Grammar Smarts: Using the Active vs. the Passive Voice

Knowing when to use the active or passive voice is a topic that a lot of people struggle with, because it seems like such a small detail. And in reality, it is — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Depending on the genre you're writing in, it can actually be very important. Before we...

Written into Being: Tips on Creating Better Characters

If you're just starting out writing, I recommend writing character-focused stories. If you're not already familiar with the terms, character-focused stories are based around a central cast of characters and their journey of adventure, growth or perhaps survival. Within this framing, stories exist along a sort of spectrum and on the opposite end from character-based...

Adding Transitions to your Essay

No matter how easy or difficult coming up with the content of an essay is, one topic still mystifies many across the board: the challenge of transitioning between seemingly different topics in a way that makes sense. As a result of this, many papers end up looking a little bit choppy, like this:  Many people’s...

Revision Tips to Improve Your Paper

If writing papers is something you struggle with, then it can be tempting to just throw down your thoughts as best as you can, and not look back before you turn it in. However, revising is vital to the process of writing a good paper, and it can even improve your grade if you do...

Write for Yourself for a Change: An Introduction to Genre Fiction

When the new semester comes around and you find your time consumed with writing essays, lab reports, research papers, reading responses and/or everything in between, it's easy to develop a... contentious relationship with writing. But, while writing is often work we have to do in order to learn from our classes and get good grades,...

Ending the Conclusion and the Dreaded “So What”

If you’re reading this because you’ve gotten through your entire paper and aren’t sure what to do now, then congratulations! You’ve gotten through the hardest part. But now you might not be sure what to stick on the end of your paper that your professor will actually be looking for.  In fact, maybe you’ve heard...

A Letter to the Director

I transferred here from M University in a small city in southeast Texas. It was the big town surrounded by small towns, so when citizens of those small towns went to college, they went to MU. That means there were a plethora of people with conservative, small-town ideals congregated together in one big, closed-minded campus. For...

Essay Tips: How to Use Free Writing to Compose Your Essay Faster

With how writing is treated in high schools, it’s no surprise that many students dread the act of writing, and put off writing papers until the very last moment possible. Needless to say — this is a bad plan. Not only does this leave you short on time, but if you labor over trying to...

For Your Consideration: Advice on Writing Fiction

Ever since I was in sixth grade, I’ve wanted to become a professional creative writer. Needless to say, I still haven’t willed my fantasy to fruition. Even after reading and writing more, I still looked down at my inked notebooks and papers and thought: “This sh*t still sucks.” Despite my own criticisms, I’m somehow still...

Introductions: what they are and how you, too, can make one

Introductions are one of the most important parts of an essay because they are basically your reader’s first impression of your ideas. No pressure, but this is the part where you drag your readers in with information so gripping that they just can’t put it down. And even if you’re stuck with a lame, super...