in a logical pattern. The one snag for me is the belated discussion of research - it is one of the last chapters. Consider the mantra of college writing across the curriculum: "Research everything!" With that thought in mind, I would prefer this chapter earlier in the book, especially because, and inevitably, the authors do reference the importance of research throughout.

The text is free of significant interface issues. I do suggest a more consistent usage of textboxes throughout, however.

The text is free of grammatical errors.

Even though the text refrains from addressing particularly sensitive social/cultural topics, it provides a good springboard for a variety of topics that can inspire student writers to branch out on their own.

I recommend this text for consideration in freshman composition courses. I am definitely putting it on my list of "promising titles."

Reviewed by Sheri Anderson, Composition Instructor, Colorado State University on 12/24/19

"You, Writing!" comprehensively addresses the basics of writing in a casual, easily-accessible way. It would be an extremely useful textbook in a freshman composition class. It covers a variety of writing genres, as well as some basics that we, as instructors, often assume that our students already know (yet they often don't), such as how to title your paper and how to annotate a text.

There are many writing samples throughout this textbook which make it a great reference for students. The examples of "high," "casual," and "low" writing styles, and rewrites to make famous excerpts a different writing style, are a smart way to demonstrate to students what academic writing is (and isn't). The lessons on grammar are framed rhetorically by being placed within a chapter about proofreading at the end of the (Ch. 10). I found this textbook to be clearly written and comprehensive in covering the basics of freshman composition.

The copy in this textbook is clean and error-free, which makes it easy to read and understand.

The information in this book is relevant and reliable for composition classes. It is clearly organized, making it easy to use and reference.

This text is particularly clear and easily to read and understand, without trying too hard to be hip and young. Students will appreciate the clear descriptions and examples within the text, as well as the inclusion of an appendix at the end of the textbook, which offers a glossary of terms which they might need to

This text uses a rhetorical framework for teaching writing, while simplifying the basics of tone and genre to make them more accessible for the student writer.

This textbook lends itself to smaller readings within a class curriculum very well. It could be used out of chapter order while still maintaining its integrity, and chapters can be easily broken into smaller, daily readings.

The chapters within this text are well-organized.

This book's text is easy to navigate, and its text and visuals are easy to read both online or as a pdf download.

The text within this textbook is clean and error-free.

This book is relevant across cultural boundaries and makes use of examples that cross a variety of backgrounds.

Reviewed by Kristin Macintyre, Instructor of Composition, Colorado State University on 12/21/19

This text appears in eleven chapters, and each chapter covers an important component in the writing process. The chapters cover basic (but important) steps such as defining audience and purpose (chapter 3), finding a topic (chapter 4), and writing a thesis statement (chapter 5). In addition, the text acknowledges writing in different modes (or genres), such as persuasive writing, informative writing, and professional writing. The text also covers brainstorming, drafting, editing, revising, and organizing, as well as citation and research strategies and gives plenty of specific tips on engaging with meaningful writing practices.

I didn't notice any glaring errors!

I think the items in this textbook are very relevant. The concepts are simple yet foundational. There are some links to additional resources that I can see changing over time, but I do appreciate the additional references and plan to use them! (Thinking here about the links to Purdue OWL slides/videos on page 23). Overall, I think the text is relevant, and where it makes outside reference, the text is easily able to be updated or modified.

I found this textbook very clear. The text does a nice job delivering its points in a concise manner, and it doesn't require the reader to infer meaning. Each chapter is complete with clear headings and digestible paragraphs, and the text makes frequent use of examples to illustrate its points. I think that this text would prove accessible for many students in the first-year composition classroom, regardless of their writing proficiencies.

I found this textbook very consistent. At no point did I feel that the quality of the text was compromised, and I do appreciate the consistent tone throughout. Overall, I think the text is wonderfully self-contained and does not require much modification or elaboration in any of its chapters.

I very much plan to borrow portions of this textbook. I think its ability to be divided and adapted to other lessons is a particular strength, since I am often looking to scaffold and grow my own lessons. I've already begun to mark impressive/clear examples, definitions, and explanations that I'm excited to invite into my classroom next semester.

Organization is another strength of this text. This, of course, goes hand-in-hand with the text's clarity. As I mentioned above, I'm impressed by the text's ability to divide writing into digestible, understandable components. Nothing here feels convoluted or unnecessarily complex. I enjoyed the logic of the book and think its chapters are clear and easily accessible. This also makes jumping around the book easy--a quality that lends itself to both teachers and students of writing.

The formatting of the textbook does feel a bit elementary or unthoughtful at times. There are just a few diagrams that are hand-drawn, which makes a few spots in the book feel a bit underdeveloped. Otherwise, the interface is very workable.

I didn't notice any grammatical missteps.

Though I'm not sure this book would be considered culturally inclusive, I certainly did not find it culturally exclusive. Its focus is primarily the writing process, and its examples do not venture into culturally offensive territory. I would feel very comfortable assigning this textbook on diverse campuses.

I really enjoyed this textbook and am planning to borrow lots of material from it! Thank you to the authors; I've struggled to find a book that feels adaptable to my courses. The information here feels relevant, consistent, and complete. I will be recommending the book to my colleagues!

Reviewed by Jessica Kane, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University on 11/14/19

The book covers the major steps for academic writing, and while it had some examples of non-academic sources, it seemed to focus pretty overwhelmingly on "essays" in various formats. That's exactly what some programs want, though a bit limited for... read more

I generally found the content to be accurate

The book steers away from examples that will quickly become obsolete, and uses writing from a variety of time periods to help illustrate its point.

The definitions of different terms at the beginning of the chapters is especially helpful.

Consistency rating: 3

I was surprised to find that the text devoted (for example) eight pages to audience and 40-something pages to specific grammar details. While the organization went from higher-order concerns to lower-order concerns, meaning that all the editing and grammar information came towards the end, it felt lopsided in that respect. The chapter about research/finding sources came at the very end, perhaps because the authors were trying to make the discussion of organization, argument, audience, etc. relevant for projects that don't involve research, but that also surprised me.

The different sections are well-contained and easily readable.

As with consistency, I found the amount of space given to different elements of writing to be strange. The text is set up to be chronological, to take the reader through the steps of writing, beginning with audience and ending with proofreading. The first eight chapters flowed logically from one to the next, the ninth and tenth chapters ("Editing" and "Proofreading") came at a chronologically logical time but just took up so much space, and the eleventh chapter ("Research Process") seemed strangely tacked on to the end

Text interface is clear

The book's grammar is sound

The text did a good job bringing in multiple voices

An overall strong text, particularly for classes or programs that are very focused on teaching students academic writing. It generally did a good job explaining why different elements of writing and the writing process matter, it used both professional and student writing examples, and it is written to be easy to read. My major critique is the overwhelming focus on academic writing, which is an important element of first-year writing courses but not (I believe) the only element. The "professional writing" section is limited and less helpful, I would generally point students to other resources when we discuss professional writing.

Reviewed by Megan Morris, Adjunct professor, Richard Bland College on 10/16/19

The textbook thoroughly covers the subject of writing, including differences between high school and college writing, generating ideas, developing a thesis, different modes of paragraph development, research and citation, and sentence skills. The amount of space devoted to these areas is not e even, however. While much detailed attention is given to the specific terminology of Greek logic, for example, the text might have benefited from more extensive concrete examples of critical reading and how it plays out in practice in student writing. While I really liked the sample annotations of the poems, many student writers in introductory English classes are working with prose rather than poetry. Furthermore, simply seeing the annotations would not necessarily help struggling students see how to write an essay or a paragraph that develops their critical reading of the text. Likewise, I would have liked to see more concrete examples of paraphrasing and introducing quotations later in the text; the section that discusses those issues seemed somewhat abbreviated, and those are typically major areas of student concern. All of that being said, however, the textbook's coverage of most areas of first-year writing was quite comprehensive, and the introduction of a few outside texts would easily remedy gaps such as the one I mentioned above.

I observed no problems with the text's accuracy, and I also noticed no bias in the way that it's written.

The text is up-to-date, including the most recent changes in MLA formatting, and --particularly as the conventions of English don't change very fast--I don't foresee any difficulty with updating this textbook as necessary. The social and cultural references I noticed in the textbook (such as Twitter and Steven Colbert) are up-to-date and seem likely to resonate well with students for some time to come.

The language of the textbook is generally very clear and easy to follow. I see numerous efforts throughout to make readings and examples relevant and accessible to students, and the authors also integrate a variety of useful charts and diagrams for students who prefer to think graphically.

In a few places, I did have a few concerns about clarity. In the chapter on argumentation, for instance, some of the distinctions made between different types of argument seemed to specific or arcane to be particularly useful to many English 100 and English 101 student. While distinguishing between inductive and deductive reasoning is very useful, for instance, distinguishing between "rhetorical argument" and "academic argument" seems a bit superfluous for the target audience. While that particular section is short, it distracts students a bit from the major issues at hand.

While the text generally lays out clear steps--the diagrams that outline writing processes are particularly nice--a few of the lists of steps seem somewhat cumbersome. In the Critical Reading chapter, for instance, the number of steps may be intimidating to many students.

The textbook is consistent throughout; I noticed no disparities in the use of terminology, for instance.

While the chapters themselves are long, they include useful divisions throughout, all of which are hyperlinked from the menu. It would be easy for an instructor to hyperlink only certain sections of the chapter for use in class. The sections seemed to stand quite well independently; it would be easy, for instance, to read the chapter on the writing process before the one on argumentation.

Generally, the book's organization is logical and in keeping with the typical flow of college composition textbooks. The only major exception was the chapter on the writing process. I'd at first thought that the editors had placed the chapter on argumentation first because it might cover issues like thesis and topic sentences, but that isn't the case;those topics appear most clearly--and, importantly, most accessibly for student writers--in the section on the writing process. I did feel that following the textbook in sequential order would result in students writing an essay before they'd been fully prepared to do so. I would be more inclined to place "The Writing Process" immediately after "Critical Reading," then assign the chapter on argumentation immediately before the discussion of the research process. That being said, however, it's easy to separate chapters into their component sections and assign them to fit smoothly within the broad structure of the course.

The text's interface looks really strong. I particularly liked the way that the text integrates links to a variety of media, including YouTube videos, to help student readers further explore concepts that they find either interesting or difficult.

I observed no major grammatical problems or typos.

The textbook appears to me to to be inclusive, and I didn't observe any issues with cultural sensitivity. Both issues are important to me because my college's student body is very diverse.

It's worth noting that I'd originally considered assigning this textbook for a developmental class, but I think that it's pitched too high. It would work better in the regular freshman English sequence.

Reviewed by Erica Heim, Graduate Employee / Composition Instructor, University of Oregon on 6/14/19

This text outlined all basic steps to the writing composition process, and then some. The entirety of the traditional writing process was outlined, from reading to brainstorming to organizing to drafting to revising and proofreading, but it acknowledged that these stages can change order or recur; it just depends on the student. It also provided a thorough look at citations in different formats.

Besides a few intentional incomplete sentences (I believe constructed as a colloquial mechanism to relate to the pedestrian reader), the book was accurate both in content and in style.

This text is absolutely relevant to our era, and looks ahead to where we are going. It makes explicit the significance of writing in many different spheres, including social media posts and cover letters for resumes. This ubiquitous applicability ensures that the student may readily connect lessons to his or her everyday life.

The clarity might be what I appreciated most about this book. Some texts leave the student to infer their meanings, but this one made lessons crystal clear. In its clarity this text is also widely accessible, which is significant for students whose first language is not English or for whom high school English classes did not provide them with an adequate introductory education. Overall the clarity of this book makes it ideal for teaching in first-year college composition courses.

This book was certainly consistent. There were no surprises in any chapters, and students can follow along easily where the book is taking them.

The modularity is another thing I really appreciated about this text. Having sections with subsections makes it easier as an instructor to reconfigure reading assignments and construct a lesson out of several different (but relevant) subsections. Also each section was a feasible length so that different lessons could be combined without the reading assignment being too time-consuming.

Organization can always be improved, but the way this text presented its ideas was logical and clear. Readers can follow along easily without getting lost or needing to reference back to other sections.

This text's interface was easily navigable.

As mentioned previously, the grammar and syntactical structure of this text was 'correct' for the most part. There were a few instances of incomplete sentences or colloquial expressions, but those were likely intentional as a way to underscore a point or relate to the student reading.

This book was not culturally offensive. I am hyper-aware of those kinds of instances wherein an implicit cultural bias is made, and I am always looking for those instances - whether consciously or not. This text did not raise any alarms.

Overall this text was both accessible for students and moldable for teachers. It covers the basics of writing composition in college and demonstrates not only that anyone is capable of writing, but also that everyone is already writing in some way in their lives. It was crystal clear in communicating the processes of reading and writing, and also covered the ever-important topic of citations quite thoroughly. With a plethora of examples, this text illustrated the different shapes writing can take, and the different mechanisms writers can choose to employ. Ultimately, this text is thorough in content, accessible in style, and organized in such a way that an instructor can make it her own.

Reviewed by Margaret LaFleur, Instructor, Minnesota State on 5/29/19

This was quite comprehensive for a general overview of Composition. The authors don't get too deep into any given style of essay, which is helpful for instructors designing their own courses as it would allow them to build off of the general... read more

The authors took obvious care to write an accurate guide. There are a few instances that are accurate, if brief. The grammar chapters, for instance, are helpful but not overly detailed. This makes it helpful as a reference or starting point, but may not address all of student concerns. However, this would just require instructors to supplement, as all the information is accurate.

Good writing is somewhat timeless, even as language and styles evolve. There is a lot of discussion of process, which is the timeless aspect of good writing. Students need to be encouraged to work through the act of writing, not get hung up on a perfect finished process. In this sense the book is very relevant and helpful.

The authors make an evident effort to be clear and direct in the writing. It is definitely accessible to a wide range of readers. Additionally the authors take time to define words and ideas for students. For example, when discussing style they take time to explain "denotation" and "connotation" which are great concepts (and vocabulary!) words for students to learn as they are also learning to write.

Very consistent! In addition to a similar tone and framework the book also includes many familiar listing techniques and terminology that is common to other Composition books out there.

Like many Composition books this textbook follows the general outline of a Composition course. It starts at the beginning of the writing process, discusses drafting, then editing, and includes the Research Essay at the end of the book. These are broken up into smaller sections which would be easy to break down and assign. Generally the breakdown makes the most sense along the chapter breaks, as the chapters are clearly designed to be read in whole.

As noted above it follows an organizational pattern very familiar to Composition guides. Nothing ground breaking, but that's for the best.

I had no trouble navigating this book, and appreciated the use of simple and relevant images when they were included. The glossary and index help with the navigation as well.

Luckily the grammar is great, or it couldn't serve as a resource for those still learning grammar!

Because the language is straight forward and clear there are no accidental insensitive or offensive comments included. There are modern or current references, so it doesn't feel like students are reading dated work.

This is an excellent overview of Composition. It would require supplemental material and examples, I believe, but gives an instructor a very comprehensive basis to build off of.

Reviewed by Rebecca Owen, Adjunct Instructor , Chemeketa Community College on 5/6/19

This text is an excellent and conversational approach to college writing. It covers all the necessary topics, from styles of writing to grammar. The examples it uses are interesting and current, which makes it easy to read and follow. The glossary in particular is quite effective! I also thought the explanations on logos, ethos, and pathos were well-defined for this level of writing student.

Nothing concerning in terms of accuracy and bias. This text could be adapted to suit any number of college composition courses.

Subject-wise, this book could be timeless. Some of the examples used (like in the grammar explanation chapters) were references to current pop culture events and figures. This could be something edited and shaped in future editions.

Very clear, very straightforward writing. It felt accessible, and it was written in such a way that might make a student nervous about writing feel more comfortable. The conversational style was a strength of this text.

Terminology and framework were acceptable. Some chapters might have benefited from explanations or activities to help boost students' understanding (especially in sentence types in the grammar sections).

Short, specific chapters that were easy to follow. I would definitely consider assigning portions of this text as supplementary reading for an online class, for instance.

The entire book is presented in an easy to read and follow fashion. The graphics are a nice touch that give it a bit of fun and personality, too.

I read this text on my iPad, and I had no trouble navigating through its entirety. Clear, streamlined writing that looked nice on the page.

I didn't see anything alarming in terms of grammatical errors.

Yes, this is definitely true--one example made mention of Trayvon Martin and Black Lives Matter in sample paragraphs. Others used songs or celebrities as subjects of sample essays and paragraphs. It felt relevant to this current era, and I think students would be comforted by how relevant it is.

I really liked how accessible and friendly this textbook seemed to me as the reader. Clear, specific explanations go a long way to make the writing process less of a mystery and more engaging and fun.

Reviewed by Tiffany Duet, Instructor, Nicholls State University on 4/29/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text includes pertinent content regarding writing processes and modes of writing. While it does an adequate job of explaining concepts regarding argumentation, the text neglects to provide logical fallacies (specifically ad populum) in explaining methods of persuasion. Furthermore, some example essays in Chapter 7 lack the sophistication which is required in college-level assignments. Commentary on more challenging modes such as rhetorical and literary analysis, as well as research-based persuasion, seems underdeveloped. The text lacks an index but does include an extensive and informative glossary.

Overall, content concerning rhetorical strategies and writing style is accurate and informative. However, citations in examples of annotated bibliographies do not follow current APA or MLA guidelines, and the text includes other errors in MLA citation format.

Overall, the content is contemporary. A few examples which do pertain to the targeted age group may become obsolete within a few years. Yet, these examples should be relatively easy to update as they are isolated.

The authors avoid using advanced academic jargon. Terminology concerning the writing process is easily accessible to beginning composition students. Writing style is straight-forward and even conversational at times.

While the use of quoted material is not consistently formatted throughout the text, authors do use terminology consistently. Authors effectively use a “basic writing process chart” as both a visual aid and an organizational framework for content.

The text is divided into readable sections with appropriate heads and subheads.

The text is organized clearly around its “basic writing process” concept. Using running heads with chapter titles might help readers better comprehend the text’s organization.

The text includes helpful links to online resources. However, the “back button” returns the user to the table of contents instead of the pages containing the hyperlinks. This problem would be remedied if hyperlinks opened supplementary material in new windows. In addition, I discovered at least one invalid URL. Usability could also be improved by linking chapters on the table of contents to their corresponding pages.

While the text includes a few spelling/typographical errors, it is grammatically sound, overall.

The authors make a clear effort to include examples which are culturally inclusive. No offensive or insensitive material was detected.

The textbook does a very good job of showing the real processes of writing, messiness and all. This content should make those who struggle with the process comfortable in their own efforts to acquire or hone writing skills. Its readability will also prove helpful for the beginning composition student.

Reviewed by Jennifer Wilde, Adjunct instructor, Columbia Gorge Community College on 12/14/18

This book covers all the stages of a writing project, from determining the audience and purpose of a writing assignment, to developing a thesis statement and proofreading the final revision. It is geared to the beginning college writer and includes how to approach various assignments/academic tasks: emailing a professor about a missed quiz, constructing a literary argument, arguing a political position. Because it is so comprehensive and is generalist in its approach, there is not much time to dive deeply into any particular approach or assignment; however, because it is concisely written, the authors manage to give advice about just about everything an undergraduate may be asked to write, with a few exceptions. These include the general analytic essay, and the case report. The former assignment is useful for college writers because unlike the narrative or persuasive essays, it forces them to write with a specifically academic tone and to rely on data and logic. The book has an incredibly useful glossary, and the tablet of contents is extremely detailed.

The book is highly accurate. The writers are knowledgeable about the writing process, conventions of English, style, and where to locate up-to-date MLA and APA formatting information. The section on run-ons and sentence fragments is brief but informative. The list of subordinating conjunctions is not comprehensive. I find the phrase "dependent word" to be easier to use with writing students, but that's just a preference. The word "however" is listed as a conjunctive adverb, which it is, but not as a subordinating conjunction, which it also is (as in the sentence "However you look at it, English grammar is confusing". ) I think this whole grammar section is rather brief, trying to teach sentence skills in a few dozen pages; however, if it is meant as a review of the material for students who presumably have already learned it in a lower level class, it may be sufficient. (That "however" functions as a conjunctive adverb.) The passage of high versus low style is interesting, and not something I've seen before in writing texts. As opposed to the section on grammar, this part of the style section seems to go on too long.

Most of the material is timeless: how to generate ideas, how to organize an argument, how to pitch your writing to the audience and purpose, how to use semi-colons, how to approach introductions and conclusions, to name a few important sections. The authors helpfully provide resources such as the Online Writing Labs for students to locate and use as needed for information that is likely to change, such as the latest APA formatting rules. The writing samples feel very contemporary and not dated. (Well, except for the Gettysburg address, but that's a classic.)

The authors really lead by example here. The writing is unfussy, crystal-clear, highly specific and easy to read. Here is an example of the fine writing that sets this book apart from the oodles of writing books: "The technical way we use the word “argument” in writing simply means offering a written text into an ongoing debate with the hope of securing agreement among people of good will who currently disagree with you or hold a different view. This is the nature of deliberative democracy..." This passage exemplifies the way the authors define their terms as they go along; nothing feels like jargon because they explain their word choices.

The book is consistent in its terminology and the way the chapters are framed. Each chapter pertains to a step in the writing process. I have a small quibble with this because all the grammar and sentence skills are lumped into the chapter on proofreading, which seems too late.

It makes sense to read this book in order for the most part. I would recommend reading the section on proofreading earlier, so that writers can look at good sentences before they generate their own (that may just be me.) However, it is definitely possible to assign one chapter at a time and it is not strictly necessary to read them in order. Some students will not need to read about high and low style, while others may want to skip the section on ethos, logos and pathos (they shouldn't skip it, but if they aren't dealing with rhetoric it may not be necessary.)

I like how it is organized along the steps of the writing process: exploring, generating a thesis, writing, revising, proofreading, etc. The section on grammar perhaps should come a little earlier, and the section on research, citation and plagiarism also feels like it comes rather late in the process. However, the authors point out early in the book that the process is not linear, and student writers often loop back to where they started as research or writing alters their point of view.

I had to blow it up quite a bit to make the text legible. This was not difficult, however. The images and handwritten charts are charming and informative and they are visually pleasing. Navigation is no problem. I love the index and glossary!

The grammar is impeccable, as it should be!

The student writing samples appear to have been drawn from a diverse group of writers.

It is beautifully written. It seems just right for the young, early college writing student. It is too generalized to serve as an advanced writing text for a specific discipline. I would recommend that the section on conventions be turned into an appendix - it doesn't fit neatly into "proofreading" and it is more useful as a reference than as a chapter.

Reviewed by Michael Albright, Assistant Professor, MnSCU on 10/24/18

This text covers a range of composition and rhetoric topics, while allowing for the convenience of selecting concerns that are most relevant to particular courses or students. read more

This text covers a range of composition and rhetoric topics, while allowing for the convenience of selecting concerns that are most relevant to particular courses or students.

The authors are careful to attribute their sources and do so in a way that provides clear modeling for readers. The book is polished and accurate.

The text is refreshing in its relevance and timeliness. The authors include common cultural and social references to reinforce their ideas and main topics.

One of the text's virtues is its accessibility. It is crafted for students and addressed to readers in a non-threatening and approachable way.

The text maintains consistency in terms of formatting and content.

The text is blocked into chapters and subsections, and the Table of Contents allows for easy redirection. There are some rather large blocks of prose that span for several pages at a time, which could prove daunting for students who are not prepared or equipped to pore over large swaths of text.

The overall organization is logical and intuitive.

The text is navigable and free of any technical errors or distortions. Some of the work's most appealing aspects are its authentic screenshots, markups, and charts.

The text is cleanly written and polished.

The text is geared toward multiple readers of diverse backgrounds. It is neither biased nor insensitive.

You, Writing! provides a refreshing and accessible approach to first-year composition, as it sets out to present a range of useful and translatable concepts in a disarming manner. Students and instructors will benefit from clearly defined sections and authentic examples, which supplement extensive commentary on rhetorical issues ranging from thesis development to Anglo-Saxon or Latinate language use.

This text would serve as a fine primary reader for composition students, while certain sections would prove immensely valuable as supplementary content give the depth of the book as a whole.

Reviewed by Zachary Canter, Adjunct Faculty, East Tennessee State University on 10/10/18

The table of contents is very detailed, and a helpful glossary is included at the end of the book. A chapter on using logic and reasoning and avoiding logical fallacies would be helpful. There is no index. read more

Content Accuracy rating: 3

The content is both accurate and unbiased; however, the discussion of sources (pp. 138-143) is inadequate. Sources are only classified as “excellent,” “good,” and “other,” with very little information on how to evaluate them. Peer-reviewed journal articles are only briefly mentioned, and the quality of information from library databases over Internet search engines is not stressed enough.

The content of the text is relevant, and most examples come from classic literature, so they will not become dated. Writing is explored in a way that balances the use of technology with traditional methods.

The text is very accessible, being conversational and helpful in tone. The informative writing example, “What I Did on My Summer Vacation,” did seem somewhat elementary for a college text (pp. 53-54). The other examples were good, but I would have liked to have seen more, including a sample research paper.

Terminology is consistently used and defined throughout the text, and there is a logical framework to the whole.

The text is very adaptable to any freshman college or high school composition course. Readings on the writing process would work best if assigned chronologically, but each chapter could potentially stand on its own or be incorporated with additional readings.

The text is well-organized and offers a good overview of the writing process (especially planning).

The interface is adequate. An interactive table of contents with internal links to chapters and sections would be convenient. Links to outside sources work, but all links to the Purdue OWL only go to the homepage instead of the particular reference cited.

Grammatical Errors rating: 2

The text contains multiple minor errors, which is somewhat problematic for a writing textbook that stresses the need for editing. For example, “hear” should be “heard” (p. 11), “conclusion” is misspelled twice (pp. 12-13), “your” should be “you” (p. 20), there is an unnecessary parenthesis (p. 41), book titles are not italicized (p. 53), the word “to” should come after “Plato” (p. 54), “an” should be “and” (p. 57), there should be a comma instead of a period before “sin” and “put” should be capitalized (p. 60), there are problems with parallelism (pp. 69 and 71), the word “one” (for “tone”?) inside the parentheses of point 8 does not make sense (p. 81), the first sentence under the subheading “Style and Clarity” is incomplete (p. 91), there is a missing period (p. 96), “live” should be “life” (p. 100), and there is an extra indentation (p. 140). In addition, there is some inconsistency in the use of the Oxford comma.

The text is culturally sensitive, inoffensive, and inclusive. In addition, it is refreshingly apolitical, focusing on the kinds of writing students will need in their college courses and careers, rather than hot-button debates, activism, or extreme political correctness.

This book offers an excellent overview of the writing process, explains terms well, and maintains a very friendly tone throughout. Unfortunately, there are numerous minor errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, which some careful editing would correct. As a composition textbook, it would benefit from a chapter on using logic and reasoning, while the chapter on research needs some further development.

Chapter One: Why Write?
Chapter Two: A Writing Process for Every Writer
Chapter Three: Defining Audience and Purpose
Chapter Four: Exploring: Finding a Topic
Chapter Five: Writing a Thesis
Chapter Six: Organizing
Chapter Seven: Drafting
Chapter Eight: Revising
Chapter Nine: Editing
Chapter Ten: Proofreading
Chapter Eleven: Research Process

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This text is meant to be used in any first year College Composition class or as a general guide to college writing. The book focuses on writing as a process, not a product. The goal is to help students discover their own writing process, tryin g out different methods and strategies to find what works best for them

About the Contributors

Alexandra Glynn has been teaching English for about ten years. She holds an M.A. in English Literature from St. Cloud State University. She sometimes publishes about teaching English in the Minnesota English Journal. She also translates lyrics into English as well.

Kelli Hallsten-Erickson has been teaching developmental writing, Composition I and II, and a variety of literature courses at the two-year level for fifteen years. She is currently at Lake Superior College, encouraging student s to stay warm during the long winter by keeping their fingers burning across their keyboards, constructing interesting essays.

Amy Jo Swing has been teaching writing and English since 1993. She holds a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Purdue University and an M.F.A. in Poetry Writing from Texas State University San Marcos. She teaches all manner of writing at Lake Superior College in Duluth, Minnesota, where she is also a writer of poetry and middle grade fiction

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How to Write Your College Essay: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide

Getting ready to start your college essay? Your essay is very important to your application — especially if you’re applying to selective colleges.

Become a stronger writer by reviewing your peers’ essays and get your essay reviewed as well for free.

We have regular livestreams during which we walk you through how to write your college essay and review essays live.

College Essay Basics

Just getting started on college essays? This section will guide you through how you should think about your college essays before you start.

Why do essays matter in the college application process?
What is a college application theme and how do you come up with one?
How to format and structure your college essay

Before you move to the next section, make sure you understand:

How a college essay fits into your application

What a strong essay does for your chances

How to create an application theme

Learn the Types of College Essays

Next, let’s make sure you understand the different types of college essays. You’ll most likely be writing a Common App or Coalition App essay, and you can also be asked to write supplemental essays for each school. Each essay has a prompt asking a specific question. Each of these prompts falls into one of a few different types. Understanding the types will help you better answer the prompt and structure your essay.

How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges
Personal Statement Essay Examples
How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity Essay
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Diversity Essay Examples
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How to Write the “Why This Major” Essay
How to Write a “Why This Major” Essay if You’re Undecided
How to write the “Why This College” Essay
How to Research a College to Write the “Why This College” Essay
Why This College Essay Examples
How to Write The Overcoming Challenges Essay
Overcoming Challenges Essay Examples

Identify how each prompt fits into an essay type

What each type of essay is really asking of you

How to write each essay effectively

The Common App essay

Almost every student will write a Common App essay, which is why it’s important you get this right.

How to Write the Common App Essay
Successful Common App Essay Examples
5 Awesome College Essay Topics + Sample Essays
11 Cliché College Essay Topics + How to Fix Them

How to choose which Common App prompts to answer

How to write a successful Common App essay

What to avoid to stand out to admissions officers

Supplemental Essay Guides

Many schools, especially competitive ones, will ask you to write one or more supplemental essays. This allows a school to learn more about you and how you might fit into their culture.

These essays are extremely important in standing out. We’ve written guides for all the top schools. Follow the link below to find your school and read last year’s essay guides to give you a sense of the essay prompts. We’ll update these in August when schools release their prompts.

See last year’s supplemental essay guides to get a sense of the prompts for your schools.

Essay brainstorming and composition

Now that you’re starting to write your essay, let’s dive into the writing process. Below you’ll find our top articles on the craft of writing an amazing college essay.

Where to Begin? 3 Personal Essay Brainstorming Exercises
Creating the First Draft of Your College Application Essay
How to Get the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay
What If I Don’t Have Anything Interesting To Write About In My College Essay?
8 Do’s and Don’t for Crafting Your College Essay
Stuck on Your College Essay? 8 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block

Understand how to write a great hook for your essay

Complete the first drafts of your essay

Editing and polishing your essay

Have a first draft ready? See our top editing tips below. Also, you may want to submit your essay to our free Essay Peer Review to get quick feedback and join a community of other students working on their essays.

11 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your College Essay
Getting Help with Your College Essay
5 DIY Tips for Editing Your College Essay
How Long Should Your College Essay Be?
Essential Grammar Rules for Your College Apps
College Essay Checklist: Are You Ready to Submit?

Proofread and edited your essay.

Had someone else look through your essay — we recommend submitting it for a peer review.

Make sure your essay meets all requirements — consider signing up for a free account to view our per-prompt checklists to help you understand when you’re really ready to submit.

Advanced College Essay Techniques

Let’s take it one step further and see how we can make your college essay really stand out! We recommend reading through these posts when you have a draft to work with.

10 Guidelines for Highly Readable College Essays
How to Use Literary Devices to Enhance Your Essay
How to Develop a Personalized Metaphor for Your College Applications

How to Write the Perfect Essay

06 Feb, 2024 | Blog Articles , English Language Articles , Get the Edge , Humanities Articles , Writing Articles

Student sitting at a desk writing in a notebook

You can keep adding to this plan, crossing bits out and linking the different bubbles when you spot connections between them. Even though you won’t have time to make a detailed plan under exam conditions, it can be helpful to draft a brief one, including a few key words, so that you don’t panic and go off topic when writing your essay.

If you don’t like the mind map format, there are plenty of others to choose from: you could make a table, a flowchart, or simply a list of bullet points.

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Thanks for signing up, step 2: have a clear structure.

Think about this while you’re planning: your essay is like an argument or a speech. It needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question.

Start with the basics! It’s best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs. Three main paragraphs is a good number for an exam essay, since you’ll be under time pressure.

If you agree with the question overall, it can be helpful to organise your points in the following pattern:

YES (agreement with the question)
AND (another YES point)
BUT (disagreement or complication)

If you disagree with the question overall, try:

AND (another BUT point)

For example, you could structure the Of Mice and Men sample question, “To what extent is Curley’s wife portrayed as a victim in Of Mice and Men ?”, as follows:

YES (descriptions of her appearance)
AND (other people’s attitudes towards her)
BUT (her position as the only woman on the ranch gives her power as she uses her femininity to her advantage)

If you wanted to write a longer essay, you could include additional paragraphs under the YES/AND categories, perhaps discussing the ways in which Curley’s wife reveals her vulnerability and insecurities, and shares her dreams with the other characters. Alternatively, you could also lengthen your essay by including another BUT paragraph about her cruel and manipulative streak.

Of course, this is not necessarily the only right way to answer this essay question – as long as you back up your points with evidence from the text, you can take any standpoint that makes sense.

Step 3: Back up your points with well-analysed quotations

You wouldn’t write a scientific report without including evidence to support your findings, so why should it be any different with an essay? Even though you aren’t strictly required to substantiate every single point you make with a quotation, there’s no harm in trying.

A close reading of your quotations can enrich your appreciation of the question and will be sure to impress examiners. When selecting the best quotations to use in your essay, keep an eye out for specific literary techniques. For example, you could highlight Curley’s wife’s use of a rhetorical question when she says, a”n’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs.” This might look like:

The rhetorical question “an’ what am I doin’?” signifies that Curley’s wife is very insecure; she seems to be questioning her own life choices. Moreover, she does not expect anyone to respond to her question, highlighting her loneliness and isolation on the ranch.

Other literary techniques to look out for include:

Tricolon – a group of three words or phrases placed close together for emphasis
Tautology – using different words that mean the same thing: e.g. “frightening” and “terrifying”
Parallelism – ABAB structure, often signifying movement from one concept to another
Chiasmus – ABBA structure, drawing attention to a phrase
Polysyndeton – many conjunctions in a sentence
Asyndeton – lack of conjunctions, which can speed up the pace of a sentence
Polyptoton – using the same word in different forms for emphasis: e.g. “done” and “doing”
Alliteration – repetition of the same sound, including assonance (similar vowel sounds), plosive alliteration (“b”, “d” and “p” sounds) and sibilance (“s” sounds)
Anaphora – repetition of words, often used to emphasise a particular point

Don’t worry if you can’t locate all of these literary devices in the work you’re analysing. You can also discuss more obvious techniques, like metaphor, simile and onomatopoeia. It’s not a problem if you can’t remember all the long names; it’s far more important to be able to confidently explain the effects of each technique and highlight its relevance to the question.

Step 4: Be creative and original throughout

Anyone can write an essay using the tips above, but the thing that really makes it “perfect” is your own unique take on the topic. If you’ve noticed something intriguing or unusual in your reading, point it out – if you find it interesting, chances are the examiner will too!

Creative writing and essay writing are more closely linked than you might imagine. Keep the idea that you’re writing a speech or argument in mind, and you’re guaranteed to grab your reader’s attention.

It’s important to set out your line of argument in your introduction, introducing your main points and the general direction your essay will take, but don’t forget to keep something back for the conclusion, too. Yes, you need to summarise your main points, but if you’re just repeating the things you said in your introduction, the body of the essay is rendered pointless.

Think of your conclusion as the climax of your speech, the bit everything else has been leading up to, rather than the boring plenary at the end of the interesting stuff.

To return to Of Mice and Men once more, here’s an example of the ideal difference between an introduction and a conclusion:

Introduction

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men , Curley’s wife is portrayed as an ambiguous character. She could be viewed either as a cruel, seductive temptress or a lonely woman who is a victim of her society’s attitudes. Though she does seem to wield a form of sexual power, it is clear that Curley’s wife is largely a victim. This interpretation is supported by Steinbeck’s description of her appearance, other people’s attitudes, her dreams, and her evident loneliness and insecurity.

Overall, it is clear that Curley’s wife is a victim and is portrayed as such throughout the novel in the descriptions of her appearance, her dreams, other people’s judgemental attitudes, and her loneliness and insecurities. However, a character who was a victim and nothing else would be one-dimensional and Curley’s wife is not. Although she suffers in many ways, she is shown to assert herself through the manipulation of her femininity – a small rebellion against the victimisation she experiences.

Both refer back consistently to the question and summarise the essay’s main points. However, the conclusion adds something new which has been established in the main body of the essay and complicates the simple summary which is found in the introduction.

Hannah is an undergraduate English student at Somerville College, University of Oxford, and has a particular interest in postcolonial literature and the Gothic. She thinks literature is a crucial way of developing empathy and learning about the wider world. When she isn’t writing about 17th-century court masques, she enjoys acting, travelling and creative writing.

A Day in the Life of an Oxford Scholastica Student: The First Monday

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How to Plan an Essay

One of the most important steps to writing an essay is the planning phase. When planning a composition, it is recommended to consider the topic, length, format, intent, resources, audience, and depth of topic of the composition. Each of these factors can change the essay. The following are some planning exercises that may help you plan out your future essays: Listing, which is the process of writing out facts, opinions, ideas, and questions about your topic and writing based on this list; Take notes while researching your topics; Develop a concept map, which entails setting up a main topic and having sub-topics branching off of the main topic; and Outlining, which is similar to the concept map, but less visual and organized a little more similarly to an actual paper where there is a written main topic and the sub-topics are written below the main topic.

When you’re getting ready to write a composition, you’re going to have lots of drafts before you come up with your final copy. A good planning stage can get you a nice, full first draft to start working from. When you are planning for your composition, consider the topic, link, format, intent, resources, and audience.

Composition Planning

What is your paper going to be about? How long does it have to be? Is it a required amount or do you get to pick? What’s the format going to be? Is this supposed to be a research paper or a more casual essay? What’s the intent? What’s the purpose of your paper? Are you writing to persuade, to entertain, or to inform? What are you writing for? What are your resources going to be? Are you just going to be writing about your own ideas, or will you have to go out and find more resources? If you’re writing a research paper, you’re probably going to have several credible resources. Who’s your audience intended to be? Is it someone you have to persuade? Is it for your friends and peers? Is it for a supervisor? Is it just for your teacher? Who is your audience? Also, think about space. Whenever you pick your topic, is it too big or too small?

Planning Exercises

If you’re writing a research paper, you can’t have a small topic; you’re going to have to have plenty to write about. If you were writing a small essay, you can’t pick something too big, or you’re not going to be able to fit everything about your topic in that one short essay. Pay attention to all of these things whenever you’re first starting out your planning and thinking process for your writing. Then, you can start working with some planning exercises. One exercise is listing. You can list facts, opinions, ideas, questions, or anything that you can think of that you can quickly jot down as little ideas that might be good for your paper that you can come back to and think on later and expand upon. Write them down. The more you get down on paper or in the computer to begin with, is going to be the more you get to work on that edit and expand on later. Start with as much as you can get here, and then you can work on organizing it once you get it down.

Another planning exercise is “free writing”. This is where you’re going to write quickly until you run out. You’re going to write as fast as you can until you can’t think of anything else to write. Hopefully you get a lot down on paper, but free writing isn’t meant to be grammatically correct. It’s not meant to have all the punctuation or spelling correct. The main point is just to get as much information, as many thoughts on paper (or in the computer if you’re typing) as you can get. Then, you’ve got more to work with later. You can fix the grammar and punctuation in the editing part, but right now you want to get all the information down on paper that you can. If you have it down, then later on you read it and say, “Oh, I forgot about that. I could really use this information now. I could go and research some more information about this and really flesh out my paper.”

Try to get it down in the planning stage before you get too caught up in your other main ideas. Another planning exercise is to take notes. This is mainly with research papers. If you find sources that you like, take notes on what you liked out of them. Make a copy of the specific section you’re interested in, and take notes out to the side or stick a Post-it® note or a piece of paper with the copy of the actual source and write down the notes on it. Write down what you liked about it and what your ideas were about it, because you are in the moment right then. You know what you’re thinking, but later on, when you look at that source, you may say to yourself, “What I want this for? Where was I going to use this in my paper?” So, having those notes handy would really help you out in the future.

The other thing you can do is make a concept map. This is a kind of visual organization. It’s where you have one idea in the center (they’re not all going to look like this), but let’s say we had warm vacations that we were talking about. We might put Florida, and then we might put Hawaii. I might put Cancún, and let’s just go with Texas. All of these are warm spots you could go to for a vacation. Now, within each one of these, you could talk about what you might do there. In Hawaii, you might go to the beach, you might ride horses, you might go on a tour, you might learn how to surf. There are different things that you could do. Having it laid out in more of a visual map, rather than just written out in outline form, may help some people. If you’re a visual learner, you might want to see a map like that where you’ve just got a main tree with all the little branches on it. If you were going to talk about cold vacations, you could come down here and talk about those. You could put Alaska on there. We might put Minnesota. We may put Vancouver. Then, for each one, you might talk about what you would do there. In Alaska, maybe you’ll take a cruise, maybe you’ll go on a hike, and maybe you’ll go fishing. You’ve got these different areas where you’re outlining your different main ideas, and then your sub ideas, and then you’re even more specific details for each one of those. A concept map can really help those who are visually organized or those who are visual learners.

Outline Creation

The last thing that you’re going to work on is an outline. This is going to be at the end of planning, because you don’t know exactly how your paper is going to be organized when you’re starting out. You want to get all these ideas on paper. You want to get every idea, fact, opinion, question, or thought down on paper first. Then, you can organize it better. You can see what all you have and see how you want to group all these different things. You want to wait until you’re at the end of your planning stage to work on your outline, but it’s going to start with your thesis statement. This is like a main idea summary. You’re going to come up with supporting ideas that support that main idea, then supporting details that support each one of these ideas. An outline form is generally going to look like this. Your very big ideas are going to be Roman numerals (I, II, III, etc.). You’ll probably need more than three, because this would only be two ideas and you still need a conclusion. You might have “Idea 1”, then here you’ve got “Detail 1”. Each time you go down a step in this, or a level in this outline, you’re going to change the way it’s organized. First, we start with Roman numerals, then we start with capital letters on the next level, then we go to Arabic numerals for the next level down. This would be like where we’re talking about these places over here. You may have “I. Warm vacations”, and then you may have “A. Florida B. Cancún.” “II. Cold vacations”. You might have “A. Alaska 1. Cruise 2. Hike” and you would keep going even further if you had more organization and was broken down into even more details. You could use lower case Roman numerals (i, ii, etc.) You could use lowercase letters to keep going further into the levels if you had details about details about details in your paper, if it was that thorough.

Remember, whenever you’re planning your composition writing, don’t stress over it. Don’t think, “Oh my gosh, this is so big. I don’t even know where to start.” Just start. Start listing things, start free writing, take notes on research you’re finding, think about what your topic is going to be, think about how long your paper has to be. You want to pay attention to all of this stuff, because if you’re not sure what you’re going to write about yet, you can at least start writing something. The most important thing is to start writing. Get something on paper, and then start working on some of these planning exercises. You want to be able to get everything organized, but, before you can organize it and create the perfect paper, you have to get something written on that paper.

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How to Make Your Essay Better: 7 Tips for Stronger Essays

Krystal N. Craiker

Essay writing doesn’t have to be intimidating. With a few tips, you can improve your writing skills for any type of academic essay.

How to Write Better Essays

7 tips on how to make your essay better, how to become a better essay writer.

The best way to sum up how to write better essays is, “Make sure you’re answering the question.”

This sounds obvious, but you would be surprised how many students struggle with this.

From not understanding the prompt to poor research skills to off-topic body paragraphs, it’s easy for an essay to derail.

We’ve got seven tips for writing better essays that will help you avoid common mistakes and craft the best essays possible.

Here are our top tips for improving your essay writing skills.

Understand the Prompt or Research Question

The first step in your writing process is to fully understand the essay topic. If your professor gave you a prompt for your academic essay, spend some time analyzing it.

First, take note of whether you’re writing an expository or persuasive essay. The tone, structure, and word choice will differ between essay types.

Pay close attention to the wording of the prompt.

If your teacher wants you to “analyze” the effects of new technology in World War I, but you turn in a descriptive overview of the technology, you are not answering the question.

If they have given you a topic but no prompt, you’ll need to create a guiding question for your research.

Be specific in what you are trying to research, or you’ll end up overwhelmed with a topic that is too big in scope.

“Symbolism in modern literature” is too broad for a term paper, but “How does F. Scott Fitzgerald use symbolism in The Great Gatsby ?” is an achievable topic.

Take Excellent Notes

Once you understand exactly what your essay is about, you can begin the research phase. Create a strong note-taking system.

Write down any idea or quote you might want to use. Cite every note properly to save time on your citations and to avoid accidental plagiarism.

Once you have gathered your research, organize your notes into categories. This will help you plan the structure of your essay.

You’ll likely find that some of your research doesn’t fit into your essay once you start writing. That’s okay—it’s better to have too much information to support your argument than too little.

Write a Strong Thesis Statement

Possibly the most important step in essay writing is to craft a strong thesis statement. A thesis statement is a brief—usually single-sentence—explanation of what your essay is about.

The thesis statement guides the entire essay: every point you make should support your thesis.

A strong thesis is specific and long enough to address the major points of your essay.

In a persuasive or argumentative essay, your thesis should clearly establish the argument you are making.

Make an Outline

Once you have all your research, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. How do you turn the information into a cohesive essay?

Rather than writing an essay with no roadmap, an outline will keep you on track. An outline helps you organize your thoughts, plan your arguments, and sort your research.

A good outline saves you time, too! You can compile the relevant evidence in your notes before writing, so you don’t have to find that specific quote in the middle of essay writing.

An outline will also stop you from reading your finished essay and realizing you went completely off track.

With an outline, you can avoid finding paragraphs that don’t support your thesis right before you submit the essay.

Craft a Great Introduction

An academic essay needs a strong introductory paragraph.

The introduction is the first impression of your essay. It prepares the reader for what’s coming and gets them excited to read your paper.

A good introduction has three things:

A hook (e.g. insightful statement, quote, interesting fact)
Brief background information about the topic
A thesis statement

Using this formula will help you write a strong introduction for your essay.

Have Original Ideas and Interpretations

The best academic writing advice a professor ever gave me was, “You’ve shown me what other people have said about the topic. I want to know what you think about the topic.”

Even a fact-heavy or data-heavy essay needs original ideas and interpretations. For every piece of information you cite, whether you quote or paraphrase it , offer original commentary.

Focus on insights, new interpretations, or even questions that you have. These are all ways to provide original ideas in your essay.

Proofread for Readability

A good essay is a proofread essay.

Readability, or how easy something is to read, has many factors. Spelling and grammar are important, but so is sentence structure, word choice , and other stylistic features.

Academic essays should be readable without being too simple. In general, aim for a readability score that is close to your grade level in school.

There are several ways to check readability scores, including using ProWritingAid’s Readability Report.

The quickest way to increase readability is to fix grammar and spelling mistakes . You can also raise the readability score by using more complex and compound-complex sentences.

ProWritingAid can offer suggestions on how to improve your essay and take it to the next level.

Our free essay checker will check for spelling and grammar errors, plus several other types of writing mistakes.

The essay checker will offer you suggestions on sentence length and passive voice.

It will help you trim the excess words that bog down your writing by analyzing your sticky sentences and overused words.

The essay checker is here to help you turn in an error-free essay.

Want to improve your essay writing skills?

Use prowritingaid.

Be confident about grammar

Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Krystal N. Craiker is the Writing Pirate, an indie romance author and blog manager at ProWritingAid. She sails the seven internet seas, breaking tropes and bending genres. She has a background in anthropology and education, which brings fresh perspectives to her romance novels. When she’s not daydreaming about her next book or article, you can find her cooking gourmet gluten-free cuisine, laughing at memes, and playing board games. Krystal lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, child, and basset hound.

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How to Resist the Temptation of AI When Writing

Whether you're a student, a journalist, or a business professional, knowing how to do high-quality research and writing using trustworthy data and sources, without giving in to the temptation of AI or ChatGPT , is a skill worth developing.

As I detail in my book Writing That Gets Noticed , locating credible databases and sources and accurately vetting information can be the difference between turning a story around quickly or getting stuck with outdated information.

For example, several years ago the editor of Parents.com asked for a hot-take reaction to country singer Carrie Underwood saying that, because she was 35, she had missed her chance at having another baby. Since I had written about getting pregnant in my forties, I knew that as long as I updated my facts and figures, and included supportive and relevant peer-reviewed research, I could pull off this story. And I did.

The story ran later that day , and it led to other assignments. Here are some tips I’ve learned that you should consider mastering before you turn to automated tools like generative AI to handle your writing work for you.

Identify experts, peer-reviewed research study authors, and sources who can speak with authority—and ideally, offer easily understood sound bites or statistics on the topic of your work. Great sources include professors at major universities and media spokespeople at associations and organizations.

For example, writer and author William Dameron pinned his recent essay in HuffPost Personal around a statistic from the American Heart Association on how LGBTQ people experience higher rates of heart disease based on discrimination. Although he first found the link in a secondary source (an article in The New York Times ), he made sure that he checked the primary source: the original study that the American Heart Association gleaned the statistic from. He verified the information, as should any writer, because anytime a statistic is cited in a secondary source, errors can be introduced.

Jen Malia, author of The Infinity Rainbow Club series of children’s books (whom I recently interviewed on my podcast ), recently wrote a piece about dinosaur-bone hunting for Business Insider , which she covers in her book Violet and the Jurassic Land Exhibit.

After a visit to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Malia, whose books are set in Philadelphia, found multiple resources online and on the museum site that gave her the history of the Bone Wars , information on the exhibits she saw, and the scientific names of the dinosaurs she was inspired by. She also used the Library of Congress’ website, which offers digital collections and links to the Library of Congress Newspaper Collection.

Malia is a fan of searching for additional resources and citable documents with Google Scholar . “If I find that a secondary source mentions a newspaper article, I’m going to go to the original newspaper article, instead of just stopping there and quoting,” she says.

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Your local public library is a great source of free information, journals, and databases (even ones that generally require a subscription and include embargoed research). For example, your search should include everything from health databases ( Sage Journals , Scopus , PubMed) to databases for academic sources and journalism ( American Periodical Series Online , Statista , Academic Search Premier ) and databases for news, trends, market research, and polls (t he Harris Poll , Pew Research Center , Newsbank , ProPublica ).

Even if you find a study or paper that you can’t access in one of those databases, consider reaching out to the study’s lead author or researcher. In many cases, they’re happy to discuss their work and may even share the study with you directly and offer to talk about their research.

For journalist Paulette Perhach’s article on ADHD in The New York Times, she used Epic Research to see “dual team studies.” That's when two independent teams address the same topic or question, and ideally come to the same conclusions. She recommends locating research and experts via key associations for your topic. She also likes searching via Google Scholar but advises filtering it for studies and research in recent years to avoid using old data. She suggests keeping your links and research organized. “Always be ready to be peer-reviewed yourself,” Perhach says.

When you are looking for information for a story or project, you might be inclined to start with a regular Google search. But keep in mind that the internet is full of false information, and websites that look trustworthy can sometimes turn out to be businesses or companies with a vested interest in you taking their word as objective fact without additional scrutiny. Regardless of your writing project, unreliable or biased sources are a great way to torpedo your work—and any hope of future work.

Author Bobbi Rebell researched her book Launching Financial Grownups using the IRS’ website . “I might say that you can contribute a certain amount to a 401K, but it might be outdated because those numbers are always changing, and it’s important to be accurate,” she says. “AI and ChatGPT can be great for idea generation,” says Rebell, “but you have to be careful. If you are using an article someone was quoted in, you don’t know if they were misquoted or quoted out of context.”

If you use AI and ChatGPT for sourcing, you not only risk introducing errors, you risk introducing plagiarism—there is a reason OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is being sued for downloading information from all those books.

Audrey Clare Farley, who writes historical nonfiction, has used a plethora of sites for historical research, including Women Also Know History , which allows searches by expertise or area of study, and JSTOR , a digital library database that offers a number of free downloads a month. She also uses Chronicling America , a project from the Library of Congress which gathers old newspapers to show how a historical event was reported, and Newspapers.com (which you can access via free trial but requires a subscription after seven days).

When it comes to finding experts, Farley cautions against choosing the loudest voices on social media platforms. “They might not necessarily be the most authoritative. I vet them by checking if they have a history of publication on the topic, and/or educational credentials.”

When vetting an expert, look for these red flags:

You can’t find their work published or cited anywhere.
They were published in an obscure journal.
Their research is funded by a company, not a university, or they are the spokesperson for the company they are doing research for. (This makes them a public relations vehicle and not an appropriate source for journalism.)

And finally, the best endings for virtually any writing, whether it’s an essay, a research paper, an academic report, or a piece of investigative journalism, circle back to the beginning of the piece, and show your reader the transformation or the journey the piece has presented in perspective.

As always, your goal should be strong writing supported by research that makes an impact without cutting corners. Only then can you explore tools that might make the job a little easier, for instance by generating subheads or discovering a concept you might be missing—because then you'll have the experience and skills to see whether it's harming or helping your work.

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Silke Weineck's essay "How Racist Car Dealers KO’d Joe Louis" listed as "Best History Writing of 2023."

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Silke Weineck 's essay " How Racist Car Dealers KO’d Joe Louis " was featured on a list of " Best History Writing of 2023 ."

The list was compiled by Bunk, a public history project run out of the University of Richmond after trawling through "thousands of articles, essays, and blog posts last year."

Turnitin celebrates one year for AI writing detection

Edtech company shifts focus from detection, to transparency and trust

Discover Turnitin’s new AI writing statistics feature, enabling administrators to view aggregated AI scores across their institution and better understand and measure AI writing use.

Hear from Turnitin's Chief Product Officer, Annie Chechitelli, as she shares her thoughts on the key role that educators and educational institutions play in AI writing.

By completing this form, you agree to Turnitin's Privacy Policy . Turnitin uses the information you provide to contact you with relevant information. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time.

It has been one year since Turnitin launched its AI writing detection feature , a few months after OpenAI's generative AI application release.

Since the launch in April 2023, over 200 million papers have been reviewed. Of the over 200 million papers reviewed,* Turnitin data shows:

Over 22 million (approximately 11 percent of over 200 million) have at least 20 percent AI writing present*
Over six million (approximately three percent of over 200 million) have at least 80 percent AI writing present*

Reflecting on one year of AI writing detection

Reflecting on where we've come in just one year, I am often asked, "What has Turnitin learned over the last twelve months?"

My biggest takeaway is that there is a growing need within the educational community to view the use of AI writing tools as a complex, ever-evolving puzzle , rather than just detection. My conversations with customers, industry leaders, and journalists have transitioned from a surface-level discussion about AI writing detection to a more productive one focused on transparency around students’ sources and authorship. Reactionary efforts to “catch” students using AI writing tools are no longer the focal point; instead, the focus has shifted to identifying and understanding how students use generative AI tools in their writing.

With this new trend comes new opportunities for Turnitin to support institutions, educators, and students in creating transparency and developing critical thinking skills.

Keeping students and educators in mind

Educators are looking for data points to help them diagnose the unsanctioned use of generative AI in student writing, and want to help students incorporate the technology responsibly, all without impeding the development of their critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills. Educators also recognize that AI writing isn’t going anywhere, and will likely affect students’ futures. In fact, according to a study ** conducted by Tyton Partners in October 2023, 75 percent of faculty surveyed who use AI writing tools believe graduates will need to know how to use the technology to succeed in a professional setting.

At the same time, students want to learn how to use AI writing to improve their learning and accelerate their work, but are concerned about being accused of cheating. Students are also concerned about fairness in situations where they are being compared to their peers.

What’s ahead for AI writing detection

With both perspectives in mind, Turnitin is building a new solution for student writing to give both educators and students confidence in the authenticity of work by focusing on “proof of process.” This new solution, which will be integrated into existing Turnitin workflows, summarizes granular data for instructors like:

Copied and pasted text
Typing patterns
Total construction time
Draft history

Coupled with our existing plagiarism and AI checks, our goal with this solution is to give educators confidence and insight without burden, and offer students comfort in knowing their hard work won’t be judged solely by a score.

Over time, this tool will empower students by integrating generative AI prompts directly into their composition space, allowing educators to oversee their students' use of AI writing tools for research and writing. This will help give students the confidence and skills to experiment and incorporate AI responsibly and ethically, while also preparing them for their future careers. This tool will also provide educators with the information and insight they need to maintain academic standards in the classroom.

It's rare to realize you are in the midst of something special, with all of the simultaneous excitement and uncertainty that comes with change. This is where we find ourselves with generative AI. I can't wait to look back on this moment, remembering how the technology changed our lives, and challenged the educational community, all while we were trying to figure out how to apply generative AI ethically.

In the meantime, it is critical that we continue listening and adapting. With over 25 years of experience in edtech, Turnitin's primary objective continues to be supporting educators, ensuring academic integrity, and enabling transformative technologies, like AI writing, to help positively impact education and student learning.

Are you an administrator or educator interested in providing feedback on Turnitin’s new AI writing detection features that will help shape the product before it is widely available? We’d love to hear from you! Register here to trial the student writing tool in your classroom or at your institution this year, August through November 2024.

*As of March 21, 2024.

**Turnitin was a partner in providing compensation to conduct Tyton’s GenAI in Higher Education: Fall 2023 Update Time for Class Study.

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Guest Essay

José Andrés: Let People Eat

A woman wearing a head scarf sits on a cart next to a box of food marked “World Central Kitchen.”

By José Andrés

Mr. Andrés is the founder of World Central Kitchen.

In the worst conditions you can imagine — after hurricanes, earthquakes, bombs and gunfire — the best of humanity shows up. Not once or twice but always.

The seven people killed on a World Central Kitchen mission in Gaza on Monday were the best of humanity. They are not faceless or nameless. They are not generic aid workers or collateral damage in war.

Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger, Zomi Frankcom, James Henderson, James Kirby and Damian Sobol risked everything for the most fundamentally human activity: to share our food with others.

These are people I served alongside in Ukraine, Turkey, Morocco, the Bahamas, Indonesia, Mexico, Gaza and Israel. They were far more than heroes.

Their work was based on the simple belief that food is a universal human right. It is not conditional on being good or bad, rich or poor, left or right. We do not ask what religion you belong to. We just ask how many meals you need.

From Day 1, we have fed Israelis as well as Palestinians. Across Israel, we have served more than 1.75 million hot meals. We have fed families displaced by Hezbollah rockets in the north. We have fed grieving families from the south. We delivered meals to the hospitals where hostages were reunited with their families. We have called consistently, repeatedly and passionately for the release of all the hostages.

All the while, we have communicated extensively with Israeli military and civilian officials. At the same time, we have worked closely with community leaders in Gaza, as well as Arab nations in the region. There is no way to bring a ship full of food to Gaza without doing so.

That’s how we served more than 43 million meals in Gaza, preparing hot food in 68 community kitchens where Palestinians are feeding Palestinians.

We know Israelis. Israelis, in their heart of hearts, know that food is not a weapon of war.

Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It is better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who had coordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces.

The Israeli government needs to open more land routes for food and medicine today. It needs to stop killing civilians and aid workers today. It needs to start the long journey to peace today.

In the worst conditions, after the worst terrorist attack in its history, it’s time for the best of Israel to show up. You cannot save the hostages by bombing every building in Gaza. You cannot win this war by starving an entire population.

We welcome the government’s promise of an investigation into how and why members of our World Central Kitchen family were killed. That investigation needs to start at the top, not just the bottom.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said of the Israeli killings of our team, “It happens in war.” It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by the Israel Defense Forces.

It was also the direct result of a policy that squeezed humanitarian aid to desperate levels. Our team was en route from a delivery of almost 400 tons of aid by sea — our second shipment, funded by the United Arab Emirates, supported by Cyprus and with clearance from the Israel Defense Forces.

The team members put their lives at risk precisely because this food aid is so rare and desperately needed. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification global initiative, half the population of Gaza — 1.1. million people — faces the imminent risk of famine. The team would not have made the journey if there were enough food, traveling by truck across land, to feed the people of Gaza.

The peoples of the Mediterranean and Middle East, regardless of ethnicity and religion, share a culture that values food as a powerful statement of humanity and hospitality — of our shared hope for a better tomorrow.

There’s a reason, at this special time of year, Christians make Easter eggs, Muslims eat an egg at iftar dinners and an egg sits on the Seder plate. This symbol of life and hope reborn in spring extends across religions and cultures.

I have been a stranger at Seder dinners. I have heard the ancient Passover stories about being a stranger in the land of Egypt, the commandment to remember — with a feast before you — that the children of Israel were once slaves.

It is not a sign of weakness to feed strangers; it is a sign of strength. The people of Israel need to remember, at this darkest hour, what strength truly looks like.

José Andrés is a chef and the founder of World Central Kitchen.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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How to write an essay introduction | 4 steps & examples

How to Write an Essay Introduction | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on February 4, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 23, 2023.

A good introduction paragraph is an essential part of any academic essay . It sets up your argument and tells the reader what to expect.

The main goals of an introduction are to:

Catch your reader’s attention.
Give background on your topic.
Present your thesis statement —the central point of your essay.

This introduction example is taken from our interactive essay example on the history of Braille.

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

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Step 1: hook your reader, step 2: give background information, step 3: present your thesis statement, step 4: map your essay’s structure, step 5: check and revise, more examples of essay introductions, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about the essay introduction.

Your first sentence sets the tone for the whole essay, so spend some time on writing an effective hook.

Avoid long, dense sentences—start with something clear, concise and catchy that will spark your reader’s curiosity.

The hook should lead the reader into your essay, giving a sense of the topic you’re writing about and why it’s interesting. Avoid overly broad claims or plain statements of fact.

Examples: Writing a good hook

Take a look at these examples of weak hooks and learn how to improve them.

Braille was an extremely important invention.
The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability.

The first sentence is a dry fact; the second sentence is more interesting, making a bold claim about exactly why the topic is important.

The internet is defined as “a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities.”
The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education.

Avoid using a dictionary definition as your hook, especially if it’s an obvious term that everyone knows. The improved example here is still broad, but it gives us a much clearer sense of what the essay will be about.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a famous book from the nineteenth century.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement.

Instead of just stating a fact that the reader already knows, the improved hook here tells us about the mainstream interpretation of the book, implying that this essay will offer a different interpretation.

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Next, give your reader the context they need to understand your topic and argument. Depending on the subject of your essay, this might include:

Historical, geographical, or social context
An outline of the debate you’re addressing
A summary of relevant theories or research about the topic
Definitions of key terms

The information here should be broad but clearly focused and relevant to your argument. Don’t give too much detail—you can mention points that you will return to later, but save your evidence and interpretation for the main body of the essay.

How much space you need for background depends on your topic and the scope of your essay. In our Braille example, we take a few sentences to introduce the topic and sketch the social context that the essay will address:

Now it’s time to narrow your focus and show exactly what you want to say about the topic. This is your thesis statement —a sentence or two that sums up your overall argument.

This is the most important part of your introduction. A good thesis isn’t just a statement of fact, but a claim that requires evidence and explanation.

The goal is to clearly convey your own position in a debate or your central point about a topic.

Particularly in longer essays, it’s helpful to end the introduction by signposting what will be covered in each part. Keep it concise and give your reader a clear sense of the direction your argument will take.

As you research and write, your argument might change focus or direction as you learn more.

For this reason, it’s often a good idea to wait until later in the writing process before you write the introduction paragraph—it can even be the very last thing you write.

When you’ve finished writing the essay body and conclusion , you should return to the introduction and check that it matches the content of the essay.

It’s especially important to make sure your thesis statement accurately represents what you do in the essay. If your argument has gone in a different direction than planned, tweak your thesis statement to match what you actually say.

To polish your writing, you can use something like a paraphrasing tool .

You can use the checklist below to make sure your introduction does everything it’s supposed to.

Checklist: Essay introduction

My first sentence is engaging and relevant.

I have introduced the topic with necessary background information.

I have defined any important terms.

My thesis statement clearly presents my main point or argument.

Everything in the introduction is relevant to the main body of the essay.

You have a strong introduction - now make sure the rest of your essay is just as good.

Argumentative
Literary analysis

This introduction to an argumentative essay sets up the debate about the internet and education, and then clearly states the position the essay will argue for.

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its critical benefits for students and educators—as a uniquely comprehensive and accessible information source; a means of exposure to and engagement with different perspectives; and a highly flexible learning environment.

This introduction to a short expository essay leads into the topic (the invention of the printing press) and states the main point the essay will explain (the effect of this invention on European society).

In many ways, the invention of the printing press marked the end of the Middle Ages. The medieval period in Europe is often remembered as a time of intellectual and political stagnation. Prior to the Renaissance, the average person had very limited access to books and was unlikely to be literate. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century allowed for much less restricted circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation.

This introduction to a literary analysis essay , about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein , starts by describing a simplistic popular view of the story, and then states how the author will give a more complex analysis of the text’s literary devices.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale. Arguably the first science fiction novel, its plot can be read as a warning about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, and in popular culture representations of the character as a “mad scientist”, Victor Frankenstein represents the callous, arrogant ambition of modern science. However, far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to gradually transform our impression of Frankenstein, portraying him in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

The “hook” is the first sentence of your essay introduction . It should lead the reader into your essay, giving a sense of why it’s interesting.

To write a good hook, avoid overly broad statements or long, dense sentences. Try to start with something clear, concise and catchy that will spark your reader’s curiosity.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

It gives your writing direction and focus.
It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

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An Update on Battlefield 2042 and Welcoming Motive Studio to the Team

The team expands as we set our sights on what’s next.

Battlefield Community –

When Battlefield 2042 launched, we promised to bring four seasons of content to the game, including new maps, additional specialists, weapons, vehicles, and more. As our seasons continued, the feedback we received made it clear your appetite for more Battlefield 2042 remained strong. We took the opportunity to evolve the game to make it even better for you and continue to learn valuable lessons for our own developmental processes.

Last month, we released the seventh season of Battlefield 2042 – Turning Point, which added an intense new urban map set in Chile as well as several weapons and a new gadget, with a revamped map based on the Stadium location from Hourglass, two themed events, and a new weapon and vehicle to come.

While we’ve enjoyed and are proud of creating these seasons of additional content for Battlefield 2042, it is now necessary for us to turn from the present to the future. What this ultimately means is that Season 7 will serve as the final season for Battlefield 2042. After Season 7 concludes, we will continue to support the game with new in-game challenges, events, modes, and of course, ongoing maintenance, but we are moving away from delivering official seasons.

We know this news may be disappointing. However, as we looked at what the future of the series required, it became clear it was time for us to shift our resources and focus to be fully dedicated to what comes next.

As I’ve mentioned in previous updates, we have an ambitious vision to embrace and unlock the vast potential of the series’ class-based squadplay and immersive, intense battles.

To that end, Motive Studio – the talented developers known most recently for their work on the critically acclaimed remake of Dead Space and Star Wars: Squadrons – are building a team focused on Battlefield at their studio. We’re tremendously excited for Motive, as they are bringing their expertise with Frostbite and compelling storytelling to the fold, joining DICE, Criterion, and Ripple Effect in building a Battlefield universe across connected multiplayer experiences and single-player.

Battlefield 2042 has been an important chapter of the series we all know and love, and your feedback has been important in helping us build this game into something special while also assisting us in laying the foundation for the future. Battlefield is an experience that is defined by the passion of its community as much as its team-driven tactics and explosive battles, and I look forward to the day that we can tell you more about what’s coming next.

Byron Beede (General Manager, Battlefield)

Nursing Essay Writing Services: 3 Best Dependable Websites

April 1, 2024

Feeling overburdened by endless piles of nursing essays and close deadlines? We’ve been there. But before you take a chance on nursing essay services, explore our reviews on the top websites. In this text, we’ll dissect the best nursing paper services based on our experience and highlight the key features of each. It’ll help you differentiate the reliable options from those you should avoid.

The Best 3 Nursing Essay Writing Services for Top-Grade Papers

NursingPaper.com – the top nursing essay writing service overall – 4.9/5
DNPCapstoneProject.com – best nursing essay writing service for cheap – 4.8/5
NursingWriting.org with top nursing essay writers – 4.8/5

NursingPaper.com – The Top Nursing Essay Writing Service Overall

NursingPaper.com is a well-known service, offering assistance with various nursing papers across different academic levels, including RN, BSN, MSN, and even DNP and PhD. Since 2015, the company has helped more than 10,000 students, as stated on their website. They have established a good reputation among students by providing nursing papers of the highest quality on time. Despite their glowing recommendations from former clients, we tested the service to confirm their credentials and ability, and here’s what we’ve found.

User Experience

We first noticed the website design, which was easy on the eyes and easy to navigate by scrolling. Their home page describes everything you should know, including their guarantees, details about their nursing assignment helpers, and an order process you can follow. The order button is also well placed at the top for quick ordering in a rush.

The order button redirected us to the order form, where we specified the type of nursing essay we needed. We had to select the type of work, subject, education level, page count, spacing, deadline, and even pick a writer for the task. After filling in the details, the form calculated our price, and we provided additional instructions for the work. We also added several files with special requirements for the essay writer and proceeded to checkout so the order would be placed. Then, we got an email confirming the order and went to the customer area. Overall, ordering was fast, and the writer was assigned quickly. Their attention to detail was commendable – all instructions we sent were followed.

Customer Support

We also tested their customer support using the information on the home page to learn more about the website. They responded quickly and answered our questions accordingly any time we contacted them.

Delivery and Content Quality

They completed our order earlier than we expected, and we were notified via email that the essay was ready to download. After downloading the work, we assessed it, and the nursing essay was well-written and without any errors. Great job, nothing more to add.

The pricing of their writing help was notable in that it was a little higher than other nursing essay writing services we’ve tried. However, they clearly explain that it is because of the highly skilled nursing writers who possess verified M.Sc., Ph.D., and DNP degrees. So, while their base price of $14.59 might be higher than most, their writers guarantee quality papers. Plus, it saves you time for possible revisions. The only thing is to specify instructions as much as possible and don’t hesitate to communicate with your writer to clarify something.

Pros and Cons

Overall, our experience with the service was great, from the ordering process to customer support, delivery, and quality of the work. Based on our experience, the pros of the platform are:

Easy-to-navigate website.
Simple order process.
Timely delivery.
High-quality nursing papers.
Top nursing writers with advanced degrees.

The only notable con was their pricing. However, while you pay a little extra, it is completely justified by the quality of content and overall experience.

Special Features

We’ve never seen anything like this before, so it’s worth discussing. In addition to their comprehensive writing help, NursingPaper.com has a sample project and blog. There’s a lot of useful information there, including examples of different papers, writing tips, and engaging articles nursing students can use in their studies. Turns out they even have a dedicated NursingPaper blog expert – incredible!

Based on the quality of their writing, we could tell that their team of nursing writers was experienced. We interacted with the author of our paper during the writing process, and they understood what college instructors expected in the assignment. Besides, the content was unique, informative, and written in perfect English, meaning the writers are qualified and native speakers. So, we would recommend NursingPaper.com to students.

DNPCapstoneProject.com – Best Nursing Essay Writing Service For Cheap

Lengthy nursing research papers such as a DNP capstone can be a headache, especially because of the research required. This is when you look to DNPCapstoneProject.com. It is a proficient writing company that has provided DNP students worldwide with quality writing help since 2010. As the name suggests, the service started by specializing in DNP capstones but expanded to offer various nursing essay services. Since then, it has grown and currently has more than 500 experts who’ve handled more than 7500 orders.

User Experience and Prices

Their 98% client satisfaction rate is impressive, but we tested the service ourselves. Their website has a simple design with all the basics, such as an order button, a login button, and useful information about the service. The unique part was the price calculator on the homepage that let us calculate the price of our nursing essay before placing an order. The ordering process was also easy, and we completed it within minutes. What set this company apart from others we’ve tested was the option to pay in parts, something we’ve not seen with other websites. Their pricing starts at around $14.26 for a BSN essay, but you will also receive a discount on your first order.

As advertised, their nursing essay writer worked fast and delivered it within our deadline. They also did a good job in writing, using good-quality language and well-researched content. The work barely had any errors, so we didn’t need to request revisions. Also, their customer support responded on time and answered our queries throughout the process.

Pros, Cons, and Summary

In summary, DNPcapsstoneproject.com is a reliable budget option offering pros such as:

Payment in parts.
Cheaper prices with discounts.

Among the cons, we found nothing suspicious. However, we just ordered a 5-page essay and would also like to test their assistance with a capstone. Based on our experience, the work was decent for the price, which is what you’d expect from a good budget option.

NursingWriting.org With the Best Nursing Essay Writers

Another great option to consider is NursingWriting.org. Like the previous two, this one has assisted students for over a decade. Over the years, its reputation has developed greatly, especially among students who are short on time and urgently need a nursing essay writing service. So, are they reliable? Here’s what we discovered from testing the service.

Their website is easy to navigate, and the homepage has all the important information you need before placing an order. Interestingly, we encountered the choice between the standard process with the order form and ordering through chat, but we chose the first. After filling out the form, the price was calculated, and we selected the best available nursing essay writer for free to mimic the average user’s experience. Then, we provided the additional details and finished placing the order.

Delivery, Content Quality, and Prices

They completed the work within the deadline we provided, and after reviewing it, we can conclude that they have some of the best nursing writers out there. That’s because the essay was well-written and researched. That’s also because the service specializes in nursing papers and only hires skilled, verified nurses with proper knowledge and experience to be their nursing essay writers. The prices are consistent with most companies at $15.41 for a BSN-level essay, but first-time orders enjoy a 15% discount. We were also impressed by their customer support, as they were available throughout.

NursingWriting.org specializes in nursing only, meaning their essay writers are thorough with their research and writing. The service is reliable for students under pressure from deadlines and has a lot of interesting guarantees to protect students. These are the main pros making them a reliable student’s choice. As for the cons, this is more like subjective nitpicking. We want to see paper samples and valuable educational information on the blog.

Nursing Essay Writing Service: Comparative Analysis of Best Options

Exploring the different essay services has provided much important information about choosing an assistant. The three websites we’ve reviewed might be similar but have some distinct differences that set them apart. Here’s how these platforms compare to each other based on our experience.

Pricing-Quality Ratio

All three websites offered competitive prices; however, the cheapest option is DNPCapstoneProject.com. Their base price reflects their willingness to understand the students’ financial situations, and additional discounts make their essays even more affordable. NursingPaper.com offers services at a higher price than the other two because it guarantees superior papers and highly qualified nursing experts to handle them. So, your choice may come down to quality and price.

Quality and Depth of Content

Quality was one of the first things we always prioritized when thinking, “I should hire someone to write my nursing essay.” Many websites promise the world to clients but often fail by providing lower-quality nursing essays. The three services we’ve reviewed are among the few reliable choices in terms of quality. NursingPaper.com offers premium writers with years of experience but costs a little more. NursingWriting.org comes a close second in terms of quality, followed by DNPCapstoneProject.com, the reliable budget option. Note that all three produce excellent nursing papers, but based on experience, NursingPaper.com is the best. That’s where quality is valued above price.

Overall Experience

After testing all three services, it’s fair to say that they are all quite impressive in delivering good quality nursing essays, as their reviews will state. However, NursingPaper.com did just enough to stand out among the three by providing a fast and enjoyable experience from ordering to receiving the work. Their customer-focused approach and genuine interest in students’ success make it the best nursing essay writing service to trust with your essay.

FAQ About Nursing Essay Service

We understand you’ll likely have more questions about making the right choice. So, let’s answer some of the questions students frequently ask.

What to Pay Attention to When Choosing a Service

When choosing a nursing paper service, you should first seek one that provides competent writers and guarantees quality work. This will ensure that any work you receive meets the requirements. From there, you can look at pricing, safety, plagiarism, money-back guarantees, on-time delivery, etc. These factors can help you choose the right assistant. Here’s some more information about making the right call.

How Can I Be Sure My Paper Is Not Plagiarized?

You can confirm your paper’s uniqueness through a plagiarism detector. NursingPaper.com writers compose every paper from scratch and run it through plagiarism checkers. After receiving your work, you should also do the same to confirm that it’s not plagiarized.

What Guarantees Do I Get?

In the context of nursing essay services, guarantees are promises that essay websites make to protect your interests as a client. Regarding the above services, the guarantees include:

24/7 availability so that clients can order at any time.
Allowed communication with the assigned writer.
Free unlimited corrections within 14 days.
Complete confidentiality to protect your privacy.
Safe payments to keep your money and account secure.
A money-back guarantee when the work doesn’t meet quality standards.

Every top nursing essay service offers the above or similar guarantees as a sign that they are reliable.

What Is the Best Nursing Essay Writing Service?

Our experience with the various services showed us that NursingPaper.com is the best fit for any nursing student seeking a reliable service. Even though opinions might differ, we believe the service values clients and always aims to get them the papers they need. But if you’re still unsure, there are more suggestions, as you’ll se e here .

Are Essay Writing Services Worth It?

Sites writing nursing essays can help you manage heavy workloads, beat close deadlines, and complete complex assignments on time. While they will charge a fee, essay services can help raise or maintain your grades, so they are definitely worth it.

Closing Remarks

Nursing essay assistants play a major role in helping college students navigate their college struggles and helping them improve their grades through quality nursing papers. Finding a dependable essay service can be challenging, and one needs to be keen to ensure they don’t get disappointed. That’s why you should take the time to research a service before purchasing an essay. Based on our experiences, we consider NursingPaper.com as the best choice for nursing students seeking high-quality work from verified RN, MSN, and DNP writers.

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The Israeli government needs to open more land routes for food and medicine today. It needs to stop killing civilians and aid workers today. It needs to start the long journey to peace today.
AI And The Author: How AI Is Transforming Book Writing
No, but here are a few strategies to use AI to help with the book-writing process. • Ideation: AI can help overcome the dreaded blank page syndrome. By inputting a theme or a basic premise, AI ...
TheEssayClinic
26 likes, 0 comments - the.essay.clinicApril 8, 2024 on : "Another example of how to be critical within your academic writing #essay #essaytips #essaywritinghelp #essayhelp #assignmenthelp..." TheEssayClinic | Another example of how to be critical within your academic writing🙌🏼 #essay #essaytips #essaywritinghelp #essayhelp # ...
How to Write an Essay Introduction
Table of contents. Step 1: Hook your reader. Step 2: Give background information. Step 3: Present your thesis statement. Step 4: Map your essay's structure. Step 5: Check and revise. More examples of essay introductions. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about the essay introduction.
An Update on Battlefield 2042 and Welcoming Motive Studio to the Team
Last month, we released the seventh season of Battlefield 2042 - Turning Point, which added an intense new urban map set in Chile as well as several weapons and a new gadget, with a revamped map based on the Stadium location from Hourglass, two themed events, and a new weapon and vehicle to come. While we've enjoyed and are proud of ...
Nursing Essay Writing Services: 3 Best Dependable Websites
The Best 3 Nursing Essay Writing Services for Top-Grade Papers. NursingPaper.com - the top nursing essay writing service overall - 4.9/5. DNPCapstoneProject.com - best nursing essay writing ...