essay writing for composition

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Academic Writing

How to Write a Composition

Last Updated: December 6, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 807,842 times.

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

Composition Template

Pre-Writing

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

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

Step 4 Try a cluster or bubble exercise.

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

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

Writing a Rough Draft

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

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

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

Step 3 Think of questions that need to be answered.

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

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

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

Step 1 Get some feedback on your rough draft.

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

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

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

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

Expert Q&A

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

Tips from our Readers

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

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

About This Article

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

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How to Write a Composition: A Step-by-Step Guide

Welcome to your guide to composition writing. Here, we focus on the essentials, helping you develop your skills step by step. Whether you aim to persuade, inform, or entertain, this guide lays the foundation for effective writing. You’ll find tips on selecting topics , organizing your thoughts , and polishing your final draft for maximum impact. Let’s get your ideas onto the page.

Are you writing an English essay ? Then, you should read our guides on effective study techniques , improving business English , and the differences between American and British English .

Start Your Composition: Essential First Steps

Starting your composition might seem intimidating, but following the appropriate steps can lead you toward success. First, it is vital to comprehend why good writing is significant. Writing effectively connects you with your reader, whether expressing your thoughts, narrating a story, or defending a claim. It is how you can make a lasting impression.

Next, organize your thoughts . Before you dive into writing, take a moment to jot down your ideas. What do you want to say? How do you want your reader to feel or think after reading your composition? A brief outline can guide you, keeping your writing focused and on track.

Finally, set a comfortable writing environment . Find a quiet space where you can concentrate, free from distractions. The correct setting can significantly enhance your writing process, Whether at a library desk or kitchen table.

In composition writing, grasping the basics sets you up for success across various types of writing. For example, when you switch gears to tackle an essay , you’re entering a space that, while similar in its need for structure and clear communication, plays by a different set of rules. Recognizing and adapting to these nuances is vital for anyone looking to strengthen their writing skills.

Remember, starting strong is about preparation and mindset. Understand the value of your writing, organize your ideas, and create a conducive writing environment. These steps are your foundation for a compelling composition.

How to Choose Your Composition Topic

Choosing a topic for your composition is a pivotal step that guides the direction of your entire piece. The ideal topic captivates your interest and connects with your readers, enriching the writing experience and ensuring meaningful engagement.

Identifying the Right Topic

Begin by reflecting on your interests and passions . Consider what subjects captivate you or what issues stir strong feelings within you. Writing about something you care about will keep you motivated and lend authenticity and depth to your work. It’s equally important to think about your audience’s interests. A topic that ties into current discussions addresses common challenges, or touches on universal experiences will likely draw more interest. Balancing your enthusiasm with audience appeal guarantees your writing feels personal yet widely relatable.

Research Tips for Your Composition

Effective research bolsters your composition with accurate, varied, and credible information. Start with a broad overview to grasp the full scope of your topic, then hone in on particular details for a more focused analysis. Seek authoritative sources like academic journals, books, and reputable websites. Organizing your findings and noting key points will keep essential information at your fingertips. Comprehensive research enriches your narrative, solidifies your arguments, and bolsters your credibility as an author.

How to Structure Your Composition

Effective composition structuring guides your readers through your ideas clearly and engagingly. A well-organized structure ensures your writing flows logically, making it easier for readers to follow and absorb your message.

Writing a Strong Introduction

Your introduction sets the stage for your entire composition. Begin with a hook that grabs your reader’s attention: a question, a surprising fact, or a compelling statement. Then, introduce your topic and briefly overview the main points you plan to cover. Your introduction should also include a thesis statement that presents your main argument or perspective. This part of your composition paves the way for the detailed exploration, enticing your readers to continue.

Building the Body of Your Composition

The body of your composition is where you develop your ideas and present your arguments . Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the paragraph’s main idea. Follow this with supporting sentences that elaborate on the concept, provide evidence, or discuss examples. Ensure each paragraph focuses on a single idea and connects logically to the next, maintaining a smooth flow. Use transitions between paragraphs to help guide your readers through your composition, linking your ideas together seamlessly.

What About Stylistic Devices?

Using stylistic devices is another area where composition writing shares common ground with other forms of writing. These techniques are like spices in a dish—they enhance the flavor of your writing, making it more engaging and memorable. Whether you aim to persuade, inform, or entertain, knowing how to weave in stylistic devices skillfully can take your work to the next level.

The Significance of Describing Characters in Writing

And let’s remember character description , which is especially important in narrative writing or any piece where you must bring individuals to life on the page. The ability to create vivid, compelling characters often turns a good story into a great one. It’s about capturing the essence of individuals in a way that resonates with readers, making your composition read and feel. A well-written character description allows readers to visualize the characters and helps to create a clear picture of the scene. Proper character description can also add depth to the story and help to engage the readers.

Concluding Your Composition Effectively

A firm conclusion ties all your points together and reaffirms your thesis, leaving a lasting impression on your reader. Summarize your key arguments , highlighting how they support your main point. Then, offer a final thought or call to action, encouraging your readers to think further about the topic. Avoid introducing new information here; instead, focus on closure and impact. Your conclusion is your last chance to influence your readers, so make it memorable.

How to Enhance Your Composition Writing

Enhancing your composition writing involves refining clarity and cohesion and diligently editing and revising drafts. These efforts ensure that your ideas are communicated effectively and your writing resonates with your readers.

Improving Clarity and Cohesion

Clarity and cohesion are fundamental to compelling writing. Start by choosing your words carefully; prefer simple, direct language that conveys your ideas straightforwardly. Organize your composition logically, ensuring each paragraph transitions smoothly to the next. Each sentence should serve a clear purpose , supporting the paragraph’s main idea. To strengthen cohesion, use linking words and phrases to connect ideas across sentences and paragraphs. This approach makes your writing easier to follow and reinforces the relationships between your ideas, enhancing the overall coherence of your composition.

Editing and Revising Your Composition

Editing and revising are critical stages in writing, allowing you to polish your composition and elevate its quality. Begin by reviewing your work for any grammatical errors or awkward phrasing. Look for opportunities to vary your sentence structure and use precise vocabulary to express your ideas more effectively. Pay attention to the flow of your composition, ensuring it progresses naturally and maintains the reader’s interest. Seek feedback from peers or teachers, as fresh eyes can often catch issues you might overlook. Embrace the revision process as an opportunity to refine your arguments, clarify your points, and produce a more polished, impactful composition.

If you want to explore these areas further, our blogs on essay writing , stylistic devices , and character descriptions offer more insights and tips.

How to Avoid Common Writing Mistakes

Avoiding common writing mistakes is crucial for crafting a solid composition. These errors can distract readers and weaken your message. Here are vital tips to help you sidestep these pitfalls.

Lastly, proofread your work carefully . Spelling and grammatical errors can undermine your credibility and distract from your message. Take the time to review your composition multiple times or use tools and resources to check your work.

By being mindful of these common mistakes and applying these strategies, you can enhance the clarity, coherence, and overall quality of your composition writing.

Boost Your Writing with Tutoring and Lessons

Enhance your writing skills with personalized feedback and structured learning, which tutoring and lessons provide. Engaging with a tutor or enrolling in writing classes offers a unique opportunity to refine your composition skills through tailored guidance and systematic practice.

Tutors can identify your strengths and areas for improvement, offering targeted advice that addresses your needs. This personalized approach accelerates your learning process, making it more efficient and effective. Additionally, tutors can introduce new strategies and perspectives on writing that you might not encounter on your own, broadening your understanding of composition.

Writing classes and lessons immerse you in a structured learning environment, whether online or in-person. Here, you can explore various aspects of writing, from the basics of grammar and syntax to more complex concepts like narrative structure and stylistic nuance. Classes often provide a collaborative space to receive feedback from peers and instructors, fostering a supportive community of learners.

Investing in tutoring and lessons advances your technical skills and builds confidence in your writing ability. This educational support equips you with the tools to express your ideas more effectively, making your writing endeavors more successful and rewarding.

If you’re seeking a tutor to help you master a stylistic device, a quick search for “writing tutor London” or “tutoring London” on platforms like meet’n’learn can connect you with the ideal private teacher.

For those who thrive in group settings, “writing lessons Edinburgh” or “English courses Leeds” will reveal nearby classes and educational centers that enhance your writing skills.

Wrapping Up: Practice Makes Perfect

As you reach the end of this guide, remember that the key to mastering composition writing lies in consistent practice and openness to feedback. Writing regularly helps solidify the techniques and strategies you’ve learned, making them second nature. Seek input from teachers, peers, or tutors. Constructive criticism is invaluable for identifying areas of improvement and recognizing your progress. Embrace every writing opportunity as a step forward to becoming a more skilled and confident writer. Keep writing, keep learning, and watch your compositions flourish!

How to write an essay in English? Start with reading our top guides: Common grammar mistakes , mastering relative clauses , and state vs. dynamic verbs .

How to Write a Composition: FAQ Section

1. what is composition writing.

Composition writing is expressing ideas and information in a structured, written format.

2. How Do I Choose a Topic for My Composition?

Select a topic that interests you and meets the assignment’s requirements or audience’s expectations.

3. How Can I Improve the Clarity of My Writing?

Use simple language and clear structure, and directly address your main points to enhance clarity.

4. What Are Some Effective Research Strategies for Composition Writing?

Identify credible sources, take detailed notes, and organize your findings to support your composition effectively.

5. How Do I Write a Strong Introduction?

Begin with a hook that grabs attention, introduce your topic, and state your thesis or main argument.

6. How Important Is Revising and Editing in Composition Writing?

Revising and editing are crucial steps to refine your composition, eliminate errors, and improve overall quality.

7. Can Tutoring Improve My Composition Writing Skills?

Yes, tutoring can provide personalized feedback and strategies to enhance your composition writing skills.

8. How Often Should I Practice Composition Writing?

Regular practice is critical to improving your skills, so write compositions as frequently as possible.

References:

1. Study.com 2. Grammarly 3. wikiHow

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Writing Guide with Handbook

(11 reviews)

Michelle Bachelor Robinson, Spelman College

Maria Jerskey, City University of New York

Toby Fulwiller, University of Vermont

ISBN 13: 9781951693473

Publisher: OpenStax

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Sarah Summers, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Franklin College on 1/8/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text does a nice job of covering both rhetorical theory and various genres common in first-year writing, including personal essays, a variety of analytical genres, and research essays. There is also a strong focus on process. The handbook is an excellent addition to the text and would be useful both as a reference for students and for short readings for targeted revisions throughout a course. The handbook is also linked back to the main text, reinforcing the connections between the two.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The text is accurate, particularly in its inclusion of rhetorical terms.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The text uses very relevant themes including digital writing/social media, diversity, and identity. There are several contemporary examples (e.g., Selena Gomez and Kevin Hart) that will potential read as outdated quickly. That said, I like the balance between traditional/canonical texts (e.g., Du Bois) and more contemporary examples and topics like climate change and sustainability. One of my favorite features of this text is the use of annotations embedded in readings and student examples, which I think helps students see the relevance of readings.

Clarity rating: 5

Very clear in its writing and explanation of terms. The text uses a straightforward tone that I think would be appealing to students.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is consistent in its terminology, and each section is organized in roughly the same way.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is very modular with short, focused sections within each chapter. It would be easy to pick and choose sections of the text for a course and use the sections that most align with the assigned writing. There's also a portfolio thread that weaves throughout every chapter. It could build across the semester but would also be easy to use those sections together in a stand-alone assignment.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The text is well organized and the section titles are easy to navigate and find relevant topics. One potential drawback is that the rhetorical terms and concepts are introduced throughout the text. I tend to frontload that material. For example, ethos/pathos/logos are cover in 9.1 as part of the rhetorical analysis assignment, but I would be likely to pull those out and cover them early in the course and not necessarily tied to a specific assignment.

Interface rating: 5

No problems with either the online version or the .pdf.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book is culturally responsive and includes a diverse range of authors and topics including racial equity, poverty, and climate action. It also includes a section on pronouns that specifically addresses equity for gender non-binary and transgender people.

Many of the sections have templates for students to use to jump start writing as well as suggested activities and questions, which I found useful and very like the kinds of activities I would design for first-year writing.

Reviewed by Justin Young, Associate Professor of English, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 12/8/23

The text effectively covers all of genres that are commonly assigned in first-year college writing courses. read more

The text effectively covers all of genres that are commonly assigned in first-year college writing courses.

I don't have any concerns about the text's accuracy.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This is a particularly relevant writing textbook because of it's focus on inclusiveness and equity, and it effectively addresses the relationship between writing and intersectional identities, as well as academic writing and diverse personal literacies.

The text is clearly written and new terms are consistently defined throughout.

The structure of the text is very consistent, as each chapter follows the same format.

Modularity rating: 4

It is very easy to pull out and use individual whole chapters of the text. However, it is more of a challenge to pull out parts of chapters. Another issue to note is that the text is very "wordy." In other words, chapters are organized around long chunks of text that I worry can be intimidating to students.

The text is organized in an effective and coherent manner, although it may take users a bit of time to understand the logic of the organization.

It's very easy to navigate and use the text online.

I have no concerns about grammatical errors in the text.

As I noted above, one of the strengths of the text is that it focused- in terms of both content (readings) and theme on issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Many of the readings are by diverse authors and about topics of diversity and equity.

Overall, this is a high quality textbook that is similar in quality to many non-OER first-year composition texts.

Reviewed by Jason Meier, English Instructor, Rochester Community & Technical College on 6/26/23

Writing Guide is very comprehensive, comparable to expensive texts with combined reader, rhetoric, and handbook. This text contains all of the assignments I currently use in my college composition class (narrative, problem-solution, rhetorical analysis, annotated bibliography, and argument) and much more, a total of twelve commonly assigned college essays. Both MLA and APA documentation are covered, and I appreciate how Database, Print, and Online source examples are shown side-by-side so that students can better understand the differences without having to flip through multiple pages.

The content is accurate. Much of the content is presented in the way that I have presenting writing content for years.

In general, writing textbooks do not age quickly, so this isn't as big of an issue as, let's say, fields like nursing. That being said, this text does contain up-to-date subjects such as social media. The MLA documentation section does present the 8th edition of MLA, rather than the newer 9th edition; however, I've continued to allow my students to use the 8th edition of MLA since there were not that many changes. As for APA, the current 7th edition is presented.

As a person who detests jargon-filled overly complex academic prose, I can attest that this text is accessible to a wide audience.

I do not see any problems with consistency.

The reader and rhetoric sections of the text are well divided into manageable parts that can be easily linked.

However, the handbook sections could use more divisions. For example, the section on punctuation contains all punctuation lumped together. While I can certainly understand why the author would not want too many hyperlinks in the text, my preference is for more so that I can provide students with more focused links so they do not also need to scroll to find the information I want them to concentrate on.

Well organized. My only problem has been with Unit 2, the rhetoric section, which is labeled "Bridging the Divide between Personal Identity and Academia." I have sometimes had to spend a bit more time digging to find the assignments/modes I'm looking for because it's not apparent that this is the rhetoric section of the text. Of course, I may be illustrated my own impatience since my digging probably takes up no more than 30 additional seconds.

I have not had any problems with interface.

I have not found significant grammatical errors.

With readings and/or spotlights by/on authors such as Selena Gomez, Cathy Park Hong, W.E.B. Du Bois, Atul Gawande, and Ta-Nehisi Coates and subjects such as multilingual writers; language, identity, and culture; and antiracism and inclusivity, this text is certainly inclusive.

Reviewed by Alicia Conroy, Faculty of English, Normandale Community College on 4/2/23

As a book primarily focused on genre-specific writing situations for well-prepared college students, this book is very comprehensive, offering 12 genres plus additional chapters related to research-supported writing and the handbook component. These options include more conventional first-year writing purposes such as proposals, evaluations, and position arguments. A strength is the additional and culturally responsible sections on "language, identity and culture" and "bridging the divide between personal identity and academia", which have models and critical frameworks to help students explore and value their own culture and languages and to write with respect and openness about others' experiences.

Practices and terms are generally "standard" and consistent with current nomenclature, including those related rhetoric and writing process, digital literacy, and inclusion and diversity. Selected readings are identified responsibly and annotations of such readings faithfully summarize and analyze the content without distortion.

This book may need to be updated within three to five years as needed due to changes in the fields of digital literacy, documentation styles and requirements (i.e. APA and MLA), cultural studies and inclusion, (Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, etc.), neuroscience related to learning and language processes, and legislation impacting or limiting what can be taught in various states in the U.S. The text is aimed at students entering college who are well-prepared with basic writing and 12-grade reading skills. The loss of college placement processes, teach-to-test practices in high school, and learning losses during the Covid-19 pandemic mean that this book has weaker relevance to students who struggle with completing basic essays and need more instruction on basics of writing process, paragraphing, and sentence control.

This text is accessible to students with 11-12 grade reading level and includes good lists of relevant terminology for varied rhetorical structures, writing strategies, critical thinking, etc. Annotations of some readings further aid clarity for students. The language & style are academic but not dismissive or condescending, although occasionally I felt it could be more student-centered and less directive.

This book's voice, organization method, and means of scaffolding major points and supporting details is very consistent throughout each unit.

The modules are fairly good in terms of being able to stand alone, though there are some chapters that build on terms and concepts introduced in earlier chapters. In at least one case, the order of chapters puts summary of an issue before the details of that issue; i.e., the specifics on a particular writing issue (stages of writing process and related strategies) appear in ch. 3 but the stages are discussed in a minimal way and without depth in ch. 2. The different writing genre info stands alone and some of the writing process and broad strategies used for multiple genres could be broken out in a separate chapter of as part of the handbook instead, to improve modularity. An advantage would be allowing instructors to choose or ignore some such chapters depending on the range and level of student competencies.

Organization overall is good, with a framework within units and chapters used consistently. As noted above, some issues in ordering and introduction of certain writing-related taks and processes good be better organized to facilitate modularity. The research-related genres and skills are grouped together in the outline.

This is an area of strength, with the hyper links I tested functioning. One bug or failing is that table of contents for some early chapters stops after Unit I - chapter 3, and only upon going back to the Home page and re-choosing the table of contents does the reader see and access the whole list of chapters.

This appears to have been well edited.

The tone and word choice as well as variety of text examples shows sensitivity and up-to-date nomenclature for people of various cultures, ethnicities, abilities, and sexual orientation/ gender status. Furthermore the text often discusses alternative terms and language and points out debates about how people speak about varied identities and groups; the language remains neutral and explanatory and encourages growth mindset and curiosity about perspectives and differences. The one weak spot was the framework for an assignment aimed at explaining culture to someone of a different culture. Some of the assumptions and descriptions could be seen as "othering" students of nondominant groups (whether racial, neuroatypical, etc.) - who are often asked or required to defend or validate their identities as part of being determined outside the white, heteronormative, male-centered dominant culture.

I would consider adopting part or all of this book, though to fit my current student population of first-year writing students at a community college without reading and writing placement requirement and a rigorous common course outline, I'd need also more supporting chapters to use for students who are not optimally prepared in reading and basic writing process and strategy skills.

Reviewed by Aimee Taylor, Assistant Professor, Clarke University on 1/9/23

This guide is appropriately comprehensive for first year and developing college writers. It covers, most importantly, the writing process. It also engages students in thought work about rhetorical effectiveness, information literacy, and argumentation. The included handbook makes it helpful and easy to incorporate. Students will not have to access two separate texts to have a guide and handbook. This is great for planning and streamlining.

From my understanding of the topic, this text is highly accurate.

This text deals with contemporary issues that students will find valuable and important, like social media, demystifying college writing, cultural awareness, decolonization, antiracism, and multimodality. These are topics that are not only relevant today, but they will be persistent issues for years to come. The topics covered are in line with the themes and topics I frequently cover in my own classes, so I wouldn't need to supplement so much.

The text is clear and appropriate for first year college students (and anyone new to academic writing). One of the highlights of this book is that it does spend time explaining and clarifying typically challenging concepts, like rhetoric and argument. This will be helpful for not only students but for new faculty who are teaching writing for the first time.

This text appears consistent. The units have similar structures and features, "editing," "spotlight on...," and "glance at genre." I like this because it shows students that they can methodically look at writing in this kind of way.

The text is divided into modules already, which could be beneficial for new faculty teaching writing for the first time.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Organization is the best quality of this text. They offer a helpful introduction, and subsequent units build up to more complicated writing processes. Again, for first time writing faculty, which can provide just as much help as the text does for the students.

I appreciate that this text has instructor and student resources. The text easily navigable, the images are clear (not distracting), and students will not have to scroll through a ton of text (they can easily navigate from the left table of contents or the "next" button at the bottom of each section).

I didn't see any errors.

This text is quite the opposite of insensitive or offensive. It includes discussions of antiracism and decoloniality, which are important and urgent cultural issues that teachers and students alike to begin engaging with.

I look forward to implementing this text into my course. I am glad to have an open access text that does what I need it to do.

Reviewed by Sarah Lacy, Lecturer, Old Dominion University on 1/6/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

There are lessons on rhetoric, research, portfolios, as well as genre specific readings which does make this a relatively comprehensive Rhetoric and Composition text. I believe the title, "Writing Guide with Handbook" does not do the comprehensiveness of the text enough justice, as this is much more than what I imagine a "writing guide" to be. I specifically like the "Spotlight on..." sections at the end of each chapter/section, as it allows the authors of the book to bring specific lessons to the students that appear to be new and relevant to our cultural conversation (for example, "Spotlight on... Technical Writing as a Career" and "Spotlight on... Bias in Language and Research" each enhance the other readings in their section which highlighting current issues in the field).

However, while this is a fairly comprehensive text, and I appreciate that it uses various perspectives on writing and academia, I do not believe there are enough writing process specific readings to be the only text for a First Year Writing course. However, it is an excellent resource in helping students understand the complexity of writing, and to envision how they will use writing outside of the composition classroom.

The authors' use of various writers in using their text as examples allows this text to work from an unbiased standpoint. The information provided in these sections reflects accurate depiction of the subject matter, and follows the necessary lessons for a writing class, specifically one concerned with rhetorical lessons.

This textbook has included relevant readings on current issues in the field of writing studies, specifically in potential bias in writing and research, as well as issues in language studies. The supplemental readings in this text are very current (Selena Gomez and Ta-Nehisi Coates for example), but also include classic readings (Mark Twain for example) that show the variety of voices that the authors of this text have considered. The social media based readings may need to be updated from time to time, but I think that is a benefit of providing such of-the-moment readings. The base of this text, however, is in the study of rhetoric and college writing which will remain relevant and useful to students and instructors.

The writing is clear and concise, and is written with undergraduate students in mind. I specifically like that in many sections there are reflection questions offered which help students engage more deeply with the subject matter.

Each page is clearly from the same textbook, and each is given the "Learning Outcomes" at the top box which is one of my favorite features of this text. Additionally, there are often references to other sections of the book which shows that there are common themes and topics throughout. I believe the goal of this text is to help students understand the value in the development or personality and voice in writing, as well as lessons in genre and type; though this was not what I expected when reading the title and synopsis, this consistent theme would be beneficial for college writing students.

Modularity rating: 3

This is the section in which I encountered the main issue I have with this book, and that in some of the pages the structure of the prose and space between text is relatively non-existent, and often close together. The information of the text is helpful and insightful, but some sections are very text-heavy, with very little breaks for the reader. While there are other pages that have images, more breaks, and referential questions and links, this is not consistent throughout each page. Additionally, the numerical breakdown within the sections in the left-hand tool bar was a little confusing when i first began reading through, but if you were able to simply share each page link with students, rather than asking them to navigate the book on their own this shouldn't be an issue. Though the navigation tool took some getting used to, once I got the hang of it navigating the organization of the sections was decent.

The section titles are, however, cleverly titled and would intrigue students, as they both list what the section is about, and restate in a creative way. For example, section 16 "Print or Textual Analysis: What You Read" has several subsections such as "An Author's Choices: What Text Says and How it Says it" and "Editing Focus: Literary Works Live in the Present" that provide insight into the purpose of the section as well as an easy to identify personal purpose.

One portion of this text that I admire is that each section begins with a "Learning Outcomes" box, which is written is short, easy to digest prose in bulleted form, and serve very well to provide a preview of what the reader will encounter, to make working through the text more enlightening. In pages that do contain images, they are clear and there do not appear to be any major issues from a technical standpoint. As discussed in the Modularity section of this review, however, I did find navigation with the Contents Toolbar to be a bit perplexing, but I do believe this would not be as much of an issue if this book were in PDF or even print form.

In terms of interface issues, I did not notice any glaring problems. My issues is mainly with modularity and the tool bar, but they worked as they were intended.

The text of these chapters is well written and as I read through the different sections I did not encounter any issues.

I specifically like that this text has sections written by BIPOC authors such as bell hooks, Ta-Nehisi Coates, as well as specific sections on multilingual writers, which is in part why I chose to review this book. Additionally there are sections that explore the use of social media and other virtual forms of communications to make the text relatable to students. These readings, in particular section "1.2 Social Media Trailblazer: Selena Gomez," relate rhetoric specific lessons to individuals and modalities that students will be familiar with, and I believe is in part what helps to "demystify" the university for students.

This text would certainly serve well to provide supplemental readings in a First Year Writing Course, as it offers both textbook style lessons, as well as supplement essays. There are great readings on revising and editing, as well as active reading which I greatly admire. The readings are from a variety of cultural and language specific backgrounds which is increasingly important for any college students and instructor. However, the title of the book is "Writing Guide with Handbook," so I was expecting a lot more writing specific readings. While there are certainly some of those, this text reads more like a compilation of supplementary readings and lessons in writing types/genres, not so much quick referential selections (which is fine by me, but I was a bit confused by the title).

This text would be an excellent part of any curriculum, though perhaps would not be my only textbook choice. The information is valuable and would certainly aid any student in their composition classroom, but as today's students tend to read their work on their phone or tablets, some of the sections which contain only heavy text with very little breaks at times would make navigation difficult. That is not to say that I would not assign this text, in fact I intend to assigned several readings in my next college writing course. But, I do believe that there are some readings that could do well to include more images and breaks between text to make the more text-heavy sections more manageable.

Reviewed by Lisa Kern-Lipscomb, Instructor, Tidewater Community College on 12/30/22

OED offers a free textbook that covers the writing process, vocabulary building, practices for writers, and many instructive lessons. Writing Guide with Handbook is a comprehensive textbook that aligns with my course syllabus throughout the... read more

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Content is readable and accurate without errors.

Guidance formulas for composing both working thesis statements and argumentative thesis statements are relevant writing skills that are beneficial for most students.

Clarity rating: 4

From organizing an essay to integrating documentation to composing an MLA Works Cited page, learning content is engaging while providing clear and concise information.

Consistency rating: 4

While many consistencies exist for each chapter, Editing Focus and Annotated Student Samples are important for composition students. Editing Focus provides novice writers specific learning for challenging writing skills, such as commas and sentence structures. Annotated Student Samples demonstrate annotated models for students to review before starting a writing assignment.

Chapters are outlined with links to specific, up-to-date content that aligns with my course syllabus, which makes finding learning content easy for students.

Learning content is organized logically, which helps students understand the notion of logical organization, especially novice writers.

Interface rating: 4

While navigating the textbook, all links worked properly, images downloaded, and content viewed correctly.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

While navigating the book, I did not encounter grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Multiple chapters highlight cultural backgrounds and provide engaging activities for students to grasp the understanding of various cultural perspectives.

Writing Guide with Handbook is a textbook I hope my students appreciate as it will not cost them anything. This free textbook is just what I need to help place my students on a successful learning pathway. Thank you OER.

Reviewed by Lisa Whalen, Professor, North Hennepin Community College on 12/7/22

I was thrilled to find this textbook because I've been looking for an OER that covers how to write a narrative, profile, visual evaluation, and rhetorical analysis of argument, and I hadn't seen one anywhere. This one covers each module I teach in first-year writing classes in an engaging format with examples that are much more current and sample essays that are much more relevant to students' lives than the costly textbook I've been using reluctantly for several years.

I didn't see any errors in accuracy. My only complaint about the book is its bias in pushing a specific political angle. I prefer textbooks that are politically neutral or at least politically balanced, but those are nearly impossible to find in recent publications. This one confines most of its political bias to specific sections I can skip fairly easily when using it in my classes.

The examples and societal references are very current and relevant to students' lives. A few, like the section on Selena Gomez, will go out of date quickly, but they're are minimal, and even going out of date won't negate the content associated with them. The other cultural references and example essays are universal enough to be relevant for many years.

Style, word choice, and layout are engaging and accessible. I really like the introduction to rhetoric and key terms at the front. Definitions throughout are concise yet complete. Chapter sections are kept short for readability in an online format.

Concepts introduced in early chapters are applied throughout the later chapters. The whole book builds nicely from beginning to end, and the transitions are seamless.

Yes! Among the things I like best about this book are its logical layout, clear chapter and section headings, and differentiation of genres and skills. The way sections and chapters are set up makes it easy to pick and choose which fit my class and assign them without worrying that skipping around might confuse students.

As stated earlier, the book builds logically from beginning to end while allowing for easy a la cart selection of individual chapters.

It's very easy to navigate. My only criticism is that the PDF page numbers differ from the displayed textbook page numbers. No matter how clearly and often I explain the difference, students get confused by the differing page number designations, especially in classes that are wholly online (versus face-to-face or hybrid). The differing page numbers will cause problems when students want to print pages they are assigned to read. More "digital natives" than I would suspect prefer to print pages they are assigned to read than to read them in an electronic format, and many students aren't aware that printers default to the PDF page numbers.

I didn't notice any grammatical errors or typos.

The book reflects the spectrum of human diversity well.

I'm thrilled to have found this book and plan to use it in my first-year writing sections.

Reviewed by Patricia Jordan, Academic Director, Online Training and Technology, Spartanburg Community College on 9/22/22

There are a lot of great ideas for classroom activities, but it doesn’t really cover the concepts of writing. The handbook portion is better but could be expanded. The table of contents is good. The index is confusing. Word like “Caesar,”... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The content seems to be accurate, error-free and unbiased.

Content is up-to-date, but makes use of such pop-culture topics that it feels like it will get out of date very quickly. It isn’t just in sections that would be easy to up date, but seems to be throughout the entire text.

The text is written clearly in an easy-to-understand way.

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

The text is divided into chapters and the chapters into sections. The sections are in easy to read chunks. The sections are hyperlinked.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

There does seem to be some repetition in the way the chapters are organized. Concepts seem to be repeated. The organization of the handbook is good.

The text seems to be free of significant interface issues. The online version uses Openstax which has a table of contents on the left and text on the right. There are advertisements from Kinetic by OpenStax to purchase a print copy that distracts from reading.

The text does not seem to have any grammatical errors .

The text goes out of its way to be culturally relevant and to include examples that are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

It has good information. I think it would be useful to incorporate parts of this into teaching but not use this as a stand alone textbook.

Reviewed by Tara Montague, Part-time instructor, Portland Community College on 7/1/22

This text, Writing Guide with Handbook, is comprehensive. It includes more content than I could cover in one term; I can see using it to cover both a pre-transfer-level course and a basic transfer-level course. Though it is guided by a writing to learn and communicate approach, each chapter includes appropriate writing instruction. The index is thorough and useful; it includes the chapter and section numbers and links to the appropriate content.

The content strikes me as accurate and error-free. This text was a collaborative effort between more than ten authors.

The content is current and engaging; it approaches a variety of relevant social issues and invites the reader to engage with current topics, yet it will certainly remain relevant. The writing models can easily be updated as necessary without changing the overall structure of the text.

The prose is clear and instructive, yet engaging. It doesn’t read like a handbook, and I think students will appreciate that. It is a little less simplistic than other texts I’ve considered from a pre-transfer-level course, but even though some of the concepts and discussions are sophisticated, the commentary provided makes them accessible.

The overall progression from personal narrative to exposition to persuasion includes a loose repetition of structure from chapter to chapter. The framework is coherent and engaging.

The text is completely modular, making it easy to assign small sections. It is well organized, with each chapter broken down into smaller sections, minimizing pages that have multiple screens’ worth of reading.

This text is comprised of twenty chapters that are organized into three larger units; there’s also a brief “handbook” that deals with additional composition elements (e.g. pronouns, MLA documentation, clear and effective sentences) and an Index. Each chapter is divided into eight or so pages or subsections, and the loose repetition of structure between chapters is helpful, but not confining. Each page/section within each chapter has a Learning Outcomes box.

The OpenStax interface makes it easy for users to download the text, view it online, or order a print copy through Amazon.com. The online text is well organized and easy to navigate. As I mentioned above, the Index is impressively functional. The OpenStax interface has a search box that I found useful. The “handbook” is one continuous page and has anchors for navigation, but it is a brief handbook, so this is not a big deal.

I didn’t notice any grammatical errors; the text is clean and well edited.

This text was explicitly designed to provide a culturally responsive and inclusive textbook option; the authors set out to offer “an inviting and inclusive approach to students of all intersectional identities.” The examples of writing are far-ranging and diverse and include writers from history and current writers.

Writing Guide with Handbook stands out because it is organized in a more student-centered way than many introductory composition texts. This text would work well for someone looking to almost ready-to-go course, rather than using a text to supplement their existing course. I am considering using the first half of the text for a pre-transfer-level course; I think it would work well (if not better) for a transfer-level course. I am excited by this text as it really invites users to engage in important issues and explore in writing their relationship to the world around them.

Reviewed by Brenda Coston, Assistant Professor, Honolulu Community College on 2/2/22

The Writing Guide with Handbook, is a text for writers who are beyond the basics of essay structure and who wish to develop more with writing in terms of culture and rhetoric for real life situations. read more

The content of the book is truly one of exploration and appreciation for other cultures . Other issues regarding oppression, bias, and objective writing are discussed in terms of how identity is constructed through writing.

This text, hands-down, is on the cutting edge of curranacy and relevance. Exploring hot topics facing society is a great way to engage student writers and get them thinking about the world around them.

Any relevant vocabulary is thoroughly and mindfully explained with examples given. For example, in Chapter 2.3, "Glance at the Issues: Oppression and Reclamation," the term bias and how it affects writing is completley investigated.

Any significant terms are defined before any development of ideas is given. This tactic helps the student to understand throroughly what is being explained in the text.

The authors have done a superb job of organizing ideas and breaking down sections. For instance, in Chapter Two, "Language, Identity, and Culture: Exploring, Employing, Embracing," the main ideas: language, identity, and so on, are broken down in to smaller areas devoted to them and are explored regarding the effects on the writing process.

Topics, are, indeed, presented in a clear manner, beginning with what the writer may already be aware of with writing, such as "The Digital World: Building on What You Already Know to Respond Critically" and moving to "Bridging the Divide Between Personal Identity and Academia."

The book is cearly laid out with photos that enhance the subject matter and provide a clear undernstaning for the reader.

No grammatical errors were noted.

This text makes a point to engage readers from all walks of life with varying cultural backgrounds. By undertsanding how others think, the student has a deeper perspective when writing and produces an essay with substance.

The Handbook, located in the back of the text, is phenomenal. It is more that just grammar. It touches on on proofreading the essay for clear and effective sentences, beneficial transitional expressions, mechanics, point of view, and MLA. The explanations are clear and relevant and very relatable for college students.

Chapter 1 The Digital World: Building on What You Already Know to Respond Critically
Chapter 2 Language, Identity, and Culture: Exploring, Employing, Embracing
Chapter 3 Literacy Narrative: Building Bridges, Bridging Gaps
Chapter 4 Memoir or Personal Narrative: Learning Lessons from the Personal
Chapter 5 Profile: Telling a Rich and Compelling Story
Chapter 6 Proposal: Writing About Problems and Solutions
Chapter 7 Evaluation or Review: Would You Recommend It?
Chapter 8 Analytical Report: Writing from Facts
Chapter 9 Rhetorical Analysis: Interpreting the Art of Rhetoric
Chapter 10 Position Argument: Practicing the Art of Rhetoric
Chapter 11 Reasoning Strategies: Improving Critical Thinking
Chapter 12 Argumentative Research: Enhancing the Art of Rhetoric with Evidence
Chapter 13 Research Process: Accessing and Recording Information
Chapter 14 Annotated Bibliography: Gathering, Evaluating, and Documenting Sources
Chapter 15 Case Study Profile: What One Person Says About All
Chapter 16 Print or Textual Analysis: What You Read
Chapter 17 Image Analysis: What You See
Chapter 18 Multimodal and Online Writing: Creative Interaction between Text and Image
Chapter 19 Scripting for the Public Forum: Writing to Speak
Chapter 20 Portfolio Reflection: Your Growth as a Writer

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Writing Guide with Handbook aligns to the goals, topics, and objectives of many first-year writing and composition courses. It is organized according to relevant genres, and focuses on the writing process, effective writing practices or strategies—including graphic organizers, writing frames, and word banks to support visual learning—and conventions of usage and style. The text includes an editing and documentation handbook, which provides information on grammar and mechanics, common usage errors, and citation styles.

Writing Guide with Handbook breaks down barriers in the field of composition by offering an inviting and inclusive approach to students of all intersectional identities. To meet this goal, the text creates a reciprocal relationship between everyday rhetoric and the evolving world of academia. Writing Guide with Handbook builds on students’ life experiences and their participation in rhetorical communities within the familiar contexts of personal interaction and social media. The text seeks to extend these existing skills by showing students how to construct a variety of compelling compositions in a variety of formats, situations, and contexts.

The authors conceived and developed Writing Guide with Handbook in 2020; its content and learning experiences reflect the instructional, societal, and individual challenges students have faced. The authors invite students and instructors to practice invitational, rather than confrontational, discussions even as they engage in verbal and written argument. Instructors will be empowered to emphasize meaning and voice and to teach empathy as a rhetorical strategy. Students will be empowered to negotiate their identities and their cultures through language as they join us in writing, discovering, learning, and creating.

About the Contributors

Michelle Bachelor Robinson , Spelman College

Dr. Michelle Bachelor Robinson directs the Comprehensive Writing Program and is an assistant professor of writing and rhetoric at Spelman College. For five weeks each summer, she also serves as faculty for the Middlebury College Bread Loaf School of English, a summer residential graduate program for secondary educators. Her research and teaching focus on community engagement, historiography, African American rhetoric and literacy, composition pedagogy and theory, and student and program assessment. She is the coeditor of the Routledge Reader of African American Rhetoric and has published articles in WPA: Writing Program Administration, Peitho: Journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition, the Alabama Humanities Review, and the Journal of Social Work Education. Her early career was spent as a secondary educator, teaching high school students in the subjects of writing, literature, reading, debate, and drama. Dr. Robinson currently serves as the higher-education cochair of the College Board test development committee for the Advanced Placement (AP) English Language Exam, as well as a member of the test development committee for the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) for College Composition. Dr. Robinson also served on the executive committee for the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) from 2017 to 2020 and is still actively involved in that national work.

Maria Jerskey , City University of New York

Dr. Maria Jerskey is a professor of education and language acquisition at the City University of New York (CUNY), where she teaches courses in ESL, linguistics, bilingualism, and French to community college students and academic writing to graduate students. She is the founder and director of the Literacy Brokers Program, which supports and promotes the publishing practices of multilingual scholars. Dr. Jerskey has 4 Preface Access for free at openstax.org. published widely and been involved in national professional committees and organizations that focus on bringing current research and scholarship to bear on institutionalized practices that disenfranchise multilingual writers in order to design and implement equitable teaching and learning practices and professional development. She has authored college writing handbooks, including Globalization: A Reader for Writers and, with Ann Raimes, Keys for Writers, 6th edition. In her teaching and professional committee work, Dr. Jerskey problematizes and challenges the value and status of Standard Written English by applying critical research and scholarship in the fields of education, linguistics, and composition. Her current research and activism focus on identifying institutional barriers to linguistic justice and cultivating sustainable practices that recognize, encourage, and value the use of each person’s full linguistic repertoire.

Toby Fulwiler , Emeritus, University of Vermont

Dr. Toby Fulwiler is an emeritus professor in the Department of English at the University of Vermont. The author of numerous professional texts, student textbooks, chapters, and articles, Dr. Fulwiler graciously provided The Working Writer as inspiration for Writing Guide with Handbook.

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Academic Module 1: Creating Academic Content

14 Writing Academic Compositions: Processes and Products

U.S. college courses often require students to compose written assignments, ranging from short answer questions of a few sentences to much longer multi-page papers. Regardless of the length of the composition, all written assignments require students to complete specific steps (process) to reach the desired outcome (product). Generally, when students work on composition assignments, they complete the following steps: brainstorming, creating a graphic organizer, making an outline, creating the first complete draft, and editing/revising. As students advance in their acquisition of academic English and take on longer, more complex composition assignments, they often complete more than one cycle of drafting, editing, and revising.

In this chapter, you will learn more about each of the key steps in composing (a four-paragraph essay, for instance) as part of meeting your ELAI 990 learning outcomes as well as using the APP strategy of composition writing. [1]

The steps in composition writing

Generally, students may complete five steps when they compose a paragraph or an essay. This is especially helpful when students are less familiar with the process of composition writing. As students become more familiar, they may be able to successfully consolidate some of these steps, especially when they write timed in-class compositions.

Step 1: Brainstorming

Have you ever heard the term ‘brainstorming’ before? What do you think this refers to?

If you look up the term in a dictionary, you may come across the following definition: “generating ideas through group discussion”. This is accurate. However, students may not always have a group to generate ideas for assignments, and it is helpful to learn how to do simple brainstorming by oneself as well.

Let’s focus on the first part of the dictionary definition: ‘generating ideas’.

When you come across a topic for the first time, it is helpful to take a piece of paper (or on a computer/tablet/smartphone) and write down some initial ideas that come to your mind related to the topic. At this stage, students may draw upon their knowledge in one or more languages. This is something that you likely do in your everyday tasks, especially if you grew up in a bilingual/multilingual environment. In addition, students have a very strong command of a language other than English may also find it helpful to do the initial brainstorming in that language and then transition to English. At this stage, it is the ideas that are more important, regardless of what language they are expressed in.

To generate ideas, you may create a very simple idea map where you write the main topic in the center and then write down, clustered around that topic, one or two words or a very short phrase that comes to your mind and is connected to the topic (you may even draw a line from the topic to the new related ideas that you are expressing in the form of one or more words). By spending a few minutes on completing this simple task, you can quickly identify what you already know about the topic, all in one place in a visual form that’s easy to see. This will also give you more confidence that you do know something about the topic (sometimes students get stuck because they feel they do not know the topic at all). Finally, creating a simple brainstorming map will also help you figure out some of the gaps in your own knowledge about the topic–things that you do not know and need to know. This is especially handy when you already know what the composition writing task requires you to focus on (for instance, you may have to list causes or effects, or identify problems, or offer solutions, or take a position related to the topic).

Step 2: Creating a Graphic Organizer

At this step, students may start transitioning to (academic) English and use longer phrases to flesh out their ideas more and to organize those ideas in a graphic format across different levels of information. How many levels of information you identify at this step will depend on the APP of your assignment, but generally in a four-paragraph essay, students should list at least four levels of information in their graphic organizers: the thesis, the two main ideas (that will then become the topic sentences in the two body paragraphs), the major details to support the main ideas, and the minor details to support the major details. Remember, the more you move down the levels, the more specific the information will become.

Creating a graphic organizer will also help you identify the gaps in your knowledge that you need to fill in order to create a complete graphic. You may, for instance, need to find relevant facts to list as minor details or you will identify the academic English vocabulary items you need to know in order to fill in the different levels. A graphic organizer will also help you identify which information is less relevant or unnecessary and remove it from the organizer. For example, you may have three main ideas to support the thesis when you begin, but the parameters of the essay require you to use only two. At this step, you will identify which two the main ideas of the three to select, and you could select the best two based on importance, relevance, or parallelism. Finally, when you make a graphic organizer, you will be able to ensure that it is balanced, with a similar number of ideas for each of the body paragraphs that you will then outline in the next step.

Let’s look at the examples of a graphic organizer for a paragraph assignment and a graphic organizer for an essay assignment below to see how the ideas may be structured in a graphic organizer (To see the images in a larger format, click on each image). Keep in mind that the structure below is one example, and as you become more comfortable with making graphic organizers, you will be able to vary the structure based on the specific APPs of the assignments.

A sample graphic organizer for a paragraph assignment

A sample graphic organizer for a four-paragraph essay assignment

Step 3: Drafting an Outline

For longer composition assignments, such as multi-paragraph essays, creating an outline based on the graphic organizer can be very helpful, especially for students who struggle with writing longer sentences and creating flow within and across paragraphs. Let’s look at the examples of a paragraph outline and an essay outline below to see how outlines may be structured. Keep in mind that, just like a graphic organizer, the actual structure that you use for specific compositions will depend on the APP of the assignment.

A sample paragraph outline

Topic sentence: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Minor details: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Major detail 2: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Conclusion: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A sample essay outline

Hook: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Background information: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thesis statement: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Minor details: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Restatement of the thesis: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Additional information: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Closing strategy: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 4: Composing the first full essay draft

The next step in the essay writing process is to take the outline and convert it into the first full essay draft, comprising four paragraphs, in this instance. At this stage of essay writing, students should focus on ensuring that the ideas flow logically within and across paragraphs, and that they use suitable transitional words, phrases, and sentences to connect the ideas. Students should also start paying attention to the word count at this point to ensure that they follow the guidelines provided. Once the first full draft has been created, students should use the rubric provided as well as a checklist to ensure that they have not forgotten some important element. For instance, if the rubric requires the student to make at least one reference to a reading, the student should ensure that they have done so by this stage.

Step 5: Revising the draft

As a final step in the composition assignment, students should both proofread and edit their compositions as needed. At this step, students should pay special attention to spelling words correctly, using appropriate punctuation and indentation, employing correct grammatical structures, and so forth. This may also be a good time to visit the Writing Center to get additional feedback, although you may visit the Writing Center at any stage of the composition assignment.

We are going to practice all of these steps in the class throughout the semester as well.

The APP of composition writing

Now, let’s look at the tasks of annotating and making notes through the lens of audience, purpose, and parameters, or APP.

Let’s start with the first criterion–the audience.

When you write a paragraph (e.g. in the form of a short answer to a question) or a longer composition (e.g. a four-paragraph essay) or a multi-page assignment (e.g. a 10-page paper that you may have to write in a credit course), who is your audience? Generally, students write short and long compositions for their professor to read (and to demonstrate that they have understood the target concept or idea well). As a result, you must structure and customize the content in the paragraph(s) for your professor, in which case, you need to make decisions about which language you would use to communicate your ideas (e.g. English in a U.S. college course) and what tone/register would be appropriate (i.e. academic/professional). In other words, who your audience is informs what you say and what you write in a college course. Therefore, it is very helpful to identify clearly who the target audience is for any academic assignment.

Now, let’s look at the second criterion–the purpose.

When you compose a text, it is essential that you keep the purpose or the reasons why you are writing the text in mind. For instance, is the purpose to describe, to inform, to persuade, or to convince? Depending on the purpose, you will need to choose the appropriate pattern of organization and the tone to use in your writing. For instance, if you write an essay where you have to provide two reasons why multilingualism is beneficial, you will need to use a persuasive tone and list two benefits of multilingualism along with details to describe these benefits in detail. Students who fail to do so or misidentify the purpose at the beginning of the composition process end up writing a composition that is off-topic or with the wrong focus.

Finally, let’s look at the last criterion–the parameters.

In composing an assignment, you need to pay close attention to the guidelines provided to identify the assignment parameters, for instance in terms of word length, number of paragraphs, formatting, recommended font type and font size (for typed assignments), and so forth. This is especially helpful for students who may be new to college-level writing in general or the U.S. college culture specifically. When in doubt, check with your professor!
As you advance in your academic careers, the composition writing tasks are likely to become more complex, such as in the form of multi-page essays and research papers. Such advanced composition tasks may require other steps in the process of essay-writing, and you will learn those skills in your credit courses. The steps you learn here will help create the foundation on which you will then advance in your academic writing in credit-based coursework. ↵

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This resource begins with a general description of essay writing and moves to a discussion of common essay genres students may encounter across the curriculum. The four genres of essays (description, narration, exposition, and argumentation) are common paper assignments you may encounter in your writing classes. Although these genres, also known as the modes of discourse, have been criticized by some composition scholars, the Purdue OWL recognizes the wide spread use of these genres and students’ need to understand and produce these types of essays. We hope these resources will help.

The essay is a commonly assigned form of writing that every student will encounter while in academia. Therefore, it is wise for the student to become capable and comfortable with this type of writing early on in her training.

Essays can be a rewarding and challenging type of writing and are often assigned either to be done in class, which requires previous planning and practice (and a bit of creativity) on the part of the student, or as homework, which likewise demands a certain amount of preparation. Many poorly crafted essays have been produced on account of a lack of preparation and confidence. However, students can avoid the discomfort often associated with essay writing by understanding some common genres.

Before delving into its various genres, let’s begin with a basic definition of the essay.

What is an essay?

Though the word essay has come to be understood as a type of writing in Modern English, its origins provide us with some useful insights. The word comes into the English language through the French influence on Middle English; tracing it back further, we find that the French form of the word comes from the Latin verb exigere , which means "to examine, test, or (literally) to drive out." Through the excavation of this ancient word, we are able to unearth the essence of the academic essay: to encourage students to test or examine their ideas concerning a particular topic.

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.

The purpose of an essay is to encourage students to develop ideas and concepts in their writing with the direction of little more than their own thoughts (it may be helpful to view the essay as the converse of a research paper). Therefore, essays are (by nature) concise and require clarity in purpose and direction. This means that there is no room for the student’s thoughts to wander or stray from his or her purpose; the writing must be deliberate and interesting.

This handout should help students become familiar and comfortable with the process of essay composition through the introduction of some common essay genres.

This handout includes a brief introduction to the following genres of essay writing:

Expository essays
Descriptive essays
Narrative essays
Argumentative (Persuasive) essays

Text-only version of this page

ENGL001: English Composition I

If English is your second or third language and you are looking to improve your English language skills, you may consider completing our "English as a Second Language" courses first. You can find those here: sylr.org/ESL

Course Introduction

Time: 32 hours
Free Certificate

Because this course is designed specifically for students in a university setting, the second unit will focus on academic writing. We will learn how to respond to an assignment or test question by using the "PWR-Writing" or "Power-Writing" Method (PWR: prewrite, write, revise) while learning the ins and outs of building a solid thesis and supporting that thesis with evidence. The remaining units will focus on good writing practices, from style to proper citation.

Course Syllabus

First, read the course syllabus. Then, enroll in the course by clicking "Enroll me". Click Unit 1 to read its introduction and learning outcomes. You will then see the learning materials and instructions on how to use them.

Unit 1: What is College-Level Writing?

We begin this course by refining our ideas about what we are doing when we write. Let's begin by acknowledging that writing is a difficult, complex process. It does not come easily; it takes quite a bit of work and thought. Writing is more than words on a page, but a way to communicate ideas.

In college-level writing, we say written communication is rhetorical , which means our rhetorical situation (the purpose and audience of our writing) and our use of rhetorical appeals, such as ethos , logos , and pathos , determine our writing decisions. We define these terms in this unit, discuss how to identify them as you read, and discuss how to incorporate them into your own writing.

Writing is a process, rather than a product. You often need to write your ideas down to organize and clarify what you think about a subject. We discuss ways to use this process to manage your writing, develop your ideas, and make the task of drafting an essay seem less overwhelming.

Throughout Unit 1, we ask you to complete several activities that will culminate in an essay writing assignment. The topic for these activities and the essay is what it takes to succeed in an Internet-based college course. As you develop your response, come up with at least three activities you should do, or characteristics you should employ, to succeed in this and other courses.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 9 hours.

Unit 2: What Makes Academic Writing Unique?

University students need to know how to write an effective academic essay. At its core, any academic essay is essentially an argument. This does not mean you are penning a series of aggressive verbal attacks; rather, you are using language to persuade someone to adopt a certain perspective.

For example, you may be asked to write an essay on how the revolution changed the culture in your country. Your response is an argument, in which you try to persuade your audience that the war changed cultural norms in three or four specific ways. As you create your argument, think about your writing as a conversation between yourself and an audience.

The way you choose to build and support your argument has a great deal to do with how you see yourself as part of the conversation. If you envision your work as a response to an existing prompt, the reader with whom you are "speaking" should shape the way you write.

For example, imagine someone asks you why a politician acted in a certain way. You will probably respond in one way if the questioner is your five-year-old cousin, another way if they are a friend who is your same age, and yet another if they are your boss. You should approach every writing project with this same awareness of audience. Keep these ideas about argument and conversation in mind as we explore how to develop an academic essay.

The rhetorical situation we discussed in Unit 1 should influence the argument you choose, the type of essay you write, and the way you organize your ideas. In Unit 2 we review these issues in detail and discuss a highly-structured approach to writing an argument. By the end of this unit, you should be ready to write an academic essay.

Throughout Unit 2 we ask you to complete a number of activities which will culminate in writing an argumentative essay. Choose one point you promoted in your Unit 1 essay topic and develop it further. The assigned topic for the Unit 2 activities and the essay is how your selected activity or characteristic affects success in an Internet-based college course.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 11 hours.

Unit 3: How Do I Use Sources?

A well-placed reference, quotation, or paraphrase from an outside expert can make all the difference when you are making an argument. In fact, many academic writing assignments require you to include these types of supporting arguments to support your case. These supporting arguments can convince your reader that other respected, intelligent individuals share your perspective; it can argue your point with winning style or rhetorical power; and it can prop up your argument where you may need help.

In this unit, we explore how to leverage the work of others to strengthen your argument, while you ensure that you (and not the individual you reference) take the spotlight. We also address plagiarism and the steps you can take to avoid it.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 7 hours.

Unit 4: Finishing Touches

Your writing style refers to the way you write a sentence and how you assemble your arguments within a sequence of sentences so they make sense to your audience. A "sound" writing style is not a luxury; it is necessary to communicate your ideas clearly and effectively. For example, you may write with perfect grammar, but if your style needs work, your audience may not understand what you are trying to convey.

While opinions on the best type of writing style is inherently subjective and may even be based on cultural standards or preferences, in this unit we provide you with some guidelines that are most academics generally agree upon. Our first goal is to learn how to write as clearly, persuasively, and elegantly as possible. Our second goal is to apply these skills and learn how to revise and edit our work. Revision and editing are important stages of the writing process. It allows you to fine-tune your ideas so your reader can easily follow your argument.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 5 hours.

Study Guide

This study guide will help you get ready for the final exam. It discusses the key topics in each unit, walks through the learning outcomes, and lists important vocabulary terms. It is not meant to replace the course materials!

Course Feedback Survey

Please take a few minutes to give us feedback about this course. We appreciate your feedback, whether you completed the whole course or even just a few resources. Your feedback will help us make our courses better, and we use your feedback each time we make updates to our courses.

If you come across any urgent problems, email [email protected].

Certificate Final Exam

Take this exam if you want to earn a free Course Completion Certificate.

To receive a free Course Completion Certificate, you will need to earn a grade of 70% or higher on this final exam. Your grade for the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. If you do not pass the exam on your first try, you can take it again as many times as you want, with a 7-day waiting period between each attempt.

Once you pass this final exam, you will be awarded a free Course Completion Certificate .

What Is Composition? Definition, Types, and Examples

StockSnap / Pixabay

An Introduction to Punctuation
Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
B.A., English, State University of New York

In the literary sense, a composition (from the Latin "to put together") is the way a writer assembles words and sentences to create a coherent and meaningful work. Composition can also mean the activity of writing, the nature of the subject of a piece of writing, the piece of writing itself, and the name of a college course assigned to a student. This essay focuses on practicing how people write.

Key Takeaways

In writing, composition refers to the way a writer structures a piece of writing.
The four modes of composition, which were codified in the late 19th century, are description, narration, exposition, and argumentation.
Good writing can include elements of multiple modes of composition.

Composition Definition

Just like a musician and an artist, a writer sets the tone of a composition to his or her purpose, making decisions about what that tone should be to form a structure. A writer might express anything from the point of view of cool logic to impassioned anger. A composition might use clean and simple prose, flowery, descriptive passages, or analytical nomenclature.

Since the 19th century, English writers and teachers have been grappling with ways to classify forms and modes of writing so beginner writers can have a place to start. After decades of struggle, rhetoricians ended up with four categories of writing that still make up the mainstream of Composition 101 college classes: Description, Narration , Exposition , and Argumentation .

Types of Composition Writing

The four classical types of composition (description, narration, exposition, and argumentation) are not categories, per se. They would almost never stand alone in a piece of writing, but rather are best-considered modes of writing, pieces of writing styles that can be combined and used to create a whole. That is to say, they can inform a piece of writing, and they are good starting points for understanding how to put a piece of writing together.

Examples for each of the following composition types are based on the American poet Gertrude Stein's famous quote from " Sacred Emily ," her 1913 poem: "A rose is a rose is a rose."

Description

A description, or descriptive writing, is a statement or account that describes something or someone, listing characteristic features and significant details to provide a reader with a portrayal in words. Descriptions are set in the concrete, in the reality, or solidity of an object as a representation of a person, place, or thing in time. They provide the look and feel of objects, a simultaneous whole, with as many details as you'd like.

A description of a rose might include the color of the petals, the aroma of its perfume, where it exists in your garden, whether it is in a plain terracotta pot or a hothouse in the city.

A description of "Sacred Emily" might talk about the length of the poem and the facts of when it was written and published. It might list the images that Stein uses or mention her use of repetition and alliteration.

A narration, or narrative writing, is a personal account , a story that the writer tells his or her reader. It can be an account of a series of facts or events, given in order and establishing connections between the steps. It can even be dramatic, in which case you can present each individual scene with actions and dialog. The chronology could be in strict order, or you could include flashbacks.

A narration about a rose might describe how you first came across it, how it came to be in your garden, or why you went to the greenhouse that day.

A narration about "Sacred Emily" might be about how you came across the poem, whether it was in a class or in a book lent by a friend, or if you were simply curious about where the phrase "a rose is a rose" came from and found it on the internet.

Exposition, or expository writing , is the act of expounding or explaining a person, place, thing, or event. Your purpose is not to just describe something, but to give it a reality, an interpretation, your ideas on what that thing means. In some respects, you are laying out a proposition to explain a general notion or abstract idea of your subject.

An exposition on a rose might include its taxonomy, what its scientific and common names are, who developed it, what the impact was when it was announced to the public, and/or how was it distributed.

An exposition on "Sacred Emily" could include the environment in which Stein wrote, where she was living, what her influences were, and what the impact was on reviewers.

Argumentation

Also called argumentative writing , an argumentation is basically an exercise in comparing and contrasting. It is the methodological presentation of both sides of an argument using logical or formal reasoning. The end result is formulated to persuade why thing A is better than thing B. What you mean by "better" makes up the content of your arguments.

Argumentation applied to a rose might be why one particular rose is better than another, why you prefer roses over daisies, or vice versa.

Argumentation over "Sacred Emily" could compare it to Stein's other poems or to another poem covering the same general topic.

The Value of Composition

A great deal of debate enlivened college theoretical rhetoric in the 1970s and 1980s, with scholars attempting to throw off what they saw were the confining strictures of these four writing styles. Despite that, they remain the mainstay of some college composition classes.

What these four classical modes do is provide beginner writers a way to purposefully direct their writings, a structure on which to form an idea. However, they can also be limiting. Use the traditional modes of composition as tools to gain practice and direction in your writing, but remember that they should be considered starting points rather than rigid requirements.

Bishop, Wendy. "Keywords in Creative Writing." David Starkey, Utah State University Press, University Press of Colorado, 2006.
Conners, Professor Robert J. "Composition-Rhetoric: Backgrounds, Theory, and Pedagogy." Pittsburgh Series in Composition, Literacy, and Culture, Hardcover, New ed. Edition, University of Pittsburgh Press, June 1, 1997.
D'Angelo, Frank. "Nineteenth-Century Forms/Modes of Discourse: A Critical Inquiry." Vol. 35, No. 1, National Council of Teachers of English, February 1984.
Hintikka, Jaakko. "Strategic Thinking in Argumentation and Argumentation Theory." Vol. 50, No. 196 (2), Revue Internationale de Philosophie, 1996.
Perron, Jack. "Composition and Cognition." English Education, The Writing Teacher: A New Professionalism, Vol. 10, No. 3, National Council of Teachers of English, February 1979.
Stein, Gertrude. "Sacred Emily." Geography and Plays, Letters of Note, 1922.
Modes of Discourse (Composition)
Definition and Examples of Narratives in Writing
Models of Composition
What Is Expository Writing?
AP English Exam: 101 Key Terms
Focusing in Composition
Character Sketch in Composition
Narratio in Rhetoric
Coherence in Composition
Current-Traditional Rhetoric
Description in Rhetoric and Composition
Topical Organization Essay
Arrangement in Composition and Rhetoric
Word Choice in English Composition and Literature
The Writer's Voice in Literature and Rhetoric
The Parts of a Speech in Classical Rhetoric

Tips for Reading an Assignment Prompt

Asking analytical questions, introductions, what do introductions across the disciplines have in common, anatomy of a body paragraph, transitions, tips for organizing your essay, counterargument, conclusions.

Essay Topics – List of 500+ Essay Writing Topics and Ideas

List of 500+ essay writing topics and ideas.

Essay topics in English can be difficult to come up with. While writing essays , many college and high school students face writer’s block and have a hard time to think about topics and ideas for an essay. In this article, we will list out many good essay topics from different categories like argumentative essays, essays on technology, environment essays for students from 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grades. Following list of essay topics are for all – from kids to college students. We have the largest collection of essays. An essay is nothing but a piece of content which is written from the perception of writer or author. Essays are similar to a story, pamphlet, thesis, etc. The best thing about Essay is you can use any type of language – formal or informal. It can biography, the autobiography of anyone. Following is a great list of 100 essay topics. We will be adding 400 more soon!

But Before that you may wanna read some awesome Essay Writing Tips here .

500+ essay topics for students and children

Get the Huge list of 100+ Speech Topics here

Argumentative Essay Topics

Should plastic be banned?
Pollution due to Urbanization
Education should be free
Should Students get limited access to the Internet?
Selling Tobacco should be banned
Smoking in public places should be banned
Facebook should be banned
Students should not be allowed to play PUBG

Essay Topics on Technology

Wonder Of Science
Mobile Phone

Essay Topics on Festivals on Events

Independence Day (15 August)
Teachers Day
Summer Vacation
Children’s Day
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
Janmashtami
Republic Day

Essay Topics on Education

Education Essay
Importance of Education
Contribution of Technology in Education

Essay Topics on Famous Leaders

Mahatma Gandhi
APJ Abdul Kalam
Jawaharlal Nehru
Swami Vivekananda
Mother Teresa
Rabindranath Tagore
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Subhash Chandra Bose
Abraham Lincoln
Martin Luther King
Lal Bahadur Shashtri

Essay Topics on Animals and Birds

My Favorite Animal

Essays Topics About Yourself

My Best Friend
My Favourite Teacher
My Aim In Life
My Favourite Game – Badminton
My Favourite Game – Essay
My Favourite Book
My Ambition
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
India of My Dreams
My School Life
I Love My Family
My Favourite Subject
My Favourite Game Badminton
My Father My Hero
My School Library
My Favourite Author
My plans for summer vacation

Essay Topics Based on Environment and Nature

Global Warming
Environment
Air Pollution
Environmental Pollution
Water Pollution
Rainy Season
Climate Change
Importance Of Trees
Winter Season
Deforestation
Natural Disasters
Save Environment
Summer Season
Trees Our Best Friend Essay In English

Essay Topics Based on Proverbs

Health Is Wealth
A Stitch in Time Saves Nine
An Apple a Day Keeps Doctor Away
Where there is a will, there is way
Time and Tide wait for none

Toppr provides free study materials like NCERT Solutions for Students, Previous 10 Years of Question Papers, 1000+ hours of video lectures for free. Download Toppr app for Android and iOS or signup for free.

Essay Topics for Students from 6th, 7th, 8th Grade

Noise Pollution
Environment Pollution
Women Empowerment
Time and Tide Wait for none
Science and Technology
Importance of Sports
Sports and Games
Time Management
Cleanliness is next to Godliness
Cleanliness
Rome was not Built in a Day
Unemployment
Clean India
Cow Essay In English
Describe Yourself
Festivals Of India
Ganesh Chaturthi
Healthy Food
Importance Of Water
Plastic Pollution
Value of Time
Honesty is the Best Policy
Gandhi Jayanti
Human Rights
Knowledge Is Power
Same Sex Marriage
Childhood Memories
Cyber Crime
Kalpana Chawla
Punctuality
Rani Lakshmi Bai
Spring Season
Unity In Diversity
Artificial Intelligence
Online Shopping
Indian Culture
Healthy Lifestyle
Indian Education System
Disaster Management
Environmental Issues
Freedom Fighters
Grandparents
Save Fuel For Better Environment
Importance Of Newspaper
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Raksha Bandhan
World Environment Day
Narendra Modi
What Is Religion
Charity Begins at Home
A Journey by Train
Ideal student
Save Water Save Earth
Indian Farmer
Safety of Women in India
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Capital Punishment
College Life
Natural Resources
Peer Pressure
Nature Vs Nurture
Romeo And Juliet
Generation Gap
Makar Sankranti
Constitution of India
Girl Education
Importance of Family
Importance of Independence Day
Brain Drain
A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed
Action Speaks Louder Than Words
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
Bhagat Singh
Demonetization
Agriculture
Importance of Discipline
Population Explosion
Poverty in India
Uses Of Mobile Phones
Water Scarcity
Train Journey
Land Pollution
Environment Protection
Indian Army
Uses of Internet
All that Glitters is not Gold
Balanced Diet
Blood Donation
Digital India
Dussehra Essay
Energy Conservation
National Integration
Railway Station
Sachin Tendulkar
Health And Hygiene
Importance Of Forest
Indira Gandhi
Laughter Is The Best Medicine
Career Goals
Mental Health
Save Water Save Life
International Yoga Day
Winter Vacation
Soil Pollution
Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining
Indian Culture And Tradition
Unity Is Strength
Unity is Diversity
Wildlife Conservation
Cruelty To Animals
Nelson Mandela
Of Mice And Men
Organ Donation
Life in a Big City
Democracy in India
Waste Management
Biodiversity
Afforestation
Female Foeticide
Harmful Effects Of Junk Food
Rain Water Harvesting
Save Electricity
Social Media
Social Networking Sites
Sound Pollution
Procrastination
Life in an Indian Village
Life in Big City
Population Growth
World Population Day
Greenhouse Effect
Statue of Unity
Traffic Jam
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
Importance of Good Manners
Good Manners
Cyber Security
Green Revolution
Health And Fitness
Incredible India
Make In India
Surgical Strike
Triple Talaq
A Good Friend
Importance of Friends in our Life
Should Plastic be Banned
Nationalism
Traffic Rules
Effects of Global Warming
Fundamental Rights
Solar System
National Constitution Day
Good Mother
Importance of Trees in our Life
City Life Vs Village Life
Importance of Communication
Conservation of Nature
Man vs. Machine
Indian Economy
Mothers Love
Importance of National Integration
Black Money
Greenhouse effect
Untouchability
Self Discipline
Global Terrorism
Conservation of Biodiversity
Newspaper and Its Uses
World Health Day
Conservation of Natural Resources
A Picnic with Family
Indian Heritage
Status of Women in India
Child is Father of the Man
Reading is Good Habit
Plastic Bag
Terrorism in India
Library and Its Uses
Life on Mars
Urbanization
Pollution Due to Diwali
National Flag of India
Vocational Education
Importance of Tree Plantation
Summer Camp
Vehicle Pollution
Women Education in India
Seasons in India
Freedom of the Press
Caste System
Environment and Human Health
Mountain Climbing
Depletion of Natural Resources
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Health Education
Effects of Deforestation
Life after School
Starvation in India
Jan Dhan Yojana
Impact of Privatization
Election Commission of India
Election and Democracy
Prevention of Global Warming
Impact of Cinema in Life
Subhas Chandra Bose
Dowry System
Ganesh Chaturthi Festival
Role of Science in Making India
Impact of Global Warming on Oceans
Pollution due to Festivals
Ambedkar Jayanti
Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat
Family Planning in India
Democracy vs Dictatorship
National Festivals of India
Sri Aurobindo
Casteism in India
Organ trafficking
Consequences of Global Warming
Role of Human Activities in Global Warming
Issues and Problems faced by Women in India
Role of Judiciary in the Country Today
Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan
PUBG Mobile Game Addiction
Role of Youths in Nation Building
Value of Oxygen and Water in Life/Earth
Farmer Suicides in India
Start-up India
Pollution Due to Firecrackers
Life of Soldiers
Child Labour
Save Girl Child
Morning Walk
My School Fete
Essay on Financial Literacy
Essay On Sustainable Development
Essay On Punjab
Essay On Travel
My Home Essay
Child Marriage Essay
Importance Of English Language Essay
Essay On Mass Media
Essay On Horse
Essay On Police
Essay On Eid
Essay On Solar Energy
Animal Essay
Essay On Mango
Gender Discrimination Essay
Essay On Advertisement
My First Day At School Essay
My Neighborhood Essay
True Friendship Essay
Work Is Worship Essay
Essay On Self Confidence
Essay On Superstition
Essay On Bangalore
Sex Vs Gender Essay
Essay On Social Issues
Time Is Money Essay
Essay About Grandmothers
Essay On Hard Work
First Day Of School Essay
Flowers Essay
My Favorite Food Essay
Essay on Birds
Essay on Humanity
Essay on Sun
Essay on Kargil War
Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining Essay
Francis Bacon Essays
Importance of Cleanliness Essay
My Sister Essay
Self Introduction Essay
Solar Energy Essay
Sports Day Essa
Value Of Education Essay
Essay On Isro
Essay On Balance Is Beneficial
Essay On Reservation In India
Essay On Water Management
Essay On Smoking
Essay On Stress Management
Essay On William Shakespeare
Essay on Apple
Essay On Albert Einstein
Essay On Feminism
Essay On Kindness
Essay On Domestic Violence
Essay on English as a Global Language
Essay On Co-Education
Importance Of Exercise Essay
Overpopulation Essay
Smartphone Essay
Essay on River
Essay on Cyclone
Essay On Facebook
Essay On Science In Everyday Life
Essay On Women Rights
Essay On Right To Education
Essay on Quotes
Essay On Peace
Essay On Drawing
Essay On Bicycle
Essay On Sexual Harassment
Essay On Hospital
Essay On Srinivasa Ramanujan
Essay On Golden Temple
Essay On Art
Essay On Ruskin Bond
Essay On Moon
Birthday Essay
Dont Judge A Book By Its Cover Essay
Draught Essay
Gratitude Essay
Indian Politics Essay
Who am I Essay
Essay on Positive Thinking
Essay on Dance
Essay on Navratri
Essay on Onam
Essay on New Education Policy 2020
Esasy on Thank you Coronavirus Helpers
Essay on Coronavirus and Coronavirus Symptoms
Essay on Baseball
Essay on coronavirus vaccine
Fitness beats pandemic essay
Essay on coronavirus tips
Essay on coronavirus prevention
Essay on coronavirus treatment
Essay on essay on trees
Essay on television
Gender inequality essay
Water conservation essay
Essay on Gurpurab
Essay on Types of sports
Essay on road safety
Essay on my favourite season
My pet essay
Student life essay
Essay on Railway station
Essay on earth
Essay on knowledge is power
Essay on favourite personality
Essay on memorable day of my life
My parents essay
Our country essay
Picnic essay
Travelling essay

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Jamaica teen takes top prize in NYPD essay-writing contest

Tina Perumal, 18, bested 300 teens vying for an award in the Police Athletic League-NYPD annual essay competition. She snagged the prestigious NYPD Commander Award, one of a handful of NYPD awards for essay writing. The contest was open to all New York City students in grades 9-12.

Perumal was honored on Tuesday during the Police Commissioner for a Day Ceremony. Her essay was noteworthy since it was based on the concept of her being appointed police commissioner, where she used the high-ranking position to bring together a task force to combat child neglect.

Perumal said the essay was inspired by a close friend who went through a traumatic childhood experience, which prompted her to focus on the topic. “My essay was basically helping to bring back child safety and bring attention to the child safety that doesn’t really get looked at or recognized,” she said.

Perumal, a senior at Martin Van Buren High School , plans to attend John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the fall. She grew up watching shows such as “Law and Order” and other crime series, and now plans to be a police officer. “That’s where my mind and my heart has always been set on,” she said. “I just also want to help everybody around me and just protect everyone.”

When she is not spending time writing award-winning essays, Perumal works as an administrative intern at Life Camp’s Creative Arts Lab . She has been working with the organization since 2022 and oversees middle and elementary school students in the program. Perumal said her time working at Life Camp has inspired her to expand her own world view.

“They provide a lot of opportunities for you to get yourself out there. To be something you never saw yourself becoming or changing yourself that you never saw yourself changing to be,” she said. Currently, Perumal is working with staff on raising funds for a trip to Six Flags so they can celebrate the work they have done at the Creative Arts Lab over the past two years.

Life Camp’s mission is to provide youth and families in Southeast Queens impacted by gun violence with tools to stay in school and out of the criminal justice system. The organization offers programs to affected youngsters and their families as part of the initiative.

The Creative Arts Lab is a program sponsored by Life Camp targeting youth aged 12-24. The lab offers educational programs focused on arts education including DJing, composition and recording, theater, dance, painting and an array of other artistic mediums.

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Types of Composition Writing and Examples
Essay Writing Tips That Will Make College a Breeze
32 College Essay Format Templates & Examples
Step-By-Step Guide to Essay Writing
How to Write a Composition: 14 Steps (with Pictures)
How to Write an Essay

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The Basic of PARAGRAPH COMPOSITION
Composition Writing. Lesson 1
How to Write an Essay Step by Step
Mastering the Art of Essay Writing: Essential Steps#easywriting #compositionwriting
Multiple Composition Writing System
HOW TO WRITE COMPOSITION FOR CLASS 10TH ICSE 🔥🔥

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Composition Writing
The definition of Composition writing is the creation and organization of a written paper or an essay on a topic in a field of study such as literature, history, or sociology. By writing papers on ...
You, Writing! A Guide to College Composition
Suggest an edit to this book record. This text is meant to be used in any first year College Composition class or as a general guide to college writing. The book focuses on writing as a process, not a product. The goal is to help students discover their own writing process, tryin g out different methods and strategies to find what works best ...
How to Write a Composition (with Pictures)
This will help you go from general to specific, an important part of any composition. Start with a blank piece of paper, or use a chalkboard to draw the outline diagram. Leave lots of room. Write the topic in the center of the paper and draw a circle around it. Say your topic is "Romeo & Juliet" or "The Civil War".
How to Write a Composition: A Step-by-Step Guide
Welcome to your guide to composition writing. Here, we focus on the essentials, helping you develop your skills step by step. Whether you aim to persuade, inform, or entertain, this guide lays the foundation for effective writing. You'll find tips on selecting topics, organizing your thoughts, and polishing your final draft for maximum impact.
The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Essay
The essay writing process consists of three main stages: Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline. Writing: Set out your argument in the introduction, develop it with evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a conclusion. Revision: Check your essay on the content, organization, grammar, spelling ...
Writing Guide with Handbook
Writing Guide with Handbook aligns to the goals, topics, and objectives of many first-year writing and composition courses. It is organized according to relevant genres, and focuses on the writing process, effective writing practices or strategies—including graphic organizers, writing frames, and word banks to support visual learning—and conventions of usage and style.
Strategies for Essay Writing
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.
14 Writing Academic Compositions: Processes and Products
In this chapter, you will learn more about each of the key steps in composing (a four-paragraph essay, for instance) as part of meeting your ELAI 990 learning outcomes as well as using the APP strategy of composition writing. [1] The steps in composition writing. Generally, students may complete five steps when they compose a paragraph or an essay.
PDF Strategies for Essay Writing
Harvard College Writing Center 2 Tips for Reading an Assignment Prompt When you receive a paper assignment, your first step should be to read the assignment prompt carefully to make sure you understand what you are being asked to do. Sometimes your assignment will be open-ended ("write a paper about anything in the course that interests you").
Essay Writing
This handout includes a brief introduction to the following genres of essay writing: The Modes of Discourse—Exposition, Description, Narration, Argumentation (EDNA)—are common paper assignments you may encounter in your writing classes. Although these genres have been criticized by some composition scholars, the Purdue OWL recognizes the ...
Principles of Composition
Principles of Composition is a component of the Guide to Grammar and Writing. It contains digital handouts on how to get started in the writing process, how to edit (and check for errors in logic), how to begin and conclude, and how to format papers. There is a separate section for several different kinds of essays -- development by examples, definition, cause-and-effect, comparison-contrast ...
How to Structure an Essay
The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body. This article provides useful templates and tips to help you outline your essay, make decisions about your structure, and ...
How to Write an Essay Outline
An essay outline is a way of planning the structure of your essay before you start writing. It involves writing quick summary sentences or phrases for every point you will cover in each paragraph, giving you a picture of how your argument will unfold. You'll sometimes be asked to submit an essay outline as a separate assignment before you ...
ENGL001: English Composition I
The rhetorical situation we discussed in Unit 1 should influence the argument you choose, the type of essay you write, and the way you organize your ideas. In Unit 2 we review these issues in detail and discuss a highly-structured approach to writing an argument. By the end of this unit, you should be ready to write an academic essay.
Writing 101: The 8 Common Types of Essays
Writing 101: The 8 Common Types of Essays. Written by MasterClass. Last updated: Jun 7, 2021 • 3 min read. Whether you're a first-time high school essay writer or a professional writer about to tackle another research paper, you'll need to understand the fundamentals of essay writing before you put pen to paper and write your first sentence.
What Is Composition? Definition, Types, and Examples
Definition, Types, and Examples. In the literary sense, a composition (from the Latin "to put together") is the way a writer assembles words and sentences to create a coherent and meaningful work. Composition can also mean the activity of writing, the nature of the subject of a piece of writing, the piece of writing itself, and the name of a ...
Strategies for Essay Writing: Downloadable PDFs
Strategies for Essay Writing: PDFs Strategies for Essay Writing--Complete. description. Tips for Reading an Assignment Prompt. description. Asking Analytical Questions. description. Thesis. description. Introductions. description. What Do Introductions Across the Disciplines Have in Common? description. Anatomy Of a Body Paragraph.
PDF Different Types of Essays in Composition
Different Types of Essays in Composition Analysis Imagine receiving a vague text from a crush, overthinking it, wondering "What does it mean?!", interpreting it based on outside evidence and then writing an essay about it. The word "analyze" means to look deeply into a subject, ask questions about it, and reveal some
How to Write a Descriptive Essay
This type of essay, like the narrative essay, is more creative than most academic writing. Descriptive essays test your ability to use language in an original and creative way, to convey to the reader a memorable image of whatever you are describing. They are commonly assigned as writing exercises at high school and in composition classes.
Essay Topics
While writing essays, many college and high school students face writer's block and have a hard time to think about topics and ideas for an essay. In this article, we will list out many good essay topics from different categories like argumentative essays, essays on technology, environment essays for students from 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grades.
Jamaica teen takes top prize in NYPD essay-writing contest
A Jamaica teen was honored by the NYPD at One Police Plaza this week for her essay-writing ability. Tina Perumal, 18, bested 300 teens vying for an award in the Police Athletic League-NYPD annual ...