1. Find a research topics;
2. Writing reading a general article;
3. Formulate a temporary research thesis and a temporary research outline;
4. Prepare the preliminary bibliography;
5. Take notes from relevant sources;
6. Label note cards and revise the working outline;
7. Write the first draft;
8. Revise the text; write an introduction and a conclusion;
9. Fill in parenthetical references or footnotes on the draft;
10. Put the paper in final form.

For a narrative essay, you might tell a story about the library; for a persuasive essay, you might convince your readers to support the library bond issue or visit the library more often. For a descriptive essay, give sensory details about the library’s atmosphere; for an expository essay, you could explain how the online card catalog system works.

Remember that narration is writing that tells a story. Narrative essays can be developed in many ways, including chronological order (time order), as you would construct a story. The difference, of course, is that an essay is non fiction rather than fiction. Narrative essays can also be developed through cause and effect, comparison and contrast, and definition. Let’s focus on developing a narrative essay writing through definition.

Here are some ways to construct a definition passage or essay:

• List characteristics of a thing beyond what you need to just identify it.

• List characteristics of a thing beyond what you need to just identify it.

• Define the whole by naming its parts.

• Define the object by tracing its origins.

• Give synonyms for the concept or object being defined.

The Narrative Essay Writing

The narrative essay writing relates a story or tells about an event. It is frequently used for English and history compositions. It can also be used for the college essay. This type of essay retells a meaningful event, either historical or personal. It must contain relevant details and be well organized in a chronological manner.

Guidelines to consider when narrative essay writing include:

- Organize all the incidents and details in chronological order.

- Begin with the earliest event in the sequence.

- Supply any necessary background information.

- Use transitional expressions that indicate time order.

SETTING UP A NARRATIVE ESSAY

The narrative essay is set up differently than the expository or persuasive essays. It can have three, four, or even five paragraphs. It is usually easier to set it up in three or four. In the following example we will set it up into three paragraphs. It still has the same three basic parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion. In the narrative essay each paragraph will represent one of the basic parts. Remember that the narrative essay is written in the first person and discusses a personal issue.

Even at colleges where the competition isn’t quite as intense, admissions people take pains to assemble a varied and qualified student body. A few colleges, struggling to stay in business, admit virtually anyone who applies, and others, bound by law, employ open admissions. Such schools are the exception. As a general rule, the selectivity is practiced everywhere, and the selection of candidates is never done at random.

Schools immediately remove any person who clearly can not do the job.”In general,” says Muhlenberg’s dean of admission, Christopher Hooker-Haring, “students do a pretty good job of matching themselves up with colleges.” As a result, 85 to 90 percent are academically qualified and survive the first cut. Next, a college may pick out a small group of superstars, from presiden­tial scholars to world-class swimmers. The balance of candidates is left in what Harry Bauld, a former admissions representative at Brown and Columbia, terms “the gray area.” These applicants, Bauld says, are “in the ball park” but still far from being accepted. Faced with large numbers of good scholastic records—like those submitted by Jeff, Kathy, and Pat—admissions officials make decisions using what Karl M. Furstenberg, dean of admissions at Dartmouth calls “the intangibles,” qualities that don’t show up on a transcript and can’t be listed in a resume. “This makes our job harder,” claims Furstenberg. “It forces us to look at critical thinking.” And nowhere is an applicant’s level of thinking more evident than in the application essay.

Moreover, people who read college essays for a living know the distinctive style of high school writing. Even the best of it differs from the writing of adults. Perhaps it’s the rhythm, the use of a certain word, an unusual turn of phrase, the juxtaposition of ideas—each can tip off a reader that an adult has had a hand in the essay. There are certain usages that, although natural for an experienced adult writer, would almost never find their way into a high school student’s essay. (The sentence you just read contains just such an example. Notice that the subordinate clause, “although natural for an experienced adult writer,” is embedded in the main clause. One in a thousand high school writers is likely to construct a sentence like that. It would be equally rare, too, for a high school student to say “usages . . . find their way.” Teenagers don’t express themselves that way.)

That’s not to say that every ably written application essay will arouse suspicion in the admissions office. Many applicants write superior essays all by themselves. If a student with average English grades and unexceptional College Board scores submits a slick, highly sophisticated essay, however, a reader will notice. When admissions officers have reason to question the authorship of an application essay, they’ll scrutinize the applicant’s school record and search through teachers’ recommendations for mention of the student’s writing ability. If they still have doubts, they may phone the high school for verification.

Getting substantial help with an application essay may reduce your anxiety, but it also does you a disservice. You should make it into the college of your choice based on what you know, what you can do, and who you are. Misrepresenting yourself may get you in, but once on campus you will do the work, you will do the writing, you will sink or pus you will do the work, you will do the writing, you will sink or swim on your own. An essay that fools the admissions office will grant you a short-lived victory. In a few months, the real you will start bringing home real grades. Your application essay will be history, as will, perhaps, your career as a student at that college.

Write in third person:

Be sure to write your scholarship essay in third person. This means not using words such as “I” “we” or even “you”. Rather, you want to write your essay as if it is a newspaper article or a press release. For instance, suppose the essay question is “What do you think about abortions?” Don’t start off saying “I think abortions are…”or “I believe that abortions can…” Instead, just say “Abortions are…” or “Abortions can…”

Scholarship essay organization:

Be sure to organize your scholarship essay. This means that you will need a definite introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Be sure to use paragraphs and organize your thoughts. Don’t have random thoughts within the essay that don’t exactly fit with the flow of the paragraphs.

Scholarship essay references:

Use references in your scholarship essay to show that you did your research. You can cite a book, a magazine, or even a web site. Whenever you make a claim in your essay that wouldn’t be obvious to most people, you should definitely cite where you obtained such a statement. You can also include a few quotes from notable people, but make sure that it appropriately relates to the topic of your scholarship essay.

Pay Attention:

Pay attention to the rules. Many people lose scholarship essay contests because they don’t follow simple rules. For example, if a scholarship contest requires that you put only your name and phone number at the top of your essay—then do just that. Don’t decide to add your address and fax number. If they say to email your essay in, don’t submit it via postal mail. This may very well be a test to see if you can follow instructions.

No Typos:

Be sure that you spell all words correctly in your essay. Make sure that you use quotation marks, commas, colons, semi-colons, and peri­ods appropriately. Avoid incomplete sentences and run-on sentences.

Make the Deadline:

Shockingly, many applicants try to submit essays after the deadline. Make sure that you get yours in on time. Don’t procrastinate. Start early, and submit early.

Think Big…and Small:

Don’t just apply for the high-end scholarships for $5,000 and up. Keep in mind that these gener­ally are more competitive due to more applicants. Be sure to also apply for the smaller ones, like the $500 and $1,000 scholarships. These opportuni­ties are easier to win because most applicants don’t take them very seriously. They also usu­ally have fewer applicants.

In a cause and effect essay, you examine the relationships between how certain events bring about or lead to other events. For instance, if you’re looking at the causes of U.S. involvement in World War II, you’d write about the immediate cause (the bombing of Pearl Harbor) as well as causes that had been building up for some time (growing hostilities between the United States and Germany and the United States and Japan, increasing bonds between the United States and the Allies, and so on).

Be sure that there is actually a relationship between your suggested cause and effect. For instance, suppose you buy a new car and then two days later the dealership lowers the price on the model you bought. The dealership’s sale had nothing to do with your previous purchase of the car, so there was no cause and effect relationship.

The following transition words and phrases can come in handy when writing a cause and effect essay: accordingly, as a consequence, as a result, because, for this purpose, consequently,  for that reason, hence, in order that, so, so that, then, therefore, thereupon, to do this, thus, with this in mind, to this end, and with this objective.

Whenever a writer lines up two things for discussion, he will almost always be comparing and contrasting them. Never forget however, that for this essay type to be really meaningful, all the subjects must be members of the same group. A writer might profitably compare and contrast a vocational major with an academic major because both are courses of study. Another writer might effectively compare and contrast a vocational course with an industrial training program because both lead to a job. However, it is not likely that any writer could meaningfully compare and contrast an academic major with an industrial training program. When you employ the comparison/contrast mode of writing, be sure the subjects are plainly related.

There are two ways the details in a comparison paragraph may be arranged: the point-by-point pattern or the block pattern. We will examine the block pattern first because it really is quite simple. To begin, you describe the pertinent points of the first subject: then you describe the pertinent points of the other. You should always try to conclude the essay with a brief statement that brings the two into focus and restates your reason for comparing them. The block pattern is appropriate to use and easy to organize when the subjects are brief and not too complicated. The point-by-point method helps to keep the reader’s attention when the material becomes detailed or full of refinements or exceptions.

There are three elements in every essay: content, structure, and style. The content – the particular facts and ideas that form the subject matter – is different for each essay and is thus beyond the scope of our discussion. Questions about the structure and style, by contrast, tend to be the same for each argumentative essay, regardless of content. Let’s consider some of these questions first from the standpoint of the author, and then from the point of view of criticism.

First, however, we need to address an aspect of good writing that is often overlooked. The goal of all writing is communication with an audience. This means we must know what audience we are writing for, and write for that audience. We must take the audience into account when deciding what we want to say and how we are going to say it. What is their level of education?

How much religious / political / scientific the sophistication is what you have? How much background information that may have? What are your values that can be? The answers to these and similar questions are important to many of the decisions you must make when writing.

Writing a paper on capital punishment for a graduate seminar in criminology clearly requires a different approach from writing a column on the same subject for the Toronto Sun. When writing anything, we should always pay attention to the intended audience. An argumentative essay, obviously, is intended for an audience that is capable of being persuaded by arguments.

admission essay

How important is my essay in the admission decision?

It depends. Except at the most selective schools, if your GPA and SAT scores are both remarkably high, then as long as you don’t write something patently stupid or offensive in your essays, your GPA and SAT scores will probably convince the admission committee at the school to admit you. On the other hand, if a particular school is a long-shot for you then even a great admission essay will probably not in itself persuade the admission committee to admit you. The fact is this: The closer you are to the borderline, the more significant a role your essay will play in the admission decision.

Can I be assured that someone at the college will read my essay(s)?

Most colleges will tell you essentially: “Assuming that you have submitted a complete application and have met our application deadline, your admission essay(s) will be read by at least one person in our office.” Generally speaking, this is true. However, smaller schools—especially private liberal arts colleges—with small applicant pools tend to pay greater attention than larger colleges and universities to applicants’ essays. Also, at some schools with large applicant pools, essays by applicants whose GPA and SAT scores fail to meet minimum or threshold requirements might go unread.

Who will read and evaluate my admission essay(s)?

Procedures vary among schools. Typically, however, one admission officer will read your essay(s) and write an evaluation. Admission officers are typically graduates, or alumni, of the school for which they work and are hired to evaluate applications; they do not, however, make final admission decisions. If you remain a viable candidate after the first “read,” your essay(s) will then be scrutinized more closely by another admission officer or perhaps by the admission director or assistant director. Some schools (particularly small liberal arts colleges) will subject your essays to further scrutiny by circulating your file among members of an admission committee comprised of perhaps five to seven people (admission officials, faculty members, and possibly students).

How do schools evaluate my admission essays?

Evaluation methods vary somewhat among schools. Some schools, particularly larger institutions that process many applications, use a multiple-scoring system in which each essay receives separate scores for content, style, and mechanics. Other schools take a more holistic approach, relying on written comments by evaluators as well as dialogue among members of the admission committee.

The Book report requires students to state a reaction to, or opinion of, a book they have read, and support it with particulars and details. We use a traditional essay form starting with an introductory (information) paragraph, supporting paragraphs (the body), and a concluding (opinion) paragraph. The four main parts of a book are identified and discussed: the story plot, the characters, the setting, and the theme.

Basic Book Report Outline

Title:

Introductory Paragraph (Information)

A. Book Title and Author:

1. Genre: What type of story is this? Fiction (not true) or nonaction (true)

2. Setting: Where does the story take place? When?

3. Main Characters: Who are they? Does anyone change (from bad to good, etc.) In the story? Who does the “right” thing?

a. Character 1: Who/what it the most Important character?

b. Character 2: What is this character’s role in the story?

c. Character 3: What is this character’s role in the story?

B. Subject: What is the story about? General statement.

Body Paragraph (Story Plot)

A. Problem: Element/problem around which action is centered.

1. Characters Involved: Who is involved In the problem? How/why?

2. Main Conflict: What problem needs to be solved?

3. Difficulty: What/who gets In the way of solving the problem?

B. Solution: How is the conflict solved? Concluding Paragraph (Opinion)

A. Your Opinion of the Book: Did you like/dislike the story. Why/why not?

1. Interesting Characters? Did you like/dislike the characters?

2. Believable? Any surprises?

3. Your Taste? Like this genre?

B. Recommend to a Friend? Clincher sentence. Who else might like this story?

The purpose of the persuasive essay is to present a definite opinion about a controversial issue and persuade the reader to feel likewise about the subject. Writers must clearly explain their opinions in positive terms and include compelling facts and reasons to support that point of view. The persuasive essay speaks with confidence, clarity, and sincerity. It addresses reasonable opposing arguments and points out their weaknesses. The strongest point is often saved for last in a persuasive essay to prove to skeptical readers they have something to benefit by assuming the same stance.

The persuasive essay contains an introductory paragraph that includes a thesis/focus sentence, three or more supporting body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. Students use the introductory paragraph to gain the reader’s attention and identify the controversy. Each of the body paragraphs begins with the writer’s position, followed by facts, reasons, and examples to support it. Rather than simply announcing (he subject of the essay, students develop an opinion about the topic based on some research they have done. Opposing sides of the issue and their weaknesses are cited, solutions proposed, and the writer’s outlook is confirmed in the conclusion.