I'm drafting a preliminary college entrance essay right now just so I have a reference in the future. Has anyone on this forum had experience with writing college essays? I'm not entirely sure how it works, like what's appropriate and what's inappropriate, what are good qualities, what are bad ones, anything. So yeah, if anyone has experience with this and has input for me it'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
College Essay
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TRDCorolla1
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I finished a writing test at my university about a year ago. It was a standard college writing exam all students must take. If you fail it, you will not graduate. It's easy. Just know your grammer, spelling, punctuations. Above all, it's also about how well you write. They want you to be able to give examples to support what you're writing, how well you are able to follow directions, and judge your writing style. I got this info from one of my instructors (she wasn't suppose to tell us this), but she was lecturing us on how she grades our writing papers and was referring to the college writing tests, lol.
I mean, it's not meant to be hard. They give you a random topic like "If you knew someone that was doing something illegal, what approach would you take?" Something like that, but it may be completely different too depending on your university.
Best way to practice for the writing exams is on here too. When you reply to posts, try to incorporate your best grammar and emphasize on your spelling too. Oh, don't use --- lol, FOFL, etc. YOU WILL FAIL AND MAYBE DIE TOO DEPEND ON HOW HARD YOU TAKE THE NEWS OF FAILING!!!!!!!!!!!! I can promise you that.
I mean, it's not meant to be hard. They give you a random topic like "If you knew someone that was doing something illegal, what approach would you take?" Something like that, but it may be completely different too depending on your university.
Best way to practice for the writing exams is on here too. When you reply to posts, try to incorporate your best grammar and emphasize on your spelling too. Oh, don't use --- lol, FOFL, etc. YOU WILL FAIL AND MAYBE DIE TOO DEPEND ON HOW HARD YOU TAKE THE NEWS OF FAILING!!!!!!!!!!!! I can promise you that.
good qualities include a good knowledge of spelling punctuation and grammar, (SPAG)
make sure you plan well. and don't meander around a point.
good essays are structured so that they have a clear and defined point, introductions, writing and end conclusions based on the information given in the main writing.
Here are somethings that are not appropriate and some good advice.
don't ever say billion, one in a billion, three billion or anything like that, in America a billion is 1,000,000,000 in Britain that's a milliard, a british billion is 1,000,000,000,000.
in fact whenever writing numbers write figures, not words.
if you're writing a number, use the internationally recognised scientific index.
eg, 1,000,000,000 should be writing 1x10^9
slag, just no...
be aware of the words that you're using:
if you say that something happens periodically, that implies a regular period of time.
there is only one best, two things can be better than something else, but they can't both be the best choice, or joint best.
that's all I can think of right now.
make sure you plan well. and don't meander around a point.
good essays are structured so that they have a clear and defined point, introductions, writing and end conclusions based on the information given in the main writing.
Here are somethings that are not appropriate and some good advice.
don't ever say billion, one in a billion, three billion or anything like that, in America a billion is 1,000,000,000 in Britain that's a milliard, a british billion is 1,000,000,000,000.
in fact whenever writing numbers write figures, not words.
if you're writing a number, use the internationally recognised scientific index.
eg, 1,000,000,000 should be writing 1x10^9
slag, just no...
be aware of the words that you're using:
if you say that something happens periodically, that implies a regular period of time.
there is only one best, two things can be better than something else, but they can't both be the best choice, or joint best.
that's all I can think of right now.
freestyler105
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One thing that I've always thought was important in essays is not to use contractions such as isn't. Write out "is not," its much more formal.
Just make sure all the spelling and grammar is correct, and read it over a few times to be certain it sounds good.
And @ root, since second grade I've always been told that in formal writing you should write out the number. Like write "nine hundred fifty-two" instead of 952.
Just make sure all the spelling and grammar is correct, and read it over a few times to be certain it sounds good.
And @ root, since second grade I've always been told that in formal writing you should write out the number. Like write "nine hundred fifty-two" instead of 952.
D-Lew
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If I were you I'd find a good english teacher at you school and ask for assistance, mine would help proofread, give suggestions, etc.
If not that, what I would do is create an outline, start doing some rough drafts and figuring out how to word the basic ideas of your paper, then go all out on it. If I were you (and this is what I did) I would relate personal aspects into the essay, such as skills, goals, what you hope to achieve. Whatever you do, I would make sure to get feedback from people you trust (hint hint, wink wink, post it up here if ya want) as to the subject matter. The previous suggestions by other members are good points to consider as well. Beyond that, you're on your own. Fortunately for me, writing comes pretty easily.
If not that, what I would do is create an outline, start doing some rough drafts and figuring out how to word the basic ideas of your paper, then go all out on it. If I were you (and this is what I did) I would relate personal aspects into the essay, such as skills, goals, what you hope to achieve. Whatever you do, I would make sure to get feedback from people you trust (hint hint, wink wink, post it up here if ya want) as to the subject matter. The previous suggestions by other members are good points to consider as well. Beyond that, you're on your own. Fortunately for me, writing comes pretty easily.
hmm... I agree that seeing a number written in English does look better and flows better in text...
however... this is asking for help with writing a college paper, the points I raised were the ones I could remember the university lecturers giving me,
so you're right, in second grade, (well when I was six or seven) I was told to write numbers as text, (six billion).
however, when I got to twenty two I was told that I should write figures rather than numbers, for accuracy... as I said, if I said there was a billion items, how much is that, (one thousand million or one million million?)
it'd really depend on the context of the paper,
the guidelines I got, were for writing technical papers where you would expect to see a lot of the text derived from equations and such. a history paper isn't going to be the same though is it? I mean you'd use a different writing style depending on the type of paper you were writing...
in truth, if you're really not sure about how best to write a paper you might do well to go to some cheat sites/sample essay sites and have a read through some papers to get a feel for the sort of language and style that you should be using.
