How to Write a Descriptive Essay

Descriptive essays are often subjective tasks. The first issue at hand is to make sure you
know what type of paper you are writing. The descriptive essay is often creative,
personal, or simply artistic. Discuss the assignment with your professor or teacher
before you begin.
Even though your descriptive essay is more personal than a standard five-paragraph or
compare-contrast essay, there is still quite a bit of homework to be done. Here is a list of
important rules to follow as your write this essay.

1. Understand the concept

2. Do your research
3. Outline the paper
4. Write the paper
5. Re-write the paper
6. Edit (outside editors)

Descriptive essays rely on their nominal stature. It is more important to use imagery and
metaphorical language than scientific data. Descriptive essays are not mathematic
entries, nor are they always factual. They are opinions. Consequently, you can try to
write and describe anything you desire. You simply have to do it well. As horrible as that
sounds, your professors and teachers will tell you the same thing.
Here are some tips to remember when writing your descriptive essay:

1. Actually describe something

2. Use concrete and abstract images
3. Use concrete and abstract ideas
4. Do not go overboard with adjectives and adverbs
5. Do not go overboard with similes and metaphors
6. Give it to someone else to see if your essay actually describes something

While it may seem rather vague initially, sometimes a descriptive essay can be the most
liberating and pleasurable essay to write. You are just writing something as you see it. If
you can prove and describe an idea or image in language, then you have accomplished
your task. Documentation and hard research are not always necessary components
(although they may be).

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 The Narrative Essay

As one of the modes of expository writing, narrative offers us the opportunity to think and write about
ourselves, to explain how our experiences lead to some important realization or conclusion about our
lives or about the world, in general. Each of us has had meaningful experiences that have taught us
lessons about ourselves or others or the world. Through the narrative essay, we have the chance to
record and share those experiences as a means to substantiate our new understanding.

To write a narrative essay, we need to think about a moment worth sharing and to think about finding
the significant, salient point in that moment. To do this, we should think about the new insights or
awareness we gained for ourselves (insights that might be relevant to others as well). Finally, writers
incorporate details which will make the incident real for readers.

Also, a narrative paragraph can be an effective, interesting way to integrate significant background
information into a variety of different essay types. Even if the essay as a whole primarily uses another
method of development, the narrative paragraph can be incorporated into an essay to support a topic
sentence in a particular paragraph and to establish a bit of ethical appeal at the same time. I am
thinking here of how effectively former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were at
incorporating some small personal narratives into speeches, press conferences, or interviews. Both
might be talking about a larger subject, say the economy, and both would slip in a small aside about a
conversation they had had with a local merchant, who taught them how important it was to push the
particular economic program that the President was advocating in the larger speech. What's more,
such narrative additions can help you as the writer create ethical appeal with your audience: the
readers often look at such personal narrative favorably, seeing them as a touch of "realism" in an
otherwise dry, esoteric, or abstract discussion.

However, whether you use narrative as the rhetorical mode of the essay as a whole or just of a
single paragraph within an essay, there are some conventions and principles of the narrative that
readers commonly expect.
 Principles of Narratives

Telling a story and writing a narrative essay are not the same thing at all.
1. Build your essay around a central point, a main idea that your story then supports and
explains. This is crucial, and perhaps the defining characteristic between a narrative-as-story
and a narrative-as-essay. This main idea will be the thesis of your essay, will say something
that the story itself then illuminates and shows to be true. This generalization can be quite
personal; it does not have to capture a truth about humanity as a whole or about the essence
of the human condition. It simply needs to capture a truth about your life and use the story,
the narrative experience, to illustrate its importance to you. In this way, it then has meaning to
the readers as well.

Remember that ultimately you are writing an essay, not simply telling a story.

2. Remember to incorporate details of your story that not only illuminate your thesis, but also
engage your readers' imaginations and make the story "real" for them as well. On the Specific
and Concrete Detail page, I have some advice about how you can do this.

http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/comp1/narrativ.html
 Doing the Narrative Essay
I. Setting up the narrative essay.
A. The first step is to decide what you want to write about.
1. Select an experience that you know will meet the requirement of
giving you a thesis.
a. You want an experience that you can draw a lesson from.
b. The lesson can be either for you or it can be a revelation
about humanity in general.
c. Richter essay
i. The lesson is that drinking and driving isn’t fun, but
rather dangerous.
ii. The lesson is for humanity.
d. Swanson essay
i. The lesson is that he doesn’t have to kill to enjoy
hunting.
ii. The lesson is about himself only, but readers can also
learn something about hunting.
e. Castro essay
i. Be careful about whom she dates.
ii. The lesson is for her, but it could work for everyone.
2. Select an experience that can be covered in two to five pages.
a. If the experience can’t be stretched into two to five pages,
then you have not selected a proper topic.
b. Keep in mind that you must have lots of details in telling a
story, so most topics will work.
B. The second step is to decide who is included in the essay.
1. Don’t include too many characters.
2. Include only those main characters who have a real part in the story.
3. Analyze the sample essay.
a. Characters in the Richter essay
i. Sean
ii. Lisa
iii. Troy
iv. Narrator
b. Characters in the Swanson essay
i. Narrator
ii. Fawn
c. Characters in the Castro essay
i. Emilia
ii. Gary
iii. Their mothers
C. The third step is to establish the setting of the essay.
1. The setting is the time and place for the story.
a. The setting can change as action changes.
b. However, the setting doesn’t have to change if the action
occurs in a single time and in a single place.
2. Sample essays
 a. Setting for the Richter essay
i. The place changes from the funeral to Troy’s apartment
to the funeral.
ii. The time changes from present to a flashback.
b. Setting for the Swanson essay
i. The place is a hunting stand and stays there.
ii. The time is a September evening and remains the
same.
c. Setting for the Castro essay
i. Her home which moves to the car, the theater, the car,
her home, the prom, the after-prom party, the car, her
home.
ii. The time changes as she describes the two dates to
indicate how the prom was “doomed” to failure.
iii. The time shift also is a flashback since she opens and
closes in the present.
D. Finally establish the sequence of events—as much as you can before
writing.
1. Follow chronological order once you start to tell the story.
a. You may need a general paragraph to set the time and place
before actually beginning the action.
b. That setting of time and place can come in the introduction or
in the first paragraph in the body of the paper.
2. If you use a flashback, begin the chronological order once you start
the flashback.
3. Tell the events in order so that readers can follow the sequence of
events.
a. If you must go back to describe action that happens at the
same time as other action, make clear to readers what you are
doing.
b. Always make sure that readers know where and when the
action is occurring.
4. Sample essays
a. Sequence of events in the Richter essay
i. Funeral
ii. Flashback to setting of characters and their relationship
to each other.
iii. Sean’s birthday
iv. Back to funeral
v. Conclusion
b. Sequence of events in the Swanson essay
i. Setting of Saturday evening in hunting stand.
ii. Deer come into clearing.
iii. Fawn stares at him.
iv. He stares at fawn.
v. Fawn leaves.
vi. Conclusion.
c. Sequence of events in the Castro essay
i. She describes how the date was set up.
ii. Horseback riding.
 iii. They go on a first, “get acquainted” date.
iv. They go to the prom.
v. They go to the after-prom party.
vi. Conclusion.

II. Writing the narrative essay

A. Once you have written a good outline that sets up setting, characters, and
sequence of events, you have done much toward writing the paper.
B. Follow the outline carefully.
1. The outline is an indication of your good ideas for the paper’s
content.
2. However, logic would also dictate that you may need changes as
you write.
a. For example, you may decide that your opening is weak and
would be better if you used a flashback or some other
technique.
b. You may decide that you have too many characters and, thus,
want to omit a detail or two.
3. Do not paragraph based on the outline.
a. Paragraph when you have a significant change in time and
place.
b. Paragraph when you have a change in action.
c. You need to be careful about your paragraphs since you don’t
want to run too much action together in one paragraph.
d. Remember that paragraphs give readers’ brains a chance to
catch up, even if for the millisecond that it takes them to pass
over the paragraph indentation.
e. However, if you see that you have a number of short, choppy
paragraphs, look to combine some of them.
f. Too much paragraphing creates a lack of continuity.
C. Use transitions so that readers can move smoothly throughout the paper
from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph.
1. Transitions make a narrative flow, so they are essential to keep
readers in the story.
2. Lack of transitions will mean lack of connections for readers.
3. See transitions.
D. Read the sample essays with comments: Castro essay, Swanson essay.
D. Proofread your paper very carefully.

http://www.northland.cc.mn.us/owl/Doing%20the%20Narrative%20Essay.html
Purpose of a Narrative Essay

A narrative essay is a story written about a personal experience.

Writing a narrative essay provides an opportunity to get to know and
understand yourself better. One of the best ways to reveal who you are
is to write about how you became aware of something, gained a new
way of seeing the world, a new insight. While such awareness can
occur for apparently unexplainable reasons, it most often happens when
you encounter new ideas or have experiences that change you in some
way. During the process of writing a narrative, you will learn ways to
articulate personal experience to inform and entertain others. Narratives
provide human interest, spark our curiosity, and draw us close to the storyteller. In addition, narratives
can do the following:

Create a sense of shared history, linking people together.

Provide entertainment. Most people enjoy a thrilling movie or an intriguing book.

Provide psychological healing. Reading or listening to the narrative of someone who faced a life
crisis similar to one you are experiencing can help you through the crisis. They can also help the
writer deal with the crisis.

Provide insight. Narratives can help you discover values, explore options, and examine motives.

Characteristics of the Narrative

Narrative essays describe specific experiences that changed how you felt, thought, or acted. The
form of a narrative is similar to a story in that it describes how your character is feeling by "showing"
through his/her actions, rather than by coming right out and "telling" your readers. However, a good
narrative isn't just an entertaining story, but has a point to make, a purpose to convey. In writing a
narrative essay, your purpose is not to merely tell an interesting story but to show your readers the
importance and influence the experience has had on you. This experience may be used as a
springboard for reflection.

A good narrative:

involves readers in the story.

It is much more interesting to actually recreate an incident for readers than to simply tell about it.

relates events in sequence.

The creation of specific scenes set at actual times and in actual places. Show, don't tell. Re-create
an event by setting it in a specific time and space.

includes detailed observations of people, places, and events.

Do you recall sights, sounds, smells, tactile feelings, and tastes? Use actual or re-created
dialogue? Give actual names of people and places.

presents important changes, contrasts, or conflicts and creates tension.

Do you grow from change? Is there a conflict between characters? Is there a contrast between the
past and the present?

is told from a point of view--usually the author's point of view.

focuses on connection between past events, people, or places and the present.
How relevant is the event today? How relevant will it be in your future?

makes a point, communicates a main idea or dominant impression.

 Your details, specific scenes, accounts of changes or conflicts, and connections between past and
present should point to a single main idea or dominant impression for your paper as a whole. While
not stating a flat "moral" of the story, the importance of your memory must be clear to your reader.

Planning the Narrative Essay

To plan a narrative, your job is:

first, select an incident worthy of writing about,

second, find relevance in that incident (writers might ask themselves what about the incident
provided new insights or awareness),

finally, dredge up details which will make the incident real for readers.

Good stories occur everywhere and can be told about anything. They are as likely to occur in your
own neighborhood as in some exotic locale. Potential stories happen daily; what makes potential
stories actual stories is putting them into language, recounting them, orally or in writing. Good stories
are entertaining, informative, lively, and believable; they will mean something to those who write then
as well as to those who read them. Subjects for good essays have no limits. You already have a
lifetime of experiences from which to choose, and each experience is a potential story to help explain
who you are, what you believe, and how you act today. When beginning, you might want to ask
yourself:

Did you ever have a long-held belief or assumption shattered? Can you trace the change to one
event or a series of events?

Is there a particular experience that you observed that has had a profound influence on your life?

Is there a person that who has greatly influenced you?

Is there a decision that you had to make, or a challenge or an obstacle that you faced?

Was there ever a moment in your life when you decided to reform, to adopt a whole new outlook?

How would you characterize your attempt? (Successful? Unsuccessful? Laughable? Painful?)

Here are some subject suggestions:

Winning and Losing

Winning something-a race, a contest, a lottery-can be a good subject, since it features you in a unique
position and allows you to explore or celebrate a special talent. The truth is that in most parts of life,
there are more losers than winners. While one team wins a championship, dozens do not. So there is
a large, empathetic audience out there who will understand and identify with a narrative about losing.
Although more common than winning, losing is less often explored in writing because it is more
painful to recall. Therefore, they are fresher, deeper, more original stories to tell about losing.
Milestones
Perhaps the most interesting but also the most difficult experience to write about is one that you
already recognize as a turning point in your life, whether it's winning a sports championship, being a
camp counselor, or surviving a five-day solo camping trip in mid-winter. Writers who explore such
topics in writing often come to a better understanding of them. Also, their very significance challenges
the writers to make them equally significant for an audience that did not experience them. When you
write about milestones, pay special attention to the physical details that will both advance your story
and make it come alive for readers.
Daily Life
Commonplace experiences make fertile subjects for personal narratives. You might describe
practicing, rather than winning the big competition, or cleaning up after, rather than attending the
prom. If you are accurate, honest, and observant in exploring a subject from which readers expect
little, you are apt to pleasantly surprise them and draw them into your essay. Work experiences are
especially fruitful subjects, since you may know inside details and routines of restaurants and retail
shops that the rest of us can only guess.

More Narrative writing prompts

Writing the Narrative Essay

A few things to remember when writing a narrative essay:

Narratives are generally written in the first person, that is, using I. However, third person (he, she,
or it) can also be used.

Narratives rely on concrete, sensory details to convey their point. These details should create a
unified, forceful effect, a dominant impression.

Narratives, as stories, should include these story conventions: a plot, including setting and
characters; a climax; and an ending

http://web.gccaz.edu/~mdinchak/101online_new/assignment3writing.html

ACADEMIC WRITING
Whether you’re a student, teacher, or businessperson, academic writing skills are
necessary in today’s world. Essays, reports, presentations and research papers are just
some examples of documents written in the academic style. Academic writing, when
used appropriately, presents a polished and professional image. Academic writing skills
encompass strong composition, excellent grammar, and a consistent stylistic approach.

What is Academic Writing?

Academic writing refers to a particular style of expression. Characteristics of academic
writing include a formal tone, use of the third-person rather than first-person
perspective, clear focus on the issue or topic rather than the author’s opinion, and
precise word choice. Writers employing the formal academic style avoid jargon, slang,
and abbreviations.

Academic writing is formal writing. Many novice writers have trouble telling informal
writing apart from formal writing. They resort to informal writing, since it’s easier and
more familiar. Characteristics of informal writing include the use of colloquialisms and
jargon, writing in the first person or making “I” statements, making direct personal
statements, and imprecise word choices.

Just as you probably wouldn’t wear shorts and flip-flops to a wedding, there’s a time and
a place for informal writing. The most informal writing imaginable is the text message,
full of abbreviations such as “R U here?” to convey quick questions and responses. In
comparison, the most formal writing of all can be found in legal documents.

Informal writing is fine for diary entries, blogs, personal writing, letters or emails to
friends. However, writers working on papers for school, college application essays,
scientific papers, research papers, conference presentations, and business proposals
generally employ a more formal style akin to donning a suit or dress to attend a
wedding.

Here are examples of informal and formal writing.

Informal writing: I think he’s a loser.

Formal writing: Macbeth’s horrific choices cause him to lose everything he holds dear:
children, wife, friends, crown and king.

In this example, the first statement is informal. The writer speaks in the first person,
using the word “I”, and states an opinion. The author employs the slang term “loser”,
which is inappropriate in a formal context. He also uses the contraction “he’s”. If this
were in the middle of a paragraph, it may be easier to understand to whom the author is
referring. Taken as a simple statement, however, it’s impossible to know whether the
writer thinks his best friend, his dog, or a rock star is a loser!
The second example uses an academic, formal style typical of what professors might
expect at the college level. Written in the third-person, the sentence omits references to
the writer and focuses on the issue. Strong, specific adjectives like “horrific” convey the
author’s view clearly without resorting to slang. The use of the colon—sometimes
discouraged by professors as an antiquated punctuation mark, but still used in formal
documents—creates a strong, formal feel when properly used here to introduce a list.

Academic Writing Skills

Writers seeking to improve their academic writing skills should focus their efforts on
three key areas:

1. Strong writing: Thinking precedes writing. Good writers spend time distilling
information from their sources and reviewing major points before creating their work.
Writing detailed outlines helps many authors organize their thoughts. Strong academic
writing begins with solid planning.

2. Excellent grammar: Learn the major and minor points of grammar. Spend time
practicing writing and seek detailed feedback from teachers, professors or writers you
respect. English grammar can be detailed and complex, but strong writers command the
major points after many years of study and practice. Investing in a good writing
reference, such as Strunk and White’s book, The Elements of Style, or referring to
YourDictionary can provide advice on the more troublesome points of grammar. Proper
punctuation use and good proofreading skills improve academic writing as well.

3. Consistent stylistic approach: Whether your school or employer requires use of the
MLA, APA or Chicago Manual of Style, choose one style and stick to it. Each of these
style sheets provide guidance on how to write out numbers, references, citations, and
more. All are available at your local bookseller in hard copy or online. The MLA is
commonly used in English classes, while APA is for psychology and science. Chicago
Manual of Style is often the choice in the workplace.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/dictionary-articles/Academic-Writing-Skills.html

EXPOSITORY ESSAYS
What Are They?
By Grace Fleming, About.com Guide

If you search the Internet for a definition of an expository essay, you might become
confused. Some books and websites define them as "how to" essays, while others
give a long and confusing definition that seems to include every possible essay type
out there.

Expository essays are simply essays that explain something with facts, as opposed
to opinion. Samples of expository essays include:

• Essays that described how to do something.

• Essays that analyze events, ideas, objects, or written works.
• Essays that describe a process.
• Essays that explain/describe an historical event.
Expository essays are often written in response to a prompt that asks the writer to
expose or explain a specific topic. Essay questions on tests are normally expository
essays, and will look like the following:
• Explain the events leading up to the Revolutionary War.
• Explain how to balance a checkbook.
• Describe the composition and function of a chicken's egg.
An expository essay should have the same basic structure as any typical essay, with
an introductory paragraph, body paragraphs, and a summary. The length of your
essay can vary, according to context.

The introductory paragraph will contain the thesis sentence, and the topic of the
thesis should be grounded in fact.

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Expository Essay
The purpose of an expository essay is to present, completely and fairly, other people's views or to
report about an event or a situation. Expository writing, or exposition, presents a subject in detail,
apart from criticism, argument, or development; i.e., the writer elucidates a subject by analyzing
it. Such writing is discourse designed to convey information or explain what is difficult to
understand. Exposition usually proceeds by the orderly analysis of parts and the use of familiar
illustrations or analogies.
Such an analysis requires
1. reading with understanding the ideas developed in an article by clearly stating another's
thesis, outlining the facts used by the author to support that thesis, and the "values"
underlying the ideas

2. putting what is read into a larger context by relating another's article or book to other
work in the field

3. clearly and effectively communicating this information to a defined audience. In other

words, you must write clearly and fully enough for your readers to know how you have arrived
at your analyses and conclusions. They should never have to guess what you mean; give your
readers everything they need to know to follow your reasoning

This practice is not "just for students." Accurate analysis is a fundamental professional activity in
almost all careers. Like any other fundamental skill, it must be constantly practiced in order to
maintain and improve it. Other goals, such as learning "time management" and note-taking, are
also developed by this activity.
Do not be afraid to revise your essay! In fact, you will probably want to change it at least once;
this is called "thinking through a 'problem'" or "learning."
The revisions will consist of the following:
1. finding the precise words to express your thoughts

2. correcting typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors

3. making sure that your paragraphs are "tight" and sequenced properly

4. making sure that the transition ("segue") from one major topic to another makes sense

Expository essays also have a distinct format.

The thesis statement must be defined and narrow enough to be supported within the essay.
• Each supporting paragraph must have a distinct controlling topic and all other sentences
must factually relate directly to it. The transition words or phrases are important as they help
the reader follow along and reinforce the logic.

• Finally, the conclusion paragraph should originally restate the thesis and the main
supporting ideas. Finish with the statement that reinforces your position in a meaningful and
memorable way.

• Never introduce new material in the conclusion.

http://essayinfo.com/essays/expository_essay.php

Argumentative Essay
The function of an argumentative essay is to show that your assertion (opinion, theory,
hypothesis) about some phenomenon or phenomena is correct or more truthful than others'. The
art of argumentation is not an easy skill to acquire. Many people might think that if one simply has
an opinion, one can argue it successfully, and these folks are always surprised when others don't
agree with them because their logic seems so correct. Argumentative writing is the act of forming
reasons, making inductions, drawing conclusions, and applying them to the case in discussion; the
operation of inferring propositions, not known or admitted as true, from facts or principles known,
admitted, or proved to be true. It clearly explains the process of your reasoning from the known or
assumed to the unknown. Without doing this you do not have an argument, you have only an
assertion, an essay that is just your unsubstantiated opinion.
Notice that you do not have to completely prove your point; you only have to convince reasonable
readers that your argument or position has merit; i.e., that it is somehow more accurate and
complete than competing arguments.
Argumentative essays are often organized in the following manner:
1. They begin with a statement of your assertion, its timeliness, significance, and relevance in
relation to some phenomenon.

2. They review critically the literature about that phenomenon.

3. They illustrate how your assertion is "better" (simpler or more explanatory) than others,
including improved (i.e., more reliable or valid) methods that you used to accumulate the data
(case) to be explained.

Finally revise and edit, and be sure to apply the critical process to your argument to be certain you
have not committed any errors in reasoning or integrated any fallacies for which you would
criticize some other writer.
Additionally, you will want to find out how your readers will object to your argument. Will they say
that you have used imprecise concepts? Have you erred in collecting data? Your argument is only
as strong as the objections to it. If you cannot refute or discount an objection, then you need to
rethink and revise your position.

http://essayinfo.com/essays/argumentative_essay.php

How to Write an Argument Essay

By Grace Fleming, About.com Guide
Planning Stage

For an argument essay to be effective, it must contain certain elements. For this reason, you must
take a few minutes to plan before you jump into writing an argument essay.

Find a Good Topic

To find good topic for an argument essay you should consider several issues that will have two
conflicting points of view or very different conclusions. As you look over a list of topics you should
find one that really sparks your interest.

While a strong interest in a topic is important, it's not enough. You next have to consider what
position you can back up with reasoning. It's one thing to have a strong belief, but when shaping
an argument you'll have to explain why your belief is reasonable and logical.

As you explore the topics, make a mental list of points you could use as evidence for or against an
issue.

Consider Both Sides of Your Topic and Take a Position

Once you have selected a topic you feel strongly about, you should make a list of points for both
sides of the argument. One of your first objectives in your essay will be to present both sides of
your issue with an assessment of each. Of course, you will conclude that one side (your side) is the
best conclusion.

In the planning stage you will need to consider strong arguments for the "other" side. Then you'll
shoot them down!

Gather Evidence

When we think of arguments we might picture two red-faced people speaking quite loudly and
making dramatic gestures. But that's because face-to-face arguments often become emotional. In
fact, the act of arguing involves providing proof to support your claim, with or without emotions.

In an argument essay you will have to provide evidence without providing too much drama. You'll
explore two sides of a topic (briefly) and provide proof as to why one side or position is the best
one.
Writing Stage

Once you've given yourself a solid foundation to work with, you can begin to craft your essay. An
argument essay should contain three parts: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. The
length of these parts (number of paragraphs) will vary, depending on the length of your essay
assignment.

1. Introduce your topic and assert your side

As in any essay, the first paragraph of your argument essay should contain a brief explanation of
your topic, some background information, and a thesis statement. In this case, your thesis will be a
statement of your position on a particular controversial topic.

Example introductory paragraph with thesis statement:

Since the turn of the new century, a theory has emerged concerning the end of the world, or at
least the end of life as we know it. This new theory centers around the year 2012, a date that many
claim has mysterious origins in ancient manuscripts from many different cultures. The most noted
characteristic of this date is that it appears to mark the end of the Mayan calendar. But there is no
evidence to suggest that the Maya saw any great relevance to this date. In fact, none of the claims
surrounding a 2012 doomsday event hold up to scientific inquiry. The year 2012 will pass without a
major, life-altering catastrophe.

2. Present both sides of the controversy

The body of your essay will contain the meat of your argument. You should go into more detail
about the two sides of your controversy and state the strongest points of the counter-side of your
issue.

After describing the "other" side, you will present your own viewpoint and then provide evidence to
show why your position is the correct one.

Select your strongest evidence and present your points one by one. Use a mix of evidence types,
from statistics, to other studies and anecdotal stories. This part of your paper could be any length,
from two paragraphs to two hundred pages.

Re-state your position as the most sensible one in your summary paragraphs.

Tips for Your Essay:

• Avoid emotional language

• Know the difference between a logical conclusion and an emotional point of view
• Don't make up evidence
• Cite your sources
• Make an outline
• Be prepared to defend your side by knowing the strongest arguments for the other side.
You might be challenged by the teacher or by another student.

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