I’ve been reading student essays for fifteen years now, and something shifted around 2022. Not gradually. Suddenly. One day I’m grading papers that feel like papers–messy, human, occasionally brilliant in unexpected ways. The next semester, I’m staring at submissions that […]
I’ve spent more years than I’d like to admit staring at citation formats, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that MLA citation is simultaneously one of the most straightforward and most misunderstood systems in academic writing. When I […]
I’ve been there. Staring at a blank screen at 11 PM, realizing I know almost nothing about the assigned topic, and the deadline is tomorrow morning. The panic is real. But here’s what I’ve learned: limited knowledge isn’t actually the […]
I’ve been teaching writing for about eight years now, and I can tell you with certainty that compare and contrast essays terrify more students than they probably should. There’s something about the format that makes people freeze. They either dive […]
I remember the first time I sat down to write an essay that actually mattered. It was sophomore year, and my English teacher–Mrs. Chen–handed back my draft covered in red marks. Not the kind of red marks that suggest you’re […]
I’ve spent enough time grading DBQ essays to know that most students treat documents the way someone treats a buffet line–they grab whatever’s closest and hope it fills them up. The reality is far more demanding. A Document-Based Question essay […]