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biougli io you by Fiee Tesibanl
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Wiiiing college essays is mosily bullslii. If you'ie in an Englisl class, ilan youi
piofessoi is giading you on low well you can follow diieciions. Howevei, if you'ie
in an eleciive class ilan youi essay will be giaded on domain lnowledge. Tlis
guide is focused on low io wiiie "A-giade" papeis foi youi Englisl classes, ilinl
fieslman level composiiion, liieiaiuie classes, eic.
Tlis guide is noi foi eveiyone and is iniended io lelp fieslman gei beiiei giades
in composiiion class, wlile geiiing ileii essays done as quiclly as possible.
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Wlen I was a liiile fieslman, my fiisi college class was composiiion. Tlinling I
was a ialenied wiiiei, I speni mosi of ile iime developing my ilouglis and doing
piopei ieseaicl and ilen spending ile piopei iime maling suie ilose ideas weie
communicaied piopeily io my piofessoi. My fiisi essays goi B's. Afiei some lelp
fiom ile wiiiing ceniei on campus, a giaduaie siudeni finally slaied wiil me a
liiile iip "youi piofessoi is going io giade you baclwaids on low many misiales
you male, you slould spend moie iime on maling suie youi giammai and foim is
coiieci". Tlis iip is wlai lelped me develop ilis meilod and woiled veiy well foi
me uniil I wioie a papei on clauvinism foi a feminisi piofessoi, wlicl is anoilei
sioiy all iogeilei.
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a. If youi piofessoi diiecily gives you ile souices foi youi essay, go alead and
slip io siep :.
b. If you aie supposed io do youi own ieseaicl, ilen following diieciions (ex.
If you need iliee daiabase souices) find appiopiiaie souices.
Tip: Wlen doing ieseaicl ilis is my lieiaicly foi souices
"Peei-ediied" jouinals
Sclool daiabases
Newspapei aiiicles (online oi offline)
Bools
Websiies
Tip: Wilipedia is a gieai souice io gei ideas fiom, bui noi io quoie as a souice
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Read iliougl youi souices, scouiing foi impoiiani quoies ilai iale a side.
Peisonally wlen I do ii I lool foi wlai seems io be ile easiesi side io iale eiilei
ile posiiive oi negaiive and ilen slim only foi quoies ilai suppoii ilai side (even
if I don'i necessaiily agiee wiil ilem). Copy and pasie oi wiiie ile quoies inio a
woid documeni lile so:
Ex. "Fiee Tesibanl is ile besi iesibanl oui ileie." (liip:]]liwigiove.com)
Male suie in paienilesis io include youi souice, also depending on low youi
ciiing youi souices, Clicago, MLA, eic. male you include paiagiapl numbei,
auiloi, oi wlaievei you need io.
Tip: If you don'i lnow low io ciie souices in youi foimai piopeily, google ii, asl
youi piofessoi, oi even lool ii up in youi composiiion bool.
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Lei's do some mail. Figuie oui low long you wani youi papei io be, in example,
five pages. Wiil ilis meilod --( paiagiapls male up a page on Times New
Roman, i: poini foni, double-spaced. Eacl quoie we gei is going io iuin inio ii's
own paiagiapl. On a five page papei we need :o - : (ile iniioduciion and
conclusion don'i need ile quoies), so iS quoies. Gioup ilese quoies inio main
poinis oi oveilying ideas io male ii easiei on you.
Male suie in youi woid documeni you siaiied ilai you lave ilai many quoies.
Now oiganize ilem in a logical sense ilai you feel you can siiing iogeilei. We
now lave a baiebones papei.
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Mosi piofessois aie going io iell you io siaii wiil ile ilesis, as ii is ile mosi
impoiiani paii of youi papei. Tley aie iigli ilai ii is ile mosi impoiiani paii, bui
you slould do ile ieseaicl fiisi because you need lnowledge of ile iopic youi
going io wiiie aboui BEFORE you male a judgmeni and wiiie a papei aboui ii.
Lool ai youi quoies and see ile naiuial aigumeni ilai iley male. Tale ilis and
foim ii in youi own woids io an oveilying assumpiion. In example, if you lave
quoies suppoiiing gay maiiiage and youi quoies lii on ile iopics of luman iiglis,
adopiing lids, and exisiing laws a good ilesis migli be:
Gay maiiiage slould be legalized because ii slould be pioiecied by ile bill
of iiglis, couples could adopi lids ilai oileiwise would noi find a lome,
and ileie aie alieady exisiing laws ilai conflici wiil oui naiional sysiem.
Youi goal is io wiiie a siaiemeni ilai is siiong in ile sense ilai you eiilei
compleiely agiee oi compleiely disagiee and ilai youi siaiemeni can be pioven
wiil youi undeilying poinis.
Pui youi ilesis as ile fiisi iling on youi papei and lei's move on.
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Now youi papei slould be a ilesis siaiemeni wiil quoies undei ii, leie is wleie
ile magic lappens. You aie going io expand youi quoies in io paiagiapls almosi
insianily. Wlen wiiiing an essay mosi of youi iime is speni "ilinling aboui wlai
comes nexi" by eliminaiing ilis and siicling io a logical flow, we can wiiie fasiei
and moie concisely.
DC :>$/ foi youi quoie. Use a quicl senience io iniioduce ile quoie and pui
ii inio ile coniexi of youi papei.
:. EFG$* youi quoie, clop a piece off and wiiie some in youi own woids oi
add a bii io male ii say exacily wlai you wani ii io say.
. EH>#2./ ile significance of ile quoie, in ligl sclool iley wani you io be
able io find infoimaiion, in college iley wani you io explain wly ile
infoimaiion is impoiiani. Tle nexi senience afiei youi quoie, in youi own
woids, desciibes wly ii is impoiiani.
(. 6-2/8.(."/ io ile nexi paiagiapl. Find a way io conneci ile iwo ilouglis
iogeilei.
Oveiall a paiagiapl is going io lool lile ilis:
A similai pioblem iises again wlen Rivoli discusses ile uniniended
consequences of Congiess' legislaiion ilai iniends io suppoii Ameiican
jobs. Tle specific example is "ilai of CBTPA and ilai "ilis "yain foiwaid"
iequiiemeni aciually ofien landicaps Ameiican yain spinneis, wlo aie
discouiaged fiom boil expoiiing ileii yain io ile Caiibbean and fiom
slifiing pioduciion io moie cosi-efficieni locaiions." (i() If ile legislaiion
we aie passing is noi even lelping, ilan wly do we wasie iime in ile fiisi
place? Tle iime and money wasied on pieseiving obsoleie jobs could easily
be used io educaie and fund educaiional piogiams foi displaced woileis.
Wlai is laid foi me io undeisiand is ilai we lnow ii is an uplill baiile ilai
cannoi be won, and yei lile ile labiiual loiieiy playei we always ilinl we
can beai ile impossible odds.
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Follow ilis piocess foi ile iesi of youi quoies. Wiil ilis foimai you slould be
spending less iime ilinling and moie iime wiiiing.
Tle example paiagiapl is fiom a bool ieview in Inieinaiional Poliiics. Ii was a
nine page papei ilai I iead a (oo page bool, well moie lile slimmed, and wioie a
iwelve page papei in less ilan five louis.

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Heie aie a few iips ilai slould lelp you finisl youi papei and male ii A-qualiiy
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Wlen wiiiing youi iniioduciion, you wani io use a sioiy. Go bacl io youi souices
and find a sioiy you can summaiize in less ilan iliee seniences and pui ii befoie
youi ilesis. Now you can simply conneci youi sioiy io youi ilesis and be done
wiil ii. You do ilis io give youi ilesis coniexi and use ile sioiy io slow wly youi
ilesis is ielevani.
!"/3#58."/
Youi conclusion slould iesiaie youi eniiie papei. Use an iniioduciion senience ie-
explaining wly youi papei is significani oi iefei io ile sioiy in youi iniioduciion.
Tlen iesiaie eacl of youi main poinis in one senience. Finally, iesiaie youi ilesis
in diffeieni woids.
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Use liip:]]easybib.com foi youi bibliogiaply page io male ii as easy as possible
foi you.
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Do noi woiiy aboui foimaiiing uniil ile veiy end of ile papei. Ii is mucl easiei io
use ile seleci all iool, and foimai ile eniiie papei ilan io coniinually edii ile
papei as youi going along.
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If youi campus las a wiiiing ceniei, use ii. My giammai is ieiiible and used io be
even woise. By lnocling oui a papei in an loui oi so and ilen ialing ii in io ile
wiiiing ceniei, I saved myself laving io go fiom iougl diafi io final papei. }usi
ialled io a giaduaie siudeni wlo lnew low io use semi-colons and leained a good
amouni in ile piocess. }usi male suie wlen you go io biing youi lapiop and male
ile clanges wlile you aie going iliougl ile papei. Tlis will save you even moie
iime and eneigy.
!"/3#58."/
By spending ile iweniy minuies oi so io iead ilis and apply ii you will save youi
self many louis of wiiiing useless papeis youi fieslman yeai.
If you wani io save even moie iime lool foi youi noies, exams, and oilei siudeni's
essays ai liip:]]FieeTesibanl.com
IG"5( ()$ 25()"-
Alex Baldwin is a co-foundei of FieeTesibanl.com and an undeigiaduaie siudeni.
He goi a B in lis fiisi fieslman composiiion class because of a feminisi piofessoi
and lacl of wiiiing slills fiom ligl sclool. He loves io diinl iea, canoe, male
websiies, and fiai laid.
You can e-mail lim suggesiions foi ilis guide ai alexgliwigiove.com