Learning to write well - Essay

Parents Forum
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<p>Hi, I have a daughter in high school, a sophomore and we are just embarking on this whole "college research" trip! It's overwhelming so to speak.
After breaking it down into what I imagine smaller bits, I realize the essay writing's quite important to the applications, and that is something that we need to work on for a while. No one becomes an expert expressive writer overnight? :) </p>

<p>What am looking for are suggestions or avenues to improve writing skills. Any online courses or anything that can make writing and writing well a practiced activity. She is not a bad writer and has been in the GT program (Northern Virginia) for 5 years, but she most definitely could use some help. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>You might see if there are non-profit creative writing centers or community center writing classes offered where you live. You’d be surprised how often these things exist, and how beneficial they can be. Even if she is writing stories vs. writing essays, writing is like reading: the more you do of it, the better you get. Also, are there any writing oriented clubs at her school that she might be interested in? She would probably benefit the most from an actual class vs. something online, the best way to improve your writing is to get feedback on it regularly, especially from a trained instructor. </p>

<p>Finally, remember that while the essay is not unimportant, it is far from the most important part of the application. If her grades are great, and she’s taking a challenging curriculum, that’s going to outweigh in most cases a so-so essay.</p>

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<p>^ Interestingly, this author in the NYTimes this morning made a somewhat different argument: </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/09guidance-t.html?ref=education[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/09guidance-t.html?ref=education&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

</p>

<p>I also found the accompanying article to have some very interesting tips on how to find our voice in personal essay writing:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09guidance-box.html?ref=education[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09guidance-box.html?ref=education&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>My D has used the 5 paragraph method for essay writting since about grade 3 when it was taught. She has received a number of awards and comments on how well she write. She swears by it but says the biggest thing besides this structure is to not wait till the last minute., be prepared and work progressively. here is a link gor the basic outline.[Structure</a> of the Five Paragraph Essay](<a href=“http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/English/essay/]Structure”>http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/English/essay/)</p>

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<p>I have no answers, but I wonder if they actually look at how well the essay is written or if they are looking for things on some sort of checklist like overcoming adversity, underrepresented minority, leadership, etc…?</p>

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<p>Sadly the way that writing is taught takes every ounce of personal ‘voice’ out of a student that doesn’t come by it naturally. They will learn the five paragraph essay. They will be able to write it technically perfect. Those aren’t the essays that are going to be rewarded, or garner any interest in admissions. The personal narrative is a much different animal and harder to grasp for students that don’t have this talent. I will say that I am a strong believer that ‘over polishing’ by a parent or teacher can be the kiss of death to an essay.</p>

<p>This is a thread from 2009 discussing summer writing programs, but I’m sure most of the programs still exist. Johns Hopkins CTY in Baltimore is listed and isn’t far from you. I don’t have knowledge of this class, but their program overall is excellent. You may also find something at George Mason over the summer if you are close to main campus.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/645318-creative-writing-summer-programs.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/summer-programs/645318-creative-writing-summer-programs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>NOTE: I crossed posts with MAdvisor. NoVa CC is an excellent resource. I did look online and didn’t see any seminars listed for the summer yet. You could call and ask. Another thought is to look at essay topics that are being presented at potential universities. This will help your D start to brainstorm the types of ideas she may want to write about. For some students who don’t punch out essays in a few hours, finding the topic can be one of the hardest things. Going through this exercise may be a good idea. Many schools have the ‘Five reasons why school X’. It sounds easy enough but frankly it is one of the hardest to be creative while getting five concrete details in 250 words or less. Perhaps a practice run at doing this over a long weekend or break with a review by a GT teacher to give feedback may be helpful. Make up a dream school, the five details don’t matter (although they should be unique to your D’s interests). The point is simply the act of writing it.</p>

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<p>@percussiondad</p>

<p>While the structure the five-paragraph essay provides is important so an essay is not derailed by a lack of flow, I’ve found that late high school and early college writing assignments strive to lead one away from and beyond the five-paragraph essay structure. It seems that the key to writing well, whether it’s a college essay or a scholastic essay, is to take what one has learned from this type of essay and apply it to a less-predetermined style of writing. For something like that, writing many essays in different styles and of different lengths is helpful.</p>

<p>With character/word limits on college essays, I’ve found that it’s important to be immensely focused and concise. Especially when admissions officers read so many essays, it seems that one would want to make one’s points without any excess. As a sophomore, the student in question has plenty of time to elect to take some rather writing-intensive courses in school before writing college essays; there was a huge difference in my writing ability in winter of sophomore year and in fall of senior year just because of the classes I was taking. If you feel that this is insufficient on its own, I second the ideas above about online courses, writing centers, student groups, and needing something to say.</p>

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<p>The college application essay is not so much a formal “essay” as it is a creative writing piece. I would have thought that an old fashioned, standard five paragraph essay (:eek:) would absolutely bore the admissions officer unless it is somehow extremely well written…</p>

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<p>@starbright, every college is different, I would be interested to know where the admissions officer were from who gave more weight to the essay than the GPA. But as most of us on CC know, it’s not just the GPA, it’s also what kinds of classes you take, how well you do relative to your peers etc etc etc. I don’t think the essay should be blown off, but I wouldn’t bend over backwards trying to get a high school sophomore into an essay training program, unless they already showed an interest in writing and wanted to do it for their own enjoyment. I absolutely agree with others, that it has a lot more to do with the story she tells than how her mechanics are. She should focus on school and other fun activities now, and then when she’s a late junior/early senior she can start to polish her essay.</p>

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<p>My sense is it is not about the story at all, but about the writer behind the story that emerges from it. You could be writing about peanuts or toilet paper, and if <em>who you are</em> comes through the pages and reflects the kind of person they want, that will help.</p>

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<p>I think the NYT writer is dead on: The more selective the college, the more the essays matter.</p>

<p>My recommendations on how to improve:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Read. A lot. Especially personal non-fiction. Anne Frank. Oliver Sachs. Lewis Thomas and Stephen Jay Gould. Anne Lamott. Virginia Wolfe. William Maxwell. Edwige Danticat. Subscribe to The New Yorker.</p></li>
<li><p>Write. A lot. Do a blog or personal journal. Show it to friends and family. Try to make the entries more pointed, more interesting. Write every day – that’s how the pros learned. (One of the values of reading Anne Frank’s diary is that you can see how much better she got over time. She was reading a lot, and teaching herself to write.)</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>I am personally absolutely convinced that the essays made a huge difference in my kids’ top 20 acceptances this year (and I will fully credit Hanna for working with my kids in this endeavor and highly recommend her to any parent). </p>

<p>These essays weren’t at all what I would have written. Which was the point. My D’s topic was downright risky and my S’s was kind of quirky (about a common household object and how using it reflected on his personality and character). But they really demonstrated their own voices and their own stories. They sounded like 18 yo kids talking, rather than the very stilted “I want to go to your esteemed institution because of the many fine qualities” prose that you see on CC when kids post essays.</p>

<p>Look, these schools get tons of fine candidates, and after a while the 3.8 blurs with the 3.9, the science fair first-prize winner in Duluth blurs with the science fair second-prize winner in Omaha, a 2200 SAT and a 2230 SAT are the same thing. These are PEOPLE that you are trying to convince. So you have to create a storyline, a point of difference. And the essay (whether commonapp or supplement) is the way to do that. Adcoms aren’t going to remember the 3.9 science fair winner from Duluth. They’ll remember the kid who grabbed them with an interesting look at himself or take on the world.</p>

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<p>SmithieandProud is correct. A closer reading.</p>

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</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/09guidance-t.html?_r=1&ref=education&pagewanted=all[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/09guidance-t.html?_r=1&ref=education&pagewanted=all&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>This is a great book to use as reference:

</p>

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<p>I highly recommend two books that aren’t specifically about essays, but are extraordinary in the way they break down the writing process and explain it in a way that most of us never think about. A motivated student (or parent, for that matter) would gain much from reading and working through the exercises in either book. Both of them are more typically used in college writing courses, but high school is not too early to take a look and learn something about truly sophisticated writing style. They are:</p>

<p>Style, Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams, who developed The Little Red Schoolhouse writing program at the University of Chicago</p>

<p>Rhetorical Grammar by Martha Kolln</p>

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<p>Hi all, Apologize for the delay, been a crazy weekend. </p>

<p>First off, thanks so much for such an overwhelming response to a newbie. Very thrilled and am glad I finally asked after a few days of lurking around. All of you have provided some very valuable insight and it does feel good to know everyone’s opinion and thinking process. </p>

<p>@fauxnom: Thanks for the book recommendations. I’ll be sure to look them up. I have Stephen King’s “On writing” (got it for myself as I am a bit of a writer/blogger myself) and he touches on some valid points in a different setting of course! </p>

<p>@limabeans: Thanks again, local library has it and am picking it up tomorrow. </p>

<p>@Crewdad: Yes, read that article and I agree. Essay isn’t all that important, but it factors in as much as the rest? </p>

<p>@Pizzagirl: Thank you for explaining that out. Placing myself in the shoes of ones who decide, a piece of personal writing is what would speak out to the individual. It is becoming challenging in the area we live to differentiate amongst yoru peers when it comes to academics. I see most resumes overlapping each other when it comes to gpa, extra-c, AP’s and such. It’s the essay that adds that personal voice. </p>

<p>@JHS: Fine points. She does read a lot, rather forced to what with the tons of material that English and World History teachers make them read, but somehow it doesn’t seem to cut it in my opinion. The kids seem to read coz it’s expected of them to do so and they speed read, without actually enjoying the literature and the nuances. Unfortunately, I suppose that is the situation they are bound in, do more within shorter bouts of time, but it does frustrate. I was a voracious reeader as a child and I manage some now too, but it is because I wanted to read that I love books and continue to do so.
Regd writing you are dead on. I have been blogging for 5 years now and I see an improvement in expression, vocabulary and fluency. Did some writing exercises (prompts, write everyday, long and short etc) and they help tweak our content and the way we express significantly. I plan on getting her to write once a week at least. We’ll have to see. </p>

<p>@Starbright: Absolutely! Thank you for the link too. Helps! :)</p>

<p>@SmithieandProud: Thanks very much. No, I don’t plan on forcing her or stressing her about the essays, but I do find her a bit reluctant to express herself in the written form. Felt that perhaps alongside of the grades and the extra-c, perhaps paying attention to writing would just make it a sub-conscious skill, so the pace at which we work (2 years from now) would be more flowing rather than then stressing out on grammar and expression and form. I wasn’t trying a rigorous program for writing, but more on simpler writing exercises that come from outside home like you suggested. Feels there would be less resistance in doing it than if say I ask her to :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Her grades are okay so far, though they could use a boost and that’s something we are planning on for this year… </p>

<p>@xrcalico23 - lol@boring admission officer. I agree, especially if it does not carry a personal story or monotonous :)</p>

<p>@Uroogla: Thank you! You said it well. Practicing to write different essays of different voices and lengths is what will help diversify. </p>

<p>@blueiguana: Yes, thank you. I liked the idea of checking ot the kind of essays that are being asked to get familiar with topics. Iwill look at them once I get her into the habit of writing for starters. Thanks for the links. JHU is good (from what I hear) but it IS expensive… </p>

<p>@txathome: Oh, am sure they do read! </p>

<p>@percussiondad: Thanks for that outline. That is the kind that my kids learnt to write since they were in elementary school too, but as someone pointed it out, is that what’s expected of a college essay was my doubt… </p>

<p>Thanks once again all, appreciate your time most definitely! </p>

<p>Just saw a new but similar thread on the forum - <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1068196-almighty-essay-application-essays-usefull.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1068196-almighty-essay-application-essays-usefull.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>While I wouldn’t go quite so far as to say the essays are the most important part of the application, I do think that once you have the stats and grades they are the single best way to distinguish yourself from other applicants. If you can make an admissions officer think “I’d like to be this kid’s roommate” you’ve won half the battle. </p>

<p>I agree with JHS reading, and especially reading memoir-type essays, is the best preparation at this point. I’d add to his list some authors who aren’t afraid to be funny like Erma Bombeck, Nora Ephrom, Anne Fadiman’s first essay in Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, and Ruth Reichl.</p>

<p>Two good books specifically about writing college essays are Concise Advice: Jump-Starting Your College Admissions Essays [Jump</a> Start Your College Essays](<a href=“http://jumpstartessays.com/]Jump”>http://jumpstartessays.com/) [haven’t read the book, but I have read digmedia’s great posts on the subject] and the Harry Bauld book in post #14.</p>

<p>The five paragraph recipe is, as others have said, absolutely not the way to go for these essays.</p>

<p>Finally, even if she doesn’t write that great essay, don’t worry, one admissions officer said that the vast majority of the essays they got were unmemorable.</p>

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<p>The reason that schools ask for the essay is to try to see the person behind the stats. As mathmom says, the vast majority of essays are quite unmemorable. So how does one write one that <em>is</em> personal, memorable, and powerful?</p>

<p>In my book, I use the the structure of movies and apply those to essays. Movies do an excellent job of creating memorable characters, and most screenplays do it in the same way. There are several techniques movies use over and over because they work… and these techniques are easily applied to writing essays. Movies are the best example of “Show, Don’t Tell.”</p>

<p>For a personal essay, the topic must come from personal memory. If you are the writer, think about moments in your life that stick in your memory. They may be good or they may be bad memories, but everyone has some things that remain in their memories forever. </p>

<p>One of the keys to creating a character is the concept of a story arc, or character development. The most memorable movies/essays involve changes in a person. So, of your memorable moments, which ones tested you, changed your behavior, made you stronger, or made you see life in a new way? That is your topic. But you need to know some techniques for writing about that topic.</p>

<p>For example, just two weeks age, I got an essay from a girl trying to describe her experience as a foreign exchange student in France - the feeling of being out of place, but excited, and her curiosity about the country and its people. That had all the ingredients of a good essay, but it was actually very unmemorable. I gave her this advice: (1) Drop your reader directly into the story with a captivating hook, maybe by describing the setting you’re in, (2) The essay should show more than just a moment in time, but a transition to a better you. (3) The best way to work on this is write the last paragraph about the “new” you immediately after writing the first paragraph. (4) Write the paragraphs in between the first and the last, which you can now focus on completely, showing how you got from the starting point to the end result. Show the transition in a few “scenes,” each showing you a step towards that final “you” in the last paragraph. (5) Make a “coda” paragraph at the end with a sentence or two that ends the essay on a good note and leaves an impression on the reader.</p>

<p>The next version of the essay she sent me floored me. The topic was the same; many of the words were the same. But the rearrangement and the transition of her from an unsure, awkward girl in a strange environment to one more self-assured - in the course of a single evening - was so much more powerful and memorable that I asked her if I could include it in a future edition of my book.</p>

<p>So the order is:</p>

<p>First Paragraph: Opening scene - describe your memorable moment as visually and sensually as you can. In it, you have some issue or flaw or fear or something you will (have to) overcome in the course of this essay.</p>

<p>Last paragraph: Resolution - describe a scene which shows you having overcome your issue/flaw/fear/whatever. This is a stronger you, even if in a small way.</p>

<p>In-between paragraphs: Now you can keep the focus. You know where you came from and where you need to go. Each paragraph is a little “scene” showing a step in your transition. Each step takes you a little closer to the end paragraph. You only need two or three of these scenes, but the main point is to provide a story arc for start to end.</p>

<p>Finally, add a sentence at the end that leaves the reader with a smile.</p>

<p>I hope the above is not interpreted as a commercial post for the book, and I hope it adds to the discussion.</p>

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<p>Digmedia, you described my son’s essay structure exactly. He started with a memory of being dragged through a paper museum in Japan long before he got interested in origami. Then talked about what he learned from origami in the meantime. Then described how he’d appreciate the museum more this time, but the little kicker/smile at the end was that he was quite sure I’d still drag him through that museum too slowly. </p>

<p>How can it be a commercial post for the book if you don’t have a link? :)</p>

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<p>mathmom - sent you a PM</p>