The Birth of Academic Research Essay

Exercise to Quiet the Critic

Most of us carry a very large critic inside our heads when we sit down to write. I have an exercise that helps writers defeat this critic who keeps them from writing. Dialogs to Diffuse The Power of Critical Voices Years ago, I was flying Southwest Airlines from Seattle to Tucson where I was going to teach a weekend writing class. Then Southwest Airlines gave boarding passes at the gate, first come, first serve, and loaded their planes in boarding groups rather than assigning seats to passengers. The boarding passes were given out one hour before departure and people started lining up before the agent actually arrived behind the counter, so they could be in the first boarding group. I was standing behind an elderly man and a middle aged man, both dressed in Western gear, tight jeans, cowboy boats, and cowboy hats, their belt buckles sparkling under the florescent lighting. They may have been father and son. Their conversation went something like this: Older man: There sure were a lot people downstairs at the check in. Younger man: Yup, these days, you can never give yourself enough time. Older man: They sure wanted us here early and theres no one ready to see us. Younger man: Yup, thats how it is, hurry up and wait. Older man: I guess we couldve gotten all jammed up at that place where they check the carry-ons and the people for weapons. Younger man: Yup, these days you cant have enough security. I realized that the conversational style hadnt really allowed either party to say very much. The answers they gave one another were clichs and just seemed to shut things down. What if, I thought, writers applied a strategy like this to a situation where there were higher stakes? An exercise was born: Think of an area in your life where you have to interact with someone you feel has annoying power over you. Think of lines that annoying person says. After each line, imagine answering that person with a clich. This will create a patronizing tone and put the I (you!) in the drivers seat. Heres a case where a writer chose to have a dialog with her inner critic by answering in clichs: Thats not bad for a first try, but why are you calling it an essay? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This little part isnt historically accurate. Historical, schmistorical. People arent going to like it. You cant please everyone. You may think you can write, but how do you know other people will think so? Bite me. Your ego is getting in the way of your writing. Takes one to know one. Your style is too uninventive, not colorful enough. Im saving my pennies for a rainy day. You could be spending your time more productively. Penny wise, pound foolish. You arent listening to me. Whatever. By the time this dialog ends, the writer is drifting into her own space. She is leaving behind the critical voice that keeps the writing from happening. Any time we resist being pushed around, we are helping to free ourselves from the forces that trample our desire to express ourselves. If you are having trouble getting a first draft finished, stop and do a dialog like this one. Your writing energy will ramp right up. By Sheila Bender, author of McGraw Hills Perfect Phrases for College Application Essays.

How Much Can a College Essay Be

How Much Can a College Essay Be?There are some common questions about college essay writing that have been asked over again and I'll try to address them in this article. Not everyone will be able to answer the same question, but hopefully the answers will be helpful.How much can a college essay be? When answering this question you must be very specific about your topic. Because there are so many college essay topics to choose from it can get a little confusing.If your question is 'How much can a college essay be?' then the answer is that you should go beyond the cover letter and start brainstorming about your topic. This may require reading up on previous topics of the students that are reading your assignment.Then you should take that information and move it forward to the topic of your essay. You want to make sure that you write about the topic of your topic in the way that will express your ideas clearly. But when it comes to how much can a college essay be you really need to know the answer to that question.The answer to 'How much can a college essay be' is: the answer to this question depends on what topic you choose to write about. Since there are so many different topics you can choose from in college, it can be very difficult to answer the question as to how much you can write.Because when you are asked how much can a college essay be, you are not just asking you can write an essay that is longer than one page. You are also being asked if you can write an essay that is longer than four pages. These are both more involved and harder assignments. Writing a college essay is a great challenge, but it also means that you should have an idea about the material that you are going to cover. It's the material that will determine how much you can write.So, you should take a look at other college essays that are similar to yours and ask yourself, how much can a college essay be? Write down your answer so that you don't forget it.