Edward Lorenz was a mathematician and meteorologist at MIT who created a complex mathematical model nearly 60 years ago to study weather and air patterns. His hope was that the research would lead to accurate long-term weather forecasts. However, in 1961, the idea...

Have you ever read one of those DIY websites and tried to make the perfect flower arrangement or wooden tool box by reading only the directions? It seems almost impossible, doesn’t it? Why? Because you need a visual to guide you. You need to see each step and...

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is one of those books that has the power to really captivate readers. Even if you don’t like the promiscuity or John’s undoing, you have to admit that there’s something really enthralling about the whole thing. Unfortunately,...

Let’s face it, most of us are used to writing essays and research papers. We’ve written them throughout our entire academic careers. The abstract, on the other hand, is likely a relatively new endeavor. Without a lot of practice and experience writing abstracts,...

If you’re a math person, the word abstract likely conjures up numbers like three or seven (numbers that don’t really refer to a certain thing). If you’re more of an artist, you might envision Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night. And for those of you...

When you were kid, I bet you were asked (and more than once), “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I’ll also bet that, by the time you were a junior or senior in high school, you were asked (and again, more than once), “What do you want to do when...

Here’s a list of concrete words: Bull float Expansion joint Forms Screed Trowel Rebar Yes, these are literally words related to concrete, but that’s most likely not what your prof means when he tells you to focus on concrete language. Keep in mind, though,...

The personal essay, it’s an easy enough essay to write… right? We all have stories to tell and opinions on just about everything. The million dollar question is, how do you take your thoughts, ideas, and opinions and put them on paper? How do you let your personality...

“Ding dong, the witch is dead … the wicked witch is dead!” The new 8th edition MLA Handbook (MLA 8) makes creating references on a Works Cited page so much easier than the 7th edition guidelines. You’ll be singing, too—once I walk you through it,...

Every year millions of high school students apply for college. And every year, at least one of those colleges requires a leadership essay. While you may have never served as a manager, fought against injustice, or led a rebellion, you have at least some inklings...

T-21 hours, 33 minutes, 4 seconds, and counting. You’ve officially shifted into panic mode because your paper is due tomorrow, and so far all you’ve written is your name. We’ve all been there, crippled by writer’s block and unable to compose a single...

“Wow! That stinks!” If you’re walking by a smelly factory, this might be an appropriate response. If you’re walking by a farm on a sweltering summer afternoon, this might be exactly what you’d expect to hear. This is not, however, what you want to hear...

While you may not have written many summaries, I bet you’ve actually composed a lot of summaries in your day. Think about it: every time you tell a friend what happened in a movie or what you did on vacation, you’re summarizing. You’re even summarizing when...

Do you remember when Brangelina first happened? Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were both pretty good on their own, but when they got together, they became an instant Hollywood power couple. In the world of literature and essay-writing, the Brangelina of essays is...

Let’s say you and your pals have just watched the latest superhero movie, and one of your friends asks, “So what did ya think?” Your response might be something like, “It was awesome! I loved the fight scenes and the CGI!” Or you might respond, “Man,...

The explanatory essay (sometimes called an expository essay) is one of those standard essays that you’ve probably written at least a few times in your academic career. The explanatory essay often takes the form of a cause and effect essay, a definition...

Imagine that you’re on a road trip on a hot day. You spy an ice cream shop and whip the car into the parking lot for a cold, towering, double-scoop cone. Mmm. The server places the ice cream in your hands … without a flipping cone. You fumble with the cold,...

Are you the type of person to passively read your assigned text only because you have to? Or do you dive right into it and react with the same intensity any self-proclaimed Star Wars nerd would react to this climactic scene? No matter which category you fall into,...

Have you ever had to meet a specific word count for an essay and found yourself coming up short? Did you “revise” by simply adding words here and there trying to stretch it out? Or have you ever written a paper and it seemed like it was full of fluff, rather...

SURPRISE! You have to write another essay. You were hoping for a surprise party, weren’t you? Sorry, I can’t help you there. But if you think writing a comparative essay is one heck of a good time, then this party is for you! Okay, the fact that you have to...

Do you remember the fable The Ant and the Grasshopper? The ants work all summer long preparing for winter and storing food. The grasshopper laughs at the ants, and he plays all summer because he has plenty of food (for now). When winter comes, the grasshopper is...