Your professor just assigned you another student’s essay to peer review, but maybe you don’t know where to start. That’s okay! Let’s start by taking some of the mystery out of the equation. A peer review, also referred to as peer editing or a peer workshop, is when you read another student’s essay draft and …
CLSC LIT TV (8:00 – 10:00 p.m.) – Survivor: Salem Edition (Reality. First aired 1953) Abigail and friends are found dancing naked in the forest and are accused of witchcraft. They claim to be bewitched in an attempt to avoid a possible death sentence if convicted. In a vengeful move, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of practicing …
I don’t know about you, but I feel like the hardest part of any writing assignment is composing a rough draft. It has to have much more detail than an outline, but you don’t want to perfect it too much because it is, after all, just a draft. It’s all about striking the perfect balance. …
You’ve powered through your essay and have a pretty good draft in front of you. But now you’re coming up to the conclusion, and all the usual questions start rattling around in your head. Did you include enough evidence to support your arguments? Should you write more, or would that just make your essay sound more …
The end is the beginning is the end. Or so it constantly seems when writing an essay. As soon as you think you’re finished, it’s time to examine, revise, and rewrite. The end of your first draft marks the beginning of your second. The beginning of your third draft marks the end of your second. …
If you’re a rooster and you consider yourself king of the hen house, you can’t just casually wander around with the rest of the chickens. You need to strut your stuff. You need to walk with authority and crow like you mean it! Likewise, if you’re writing a paper, you might consider yourself king (or …
We’ve all been there. Your professor asks a question to the class about last week’s required reading. You look down at your book, out the window, and at your shoes. You pretend to contemplate the answer. The reality: you only “skimmed” the reading, and you don’t have a clue how to answer the question. You …
If you’ve ever watched Survivor, you know how important it is for contestants to plan, form alliances, and do anything they can to avoid getting voted off the island by the Tribal Council. Writing an essay is kind of like being a contestant on Survivor. You need to plan ahead, learn the tricks of good writing, …
Here are four statements you might receive from your professor as essay feedback. “Essay does not meet assignment guidelines.” “This is a good start, but ideas aren’t fully developed.” “This submission is a nice revision of your earlier draft.” “Exemplary! This is a wonderful illustration essay.” I bet most (if not all) of you would …
You’re super confident when your teacher hands you an essay assignment. You’ve read the material and know exactly how to approach your arguments. But then you sit and stare at a blank page, unsure how to start. It happens to the best of us. Fortunately, because it’s a cause of concern for so many students, …
There have been exactly 18,312 words written here at the Kibin blog on the subject of the argumentative essay. Think I made that number up? Well, prove it. We’ve written so many blog posts on the subject because it’s by far the most common essay assignment that students face. About the only way to avoid …
There’s nothing like a deadline to spark your creativity! Or so some people claim. For others, it just sparks anxiety. Whether you’re writing a timed essay in class or you had some unforeseen circumstance and didn’t start working on your essay until the last minute, it’s important to put that anxiety to the side and …
Fahrenheit 451 is a favorite book for teachers to assign—and a favorite for students to read. It’s a classic dystopian novel written in the ‘50s and set in the 24th century. Even though it’s not quite the 24th century yet, Ray Bradbury did get a few things scarily right about the future, technology-wise. What’s even …
Ask yourself this—how many hours do you spend interacting with technology each week?? Add up the number of hours you spend each week on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and other social media sites. Now add to that the number of hours each week you spend surfing the web, playing video games, or completing some other online …
Tell me about yourself. Whether you hear these words as you introduce yourself to a new group of people or read them on an essay assignment, they can be intimidating. In general, we’re taught not to brag, but how can you write about yourself without at least doing a little bit of bragging? And what …
Are you one of those people who has been told (likely more than once) that you have an opinion on everything? If you are, then you’re in luck. The opinion essay is the perfect way to express your opinions to the world (or at least to your professor). Telling someone your opinion and writing an …
How many times have you received a software update notification? If you’re like me, you have a love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with these notifications. Too often, what you think will be a quick and easy process turns into an hour-long nightmare. Sound familiar? Something so seemingly simple becomes deceptively complex. The same is true for …
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Practice makes perfect.” And you know that this applies to almost anything you do in life: sports, music, debate, public speaking, dungeon master, whatever. Essay writing skills are just the same. You must practice to get better. But practice only takes you so far. You’ll also need the right tools. …
There are tons of scary stories—ones filled with ghosts or vampires or zombies. But in my opinion, there’s nothing scarier than the stories that show what the world could be like if left in the hands of the wrong people. One of the books that demonstrate this point the best is George Orwell’s 1984. And …
If literature isn’t your thing and you’ve been reading long, boring novels all semester, the chance to read and write about a short story might be just what you need to get interested in literature again. After all, everyone loves a good story, and a short one (especially when it comes to reading something you’re …
Great Depression-era novels typically have an element of… well… depression. To Kill a Mockingbird isn’t any different. What is different is the fact that [spoiler alert] it ends on a slightly uplifting note. The story is centered around Scout—the narrator—and her struggle to see the good past the bad. It’s a struggle each of the …