The following tips are for beginning essay writers, which can also double up as reminders for those who have been writing for quite some time now.

1. Write short sentences.

An unspoken rule in most writing circles is to keep the sentences down to 20 words or less. You don’t have to do a word count each time you write one sentence but it is always best if you keep your sentences as short as you can. Studies show that most readers have average reading capability. You will likely lose them the moment your sentence spins into anything longer than two lines of text.

2. Use specific words.

In English, several words can mean almost the same thing, with only degrees of difference between them. Choosing the most appropriate word reduces the need to use more words to explain your choice. For example, imagine the difference between walking, trudging, strolling, prancing, sauntering, shuffling, trampling, marching, lumbering, plodding, sashaying and traipsing. These are all listed as synonyms but each one evokes a different meaning. Choose wisely.

3. State your point in fewer words.

A lot of common, day-to-day expressions can be easily whittled down to fewer words without changing the meaning at all. Use the following table as a guide.

4. Format your essay accordingly.

Break up your essay into small, readable chunks by using sub-headings, bullets, numbers, tables, highlighters and other clever formatting devices that make your essay look more inviting to readers. A large block of text is a formidable threat to readers and it is easy to lose them in an essay where there are no clear and visual signposts between main points.

5. Eliminate jargon.

American writer William Zinsser asserted that the more educated we become, the more we manifest gobbledygook tendencies in our writing. As we become more familiar with any industry-specific jargon, the more we assume that readers are familiar with them too. Once your essay is finished, go through it one more time and look for words that the average American reader will not understand. Is there any way you can simplify technical terms so that the layman knows what you are talking about? If yes, use that word instead.

6. Cut off the clichés.

They contribute nothing to your essay, so get rid of them as soon as you can. There are many clichés to watch out for. Some of the most popular are the following:

• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
• Love is blind.
• If you love something, set it free.
• Money makes the world go round.
• Laughter is the best medicine.

For more like-minded posts visit our how to write an essay section. You’ll find plenty of helpful tips there.

“One of the hardest choices any young person has to make is ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ and history is like a great buffet lunch of all kinds of choices that people have made with what they did with their lives…”

David McCullough

The history of XX century has proved that education is not only a right choice for a young person, but also it is an essential part of success in life and career. Every field of modern life demands the educated specialists to solve different problems facing our society. Democracy itself is based on educational values and proves the old statement “knowledge is power”. People need this power in order to decide what values are true for them and what are false, rather than blindly follow social convictions or someone else’s believes.

When people grow older, they become wiser and more experienced in many issues related to their life. Most of us acquire knowledge at the school of life, which is different for everyone in particular, but at the same time it teaches all people some important lessons they need to learn. College is like a small reproduction of the school of life. It teaches us many important lessons, which are not necessarily found in the curriculum. In a way, college reminds me a survival camp, except that it doesn’t have physical trials, it tests only psychological, emotional and personal spheres of our life. That’s why I believe that going to college is an important step for growing as an individual.

Perhaps, today some High school graduates assume that college is only about scientific and academic achievements, and therefore they find it boring and useless. Well, in a way it’s an absolutely fair assumption. At college they teach curriculum that’s not always applicable in our practical experience. However, there is another perspective, which I suggest to consider: college years will become the period of empowerment of your imagination, development of your skills, expression of your creativity, formation of your personality and finding your true self.

One of the distinguished features in the American education system is that, unlike in any other country of the world, it promotes and encourages creative and independent thinking among its students by means of interactive projects and activities. Besides, there are some practical issues to consider. First of all college provides the perfect training to achieve one’s career ambitions. Usually its academic program is quite flexible to provide students with options for choosing the best curriculum. Besides, there are many interactive programs that allow participation in special activities aimed to give more deep knowledge and experience in a chosen area of interest. Thus, college life is not as boring as it might seem, especially when one is occupied with the activities that he or she really enjoys doing.

Education in college does not stop at the classroom, but rather continues through internships and extracurricular activities. Besides, there is a great emphasis on teamwork and technology, reflected by numerous exciting courses and programs. Thus, college helps to strengthen both the theoretical knowledge and the practical skills necessary to secure a position in a reputable company.

Of course, there will be life outside of the curriculum. And while it’s fun and entertaining, it also is a very useful experience in facing and resolving life issues. Everyone, who enters college, starts a new life that looks like a blank piece of paper. Whether one was a jerk or too shy, college gives everyone a second chance to become someone different, someone he or she always dreamt to become. It’s a power of freedom to become someone new or someone true. This chance opens many interesting roads, but there is only one to chose.

Commitment to another five years of studying is not an easy choice and it’s perfectly fair to question the meaning and sense of going to college. There are many examples of successful people who quit the college or never went there and nevertheless managed to succeed. However, it’s just a theory of probability, since we don’t know much about people, who quit the college and didn’t become successful. Perhaps, there are a lot more of them. Perhaps, college education is just the insurance for the future success, but this insurance may one day become your lottery ticket.

This blog is a good source of sample essays, e.g. this one comparing market and planned economy.

This is how essay writers who have been in the business of custom essay writing for a long time write their essays: They mull over the topic, they read up on the topic, they mull over some more and read up some more until they believe they have enough information to organize into an outline. They then begin writing their first draft, changing and adjusting things as they go along the way, reading up some more if they need to and editing and revising according to the new information they gather.

What’s the difference? Seasoned writers know the importance of research; amateurs rarely do. Research makes for a more comprehensive and insightful essay. It is common sense to know you can’t really write something you don’t know about. So read, stock up on knowledge and do your research.

1. Find sources.

Establish a good topic first, one for which you can find several library sources but not too much. If you are overwhelmed by the amount of reading you have to do for your essay, your topic is too broad. Once you find a good balance between a depth and breadth, head to the library for some reading. The card catalog or its electronic version will help make the job easier for you.

2. Choose something interesting.

The encyclopedia and other reference material may be a useful starting point, but they are generally not accepted as sources, especially for college essays. If you want something that can bring some color into your essay, go to the library’s special archives section. You will find personal letters, firsthand anecdotes, diaries and a host of other intriguing material. Some may be too old or fragile to be handled but can be accessed through microfilm or microfiche. Ask for assistance when accessing these documents.

3. Filter the good from the bad.

You will most likely encounter a lot of reading material for your essay. With the word limit given, it is important that you sift through to get the most reliable sources you can use. The Internet is certainly a gold mine of credible information, but it also has millions of websites that offer complete nonsense. Journal articles are highly recommended if you’re writing for the academe, but access can be limited. Look up your school’s library to see if they have copies of the journals you need.

4. Take organized notes.

It seems every single page on the Internet about doing research says something about taking notes, but not a lot of students follow this advice. Taking down notes as completely as possible is one of the cornerstones of writing a well-researched essay because no matter how good your memory is, you will always miss out on something important. Take a stack of colored index cards with you and write down your notes separately. Arrange them according to the order you want them to take later on. This will also help you bring structure to your essay.

For more information on how to write good essays read this post with high-quality essay writing tips .

1. Write an anecdote.

If you haven’t yet used the personal anecdote at the beginning of your essay, now might be a good time to insert one at the end. Everyone loves a good story, and the images you portray in your anecdote are certainly more vivid, thus more memorable, than any abstract argument, no matter how powerful, you present in the body of your essay. Tell them a story that ends with a punchline that summarizes the whole point of the essay.

2. Use short words.

Summarizing the key points of your essay is one of the most commonly used strategies in concluding an essay. Although this can be a bit dull sometimes, specially with shorter essays that don’t really require a recap, you can write a strong and hard-hitting last paragraph by using shorter words and sentences. They sink in faster and deeper. Like bullets fired one by one. Like this. Get my point?

3. Link it to your introduction.

Go over your first paragraph and see what images or ideas can be used again to close your essay. You certainly don’t have to repeat phrases or sentences, although writers with enough skill can work around this technique without sounding amateurish. This is a creative way of tying up all the loose ends and dealing with whatever doubts the reader may still have.

4. Leave questions unanswered.

It’s one thing to satisfy your readers; it’s another to make them want for more. A thought-provoking question at the end of your essay is an easy way to get them thinking. Don’t give all of the answers to your readers. Hold back a bit to launch your readers into action and make them mull things over on their own. An essay that makes you think is an essay that has fulfilled its purpose.

5. Don’t belabor the obvious.

Your readers can see they are at the end of the essay simply by looking at where they are on the page. Although phrases such as “in conclusion,” “as a summary,” to conclude my argument” are useful in ending oral presentations, they are simply fluff when used in an essay. It’s better to state your conclusion right away.

6. Relate to a wider context.

Another way to get your readers to think about your arguments is to take them out of the current context and apply them somewhere else. For example, after discussing Wole Soyinka’s satirical treatment of racial discrimination in his poem The Telephone Conversation, perhaps you can end by pointing out the modern-day satires about ethnic discrimination posted on YouTube.

7. End with a call to action.

Nothing can be more powerful than an explicit call to action. Is your essay about the destructive effects of local fishing practices in your area? Tell the fishermen to stop throwing poisons into the water. Do you want a particular candidate put to office in your school’s student council? Tell the students to vote for him. A short but clear call to action reminds your readers you are in control.

If you want to make your essays extraordinary you can do it using quotations properly.

Human history begins with man’s act of disobedience which is at the very same time the beginning of his freedom and development of his reason.  ~Erich Fromm

It’s hard to disagree with the statement made by Erich Fromm on disobedience, especially if we’ll think about one of the greatest leaders of civil disobedience movement in the XX century, Martin Luther King, Jr. and his truly distinctive historical writing called “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Some of the greatest appeals made in this letter were to justice, nonviolent resistance and conscious surrender to moral believes in struggle against racial injustice.

“There are two types of laws, just and unjust,” wrote King in his letter from the jail. “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” According to King, it is permissible to break those laws that violate the moral code of society and such is an act of civil disobedience. The support for King’s argument can be found in Shirley Jackson’s work The Lottery, where she talks about destructive rituals of mankind that should be eliminated, because they bring unreasonable suffering. King goes against society’s unjust law and clearly expresses his intentions to do what he feels agreed with his personal values. King’s message in the Birmingham letter is that racial injustice and segregation of the black Americans are being constantly encouraged by the white American society and powerful religious and political communities, but this will not last for too long: “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever”, writes King and in the end he points out that such will be a historical victory for black American community and for the entire country.

The second important issue that King addresses in his letter is a defense of non-violent actions performed by his organization. During his fight against segregation he and his followers question themselves: “Are you able to accept blows without retaliating? Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?” Being the most earnest supporter of nonviolent direct action, Kings in his letter accepts the claim that he is an extremist, only he states that there are two sides of going to extremes and he is on the one that preaches the “extremism in love”. Strong moral believes made a group of people successful in their struggle against society and one of their major advantages was that they lived up to their promises for nonviolent resistance.

Finally, the third appeal made by King in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was a conscious surrender to struggle and suffering for defending their morals. Being aware of the “ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail” King nevertheless goes on fight against segregation in southern society and by doing this he sets an example for his followers, who should not be afraid of suffering for justice. The fact that black people were being treated cruelly in the jails didn’t stop King, because his strong belief in fight for segregation overshadowed all fears and doubts.

“Letter From Birmingham Jail” became the classics of world literature and a historical discussion of civil disobedience as a moral way to fight for justice. King’s work is an appeal to both black and white American society, the political, social and religious community and entire humanity to discourage segregation and to encourage equality and solidarity among all citizens.

References:

Martin Luther, Jr King. (August 1, 1994) Letter from the Birmingham Jail.

If you need more examples check out this sample evaluation essay.

1. Figure out a purpose for each quotation.

Before you decide to add a quotation, ask yourself this question: What is this quotation supposed to do to my essay? If your answer is you need to stretch it out to meet the minimum word count, forget it. Your professor can sense it anyway. Any piece of work by another author that you want to embed into your essay should have a purpose. The most common is to make your claims more credible, but quotations are also useful to make an impactful opening and conclusion, inject some humor when appropriate and add some color.

2. Make each quotation a part of your essay.

Although quotations are the work of other authors, you have to make sure that they blend properly into your own work should you decide to use them. Look for ways to adequately introduce a quotation in your essay instead of simply inserting it somewhere it seems convenient. It is always recommended to cite your sources properly by at least indicating the author’s name and the title of the work from which you are quoting. At best, you should also add a brief summary of the quotation and the author’s credentials.

Here is an example:

Even Albert Einstein, the greatest mind of the 21st century couldn’t explain love when he said “How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?”

3. Explain each quotation.

A quotation in an essay cannot stand on its own. You need to support the existence of that quotation by fleshing it out and explaining how it is related to the point you want to make in the succeeding paragraph. Some phrases that could help you transition smoothly from a quotation to your own work are the following:

• Clearly, Einstein believes that…
• From what Einstein said, we can deduce the fact that…
• Here, we see that Einstein thinks…
• We can conclude that…
• This statement clearly shows that Einstein agrees with…

4. Block long quotations.

Long quotations are especially delicate because they are quite a load for the readers. However, if you must use long quotations, block them. To do so means to separate them from the main paragraph and indent them one-half inch to the right. This lets the reader know that you are quoting another author and that the long piece of text he is reading is not your own. This is the standard guideline when it comes to quotations that are longer than three lines. However, your school may follow a separate set of guidelines for citing sources properly so always check with your professor.

As you see from the article above, quotations are very important. But every successful essay starts with a good introduction. Keep that in your mind.

The history of the United States of America has witnessed many great and outstanding people, who have shaped the current state of political, economic and social issues. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be remembered as one of the greatest speakers and writers of the twentieth century, who has strongly influenced the fate and heritage of black Americans in our country. A great combination of passion and logic, theory and force to serve the community has made this person and his works truly historical. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is one of his most famous works, where Martin Luther King, Jr. responds to a public criticism made by a group of white clergymen at his pro-black organization’s non-violent demonstrations aimed to eliminate racial injustice and prejudice among black people in Birmingham. In the first place King’s response was aimed to defend the non-violent actions performed by his organization, but “Letter from Birmingham Jail” appeared to be also an appeal to both black and white American society, the political, social and religious community and entire humanity to discourage segregation and to encourage equality and solidarity among all American citizens.

In his letter King addresses the American society as a whole, as well as religious and political community in particular. There are three important groups, however, which appear to be of special attention in King’s letter: the black society, the white political community and the white religious community. This is mainly because all major segregation conflicts appear between these three groups and are being proliferated by last two. Therefore, much of the arguments presented in the letter are pointed to these two groups, as well as to his fellow black Americans.

The main idea of King’s message in the Birmingham letter is that racial injustice and segregation of the black Americans is being constantly encouraged by the white American society and by the early mentioned powerful religious and political communities in particular. Such ideas is being discusses all throughout the letter with the valid and accurate arguments to support his thesis.

Among the major issues being addressed and confronted in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, such as injustice, racial prejudice and inequality happening in the American society, King separately emphasizes the problem of violence that has occurred in Birmingham. In his arguments King uses both social, political and moral references and logic in order to make them truly agreeable and valid. Thus, in response to his letter King seems to expect the agreement and appeal to abolish segregation and stop the injustices being imposed on his fellow black Americans. Meanwhile, from his black fellowmen King expects solidarity and unity, which he perceives as an essential means to achieve their goal. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” therefore is a discussion of the civil rights movement, which struggles to eliminate the white man’s resistance and ignorance.

References:

1. Martin Luther, Jr King. (August 1, 1994) Letter from the Birmingham Jail.
2. Martin Luther King Jr., Peter Holloran, Clayborne Carson.  (January 1, 2000) A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Warner Books.

P.S. Have you checked out our How to Write an Essay on Racism Tips? It may turn out to be very helpful.

When high school essay writers go to college, they bring with them an arsenal of rigid writing rules that are intended to help them write better essays in college. Rules such as “Don’t use ‘I’” and “Never use the first-person point-of-view” are ingrained in their psyches so much. These are actually sound pieces of advice, but essay writing starts to become confusing when you begin to encounter things like memoirs and personal essays.

Is it still wrong to include the “I” and shun the third-person altogether in these types of essays? The answer is no. Amateur writers should understand that essay writing is not an inflexible process. Although it does adhere to certain rules, you, the writer, hold the discretion of bending or breaking these rules if doing so makes your point clearer or stronger. The following are excellent reasons to overthrow the conventions and make your own writing rules.

• Connection – In certain instances, you need to establish a relationship with your audience and bring about a feeling of intimacy. Using the “I” and other first-person references such as “me,” “myself,” “we,” “us” and “ourselves” lends your essay a more personal tone. This is supplemented by using the second-person “you” in your essay too.
• Subjectivity – When asked to share your own thoughts, feelings, ideas, opinions, perspectives and stock knowledge gathered through the years about a certain topic, there is no other way to do so but to use the first-person point-of-view. It is also particularly helpful when you would like to share a personal anecdote as an introduction to your essay or to drive home a point.
• Simplicity – Sometimes, the third-person point-of-view can only muddle your arguments, such as when you would like to relate a firsthand account of a significant event.
• Authority – Even in writing scientific essays, where traditional writers completely avoid the use of the first-person, the more modern and flexible science writers now realize the value of using “I.” The first-person is especially helpful when the writer would like to claim authority for a certain discovery by describing the detailed process that brought about this breakthrough.

Then again, you should remember that the first-person point-of-view is not always helpful and that there are instances when sticking with the third-person is better for your essay. For one thing, using the “I” can be very restrictive, preventing you from incorporating multiple perspectives that can make your essay more inclusive and comprehensive. For another, it can be awkward trying to include the “I” or your personal experiences too much in your essay, especially when they are only vaguely related to the main idea of your essay.

In instances like this, the third-person point-of-view lends a more factual and detached air to your essay. It can sound dull, but if your essay’s objective is to inform and educate your readers, it is easy to offset the lackluster tone of a third-person essay with generous chunks of helpful information that your readers are interested in. When you’re writing a research paper, report, biographical essay or a traditional journalistic article, using the third-person point-of-view is your best bet.

Still need more essay writing tips? Check out this article about how to choose an essay topic.

Some people believe that advertising is a moving force of the progress, but if one takes a look at the truth in advertisement uncovered behind the scene, it becomes obvious that instead of the progress advertisement leads to degradation of values in our society and spreads the roots of consumerism all over the world. Using strong psychological tools in appealing to non-rational impulses of consumers advertising creates a consumerism-dependent society through three major areas of influence: by exploiting the feeling of self-esteem, by playing tricks with people’s ideal of happiness and by creating the worship for brands that leads to mass consumer obsession.

Modern advertisement doesn’t focus on the product itself, but rather appeals to the self as the main object of manipulation. Ads address the potential consumers with a message that alerts their feeling of worth and ability of being socially accepted. This, of course, gets the most vivid response from consumers, since the ability to socialize is among primary concerns of any human being. In her book called “Decoding Advertisements” Judith Williamson explains this phenomenon the following way: “by depicting the self as a problem, ads then presented their products as wonder cures which will fix the self and make it socially acceptable” (Williamson, 1978, p. 52). Such problem could be a bad breath, poor appearance or wrong car. Thus, when Britney Spears tells me that Pepsi is the drink of the new generation, I suddenly feel old-fashioned drinking Root Beer, although it tastes better for me. It takes courage to stand alone against the crowd and do what you like, not what you are told to like from TV, but unless we keep our personal preferences over “socially recognized” ones, we have no right to be called individuals, since our mind becomes collective.

The mental assumptions of our society were shaped in such manner, that now people believe that happiness and perfection can be obtained only when they possess certain objects advertised to them by various marketing schemes. But the truth is that as long as advertisement industry will generate profits for business world, it will generate new needs for consumer society, so that the wish-list will never end. Moreover, the long-wished happiness will therefore not be achieved, since as soon as one of the consumer desires is fulfilled, the new one will take place and the frustration will continue over and over. And such is the goal of any advertisement campaign: to keep the consumers feeling that they are yet “less than enough”.  At the end it may lead to total destruction of one’s financial health and self-esteem, feeling of depression and unworthiness.  In order to avoid the manipulative nature of advertisement, our culture should put more emphasis on non-materialistic values, such as love, friendship, honesty, courage and others. These values can be obtained without money, and therefore make the rules equal for everyone involved.

Advertisement endorses the semiotic dimension of consumption, which implies that in most cases what people desire is not a real object itself, but its meaning or brand endowed with value by successful advertisement. For example, when kids buy shoes, they actually buy the brand and become participants of its philosophy, e.g. Nike: “Just Do It!” Thus, the actual meaning of products, that is their “brand image,” becomes central to the process of formation of social and personal identity. Consumer society centers upon “the marketing of desire in the form of symbolic goods which represent longed for aspect of our selves that we unconsciously imagine we can acquire from the external world”, states Minsk (1998, p. 36). In this case it is a responsibility for everyone to be conscious in making the decisions and choosing a certain brand. A buyer’s choice should be based on the value, not the brand.

Advertisement is aimed to present people with “ideals” that are out of their reach. This brings to increased frustration and depressed feeling of self-worth by humiliating the individuality of each person. Such is the nature of advertisement behind the scene. It doesn’t seem to hurt openly, but it influences our subconscious mind and affects our decisions. This is not the progress, advertisement is degrading and unless we put stronger emphasis on non-materialistic values, it will conquer our souls and our wallets.

References:

1. Williamson, Judith. Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in advertising. New York: Pantheon, 1978.
2. Minsk, R. Psychoanalysis and culture. Cambridge: Polity (Chapter 9; Consuming Goods), 1998.
3. Bocock, R. Consumption. New York: Pantheon, 1993.

Internet is a great source of information. You may also find helpful this sample essay on relationship marketing. Wish you perfect essays!

1. Use memory devices.

There are many words and phrases in the English language that do sound confusing. If you have ever mixed up the following, you’re not alone.

• Lose vs. Loose
• Its vs. It’s
• Your vs. You’re
• Whose vs. Who’s
• Their vs. Their vs. They’re
• Who vs. Whom
• Good vs. Well

To minimize confusion, it helps if you create sentences that include these words and demonstrate the meaning of these words. For instance, you can say “Who’s the driver whose beat-up yellow van is blocking my car?” to remember that who’s is the contraction for who is and whose is a possessive pronoun.

2. Be careful putting your thoughts down on paper.

Wait a minute. Isn’t that what writing is all about? Well, yes, but writing has to be a bit more organized that your speeding train of thoughts. For one thing, your thoughts tend to come in run-on sentences, or sentences that go on and on and on almost without stopping. For another, a lot of your thoughts don’t mean anything at all. When writing, make sure that each of your sentences has a subject, verb and an object. Once you’ve mastered that technique, practice adding transitional words and phrases between your sentences to make them run more smoothly.

3. Customize your list of misspelled words.

Let’s face it. No one really goes through those long lists of misspelled words. They’re overwhelming, and you don’t need to read everything anyway. That doesn’t mean that lists are useless. You just have to tweak them a bit to suit your needs. In other words, make your own list. Each time you come up with a word that misspelled or one that you do not know how to spell, look it up in the dictionary and write it down. This way you won’t be troubling yourself with words you already know how to spell.

4. Read a lot.

There really is no substitute for reading. Whatever you get your hands on, read it. When you read a lot every day, you become so familiar with the rules of grammar and spelling that they become part of your subconscious. At first, you have to make a conscious effort to notice how words are spelled and how sentences are constructed. Remember how words look on a page instead of memorizing the individual letters that make it up. You also have to determine how a certain sentence was constructed this way and that. Parsing, or breaking down a sentence into its individual parts (i.e. subject, verb and object), is a helpful exercise. The more you read, the better it gets. There comes a point when you no longer have to deliberately analyze every single word or phrase because grammar becomes second nature to you.

If you want to make your essays perfect you can do it following the tips in this article about how to write an essay title.