Thesis Statements:

Thesis statements are, by far, one of the hardest sentences to write for an essay. In one sentence, one has to encompass every subject that they will touch upon in their paper. It's hard, but not impossible.

The main points of a thesis statement can be summed up in two points:
1. The topic of your essay- what the essay is discussing.
2. What the main points of the essay are- what each paragraph will be talking about.

An example of this from a paper I wrote on "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams:
    In the play "The Glass Menagerie," each character is slightly mad in their own individual way, and though some characters are able to work past their madness, some are not.

In this thesis, the subjects are the characters of "The Glass Menagerie" and the point of the essay is how each character is crazy and which characters are able to move past their insanity. Each character should have their own paragraph detailing how they are insane and then two paragraphs on which characters are and are not able to move one from their madness.

I got an "A" on this paper, and this was back in junior year of High School.

Ensuring that you are discussing that which is in your thesis statement, you are able to get a better grade.

Synonyms of Common Words:

In any good essay, using a variety of words give the paper a little spice. It makes it look and sound a bit more sophisticated, and professors can appreciate this.


Here is a list of 5 relatively common words and their more sophisticated counterparts:

1. Going: departing, taking flight, exiting, disappearing, leaving,
                  planning, scheming, plotting, operating, functioning.

2. Said: explained, yelled, cried, begged, murmured, whispered, suggested, moaned, growled, screamed, snapped, declared, denounced, shouted, giggled, barked, whined, complained, etc.

3.Only: merely, simply, just, barely,
            solitary, lone, single.

4. Get: obtain, acquire, steal, find, secure, gain, borrow,
            understand, grasp, comprehend, follow, perceive, learn,
           cause, initiate, begin/began, induce, urge, persuade.

5. Close: end, silence, final, complete
               nearby, local, adjacent, neighboring,
               intimate, familiar, attached, devoted, dear, loving, friendly
               similar, alike, comparable.

Allowing yourself to use different synonyms for common words increases the intelligence of your paper. Take note of the words you use, and change the ones you use the most.

Common writing mistakes and how to avoid them

Hello fellow essay-writers, my name is Maddie and I am writing to you today about common English mistakes that people make and how to stop yourself from looking foolish.

So far, I have seen this particular mistake so many times, it's like listening to nails on a chalkboard whenever I see it. The problem is that people who are in college still confuse THERE, THEIR, AND THEY'RE! This isn't third grade people!
There is a distinct difference between these three words:

"There" is used  to describe something that is in, at, or to a place or position (this is the "Where?" there). Example: "Peter the rabbit put his bag of carrots somewhere over there." or "There is no sign of Ginny's homework.

"Their" is describing ownership over something by more than one person. An example of this is "The Johnsons just moved into their new house down the street" or "Their new dog is so cute; it's a miniature poodle!"

Another, rather hilarious in an irritating kind of way, is when people confuse "irony" and "hypocrisy." Hypocrisy is the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. An example of hypocrisy is when a person at an activist at a hunger strike sneaks off and eats a cheeseburger (this activist spouted off on staying strong and resisting the temptation to eat until the protest is successful and then running off to gorge themselves). Irony is the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite. An example of irony is "I posted a video on Youtube talking about how useless and boring Youtube is."

Lastly, "they're" is actually two words in one, "they" and "are," so hopefully you can figure out how to use this one on your own. However, if not, here is an example- "The Johnsons are such lovely neighbors; they're having us over for a barbeque next week."


You can't start a paragraph with quotes OR end with them. You also can't just insert a quote without explaining it. An example of how to properly insert a quote is as follows:
     “The poor are not responsible for their poverty and misery. Most of them struggle in conditions that are subhuman, dangerous, full of disease, hunger and despair” said Ferrari. If substantial donations are made, the Heifer project will be able to further assist those people out of their poverty.
(This is not a real quote from the Heifer International Foundation)

I am sure there are plenty of other mistakes out there and if you can find any that I make on this blog, give me a heads up. :) If you want any topics about writing papers  talked about specifically, leave me a comment. Thanks!