Typically, an essay has five paragraphs: an introduction, a conclusion, and three body paragraphs. However, there is no set rule about the number of paragraphs in an essay.
The number of paragraphs can vary depending on the type and scope of your essay. An expository or argumentative essay may require more body paragraphs to include all the necessary information, whereas a narrative essay may need fewer.
To enhance the coherence and readability of your essay, it’s important to follow certain rules regarding the structure. Take a look:
1. Arrange your information from the most simple to the most complex bits. You can start the body paragraph off with a general statement and then move on to specifics.
2. Provide the necessary background information at the beginning of your essay to give the reader the context behind your thesis statement.
3. Select topic statements that provide value, more information, or evidence for your thesis statement.
There are also various essay structures , such as the compare and contrast structure, chronological structure, problem method solution structure, and signposting structure that you can follow to create an organized and impactful essay.
An impactful, well-structured essay comes down to three important parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion.
1. The introduction sets the stage for your essay and is typically a paragraph long. It should grab the reader’s attention and give them a clear idea of what your essay will be about.
2. The body is where you dive deeper into your topic and present your arguments and evidence. It usually consists of two paragraphs, but this can vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing.
3. The conclusion brings your essay to a close and is typically one paragraph long. It should summarize the main points of the essay and leave the reader with something to think about.
The length of your paragraphs can vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing. So, make sure you take the time to plan out your essay structure so each section flows smoothly into the next.
When it comes to writing an essay, the introduction is a critical component that sets the tone for the entire piece. A well-crafted introduction not only grabs the reader’s attention but also provides them with a clear understanding of what the essay is all about. An essay editor can help you achieve this, but it’s best to know the brief yourself!
Let’s take a look at how to write an attractive and informative introductory paragraph.
1. Construct an attractive hook
To grab the reader’s attention, an opening statement or hook is crucial. This can be achieved by incorporating a surprising statistic, a shocking fact, or an interesting anecdote into the beginning of your piece.
For example, if you’re writing an essay about water conservation you can begin your essay with, “Clean drinking water, a fundamental human need, remains out of reach for more than one billion people worldwide. It deprives them of a basic human right and jeopardizes their health and wellbeing.”
2. Provide sufficient context or background information
An effective introduction should begin with a brief description or background of your topic. This will help provide context and set the stage for your discussion.
For example, if you’re writing an essay about climate change, you start by describing the current state of the planet and the impact that human activity is having on it.
3. Construct a well-rounded and comprehensive thesis statement
A good introduction should also include the main message or thesis statement of your essay. This is the central argument that you’ll be making throughout the piece. It should be clear, concise, and ideally placed toward the end of the introduction.
By including these elements in your introduction, you’ll be setting yourself up for success in the rest of your essay.
Let’s take a look at an example.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane in 1903 revolutionized the way humans travel and explore the world. Prior to this invention, transportation relied on trains, boats, and cars, which limited the distance and speed of travel. However, the airplane made air travel a reality, allowing people to reach far-off destinations in mere hours. This breakthrough paved the way for modern-day air travel, transforming the world into a smaller, more connected place. In this essay, we will explore the impact of the Wright Brothers’ invention on modern-day travel, including the growth of the aviation industry, increased accessibility of air travel to the general public, and the economic and cultural benefits of air travel.
You can persuade your readers and make your thesis statement compelling by providing evidence, examples, and logical reasoning. To write a fool-proof and authoritative essay, you need to provide multiple well-structured, substantial arguments.
Let’s take a look at how this can be done:
1. Write a topic sentence for each paragraph
The beginning of each of your body paragraphs should contain the main arguments that you’d like to address. They should provide ground for your thesis statement and make it well-rounded. You can arrange these arguments in several formats depending on the type of essay you’re writing.
2. Provide the supporting information
The next point of your body paragraph should provide supporting information to back up your main argument. Depending on the type of essay, you can elaborate on your main argument with the help of relevant statistics, key information, examples, or even personal anecdotes.
3. Analyze the supporting information
After providing relevant details and supporting information, it is important to analyze it and link it back to your main argument.
End one body paragraph with a smooth transition to the next. There are many ways in which this can be done, but the most common way is to give a gist of your main argument along with the supporting information with transitory words such as “however” “in addition to” “therefore”.
Here’s an example of a body paragraph.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane revolutionized air travel. They achieved the first-ever successful powered flight with the Wright Flyer in 1903, after years of conducting experiments and studying flight principles. Despite their first flight lasting only 12 seconds, it was a significant milestone that paved the way for modern aviation. The Wright Brothers’ success can be attributed to their systematic approach to problem-solving, which included numerous experiments with gliders, the development of a wind tunnel to test their designs, and meticulous analysis and recording of their results. Their dedication and ingenuity forever changed the way we travel, making modern aviation possible.
A powerful concluding statement separates a good essay from a brilliant one. To create a powerful conclusion, you need to start with a strong foundation.
Let’s take a look at how to construct an impactful concluding statement.
1. Restructure your thesis statement
To conclude your essay effectively, don’t just restate your thesis statement. Instead, use what you’ve learned throughout your essay and modify your thesis statement accordingly. This will help you create a conclusion that ties together all of the arguments you’ve presented.
2. Summarize the main points of your essay
The next point of your conclusion consists of a summary of the main arguments of your essay. It is crucial to effectively summarize the gist of your essay into one, well-structured paragraph.
3. Create a lasting impression with your concluding statement
Conclude your essay by including a key takeaway, or a powerful statement that creates a lasting impression on the reader. This can include the broader implications or consequences of your essay topic.
Here’s an example of a concluding paragraph.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane forever changed history by paving the way for modern aviation and countless aerospace advancements. Their persistence, innovation, and dedication to problem-solving led to the first successful powered flight in 1903, sparking a revolution in transportation that transformed the world. Today, air travel remains an integral part of our globalized society, highlighting the undeniable impact of the Wright Brothers’ contribution to human civilization.
Most essays are derived from the combination or variation of these four main types of essays . let’s take a closer look at these types.
1. Narrative essay
A narrative essay is a type of writing that involves telling a story, often based on personal experiences. It is a form of creative nonfiction that allows you to use storytelling techniques to convey a message or a theme.
2. Descriptive essay
A descriptive essay aims to provide an immersive experience for the reader by using sensory descriptors. Unlike a narrative essay, which tells a story, a descriptive essay has a narrower scope and focuses on one particular aspect of a story.
3. Argumentative essays
An argumentative essay is a type of essay that aims to persuade the reader to adopt a particular stance based on factual evidence and is one of the most common forms of college essays.
4. Expository essays
An expository essay is a common format used in school and college exams to assess your understanding of a specific topic. The purpose of an expository essay is to present and explore a topic thoroughly without taking any particular stance or expressing personal opinions.
While this article demonstrates what is an essay and describes its types, you may also have other doubts. As experts who provide essay editing and proofreading services , we’re here to help.
Our team has created a list of resources to clarify any doubts about writing essays. Keep reading to write engaging and well-organized essays!
What is the difference between an argumentative and an expository essay, what is the difference between a narrative and a descriptive essay, what is an essay format, what is the meaning of essay, what is the purpose of writing an essay.
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Not sure which path your essay should follow? Formatting an essay may not be as interesting as choosing a topic to write about or carefully crafting elegant sentences, but it’s an extremely important part of creating a high-quality paper. In this article, we’ll explain essay formatting rules for three of the most popular essay styles: MLA, APA, and Chicago.
For each, we’ll do a high-level overview of what your essay’s structure and references should look like, then we include a comparison chart with nitty-gritty details for each style, such as which font you should use for each and whether they’re a proponent of the Oxford comma. We also include information on why essay formatting is important and what you should do if you’re not sure which style to use.
Does it really matter which font size you use or exactly how you cite a source in your paper? It can! Style formats were developed as a way to standardize how pieces of writing and their works cited lists should look.
Why is this necessary? Imagine you’re a teacher, researcher, or publisher who reviews dozens of papers a week. If the papers didn’t follow the same formatting rules, you could waste a lot of time trying to figure out which sources were used, if certain information is a direct quote or paraphrased, even who the paper’s author is. Having essay formatting rules to follow makes things easier for everyone involved. Writers can follow a set of guidelines without trying to decide for themselves which formatting choices are best, and readers don’t need to go hunting for the information they’re trying to find.
Next, we’ll discuss the three most common style formats for essays.
MLA style was designed by the Modern Language Association, and it has become the most popular college essay format for students writing papers for class. It was originally developed for students and researchers in the literature and language fields to have a standardized way of formatting their papers, but it is now used by people in all disciplines, particularly humanities. MLA is often the style teachers prefer their students to use because it has simple, clear rules to follow without extraneous inclusions often not needed for school papers. For example, unlike APA or Chicago styles, MLA doesn’t require a title page for a paper, only a header in the upper left-hand corner of the page.
MLA style doesn’t have any specific requirements for how to write your essay, but an MLA format essay will typically follow the standard essay format of an introduction (ending with a thesis statement), several body paragraphs, and a conclusion.
One of the nice things about creating your works cited for MLA is that all references are structured the same way, regardless of whether they’re a book, newspaper, etc. It’s the only essay format style that makes citing references this easy! Here is a guide on how to cite any source in MLA format. When typing up your works cited, here are a few MLA format essay rules to keep in mind:
APA stands for the American Psychological Association. This format type is most often used for research papers, specifically those in behavioral sciences (such as psychology and neuroscience) and social sciences (ranging from archeology to economics). Because APA is often used for more research-focused papers, they have a more specific format to follow compared to, say, MLA style.
All APA style papers begin with a title page, which contains the title of the paper (in capital letters), your name, and your institutional affiliation (if you’re a student, then this is simply the name of the school you attend). The APA recommends the title of your paper not be longer than 12 words.
After your title page, your paper begins with an abstract. The abstract is a single paragraph, typically between 150 to 250 words, that sums up your research. It should include the topic you’re researching, research questions, methods, results, analysis, and a conclusion that touches on the significance of the research. Many people find it easier to write the abstract last, after completing the paper.
After the abstract comes the paper itself. APA essay format recommends papers be short, direct, and make their point clearly and concisely. This isn’t the time to use flowery language or extraneous descriptions. Your paper should include all the sections mentioned in the abstract, each expanded upon.
Following the paper is the list of references used. Unlike MLA style, in APA essay format, every source type is referenced differently. So the rules for referencing a book are different from those for referencing a journal article are different from those referencing an interview. Here’s a guide for how to reference different source types in APA format . Your references should begin on a new page that says “REFERENCES” at the top, centered. The references should be listed in alphabetical order.
Chicago style (sometimes referred to as “Turabian style”) was developed by the University of Chicago Press and is typically the least-used by students of the three major essay style formats. The Chicago Manual of Style (currently on its 17th edition) contains within its 1000+ pages every rule you need to know for this style. This is a very comprehensive style, with a rule for everything. It’s most often used in history-related fields, although many people refer to The Chicago Manual of Style for help with a tricky citation or essay format question. Many book authors use this style as well.
Like APA, Chicago style begins with a title page, and it has very specific format rules for doing this which are laid out in the chart below. After the title page may come an abstract, depending on whether you’re writing a research paper or not. Then comes the essay itself. The essay can either follow the introduction → body → conclusion format of MLA or the different sections included in the APA section. Again, this depends on whether you’re writing a paper on research you conducted or not.
Unlike MLA or APA, Chicago style typically uses footnotes or endnotes instead of in-text or parenthetical citations. You’ll place the superscript number at the end of the sentence (for a footnote) or end of the page (for an endnote), then have an abbreviated source reference at the bottom of the page. The sources will then be fully referenced at the end of the paper, in the order of their footnote/endnote numbers. The reference page should be titled “Bibliography” if you used footnotes/endnotes or “References” if you used parenthetical author/date in-text citations.
Below is a chart comparing different formatting rules for APA, Chicago, and MLA styles.
or ). | |||
including the title page. | |||
What if your teacher hasn’t specified which essay format they want you to use? The easiest way to solve this problem is simply to ask your teacher which essay format they prefer. However, if you can’t get ahold of them or they don’t have a preference, we recommend following MLA format. It’s the most commonly-used essay style for students writing papers that aren’t based on their own research, and its formatting rules are general enough that a teacher of any subject shouldn’t have a problem with an MLA format essay. The fact that this style has one of the simplest sets of rules for citing sources is an added bonus!
Thinking about taking an AP English class? Read our guide on AP English classes to learn whether you should take AP English Language or AP English Literature (or both!)
Compound sentences are an importance sentence type to know. Read our guide on compound sentences for everything you need to know about compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.
Need ideas for a research paper topic? Our guide to research paper topics has over 100 topics in ten categories so you can be sure to find the perfect topic for you.
Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.
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You may have an amazing story to tell for your college application essay, but your writing is going to fall flat if it doesn't use an engaging and effective style. For your essay to truly shine, you need to pay attention to not just what you say, but also how you say it. These style tips can help you turn a bland and wordy admissions essay into an engaging narrative that improves your chances of being admitted.
Allen Grove
Wordiness is by far the most common stylistic error in college admissions essays. In most cases, students could cut one-third of an essay, lose no meaningful content, and make the piece much more engaging and effective.
Wordiness comes in many forms with many different names—deadwood, repetition, redundancy, BS, filler, fluff—but whatever the type, those extraneous words have no place in a winning college admissions essay.
Consider this brief example:
I have to admit that theater did not come naturally to me, and I remember that I felt remarkably self-conscious and nervous the first few times I set foot on the stage. The first time I was on stage was in the eighth grade when my best friend talked me into auditioning for our school's performance of the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
In this passage, four phrases can be pared back or cut entirely. The near repetition of the phrase "the first times I set foot on the stage" saps the passage of energy and forward momentum. The essay spins in place rather than taking the reader on a journey.
Consider how much tighter and more engaging the passage is without all the unnecessary language:
Theater did not come naturally to me, and I felt remarkably self-conscious and nervous the first few times I set foot on stage in the eighth grade. My best friend had talked me into auditioning for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet .
Not only is the revised passage much more effective, but the author has cut 25 words. This may prove important as the writer tries to tell a meaningful story within the application essay length limits .
Watch out for vague and imprecise language in your college application essay. If you find that your essay is filled with words like "stuff" and "things" and "aspects" and "society," you may also find that your application ends up in the rejection pile.
Vague language can be removed easily by identifying what exactly you mean by "things" or "society." Find the precise word. Are you really talking about all of society or a specific group of people? When you mention "things" or "aspects," be precise—what exact things or aspects?
Although short, the following passage is far from precise:
I like lots of things about basketball. For one, the activity allows me to develop abilities that will help me in future endeavors.
The passage says very little. What endeavors? What abilities? What things? Also, the writer could be much more precise than "activity." The writer is trying to explain how basketball has made her mature and develop, but the reader is left with a painfully fuzzy sense of how she has grown.
Consider the greater clarity of this revised version of the passage:
Not only do I find basketball fun, but the sport has helped me develop my leadership and communication skills, as well as my ability to work with a team. As a result, my love of basketball will make me a better business major."
In this case, the revision actually adds words to the essay, but the additional length is needed to clarify the point the applicant is trying to convey.
Clichés have no place in a college admissions essay. A cliché is an over-used and tired phrase, and the use of clichés makes prose unoriginal and uninspiring. With your essay, you are trying to get the admissions officers excited about you and your essay topic, but there is nothing exciting about clichés. Instead, they diminish the essay's message and reveal the author's lack of creativity.
Think about how many phrases in the passage below you've heard hundreds of times before:
My brother is one in a million. If given a responsibility, he never falls asleep at the wheel. Who others fail, he is not one to make a mountain out of a molehill. To make a long story short, throughout high school I have tried to emulate my brother, and I credit him with many of my own successes.
The author is writing about her brother, a person who has had a major influence on her life. However, her praise is expressed almost entirely in clichés. Instead of her brother sounding like "one in a million," the applicant has presented phrases that the reader has heard a million times. All those clichés will quickly make the reader uninterested in the brother.
Consider how much more effective this revision of the passage is:
Throughout high school, I have tried to emulate my brother. He takes his responsibilities seriously, yet he is generous when dealing with the shortcomings of others. This combination of reliability and graciousness makes others turn to him for leadership. My own successes in high school are due largely to my brother's example.
This new description of the applicant's brother truly does make him sound like someone who is worth emulating.
Most college admissions essays are first-person narratives , so they are obviously written in the first person. For this reason, the very nature of application essays raises a particular challenge: you are being asked to write about yourself, but an essay can start sounding both repetitive and narcissistic if you use the word "I" twice in every sentence.
Consider the following passage from an application essay:
I have always loved soccer. I'm not exaggerating—my parents tell me I was pushing around a soccer ball before I could walk. I began playing in the community league before I was 4, and when I was 10 I began playing in regional tournaments.
In this example, the writer uses the word "I" seven times in three sentences. Of course, nothing is wrong with the word "I"—you will and should use it in your essay—but you want to avoid overusing it.
The example can be rewritten so that instead of seven uses of "I" there is only one:
Soccer has been a part of my life for longer than I can remember. Literally. My parents have photos of me crawling around as a baby pushing a ball with my head. My later childhood was all about soccer—the community league at age 4, and participation in regional tournaments by 10.
Many applicants aren't fully comfortable writing about themselves and highlighting their accomplishments, and they've also been trained by high school teachers not to use "I" at all when writing an essay. A college admissions essay, however, absolutely needs to use the word "I." In general, don't worry too much about the frequent use of "I" unless it becomes excessive. When you use the word multiple times in a single sentence, it's time to rework the sentence.
Digression isn't always wrong in a college admissions essay. Sometimes a colorful aside or anecdote can help engage the reader and enhance the reading experience.
However, in many cases digression adds little to an essay other than extraneous words. Whenever you deviate from your main point, make sure the deviation serves a legitimate purpose in your essay.
Consider the middle sentence in this short passage:
Although it wasn't academically challenging, I learned a lot from my job at Burger King. In fact, the job had rewards similar to several other jobs I have had during high school. The Burger King job, however, was unique in that I had some difficult personalities to negotiate.
The writer's mention of "other jobs" does not enhance his point about Burger King. If the essay isn't going to talk more about those other jobs, there's no reason to bring them up.
If the author deletes that middle sentence, the passage is much stronger.
Although it wasn't academically challenging, my job at Burger King forced me to negotiate some difficult personalities."
Note that this revision does more than cut out the digression. It also cuts and combines the first and third sentences to remove wordiness.
When writing your admissions essay, be careful to avoid overusing flowery language (sometimes called purple prose ). Too many adjectives and adverbs can ruin the reading experience.
Strong verbs, not adjectives and adverbs, will make your admissions essay come to life. When an essay has two or three adjectives or adverbs in every sentence, the admissions folks will quickly feel like they are in the presence of an immature writer who is trying too hard to impress them.
Keep track of all of the adverbs in this short passage:
The game was spectacularly wonderful. I didn't score the defining goal, but I did manage dexterously to pass the ball to my amazingly talented teammate who adroitly kicked it between the goalie's desperately reaching fingers and the rigid frame of the right-hand corner of the goal.
The majority of adjectives and adverbs (especially adverbs) can be cut if the verbs (the action words) of the passage are chosen well.
Compare the overwritten example above to this revision:
The game was close. I won't receive credit for our win, but I did pass the ball to my teammate who kicked the ball into the narrow space between the goalie's hands and the upper corner of the goal post. In the end, the victory was really about a team, not an individual.
The revision focuses more on making a point, not melodrama.
For better writing, focus on using strong verbs . Think about what you are trying to accomplish with your college admissions essay: you want to grab your readers' attention and keep them engaged. Lots of adjectives and adverbs often make prose seem wordy, fluffy, and over-written. Strong verbs animate prose.
The most common verb in the English language is "to be" (is, was, were, am, etc.). Without a doubt, you will use the verb "to be" multiple times in your admissions essay. However, if the majority of your sentences rely on "to be," you're sapping your essay of energy.
The passage below is perfectly clear, but keep track of how many times the author uses the verb "is":
My brother is my hero. He is the person I owe the most to for my success in high school. He isn't aware of his influence on me, but he is nonetheless responsible for much of what I have accomplished.
Every sentence in this short passage uses the verb "to be." The writing has no grammatical errors, but it flops on the stylistic front.
Here's the same idea expressed with stronger verbs:
More than anyone else, my brother deserves credit for my achievements in high school. I can trace my successes in academics and music back to my brother's subtle influence.
The revision replaces the bland verb "is" with the more engaging verbs "deserve" and "trace." The revision also gets rid of the rather cliché idea of a "hero" and the vague phrase "much of what I have accomplished."
It can be difficult to learn to recognize the passive voice in your essays. Passive voice is not a grammatical error, but overuse can lead to essays that are wordy, confusing, and unengaging. To identify passive voice, you need to map out a sentence and identify the subject, verb, and object. A sentence is passive when the object takes the position of the subject. The result is a sentence in which the thing performing the action of the sentence is either missing or tacked onto the end of the sentence. Here are a few simple examples:
In this passage describing a dramatic moment in a game, the use of passive voice robs the passage of its dramatic effect:
As the goal was approached by the opposing team, the ball suddenly was kicked towards the upper right corner. If it wasn't blocked by me, the regional championship would be lost.
The passage is wordy, awkward, and flat.
Consider how much more effective the essay would be if revised to use active verbs:
As the opposing team approached the goal, a striker kicked the ball towards the upper right corner. If I didn't block it, my team would lose the regional championship.
The revision is slightly shorter and far more precise and gripping than the original.
The passive voice is not a grammatical error, and there are even times when you will want to use it. If you are trying to emphasize the object of a sentence, you may want to put it in the subject position in a sentence. For example, let's say a beautiful 300-year-old tree in your front yard was destroyed by lightning. If you write about the event, you probably want to emphasize the tree, not the lightning: "The old tree was destroyed by lightning last week." The sentence is passive, but appropriately so. The lightning may be performing the action (striking), but the tree is the sentence's focus.
Expletive constructions involve a couple of stylistic errors—they are wordy and employ weak verbs. Many (but not all) sentences that begin with "it is," "it was," "there is" or "there are" have expletive constructions.
In general, an expletive construction begins with the empty word "there" or "it" (sometimes called a filler subject). In an expletive construction, the word "there" or "it" is not functioning as a pronoun . That is, it has no antecedent . The word does not refer to anything but is simply an empty word taking the place of the sentence's true subject. The empty subject is then followed by the uninspiring verb "to be" (is, was, etc.). Phrases such as "it seems" produce a similarly uninspiring function in a sentence.
The resulting sentence will be wordier and less engaging than it would be if written with a meaningful subject and verb. Consider, for example, these sentences with expletive constructions:
All three sentences are unnecessarily wordy and flat. By removing the expletive constructions, the sentences become far more concise and engaging:
Note that not all uses of "it is," "it was," "there is," or "there are" are expletive constructions. If the word "it" or "there" is a true pronoun with an antecedent, no expletive construction exists. For example:
In this case, the word "it" in the second sentence refers to "music." No expletive construction exists.
The following passage has no grammatical errors, but the expletive constructions weaken the prose:
It was a simple rule my parents made that got me interested in the trumpet: no television or computer time until I had practiced for half an hour. There were many days when this rule angered me, but when I look back it seems my parents knew best. Today I'll always pick up my trumpet before the television remote.
The author can quickly strengthen the language by removing the expletive constructions:
My parents made a simple rule that got me interested in the trumpet: no television or computer time until I had practiced for half an hour. This rule often angered me, but when I look back I know my parents knew best. Today I'll always pick up my trumpet before the television remote.
The revision cuts just six words from the original, but those small changes create a much more engaging passage.
Keep in mind why a college is asking for an essay: the school has holistic admissions and wants to get to know you as a whole person. Grades and standardized test scores will be part of the admissions equation, but the college wants to know what it is that makes you uniquely you. The essay is the best tool you have for bringing your personality and passions to life. An engaging style is essential for this task, and it truly can make the difference between an acceptance letter and a rejection.
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The following overview should help you better understand how to cite sources using MLA 9 th edition, including how to format the Works Cited page and in-text citations.
Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in MLA. See also our MLA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel .
MLA is a style of documentation that may be applied to many different types of writing. Since texts have become increasingly digital, and the same document may often be found in several different sources, following a set of rigid rules no longer suffices.
Thus, the current system is based on a few guiding principles, rather than an extensive list of specific rules. While the handbook still describes how to cite sources, it is organized according to the process of documentation, rather than by the sources themselves. This gives writers a flexible method that is near-universally applicable.
Once you are familiar with the method, you can use it to document any type of source, for any type of paper, in any field.
Here is an overview of the process:
When deciding how to cite your source, start by consulting the list of core elements. These are the general pieces of information that MLA suggests including in each Works Cited entry. In your citation, the elements should be listed in the following order:
Each element should be followed by the corresponding punctuation mark shown above. Earlier editions of the handbook included the place of publication and required different punctuation (such as journal editions in parentheses and colons after issue numbers) depending on the type of source. In the current version, punctuation is simpler (only commas and periods separate the elements), and information about the source is kept to the basics.
Begin the entry with the author’s last name, followed by a comma and the rest of the name, as presented in the work. End this element with a period.
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.
The title of the source should follow the author’s name. Depending upon the type of source, it should be listed in italics or quotation marks.
A book should be in italics:
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House . MacMurray, 1999.
An individual webpage should be in quotation marks. The name of the parent website, which MLA treats as a "container," should follow in italics:
Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html.*
A periodical (journal, magazine, newspaper) article should be in quotation marks:
Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature , vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.
A song or piece of music on an album should be in quotation marks. The name of the album should then follow in italics:
Beyoncé. "Pray You Catch Me." Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016, www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.
*The MLA handbook recommends including URLs when citing online sources. For more information, see the “Optional Elements” section below.
The eighth edition of the MLA handbook introduced what are referred to as "containers," which are the larger wholes in which the source is located. For example, if you want to cite a poem that is listed in a collection of poems, the individual poem is the source, while the larger collection is the container. The title of the container is usually italicized and followed by a comma, since the information that follows next describes the container.
Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.
The container may also be a television series, which is made up of episodes.
“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.
The container may also be a website, which contains articles, postings, and other works.
Wise, DeWanda. “Why TV Shows Make Me Feel Less Alone.” NAMI, 31 May 2019, www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/May-2019/How-TV-Shows-Make-Me-Feel-Less-Alone . Accessed 3 June 2019.
In some cases, a container might be within a larger container. You might have read a book of short stories on Google Books , or watched a television series on Netflix . You might have found the electronic version of a journal on JSTOR. It is important to cite these containers within containers so that your readers can find the exact source that you used.
“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation , season 2, episode 21, NBC , 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361-27cd-44de-9c2a-2d9d868b9f64-12120962.
Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal , vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-96. ProQuest, doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.
In addition to the author, there may be other contributors to the source who should be credited, such as editors, illustrators, translators, etc. If their contributions are relevant to your research, or necessary to identify the source, include their names in your documentation.
Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Translated by Richard Howard , Vintage-Random House, 1988.
Woolf, Virginia. Jacob’s Room . Annotated and with an introduction by Vara Neverow, Harcourt, Inc., 2008.
If a source is listed as an edition or version of a work, include it in your citation.
The Bible . Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.
If a source is part of a numbered sequence, such as a multi-volume book or journal with both volume and issue numbers, those numbers must be listed in your citation.
Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.
The publisher produces or distributes the source to the public. If there is more than one publisher, and they are all are relevant to your research, list them in your citation, separated by a forward slash (/).
Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive, www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.
Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System . American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2006.
Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation . Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.
Note : The publisher’s name need not be included in the following sources: periodicals, works published by their author or editor, websites whose titles are the same name as their publisher, websites that make works available but do not actually publish them (such as YouTube , WordPress , or JSTOR ).
The same source may have been published on more than one date, such as an online version of an original source. For example, a television series might have aired on a broadcast network on one date, but released on Netflix on a different date. When the source has more than one date, it is sufficient to use the date that is most relevant to your writing. If you’re unsure about which date to use, go with the date of the source’s original publication.
In the following example, Mutant Enemy is the primary production company, and “Hush” was released in 1999. Below is a general citation for this television episode:
“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer , created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, Mutant Enemy, 1999 .
However, if you are discussing, for example, the historical context in which the episode originally aired, you should cite the full date. Because you are specifying the date of airing, you would then use WB Television Network (rather than Mutant Enemy), because it was the network (rather than the production company) that aired the episode on the date you’re citing.
“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10, WB Television Network, 14 Dec. 1999 .
You should be as specific as possible in identifying a work’s location.
An essay in a book or an article in a journal should include page numbers.
Adiche, Chimamanda Ngozi. “On Monday of Last Week.” The Thing around Your Neck, Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, pp. 74-94 .
The location of an online work should include a URL. Remove any "http://" or "https://" tag from the beginning of the URL.
Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention." Emerging Infectious Diseases , vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.
When citing a physical object that you experienced firsthand, identify the place of location.
Matisse, Henri. The Swimming Pool. 1952, Museum of Modern Art, New York .
The ninth edition is designed to be as streamlined as possible. The author should include any information that helps readers easily identify the source, without including unnecessary information that may be distracting. The following is a list of optional elements that can be included in a documented source at the writer’s discretion.
Date of original publication:
If a source has been published on more than one date, the writer may want to include both dates if it will provide the reader with necessary or helpful information.
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. 1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.
City of publication:
The seventh edition handbook required the city in which a publisher is located, but the eighth edition states that this is only necessary in particular instances, such as in a work published before 1900. Since pre-1900 works were usually associated with the city in which they were published, your documentation may substitute the city name for the publisher’s name.
Thoreau, Henry David. Excursions . Boston, 1863.
Date of access:
When you cite an online source, the MLA Handbook recommends including a date of access on which you accessed the material, since an online work may change or move at any time.
Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web." A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. Accessed 4 May 2009.
As mentioned above, while the MLA handbook recommends including URLs when you cite online sources, you should always check with your instructor or editor and include URLs at their discretion.
A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a series of digits and letters that leads to the location of an online source. Articles in journals are often assigned DOIs to ensure that the source is locatable, even if the URL changes. If your source is listed with a DOI, use that instead of a URL.
Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. "Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates." Environmental Toxicology , vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-94. Wiley Online Library, doi: 10.1002/tox.20155.
Although the MLA handbook is currently in its ninth edition, some information about citing in the text using the older (eighth) edition is being retained. The in-text citation is a brief reference within your text that indicates the source you consulted. It should properly attribute any ideas, paraphrases, or direct quotations to your source, and should direct readers to the entry in the Works Cited list. For the most part, an in-text citation is the author’s name and the page number (or just the page number, if the author is named in the sentence) in parentheses :
When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).
Again, your goal is to attribute your source and provide a reference without interrupting your text. Your readers should be able to follow the flow of your argument without becoming distracted by extra information.
Entire Website
The Purdue OWL . Purdue U Writing Lab, 2019.
Individual Resources
Contributors' names. "Title of Resource." The Purdue OWL , Purdue U Writing Lab, Last edited date.
The new OWL no longer lists most pages' authors or publication dates. Thus, in most cases, citations will begin with the title of the resource, rather than the developer's name.
"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL, Purdue U Writing Lab. Accessed 18 Jun. 2018.
(Last updated: 29 May 2024)
We have helped 10,000s of undergraduate, Masters and PhD students to maximise their grades in essays, dissertations, model-exam answers, applications and other materials. If you would like a free chat about your project with one of our UK staff, then please just reach out on one of the methods below.
Whether you are just starting to essay write, or working on writing a dissertation or a masters dissertation, students are often frustrated by the amount of mistakes markers pick up in their essay writing format because they didn't know these aspects of their essay writing were not approved of. This post will target and explain some of the most common essay writing blunders to avoid so that you can improve your essay writing style, and your marks, for good!
An important way to check on the style of your essay writing is to monitor your sentence structure. Many students will be surprised to be marked down for repetitive sentence structure, because they haven't actually made any technical or grammatical mistakes. However keeping your sentences varied and syntactically diverse is essential to maintaining an academic and formal tone as you essay write.
This is easy to monitor - as you are essay writing, check back at the end of each paragraph. If you have started several sentences with the same words and they have the same rhythms and length, then you need to vary your style. Try inverting the syntax of a sentence, for example:
Instead of " the boy kicked the dog" , try " the dog was kicked by the boy" .
You can also use conjunctions (words which join two clauses together) to create a longer, more complex sentence. Leave other sentences shorter and more punchy to create a contrast in your essay writing style.
Another common mistake students don't seem to be aware of is the use of words such as and , but and because to start sentences. These words are conjunctions, or joining words, intended to join together two different parts of a sentence. They don't belong at the beginning of the sentence because that would suggest that the full stop before them was unnecessary.
For example:
The American painters didn't use shorter brush strokes at that time. Because this technique hadn't yet arrived from Europe.
The most common essay examples of this mistake are using the word ' because ' and ' but ' to start sentences where a pause does feel appropriate.
' Because of the lack of political direction, Hitler was able to rise quickly to power'.
' But the apparent lack of political direction was in fact far from the truth'.
A quick top tip for these situations is to replace ' because ' with ' as a result of' and ' but ' with ' however '.
Follow these top essay writing tips when you are writing your essay or dissertation and leave behind those frustrating lost marks for good!
Cryptocurrency payments.
I’m not that GaaSed about it
Warframe -like “Next-gen looter shooter” The First Descendant releases this Summer, July 2nd 2024. The ‘next-gen’ part probably refers to Unreal Engine 5, and fair’s fair, it’s a real looker this one. The below trailer is mainly scripted or edited bits, but having played a chunk of the last technical test, there’s some genuinely impressive sci-fi vistas to behold, as well as some absolutely massive bosses. Click on the trailer below, until the purple hat or whatever it is you kids grind for these days, pops out with a synapse-tickling noise workshopped by psychologists for eighteen months.
This one’s a four player co-op joint, where you’ll team up to shoot dudes, collect loot, shoot more dudes, collect more loot, tweak your loadout, pay a weekly shopping bill’s worth of cash for a fancy shirt probably, collect more loot, then fight a very large boss. Each of the characters have different elemental abilities, and there’s also a grappling hook in there somewhere why not. The idea is, I take it, to chain abilities and movement tech together in a sort of free-flowing violence dance, ala Warframe . The game also promises ‘solo’ missions, for those of you that don’t trust your existing mates to not mess up your sick grappling hook combos. I would probably buy an art book for this one, honestly, even I'm unlikely to end up playing it. It’s got every GaaS hallmark you can imagine, and thus I remain both intrigued and wary about letting it anywhere near my house.
The flurry of summer games events are now underway! Hit up our Summer Game Fest 2024 hub and our Day Of The Devs roundup for all the news worth caring about from the shows so far.
Lost And Found Co. is a hidden object adventure in which you play as a duck-turned-human intern
The Finals season three takes its destructive players to 16th-century Kyoto next week
Wholesome Direct 2024 featured an hour of delightful-looking games, cosy and otherwise
System Shock remakers Nightdive Studios are remastering The Thing
You can play Cult of the Lamb with a friend in a local co-op update this summer
Leery first-person reality show The Crush House steps into the limelight in August
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Door disrespecting FPS Anger Foot is out July 11th
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Title: a style-based generator architecture for generative adversarial networks.
Abstract: We propose an alternative generator architecture for generative adversarial networks, borrowing from style transfer literature. The new architecture leads to an automatically learned, unsupervised separation of high-level attributes (e.g., pose and identity when trained on human faces) and stochastic variation in the generated images (e.g., freckles, hair), and it enables intuitive, scale-specific control of the synthesis. The new generator improves the state-of-the-art in terms of traditional distribution quality metrics, leads to demonstrably better interpolation properties, and also better disentangles the latent factors of variation. To quantify interpolation quality and disentanglement, we propose two new, automated methods that are applicable to any generator architecture. Finally, we introduce a new, highly varied and high-quality dataset of human faces.
Comments: | CVPR 2019 final version |
Subjects: | Neural and Evolutionary Computing (cs.NE); Machine Learning (cs.LG); Machine Learning (stat.ML) |
Cite as: | [cs.NE] |
(or [cs.NE] for this version) | |
Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite |
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Published on September 21, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on June 1, 2023.
Unlike an academic essay, the college application essay does not require a formal tone. It gives you a chance to showcase your authentic voice and creative writing abilities. Here are some basic guidelines for using an appropriate style and tone in your college essay.
Strike a balance between casual and formal, write with your authentic voice, maintain a fast pace, use a paraphrasing tool for better style and tone, bend language rules for stylistic reasons, use american english, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.
Use a conversational yet respectful tone, as if speaking with a familiar teacher, mentor, or coach. An academic, formal tone will seem too clinical, while an overly casual tone will seem unprofessional to admissions officers.
Find an appropriate middle ground without pedantic language or slang. For example, contractions are acceptable, but text message abbreviations are not.
After watching Ali Wong’s comedy sketch on Netflix, I was, like, ROTFL. | In conclusion, regarding Ali Wong’s undermining of Asian American stereotypes, I was capable neither of restraining my emotional reaction of hysterics nor of stopping my tear ducts from releasing saline drops of laughter. | Ali Wong’s vulgar yet honest anecdotes caused me to burst into fits of tears, laughter, and joy as she shattered the quiet, polite, Asian American female stereotype that had always dictated my self-image. |
Note that “Why this college?” essays , scholarship essays , and diversity essays are usually similarly conversational in tone.
Your essay shouldn’t read like a professor, parent, or friend wrote it for you. Use first-person singular “I” statements, appropriate vocabulary for your level, and original expressions.
Unlike in some other kinds of academic writing, you should write in the first-person singular (e.g., “I,” “me”) in a college application essay to highlight your perspective.
Avoid using “one” for generalizations , since this sounds stilted and unnatural. Use “we” sparingly to avoid projecting your opinions or beliefs onto other people who may not share the same views. In some cases, you can use “we” to talk about a community you know well, such as your family or neighborhood.
The second-person pronoun “you” can be used in some cases. Don’t write the whole essay to an unknown “you,” but if the narrative calls for it, occasionally addressing readers as “you” is generally okay.
As girls, we all like rom-coms, Häagen-Dazs, and shopping at Westfield Mall. | In my family, we enjoy late-night Monopoly marathons, chatting for hours around the dinner table, and watching Marvel movies at their midnight premieres. |
As humans, we all just want to have a loving marriage, a high-profile job, and an expensive house. | From the countless Hollywood movies I watched as a child, I bought into the American dream: I wanted the perfect husband, a well-paid job, and a luxurious house with an infinity pool in Beverly Hills. |
To give you a good picture of my mother, I first need to tell you about how she dresses. | At first glance, my mother seems like a typical suburban housewife. However, if you look beyond the yellow rubber gloves and J.Crew ensemble, she’s much more. |
Creative but careful word choice is essential to enliven your essay. You should embellish basic words, but it shouldn’t read like you used a thesaurus to impress admissions officers.
I didn’t wanna seem lame or basic like in all those rom-coms, so I did something nice for my girlfriend to ask her to prom. I cooked her food and took her to the lake. | Recreating the piano scene from to ask Rachel to prom would have been fatuous and prosaic. Alternatively, I prepared an epicurean meal of Korean cuisine, escorted her to our favorite rendezvous, and inquired if she would accompany me to our high school’s prom festivities. | Rather than recreating an unoriginal scene from a romantic comedy, I cooked my girlfriend her favorite dishes of and , took her to our spot near the lake, and asked her to prom. |
Find a more imaginative way of rewriting overused expressions一unless it’s an intentional stylistic choice.
That winter night in California, it was raining cats and dogs. | That night in Sacramento, it rained so much that it should have been stored for the next drought. |
Write concisely and in the active voice to maintain a quick pace throughout your essay. Only add definitions if they provide necessary explanation.
Opt for a simple, concise way of writing, unless it’s a deliberate stylistic choice to describe a scene. Be intentional with every word, especially since college essays have word limits. However, do vary the length of your sentences to create an interesting flow.
Ever since we were kids, Charlie and I have worked really hard in order to go into the city. The reason why we loved going into the big city in the summertime was because Austin is a diverse, bustling city with many cafes, restaurants, and record stores. Last summer, we arrived and walked out of the train station, heading toward the record store on Maple Street. We spent hours rummaging through each and every record of different kinds of musical greats. We took advantage of the free listening station until the employee demanded that we buy something. We settled on a rare, deluxe live album of B.B. King at San Quentin prison. Many famous artists, like Johnny Cash, recorded and performed for inmates there. We spent hours in a nearby café, looking over the list of songs while sipping on water and nibbling at the free bread basket while the waiter kept throwing dirty glances toward us. | One summer, Charlie and I used our hard-earned savings, from car washes and 5 a.m. newspaper routes, to venture into Austin, with the sole aim of visiting Breakaway Records. Once there, we perused aisles with all kinds of musical greats. We spent hours in the free listening booths, savoring full albums of Johnny Cash, Muddy Waters, and Billie Holiday until the employee demanded that we buy something. We settled on B.B. King’s . We haven’t stopped listening to it ever since. |
You should explain terms or concepts that may be unfamiliar to the reader. However, don’t show off with several definitions to impress admissions officers.
According to research by Max Planck and Albert Einstein, a photon, an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, can be both a wave and a particle. | According to research by Max Planck and Albert Einstein, a photon can be both a wave and a particle. |
The passive voice can be used when the subject is unimportant or unknown. But in most cases, use the active voice to keep a fast pace throughout your essay.
Trash was collected on my volunteer group’s annual cleanup day. | I collected trash with my volunteer group on our annual cleanup day. |
If it seems hard to find the right tone and voice for your college essay, there are tools that can help.
One of these tools is the paraphrasing tool .
To begin, you can type or copy text you’ve already written into the tool.
After that, select a paraphrasing mode (e.g., fluency for better flowing text) that will rewrite your college essay accordingly.
You can occasionally bend grammatical rules if it adds value to the storytelling process and the essay maintains clarity. This can help your writing stand out from the crowd. However, return to using standard language rules if your stylistic choices would otherwise distract the reader from your overall narrative or could be easily interpreted as unintentional errors.
Sentence fragments can convey a quicker pace, a more immediate tone, and intense emotion in your essay. Use them sparingly, as too many fragments can be choppy, confusing, and distracting.
I looked down. Huge, wet, yellow stain. On my pants. I ran. Far away. | As I looked down, I saw a huge wet yellow stain on my pants. I had to run. Far away. |
I see Justin. In the corner of my eye. His hands are waving. He’s wide open. Defense rushes. He’s blocked. Scoreboard. Ten, nine. Three-pointer shot? Eight, seven. Better be safe. Six, five. Fake shot, spin, fadeaway. Two, one. Justin for the rebound. Scores! | In the corner of my eye, I see Justin, with his hands waving, wide open. But suddenly, the defense rushes in front of him, blocking him from a clear pass. I glance at the scoreboard. Ten seconds, nine seconds. Can I make this three-pointer? Eight, seven. Better play it safe. Six, five. Who’s open? Someone, anyone! Four, three. I fake a shot, spin around my guy, and fadeaway. Two, one. Justin for the rebound. He scores! |
Usually, common nouns should not be capitalized . But sometimes capitalization can be an effective tool to insert humor or signify importance.
That day at School, everyone was talking about what had happened. | My mom told me that we needed to have a Very Important Talk that night. |
For international students applying to US colleges, it’s important to remember to use US English rather than UK English .
For example, use double quotation marks rather than single ones, and don’t forget to put punctuation inside the double quotation marks. Also be careful to use American spelling, which can differ by just one or two letters from British spelling.
If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.
Academic writing
Communication
Parts of speech
College application essays are less formal than other kinds of academic writing . Use a conversational yet respectful tone , as if speaking with a teacher or mentor. Be vulnerable about your feelings, thoughts, and experiences to connect with the reader.
Aim to write in your authentic voice , with a style that sounds natural and genuine. You can be creative with your word choice, but don’t use elaborate vocabulary to impress admissions officers.
Use first-person “I” statements to speak from your perspective . Use appropriate word choices that show off your vocabulary but don’t sound like you used a thesaurus. Avoid using idioms or cliché expressions by rewriting them in a creative, original way.
Write concisely and use the active voice to maintain a quick pace throughout your essay and make sure it’s the right length . Avoid adding definitions unless they provide necessary explanation.
In a college application essay , you can occasionally bend grammatical rules if doing so adds value to the storytelling process and the essay maintains clarity.
However, use standard language rules if your stylistic choices would otherwise distract the reader from your overall narrative or could be easily interpreted as unintentional errors.
A college application essay is less formal than most academic writing . Instead of citing sources formally with in-text citations and a reference list, you can cite them informally in your text.
For example, “In her research paper on genetics, Quinn Roberts explores …”
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
Courault, K. (2023, June 01). Style and Tone Tips for Your College Essay | Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved June 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/college-essay/style-and-tone-tips/
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Essay format refers to the structure and layout guidelines for writing an essay. This typically includes elements such as font size and style, margins, spacing, indentation, and citation style. Essay format may vary depending on the specific requirements of the assignment or citation style (e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago).
Parts of an essay. An impactful, well-structured essay comes down to three important parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion. 1. The introduction sets the stage for your essay and is typically a paragraph long. It should grab the reader's attention and give them a clear idea of what your essay will be about.
Chicago Essay Format. Chicago style (sometimes referred to as "Turabian style") was developed by the University of Chicago Press and is typically the least-used by students of the three major essay style formats. The Chicago Manual of Style (currently on its 17th edition) contains within its 1000+ pages every rule you need to know for this ...
Tips for Reading an Assignment Prompt. Asking Analytical Questions. Thesis. Introductions. What Do Introductions Across the Disciplines Have in Common? Anatomy of a Body Paragraph. Transitions. Tips for Organizing Your Essay. Counterargument.
Essays are shorter pieces of writing that often require the student to hone a number of skills such as close reading, analysis, comparison and contrast, persuasion, conciseness, clarity, and exposition. As is evidenced by this list of attributes, there is much to be gained by the student who strives to succeed at essay writing.
Again, we'd recommend sticking with standard fonts and sizes—Times New Roman, 12-point is a standard workhorse. You can probably go with 1.5 or double spacing. Standard margins. Basically, show them you're ready to write in college by using the formatting you'll normally use in college.
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.
Writing an essay is an essential part of school at any level. Become an essay expert with these essay examples to prepare you on your academic journey.
For better writing, focus on using strong verbs. Think about what you are trying to accomplish with your college admissions essay: you want to grab your readers' attention and keep them engaged. Lots of adjectives and adverbs often make prose seem wordy, fluffy, and over-written. Strong verbs animate prose.
Crucially, citation practices do not differ between the two styles of paper. However, for your convenience, we have provided two versions of our APA 7 sample paper below: one in student style and one in professional style. Note: For accessibility purposes, we have used "Track Changes" to make comments along the margins of these samples.
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
Essay writing style: sentence structure . An important way to check on the style of your essay writing is to monitor your sentence structure. Many students will be surprised to be marked down for repetitive sentence structure, because they haven't actually made any technical or grammatical mistakes. However keeping your sentences varied and ...
Professional sample paper with annotations - APA Style
Warframe -like "Next-gen looter shooter" The First Descendant releases this Summer, July 2nd 2024. The 'next-gen' part probably refers to Unreal Engine 5, and fair's fair, it's a real looker this one. The below trailer is mainly scripted or edited bits, but having played a chunk of the last technical test, there's some genuinely ...
A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks. We propose an alternative generator architecture for generative adversarial networks, borrowing from style transfer literature. The new architecture leads to an automatically learned, unsupervised separation of high-level attributes (e.g., pose and identity when trained ...
Prioritize using the first-person singular. Unlike in some other kinds of academic writing, you should write in the first-person singular (e.g., "I," "me") in a college application essay to highlight your perspective. Avoid using "one" for generalizations, since this sounds stilted and unnatural. Use "we" sparingly to avoid ...
Published June 2, 2024 Updated June 3, 2024. Even before former President Donald J. Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a sex scandal, a verdict was ...