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5 Ways to Give Students Free Choice on Essay Topics and Still Save Your Sanity

First and foremost, telling the student that you should write about specific topics just because a lot of work has already been done on a particular topic is not right. No two works done by two different people on the same topic are the same. Every person has their method of writing. As no two people have the same style, limiting the students by telling them that they are not allowed to write on certain topics is not the right approach. Rather, you should teach them various methods that they can use to write on the same topic. Five such methods are discussed below

  1. Focus

It would help if you told your students that they would need to focus on the topic. For instance, if the topic is ‘The Big Game’, tell your students that they should shift their focus to the players at an individual level. Talk about the things that are going through the mind of the goalkeeper. What is it that the referee is thinking? Talk about losing the game and then shaking hands with the winners. These points would help your students focus on things other than the game itself

  1.  Change the perspective

The story can be written from various perspectives. You don’t need to write the story or the essay only from the audience’s perspective. Furthermore, it is not necessary to talk only from the perspective of living things. You can also tell your students to broaden their imagination. Tell them to write the essay on ‘The Big Game’ from the perspective of the scoreboard, or the ball. The student will be able to think differently from that point onwards

  1. Include the sensory details

Talking about the senses and their ability to perceive things differently is another point that you can tell your students. Tell them that they should include about 15-20 sensory details in their essay, which might seem a lot in the beginning, but when the student starts thinking about it from that perspective, you will be surprised by the things they will come up with.

  1. Get personal

The next point that you should tell your students is that they will need to get personal. Tell them what if one of their great-grandchildren finds this essay lies in the attic one day, what would you like to tell them about yourself through the essay. Whenever a person is writing something, their personality is displayed through their writing style. Tell your students that they should get personal. Tell them to answer this question, ‘Why are you telling this story?’

  1. Change the genres

Last but certainly not least, tell your students to change the genre of your essay. Even if they are working on a basic topic like ‘The Big Game’, tell them that they should switch the genre to mystery or thriller. Imagining such sort would help the students in ways that you cannot imagine. The students will think about the various ways of converting a simple game to a mystery, or maybe a murder mystery, you never know.

Conclusion

Therefore, you should never underestimate your student by limiting their imagination and telling them not to work on certain topics just because a lot of work has already been done on that topic. Where would romantic story writers go if you tell them the same thing? 

Application Essay Topics to Avoid

You will need to craft an application before commencing your life at a college or any other institution. Most institutions demand that such applications be submitted faster to ensure quick handling of the entire admission process.  Therefore, you might have the pressure that comes with writing such applications.

However, many topics are available to write about, but every learner must adhere to what the institution needs. Pressure results because you will be asked to write about a range of requirements you need to take in keenly. During the writing process, you might find yourself deviating to various topics that are way beyond what your institution needs to hear from you, or instead, everyone finds them inappropriate to write about. It, therefore, requires that you venture into establishing the right topics while discarding the invaluable ones. Let us dive right into the application essay topics you need to avoid.

Sex

To some extent, some don’t have a more significant role to play when crafting an application essay. Keep in mind that sex isn’t invaluable to talk about, but doesn’t have to be incorporated into the process of writing your application essay.  

Poor grades

While everyone has gone through the ups and downs in the education sector, expect that they have also garnered good grades and the bad ones. However, it isn’t wrong to talk more about your downside, but talking more about poor performances and rates can bring about boredom to the reader.    

Describing why a college is a perfect match

Usually, most people love preparing a positive description of how they find a college perfect match. Well, that isn’t a wrong path, but confining yourself to describing your college can deter you from crafting the key ideas.

A summary of accomplishments

Well, accomplishments are just part of the success journey you have been going through, and they aren’t bad either. However, despite the achievements you have made, it is always good to let the application speak for yourself.  You have to craft your application in a way that clearly explains your accomplishments.  

Some other topics you should avoid writing about when crafting application essays include:

  • Writing about a past event that doesn’t impact on your life either way
  • The peace of the world
  • Confessions, epiphany
  • Sensitive topics
  • Sports topics
  • Volunteer experiences and tips
  • Illegal characters
  • Drug and substance abuse
  • Arrest topics, crimes

Conclusion

You might be questioning yourself the kind of topics you need to be writing on now that you have known what you need to avoid. There are many topics you can always consider when you want to write an application essay. The principal idea is to establish a proper way of confining yourself to what the essay needs. Mostly, many institutions will need to know much from you, and you have to be clear on precisely what is needed. Be careful to avoid deviating to irrelevant topics such as the ones we have discussed above. As a student, focus on what is required, especially by the institution.

Brainstorming Effectively on any Essay Topic

The essay will always be part and parcel of your schoolwork once you start your high school journey until graduation. In that long period, you will encounter various topics to tackle. Some will be tough to handle, and others will always be easier. However, it doesn’t matter whether the essay topic is challenging or simple. The main idea is to strive and develop the best essay content that will attract all its readers. But is it just an easy-to-do task?

Writing the best essays and the acceptable ones for youth instructors require that you devise a strategic approach to writing given topics. Usually, the best way of handling an essay before you start writing is to brainstorm ideas. Brainstorming doesn’t necessarily mean that you will land good ideas or approaches for your essay. At times, brainstorming can result in ideas that can bring about a false or bad outcome of the entire essay. If you find it hard to brainstorm the best and right ideas, you can turn to services that provide directional advice to writing essays. This piece will explore some of the hacks that will help you brainstorm effectively on any essay topic. Are you set? Let us highlight some of the hacks.

Establish a focused space

Effective brainstorming cannot be achieved when focusing on other non-related things. If you plan to brainstorm on any given topic, you should strategize and prepare yourself to focus on a specific topic. Always avoid brainstorming about any given subject when you are tired. When tired, there is a more significant potential that you will have bad ideas. The more you focus on such views, the more you deviate from the brilliant ideas for your essay.   

Break the ice if you are operating within a team

Another hack of brainstorming on your essay topic is to break the ice, especially when working within a group. Communication is an essential tool when you want to deliver excellent ideas within a group discussion. However, it is necessary to understand that some people and many of them have a greater possibility of getting shy while presenting ideas. As a result, most team members will tend to sit on ideas that are good for enhancing the topic of discussion. Breaking the ice with other team members will enhance creativity and communication. However, if you need to do it all alone, this hack plays no role.     

Get some paper

A piece of paper is enough to make your brainstorming effective. Don’t have worries about the structure but instead, keep thinking freely. To achieve all these, write the topic assigned to you at the center of the paper’s available piece. After that, take a couple of minutes to craft everything in mind about the topic of concern. Be brief at this stage and constrict yourself to key ideas you think about the subject.

Stick to proper organization and expand your ideas

After noting down every essential idea about the topic of concern, prepare your ideas, and arrange them in a given order. Most people prefer the use of charts and lists. However, the significant idea is the need for referencing the final version of the ideas you have arranged.  

After the entire process of organizing ideas:

  1. Identify a strategic way of writing on the ideas you have shortlisted on the piece of paper.
  2. Follow your plan and write the best you can.
  3. Zero down to the main ideas and research widely about them and be precise while writing your points.

Conclusion

Essay writing is a potential skill that is essential for every scholar. You have to identify a proper way of going about the entire process. As a result, you will come up with an essay that is worth the salt.