Typically, an essay has five paragraphs: an introduction, a conclusion, and three body paragraphs. However, there is no set rule about the number of paragraphs in an essay.
The number of paragraphs can vary depending on the type and scope of your essay. An expository or argumentative essay may require more body paragraphs to include all the necessary information, whereas a narrative essay may need fewer.
To enhance the coherence and readability of your essay, it’s important to follow certain rules regarding the structure. Take a look:
1. Arrange your information from the most simple to the most complex bits. You can start the body paragraph off with a general statement and then move on to specifics.
2. Provide the necessary background information at the beginning of your essay to give the reader the context behind your thesis statement.
3. Select topic statements that provide value, more information, or evidence for your thesis statement.
There are also various essay structures , such as the compare and contrast structure, chronological structure, problem method solution structure, and signposting structure that you can follow to create an organized and impactful essay.
An impactful, well-structured essay comes down to three important parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion.
1. The introduction sets the stage for your essay and is typically a paragraph long. It should grab the reader’s attention and give them a clear idea of what your essay will be about.
2. The body is where you dive deeper into your topic and present your arguments and evidence. It usually consists of two paragraphs, but this can vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing.
3. The conclusion brings your essay to a close and is typically one paragraph long. It should summarize the main points of the essay and leave the reader with something to think about.
The length of your paragraphs can vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing. So, make sure you take the time to plan out your essay structure so each section flows smoothly into the next.
When it comes to writing an essay, the introduction is a critical component that sets the tone for the entire piece. A well-crafted introduction not only grabs the reader’s attention but also provides them with a clear understanding of what the essay is all about. An essay editor can help you achieve this, but it’s best to know the brief yourself!
Let’s take a look at how to write an attractive and informative introductory paragraph.
1. Construct an attractive hook
To grab the reader’s attention, an opening statement or hook is crucial. This can be achieved by incorporating a surprising statistic, a shocking fact, or an interesting anecdote into the beginning of your piece.
For example, if you’re writing an essay about water conservation you can begin your essay with, “Clean drinking water, a fundamental human need, remains out of reach for more than one billion people worldwide. It deprives them of a basic human right and jeopardizes their health and wellbeing.”
2. Provide sufficient context or background information
An effective introduction should begin with a brief description or background of your topic. This will help provide context and set the stage for your discussion.
For example, if you’re writing an essay about climate change, you start by describing the current state of the planet and the impact that human activity is having on it.
3. Construct a well-rounded and comprehensive thesis statement
A good introduction should also include the main message or thesis statement of your essay. This is the central argument that you’ll be making throughout the piece. It should be clear, concise, and ideally placed toward the end of the introduction.
By including these elements in your introduction, you’ll be setting yourself up for success in the rest of your essay.
Let’s take a look at an example.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane in 1903 revolutionized the way humans travel and explore the world. Prior to this invention, transportation relied on trains, boats, and cars, which limited the distance and speed of travel. However, the airplane made air travel a reality, allowing people to reach far-off destinations in mere hours. This breakthrough paved the way for modern-day air travel, transforming the world into a smaller, more connected place. In this essay, we will explore the impact of the Wright Brothers’ invention on modern-day travel, including the growth of the aviation industry, increased accessibility of air travel to the general public, and the economic and cultural benefits of air travel.
You can persuade your readers and make your thesis statement compelling by providing evidence, examples, and logical reasoning. To write a fool-proof and authoritative essay, you need to provide multiple well-structured, substantial arguments.
Let’s take a look at how this can be done:
1. Write a topic sentence for each paragraph
The beginning of each of your body paragraphs should contain the main arguments that you’d like to address. They should provide ground for your thesis statement and make it well-rounded. You can arrange these arguments in several formats depending on the type of essay you’re writing.
2. Provide the supporting information
The next point of your body paragraph should provide supporting information to back up your main argument. Depending on the type of essay, you can elaborate on your main argument with the help of relevant statistics, key information, examples, or even personal anecdotes.
3. Analyze the supporting information
After providing relevant details and supporting information, it is important to analyze it and link it back to your main argument.
End one body paragraph with a smooth transition to the next. There are many ways in which this can be done, but the most common way is to give a gist of your main argument along with the supporting information with transitory words such as “however” “in addition to” “therefore”.
Here’s an example of a body paragraph.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane revolutionized air travel. They achieved the first-ever successful powered flight with the Wright Flyer in 1903, after years of conducting experiments and studying flight principles. Despite their first flight lasting only 12 seconds, it was a significant milestone that paved the way for modern aviation. The Wright Brothers’ success can be attributed to their systematic approach to problem-solving, which included numerous experiments with gliders, the development of a wind tunnel to test their designs, and meticulous analysis and recording of their results. Their dedication and ingenuity forever changed the way we travel, making modern aviation possible.
A powerful concluding statement separates a good essay from a brilliant one. To create a powerful conclusion, you need to start with a strong foundation.
Let’s take a look at how to construct an impactful concluding statement.
1. Restructure your thesis statement
To conclude your essay effectively, don’t just restate your thesis statement. Instead, use what you’ve learned throughout your essay and modify your thesis statement accordingly. This will help you create a conclusion that ties together all of the arguments you’ve presented.
2. Summarize the main points of your essay
The next point of your conclusion consists of a summary of the main arguments of your essay. It is crucial to effectively summarize the gist of your essay into one, well-structured paragraph.
3. Create a lasting impression with your concluding statement
Conclude your essay by including a key takeaway, or a powerful statement that creates a lasting impression on the reader. This can include the broader implications or consequences of your essay topic.
Here’s an example of a concluding paragraph.
The Wright Brothers’ invention of the airplane forever changed history by paving the way for modern aviation and countless aerospace advancements. Their persistence, innovation, and dedication to problem-solving led to the first successful powered flight in 1903, sparking a revolution in transportation that transformed the world. Today, air travel remains an integral part of our globalized society, highlighting the undeniable impact of the Wright Brothers’ contribution to human civilization.
Most essays are derived from the combination or variation of these four main types of essays . let’s take a closer look at these types.
1. Narrative essay
A narrative essay is a type of writing that involves telling a story, often based on personal experiences. It is a form of creative nonfiction that allows you to use storytelling techniques to convey a message or a theme.
2. Descriptive essay
A descriptive essay aims to provide an immersive experience for the reader by using sensory descriptors. Unlike a narrative essay, which tells a story, a descriptive essay has a narrower scope and focuses on one particular aspect of a story.
3. Argumentative essays
An argumentative essay is a type of essay that aims to persuade the reader to adopt a particular stance based on factual evidence and is one of the most common forms of college essays.
4. Expository essays
An expository essay is a common format used in school and college exams to assess your understanding of a specific topic. The purpose of an expository essay is to present and explore a topic thoroughly without taking any particular stance or expressing personal opinions.
While this article demonstrates what is an essay and describes its types, you may also have other doubts. As experts who provide essay editing and proofreading services , we’re here to help.
Our team has created a list of resources to clarify any doubts about writing essays. Keep reading to write engaging and well-organized essays!
What is the difference between an argumentative and an expository essay, what is the difference between a narrative and a descriptive essay, what is an essay format, what is the meaning of essay, what is the purpose of writing an essay.
Found this article helpful?
Leave a Comment: Cancel reply
Your email address will not be published.
Your organization needs a technical editor: here’s why, your guide to the best ebook readers in 2024, writing for the web: 7 expert tips for web content writing.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Get carefully curated resources about writing, editing, and publishing in the comfort of your inbox.
How to Copyright Your Book?
If you’ve thought about copyrighting your book, you’re on the right path.
© 2024 All rights reserved
Home ➔ What's an Essay?
The are various definitions for “essay.” But here, we will focus on the meaning of this word, which has become a significant element of education in countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
If summarized in simple terms within the academic context, the essay’s definition would be the following:
An essay is a short, nonfictional piece of formal writing assigned to students to improve their writing skills or assess their knowledge of a given subject.
Here are some of the many definitions of an essay:
Essays can be broadly categorized into formal essays and informal essays. Formal essays are characterized by their structured nature, employing a more formal language, and having a clearly defined purpose, contrasting with the more free-form and personal tone of informal essays.
Note: Apart from the secondary and tertiary education purpose, essays (also called papers reports) are often required when applying to colleges and universities to help them select the best applicants during the admissions.
If you study the word’s origin and history, you might better understand its purpose. The word “essay” comes from the Middle French word essayer, which in turn comes from Latin exigere, meaning “to test,” “examine,” and “drive out.”
This “archaeological” linguistic journey reveals the idea behind essays, encouraging learners to examine their ideas concerning a particular topic in-depth and test them. By nature, essays are short and require a clearly defined purpose of writing that you must adhere to in your paper.
There’s a lot to be learned from essay writing: critical analysis, observation, interpretation, narration, persuasion, close reading, preparation, and time management. All these skills can be valuable even beyond the school walls.
Lastly, in the visual arts, creative works can also be called essays if they present a personal reflection on a particular matter. So, film essays or photo essays fall into the general category of essays.
An essay is generally composed of three parts and has the following structure :
Generally, an essay must focus on the author’s argument and supporting evidence. However, the variety of essay types involves many other forms and styles. Argumentative and expository essays are particularly common in university-level education, known for their structured approach to presenting information and making clear points.
Understanding the different types of essays is pretty important for your academic success. Each essay type serves its own purpose and requires a different approach, so here’s a brief look at some of the most common essay types you might encounter during your school times.
An argumentative essay demands you to present a viewpoint on a (usually) controversial issue. Your task would generally be to persuade the reader through some solid logical reasoning and credible evidence with relevant examples. All that will involve creating a very clear thesis statement, presenting well-researched evidence, and addressing opposing views and ideas, if there are such. Getting an argumentative essay as an assignment is common in subjects like politics, ethics, and social sciences, where there’s a lot of debate on different topics. An example of a common topic for this essay would be something like “Should the death penalty be abolished?”
An expository essay focuses more on explaining a topic in a straightforward and logical manner. In such an essay, you will be presenting facts, statistics, and examples without any kind of your personal opinion. It’s usually built around a clear thesis statement and uses logical transitions to connect ideas from one paragraph to another. In general, expository essays are often used in academic settings to test students’ understanding of a subject or to explain complex ideas in a simple way. A common topic would be “The process of photosynthesis in plants.”, for example.
Narrative essays tell a story. These are often personal and can be both factual (based on a true story) and fictional. The key elements of this essay include a plot, characters, setting, and a climax. Unlike other essays, a narrative essay is much more creative and allows you to express your experiences or a story imaginatively and without some kind of rigid structure to follow. It’s often used in high school and college writing courses to develop storytelling skills. You would write about something like “A memorable trip to the mountains.”
A descriptive essay aims to paint a picture but with words. This essay uses vivid descriptions and sensory details to engage the reader’s senses and emotions and is more focused on the details and nuances of the subject, whether it’s a person, place, object, or event. Descriptive essays are great for creative writing classes and help develop one’s ability to describe something in great detail. One of the possible topics here might be “The bustling atmosphere of a city market.”
A critical essay evaluates a text, piece of art, or performance. It involves a thorough analysis and interpretation of the work, supported by credible evidence. The goal when writing this one is to provide a critical perspective, assessing the subject’s strengths and weaknesses. This type of essay is a common assignment in literature, film studies, and art history courses, where critical thinking and analytical skills are essential for the subject. A common topic here would be ‘An analysis of the themes in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”‘
A history essay examines historical events and their impact. This type requires extensive research and a deep understanding of historical context. When writing it, you will be analyzing various historical sources, presenting a clear argument on the topic, and supporting it with historical evidence. History essays are obviously assigned in history courses and help develop research and analytical skills, as well as the ability to construct coherent historical narratives. Something like “The causes and effects of the French Revolution.” would be a common topic here.
The structure and characteristics vary, but there are criteria you can apply to almost any academic essay. Below are ten characteristics that make a good essay.
You can find many works like Victor Segalen’s “Essay on Exoticism: An Aesthetics of Diversity” spanning many pages. But, as an academic assignment, essays are usually concise and range from 200 to 500 words.
Note: To learn more about essay length, check this article — How Long Should My Paper Be?
Because of the word count limit, your topic cannot be extensive and should focus on one aspect of the subject.
A subject is a broad concept: gun control, US history, WWII, Napoleonic Wars, business ethics, academic dishonesty, school dress code, etc. Those are not topics because you can write books on them.
Choose a more specific topic to cover. Ask yourself “Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How?” questions about the subject matter. That strategy will allow you to limit the number of choices and pick something you like.
For instance, let’s narrow down the gun control subject . Something like “Video games are not the problem, but poor gun control policies are” can be your topic.
In a nutshell, an essay’s body can be described as a series of paragraphs. But they all have a uniform structure you must maintain in the paper. It goes as follows:
This is the first sentence, and it expresses the paragraph’s main idea. It acts like a mini-hook that attracts the reader’s attention.
Let’s say you’re working on a descriptive essay about your brother’s room.
Bad topic sentence:
My brother’s room is a mess.
Good topic sentence:
If they gave me one dollar every time I walked into my brother’s room and thought it was clean, I would be dead broke.
Here, you develop your topic sentence further, and there are many ways to do that:
Note: Make sure to cite your sources properly. Learn more here: How to Cite Sources (MLA and APA styles) .
If you had to write only one paragraph, this is where you would end the narrative. But, in academic essays, this last sentence transitions to the next idea — the next paragraph.
A thesis is the main idea of your paper. It’s usually one sentence that shows the reader what your essay is about. The challenging part is to squeeze the purpose of your writing into one sentence and in such a way that would make the reader want to debate it.
To check if your thesis statement is correct, make sure:
This one seems quite simple, but you won’t always find the answer to the “Why do I want to write about this topic” question easily. Even if the subject feels like the last thing you’d be interested in, there’s always something that can motivate you to write.
The reader would notice if you had zero motivation while writing the essay.
There’s no trick — just start writing . Once you are working on it, brainstorm all the ideas related to the subject. If you find it challenging to organize your thoughts right away, try freewriting — start writing everything that comes to your mind. Yes, there will be a lot of ideas not connected with one another, but you can choose the ones making sense and work with them further.
Each of your topic sentences in the main paragraphs should be supported. You can:
Use the method you believe is the most appropriate in your case.
Just facts, statistics, or quotations are not enough. You must analyze the proof and show how you can compare data and establish causal links.
Note: Use cohesive devices like transition words and conjunctions to hold your essay together as one unit.
The last period is placed, and you think, “Finally, it’s done! Now, back to the fun stuff.” By doing so, you will hand in an essay riddled with mistakes.
Proofreading matters. After the first draft, double-check it for all possible mistakes: grammar, punctuation, word usage, logic flow, etc.
Ensure your paper follows the structure described before. Check if your conclusion and introduction are about the same — the same applies to the body paragraphs.
Note: This article will give you valuable insights into the structure — How to Write an Essay .
Another criterion they use to grade your essay is its coherence (unity). To check this point, ask yourself:
The last tip on essay writing: always check your assignment sheet and clarify anything you don’t understand with your tutor or professor. Your college might have some special requirements regarding the content or style. So, make sure you studied all the instructions for the task thoroughly.
Why do we have to write essays in school?
Writing essays in school is a crucial component of academic writing, serving as a foundational practice for developing skills in various types of essays, such as argumentative, descriptive, narrative, expository, and more. Through the process of essay writing, students learn to articulate their ideas and thoughts more coherently, practice forming main and alternative arguments backed up by evidence, and enhance their ability to present clear explanations, craft creative descriptions, and structure narratives effectively. This practice not only helps build strong academic writing skills but also prepares students for writing research papers, submission essays, and contributing to academic journals, thereby playing a significant role in their academic and professional growth.
How are essays evaluated?
In schools, essays are typically evaluated based on a combination of criteria such as quality of your argument, evidence you presented, structure and organization, grammar and vocabulary accuracy, adherence to formatting requirements (if any), creativity, originality, critical thinking skills displayed, etc. The evaluator (usually your teacher or professor) will look at all these aspects to assess the essay’s overall quality.
How many paragraphs should there be in an essay?
The number of paragraphs in an essay will vary depending on its length and purpose. In general, a standard essay should have at least 3-4 paragraphs: an introduction paragraph to provide background information and set out your main argument; 2-3 body paragraphs where you flesh out your argument with evidence; and a conclusion paragraph summarizing your key points or drawing conclusions from your evidence.
Writing the Personal Statement for the Common Application
Today, the Common Application opens for the 2024–25 application cycle. As the platform opens, officially signaling the start of the college admissions season, many students are starting the daunting process of crafting their personal statements. The personal statement is a crucial opportunity to showcase individuality, character, and intellectual depth. In only 650 words, students should seek to encapsulate their authentic voice and perspective through a compelling and creative narrative. The process requires thorough brainstorming, strategy, and editing in order to produce an essay that is distinct from those of thousands of other applicants vying for seats at top colleges.
As students choose a prompt and begin brainstorming essays, here are the key points to consider in order to create a stellar essay for each prompt:
Prompt: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
This prompt invites you to share an aspect of your identity or experience that is central to who you are. Start by thoughtfully considering aspects of your identity that are unique to you; then, try to think of a specific anecdote or experience that provides a portrait of those qualities. While detail and specificity are critical for all engaging essays, they are particularly important in this one, as you should show (rather than tell ) admissions committees the things that are quintessential to who you are.
Your essay should also have a takeaway—aside from just telling admissions officers what the background, identity, interest, or talent is, you should also focus on what you’ve learned from this piece of your identity, how it has developed over time, and how you will apply it in college and beyond.
Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, 2. the overcoming obstacles prompt.
Prompt: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
This prompt is an opportunity to demonstrate resilience and the capacity to learn from adversity—qualities that elite universities value highly. Begin by choosing a specific incident where you faced a significant challenge or failure—this could be an academic setback, a personal loss, or a time when you were out of your comfort zone. Students often fall into one of two common mistakes when tackling this question. First, many students rely on cliches and overused tropes. Keep in mind that admissions officers will likely read hundreds of essays recounting stories of students missing the game-winning goal or flunking a test in sophomore English. Try to select a story that only you can tell, and if you choose a topic you worry might be popular among other students, consider how you might recount it in a unique and unexpected way. On the other hand, some students fall into the opposite problem, sharing about a particularly personal, traumatic, or triggering experience that impacted them. Though it should convey personal insights, the personal statement is still a professional document, and you should not make your reader uncomfortable or unsettled by the information you share.
Finally, note that admissions officers are not primarily interested in the challenge itself, but in how you responded to the challenge. Focus on the steps you took to overcome the obstacle, what you learned about yourself in the process, and how this experience has shaped your future actions and mindset. Highlight any new skills, perspectives, or motivations that emerged from this experience, demonstrating your ability to grow and adapt in the face of adversity.
Prompt: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
Top colleges seek to admit students who are willing to engage in critical thinking and who possess the intellectual courage to question norms or ideas. For this essay, consider beginning with an anecdote—starting the essay in media res can be an engaging way to catch the reader’s attention and quickly establish the stakes of your narrative. As you share your story, remember that the essay’s focus is to demonstrate your open-mindedness, your commitment to seeking the truth, and your willingness to engage deeply with complex issues. It also shows your ability to respect differing viewpoints while developing your own reasoned stance. As such, you should take the admissions committee through your process of growth and change step-by-step, clearly articulating how the experience impacted you and how your changed perspective will enhance their campus community should you enroll.
Prompt: Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
Like the two prior prompts, this prompt requires students to share a particular anecdote, and students should consider beginning with their narrative before zooming out to explore the broader theme of gratitude. Start by recounting a specific instance where someone did something for you that made you feel unexpectedly grateful. This could be a small act of kindness, a significant gesture, or a moment of support that made a lasting impression on you. Then, explore how this experience of gratitude has affected your actions or attitude. As you do so, be sure to avoid platitudes or vapid buzzwords—rather than expressing that the experience made you feel “good” or “appreciated” or the equivalent, share how it has affected your perspective or actions going forward. The best responses are those that illustrate actionable change rather than fuzzy feelings.
Prompt: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
A student’s college years are all about growth and transformation, and this prompt invites students to demonstrate their capacity for self-reflection and teachability. Thus, while this prompt might invite you to describe a major event or accomplishment, what you really want to show is a transformative period and the resulting reflection. Don’t feel as though the accomplishment, event, or realization needs to be especially earth-shattering or ground-breaking—sometimes the small things can make an impression in a big way. Finally, if you do choose to write about an accomplishment, be sure that you are not bragging. The prompt is an opportunity to show self-awareness, rather than to tout your achievements.
Prompt: Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
Intellectual curiosity and authentic passion are distinguishing characteristics in the landscape of top college admissions. For this prompt, zoom in on a particular topic that genuinely fascinates you, whether it’s a specific academic subject, a philosophical idea, or a creative pursuit. Many students manufacture a response to this prompt based on what they assume will impress admissions officers—but if you aren’t truly interested in Kantian ethics, an admissions officer will be able to tell. However silly, mundane, quirky, or bizarre your “captivating concept” may be, if it’s true to you—write about it!
While your response should describe how a specific aspect of this topic captivates your interest and why it resonates with you on a deeper level, it should also demonstrate how you have taken the initiative to explore this topic in unique ways. Have you sought out books on the topic? Taken an online course to elevate your knowledge? Started a club to connect with others who share your interest? Developed a passion project that mobilized your interest in service of your community?
If none of the above prompts allow you to effectively express yourself, remember that the Common App includes an open prompt, wherein you can write on a topic of your choice! This is an excellent opportunity to share a story that doesn’t fit neatly into the other prompts but is crucial to understanding who you are. If you choose to pursue this prompt, make sure your essay is well-structured and cohesive, with a clear theme or message that ties everything together.
The Common App essay is more than just a component of your application; it’s a chance to speak directly to admissions officers and present your authentic self. Taking the time to brainstorm and edit will allow you to submit an essay that showcases your unique voice and original perspective to admissions officers at top colleges.
Subscribe to our newsletter for college app advice!
Most universities require applicants to write one of the Common App essays, so if you’re planning on applying to college soon, you’ll probably need to write one of these. These prompts are set by the College Board , and students who use the Common App to apply to colleges will need to respond to one of the prompts broken down in this article.
Although Common App essays are only expected to be 250-650 words long (around 1-2.5 double-spaced pages), they can be very difficult to write. If you’re looking for more guidance on how to tackle this year’s prompts, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s dive in.
Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. if this sounds like you, then please share your story., the lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. how did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience, reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. what prompted your thinking what was the outcome, reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. how has this gratitude affected or motivated you, discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others., describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. why does it captivate you what or who do you turn to when you want to learn more, share an essay on any topic of your choice. it can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design..
Because the Common App prompts are so different from each other, there are not many universal problems or challenges students face in the writing process. But there are a few that we’ll discuss here.
So many students begin their Common App essays thinking that these 650 words must contain their entire selves. But this isn’t possible, and it’s fruitless to try. Instead of going broad, try going deep. Focus on one topic, and explore all of its angles. You’ll quickly realize that 650 words still isn’t much, and you may need to get even more specific.
Notice the way the prompts are written: every single topic is singular, not plural. If you’re answering the first prompt, you don’t need to discuss every identity you hold, just one (maybe more if they intersect, but keep things as tight as possible). Regardless, all of the prompts ask you to discuss one topic. Given the word limit on this essay, it’s in your best interest to keep your narrative focused and deep.
Many students working on their college essays wonder how crucial it is to begin their personal essay with a “hook,” or a striking opening line. The truth is that a hook can be useful in drawing the reader in, but it’s not necessary. Although you want to write a compelling essay, if your essay topic is sufficiently interesting, a “hook” won’t be necessary.
If you come up with a “hook” that fits the topic of your essay really, then that’s great. Still, consider deleting your hook if it’s a line of dialogue, philosophical statement, or onomatopoeia. These techniques tend to be overdone in Common App essays. In many cases, if the “hook” is deleted, the essay remains largely unchanged. Thus, you may stand out if you avoid them and get the point a little more efficiently. To reiterate, a “hook” is a useful tool, but not a requirement, and you should ensure that your “hook” is unique and essential to the essay’s message.
Think you know how to use quotation marks? Think again. Having read countless college essays, I can safely say that most of them misused quotation marks. This issue may seem insignificant in the scheme of your college application, but submitting an error-free essay will demonstrate to the admissions team that you are a thorough, thoughtful student ready to write at the college level.
So, how do you use quotation marks? Firstly, commas and periods should always be placed inside the quotation marks when they occur immediately after the quote. For all other punctuation types, they should be placed outside the quotation marks unless they are part of the meaning of the quote. For example: “She used the comma correctly,” he said. Note how the comma is inside the quotation marks. Another example: “Does she hate exclamation points?” he asked. Because he is asking a question, the exclamation point is part of the quote. A third example is when you are using a quote “in your exposition”! In this case, the exclamation point is not part of the quote itself, so it goes outside the quotation marks. If you still have questions, use online resources or ask your English teacher for further guidance.
This essay prompt is for students who look back at their application and see something missing. Among the test scores, activity descriptions, and grades, a part of who they are is unrepresented. This unrepresented part of you doesn’t need to be directly relevant to the college admissions process, but might instead reflect your journey to become who you are today. Furthermore, whatever you choose to focus on in this essay could shed light on who you will be once you start college. That is, what kind of personality, background, perspective, and so on will you bring to your collegiate community?
The admissions officers reading your essay look for a student who will thrive in their college community. Thus, if you have a part of yourself that you’d like to share in this essay, it can be helpful if you show growth, maturity, openness to diverse ideas, or another quality that would benefit the college community you hope to join.
Crucially, the topic of this essay should be adding meaningfully to your college application. In other words, note the wording of this prompt: “so meaningful… their application would be incomplete without it.” If your personal essay topic doesn’t provide new information, new perspectives, or significant elaboration on the rest of your application, then you may need to come up with a different topic. In contrast, if your essay topic seems like it will really change your application reader’s perspective on who you are, then you’re probably on the right track.
When the college admissions officers see you have selected this prompt, they expect to see a tale of growth, adaptation, and lessons learned. If you describe a challenging situation you have experienced, but leave out the lessons you learned from it, then you risk giving the impression that you won’t be able to elastically respond to challenges you might face in college. In other words, your story needs a beginning, middle, and end. Who were you before you faced this challenge/setback/failure, what was the obstacle itself, and who are you after this experience? Answering all these questions clearly in your essay will give it the coherent, cohesive structure great Common App essays tend to display.
Consider the first sentence of the prompt. We all face struggle in our lives, but how we respond to that struggle is what defines us. Additionally, learning from challenges allows one to become more resilient and capable of facing challenges in the future. What’s implied by this question is that you have the self-awareness and maturity to recognize those occasions in your own life. Consider the most formative challenging experiences in your life, no matter how embarrassing or low they might have been. Then, see if you’re comfortable writing about one of those experiences in this essay.
College provides students with the opportunity to learn about new ideas, perspectives, belief systems, and histories. In addition, when in college, you will likely be surrounded by more diversity of thought and life experience than you have ever encountered before. Changing your mind and being receptive to new ideas can be challenging, though. Thus, admissions officers often look to see if those abilities are displayed in applicants’ Common App essays. This essay is your opportunity to show your ability to be open-minded, think critically, and keep growing through that process.
Notice how the prompt itself provides a kind of outline for the essay. First, reflect on that transformative time. Then, show the conflict—what changed you, or led you to question your preconceived notions? Lastly, show the outcome of this experience. This can be a lesson you learned, a change in thinking, or the start of a new project/pursuit.
This essay prompt can be taken in many different directions, so it’s key that you keep its purpose in mind. Ultimately, the goal of Common App essays is to show admissions officers who their applicants are as people. Write about an event, experience, or change of heart that was genuinely important to you. Think about the stakes of this experience: how is your life meaningfully different as a result of this time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea? Focusing on a topic that is unique to your personal experience will make this essay stand out from the crowd.
This is one of the less popular Common App essay prompts, but it has a lot of potential. Many students skip over this prompt, as writing about joy often less valuable or incisive than writing about struggle or conflict. That said, not only can struggle and conflict fit into this prompt, but joy can be a fruitful personal essay topic. Sharing what has made you happy, thankful, motivated, and so on can really show the reader who you are.
If you’re having trouble coming up with an essay topic, consider the second half of the prompt. What motivates you? For many people, their source of motivation is positive. Maybe you have witnessed the power of medicine in saving lives, and you are motivated to become a doctor. Or maybe a classmate’s kind words about a story you wrote gave you the confidence to start composing a novel. For instance, you could structure this essay as a thank-you note to someone important in your life, before expressing how their gift to you—literal or figurative—motivates you to this day.
In terms of structuring this essay, you can look to the prompt itself for inspiration. Start by explaining what someone did for you that surprised you in a positive way. You may need to provide background for this act of kindness to make sense to the reader. For instance, were you in a time of great need? Or did this act of kindness help you reach potential you didn’t know you had? Then, move on to describe how that act of kindness impacts you to this day. This essay may be reflective and abstract in concept, but be sure to include specific, concrete details to make the story feel vivid to the reader.
Growth is a key quality admissions officers look for. But everyone grows up and matures—what will make your story of growth stand out? There are two things to focus on in this essay that can help it stand out: specificity and self-awareness. The ability to reflect on yourself and how you have changed demonstrates your capacity for further growth and self-improvement, which will serve you well in college. Specificity is an important part of telling your story, because the story needs to feel unique to you. In other words, if you are able to describe how you grew in a certain way with specificity and thoughtful, mature self-reflection, you’ll be able to nail this essay.
In terms of structuring this essay, look to the prompt. Start by discussing the event that changed you. This change should be meaningful. Even if it was a small moment in your life, or occurred over just a couple seconds, it should have a lasting impact. Then, explain how this event changed you. Lastly, reflect on this event and how it continues to impact you to this day. You could do this by explaining the lessons you learned or the new ideas you have developed.
This essay is a great opportunity to sell yourself to the admissions team of your dream school. By describing who you were both before and after this event, you will not only illustrate your growth to the reader, but you will provide them with a vivid picture of who you are today, have been in the past, and are becoming in the future. Because college tends to be a period of growth in one’s life, the admissions team may be able to extrapolate how you may develop during your education based on the growth you display in your essay.
This essay prompt gives you the opportunity to discuss an intellectual or personal interest of yours. This interest should be specific, and, if needed, explained. Your reader might understand what you mean when you say you have an interest in film-making, but an interest in “the human body” may not give them much to work with. Do you want to be a doctor healing bodies? A painter of the human figure? It’s important to clarify exactly what your interest is before you get into the details of how and why it captivates you.
This essay should also show the reader how you learn. The resources and methods of your independent learning may provide a glimpse into the kind of student and community member you will be in college. For instance, you can demonstrate your resourcefulness and motivation in this essay by narrating a time when you tracked down the answer to a tricky question.
Alternatively, you could describe the relationships you’ve been able to build, compelled by your curiosity. Perhaps you’ve joined online forums, attended summer programs, or worked jobs related to this interest, and through those experiences, you’ve not only learned more, but also found community. Remember, this essay need not exclusively discuss your interest. Instead, you can branch out to show how this interest has shaped who you are and how you navigate the world.
This prompt is one of the hardest and easiest of the Common App essays to choose. It’s easy because the options are endless and unrestricted. It’s difficult because sometimes structure and idea generation are the most difficult parts of writing an essay. That said, if you already have an idea for a topic, and there’s just no way you can fit that topic into any of the other prompts, then this might be the prompt for you. If that’s the case, you’ll need to make sure you organize the essay tightly.
Consider a guiding idea, quote, or concept that can bookend your essay. Yes, it’s a cliché way of structuring an essay, but you can often delete that quote or other helper after the essay is written. The key is that each paragraph relates to the prior paragraph, and to the overall idea of the essay. You can try writing a thesis statement, like you would for an academic essay, and/or outlining your essay before you begin.
If you need help polishing up your Common App essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.
Subscribe to the Next Admit newsletter, a weekly newsletter where you'll receive our best college essay and college app advice. You can unsubscribe at any time!
Trust your assignments to an essay writing service with the fastest delivery time and human-written content.
Welcome to a platform where students get matched with quality essay help. Compare our essay writers’ ratings and choose your perfect writing assistance partner. You're just steps away from top-notch support!
Curious about a specific paper writer? Check their profile for ratings and reviews. Once you've made your choice, they'll start to write paper for you.
To complete your write my essay request, our team needs a few details concerning your order. Fill out a short form to specify what kind of essay writing help you need and place your order
Browse paper writer accounts to see their ratings, customer reviews, and other information. Compare different experts and pick one to write paper for you.
Once your order is ready, download the paper to check if it meets your needs. Then, pay for essay using your personal account at EssayPro.
Check out the latest feedback from learners who use our essay writing services.
Original writing.
When you turn to our essay writing service for assistance, you're guaranteed to receive an outstanding piece, free from copied content. Our genuine pros craft all papers from scratch, referencing your instructions at all times. Ask us to write a paper and enjoy unparalleled originality, reaching beyond 96%.
Our stellar customer service team is on standby 24/7 to address your "write my essays for me" requests. With our top-notch essay service, you'll never be left hanging.
Pay for essay and never worry about the security of your personal data. EssayPro fiercely protects your details and uses secure gateways to process payments when you hire a paper writer. We safeguard your information in accordance with our Privacy Policy's detailed guidelines.
When you pay for essay writing at EssayPro, you get straightforward guidance every step of the way. Our highly skilled essay writers will edit your work for free within 14 or 30 days depending on your order's details.
Our expert essay writers can tackle any academic task you entrust them with. Here are some of the services we offer.
Will my essay writer follow the guidelines i specify in the order, can my paper writer make changes to the final version, how can i be sure that your essay service delivers original papers, how do i pick an essay writer who’s the best match for me, in what formatting style can you write an essay for me, does your paper writing service allow for adding extra assignment details after an order is already placed, what free features do i get at your essay writing service, how do i get my paper from your essay writing service, can you give me a report on uniqueness after you write my essay, can you write my essay asap, how do i pay for your paper writing service, when do i have to pay for paper, are there any free features available at your paper writing service, can your experts write my essay online, how do i hire professional essay writers, does your paper writing service have a refund policy, can i add more money for a specific order after hiring a paper writer and making a deposit, is my information kept secure with your essay service, follow our paper writing service on social media for the latest news, tips, and more.
Join the big family of our writing service on Instagram to get lots of handy tips and tricks and be the first to learn about our discounts!
Follow our paper writer service on Facebook to check out the freshest memes and killer essay hacks.
Watch us on YouTube to take your essay writing skills to the next level with advice from experts.
Your essay writing service with tons of experience.
EssayPro has been providing top-quality essay writing services for over a decade. This means managing our customers’ assignments and helping them succeed. So, why do clients keep choosing our services?
We carefully handpick all our paper writers to ensure that each of them demonstrates the highest level of professionalism, expertise, and dedication. This approach allows us to deliver top-notch papers for everyone who turns to us with a "write my essays" request.
Our experienced essay help team specializes in crafting all types of papers at any complexity level. From a simple one-page essay to a thorough and complex dissertation - EssayPro has you covered.
Thanks to our vast experience, we create papers tailored to every customer’s unique needs. And we’re ready to handle any learning challenges you are facing. When you turn to us for help, you will receive the best quality of service within your specified timeframe!
You're probably going through a wide range of challenges, such as combining studies with sports and other extracurriculars. On top of that, you probably have a side hustle or even a full-time job to cover your expenses. So, if your life is intense and fast-paced, it will never hurt to have a trusted assistant by your side. And that’s why EssayPro is here!
By hiring professional essay writers, you get an opportunity to take some load off your shoulders. When you are busy with a job, sports, family commitments, or anything else, all it takes is to say, “please write my essays for me,” and we will help you get your papers done right and without effort.
We have everything to satisfy your "write my paper" request. Whether you need an essay or any other paper - we’ll take up the challenge. When your papers are due in a week or in just 3 hours - we’ll deliver them on time, or you will receive a refund in accordance with our Refund Policy. And, if you have other things to do or simply want to rest from your struggles - try our essay writer help to regain control of your life!
Our paper writing service team knows that a learner’s life often involves juggling lots of responsibilities and pursuing several important goals at once. But what if you’re constantly drained? You might feel like it’s impossible to keep up with your seemingly successful peers despite your best efforts.
We’ve been there - it’s not your fault. The thing is, there’s almost always too little time to handle all your assignments properly. This can put too much pressure on you, causing you to be too hard on yourself just to tick all the boxes on your list. Pushing yourself to achieve unrealistic goals brings even more problems, including burnout and even depression.
Our "write my paper for me" service was created to help you avoid this. With our essay writing help, every learner can delegate their tasks to professionals who will complete them right on time and at the highest level possible. Starting from just $11 per page, we give you an opportunity to save your energy for things that matter without harming your performance. And even that’s not all!
We realize that you can be in a tight spot when there is no time to complete a paper due in just a few days. The good news is that you can hire an essay writer to overcome this challenge. Even if you’re in a rush, we can deliver your paper ASAP without compromising the quality!
Whether you have a last-minute essay or some extensive research work that you are dealing with, you shouldn’t worry about it when there’s EssayPro by your side. Our essay writing service is always here to give you a helping hand, with top-level professionalism guaranteed.
Our service collaborates with the best paper writers. Our experts hold Bachelor’s, Master’s, and even Ph.D. degrees, and each of them has vast experience crafting papers in their respective fields.
Before we let a new partner work on your "write essay for me" orders, we make them undergo several rounds of verification and tests to check if their qualifications are high enough to deliver high-level help. And we require them to study and follow our thorough quality control procedures for the best results.
What else allows us to reach almost 100% satisfaction? Apart from selecting the best authors, we also work with seasoned managers who will supervise their work. We believe that effective supervision is the key to ensuring consistently high quality for all papers that we deliver. So, when you pay for essay with us, you always have a quality guarantee.
To reap these benefits, just start an order with our service and pick your perfect expert. Our service operates 24/7, so you can reach us whenever you need.
Once your order is placed and assigned to an expert, they will complete it per your instructions. Our experienced authors will tailor every paper to your unique requirements. And, once the order is ready, you can always download and check it before releasing payment.
Lastly, we give every client 14 or 30 days after an order's completion to request amendments for free.
All these factors make us one of the best writing service providers for you. So, don’t waste any time and get your professional assistance now!
Whether requesting an essay, or any other type of assistance, with EssayPro, you can afford it! When you place your "write my essay online" order with us, you get:
And we make all of it affordable for every learner!
The price for our "write paper for me" services starts from as low as $11 per page. What’s more, we always provide generous discounts to help you save even more money while also saving your precious time. For instance, the further your completion date - the lower the price.
Also, the more pages you order, the more cost-effective our service will be.
EssayPro is the perfect balance of accessibility and professionalism. With us, everyone can afford to hire an expert essay writer. It's an investment in the future that results in better performance with less stress. So, don’t miss this chance!
At our essay writing help service, you will find a large pool of qualified essay writers ready to lend you a helping hand. What’s more, when you pay for essays with us, we give you an opportunity to select the author who suits your needs best.
Choosing your perfect expert is simple. You can browse specialists by their field of expertise and experience. You will also be able to see their bios, rate of success, customer reviews, and overall ratings, so it’ll be much easier to make the right choice. In addition, you’ll be able to chat with professionals bidding on your order. This way, you can find out even more information about the person who’ll work on your paper.
Need extra help? Don’t worry! Our friendly support team is there for you 24/7. Just drop them a line saying, “I want to pay someone to write my paper,” and they will tell you how to order and pick the most suitable author.
We want every customer to have the best experience when they hire an online paper writer. Our paper writing service team does everything possible to deliver a positive client experience. To make this real, we made the interface of our service extremely user-friendly. It is easy to navigate, so even new clients can quickly get used to it and place their "do my essay" orders without wasting too much of their precious time.
Apart from this, we keep our support team operating 24/7. This lets our customers ask their questions, receive prompt assistance with their issues, and place their “write a paper for me” orders at any time.
We provide high-quality guarantees, collaborate with the best authors, and offer a wide range of other benefits. So, if you are looking to pay someone to write your essay, there is no better place than EssayPro!
🏆 Elite experts | Superior writers |
✅ High originality guaranteed | Papers from scratch |
💰 Fair pricing | Satisfaction guarantee |
✍ Wide-ranging topics | Diverse essay selection |
⏰ Prompt turnaround | Deadline dedication |
✅ Customized assistance | Personalized guidance |
Although dissatisfaction is nearly impossible with our professional essay writers, as we always strive for excellence, there may be additional adjustments that you want to make in your paper. And that’s okay!
Sometimes, especially when your "write my paper" order is complex and comes with a broad set of requirements, you may have the need for extra edits. Our team is always open to this. After your order's delivery, you can request unlimited amendments free of charge. So, if it turns out that the final draft of your paper doesn’t match your expectations completely, don’t hesitate to ask for corrections.
To request edits, you only need to contact the author who completed your paper and explain your concerns. Then, together with our expert QA team, the author will make all the necessary edits to ensure you’re 100% happy with the paper you ordered from our essay writing service online.
If it turns out that you are completely dissatisfied with the work, which is rare, refunds are possible according to our Refund Policy. If you pay for an essay and are not happy with its quality, you can request a refund within 14 or 30 days upon completion of your order, depending on its details.
Ready to get top-quality "write a paper for me" assistance? With EssayPro, you are in good hands! All you need to do is say, “please, write my paper for me,” and we will do everything possible to help you succeed!
To ensure that learners can delegate any type of assignment to us, we partner with qualified paper writers from all fields of study. We can easily handle any order regarding business, literature, chemistry, marketing, etc.
Choosing your ideal essay writer online is also easy. We keep our experts’ profiles and ratings publicly visible. So, it never takes too long to find the right professional for your order.
Regardless of the type of help you need and the author you select, with our essay service, you can always expect the best results. All our experts are native English speakers and each of them is capable of:
Want to request professional essay writer help and get it right this moment? We have you covered! Just reach out to us and say, “write my paper,” and we will do it for you, regardless of whether it’s due in a week or a day.
Here is how you can make the most of our essay writing service.
Create a Personal Account
To join EssayPro as a customer, simply provide us with your name and email address or phone number. Then, come up with a password for your account and verify your email.
Give Us Your Requirements
When your personal account is ready, place your "do my essay" order right from your dashboard. It takes a few moments to fill out a form and tell us more about your assignment.
Assign a Suitable Author
Check out a database of our professionals and choose one based on their field of expertise, rating, success rate, and customer feedback. Or just drop a line, “I want to pay someone to write my essay” to our customer support and let us find the right expert for you.
Communicate Your Last-Minute Requirements
Forgot to mention something important in your "write an essay for me" order? No problem! Use the direct chat feature to contact your author and pass on any last-minute requirements that you have for your paper. Our experts keep your comments in mind when working on your assignment.
Stay in Touch
Keep in contact with your assigned expert through every stage of the order process. Use the direct chat feature to monitor the process, provide additional requirements, or ask your questions.
Get Your Flawless Paper
When your order is done, you will find a notification in your mailbox. You will be able to download the final draft and ensure that the author has abided by all your instructions. If you are happy with the result, pay for your order. And if there is anything that needs to be fixed or changed, feel free to ask for amendments.
That’s how easily you can get help from us!
Are you completely overwhelmed with work? Struggling to handle completing daily work and other responsibilities? You've come to the right place as we're set up to alleviate your worries. Make a "write my paper" request and we will make hundreds of qualified and experienced writers available to you. Pick a writer, send them your requirements, and use the opportunity to catch up with your work or other duties, safe in the knowledge that you are getting a guaranteed high-quality paper before your due date.
When you leave us your "do my essay" request, you are assured of highly original work based on the requirements you provided to our essay writing service. We put all our papers through the most commonly used originality software. You can request this report upon order completion to confirm authentic work.
The choice is simple. Get an expert to do your paper writing and give yourself room to breathe. Rest assured, your comfort and confidence in our services remain our top priority. So if you want to "pay someone to write my essay," you've come to the best place. The final result is a great piece of writing that is affordable and will help you reach your career and life goals!
Getting paper writing help is not a shameful practice, yet we understand the wishes of our clients to keep their details confidential. Therefore, we have respectfully implemented encryption of the highest levels and only employ world renowned payment gateways so that both your personal information and card information are in safe hands. Say "help write my essay" knowing that you won't be exposed and that your data is managed with the highest standards of security. Hire essay writers and work with real pros, improve your academic performance, and get access to a unique set of bonuses.
According to a BestColleges survey, more than half of students use AI to cheat . Those numbers are in line with a Stanford University study that found 60 to 70 percent of students cheat . However, AI may soon cease to be the lazy student's answer to writing papers. A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) story reports that "OpenAI has a method to reliably detect when someone uses ChatGPT to write an essay or research paper" -- with 99.9% accuracy.
Also: How AI lies, cheats, and grovels to succeed - and what we need to do about it
As my colleague David Gewritz has pointed out, many programs already promise to detect AI-written text . However, he concluded, "I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable threatening a student's academic standing or accusing them of cheating based on the results of these tools."
OpenAI hasn't revealed in any detail how its new method can be near-perfect in identifying AI-written text. It certainly isn't because it can spot AI hallucinations. It can't. As OpenAI co-founder John Schulman said last year, "Our biggest concern was around factuality because the model likes to fabricate things. "
That will never change. According to Mohamed Elgendy, co-founder and chief executive of Kolena , a machine learning testing service, "The rate of hallucinations will decrease , but it is never going to disappear -- just as even highly educated people can give out false information."
Instead of some magical deep way of spotting AI text, it appears OpenAI is using a much simpler way of identifying AI-written text: The service may be watermarking its results.
In a newly revised blog post, Understanding the source of what we see and hear online , OpenAI reveals it's been researching using classifiers, watermarking, and metadata to spot AI-created products. We don't know yet how this watermarking works exactly.
Also: The best free AI courses (and whether AI certificates are worth it)
We do know that OpenAI reports it's "been highly accurate and even effective against localized tampering, such as paraphrasing." However, the watermarking is "less robust against globalized tampering."
That means the feature doesn't work well on translated text or something as mindlessly simple as inserting special characters into the text and then deleting them. And, of course, it can't spot works from another AI model. For instance, if you feed the ChatAPT AI-text spotter a document created by Google Gemini or Perplexity , it probably won't be able to identify it as an AI-created document.
In short, with a little more effort, students and writers will still be able to pass an AI chatbot's work off as their own. Well, they can try anyway. In my experience with AI, the results still tend to be second-rate at best. But if that's good enough to get you a passing grade, it may be all you need.
At least one self-professed professor on Reddit isn't impressed: "The problem is that you can just copy-paste the text into another program, translate it into another language, and then translate it back. But honestly, most students aren't going to do that, so it would catch pretty much everyone. "
Also: How Pearson's AI assistant can help teachers save time
Of course, that might not bother OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who told The Harvard Gazette, " Cheating on homework is obviously bad . But what we mean by cheating and what the expected rules are does change over time."
I don't know about that. Cheating is cheating, but this new tool in the OpenAI arsenal doesn't sound like it will help much to prevent it.
Oddly, while OpenAI is still wrestling with when -- or indeed if -- it should release this new service, the company will soon release a DALL·E 3 provenance classifier. This means that, eventually, almost every image you make with DALL-E will be marked as a DALL-E AI creation. OpenAI relies on C2PA metadata, a digital content standard, to mark and identify images. If you're a graphic designer who's been relying on DALL-E to make "original" graphics, it may be time to return to Photoshop.
Openai launches searchgpt - here's what it can do and how to access it, beware of ai 'model collapse': how training on synthetic data pollutes the next generation, how pearson's ai assistant can help teachers save time.
When women's basketball star Brittney Griner was released in December 2022 from the Russian prison system — traded for convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout — the nation's eyes turned to the man who was left behind: Michigan's Paul Whelan .
A year and a half later, Whelan was freed Thursday in a deal that included Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who also was wrongfully detained on spying charges the U.S. government says he didn’t commit.
More: Biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War could be underway, movements suggest
Whelan, a former Marine who lived in Novi, was the head of global security for BorgWarner when he was arrested Dec. 28, 2018. He has been imprisoned in Russia, accused of espionage. He was convicted in June 2020 during a closed-door trial and sentenced to 16 years of hard labor in a work camp.
This is his story.
Paul Nicholas Whelan was born in March 1970 in Ottawa, Ontario — Canada's national capital. His parents, Edward and Rosemary Whelan, immigrated to Canada from Britain.
He has a twin brother, David; a sister, Elizabeth; and another brother, Andrew. The family moved to Ann Arbor when the twins were young; they went on to graduate in Huron High School's Class of 1988.
Whelan is now a U.S. citizen but holds passports in four countries — the U.S.; his native Canada; Britain, where his parents were born; and Ireland, where his grandparents were born. He never married and has no children.
He testified in a 2013 court deposition that he worked as a Chelsea police officer in 1988-2000, and also worked for the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office. Whelan joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves on May 10, 1994, according to his service record.
Whelan was hired in 2001 by Kelly Services , a Troy-based company that offers consulting and temporary workers to businesses around the world. He took a military leave of absence from Kelly Services in 2003-08 to serve in Iraq, he testified.
At Kelly Services, Whelan's title was senior manager of global security and investigations. His job included campus security as well as electronic and IT-related security.
He started working in early 2017 for BorgWarner, company spokeswoman Kathy Graham told the Free Press in a previous interview. Whelan was global security chief when he was arrested and accused of spying.
According to business licensing records, Whelan also ran an online firearms business known as Kingsmead Arsenal. The business was started in 2012, and its address is the same as Whelan's apartment on Wellington Drive in Novi.
He also testified in the 2013 deposition that he has a federal firearms license.
Yes. Whelan worked as an administrative clerk and administrative chief and was deployed in the war against Iraq in 2004 and 2006.
He rose to the rank of staff sergeant in December 2004, but a few years later was convicted in special court-martial of attempting to steal more than $10,000 while at Al Asad Airbase in Iraq. Other related convictions included dereliction of duty, making a false official statement, wrongfully using other people's Social Security numbers and bouncing checks.
He was given a bad-conduct discharge in December 2008 at the rank of private. Whelan's last place of duty was Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California.
While stationed in Iraq, Whelan was part of “The Rest and Recuperation Leave Program,” which authorized 15 days of leave to service members on yearlong deployments to Iraq, according to a 2007 story posted on the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing page of the Marine Corps website. The military paid for the travel and most service members chose to return home, but others could travel abroad.
Whelan spent his two weeks in Russia, saying in the interview that the leave program “gives those of us who are single an opportunity to travel throughout the world wherever we want to go and experience the diversity of culture.”
During his military career, Whelan received awards that included the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation and Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.
Novi District Court records show that Whelan was also involved in landlord-tenant disputes in 2007 over nonpayment of rent while he was on active service in the military. Court records also show a case was filed against Whelan in 2011 by a Norfolk, Virginia-based debt collector for $1,210.35.
The Russian Foreign Ministry alleges Whelan was caught "red-handed" in an act of espionage. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), a successor to the Soviet Union's KGB, says its agents found a USB drive containing classified information in Whelan's room at the swanky Metropol Hotel in Moscow.
Whelan insists that he was set up, and that he was simply a tourist. He was there, he said, to attend the wedding of a friend, a fellow former Marine.
In the days leading up to his arrest, he led tours of Moscow historical sites for the wedding party, David Whelan told the Free Press in a previous interview. And he shared Christmas dinner at a steakhouse in Moscow with a Russian man named Ilya Yatsenko, whom he'd met a decade earlier during one of his trips to the country.
Over about a half-dozen visits to Russia since 2006, Whelan got to know Yatsenko — or so he thought — even visiting Yatsenko's parents and siblings in the town of Sergiev Posad, about 50 miles northeast of Moscow, David Whelan said.
It was Yatsenko who gave Whelan key evidence in Russia's case against him: a USB drive containing government secrets, David Whelan alleges.
"Paul expected there to be photographs on it and something else was put on that drive in order to entrap him," he said.
At the time, then-President Donald Trump made no public statements about Whelan's arrest. Trump administration officials made careful and measured statements about him.
More than a year after her brother's arrest, Elizabeth Whelan said: "This is ridiculous. Russia has a legal system but not a judicial system. Everybody knows that once you get on this conveyor belt, that the end result before you're popped off at the other end is 100% chance of conviction and sentencing."
She was right. Whelan was convicted of espionage in a Moscow courtroom in June 2020. John Sullivan, then-U.S. ambassador to Moscow, described the conviction a "mockery of justice."
Whelan was taken to IK-17, a gulag in the Republic of Mordovia, about an eight-hour drive southeast of Moscow. There, he spent hours each day cutting threads from newly made prison uniforms. He later was promoted to sewing buttonholes.
The U.S. House and U.S. Senate both have passed resolutions demanding Whelan's release. The U.S. State Department now considers him wrongfully detained and has been insistent that his conviction was a sham.
Though Whelan said he traveled to Russia as a tourist, he entered the country on a business travel visa supported by BorgWarner Inc., he told his lawyers in Moscow.
The Auburn Hills-based auto supplier BorgWarner has 49,000 employees working among its 93 sites around the world, but spokeswoman Graham told the Free Press in 2019 that it didn't have any locations in Russia. The company would not confirm that it sponsored Whelan's Russian business visa.
"As a general policy BorgWarner does not comment on travel of any of its employees, nor does the company discuss information about individual customers," said Graham in an email to the Free Press at the time. "Paul was not in Russia on company business. We are deferring to the State Department regarding updates to his situation."
Although BorgWarner operates no facilities in Russia, the company does have a history of doing business there.
BorgWarner supplied Kamaz Inc. , Russia's largest truck-maker, with turbochargers, fan drives and high-performance fans, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents . BorgWarner parts are used in nonmilitary Kamaz trucks and Nefaz buses, and its total sales to Kamaz in 2013-15 through non-U.S. subsidiaries was $12.1 million.
"For over 15 years, BorgWarner has supported (Kamaz) with advanced air-flow technologies, and we are looking forward to continuing the successful collaboration," Daniel Paterra, who was then BorgWarner's president and general manager of thermal systems, said in a 2015 news release about the Dakar Rally , an off-road rally in South America in which Kamaz trucks are used.
Trump didn't speak publicly about Whelan's arrest during his time in office. But the former president took to his social media platform, Truth Social , in December 2022 to criticize the deal that President Joe Biden's administration made to swap Griner for Bout.
"I turned down a deal with Russia for a one on one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan," Trump wrote. "I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals. I would have gotten Paul out, however, just as I did with a record number of other hostages. The deal for Griner is crazy and bad. The taking wouldn’t have even happened during my Administration, but if it did, I would have gotten her out, fast!"
David Whelan took to Twitter , saying: "Former President Trump appears to have mentioned my brother #PaulWhelan 's wrongful detention more in the last 24 hours than he did in the 2 years of his presidency in which Paul was held hostage by #Russia (zero). I don't suggest he cares now any more than he did then (zero)".
Biden met with Elizabeth Whelan during the summer of 2022 to assure her of his commitment to freeing her brother.
In the Dec. 8, 2022, announcement that Griner was coming home, Biden said: "We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan. This was not a choice about which American to bring home. … Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul's case differently than Brittney's. ... We will never give up."
Though they were disappointed that Whelan wasn't freed along with Griner, the family supported Biden's decision to make the one-on-one trade, David Whelan said.
"There is no greater success than for a wrongful detainee to be freed and for them to go home," he said. "The Biden administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn't going to happen."
Since then, he said the family has been overwhelmed by the swell of support for his brother.
"Even in these hyper-partisan days, we have received emails and donations from people of what seems to be all political perspectives sending Paul their best wishes and hope for a speedy return home. Americans pulling together for an American," David Whelan said.
"Paul has continued to call home on a daily basis and speak to our parents. We have been sending him updates about the support shown through GoFundMe donations as well as the many people indicating they're writing him letters and cards. ... In the months ahead, those will bring Paul great comfort. If he ever worried that he'd been forgotten, I think this will provide Paul reassurance that he remains in people's prayers."
White House staff met virtually with Elizabeth Whelan in December 2022, who was told her brother's freedom remains "as high a priority as the President has," David Whelan said.
Contact Kristen Shamus: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.
Subscribe to the Free Press.
Show Bookstore Categories
By Caleb Maupin
Ratings & reviews.
Professor of Atmospheric Science, Iowa State University
William Gallus receives funding from the National Science Foundation.
Iowa State University provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.
View all partners
Heat domes, which have sent temperatures soaring in the U.S. in 2024 and roasted large parts of Europe during the Paris Olympics , occur when a persistent region of high pressure traps heat over an area. A heat dome can linger for days to weeks, leaving the people, crops and animals below to suffer through stagnant, hot air that can feel like an oven.
Typically, heat domes are tied to the behavior of the jet stream , a band of fast winds high in the atmosphere that generally runs west to east.
Normally, the jet stream has a wavelike pattern, meandering north and then south and then north again. When these meanders in the jet stream become bigger, they move slower and can become stationary. That’s when heat domes can occur.
When the jet stream swings far to the north, air piles up and sinks. The air warms as it sinks , and the sinking air also keeps skies clear since it lowers humidity. That allows the sun to create hotter and hotter conditions near the ground.
If the air near the ground passes over mountains and descends, it can warm even more . This downslope warming played a large role in the extremely hot temperatures in the Pacific Northwest during a heat dome event in 2021 , when Washington set a state record with 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 Celsius), and temperatures reached 121 F in British Columbia in Canada, surpassing the previous Canadian record by 8 degrees F (4 C).
Heat domes normally persist for several days in any one location, but they can last longer. They can also move, influencing neighboring areas over a week or two. The heat dome that started in Texas and Mexico in June 2023 spread into the Southwest in July.
On rare occasions, the heat dome can be more persistent. That happened in the southern Plains in 1980 , when as many as 10,000 people died during weeks of high summer heat. It also happened over much of the United States during the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s.
A heat dome can have serious impacts on people, because the stagnant weather pattern that allows it to exist usually results in weak winds and an increase in humidity. Both factors make the heat feel worse – and become more dangerous – because the human body is not cooled as much by sweating.
The heat index , a combination of heat and humidity, is often used to convey this danger by indicating what the temperature will feel like to most people. The high humidity also reduces the amount of cooling at night. Warm nights can leave people without air conditioners unable to cool off, which increases the risk of heat illnesses and deaths. With global warming, temperatures are already higher , too.
One of the worst recent examples of the impacts from a heat dome with high temperatures and humidity in the U.S. occurred in the summer of 1995 , when an estimated 739 people died in the Chicago area over five days.
This article, originally published June 22, 2022, has been updated.
Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.
An academic essay is a focused piece of writing that develops an idea or argument using evidence, analysis, and interpretation.
There are many types of essays you might write as a student. The content and length of an essay depends on your level, subject of study, and course requirements. However, most essays at university level are argumentative — they aim to persuade the reader of a particular position or perspective on a topic.
The essay writing process consists of three main stages:
Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes
Essay writing process, preparation for writing an essay, writing the introduction, writing the main body, writing the conclusion, essay checklist, lecture slides, frequently asked questions about writing an essay.
The writing process of preparation, writing, and revisions applies to every essay or paper, but the time and effort spent on each stage depends on the type of essay .
For example, if you’ve been assigned a five-paragraph expository essay for a high school class, you’ll probably spend the most time on the writing stage; for a college-level argumentative essay , on the other hand, you’ll need to spend more time researching your topic and developing an original argument before you start writing.
1. Preparation | 2. Writing | 3. Revision |
---|---|---|
, organized into Write the | or use a for language errors |
Discover proofreading & editing
Before you start writing, you should make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to say and how you’re going to say it. There are a few key steps you can follow to make sure you’re prepared:
Once you’ve got a clear idea of what you want to discuss, in what order, and what evidence you’ll use, you’re ready to start writing.
The introduction sets the tone for your essay. It should grab the reader’s interest and inform them of what to expect. The introduction generally comprises 10–20% of the text.
The first sentence of the introduction should pique your reader’s interest and curiosity. This sentence is sometimes called the hook. It might be an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or a bold statement emphasizing the relevance of the topic.
Let’s say we’re writing an essay about the development of Braille (the raised-dot reading and writing system used by visually impaired people). Our hook can make a strong statement about the topic:
The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability.
Next, it’s important to give context that will help your reader understand your argument. This might involve providing background information, giving an overview of important academic work or debates on the topic, and explaining difficult terms. Don’t provide too much detail in the introduction—you can elaborate in the body of your essay.
Next, you should formulate your thesis statement— the central argument you’re going to make. The thesis statement provides focus and signals your position on the topic. It is usually one or two sentences long. The thesis statement for our essay on Braille could look like this:
As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness.
In longer essays, you can end the introduction by briefly describing what will be covered in each part of the essay. This guides the reader through your structure and gives a preview of how your argument will develop.
The invention of Braille marked a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by blind and visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.
Write your essay introduction
The body of your essay is where you make arguments supporting your thesis, provide evidence, and develop your ideas. Its purpose is to present, interpret, and analyze the information and sources you have gathered to support your argument.
The length of the body depends on the type of essay. On average, the body comprises 60–80% of your essay. For a high school essay, this could be just three paragraphs, but for a graduate school essay of 6,000 words, the body could take up 8–10 pages.
To give your essay a clear structure , it is important to organize it into paragraphs . Each paragraph should be centered around one main point or idea.
That idea is introduced in a topic sentence . The topic sentence should generally lead on from the previous paragraph and introduce the point to be made in this paragraph. Transition words can be used to create clear connections between sentences.
After the topic sentence, present evidence such as data, examples, or quotes from relevant sources. Be sure to interpret and explain the evidence, and show how it helps develop your overall argument.
Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.
See the full essay example
Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:
See an example
The conclusion is the final paragraph of an essay. It should generally take up no more than 10–15% of the text . A strong essay conclusion :
A great conclusion should finish with a memorable or impactful sentence that leaves the reader with a strong final impression.
To make your essay’s conclusion as strong as possible, there are a few things you should avoid. The most common mistakes are:
Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.
Write your essay conclusion
My essay follows the requirements of the assignment (topic and length ).
My introduction sparks the reader’s interest and provides any necessary background information on the topic.
My introduction contains a thesis statement that states the focus and position of the essay.
I use paragraphs to structure the essay.
I use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph.
Each paragraph has a single focus and a clear connection to the thesis statement.
I make clear transitions between paragraphs and ideas.
My conclusion doesn’t just repeat my points, but draws connections between arguments.
I don’t introduce new arguments or evidence in the conclusion.
I have given an in-text citation for every quote or piece of information I got from another source.
I have included a reference page at the end of my essay, listing full details of all my sources.
My citations and references are correctly formatted according to the required citation style .
My essay has an interesting and informative title.
I have followed all formatting guidelines (e.g. font, page numbers, line spacing).
Your essay meets all the most important requirements. Our editors can give it a final check to help you submit with confidence.
Open Google Slides Download PowerPoint
An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.
In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.
Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.
The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.
The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.
Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:
The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .
A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.
The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:
Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.
A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.
At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).
Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.
The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .
Other students also liked.
✔ Free APA citation check included ✔ Unlimited document corrections ✔ Specialized in correcting academic texts
Early Action: Nov 1
Regular Decision Deadline: Dec 1
The Requirements: 2 or 3 essays (depending on major selection) of up to 250 words; 2 short-answer lists.
Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why , Oddball , Short Answer , Community
This is USC’s take on the classic Why essay. In asking how you plan to pursue your interests, admissions is really trying to suss out your core reasons for choosing USC. While college will offer you a wealth of social and professional opportunities, its primary function is academic — and your primary role is as a student. So, what kind of student do you hope to be? Where do you hope your studies will take you? What resources and opportunities does USC offer that will meet your needs and guide you towards your goals?
To answer these questions, set aside an hour or two to pore over the USC website (there’s no hack, you’ve just got to put in the time). Beyond the basic departmental listings, look up information about news and research coming out of your department, the kinds of courses available, the opportunities that other undergrads have had studying in your area of choice. Even if you have a wide array of interests, consider explaining how two to three departments might complement each other or foster your interest in a larger idea or theme. Your ultimate goal is to show that your interest in USC (just like your intellectual curiosity) runs deep!
Your answers do not need to be so outlandish that admissions needs a thesaurus to look them up, but they should avoid the generalities that so often populate these questions: loyal, kind, smart… you get the idea. We’re sure you are all of these things — and they are lovely qualities to showcase in the stories you tell elsewhere in your other written responses — but these sorts of terms can ring hollow. Think about how different people in your life would describe you. Though this assignment is short, you may need to spend some time wordsmithing different combinations. When the prescribed format is a list, order matters just as much as content, so use every element of the assignment to your advantage!
What is your favorite snack, best movie of all time:, if your life had a theme song, what would it be, dream trip:, what tv show will you binge watch next, which well-known person or fictional character would be your ideal roommate, favorite book:, if you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be.
Behold! USC’s attempt at being quirky! You’ve been limited to less than the length of a tweet for each answer, so you’d better make every word (and character) count! These prompts don’t have time for generalities or gentle introductions, so you’ll have to cut straight to the point. The more specific your words are, the more memorable your answers will be. Favorite snack? Don’t just say, “popcorn and Junior Mints.” How about, “A box of junior mints melting over hot popcorn as I watch a horror movie” (72 characters). If you can paint a funny picture or display a knack for wit, take this chance, but don’t force it. You also don’t exactly have to think of this as filling in the blanks, but more as filling in any blanks in your application. Anything that doesn’t feel like it merits a full essay can go here as a tweet, hot take, punchline, or elegantly-worded sentence.
For more information, please click here ., many of us have at least one issue or passion that we care deeply about – a topic on which we would love to share our opinions and insights in hopes of sparking intense interest and continued conversation. if you had ten minutes and the attention of a million people, what would your talk be about (250 words).
We at CEA love this question because it’s a unique way of asking applicants: what do you care about and why? What’s important to you? What information do you wish other scholarly minds had access to? Start by making a list. Maybe you’d like to use your ten minutes to speak about media literacy and how we can and should consider what we see online through the lens of the powers that dictate how and when we receive information. Perhaps you’d want to spread the word about the dangers of climate change and the irreversible impact it will have on the planet if we don’t take action swiftly. What keeps you up at night? What kind of positive effect do you want to have on the world? These are the questions you should be asking yourself when brainstorming for this prompt. Bonus points if you can speak to how a USC Dornsife education will prepare you to address this issue head-on in the future!
The student body at the usc viterbi school of engineering is a diverse group of unique engineers and computer scientists who work together to engineer a better world for all humanity. describe how your contributions to the usc viterbi student body may be distinct from others. please feel free to touch on any part of your background, traits, skills, experiences, challenges, and/or personality in helping us better understand you. (250 words).
USC Viterbi School of Engineering wants to accept students who will contribute to diversity on campus. When considering an aspect of your identity or background to expand upon, we recommend choosing one that has had the biggest impact on the way you experience and interact with the world. Ideally, the unique aspect you select should come with a couple anecdotes. Maybe you want to write about your experience as a person living with a disability and how this has shaped your interest in engineering, design, and accessibility. Perhaps you embody #BlackGirlMagic and will bring a fresh perspective to a field in which women of color are underrepresented. Regardless of the part of your identity you choose to address, be specific about how it impacts your worldview and how it will add a distinct perspective to USC Viterbi.
The national academy of engineering (nae) and their 14 grand challenges go hand-in-hand with our vision to engineer a better world for all humanity. engineers and computer scientists are challenged to solve these problems in order to improve life on the planet. learn more about the nae grand challenges at http://engineeringchallenges.org and tell us which challenge is most important to you, and why. (250 words).
Strong responses to this prompt will showcase self-reflection, care for the greater good, and ambition. Review the fourteen Grand Challenges and see which you connect with the most. Maybe you’re passionate about providing access to clean water, since you know firsthand what it’s like to not have that access in your hometown in Michigan. Perhaps you hope to engineer better medicines in honor of a loved one you lost to illness prematurely. Maybe you’ve always been fascinated with outer space and would jump at the opportunity to engineer new tools of scientific discovery. Make sure to relate your own life experiences and/or interests to the challenges the world is facing and emphasize how you’d like to be part of the solution.
About Amanda Amah
View all posts by Amanda Amah »
We've got you covered.
USC asks applicants to write two (2) or three (3) essays, depending on their major selection, and two (2) short answer lists.
The limit is 250 words.
The USC supplemental essays are very important in the admissions process. Admissions officers at USC seek to “enroll a diverse group of students who represent a vast array of perspectives and passions, who will enrich each other’s education by challenging each other, inside the classroom and out.” These essays offer admissions the opportunity to get to know your values and better understand how you will contribute to the diversity of voices in their campus community. In short, they enable admissions to get to know the person behind the application (a.k.a. you!).
Absolutely not. Please do not reuse content from your Common App essay in your USC supplements. Although it’s possible for you to expand upon an idea, activity, or community that you mention in your Common App essay in your supplements, you should never recycle content or any phrasing word for word. Each written response is an opportunity for you to share more information about yourself and your candidacy, so you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not taking advantage.
Applicants will want to avoid silly grammar mistakes , repeating the prompt in their response, and telling rather than showing (e.g., saying you are determined without giving an example of a time you displayed determination).
When you don’t have a lot of words (or characters) at your disposal, ideas reign supreme. Instead of dedicating time to crafting beautiful transitions, like you would for a 500-word essay, most of your time here should be allotted to brainstorming and finding instances where one word can substitute for two. It’s also wise to think about your application as a whole (imagine the same person reading all of your documents in one sitting!), and offer answers that provide new layers to your submission.
We thought so. Sign up for free instructional videos, guides, worksheets and more!
Advertisement
Supported by
Picture Prompts
A school year’s worth of short, accessible image-driven posts that invite a variety of kinds of writing.
By The Learning Network
We’ve been publishing our Picture Prompts series four days a week since 2016. Below, we’ve rounded up all the prompts we published for the 2023-24 school year.
These short, accessible, image-driven prompts invite students to pen short stories, poems and memoirs; share experiences from their lives; analyze illustrations, graphs and charts; and tell us their opinions on hot-button issues.
You can find even more in our roundups for the 2022-23 , 2021-22 and 2020-21 school years, as well as in our collections of 125 picture prompts for creative and narrative writing and 25 spooky images for writing scary stories .
To learn how you can use Picture Prompts to build literacy skills, promote critical thinking, inspire discussion and foster creativity in your classroom, watch our three-minute tutorial video or our on-demand webinar . For dozens more ideas, see our lesson plan “ How to Teach With Our Picture Prompts (and Other Times Images) .”
If you use this feature with your students, or if you have other ideas for how to use photos, illustrations and graphics to encourage writing, let us know in the comments.
Boys and Cologne Soapbox Derby Graphs Old and Young 2,000 Bags Spring Holidays Baking Spring ‘Floor Person’ Checking Your Watch ‘Wild’ Ice Skating Lunar New Year Hot Pot Distracted Walking Breakfast Wild Weather Maps Healthy Habits Holiday Classics Compliments Family Drama Thanksgiving Dinner Libraries Scary Movies Carving Pumpkins Fall Friday the 13th Our Own Language Skydiving Lazy Days Back to School
Falling Into a Hole Friends? Up, Up and Away! Pet Alligator Shadowy Figures Help Fishing in a Stream Tiny House Rats on a Dog Walking Away Public Selfies Hidden Doorway Playing Dominoes Point of No Return Sunset by the Water Valentines Biking Climbing a Ladder Reflections Happy Creatures Snowfall Blindfolded The Red Planet Dog TV Walking Through Town People and Penguins Witches on the Water Spying Show Time! A Wave Goodbye Ancient Arrow A Hand Up Darkened Library The Concert
Pink Head, Green Check City Street Lapel Buttons One Seat Underwear on a Statue Justices An Elevator Filled With Robots Flying Plastic In a Box Watching Snacks and Drinks Tree Stump Behind Columns Lying in Bed Soccer and Dollars Two People Sitting Package and Globe Hot-Air Balloon Civil Conversation Raking A Shadow Parent and Child Atop a Cellphone The Super Wealthy Brick Wall Eagle and Ropes Painting Blank Space Exercise Football and Bag of Money Worm in an Apple Head in the Clouds
‘Cowboy Carter’ New Stamp Design Prizewinning Miniature Poodle Cicadas for Dinner Met Gala Student Orchestra Tech in the Classroom Salt Movie Memorabilia 100 Years of Furniture March Madness Texting Styles Concerts Leap Day Broadway Shows Ice Cream Celebrity Feuds A.I.-Generated Faces World’s Largest Cruise Ship Your Energy Playlist Taylor Swift and the N.F.L. In-and-Out Lists Contenders Coveted Cup Your 2024 Most-Anticipated List 2023 in Pictures Style in 2023 $700 Million Deal Dream Décor Skipping School Giving Tuesday Pop-Tart Critic Time Change Pink Jersey Floating Home The Mall Breaking Police Robot Celebrity Relationships Fall Music New iPhone Tiny Homes Floods in Libya Football Season Land, Man and Sky Fall Video Games
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Picture Prompts here.
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Learn how to add background information to essays and papers. These background information examples will help you do it perfectly every time. ... How, and just as importantly, where, you write the background information can make or break your paper. Before you look at examples, think about your own essay and keep these tips in mind.
Definition of Background Information. As the name suggests, background information means all information that a reader requires to increase his awareness of the topic an essay is going to explain. Background information is placed shortly after the hook or attention grabber. Both are intertwined, as the hook cannot be separated from the ...
When writing the background information section of the essay, start with a broad introduction to your topic. Give a brief overview of the topic's subject matter and its significance. This will set the context of the essay and grab your readers' attention. 5. Give Historical Context if Applicable.
What is a background in an essay? In the realm of academic writing, the background section plays a crucial role in providing context, setting the stage, and offering readers a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. It serves as a foundational element that enables readers to grasp the significance of the topic and the purpose of the ...
The background information is the supporting points you employ to demonstrate your argument or viewpoint. It is the grounds on which you base your point of view to prove your argument. background information is found in the introduction, just after the opening statement or the hook. The amount and type of background material depend on the goal ...
The second principle is that background information should appear towards the beginning of your essay. General background is presented in the introduction. If you have additional background to present, this information will usually come at the start of the body. The third principle is that everything in your essay should be relevant to the thesis.
Table of contents. Step 1: Hook your reader. Step 2: Give background information. Step 3: Present your thesis statement. Step 4: Map your essay's structure. Step 5: Check and revise. More examples of essay introductions. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about the essay introduction.
In general, your introductions should contain the following elements: When you're writing an essay, it's helpful to think about what your reader needs to know in order to follow your argument. Your introduction should include enough information so that readers can understand the context for your thesis. For example, if you are analyzing ...
An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates. In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills. Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence ...
It can be difficult to know how much background information or context to provide when you are writing a paper. Here are some useful guidelines: ... understand why it's worth writing that essay. A strong thesis will be arguable rather than descriptive, and it will be the right scope for the essay you are writing. If your thesis is descriptive ...
Fitterling, Lori. Researching and Writing an Effective Background Section of a Research Paper. Kansas City University of Medicine & Biosciences; Creating a Research Paper: How to Write the Background to a Study. DurousseauElectricalInstitute.com; Background Information: Definition of Background Information. Literary Devices Definition and Examples of Literary Terms.
Writing a strong introduction to an academic essay is crucial for engaging your reader and setting the stage for what's to come. By starting with a hook, providing background information, stating your thesis, previewing the main points, and engaging your reader, you will be well on your way to writing a strong academic essay. 2. Literature Review
Parts of an essay. An impactful, well-structured essay comes down to three important parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion. 1. The introduction sets the stage for your essay and is typically a paragraph long. It should grab the reader's attention and give them a clear idea of what your essay will be about.
Writing a compelling hook takes skill. But you can use any of the following ways of writing a hook to get you started: 1. The Surprising Statistic Hook. Presenting a surprising fact or statistic is a great way to grab the attention of your audience. For example, an essay on the orphan crisis may begin with:
A famous essayist, Aldous Huxley, notes that "the essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything" and divides essays into personal-biographical, objectively-factual, and abstract-universal. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as "a short piece of writing on a particular subject.".
Background information typically describes the history of the topic or the cause of the problem the topic addresses. It can also establish the topic's importance or show how to solve a problem. Background information is usually three to five sentences and comes after the writer gets the reader's attention. This means they present the principal ...
Many students choose to respond to the Common Application's first prompt (listed below) for their personal statement. This student (who we're referring to as...
As students choose a prompt and begin brainstorming essays, here are the key points to consider in order to create a stellar essay for each prompt: 1. The Meaningful Background Prompt
This essay prompt can be taken in many different directions, so it's key that you keep its purpose in mind. Ultimately, the goal of Common App essays is to show admissions officers who their applicants are as people. Write about an event, experience, or change of heart that was genuinely important to you.
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 ...
At our essay writing help service, you will find a large pool of qualified essay writers ready to lend you a helping hand. What's more, when you pay for essays with us, we give you an opportunity to select the author who suits your needs best. Choosing your perfect expert is simple. You can browse specialists by their field of expertise and ...
A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) story reports that "OpenAI has a method to reliably detect when someone uses ChatGPT to write an essay or research paper" -- with 99.9% accuracy.
Whelan is now a U.S. citizen but holds passports in four countries — the U.S.; his native Canada; Britain, where his parents were born; and Ireland, where his grandparents were born.
In this book, originally published in 2020, and censored in 2024 when Kamala was named the Democrat Candidate, Caleb Maupin goes over the life story and political background of a woman he considers to be the most dangerous potential US President in history.
Write an article and join a growing community of more than 187,800 academics and researchers from 5,011 institutions. Register now. Editorial Policies; Community standards;
Harvard College Writing Center 1 Introductions The introduction to an academic essay will generally present an analytical question or problem and then offer an answer to that question (the thesis). Your introduction is also your opportunity to explain to your readers what your essay is about and why they should be interested in reading it.
If it was a sign, a traffic cone, a car, the background of an image in The New York Post. My boyfriend wants to kill me because I'm taking a photo of every single thing I can possibly find.
Essay writing process. The writing process of preparation, writing, and revisions applies to every essay or paper, but the time and effort spent on each stage depends on the type of essay.. For example, if you've been assigned a five-paragraph expository essay for a high school class, you'll probably spend the most time on the writing stage; for a college-level argumentative essay, on the ...
The USC supplemental essays are very important in the admissions process. Admissions officers at USC seek to "enroll a diverse group of students who represent a vast array of perspectives and passions, who will enrich each other's education by challenging each other, inside the classroom and out." These essays offer admissions the opportunity to get to know your values and better ...
You can find even more in our roundups for the 2022-23, 2021-22 and 2020-21 school years, as well as in our collections of 125 picture prompts for creative and narrative writing and 25 spooky ...