Student Writing: Persuasive Essay

Student Writing: Persuasive Essay

Persuasive writing is a key communication task: the writer seeks to persuade, or get the reader to, buy, do, or believe something (or maybe NOT buy, do, or believe something.) The section explaining Persuasive Writing starts on page 66 of my book, Write like a...
Student Writing: Cause & Effect

Student Writing: Cause & Effect

  As part of our online writing class, I asked my students to write a “cause & effect” paper. The longer I live, the more I realize the importance to both remind myself and tell others: each choice we make takes us somewhere and gives us some...
Student Writing: Compare & Contrast Essay

Student Writing: Compare & Contrast Essay

  The “compare and contrast essay” is a favorite of writing teachers. I recently assigned it to my Thursday online writing class, and here are some of their papers. The students had total freedom to pick their topic.  I think the students do a...
Use Strong Nouns

Use Strong Nouns

  Today I was working with a writing student in Hsinchu, Taiwan, helping him get ready for his ACT. And a big part of the ACT writing section–or any writing for that matter–is strong word choice. Excellent word choice can help you cut wordiness and...
Description Paper & How-To Essay: Student Writing

Description Paper & How-To Essay: Student Writing

  As part of our online writing classes, my students have been writing on different kinds of tasks. Recently they wrote a Description paper, where they were to describe a person, place, or thing, as well as a How-To paper, where they give cookbook-like...
Student Writing: A Definition Paper

Student Writing: A Definition Paper

 In a recent online writing class, my students have been studying about definition papers and how to write one. In this writing task, one seeks to define a word, idea, or person. Below are two samples my students wrote. Take a look!     Life: Does its...