66
votes
How can I answer high-school writing prompts without sounding weird and fake?
You can and should answer these prompts in your own style and voice. I do have my doubts and concerns about these kinds of tests, but if there is any legitimacy to the grading at all, it won't be ...
- 56.3k
23
votes
Do writers write philosophical essays?
I don't think philosophy and fiction are really opposites. The difference is that in fiction, you don't describe the philosophy, you show its consequences.
For example, if your philosophy includes ...
- 4,027
23
votes
Do academic papers have to be necessarily grammatically correct?
An important purpose of writing is to organize thoughts and communicate them to an audience. You would not write in French if the audience was fluent in only English. If the goal is to communicate, ...
- 5,227
16
votes
Accepted
Is using first person in academic/technical essays always bad?
This depends on your style guide and potentially your teacher/school/boss/etc.'s guidelines. If your teacher (for example) says to avoid using the first person you may be able to negotiate to change ...
- 3,753
14
votes
How can I answer high-school writing prompts without sounding weird and fake?
Answer: To answer these sorts of prompts, particularly in the case where example answers trigger a negative response in you, I recommend the following. 1. Look for the structure of the 'perfect ...
- 23.8k
11
votes
How can I answer high-school writing prompts without sounding weird and fake?
As a teacher, I never look at the examples given as 'correct answers' when we're talking about personal writing topics.
Let me elaborate with two examples:
a) Write an essay about Romeo and Juliet.
...
11
votes
Do academic papers have to be necessarily grammatically correct?
The primary criterion for academic writing is that the meaning must be clear and unambiguous. You seek to avoid misinterpretation of your message by all your readers, irrespective of their ...
- 1,288
10
votes
Do writers write philosophical essays?
Fiction writers (like me) portray a problem and a resolution (good or bad), usually for a main character (MC). In the process, we strive to create emotions in the reader ABOUT that character; so the ...
- 97.4k
9
votes
Can I use "I" in an essay?
It's often seen as too casual
Consider the following phrase:
As I stated earlier, Romeo & Juliet is a tragedy.
The use of "I" in this statement implies that the author has a connection ...
- 447
9
votes
Accepted
How to respond to overenthusiastic copy-editing
I think you have to decide what lines you're willing to cross and which ones you aren't. It's your piece; it belongs to you. Unless you have a contract for Work for Hire or something else saying it's ...
- 32.3k
8
votes
Do writers write philosophical essays?
I am going to start by disagreeing with @Amadeus. The first job of a writer is not to entertain. At least, not necessarily. I don't think anyone reads All Quiet on the Western Front, or The Old Man ...
8
votes
How do I keep an essay about "feeling flat" from feeling flat?
I used to write movie reviews for my University News Paper and always felt that, if I'm about to give a bad score, I would point to how I would have improved the movie, if I was given the ability to ...
- 12.7k
7
votes
Do academic papers have to be necessarily grammatically correct?
Academic writing intends to be clear and authoritative. You are writing to convince others that some particular claim is valid, and while most of the work of convincing will be carried by your ...
- 1,335
6
votes
Accepted
What is the guide for writing essay for a people who cannot even write a paragraph?
I think you're selling yourself short with your writing skills. You used all the skills you need to write an essay when you wrote your question. You took a topic--your difficulty writing essays--and ...
- 106
6
votes
How can I answer high-school writing prompts without sounding weird and fake?
I used to do exactly the same thing. In jr. high school, I would routinely turn in blank sheets when faced with this kind of assignment.
My solution was to get over myself. It took a long time. I can ...
- 230
6
votes
How can I answer high-school writing prompts without sounding weird and fake?
Good writing isn't good because of the specific words or style used. Good writing is good because it communicates an idea clearly, in a well-organized structure, and with a style that is pleasant to ...
- 2,149
5
votes
Accepted
How To Write Concisely
You will probably come to find that different writing styles suit different purposes. This is taught in most writing classes, usually with discussion of "audience" or "target" or "purpose".
So you've ...
- 12.8k
5
votes
Do writers write philosophical essays?
My answer basically agrees with @Amadeus, but I want to emphasize the relation between fiction, nonfiction, and philosophy.
Nonfiction (science) writing is the farthest from fiction (obviously). ...
- 150
5
votes
Is using first person in academic/technical essays always bad?
My recommendation is to use first-person pronouns only for attribution. If you do something original, such as a thesis or other research, it makes sense to use "we" for things you did with your ...
- 9,507
5
votes
How do I keep an essay about "feeling flat" from feeling flat?
I would go analytical on this one. Talk about the missed opportunities, the lack of conflict, what makes you not give a crap about the characters, or the issues being presented, or in fact the ...
- 97.4k
5
votes
What is a self expression article called?
They're usually just called essays.
Though in our modern age we often use names related to the platform. So on a blog, they're posts or blog posts. As Zeiss Ikon points out, in a newspaper, they'...
- 32.3k
5
votes
How can I shorten a piece of writing without losing its original essence?
Eliminate superfluous words; you are saying things with too many words. To demonstrate such a transformation, I will take your first line through stages:
I strongly believe that such type of dieting ...
- 97.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Structure to follow while writing very short essays
I would take the standard 5 paragraph Essay format but modified for brevity. Your thesis or introduction answer should be your immediate answer to a writing prompt and should be no more than one ...
- 12.7k
4
votes
Where to put counter-examples within a 5-paragraph essay?
I am learning this in Language Arts right now. I am in sixth grade, and we are writing 5 paragraph argumentative essays. I believe the counterargument should be in the 4th paragraph, and then you give ...
- 41
4
votes
Accepted
Are essays supposed to be formal?
I endorse Chris Sunami's answer, as far as it goes, and gave it a +1 on the strength of that.
However, I'd like to take it further. To address the original question, I have a very different ...
- 346
4
votes
Avoid repeating specific words with no synonyms
Yes, there's a general rule against repeating a word, but like many rules, it must be applied reasonably. If you're writing about Norway and the Norwegian language, it's likely you'll have to repeat "...
- 25.4k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible