How far can the truth be stretched on the essay?

College Essays
1

I have two questions:

  1. Quotes. When I talk about events from months ago, I obviously don’t remember everyones exact quote, so is it fine to include dialogue that captures the gist of what someone said?

For example, when I did summer research, the professor in charge said something along the lines of “well the first thing we have to do is fill out the paperwork.” So if I said that in a similar fashion (i.e. “First things first, lets get the paperwork out of the way”) would that be fine?

  1. Extra details to a story. When I was done on my first day, the professor I was with had left the room and left me with the paperwork (which in my own head I referred to as the slip). In that moment, I thought “wow he really did just gave me the slip.” Could I incorporate that into my essay? The only problem is at no point did the professor explicitly refer to the paperwork as “the slip” but I still like that ending for my essay (something along the lines of “Turning to thank Dr._, I turned and seemed to be alone in the lab. As I continued to look about, I put my hand into my pocket and that’s when I realized that Dr. had given me the slip.”). Is it okay for me to add into the beginning of the story that the professor referred to the paperwork as “the slip”? The essay doesn’t center on the slip, it’s just about my experience in the lab, I just thought the slip was a nice touch. Would this be too picture perfect and be seen as lying or is my calling the paperwork “the slip” something trivial?

I think the story sounds better if the professor calls the paperwork the slip, but since I was the one who thought that up, should I just go ahead and add that I immediately thought of the paperwork as “the slip”? I would just say I thought it up that way, but then I have to add another sentence and I’m already exactly at the word limit.

2

Can you avoid using quotes altogether? Write from your own perspective- Professor X asked me to fill out some paperwork…Instead of “Please fill out this paperwork TrapNumen” said Professor X.

3

I definitely can. Should I avoid using names such as Dr.____ and just refer to them as “professor”?

4

I’m not sure, I was just giving an example. I guess it depends if you want to call them out by name or not.

5

Actually, including dialogue is highly recommended and much less stilted than indirect quotes.
Since no one expects you to remember the dialogue verbatim, what the reader expects is a general idea of how it went, put onto words that “show not tell” what you want to convey.
Read good longform non fiction writing to have an idea of what you’re supposed to do.

6

Quotations and/or dialogue provide texture to your essay. Use them! And don’t worry if you’ve only got the gist of it. The speaker probably only remembers the gist of it, too.