All of us use persuasion informally in our everyday lives and have done so since we were young. When you were younger, didn’t you try to persuade your mother to allow you to have dessert without eating your vegetables or to stay up late past your bedtime?  Haven’t you…

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Content is king, but mastering the mechanics of academic writing is equally important. That’s why formatting your essay matters. Proper formatting allows you to present your essays and term papers clearly, logically, and academically so that it is easy for readers to follow your argument and for instructors…

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Cover letters are like book covers, and we all know it’s the cover that first catches the reader’s eye. Publishers, of course, know that, too—which is why they take care to create amazing covers that pop and stop shoppers in their tracks. When you want to move merchandise, you…

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A common advanced writing assignment is the synthesis essay.  Unfortunately, until getting assigned their first synthesis essay, many students are completely unaware of this type of essay, which means that, in addition to writing an essay, you may fear that you have to teach yourself a whole new type…

Introduction
In the college applications process, the distinction between success and failure often lies in the subtleties of your essay.  This is especially true since academic writing has been affected by technology like Chat-GPT and Gemini taking on initial drafting tasks, producing one generic, form-fitted essay after another.  Students who…

Introduction
The best offense is a good defense—and that idea applies to writing as much as it does to sports.  In writing, you need to be able to defend yourself against accusations of plagiarism.  That means being smart about how you write, how you cite, and how you maintain integrity…

Introduction
When it comes to landing that dream job, there is nothing like a well-crafted resume to get your foot in the door.  Why does it work?  The resume is your personal billboard:  it tells the hiring manager everything he needs to know about you to make him want to…

Introduction
In academic writing, students are often tasked with adhering to specific formatting styles. One of the most common styles is the Modern Language Association (MLA) format.  MLA formatting style is one of the most widely used styles in colleges when it comes to writing and documenting scholarly work, typically…

Introduction
One of the tricks to great writing is to make good use of literary devices. Literary devices are the techniques writers use to help them communicate their ideas more colorfully, more meaningfully, and most effectively. They often involve the use of figurative language and things like metaphors, similes, symbols,…