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Words to Use in an Essay: 300 Essay Words

Hannah Yang

Table of Contents

Words to use in the essay introduction, words to use in the body of the essay, words to use in your essay conclusion, how to improve your essay writing vocabulary.

It’s not easy to write an academic essay .

Many students struggle to word their arguments in a logical and concise way.

To make matters worse, academic essays need to adhere to a certain level of formality, so we can’t always use the same word choices in essay writing that we would use in daily life.

If you’re struggling to choose the right words for your essay, don’t worry—you’ve come to the right place!

In this article, we’ve compiled a list of over 300 words and phrases to use in the introduction, body, and conclusion of your essay.

The introduction is one of the hardest parts of an essay to write.

You have only one chance to make a first impression, and you want to hook your reader. If the introduction isn’t effective, the reader might not even bother to read the rest of the essay.

That’s why it’s important to be thoughtful and deliberate with the words you choose at the beginning of your essay.

Many students use a quote in the introductory paragraph to establish credibility and set the tone for the rest of the essay.

When you’re referencing another author or speaker, try using some of these phrases:

To use the words of X

According to X

As X states

Example: To use the words of Hillary Clinton, “You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health.”

Near the end of the introduction, you should state the thesis to explain the central point of your paper.

If you’re not sure how to introduce your thesis, try using some of these phrases:

In this essay, I will…

The purpose of this essay…

This essay discusses…

In this paper, I put forward the claim that…

There are three main arguments for…

Example: In this essay, I will explain why dress codes in public schools are detrimental to students.

After you’ve stated your thesis, it’s time to start presenting the arguments you’ll use to back up that central idea.

When you’re introducing the first of a series of arguments, you can use the following words:

First and foremost

First of all

To begin with

Example: First , consider the effects that this new social security policy would have on low-income taxpayers.

All these words and phrases will help you create a more successful introduction and convince your audience to read on.

The body of your essay is where you’ll explain your core arguments and present your evidence.

It’s important to choose words and phrases for the body of your essay that will help the reader understand your position and convince them you’ve done your research.

Let’s look at some different types of words and phrases that you can use in the body of your essay, as well as some examples of what these words look like in a sentence.

Transition Words and Phrases

Transitioning from one argument to another is crucial for a good essay.

It’s important to guide your reader from one idea to the next so they don’t get lost or feel like you’re jumping around at random.

Transition phrases and linking words show your reader you’re about to move from one argument to the next, smoothing out their reading experience. They also make your writing look more professional.

The simplest transition involves moving from one idea to a separate one that supports the same overall argument. Try using these phrases when you want to introduce a second correlating idea:

Additionally

In addition

Furthermore

Another key thing to remember

In the same way

Correspondingly

Example: Additionally , public parks increase property value because home buyers prefer houses that are located close to green, open spaces.

Another type of transition involves restating. It’s often useful to restate complex ideas in simpler terms to help the reader digest them. When you’re restating an idea, you can use the following words:

In other words

To put it another way

That is to say

To put it more simply

Example: “The research showed that 53% of students surveyed expressed a mild or strong preference for more on-campus housing. In other words , over half the students wanted more dormitory options.”

Often, you’ll need to provide examples to illustrate your point more clearly for the reader. When you’re about to give an example of something you just said, you can use the following words:

For instance

To give an illustration of

To exemplify

To demonstrate

As evidence

Example: Humans have long tried to exert control over our natural environment. For instance , engineers reversed the Chicago River in 1900, causing it to permanently flow backward.

Sometimes, you’ll need to explain the impact or consequence of something you’ve just said.

When you’re drawing a conclusion from evidence you’ve presented, try using the following words:

As a result

Accordingly

As you can see

This suggests that

It follows that

It can be seen that

For this reason

For all of those reasons

Consequently

Example: “There wasn’t enough government funding to support the rest of the physics experiment. Thus , the team was forced to shut down their experiment in 1996.”

When introducing an idea that bolsters one you’ve already stated, or adds another important aspect to that same argument, you can use the following words:

What’s more

Not only…but also

Not to mention

To say nothing of

Another key point

Example: The volcanic eruption disrupted hundreds of thousands of people. Moreover , it impacted the local flora and fauna as well, causing nearly a hundred species to go extinct.

Often, you'll want to present two sides of the same argument. When you need to compare and contrast ideas, you can use the following words:

On the one hand / on the other hand

Alternatively

In contrast to

On the contrary

By contrast

In comparison

Example: On the one hand , the Black Death was undoubtedly a tragedy because it killed millions of Europeans. On the other hand , it created better living conditions for the peasants who survived.

Finally, when you’re introducing a new angle that contradicts your previous idea, you can use the following phrases:

Having said that

Differing from

In spite of

With this in mind

Provided that

Nevertheless

Nonetheless

Notwithstanding

Example: Shakespearean plays are classic works of literature that have stood the test of time. Having said that , I would argue that Shakespeare isn’t the most accessible form of literature to teach students in the twenty-first century.

Good essays include multiple types of logic. You can use a combination of the transitions above to create a strong, clear structure throughout the body of your essay.

Strong Verbs for Academic Writing

Verbs are especially important for writing clear essays. Often, you can convey a nuanced meaning simply by choosing the right verb.

You should use strong verbs that are precise and dynamic. Whenever possible, you should use an unambiguous verb, rather than a generic verb.

For example, alter and fluctuate are stronger verbs than change , because they give the reader more descriptive detail.

Here are some useful verbs that will help make your essay shine.

Verbs that show change:

Accommodate

Verbs that relate to causing or impacting something:

Verbs that show increase:

Verbs that show decrease:

Deteriorate

Verbs that relate to parts of a whole:

Comprises of

Is composed of

Constitutes

Encompasses

Incorporates

Verbs that show a negative stance:

Misconstrue

Verbs that show a positive stance:

Substantiate

Verbs that relate to drawing conclusions from evidence:

Corroborate

Demonstrate

Verbs that relate to thinking and analysis:

Contemplate

Hypothesize

Investigate

Verbs that relate to showing information in a visual format:

Useful Adjectives and Adverbs for Academic Essays

You should use adjectives and adverbs more sparingly than verbs when writing essays, since they sometimes add unnecessary fluff to sentences.

However, choosing the right adjectives and adverbs can help add detail and sophistication to your essay.

Sometimes you'll need to use an adjective to show that a finding or argument is useful and should be taken seriously. Here are some adjectives that create positive emphasis:

Significant

Other times, you'll need to use an adjective to show that a finding or argument is harmful or ineffective. Here are some adjectives that create a negative emphasis:

Controversial

Insignificant

Questionable

Unnecessary

Unrealistic

Finally, you might need to use an adverb to lend nuance to a sentence, or to express a specific degree of certainty. Here are some examples of adverbs that are often used in essays:

Comprehensively

Exhaustively

Extensively

Respectively

Surprisingly

Using these words will help you successfully convey the key points you want to express. Once you’ve nailed the body of your essay, it’s time to move on to the conclusion.

The conclusion of your paper is important for synthesizing the arguments you’ve laid out and restating your thesis.

In your concluding paragraph, try using some of these essay words:

In conclusion

To summarize

In a nutshell

Given the above

As described

All things considered

Example: In conclusion , it’s imperative that we take action to address climate change before we lose our coral reefs forever.

In addition to simply summarizing the key points from the body of your essay, you should also add some final takeaways. Give the reader your final opinion and a bit of a food for thought.

To place emphasis on a certain point or a key fact, use these essay words:

Unquestionably

Undoubtedly

Particularly

Importantly

Conclusively

It should be noted

On the whole

Example: Ada Lovelace is unquestionably a powerful role model for young girls around the world, and more of our public school curricula should include her as a historical figure.

These concluding phrases will help you finish writing your essay in a strong, confident way.

There are many useful essay words out there that we didn't include in this article, because they are specific to certain topics.

If you're writing about biology, for example, you will need to use different terminology than if you're writing about literature.

So how do you improve your vocabulary skills?

The vocabulary you use in your academic writing is a toolkit you can build up over time, as long as you take the time to learn new words.

One way to increase your vocabulary is by looking up words you don’t know when you’re reading.

Try reading more books and academic articles in the field you’re writing about and jotting down all the new words you find. You can use these words to bolster your own essays.

You can also consult a dictionary or a thesaurus. When you’re using a word you’re not confident about, researching its meaning and common synonyms can help you make sure it belongs in your essay.

Don't be afraid of using simpler words. Good essay writing boils down to choosing the best word to convey what you need to say, not the fanciest word possible.

Finally, you can use ProWritingAid’s synonym tool or essay checker to find more precise and sophisticated vocabulary. Click on weak words in your essay to find stronger alternatives.

There you have it: our compilation of the best words and phrases to use in your next essay . Good luck!

Good writing = better grades

ProWritingAid will help you improve the style, strength, and clarity of all your assignments.

Hannah Yang is a speculative fiction writer who writes about all things strange and surreal. Her work has appeared in Analog Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, The Dark, and elsewhere, and two of her stories have been finalists for the Locus Award. Her favorite hobbies include watercolor painting, playing guitar, and rock climbing. You can follow her work on hannahyang.com, or subscribe to her newsletter for publication updates.

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• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of essay in English

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• I want to finish off this essay before I go to bed .
• His essay was full of spelling errors .
• Have you given that essay in yet ?
• Have you handed in your history essay yet ?
• I'd like to discuss the first point in your essay.
• boilerplate
• composition
• dissertation
• essay question
• peer review
• go after someone
• go all out idiom
• go down swinging/fighting idiom
• go for it idiom
• go for someone
• shoot the works idiom
• smarten (someone/something) up
• smarten up your act idiom
• square the circle idiom
• step on the gas idiom

essay | American Dictionary

Examples of essay, collocations with essay.

These are words often used in combination with essay .

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

Translations of essay

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Word of the Day

Hippocratic oath

a promise made by people when they become doctors to do everything possible to help their patients and to have high moral standards in their work

Sitting on the fence (Newspaper idioms)

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Definition of essay noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• I have to write an essay this weekend.
• essay on something an essay on the causes of the First World War
• essay about somebody/something Have you done your essay about Napoleon yet?
• in an essay He made some very good points in his essay.
• Essays handed in late will not be accepted.
• Have you done your essay yet?
• He concludes the essay by calling for a corrective.
• I finished my essay about 10 o'clock last night!
• Lunch was the only time she could finish her essay assignment.
• We have to write an essay on the environment.
• You have to answer 3 out of 8 essay questions in the exam.
• the teenage winner of an essay contest
• We have to write an essay on the causes of the First World War.
• be entitled something
• be titled something
• address something
• in an/​the essay
• essay about

Definitions on the go

Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

Synonyms of 'essay' in American English

Synonyms of 'essay' in british english, additional synonyms, video: pronunciation of essay.

Browse alphabetically essay

• esprit de corps
• All ENGLISH synonyms that begin with 'E'

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Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Writing > How AI can help proofread and edit your essays

How AI can help proofread and edit your essays

Don’t let little mistakes hold you back from getting a better grade. Learn how you can use AI to help you proofread and edit your essays.

Before submitting your essay, having a second set of eyes to catch any typos or grammatical errors is invaluable. If human help isn’t available, AI can step in to proofread or edit your work, offering instant feedback even under tight deadlines . Take a look at the different ways you can use AI for essay editing.

Ask AI to help you identify typos or grammatical errors

It’s easy for the human mind to skim over obvious typos and grammar errors. AI can help you identify these spelling mistakes and grammar issues so you can put some professional polish on your paper. If you’re aware of a specific issue that you struggle with in your essays, you can ask AI to proofread specifically on those errors. Copy and paste your essay into your favorite AI platform and try one of these prompts:

• Can you identify any typos in this paper and explain why they are incorrect?
• I often put commas in the wrong place. Can you identify any incorrect commas in my essay and tell me why they’re incorrect?
• Can you help me identify any incorrect homophones in my essay?

Get the most out of your documents with Word

Elevate your writing and collaborate with others - anywhere, anytime

Ask AI to help you refine your sentences

Writing clearly is important for all forms of writing, but it’s especially important for academic works. AI can help you edit your essays so that your sentences are easy to understand. Copy and paste your essay into an AI platform and try these prompts to refine its sentences:

• Can you find passive sentences in my essay and explain how to rewrite them actively?
• My teacher is a stickler for dangling modifiers . Can you point out any dangling modifiers in my essay?
• Are there any sentence fragments in my essay?

Ask AI for style guide assistance

If your instructor has asked you to follow a specific style guide , they may deduct points if your essay doesn’t follow it. Try these prompts to get some essay editing help:

• Can you review if book titles are correctly italicized according to the Chicago Manual of Style, and check for other style-specific issues?
• My essay is supposed to follow MLA format. Can you identify any parts of my essay that don’t follow MLA format ?
• How should I format quotes in APA format ?

Ask AI to fact-check your work

AI can help you identify incorrect facts that could impact your final grade. AI can also provide sources that you can use to back up your work. Try these prompts in your preferred AI platform to fact-check your work:

• Are the biographical facts I included about Jane Austen in my essay correct?
• Can you make sure all the dates that I listed in my essay are accurate?
• Can you confirm that the citations in my essay are from peer-reviewed and reputable sources ?

Getting the best proofreading and editing results from AI

When you use AI to proofread an essay, you’ll get better results when you provide it with as much context about the essay as possible. For example, you should include your teacher’s essay instructions so that the AI tool knows what to look for. If the teacher gave you their grading rubric, you should also give it to the AI tool so that it can provide even stronger proofreading and editing recommendations.

While AI can significantly aid in proofreading and editing, remember to use it responsibly, especially in academic settings. If you’re interested in learning more about AI, see if you can use AI to draft an essay for you .

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a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.

anything resembling such a composition: a picture essay.

an effort to perform or accomplish something; attempt.

Philately . a design for a proposed stamp differing in any way from the design of the stamp as issued.

Obsolete . a tentative effort; trial; assay.

to try; attempt.

to put to the test; make trial of.

Origin of essay

Other words from essay.

• es·say·er, noun
• pre·es·say, verb (used without object)
• un·es·sayed, adjective
• well-es·sayed, adjective

Words that may be confused with essay

• assay , essay

Words Nearby essay

• essay question

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use essay in a sentence

As several of my colleagues commented, the result is good enough that it could pass for an essay written by a first-year undergraduate, and even get a pretty decent grade.

GPT-3 also raises concerns about the future of essay writing in the education system.

This little essay helps focus on self-knowledge in what you’re best at, and how you should prioritize your time.

As Steven Feldstein argues in the opening essay , technonationalism plays a part in the strengthening of other autocracies too.

He’s written a collection of essays on civil engineering life titled Bridginess, and to this day he and Lauren go on “bridge dates,” where they enjoy a meal and admire the view of a nearby span.

I think a certain kind of compelling essay has a piece of that.

The current attack on the Jews,” he wrote in a 1937 essay , “targets not just this people of 15 million but mankind as such.

The impulse to interpret seems to me what makes personal essay writing compelling.

To be honest, I think a lot of good essay writing comes out of that.

Someone recently sent me an old Joan Didion essay on self-respect that appeared in Vogue.

There is more of the uplifted forefinger and the reiterated point than I should have allowed myself in an essay .

Consequently he was able to turn in a clear essay upon the subject, which, upon examination, the king found to be free from error.

It is no part of the present essay to attempt to detail the particulars of a code of social legislation.

But angels and ministers of grace defend us from ministers of religion who essay art criticism!

It is fit that the imagination, which is free to go through all things, should essay such excursions.

British Dictionary definitions for essay

a short literary composition dealing with a subject analytically or speculatively

an attempt or endeavour; effort

a test or trial

to attempt or endeavour; try

to test or try out

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for essay

A short piece of writing on one subject, usually presenting the author's own views. Michel de Montaigne , Francis Bacon (see also Bacon ), and Ralph Waldo Emerson are celebrated for their essays.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Judith Butler Thinks You’re Overreacting

How did gender become a scary word? The theorist who got us talking about the subject has answers.

“There is a set of strange fantasies about what gender is — how destructive it is, and how frightening it is,” said Judith Butler, whose new book takes on the topic. Credit... Elliott Verdier for The New York Times

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By Jessica Bennett

Jessica Bennett is a contributing editor in Opinion, where she writes about gender, politics and personalities.

• Published March 24, 2024 Updated March 26, 2024

The first thing I did when reading Judith Butler’s new book, “Who’s Afraid of Gender?”, was to look up the word “phantasm,” which appears 41 times in the introduction alone. (It means illusion; the “phantasm of gender,” a threat rooted in fear and fantasy.)

The second thing I did was have a good chuckle about the title, because the answer to the question of who is afraid of gender was … well, I am? Even for someone who’s written on gender and feminism for more than a decade and who once carried the title of this newspaper’s “gender editor,” to talk about gender today can feel so fraught, so politicized, so caught in a war of words that debate, or even conversation, seems impossible.

I am perhaps the intended reader of Butler’s book, in which the notoriously esoteric philosopher turned pop celebrity dismantles how gender has been constructed as a threat throughout the modern world — to national security in Russia; to civilization, according to the Vatican ; to the American traditional family; to protecting children from pedophilia and grooming , according to some conservatives. In a single word, “gender” holds the power to seemingly drive people mad with fear.

Butler’s latest comes more than three decades after their first and most famous book, “Gender Trouble,” brought the idea of “gender as performance” into the mainstream. As it turns out, Butler — who has written 15 books since — never intended to return to the subject, even as a culture war raged. But then the political became personal: Butler was physically attacked in 2017 while speaking in Brazil, and burned in effigy by protesters who shouted, “ Take your ideology to hell .”

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Did you ever think you’d see a world in which your ideas would be so widespread — and so fraught?

When I wrote “Gender Trouble,” I was a lecturer. I was teaching five classes, trying to work on this book I thought no one would read. Still, I knew I wasn’t just speaking for myself; there were other people who were strong feminists but also lesbian or gay or trying to figure out gender in ways that weren’t always welcome. But today, the people who are afraid of my ideas are the people who don’t read me. In other words, I don’t think it’s my ideas that they’re afraid of. They’ve come up with something else — a kind of fantasy of what I believe or who I am.

And of course it’s not just my views that are being caricatured, but gender more broadly — gender studies, policies that focus on gender, gender discrimination, gender and health care, anything with “gender” in it is a kind of terrifying prospect, at least for some.

So … who is afraid of gender?

It’s funny, I have a friend, a queer theorist. I told him the book’s name and he said, “Everyone! Everyone’s afraid of gender!”

What’s clear to me is that there is a set of strange fantasies about what gender is — how destructive it is, and how frightening it is — that a number of forces have been circulating: Viktor Orban, Vladimir Putin, Giorgia Meloni, Rishi Sunak, Jair Bolsonaro, Javier Milei, and of course Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump and lots of parents and communities in states like Oklahoma and Texas and Wyoming, who are seeking to pass legislation that bans the teaching of gender or reference to gender in books.

Obviously, those folks are very frightened of gender. They imbue it with power that I actually don’t think it has. But so are feminists who call themselves “gender critical,” or who are trans-exclusionary, or who have taken explicit positions against trans politics.

Can you describe what prompted you to return to this subject?

I was going to Brazil for a conference on the future of democracy. And I was told in advance that there were petitions against me speaking, and that they decided to focus on me because I’m the “papisa,” the female pope, of gender. I’m not quite sure how I got to have that distinction, but apparently I did. I got to the venue early, and I could hear the crowds outside. They’d built a kind of monstrous picture of me with horns, which I took to be overtly antisemitic — with red eyes and kind of a demonic look — with a bikini on. Like, why the bikini?

But in any case, I was burned in effigy. And that freaked me out. And then, when my partner and I were leaving, at the airport, we were attacked: Some woman came at me with a big trolley and she was screaming about pedophilia. I could not understand why.

You thank the young man who threw his body between you and the attacker, taking blows. Was this the first time you’d heard that “ pedophilia ” association?

I had given a talk on Jewish philosophy, and somebody in the back said, “Hands off our children!” I thought, What? I figured out later that the way that the anti-gender ideology movement works is to say: If you break down the taboo against homosexuality, if you allow gay and lesbian marriage, if you allow sex reassignment, then you’ve departed from all the laws of nature that keep the laws of morality intact — which means it’s a Pandora’s box; the whole panoply of perversions will emerge.

As I was preparing to interview you, I received a news alert about the “Don’t Say Gay” settlement in Florida, which says that schools cannot teach about L.G.B.T.Q. topics from kindergarten through the 8th grade, but clarifies that discussing them is allowed . You write that words have become “tacitly figured as recruiters and molesters,” which is behind the effort to remove this type of language from the classroom.

Teaching gender, or critical race theory, or even ethnic studies, is regularly characterized as forms of “indoctrination.” So for instance, that woman who was accusing me of supporting pedophilia, suggests that my work or my teaching would be an effort at “seduction” or “grooming.”

In my experience of teaching, people are arguing with each other all the time. There’s so much conflict. It’s chaotic. There are many things going on — but indoctrination is not one of them.

What about the warping of language on the left?

My version of feminist, queer, trans-affirmative politics is not about policing. I don’t think we should become the police. I’m afraid of the police. But I think a lot of people feel that the world is out of control, and one place where they can exercise some control is language. And it seems like moral discourse comes in then: Call me this. Use this term. We agree to use this language. What I like most about what young people are doing — and it’s not just the young, but everybody’s young now, according to me — is the experimentation. I love the experimentation. Like, let’s come up with new language. Let’s play. Let’s see what language makes us feel better about our lives. But I think we need to have a little more compassion for the adjustment process.

I want to talk for a moment about categories. You have occupied many — butch, queer, woman, nonbinary — yet you’ve also said you’re suspicious of them.

At the time that I wrote “Gender Trouble,” I called for a world in which we might think about genders being proliferated beyond the usual binary of man and woman. What would that look like? What would it be? So when people started talking about being “nonbinary,” I thought, well, I am that. I was trying to occupy that space of being between existing categories.

Do you still believe that gender is “performance?”

After “Gender Trouble” was published, there were some from the trans community who had problems with it. And I saw that my approach, what came to be called a “queer approach”— which was somewhat ironic toward categories — for some people, that’s not OK. They need their categories, they need them to be right, and for them gender is not constructed or performed.

Not everybody wants mobility. And I think I’ve taken that into account now.

But at the same time, for me, performativity is enacting who we are, both our social formation and what we’ve done with that social formation. I mean, my gestures: I didn’t make them up out of thin air — there’s a history of Jewish people who do this. I am inside of something, socially, culturally constructed. At the same time, I find my own way in it. And it’s always been my contention that we’re both formed and we form ourselves, and that’s a living paradox.

How do you define gender today?

Oh, goodness. I have, I suppose, revised my theory of gender — but that’s not the point of this book. I do make the point that “gender identity” is not all of what we mean by gender: It’s one thing that belongs to a cluster of things. Gender is also a framework — a very important framework — in law, in politics, for thinking about how inequality gets instituted in the world.

This is your first book with a nonacademic press. Was that a conscious decision?

Oh, yeah. I wanted to reach people.

It’s funny because many of your ideas do reach people, albeit in internet-era sound bites. I’m thinking about, for instance, of “gender is a drag” T-shirts or “ Judith Butler explained with cats .” It strikes me that a lot of people who claim to have read you have actually just read the Instagram caption of you.

Well, I don’t blame them for not reading that book. It was tough. And some of those sentences are truly unforgivable. Hopefully I didn’t do that in “Who’s Afraid of Gender?”

I feel like I’m more in touch with people who are mobilizing on the ground at the global level than I have been before. And that pleases me.

Jessica Bennett is a contributing editor in the Opinion section of The Times. She teaches journalism at New York University and is the author of “Feminist Fight Club” and “This Is 18.” More about Jessica Bennett

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noun as in written discourse

Strongest matches

• dissertation

Strong matches

• composition
• disquisition
• explication

noun as in try, attempt

• undertaking

Weak matches

• one's all
• one's level best

verb as in try, attempt

• have a crack
• have a shot
• make a run at
• put to the test
• take a stab at
• take a whack at

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Example sentences.

I came [to personal essays] through the route of, if you want to call it intellection or a kind of interpretive [genre].

There are also essays on Jean Rys, Sylvia Plath, the Brontës, and Henry Roth.

For those unfamiliar with Michals, an annotated biography and useful essays are included.

I would be happy to see books of essays that have the benefit of multiple drafts and editors.

Were you defining yourself as a fiction writer then, or did you already envision writing essays like the ones in The Unspeakable?

Each essays to think, appear and speak as nearly according to the orthodox standard of Womanhood as possible.

There were eight in all to read essays—nice looking girls, and much like the Lasells and Wellesleys we used to know.

And as they do not even mention the well-known essays of MM.

She wrote several histories, essays and political works, which are now nearly obliviated.

Political thinking soon became a favorite topic for written expression and biographies and essays became numerous.

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On this page you'll find 80 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to essays, such as: dissertation, treatise, manuscript, study, paper, and thesis.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

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The tell-tale signs students are using chatgpt to help write their essays.

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Researchers have identified key features of ChatGPT-generated content that makes it easier to spot ... [+] (Pic: Getty Creative)

Researchers have identified tell-tale signs that students have used AI to help write their essays.

Excessive used of words derived from Latin, using unnecessary words and repeated use of the Oxford comma are among the hallmarks of using a generative chatbot to complete coursework, researchers found .

But while students taking part in the trial said they found using AI had some advantages, they acknowledged that relying on it completely would likely result in work of a low standard.

The impact of generative AI on education has been exercising educators since Open AI launched ChatGPT — a chatbot that generates text by predicting which words are likely to follow a particular prompt — in November 2022.

While some regard AI as a potentially transformative technology, creating a more inclusive and personalized education, for others it makes it impossible to trust coursework grades. Even academics have not been immune to using AI to enhance their work.

Now researchers at Cambridge University have tried to see if they could identify characteristics of AI’s writing style that could make it easy to spot.

And although their trial was small scale, they say it has the potential to help teachers work out which students used AI in their essays, and which did not.

Three undergraduates were enlisted to write two essays each with the help of ChatGPT, which were then compared with essays on the same topic written by 164 high school students. The undergraduates were then interviewed about their experience of using AI.

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(Undergraduates were included in the study because ChatGPT requires users to be 18 or over).

The ChatGPT essays performed better on average, being marked particularly highly for ‘information’ and ‘reflection’. They did poorly, however, for ‘analysis’ and ‘comparison’ — differences the researchers suggest reflect the chatbot’s strengths and weaknesses.

But when it comes to style, there were a number of features that made the ChatGPT assisted version easily recognizable.

The default AI style “echoes the bland, clipped, and objective style that characterizes much generic journalistic writing found on the internet,” according to the researchers, who identified a number of key features of ChatGPT content:

• A high frequency of words with a Latin root, particularly multisyllable words and a vocabulary above the expected level;
• Paragraphs starting with specific markers, such as ‘however’, ‘moreover’ and ‘overall’, followed by a comma;
• Numbered lists, with items followed by colons;
• Pleonasms: using unnecessary words, such as ‘free gift’ or ‘true fact’;
• Tautology: saying the same thing twice, such as ‘We must come together to unite’;
• Repeating words or phrases;
• Consistent use of Oxford commas, a comma used after the penultimate item in a list, before ‘and’ or ‘or’, for example “ChatGPT has many uses for teaching, learning at home, revision, and assessment”.

Although the students taking part in the trial used ChatGPT to different extents, from copying and pasting whole passages to using it as prompts for further research, there was broad agreement that it was useful for gathering information quickly, and that it could be integrated into essay writing through specific prompts, on topics and essay structure, for example.

But the students also agreed that using AI to write the essay would produce work of a low academic standard.

“Despite the small sample size, we are excited about these findings as they have the capacity to inform the work of teachers as well as students,” said Jude Brady of Cambridge University Press and Assessment, lead researcher on the study.

Future work should include larger and more representative sample sizes of students, she said. Learning to use and detect generative AI was an increasingly important part of digital literacy, she added.

“We hope our research might help people to identify when a piece of text has been written by ChatGPT,” she said.

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Rotary essay contest leads to benefits for sixth graders.

Last week I had a volunteer opportunity, one that was well suited to my work with the printed word.

I helped to judge the local Rotary International essay contest for sixth graders from Marshall Middle School. I’ve judged it several times in the past five years, and each time I’ve been impressed with the writing skills of students.

An eight member committee composed of Rotarians and high school seniors judged a total of 24 finalist essays this year. They were all good. Everybody would have gotten at least a B-plus if I’d have had to give letter grades. There would have been many A’s.

The essays are based on Rotary’s Four-Way Test, a way of judging ethics in various situations. It asks the questions is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it build goodwill and better friendship and will it be beneficial to all concerned.

The students were assigned to apply the four-way test to something in their lives or to a situation they experienced.

My personal favorite among all the essays was based on how the writer helped a little boy fix his sand castle after her sister knocked it down on her way to the water.

It stood out as a real act of kindness. She could have just decided that the little boy needed to act like a grown up and rebuild it himself. Instead she went out of her way to help.

It was also an interesting example of family dynamics. Her sister didn’t get in trouble for knocking over the castle, but she learned from the praise the writer received from her parents that it’s good to be considerate of others.

The other essays featured a wide range of topics. Some students talked about school activities like volleyball and dance. Others talked about having little brothers and sisters.

Several essays focused on cultural diversity. They explored whether our society is fair and beneficial to people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Judging the essays leads me to have faith in our students and their teachers. All 24 finalists had a good command of the English language. Very few of them lost any points for spelling, grammar or punctuation errors.

The content of each entry indicated to me that the sixth graders also have very good interpersonal skills. Their application of the Four Way Test points to good critical thinking ability.

When we think in generalities it’s easy to conclude that communication skills aren’t as strong anymore. Technology gets heavy emphasis in eduction. Keyboarding is now taught in the lower elementary grades.

I never used a typewriter until I took a summer typing class in high school. I’m glad that my earlier learning experiences focused on real books and real activities. Still I liked having some exposure to computers starting in fifth grade. The Oregon Trail was one of my favorite games

It’s good to have events like Rotary’s essay contest to make us look beyond general perceptions. Clearly many of our young people are capable. They know how to express themselves.

Rotary members give over an hour of their time in the middle of a school day to serve as judges. It benefits the students, but it’s also an advantage for Rotarians.

It allows of for interaction with children and teenagers. When they see us serving as volunteers, it offers an incentive to consider someday joining a Rotary club.

I’m looking forward to next Wednesday when contest winners will be presented with awards. They’ve earned the recognition. Writing is a valuable skill that needs emphasis in many different classes. It’s a skill that should be developed and reinforced.

— Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent.

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A Word … With Jason Johnson

Run for the border.

Many Black Americans now believe the “land of opportunity” is elsewhere.

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Episode Notes

The American Dream has long been out of reach for many Black people in this country. Between police violence, the lack of economic opportunity, and the threat of a second Trump term, many African Americans are considering building their dream lives in another country. And for thousands of people, Mexico is one of the top destinations. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Adam Mahoney of the CapitalB News to talk about why many Black Americans are moving south of the border, where they’re settling, and whether their new country is as welcoming as they’d hoped.

Guest: Adam Mahoney, reporter for CapitalB News

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola

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• Black Americans

About the Show

Jason Johnson is a political contributor at MSNBC, host at Sirius XM, politics writer at theGrio.com, professor of politics and journalism at Morgan State University, and author of the book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell .

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