Have you ever heard that touching a frog will give you warts or that Twinkies never expire? These urban legends have been around a long time, but they’re simply myths. While touching some frogs can irritate your skin, frogs don’t cause warts. They’re caused by viruses. And Twinkies? Well, they may not be made from …
Hungry for tacos? Feel like you can’t fully concentrate on your writing assignment until you make a trip for a late-night snack? As tempting as a few tacos and a burrito sound right now, don’t rush to satisfy your cravings just yet. Instead, continue reading as this blog post contains important information you’ll need to …
Tell me if this has happened to you: your phone gets dunked in water (we won’t discuss how), and you start researching to see if putting it in rice will actually save it. You read a few blog posts and watch a few videos. But instead of immediately putting your phone in a bag of …
Creative geniuses cannot create their masterpieces until they’re inspired. Perhaps you’re that creative genius who simply hasn’t been inspired to write a thesis statement to help focus your thoughts for your upcoming compare and contrast essay. Perhaps you don’t fancy yourself a creative genius at all. Maybe you’re more of a major procrastinator who’s only …
Have you ever watched a great film trailer and thought, “I have to see that movie!”? A good trailer gives you the basic premise of the movie, shows you the highlights, and encourages you to want to see more. A good thesis statement will accomplish the same thing. It gives readers an idea of the …
Let’s pretend you wrote the following as a working thesis statement for your persuasive essay: Global climate change has been debated for many years. Do you think this is a persuasive thesis statement? (HINT: Say “no”!) NO: The thesis statement is a fact. It is not persuasive and not debatable. If you answered “yes” …
As you know by now (for I tend to remind you ad nauseam), the thesis statement is the most important sentence in your essay. It’s the backbone of your paper. In other words, it’s the star around which your ideas orbit, the bread crumbs in your essay meatballs, or any other metaphor that articulates the …
There’s an easy way and a hard way to do just about everything in life. However, the things most worth doing are almost always more difficult. For instance, it’s hard to go to school, work a job to pay for it, and then come home and study at the end of it all. It’s much …
Has this ever happened to you? Professor: Where is your thesis statement? Student: … If so, don’t worry. You’re not the first person to struggle with writing a thesis statement, and you won’t be the last. This part of essay writing has vexed many college students, but luckily, I’m here to show you the ropes. …
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, sloppy mess as you …
“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” —Thomas Edison Edison was right. It takes a lot of hard work to be a genius. I’m here to tell you that it takes a lot of hard work to be a good writer too. One of the first steps you can take to be a good writer, …
You’re cruising through your writing class just fine. No speed bumps in the road to a decent grade. But then your instructor decides to put up a roadblock—a texting while driving essay. You screech to a halt. You weren’t paying attention to how to write essays most effectively and, instead, just wrote whatever came naturally. …
There’s an old adage that says writing is a process, not a product. And to help drive that point in, I’m going to show you how to write an awesome process essay. In fact, you can consider this whole blog post as a type of process essay. But instead of just simply telling you the …
Remember when that annoying light came on while you were driving home last night? Turns out it really did serve a purpose—to tell you one of your tires was low. Unfortunately, you ignored the warning light. Unfortunately, you missed class because of your flat tire this morning. Because you missed class, you failed a quiz. …
As if writing a more standard essay were not enough, your instructor slaps you with this: a compare and contrast essay. What makes it worse is that it’s about poetry—as if you know how to compare and contrast poems already. How does she expect you to completely decipher and explain not just one poem but …
Ever heard the adage “don’t compare apples to oranges?” We all know what it means: comparing the two doesn’t make practical sense because they are very different. But have you ever stopped and thought about how you might literally compare apples and oranges? Let’s make a quick list. Similarities Both are fruits. Both have seeds. …
Your class has been writing a few argumentative essays here and there, and you have to admit … you’re getting pretty good at it. But now your instructor says that you need to take it a step further and write a synthesis essay. The name might be a little intimidating, but don’t worry—I’ll be here …
So you’ve carefully read your professor’s instructions and picked your research topic. Awesome — but now what? The long and winding road to a great research paper starts with a strong thesis statement, but theses don’t grow on trees! You must first come up with a great research question, which will act like your paper’s …
Despite what your grade-school teacher might have told you, poetry isn’t all hearts and flowers, especially not when you have to analyze a poem in an essay. When you delve into the realm of poetry, you’re much more likely to stumble into madness and decay, especially if you are reading Edgar Allen Poe or Charles …
“Man, this essay is going to be impossible.” We’ve all been in this boat before, confronted with an essay assignment that is beyond difficult. What if I told you that I can teach you how to write an essay about pretty much anything under the sun? Even … hmm …wombats. “What? Why wombats?” you wonder. …
You know what I always liked about Batman and Iron Man over the rest of the superheroes? The fact that they are (relatively) normal guys. They don’t need any special powers to fit into the same category as Spiderman, Superman, or Wonder Woman. Heroes can be, and usually are, real people. And that’s exactly what …