I’ve spent the last seven years reading student essays, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that the question of evidence haunts people more than they admit. Not the big, obvious question–everyone knows they need evidence. The real question is the one nobody asks out loud: how much is enough, and what actually counts? […]
I didn’t understand evaluation essays until I failed one. That’s the honest truth. I walked into my sophomore year of college thinking I knew how to write. I’d done narrative essays, arguments, research papers. How different could an evaluation be? Turns out, completely different. My professor handed back my first attempt with a note that […]
I spent three years watching students crumble under the weight of unsupported claims. Not because they were lazy or unintelligent, but because nobody had actually taught them the difference between having an opinion and building an argument that matters. I’ve been there myself–sitting in front of a blank page, convinced I had something important to […]
I’ve read hundreds of synthesis essays. Some of them made me sit up straighter in my chair. Others made me wonder if the student had actually read the source material or just skimmed SparkNotes at midnight. The difference between the two isn’t always obvious at first glance, but once you understand what separates a mediocre […]