Tag Archives: writing

How to Start a College Essay

May 25, 2020

The most common application essay question most students ask:

How to start an essay about yourself?

Indeed, essay introductions are the most challenging part of writing for many. And while we can find tons of articles online about how to start an essay, guides on writing personal essays intros are not that frequent.

In this article, we are going to change this. Here you’ll learn good ways to start an essay about yourself.

Essay Introduction vs. Thesis Statement

You know that every college essay needs a thesis statement, don’t you? It’s a central claim of what you’ll discuss in your work, and it’s a sentence or two you write at the beginning of your essay.

The problem is that many students don’t see any difference between essay introductions and thesis statements: They believe it’s the same thing.

That’s not so.

A thesis statement is a part of an introductory essay paragraph, not an introduction itself. As a rule, it closes the intro rather than substitutes it. Therefore, you have a hook, an overview, and a thesis statement in your essay’s first paragraph.

But when it comes to personal essays you write, applying to college, there won’t be any universal thesis statement in introductions. Here you’ll write a so-called pivot, a sentence or two (three maximum) where you explain how the experience you describe has shaped you.

The Structure of Personal Essays Introduction

Long story short, here go the elements of your common application essay’s introduction:

A hook: a general statement that will evoke curiosity, build a reader’s expectations, and stimulate them to keep on reading.
A description of your topic: what you are going to cover in your personal essay.
A pivot: a sentence or two at the end of your introduction paragraph, where you go from a general to bigger picture. Explain how the described experience influenced and shaped you.

Example:

Source

As far as you see from the above example, an introduction in personal essays can take more than one short paragraph. In fact, this section can be about half of your whole piece because you need to tell a brief story that gives readers the idea of what happened and how it influenced you.

And now, let’s take a closer look at how to write hooks and pivots of your common application essay’s introduction.

Hooks to Use in Personal Essays

Tim Nicholas did his best to describe the nature of writing hooks and their role in essays. He speaks about hook as the first line of your work to “really make a great impression” and “grab your reader’s attention.” Plus, Tim comes up with five useful tips on essay hooks writing:

In other words, an essay hook is either cliffhanger evoking a reader’s curiosity or scene-setting that stimulates a reader’s imagination. In both cases, it engages and encourages readers to continue examining your work.

Here are good ways to start an essay:

1) Quote

Most guides on essay hook writing recommend students to start an essay with a relevant quote of famous people. “Thanks” to this piece of advice, quotes have become so overused that teachers don’t take such openings seriously.

Quotes aren’t bad themselves. The problem is that students choose too obvious or irrelevant sayings in essays, while teachers (as well as admissions officers) want to read YOUR thoughts.

What you can do when writing a personal essay is to start it with your or someone’s quoted direct speech! It’s catchy, emotional, and it’s about your experience.

Examples:

“You can handle it, Matt,” said Mr. Wolf, my fourth-grade band teacher, as he lifted the heavy tuba and put it into my arms.
“On and off,” I squealed as I fiddled with every remote control device in the house—from the TV to my RC toys.
“No, no, no, you’re all doing it wrong! The secret to developing realistic drawings lies in your ability to study every nuance of the object in front of you,” my art teacher advised. “Try sketching with one eye closed; it’s all about perspective, people!”
“These people are just confused,” Emily whispered to me as she stared out the car window at the gay couples walking down the rainbow streets of the Castro.

Note: All the examples here and below are from jhu.edu, hamilton.edu, and stanford.edu

2) Detail

An excellent way to start an essay is a short sentence where you mention one grabby detail. It intrigues admissions officers and motivates them to keep on reading to learn more.

Examples:

I was born with an extra hand—kind of.
When I was in eighth grade, I couldn’t read.
I have old hands.
Goal: 40,000. I wrote because it made me somebody else—somebody who mattered.
I change my name each time I place an order at Starbucks.

3) Controversial statement

A hook’s role is to grab attention and spark interest so that a person would continue reading your essay to learn more or find answers. That is why general statements don’t work here. Arguments such as “Life is wonderful,” and all this stuff are your proven way to fail.

Instead, please start your application essay with a counterintuitive sentence. Give readers something controversial or arguable so they would want to respond.

Examples:

If string theory is really true, then the entire world is made up of strings, and I cannot tie a single one.
Writing a college essay is an intimidating business. Just coming up with an idea, let alone writing about it, is a challenge. So, I asked for help.

4) Question

Why not start a personal essay with a direct question to readers? Just make sure it’s intriguing and specific enough to stimulate interest.

Examples:

While traveling through the daily path of life, have you ever stumbled upon a hidden pocket of the universe?
What does it mean to be an advocate? I didn’t find the answer in any sort of textbook.
“If you had to choose one food to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?”

5) The End

This hook is about starting your essay with a conclusion, a lesson you’ve learned, or a central idea you’d like to communicate to readers. And the rest of your article will be a flashback, telling about how you’ve arrived at this decision.

Examples:

I’ve recently come to the realization that community service just isn’t for me.
Cancer tried to defeat me, and it failed.

How Not to Start Your College Essay

An essay hook is your best chance to grab the attention of admissions officers and get the impression of the right candidate for their college. Sure thing, a hook alone can’t save the whole essay, but it needs to be strong enough for the audience to keep on reading and estimate the entire work of yours.

Here go a few writing techniques to avoid in common application essays. Overused and non creative, they’ll make most admissions officers roll their eyes heavenward.

Try not to start your essay with:

A definition. Descriptions from online dictionaries are far from creative ideas to write in academic papers, especially in college application essays.
An obvious thesis or general statement. The former is a kind of spoiler in your essay introduction (who wants to read a paper if you reveal everything in the first sentence?), while the later is merely dull. Leave all the exposition and arguments for the body and the conclusion of your personal essay.
“In this essay, I’m going to tell you about…” It’s the worst option for a personal essay hook. First, you reveal the whole story at once; and second, most teachers consider this grammar construction a sign of poor writing skills.

Pivots in Your Common Application Essay

As mentioned above, a pivot is a sentence of two at the end of your essay introduction. You go from a general story to a bigger picture: What you need to do here is to illustrate what your described experience tells about you.

Example 1:

Example 2:

In other words, you need to focus on the “aha!” moment of your story in a pivot. Tell about the moment of realization, therefore moving from one part of your essay to another.

A pivot is not necessarily one sentence at the end of your first paragraph. Feel free to write two-three sentences in the middle of your article (after a hook and a description). But make sure that a pivot is what makes your story move from a general idea to a bigger one, demonstrating your concluding observations from the situation.

How to Start an Essay: In Short

If you still doubt how to start an essay about yourself, here is a short, step-by-step formula:

Start with a hook to grab the audience and motivate them to read your story: Write a quote, a short sentence with a grabby detail, a controversial statement, or a question.
Continue with a story itself: Describe the situation that happened.
Finish with a pivot: Come up with a sentence or two, revealing your “aha!” moment. What was the bigger idea behind your story? Any moment of your realization there? What is the lesson you’ve learned?

And remember:

You don’t have to start with hooks or pivots once you’ve opened the document to write an essay. Tell your story first, describe the details, and then work on your first, catchy sentence to impress admissions officers.

Further reading: The Ultimate Guide to Personal Essay Writing

How to Write a College Essay

May 25, 2020

Here go your steps to take:

Make sure you understand its purpose.
Check a few persuasive college essay examples.
Brainstorm and pick a topic for your college essay.
Write the outline.
Start writing a college essay.
Edit and submit your college application essay.

College essays are of many types. But when looking for information on how to write a college essay, high school graduates and students mean a college application essay. It’s also known as a college admission essay or a personal statement for college.

In this article, we are going to reveal the process of college essay writing, step by step. Here you will find all the necessary details on how to write a good college essay.

Ready?

How to Write a College Admission Essay

For those wondering how to write a college application essay, there’s our personal essay writing guide and the #1 rule to remember:

Despite its conversational tone, it should have a definite purpose and structure. It’s your chance to introduce yourself to admissions officers, share who you are now, and make it clear for them what you will bring to their campus communities.

So before you sit and start writing, you still have a lot of work to do. Please check your steps on how to write a college essay:

Step 1: Make sure you understand its purpose

A college essay is the most significant part of your application. It tells the admissions officers about your personality and who you are beyond high grades and test scores you got in school. Before you decide on a topic of your college essay and start thinking about the facts to include, take a minute to imagine yourself a reader:

What would you think about the author if you were a college admissions officer?
What’s in the essay that conveys your background to the officers?
What would you say to the admissions committee if you stood in front of them and needed to share the most important story of your life?

As admissions officers say, a college essay is a chance for applicants to share who they are and what they can bring to the campus. The purpose of your college application essay is to give officers the answers on the following questions:

Who is this person?
What will he or she contribute to our college community?
Is this person able to express thoughts in the written form? Does he or she understand how to write essays?

In college essays, applicants share their goals, challenges, influences, life experiences, and lessons they learned. In plain English, you write a kind of a narrative essay, but with a personality and learned lessons between the lines.

Step 2: Check a few persuasive college essay examples

For a better understanding of how to write a college essay, it’s worth taking a look at great examples written by students. It will help to get an idea of a general tone, topics, arguments, and structure to use while writing.

Below are two great samples of college essays from the Johns Hopkins University students, Maryland. Shared by usnews.com, they inspire and provide a clear idea of what a good college essay looks like.

Sample 1:

Sample 2:

Both samples go with the comments from admissions officers on what and why they liked about those essays. Understanding that, you’ll find it easier to come up with a topic (a story to tell) for your personal statement for college.

Step 3: Brainstorm and pick a topic for your college essay

Now it’s time to take a seat and think about all possible topic ideas for your college essay. Admissions officers wait for you to highlight your experience and strengths, but it doesn’t mean you have to focus exclusively on your past. Think of topics that would:

describe your growth as a person;
have a moment of revelation (what you’ve learned from the experience, and how it connects you with the personality you are now).

Don’t brag but keep readers wondering, “What does he or she mean by that?” or “How is that going to turn out?”

To come up with the best topic idea for your college essay, do the following:

First, take a seat, relax, and reflect on all the events or happenings that were significant to you. Which of them could serve as persuasive examples of your strengths that could set you apart from other applicants? Please write down all the ideas that come to your mind.

Now, re-read what you’ve got and narrow down the options. Try to choose the top three concepts that you think could fit the college application essay best.

And finally, choose one you’d like to tell. Which of those three would describe you best? Do you have enough arguments and supporting details to develop this writing idea further and get the readers interested in your story? Stay with the topic that strikes your chord.The great option would be brainstorming and structuring your college essay, depending on what type of personal statement you’d like to share with admissions officers. Ethan Sawyer, aka College Essay Guy, specifies four types of personal statements:

Once you decide which is your case, consider Ethan’s exercises and tips on how to structure it.

Step 4: Write the outline

A college essay outline is like a map for your writing. It’s a step-by-step plan of your essay, where you specify its sections and strategies you’ll use to grab and hold readers’ attention.

There are no strict word limits for application essays, so feel free to make it as long as you consider it necessary. On average, such college essays are about 500-650 words, so stick to this when writing an outline.

In the outline, specify the critical parts of your essay: Make sure it will have an introduction, the central part with your story itself, and a conclusion. Think of a hook you’ll open your essay with, so it would make the admissions officers interested in reading. Come up with a thesis statement. And write down the takeaways you’ll share in your essay conclusion.

Step 5: Start writing a college essay

So, now you know what you’ll write about; and, it’s time to start writing. Stick to the outline, be yourself, and use your writing style (it’s your personal essay, after all!)

Keep the essay’s focus: Start with the thesis (your main idea) and follow it to the end.
Be specific: Remember about the rules of good writing (say no to vague phrases, cliches, predictable word constructions, etc.; support your idea with facts, examples, quotations, and reasonings).
Be concise: Don’t write fifty words where five are enough; share only the information that is necessary for your story to flow.

Don’t be afraid to sound vulnerable: Write about how the described event or experience made you feel, how it changed you, and whether it had an impact on your values. Do your best to hold a reader’s attention throughout the essay: If it makes sense within the context, create a story twist, reveal something unexpected so that a reader would say, “Wow!”

Tips: Don’t spell out the point of your essay right off the bat. Avoid writing something like, “And that was the moment when I realized” or “The most important lesson for me was…” Structure your story so that admissions officers could read between the lines.

Step 6: Edit and submit your college application essay

As far as you remember, not only admissions officers learn about your personality but also check your writing skills when reading your college essay. So, once you’ve finished writing, give yourself some time—and proofread and edit your work before submission.

Make sure your college essay shows rather than tells. Check if you’ve shared examples that support your statements and make your writing more interesting to read.
Check the essay for consistency. Do you use the same tense throughout the article? Do you refer to a particular college? And what about your writing style and tone of voice you use?
Proofread your essay. Make sure to avoid the most common grammar and spelling mistakes. Ask someone to read your essay and help you notice weak points, but don’t allow them to change the overall tone of your work. Professional essay writers and editors can help you here.

Once ready, submit a college essay along with the rest of your application. Good luck! 🙂

The Ultimate Guide to Personal Essay Writing

May 25, 2020

A personal essay is a short writing work where the author describes a significant event from his life experience and tells about a lesson he learned from it. In academia, a personal essay is known as a “college essay” or a “college admission essay.”

Personal essay is not about college admission only:

Twain, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and other famous essayists wrote them often to share their experiences, thoughts, and reflections. Some employers ask candidates to write personal essays before inviting them to a job interview. And even when you share a story in your blog, you write a somewhat personal essay, telling your followers about your experience.

But more often than not, a search intent of most students googling the information about these essays is about how to write a personal statement for college. Right?

Continue reading →

How to Start a College Essay Like a Boss

February 24, 2020

Here’s how to start an essay:

Write a catchy hook.
Provide some context and background on your topic.
State a thesis, establishing your purpose and position on the topic.
Overview the main points you’ll cover in the essay.
Check and revise if necessary.

In this article, we’re going to tell you how to start a college essay.

Indeed, it’s the most challenging part of essay writing for many students. They doubt everything here: how many sentences to write, what to include in the very first sentence, how to mention a thesis, what essay hook to choose, etc.

It’s time to clear up this matter once and forever.

Ready? Let’s get it started!

Continue reading →

How to Write a Critical Essay [Ultimate Guide]

December 5, 2019

A critical essay is a type of academic writing where the author analyzes and evaluates a text. For an essay to become critical, you need to claim a text’s particular ideas and then support that claim with evidence.

How to write a critical essay:

Examine a source: read it carefully and critically.
Organize your thoughts: figure out the core claim and evidence, do research of secondary resources.
State a thesis: make sure it has both a claim and details sustaining it.
Write an outline.
Write a draft of your critical essay.
Edit and improve your essay.

Critical essays are among the most common types of writing assignments in college. Also known as analytical, a critical essay is about evaluating somebody’s work (a movie, a book, an article, etc.) and proving that your evaluation is correct.

The problem is, students often confuse a critical essay with a report, a critical precis, or a review.

In this article, we’ll reveal the core characteristics of a critical essay and learn the right way of writing it.

Continue reading →