What's a Good Essay?

Writing a good essay may sound like an intimidating task, but it doesn't have to be. Adam Kissel's article on What Makes a Good Essay gives you the advice you need to win over your reader and improve your chances of writing a successful essay. Whether you need to write an admission or scholarship essay or an academic essay for a high school, prep school, college, or university course, this article will give you the guidance you need to engage your reader and, using proven writing and academic editing techniques, turn what could be a boring assignment into an interesting essay paper.

• Introduction
• Always Follow the Directions
• How to Instruct the Reader
• How to Delight the Reader
• How to Move the Reader
• Take Your Reader on a Trip
• How to Make the Reader Like You
• How to Show That You Did the Reading
• How to Show That You Thought About the Reading
• How to Show That You Did Additional Reading
• Other Ways to Make the Reader Like You
• Five Ways to Turn Off the Reader

• Academic Essays
• Admission Essays
• Scholarship Essays
• Essay Writing: First-Person and Third-Person Points of View
• Elements of a Successful Research Paper
• Removing Redundancy: Writing Clearly and Concisely
• Avoiding Commonly Misused Words
• Active Voice vs. Passive Voice
• Choosing an Effective Essay Topic
• An Overview of Literary Genres
• What Makes Classic Literature Classic?
• Determining Your Writing Style
• APA vs. MLA: What Style Guide Do I Use?