Write Your Way into College: College Admissions Essay

141 Pages·2010·2.01 MB·English

by  LearningExpress Editors

WRITE YOUR
WAY INTO
COLLEGE
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
ESSAY
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WRITE YOUR
WAY INTO
COLLEGE
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
ESSAY
®
N E W Y O R K
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Copyright © 2010 LearningExpress, LLC.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conven-
tions.
Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Write your way into college : college admissions essay / Learning Express, LLC.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-57685-727-4
1. College applications—United States. 2. Universities and colleges—United
States—Admission. 3. Exposition (Rhetoric) 4. Essay—Authorship. I.
LearningExpress (Organization)
LB2351.52.U6W75 2010
808'.066378—dc22 2010004076
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
ISBN 13: 978-1-57685-727-4
For information or to place an order, contact LearningExpress at:
2 Rector Street
26th Floor
New York, NY 10006
Or visit us at:
www.learnatest.com
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Contents
INTRODUCTION xi
CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS A GREAT ESSAY, AND WHY IS IT
SO IMPORTANT? 1
Greater Admissions Competition 2
Increasing Importance of the Essay 3
You’re in the Driver’s Seat 4
What is a Great Essay? 4
Who is Your Audience? 7
What Not to Write 8
CHAPTER 2 CHOOSING YOUR STORY—THE REVERSE
APPROACH 11
Why You Need to Brainstorm 11
Find Your Voice and Find Your Story: Journaling 12
Your Personal Inventory 15
Show, Don’t Tell 23
Right Brain Triggers 23
Great Essays: Some Final Thoughts 24
v
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–CONTENTS–
CHAPTER 3 SELECTING AND WORKING WITH A TOPIC 27
Common Application Topics 28
Demonstrated Interest Topics 34
Quotation Prompts 38
Short Answer Prompts 38
Recycling Essays 39
Making the Choice 40
CHAPTER 4 THE WRITING PROCESS 43
Narrow Your Focus 43
Plan First, Write Second 44
Creating an Essay Outline 45
Add Depth with Details 46
Great Starts: The Introduction 49
The Meat of the Essay: Effective and Organized
Body Paragraphs 51
Strong Finishes: How to Conclude 52
Watch What You Read 55
CHAPTER 5 ESSAY WRITING WORKSHOP–PART ONE 57
Get Concise 57
Be Precise 61
Be Accurate 62
Stay Active 66
Eliminate Ambiguity 67
Don’t Offend 69
Opening Your Thesaurus—Think Twice 70
CHAPTER 6 ESSAY WRITING WORKSHOP–PART TWO 73
Grammar Check: A Warning 73
Subject/Verb Agreement 74
Run-on Sentences and Fragments 75
Apostrophe Misuse 76
Comma Misuse 78
vi
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–CONTENTS–
Accidental Shifts 79
Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers 81
Unclear Pronoun References 81
Spelling 82
CHAPTER 7 FINALIZING AND SUBMITTING THE ESSAY 89
Revising 90
Editing 91
Proofreading 94
Considerations for Electronic and Paper Submissions 95
CHAPTER 8 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: WHAT WORKS,
AND WHAT DOESN’T 97
Essay One 98
Essay Two 101
Essay Three 104
Essay Four 107
Essay Five 109
Essay Six 112
Essay Seven 115
Essay Eight 118
APPENDIX A COLLEGE ADMISSIONS RESOURCES 121
ONLINE RESOURCES 121
BOOKS 122
APPENDIX B C OLLEGES THAT ACCEPT THE COMMON
APPLICATION 125
ADDITIONAL ONLINE PRACTICE 131
vii
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Contributors
Lauren Starkey is an author, editor, and educator. She has written 20 books,
including How to Write Great Essays, SAT Writing Essentials, Goof Proof College
Admissions Essays, and test prep titles for the SAT, GRE, LSAT, and MCAT.
Lauren created SAT Bootcamp—4 Hours to a Higher Score (www.satboot
camp.us), a New England-based test strategy workshop that’s now in its fourth
year. She also writes a column on college admissions for www.examiner.com,
and provides customized test prep and college essay counseling for individual
students. Lauren lives in Vermont with her husband and three children.
ix
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