How EssayPro Can Help You Write a Stunning Movie Review

Most reputable writing services serve multiple purposes. Some specialize in specific types of writing, while others are more all-inclusive and develop all kinds of written content from blogs to web articles and much more.

EssayPro has earned a reputation for being one of the Internet's best sources for academic papers of all types and descriptions, but it is much more than just a website for writing essays. No matter what type of essay or paper you need, they have writers who can help, even with movie reviews.

Why EssayPro for Movie Reviews?

Most people don't think of an academic writing service when looking for help writing a movie review, but they probably should. All of the elements of an excellent essay or term paper exist in a movie review.

Like any other kind of paper, a movie review relies on both fact and opinion to get the message across and deliver it persuasively. Movie reviews can be written to persuade people to watch the movie, but they can also be written in a way that encourages skipping it as well.

The format of a movie review is, in many ways, the same concept as a persuasive essay. The writer postulates an opinion about the movie, objectively presents details, then leaves it to the reader to decide to either accept or reject the message. What is a better source there for help with this type of content than an academic writing service?

Tiers of Service

EssayPro offers three distinct tiers to their writing service:

Proofreading – For those who already have an affinity for writing a compelling review, the proofreaders at EssayPro can beta read the document and provide feedback about things that should be changed, fixed, or removed outright.

Editing – Following on the heels of the kind of thorough proofreading services EssayPro provides, some writers opt to leave both proofreading and editing to the pros. This helps save time and preserves the original messaging in writing. It is still the writer's words, just cleaned up and positioned for better engagement or a higher grade.

Full-Service Development – No time to write the review yourself? Let EssayPro handle the entire assignment from beginning to end. The client provides the start point, instructions, and any notes or support materials he or she wants to be included, and receives back a solid final draft suitable for submission or publishing.

Writing a Relevant Review

As a means of demonstrating the level of quality one can expect working with EssayPro, here are a few tips for how to make your next movie review stand out.

#1 – Present ideas objectively – Don't tell your audience that a specific plot point "doesn't make sense." Instead, say that certain devices "raise questions that are never answered." The former forces the writer's opinion on the reader while the latter alerts the reader to a perceived problem that he or she can investigate while viewing the movie.

#2 – Don't write a full synopsis – Describe the basic plot, not individual characters or situations. What is the movie about? What major themes or messages does it present. Leave the reader curious enough about the meat of the film's content to buy a ticket.

#3 – Weigh in With Pros and Cons – It is possible to be an objective while, at the same time, demonstrating chinks in a movie's armor. Don't go into specifics, but do convey if there are perceived flaws in storytelling, acting, directing, etc. It is also good to approach the elements you liked with a little enthusiasm and praise.

These details and many others are employed by EssayPro writers when developing this kind of content. They even offer fast turnarounds on shorter pieces – as little as six hours in some cases. If you are considering hiring a professional writing service to write your next movie review, we strongly recommend considering EssayPro.

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Now Would Be A Good Time To Start Planning For College!

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Start with the Resume on Naviance (for those high schools utilizing this platform), found under the About Me section. Include everything you have done, in and out of school, academic, sports ...

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Weslaco High grad wins national bilingual essay contest with ‘A Wild Tongue’

Weslaco High School graduate Carolina De Anda’s essay titled “A Wild Tongue” won first place in a student writing contest hosted by the National Association for Bilingual Education.

“Now, while I navigate my timeless and endless soup of words, they fear my wild tongue,” De Anda wrote in her winning piece submitted in the Bilingual Student Essay Competition. “A box … a box they have tried to squeeze me in and tape it shut â€" where I will never fit. Because I am Chicana-Mexicana and Americana.

“In this black and white world, I stay in the gray.”

The piece explores how having an identity tied to both English and Spanish will inform her future. De Anda immigrated to the United States in eighth grade, attending McAllen High School before starting her sophomore year in Weslaco.

“… Two languages are awareness of different social realities which serve as a foundation to walk in the road of life with my endeavor in mind,” De Anda writes. “Being bilingual is like having two souls, two lives, two cultures, two languages, two sets of opportunities that mutually work in tandem to create myself, not find it.”

Weslaco High teacher Monica Sifuentes, De Anda’s former English teacher, complemented her drive and passion in a news release.

“Her essay was beautifully written,” Sifuentes said.

De Anda graduated from Weslaco in last month with an associate’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from South Texas College. She plans to continue her studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in the fall.

She was invited to the NABE Conference Awards on March 8 in Orlando, Florida. The prize for first place is $500.

Read her full essay.

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O Yes, It Always Matters Where You Start

As anyone on Twitter knows, public culture can be quick to attack, castigate and condemn. In search of the moral high ground, we rarely grant each other the benefit of the doubt. In her Class Day remarks at Harvard's 2018 graduation, the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addressed the problem of this rush to judgment. In the face of what she called 'a culture of "calling out", a culture of outrage', she asked students to 'always remember context, and never disregard intent'. She could have been speaking as a historian.

History, as a discipline, turns away from two of the main ways of reading that have dominated the humanities for the past half-century. These methods have been productive, but perhaps they also bear some responsibility for today's corrosive lack of generosity. The two approaches have different genealogies, but share a significant feature: at heart, they are adversarial.

One mode of reading, first described in 1965 by the French philosopher Paul Ricœur and known as 'the hermeneutics of suspicion', aims to uncover the hidden meaning or agenda of a text. Whether inspired by Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche or Sigmund Freud, the reader interprets what happens on the surface as a symptom of something deeper and more dubious, from economic inequality to sexual anxiety. The reader's task is to reject the face value of a work, and to plumb for a submerged truth.

A second form of interpretation, known as 'deconstruction', was developed in 1967 by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. It aims to identify and reveal a text's hidden contradictions – ambiguities and even aporias(unthinkable contradictions) that eluded the author. For example, Derrida detected a bias that favoured speech over writing in many influential philosophical texts of the Western tradition, from Plato to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The fact that written texts could privilege the immediacy and truth of speech was a paradox that revealed unarticulated metaphysical commitments at the heart of Western philosophy.

Both of these ways of reading pit reader against text. The reader's goal becomes to uncover meanings or problems that the work does not explicitly express. In both cases, intelligence and moral probity are displayed at the expense of what's been written. In the 20th century, these approaches empowered critics to detect and denounce the workings of power in all kinds of materials – not just the dreams that Freud interpreted, or the essays by Plato and Rousseau with which Derrida was most closely concerned.

They do, however, foster a prosecutorial attitude among academics and public intellectuals. As a colleague once told me: 'I am always looking for the Freudian slip.' He scours the writings of his peers to spot when they trip up and betray their problematic intellectual commitments. One poorly chosen phrase can sully an entire work.

Not surprisingly, these methods have fostered a rather paranoid atmosphere in modern academia. Mutual monitoring of lexical choices leads to anxiety, as an increasing number of words are placed on a 'no fly' list. One error is taken as the symptom of problematic thinking; it can spoil not just a whole book, but perhaps even the author's entire oeuvre. This set of attitudes is not a world apart from the pile-ons that we witness on social media.

Does the lack of charity in public discourse – the quickness to judge, the aversion to context and intent – stem in part from what we might call the 'adversarial' humanities? These practices of interpretation are certainly on display in many classrooms, where students learn to exercise their moral and intellectual prowess by dismantling what they've read. For teachers, showing students how to take a text apart bestows authority; for students, learning to read like this can be electrifying.

Yet the study of history is different. History deals with the past – and the past is, as the British novelist L P Hartley wrote in 1953, 'a foreign country'. By definition, historians deal with difference: with what is unlike the present, and with what rarely meets today's moral standards.

The virtue of reading like a historian, then, is that critique or disavowal is not the primary goal. On the contrary, reading historically provides something more destabilising: it requires the historian to put her own values in parentheses.

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Reasons To Consider Using An Essay Rewriting Service

No one understands the panic felt when an essay has been rejected and needs a rewrite. With a deadline getting closer and closer, it can be an easy thing to feel overwhelmed, especially if you have other commitments that are eating into your time. This is when you seriously need to consider using an essay rewrite service.

When you submit an essay, it is essential to know what a teacher will be looking for in order for it to qualify for a high grade. The essay needs to adhere to a certain format as well as display a firm command of English spelling and grammar. Here are all the things an essay must contain, and if yours does not, it may be rejected. In that case, an essay rewriting service can help you get it right.

1. You may have been assigned a certain topic on which to write, or you may have been told you could choose whatever you want. The subject you cover in an essay should be focused on one specific analysis. It is no good to write aimlessly about a general topic without purpose.

2. Your essay needs to show that it was carefully outlined from the start. Organizing how you want the essay to read before you commence work is a wise thing to do. Use this as a guideline during the writing process.

3. Write the introduction in a way that attracts the reader's interest. It should make the reader want to start and finish the essay completely. Once you have sorted your subject into relevant categories, it is time to introduce the idea with a basic thesis statement. The first paragraph should state the topic under discussion. The second paragraph must state the focus of the essay. The next section you must write about is the main body of the work.

It is where you should make your argument and explain or describe the subject you are discussing. Every section should have the same basic structure so that a common theme runs through the essay. Write the conclusion in a way that neatly brings the topic to a close. This is the final place to give your perspective on the subject while making your summation.

4. Once you have jumped the biggest hurdle of writing the essay from beginning to end, it is time to check it for mistakes. They can often hide in plain sight. You have heard the saying "familiarity breeds contempt," and by the time you have completed an essay, your brain has fatigue over reading and writing the same thing repeatedly. It simply can't see the mistakes anymore. It can help to take a break and come back later.

If you've done all the above, and your essay was still rejected, it may make sense to use a writing service to rewrite your essay—or at the least review it. It can mean the difference between a good grade and a so-so one.

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Please Send Us Your College Application Essays About Money

Did you apply for undergraduate admission this year and write an application essay about money, work, social class or other related topics? If so, we’d like to see it.

Since 2013, we have collected hundreds of essays like this each year and published some of ones we love each May. You can read the five we selected last year here.

Nearly anything goes: Tales of family fortunes gained or squandered, musings on the state of socioeconomic diversity in your community, summer jobs, start-ups, struggle and triumph. Last year, one high school senior wrote about her experiences preparing other people’s tax returns. In 2014, a teenage McDonald’s employee wrote about his work.

Please submit your essays to us by Friday, April 5, using the form on this page. Instagram and Snapchat supplements are welcome, though they are not at all required. Weâ €™ll publish essays in May and pay the writers our normal freelance rate.

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Tips On Writing An Essay In Less Than 3 Hours

If you are a school or a college student, you are familiar with an essay as a part of your homework and the tasks that are given out by the teacher. And there is a reason why the essay is the most favorite form of homework task – apart from you practicing your writing skills, grammar and spelling it is there to active your analytical thinking, and problem-solving skills as an essay topic is usually a one to debate one. Still, many of us are always fighting with essay deadlines for numerous reasons while it would be much better if we're able to write one on time and stay trouble free.

Most of the deadline problems come as a consequence of bad planning or procrastinating. Now, the second one you will have to figure out on your own, but we can give you a few tips on how to create a more effective plan and write a  complete essay in a matter of few hours. Let's take a look!

Source: OurPublicSchool.org

How To Write An Essay In Few Hours

1.  First and foremost, you should go ahead and put time into understanding the topic. As mentioned above, the teacher will usually give you a debatable topic and not a simple review of existing opinions. What does this mean? Well, it means that you will need to activate your analytical thinking and put your thoughts into the process. That is why understanding what is asked from you is the first step in writing an essay – check the available sources and literature; consult with your colleagues; or even ask your teacher on additional info if you are not sure what the requirements If you don't do this beforehand chances are this step will take you a lot of time and energy once you start writing.

2.  Along with that, research is the key to every good essay. And while some are able to research while writing an essay, our tip is to prepare everything beforehand. Set out some time to read the available sources and discuss those on your own. If you want to write an essay in 3 hours, you will have to set out valuable sources apart from those that just take your time away. Once you figure out the literature, you will use it is time to go ahead and write.

Source: Assignment Essay Help

3.  Doing research is important for two reasons – figuring out the literature and forming an opinion on the matter. As mentioned above you will have to take one of two or more sides, and that is where research comes in handy. After you have done that, it might be wise to go ahead and write an outline. And though some people think it just a waste of time believe us a good outline will give you an excellent start and writing your essay from that point will be a matter of routine.

4.  The time has come, you have everything prepared, and now it is the moment to write an essay in 3 hours. Here is a tip to remember – once you start writing don't stop. If you have already done your research and created an outline that covers the opinion, you will be posing write what you wanted in one breath. You will do the proofreading and correcting later, but you will be more effective if you write simply by following your thoughts and mind process. Once that is done you should invest the remaining time to check for grammar and spelling mistakes, and correct certain phrases.

Source: College Admissions Strategies

Summary

Although for some people writing an essay is a nightmare it isn't that hard, and you can finish one in time without having to worry about breaking the deadline. Remember, preparation is the key, so once you have all the steps done you are set and ready to deliver an outstanding essay in a matter of a few hours!

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How to write the perfect college application essay

Here's a brutal truth about applying to college: On paper, most teenagers are not very unique. Some three million high school graduates send applications into universities every single year, and that's just within the United States. Seasoned admissions officers—particularly at elite schools—know how to spot cookie-cutter applicants and toss them into the reject pile in seconds.

Luckily, you do get a modest chance to distinguish yourself. Universities in the US and across the world are increasingly looking away from test scores and grade point averages and toward one particularly unique component of students' applications: the essay. If done exceptionally well, it's a catapult to an acceptance offer. So what exactly is the best way to sell oneself to Harvard in a thousand words or fewer? Reporters and editors across Quartz's newsroom have come together to offer some foolproof advice.

Forget "writing from the heart"

Parents and teachers will often tell students who are just starting out on their essays to "write sincerely," "write about your feelings," "write about what matters to you." That advice, while well-intentioned, is not helpful. An essay can be completely heartfelt—and terrible.

Instead of starting from such a broad place, begin with the narrow strategy of researching the worst college-essay clichés; that way, even if you don't have the faintest idea what to write about, you at least know what you have to avoid. Examples of hackneyed essay characteristics that immediately make admissions officers roll their eyes include:

Dictionary definitions ("Webster's defines 'courage' as…")

Epigraphs or references of famous writers ("It was the best of times…")

Sound effects ("Whizz! Snap! Whew! went the rocket that I built…")

Sentences that are just strings of SAT words ("The fortuitous phenomena that transpired on the fortnight of…")

Overused metaphors

"Let me tell you a story"

Repeating information from other parts of your application, i.e. re-listing all your extracurriculars

Talking about the university instead of yourself

Over-using passive tense, instead of telling an engaging story

Sticking too close to the prompt ("A time I overcame an obstacle was when…")

Don't be interesting. Be interested

Now, what to write about? Essay prompts are intentionally open-ended, and there are several ways to go about choosing a topic. Here's a nearly foolproof one: Write about a person, place, or idea that you genuinely—perhaps to the point of geeky, nervous-laughter embarrassment—love.

"Write about what you're interested in, not what you think is interesting about you," says Quartz lifestyle reporter Jenni Avins, who wrote about her part-time job in high school making crepes in a coffee shop: "I was really interested in the people who came into this creperie, and this little world. It was an observational piece about having this window on a community."

But this doesn't mean you should ramble on pointlessly for five paragraphs. Make sure your topic reveals something about yourself, or why you want to study and pursue the things you do. Jenni's essay highlighted her curiosity toward others. Quartz science editor Elijah Wolfson wrote his essay about pizza joints in New York—but it was really a tale of moving across the country and coming to terms with loss.

Yale's dean of admissions Jeremiah Quinlan told Quartz last year that the university is explicitly "looking for passion" in the kids it admits; you can bet that the admissions offices at Stanford, MIT, and other top-tier schools are hunting around for the exact same. Don't worry about your topic sounding too boring or pretentious—the raw emotion underneath matters more.

Pull out unflattering memories

It can be instinctive to paint the best picture of yourself possible in your essay, but put aside vanity and pride for a moment. You've already spent the rest of your college application flourishing your immaculate GPA, club leadership, and volunteer work. Oftentimes, the most powerful essay topic is one that lets some of your imperfections seep through.

You can start by thinking of a time that you struggled, made a mistake, or were embarrassed. Quartz technology reporter Mike Murphy, for example, wrote his essay on being stranded at the bottom of the Grand Canyon as a kid. He begins by setting up the scene: "I'm sorry, but 3:30 a.m. is never the same as 4:00 a.m." He goes on to explain how he and his relatives were accidentally separated on the trip, walking the reader through the challenges he faced on his way back to safety, and ending on a tone of humility and lesson-learning.

Good essays don't all need to hype up an applicant's superpowers: They can expose weaknesses, demonstrating subtlety and self-awareness.

Tell a story—however you want to

When it comes to the college essay, taking a risk—however small or big—is better than playing it safe. Try writing different versions of your essay, maybe in completely different formats, just to see if one of them resonates more than the others.

"Admissions officers have to read so many essays that physically look the same. An essay that stands out is simply more memorable," says Quartz growth editor Jean-Luc Bouchard. "I wrote a series of thematically linked poems for my admissions essay, and even though the poems were probably pretty bad, I think I got points just for trying something different."

You may recall the news this spring about Ziad Ahmed, a student who got into Stanford by writing "#BlackLivesMatter" a hundred times on one of his essay prompts. Such ventures may come off as gimmicky—and we certainly wouldn't recommend anyone repeating this exact idea in a future year—but they're effective at one thing: grabbing the reader's attention. Ziad, who had interned for Hilary Clinton and was recognized by Barack Obama at a White House dinner in 2015, was already more than qualified. What his essay did was make admissions officers pause in their tracks for a moment, and peer a tad more closely at the rest of his application.

Tinker with your essay. Think of it not as an essay in the academic sense, but an unlined blank canvas you can use to present whatever you want. That said, no sound effects—please.

Proofread

Run your essay through spellcheck. Ask a teacher, friend, parent, or counselor to read it over—then ask five more people to do the same. Admissions officers barrel through dozens of essays a day, and the rote tedium of it can cause them to be hyper-critical of even the smallest of typos and grammatical errors. Show them this small respect, and you've already beat out many others kids for that coveted acceptance letter.

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10 Tips to Start Teaching With Minecraft

My students come from a small, rural community and lack a broad understanding of the larger world around them. This inspired me to seek out a game, or online environment, that could provide more expansive experiences for themâ€"a place that would allow them to explore, on their own or with others, and where I could embed history content for them to discover. On Twitter I came across an exploratory discussion of Minecraft’s potential for school use. I dove in and began a journey that ultimately changed my perception of teaching and how I interact with my students.

Minecraft is easy to use and implement in a classroom. It promotes student independence and creativity, but it is also an immensely collaborative tool that I have witnessed being integrated across all grade levels and content areas. Students can apply their understanding in truly unique and often unanticipated ways. Previously, my kids struggled with writing. Today, they are more creative and confident writers. Instead of getting 125 essays written in the exact same style with the same details, I now get unique historical narratives, rich with sensory experiences and observations made with their own eyes.

Minecraft: Education Editionâ€"currently available for Windows 10, macOS and iPad devicesâ€"is nearly identical to the version students play on their own at home. The main difference is that the education edition comes with tools for teachers to make classroom implementation easier. If you are contemplating using Minecraft with your students, here are a handful of tips to help you get started.

Minecraft is easy to use and implement in a classroom. It promotes student independence and creativity, but it is also an immensely collaborative tool.

1. Engage kids in conversations.

Ask them what they like about Minecraft. Answers will likely revolve around the collective themes of creativity, collaboration, critical-thinking and communication. I began my journey with lunchtime conversations that helped me form implementation strategies and which ultimately led to the founding of a Minecraft club complete with membership cards. This video does a wonderful job of visually demonstrating the appeal of the game.

Credit: Cubey2. Explore YouTube video tutorials.

I really didn’t know anything about the game, so I did a keyword search for “Minecraft” and discovered over 140 million videos! Many of these have been created by students like ours honing their skills as content producers. Some helpful examples can be found here and here.

Credit: OMGcraft - Minecraft Tips & Tutorials3. Identify your “experts” in the field.

Beginning gameplay with an experienced player or twoâ€"a student or even your own childrenâ€"is a great way to learn the basics before attempting to teach with Minecraft. In class, I recommend selecting a few resident experts at the outset and asking them to mentor you and other students. This was a key revelation for me. I was not the expert, and I had to make my peace with that. It was a transformative experience. Students began to lead the lessons and roamed the room helping others. It empowered even my shy students to step forward into a mentor role.

If you prefer to do a bit of preliminary homework on your own, Stampy, the famous Minecraft YouTuber, created a very helpful video for first-time players.

Credit: stampylonghead

I begin the school year with an open discussion about empathy and bullying. At the end of the session, students produce a “Minecraft Bill of Rights” poster that we hang in class as a reminder.

4. Explore a pre-loaded starter world available through the launcher.

Minecraft games are played in “worlds.” You will find any number of students interested in exploring along with you, so open a dialogue and uncover what kinds of worlds they value and what elements stand out. Simply boot up the game and select an available worldâ€"it will load automatically. You can also visit the online world library and download as many as you wish. Some of my personal favorites include Arctic Shipwreck, Project Storytelling, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Don't feel that you must structure this time around learning objectives. The most useful feedback, along with other benefits, will come from unstructured play and exploration.

5. Don’t succumb to the pressure to create your own lesson at this stage.

There are plenty to investigate here. But before selecting one to try out in your classroom, you need to have a clear objective in mind. Consider joining the online community of Minecraft educators. Doing so will give you access to lesson authors and to the wider group of mentors who are happy answer your questions.

6. Try a short-term lesson with students.

Good lessons are student-centered and require little setup by the teacher, but you should still preview the lesson and “walk” through it as a student. Lessons can be easily differentiated for students and objectives modified to fit individual needs. The Building a Story Setting lesson provides an excellent introduction.

7. Discuss griefing behaviors and how to build positive relationships with Minecraft.

Griefing occurs when one or more students intentionally destroy or steal the work of another. I begin the school year with an open discussion about empathy and bullying. At the end of the session, students produce a “Minecraft Bill of Rights” poster that we hang in class as a reminder.

8. Create your own lesson.

Keep it simple with clear objectives that can be completed over one or two sessions. Students transport themselves into the game and quickly settle in. I discovered that I needed to frontload what I wanted them to achieve each session and monitor progress consistently. Take a look at how Minecraft Mentor Stephen Elford prepared students for success with his Contour Map lesson.

Credit: EduElfie

The ability to reach students across content and grade levels is astonishing.

It’s easy to get off task, so objectives should be attainable and positive outcomes rewarded with feedback. I prefer assessments that promote critical thinking and written reflection over build quality. My first large-scale lesson tasked students with building a Chinese city and populating it with citizens. Based on individual experience level, students assigned themselves to city blocks I had prepared and built out the city. Once completed, they wrote detailed historical narratives about the citizens that lived in “their” buildings.

Credit: John Miller9. Form a “build team” partnership with students.

You do not need to become an expert in Minecraft, nor do you need to possess advanced building skills. I formed a build team of students that got together at lunch, and they helped me build worlds for future lessons. [Photo] Each student has specialities, and together we have built some amazing worlds. One of my favorites is the Round City of Baghdad.

Credit: John Miller10. Avoid thinking of this as just building objects.

The ability to reach students across content and grade levels is astonishing. Consider what other educators have accomplished with Minecraft in the classroom.

Minecraft Mentors Simon Baddeley and Ben Spieldenner have partnered up to create a series of literature-rich projects that allow students to explore and interact with characters to experience language functions and themes.

Credit: Cross Pond

Stephen Reid tackles the difficult subject of the refugee crisis in this unit devoted to exploring social and emotional learning, which allows students to experience the world from the perspective of a child refugee.

Credit: Stephen Reid

Benjamin Kelly has created a wonderful lesson focused on empathy education. A series of wildlife conservation challenges have been created for Minecraft: Education Edition users that explore concepts such as poaching and land-use conflicts.

Credit: Minecraft: Education EditionMore Resources for Getting Started

If you are ready to learn about the capabilities of Education Edition, Microsoft has created a helpful introductory course.

Need help with Minecraft related vocabulary? Visit Common Sense Media to familiarize yourself.

Ready to dive deeper? The ultimate resource is the Official Minecraft Wiki.

Looking for help understanding the keyboard controls? This article is an excellent resource.

Read more tips for classroom management and creating a positive classroom culture.

These case studies highlight how other educators are using Minecraft to drive learning.

Want to give Minecraft a whirl in your classroom? Try Minecraft: Education Edition for free!

My students come from a small, rural community and lack a broad understanding of the larger world around them. This inspired me to seek out a game, or online environment, that could provide more expansive experiences for themâ€"a place that would allow them to explore, on their own or with others, and where I could embed history content for them to discover. On Twitter I came across an exploratory discussion of Minecraft’s potential for school use. I dove in and began a journey that ultimately changed my perception of teaching and how I interact with my students.

Minecraft is easy to use and implement in a classroom. It promotes student independence and creativity, but it is also an immensely collaborative tool that I have witnessed being integrated across all grade levels and content areas. Students can apply their understanding in truly unique and often unanticipated ways. Previously, my kids struggled with writing. Today, they are more creative and confident writers. Instead of getting 125 essays written in the exact same style with the same details, I now get unique historical narratives, rich with sensory experiences and observations made with their own eyes.

Minecraft: Education Editionâ€"currently available for Windows 10, macOS and iPad devicesâ€"is nearly identical to the version students play on their own at home. The main difference is that the education edition comes with tools for teachers to make classroom implementation easier. If you are contemplating using Minecraft with your students, here are a handful of tips to help you get started.

Minecraft is easy to use and implement in a classroom. It promotes student independence and creativity, but it is also an immensely collaborative tool.

1. Engage kids in conversations.

Ask them what they like about Minecraft. Answers will likely revolve around the collective themes of creativity, collaboration, critical-thinking and communication. I began my journey with lunchtime conversations that helped me form implementation strategies and which ultimately led to the founding of a Minecraft club complete with membership cards. This video does a wonderful job of visually demonstrating the appeal of the game.

Credit: Cubey2. Explore YouTube video tutorials.

I really didn’t know anything about the game, so I did a keyword search for “Minecraft” and discovered over 140 million videos! Many of these have been created by students like ours honing their skills as content producers. Some helpful examples can be found here and here.

Credit: OMGcraft - Minecraft Tips & Tutorials3. Identify your “experts” in the field.

Beginning gameplay with an experienced player or twoâ€"a student or even your own childrenâ€"is a great way to learn the basics before attempting to teach with Minecraft. In class, I recommend selecting a few resident experts at the outset and asking them to mentor you and other students. This was a key revelation for me. I was not the expert, and I had to make my peace with that. It was a transformative experience. Students began to lead the lessons and roamed the room helping others. It empowered even my shy students to step forward into a mentor role.

If you prefer to do a bit of preliminary homework on your own, Stampy, the famous Minecraft YouTuber, created a very helpful video for first-time players.

Credit: stampylonghead

I begin the school year with an open discussion about empathy and bullying. At the end of the session, students produce a “Minecraft Bill of Rights” poster that we hang in class as a reminder.

4. Explore a pre-loaded starter world available through the launcher.

Minecraft games are played in “worlds.” You will find any number of students interested in exploring along with you, so open a dialogue and uncover what kinds of worlds they value and what elements stand out. Simply boot up the game and select an available worldâ€"it will load automatically. You can also visit the online world library and download as many as you wish. Some of my personal favorites include Arctic Shipwreck, Project Storytelling, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Don't feel that you must structure this time around learning objectives. The most useful feedback, along with other benefits, will come from unstructured play and exploration.

5. Don’t succumb to the pressure to create your own lesson at this stage.

There are plenty to investigate here. But before selecting one to try out in your classroom, you need to have a clear objective in mind. Consider joining the online community of Minecraft educators. Doing so will give you access to lesson authors and to the wider group of mentors who are happy answer your questions.

6. Try a short-term lesson with students.

Good lessons are student-centered and require little setup by the teacher, but you should still preview the lesson and “walk” through it as a student. Lessons can be easily differentiated for students and objectives modified to fit individual needs. The Building a Story Setting lesson provides an excellent introduction.

7. Discuss griefing behaviors and how to build positive relationships with Minecraft.

Griefing occurs when one or more students intentionally destroy or steal the work of another. I begin the school year with an open discussion about empathy and bullying. At the end of the session, students produce a “Minecraft Bill of Rights” poster that we hang in class as a reminder.

8. Create your own lesson.

Keep it simple with clear objectives that can be completed over one or two sessions. Students transport themselves into the game and quickly settle in. I discovered that I needed to frontload what I wanted them to achieve each session and monitor progress consistently. Take a look at how Minecraft Mentor Stephen Elford prepared students for success with his Contour Map lesson.

Credit: EduElfie

The ability to reach students across content and grade levels is astonishing.

It’s easy to get off task, so objectives should be attainable and positive outcomes rewarded with feedback. I prefer assessments that promote critical thinking and written reflection over build quality. My first large-scale lesson tasked students with building a Chinese city and populating it with citizens. Based on individual experience level, students assigned themselves to city blocks I had prepared and built out the city. Once completed, they wrote detailed historical narratives about the citizens that lived in “their” buildings.

Credit: John Miller9. Form a “build team” partnership with students.

You do not need to become an expert in Minecraft, nor do you need to possess advanced building skills. I formed a build team of students that got together at lunch, and they helped me build worlds for future lessons. [Photo] Each student has specialities, and together we have built some amazing worlds. One of my favorites is the Round City of Baghdad.

Credit: John Miller10. Avoid thinking of this as just building objects.

The ability to reach students across content and grade levels is astonishing. Consider what other educators have accomplished with Minecraft in the classroom.

Minecraft Mentors Simon Baddeley and Ben Spieldenner have partnered up to create a series of literature-rich projects that allow students to explore and interact with characters to experience language functions and themes.

Credit: Cross Pond

Stephen Reid tackles the difficult subject of the refugee crisis in this unit devoted to exploring social and emotional learning, which allows students to experience the world from the perspective of a child refugee.

Credit: Stephen Reid

Benjamin Kelly has created a wonderful lesson focused on empathy education. A series of wildlife conservation challenges have been created for Minecraft: Education Edition users that explore concepts such as poaching and land-use conflicts.

Credit: Minecraft: Education EditionMore Resources for Getting Started

If you are ready to learn about the capabilities of Education Edition, Microsoft has created a helpful introductory course.

Need help with Minecraft related vocabulary? Visit Common Sense Media to familiarize yourself.

Ready to dive deeper? The ultimate resource is the Official Minecraft Wiki.

Looking for help understanding the keyboard controls? This article is an excellent resource.

Read more tips for classroom management and creating a positive classroom culture.

These case studies highlight how other educators are using Minecraft to drive learning.

Want to give Minecraft a whirl in your classroom? Try Minecraft: Education Edition for free!

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College for older students: New guidebook can help you figure out how to make it work

Go to any bookstore or library and you will find shelves of books about college — rankings, ratings, tips for finding the best fit, advice on how to write an essay, how to get into your dream school, and how to succeed when you get there.

But most are written for a specific audience: high-school seniors and first-time college students. Few books are written for adult students planning to return to college or go for the first time — even though 40 percent of students at the undergraduate level nationwide are 25 are older, and in Washington, the average age of a community college student is 26.

The number of adults who might want to go back to college is huge. In Washington, about one in five working-aged adults — or nearly 400,000 former students — has earned college credits but didn't complete a credential, according to the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC), a state agency that has put a priority on helping more adults complete a degree or credential.

"Never Too Late: The Adult Student's Guide to College" offers practical advice to adults returning to college, with ideas about how to pick a new career, a college program that will allow you to qualify for that career, and ways to pay for it.

The economy is booming and unemployment is low, "but many Americans are still being passed over for promotions because they lack the requisite skills and credentials," said Rebecca Klein-Collins, author of the book. She is associate vice president of research and policy development at the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, a Chicago nonprofit focused on adult learning.

In cities like Seattle, many jobs that pay well are in high-skilled, technical areas, she said. "People without postsecondary learning or credentials are at risk of being left out of the growth." And if the economy does falter, people with college credentials on their resume will likely do better. After the 2008 recession, when jobs started to come back, 99 percent of all new jobs went to people with at least some college education, according to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

Here are three of Klein-Collins' tips for an adult contemplating college:

Most adult students go back to school because they want to change up their career, so start by researching job options. Klein-Collins likes two websites run by the U.S. Department of Labor: CareerOneStop.org and MyNextMove.org. In this state, WorkSource Washington has good tools geared to Washington jobs, she said.

Ask people who do the job or career you're interested in for an informational interview; you'll be surprised how many people are eager to talk about their jobs and share advice, she says. You can also use job platforms like LinkedIn to reach out to people for more information. Another source: Klein-Collins likes the videos filmed by a nonprofit, RoadTripNation.com, which features interviews with professionals from a wide range of jobs.

You'll want to figure out which schools offer the credentials you need. If you know a college in your area that offers a degree in the field you're interested in, stop by in person for more information and advice. Ask what a first job in that line of work would be like, and what you'd need to study to get hired.

Klein-Collins says it's important to evaluate whether your prospective new school does a good job of serving adults. The book rates hundreds of two- and four-year colleges in every state based on policies that can make it easier for adults to return to school, and for showing good graduation rates and job placement after graduation. The No. 1 two-year school in the country, based on the criteria, is the Lake Washington Institute of Technology, a two-year state school in Kirkland. (Note that it's listed as Lake Washington Technical College in the book, a holdover from earlier years when it went by that name.)

Other Western Washington two-year schools that scored well in the national rankings: Skagit Valley College (18), Olympic College (27), Tacoma Community College (56) and Shoreline Community College (57). Four-year schools that did well included City University (8), University of Washington Bothell (20), Washington State University (40) and UW Seattle (58).

There is financial aid available for adults returning to college, but it's limited if you're not going to school full-time. Klein-Collins suggests using the website CollegeScorecard.ed.gov, run by the U.S. Department of Education, to figure out the net price for a college you're interested in. The net price can be different from the listed sticker price because it takes a family's income into account.

There are other ways of thinking about college costs, Klein-Collins said. For adults already working or raising a family, time is money, so she suggests looking for schools that design programs around working adults — programs that award credit for skills you've learned on the job, for example, or classes that move at your own pace, or are online.

While online programs can be a good option, recent studies have raised questions about the efficacy of learning online, Klein-Collins said. "There are good online programs, and there are bad online programs — there are students who are really good fits, and students who are not good fits." If you're interested in an online school, first try to determine if that type of instruction works for your learning style. Some programs will give you a chance to demo a course before you sign up.

Finally, Klein-Collins says there's a high cost to pay if you make a mistake and end up dropping out. Federal data shows that in 2015 and 2016, 3.9 million students who dropped out of college without earning a degree were saddled with a student loan payment. The National Student Clearinghouse estimates that only about 40 percent of students who start college past the age of 20 will finish in six years; about 60 percent of those who start when they're 20 or younger finish in six years.

"Find a college that'll really help you succeed, persist and get a degree," she said.

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How to Make an Impact at Work in The Age of “Here and Now”

During the past few years, I have seen many professionals start their careers with huge enthusiasm, drive and energy. But after a few months, the same guys that were eager to make a revolution become bored and disappointed.

Their most common feedback when they hit the wall? "I am not making an impact".

When this happens, I usually see the same underlying factors at play. On one hand, a distorted concept of what impact is (and is not); on the other, a huge mismatch between short-term energy and lack of patience for time to uncover long term gains.

Impact, in short, has to be big and happen fast. Otherwise, it is not real impact.

1. Changing Our Idea of What "Making an Impact" Means

I find it most helpful in these situations to reframe what impact is, and how to make such impact "worth the while" of the person hitting the impact wall. It is not always easy, for we live in a world of accelerations, interconnectivity and instant feedback.

There is only one way to stop our fixation with the end game: shifting our attention to the process. And not any process, but the one available to us right away, the one in front of us. To adopt a craftsman's approach to work: one piece at a time.

If you are seeking to make a difference, start by being proactive with small actions. You may help your team book meetings. Or bring lunch to the desk on a busy day. Even mentoring a younger colleague at work. All these are good ways to start making things better for people around you at work.

Yet, when I present this alternative I find immediate resistance. We tend to look into solutions from our complexity bias, our natural tendency to discard the simple for the complex, all else being equal. Simple is boring and not sophisticated, and both of us are fun and sophisticated people, aren't we?

Well, a good place to start is to avoid seeking sophistication in the impact we want to make. It is more rewarding to build our contribution aiming to make things around us 1% better every day. If you do, the magic of compounding small gains on a daily basis will yield a 3,800% improvement. That is 38x "better". The magic of consistent, small processes.

Small and simple things matter. Focus on the impact you can make in the next 60 minutes, and stop worrying about the impact you think you should be making.

2. Setting The Right Goals at Each Stage of Our Careers

The other day I was approached by one of my students at IE University. Here is a bright young man in his early twenties. He was struggling to make an important decision: should he become a quantitative structurer in investment banking, or should he take a different path in finance?

And so I asked:

What are the things you can do to help yourself make the best decision, this week, with the information that you already have?

What is holding you back from acting upon that choice?

The above is an example of a "goal too big to tackle". The distance between our present selves and achieving the goal seems daunting. And the absence of milestones that we can tackle in small doses puts us into zombie mode.

To come out of it, we need to become masters of the 80/20 rule. Focus on identifying the few key factors that will help us make progress towards answering the larger question, dropping the excessive thinking and planning so we can kick-off the work. To do that, we need to tick off the right "Process Goals" (today) so you can make progress towards your "End Goal" (tomorrow).

How can you take one first step that makes everything else easier or irrelevant? Focus on that one thing, one per week, and take action.

In the case of my IE student, he ended up giving himself a shorter-term process goal. He decided to focus on gathering quality information first (about the industry, interacting with those professionals to understand their challenges, their growth path and their typical "day in the life"). By doing this, he allowed himself to build the necessary blocks to tackle the big question, later.

You can't solve the big questions without finding the answer to the small questions first. Focus on learning when it is time to learn, and give yourself the chance to grow at the right pace.

3. Understanding That "Return on Time Invested" is Not Linear

We tend to focus on the linear path between ourselves, today, and our big goals in the distant future. And we do this without realising that it takes years to connect the building blocks and make them work.

The fact is, it is difficult to have a very good job without -first- becoming very good at something. But obsessing with the idea of "greatness" right off the bat is at the very base of the "I am not having an impact" conversation.

It takes time to build skills and relationships, and the path connecting one breakthrough to the next is rarely linear. Focusing on high quality, daily work and staying open to new relationships and new information is the key to progress. If you accrue and reinvest your career capital at every step of the way, you will see your impact grow exponentially over time.

Devote your energy to the small things you can control or influence, let the dots you can't control connect themselves, and give time the benefit of the doubt. It will pay back.

Conclusion: Don't Fall for "Success" Marketing

"Successful careers are not planned. They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values." — Peter Drucker

Did Zuckerberg, Jobs, Bezos or maybe Vera Wang wake up one day, identified exactly how they would be making an impact, and defined a multi-year plan to stardom?

No, they did not.

Zuckerberg initial aspiration was limited to building an easier way to flick through Harvard student's "faces", and Jobs… well, Jobs spent a significant amount of time in Los Altos Zen Center in California, seeking a meditative life. The founding of Apple happened in the most opportunistic of ways.

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon at 31, not out of college. He spent 10 years in Wall Street before founding his company. Vera Wang started her career in fashion design at 40, having devoted many years before to journalism.

What would these people tell us about the link between short-term actions and longer term ambitions?

If you read about their early days, you will see a common pattern: they all embraced a "little bets" approach. They all stumbled upon a series of small but incremental opportunities and built upon them over time. None of them started their business thinking they would change the world, nor thinking that they had discovered their ultimate personal "raison d'être".

Their purpose and their impact unfolded as they walked the path. Building one piece at a time. Through the work of a craftsman.

This story is published in The Startup, Medium's largest entrepreneurship publication followed by +414,678 people. Subscribe to receive our top stories here.

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People Are Starting To Prioritize Politics Over Sex In Online Dating

What's more important in a romantic partner: great sex or similar political views?

"Great sex" has been the widely favored reply since dating app OkCupid first started asking its users this question in 2003 ― until now. For the first time in the app's 15-year history, users in major cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles have tipped the scale in favor of compatible politics, OkCupid told HuffPost.

The overall number of women prioritizing politics over sex doubled from 2016 to 2018, and the percentage increased from 27 percent to 42 percent across the country. Over the same period, the app has seen a 1,000 percent increase in political terms on people's profiles ― reflecting a major shift in values that its executives have been watching closely since Donald Trump's election.

"It's truly, truly unprecedented the change in how people are using politics as a signal in dating," said Melissa Hobley, chief marketing officer of OkCupid and a professional matchmaker. "Without a doubt, the recent presidential election and current administration have driven young women in particular, but millennials of both genders, to say, 'Swipe left if you support Trump,' or 'I don't even want to see you as a match if you don't vote.'"

The sudden rise in dating political divides OkCupid has witnessed, particularly over the past two years, reflects the polarization of politics under Trump and the growing rage of his opponents ― particularly women. OkCupid is in a unique position to track that trend, as it is one of the few dating apps that requires its users to answer at least 15 questions about sex, politics and other values.

In addition to questions about oneself ― for instance, "How important is dental hygiene to you?" ― users also can indicate how important it is that a partner answer the question a particular way, so that the app can filter out incompatible people. The app regularly consults with psychologists and adds new questions to improve its matchmaking precision. 

Without a doubt, the recent presidential election and current administration have driven young women in particular, but millennials of both genders, to say, 'Swipe left if you support Trump.' Melissa Hobley, chief marketing officer of OkCupid and a professional matchmaker

Since the 2016 election, the OkCupid team noticed such a strong interest in politics that it began sending its users push notifications with questions about specific issues and political figures. On Jan. 10, the day Trump visited the U.S.-Mexico border, the app sent a new question to users: "Do you support the wall?" Eleven thousand people answered the question that day, and the number has climbed to 1.5 million since then. While 87 percent said they don't support the wall at all, 8 percent said they do; 3 percent said they support building a wall if Mexico pays, and the remaining 2 percent said they only support the wall if Mexico doesn't have to pay.

OkCupid, like most dating apps, won't share its exact number of users or any specific demographic breakdowns. But Hobley said the users skew millennial and urban, two groups that tend to lean liberal, with an even number of men and women. She said she has observed from internal data what others have reported ― that conservative men are having an increasingly hard time dating online, particularly in metropolitan areas.

"You may have read that Trump staffers can't get laid," Hobley said. "It's kind of true, based on what we're seeing, that Trump supporters are having these issues."

Since the app has been asking the simple question, "Trump?", since his election, 90 percent of users have responded "no" or "hell no," indicating that the app should not even show the people who support the president. Millennial women, unsurprisingly, are the most likely to prioritize politics in online dating. Seventy-three percent of them (compared to 56 percent of millennial men) have told OkCupid they're looking to date someone of the same political party, and half of all women on the app say they won't date someone who doesn't vote in elections.

In 2017, the app started allowing people to put badges on their profiles that indicated support for Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union, prompting The Federalist to publish a widely mocked essay titled, "Your Refusal to Date Conservatives Is One Reason We Have Donald Trump."

HuffPost asked people on Twitter whether they considered politics a deal-breaker in online dating and received dozens of responses.

Several women said they won't even date a man who indicates on his bio that he's "moderate; in this increasingly polarized atmosphere, they assume that probably means he's conservative.

"I never swipe right if they are conservative or 'moderate,'" Olivia, a 23-year-old in New York, wrote to me. "In NYC saying you're moderate is just a lie covering up for the fact that you want to get a date but are a conservative, which [in my opinion] is worse than just being a Trump Supporter in the 1st place."

"But the worst worst worst guys," she added, "are the ones that say 'apolitical,' because they must be living on a different planet."

Conservatives are so frustrated by reports of this phenomenon that they've launched a few of their own dating apps.

Jason, a 39-year-old man in a conservative area in Kentucky, said he doesn't indicate his liberal politics in his dating profile "partly out of fear." But he filters out conservative women.

"It sucks that so much of the country is resorting to tribalism, but one side believes in equality for all while the other exists only for rich, white, straight, cis men," he said. "Maybe some people can live with 'agreeing to disagree' on things like that, but I just couldn't live with myself if I did."

Conservatives are so frustrated by reports of this phenomenon that they've launched a few of their own dating apps, including Righter, Patrio and Donald Daters. Righter, founder Christy Edwards Lawton told The Daily Beast that conservatives have been discriminated against in online dating and that she might sue any liberals who try to join her app, just out of bitterness.

Hobley doesn't see OkCupid's political screening as discrimination. Younger generations are just becoming more politically engaged and ― in part as a reaction to the current administration ― recognizing shared values as central to a good romantic relationship, she said.

"This is so counter to what previous generations did, or what your own parents told you: 'Don't talk politics or religion until you've been dating a while,'" she said. "Not only are people not waiting till the third or fourth date ― people are saying, 'I don't even want to see you as a potential match if you don't vote.'"  

"Millennials get a bad rap on a lot of things, and some are deserved," she added. "But we think this is awesome."

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How can I start writing a thesis statement on theme for the short fiction of "A &P" "A&P" by John Updike

The first step in writing a thesis statement for any essay is to determine what will be the focus.  If your professor has given you a prompt, use it.  If the assignment was left open to you (as in, "Write a 2 page essay analyzing Updike's 'A&P'", you might find the following steps helpful in leading to a thesis statement.

First, you should brainstorm a long list of answers to the following questions:

The first step in writing a thesis statement for any essay is to determine what will be the focus.  If your professor has given you a prompt, use it.  If the assignment was left open to you (as in, "Write a 2 page essay analyzing Updike's 'A&P'", you might find the following steps helpful in leading to a thesis statement.

First, you should brainstorm a long list of answers to the following questions:

What theme(s) is(are) most prevalent in the short story?  (It is acceptable to choose only one, but at most, choose two that compliment each other.)

What literary or rhetorical methods does the author use to develop this theme?  (This is where you would analyze techniques such as setting, point-of-view, symbolism, irony, characterization, tone/mood, imagery, etc.  Brainstorm as many ideas as possible, including examples, then choose your strongest 3.)

Through 3 rhetorical techniques, what message is the author trying to send?  What point is he ultimately trying to make?  What is the overriding purpose of the short story?

Remember, when brainstorming, you want to get as many ideas out as possible so you have plenty of material to choose from.  Using your best theme idea with three of the strongest rhetorical techniques, you can then construct a thesis statement in this fashion:

Using the three rhetorical techniques of _________, _________, and ________, John Updike is successful in portraying the message that ______________________ (theme statement).

This sets you up for a well organized essay of almost any length, that focuses analysis in three categories which revolve around one main point.

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Start an Essay with Baits to Hook Your Readers

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Jan 9

Have you ever raged (or rage quitted) because you do not know how to start an essay?

If your answer is "yes", you're not the only one who feels that way! Admittedly, I oftentimes take the beginning of the essay for granted because I tend to focus more on writing sound arguments. Looking back, I realized that the first sentence plays a significant role in keeping my readers glued to my work.

The purpose of this guide is to give you insights and techniques on how to begin your essay. It takes time (and several revisions) to create a "perfect" beginning for your essay.

This is our outline:

Readers, hop on the knowledge train and fasten your seat belts! Let's learn something new today!

Can You Start an Essay With A Question?

From my experience, it is okay to begin your essay with a question. A question is like your research objective. Let me give you an example:

Why did Croatia join the EU and why are the theories applicable to the said country?

Through this question, I will answer it by stating the reasons why Croatia joined the European Union and argue as to why Liberal Intergovernmentalism best explains Croatia's political move.

See? The questions are there to fulfill the objectives of my paper. Questions are also an avenue for my arguments.

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Words to Start an Essay

This would depend on the type of essay you are going to write. Try to experiment which types of words best suits your essay. However- Generally speaking- you can begin your essay with the following words:

Adjectives

Merriam Webster's Dictionary states that it serves as a modifier of a noun. Adjectives are used to signify the quality or quantity, or even to specify it as something distinct.

Example:

Quiet people have the noisiest minds- Or so I heard.

Cute animals are the best.

Adverbs

It modifies another adverb, an adjective, or a verb.

Example:

Unfortunately, she died of illness

You are too proud of your achievements!

Nouns

Nouns can be the subject of a verb. They can also be in a form of pronouns such as "He", "She", "They", and etc.

Examples:

I dare to dream big.

They ate their hamburgers like famished wolves.

Verbs

Verbs express action or a mode of being.

Examples:

Look! There's a bird in the sky!

Sleeping for 24 hours is a world record for me.

How to Start Off an Essay? Set the tone!

What are you going to write about? Is it a paper about an academic paper about history or a fun experience in the countryside?

Start with a hook! (Obviously)

Here's the reality- your audience will probably not read your whole paper if it does not have a catchy introductory sentence. It should be a "trap". If your readers are "trapped", then they are more compelled to read the rest of your essay (at least, most of the time).

Yes, you have to make your paper click bait worthy or attention-grabbing. You can begin with the following:

Statistics- This is a common trick to use. If you are writing about nuclear weapons you can say that nine countries possess a total 14, 175 of the said weapons.

Definitions- Need I say more? All technical terms used in the essay should be introduced first. If you find beginning your essay with the definitions as cliché or generic, you can start off your essay with a fact/data. Then, follow it up with the definition.

A DYK (Did you know) fact- You can add an interesting fact about your topic. For instance, you can say which country has the most nuclear weapons.

An insight- It can be your thoughts about the topic on hand. You can even try writing a vivid description! Believe it or not, it's one way to bait your readers to your paper.

A question- This is a plus point for me because this is the writer's attempt to engage with me.

A dialogue- This is perfect for narrative essays.

Thesis statement- It is your main claim or a brief summary of your arguments/essay. Generally, it is placed at the end of the introduction. However, it can be also be written at the beginning. Either way, clarify this with your teacher. From my experience, a thesis can be placed anywhere in the introduction.

Whenever I begin my essays, I usually assume that the reader does not know anything about my topic. However, if you are writing for a specific audience, then that's a different story. In this context, general knowledge or obvious facts are not counted as "interesting".

Points to remember:

When you write facts or statistics, please remember to relate it with your overall topic.

Depending on the type of essay, you would have to make necessary adjustments to tailor your introductory sentence to the essay genre. This also applies when you are setting the tone of your paper.

Remember to make the beginning of your essay flow smoothly and logically.

Let's proceed!

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Types of Essays (How to begin with each essay type) Descriptive essays

Just from its name alone, this genre allows you to describe an emotion, experience, person, or a place. The description should be vivid in such a way that it paints a mental picture on the reader's mind.

You have to use concise vocabulary to be able to write a more moving and cinematic essay. To begin your essay, you have to set the scene first before describing the subject.

Examples:

Every Wednesday, I visit the park to take pictures of wildlife. What makes my trip interesting is a woman who exercises in a secluded area of the park.

Waking up early morning is an everyday struggle for me. My mind is set, but my body refuses to obey akin to a hard-headed child.

Expository essays

You are expected to expound on an idea and to evaluate it. You are too supplement evidences to support your ideas. It can be an analysis, a compare and contrast essay, or giving an example.

I recommend to write a brief background information about your topic. It can be a definition of terms, data, or an insight.

Examples:

South-South cooperation is a collaborative work among countries located in the South with regard to political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, and technical sectors.

With the devastating effect of natural disasters and internal conflict, it is important to engage in transition to relief to development. However, there are obstacles such as weak governments in affected countries, lack of collaboration, and the inability to expand the scope of programs implemented.

Narrative essays

Narrative essays allow you to write about your own experiences. It is usually anecdotal and personal. Interestingly, descriptive language plays a significant role here as it helps you concretize your experience to the reader.

Since narrative essays are in your point of view, it is natural to use the pronoun "I". This type of essay should have a setting, plot, characters, or a conclusion/moral lesson.

To begin your narrative essay, you can try to pose a question to your audience to (hopefully) draw them into your essay. You can also contextualize your essay by introducing the setting, the main characters, or a short background information.

Note: You may also add a dialogue at the beginning. That's one another way to "bait" a reader.

Examples:

I stared at the moving images on the screen as I mechanically pop one potato chip in my mouth — How many days had passed since I watched my favorite series?

Do you know what it feels like not to bring extra money?

Persuasive/Argumentative essays

In this essay, you have to take a stand and to justify it with evidence or even extensive research. You have to convince your reader that your side of the argument is valid. What makes it different from an expository essay is that the latter is more focused on giving facts.

Just like the expository essay, you can begin your argumentative essay by defining terms or adding introductory information. In the example below, I wrote about the Six-Party talks before making my point.

Examples:

Xiaodon Liang (2012) states that the talks are a series of multilateral negotiations held since the year 2003 and attended by the following countries; China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia, and the United States. Its purpose is to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program. (A paper on North Korea's Nuclear Program: Is Disarmament Possible?(2015) )

Given this, there's another type of essay you should consider. Do you know what that is? It's a college application essay. It's competitive because you have to demonstrate your skills as a writer. Moreover, you have to prove to the committee that you stand out from the rest of the applicants.

A college application essay not only gauges your skill, but it is also serves as a gateway to your personality.

How to Start a College Application Essay? (With Examples) Read the prompt!

Read and understand what is asked in the prompt. You can't begin drafting your essay without going through the questions twice or thrice. Do take note of the objectives of the prompt- Do you need to prove a point or to narrate something?

Once you understand the prompt, you can now brainstorm and draft your college application essay.

Write!

As usual, start with a killer hook. You can never go wrong with that. Same rules apply, but please make sure that your hook suits the essay prompt.

Write something interesting about yourself or your experience. Believe me, you're not a boring person. You have a story to tell. You can even pose a question to your reader. Let's say I'm writing about hating my first volunteering experience, I can say:

Volunteering? I despite it because it imposes forced charity. I admittedly used it to gain additional points in school. After all, nothing beats being the top of the class.

Here's another example:

Disagreement is like pineapples on pizza- It breeds conflict.

Even if you set an excellent "trap", you have to be lively and engaging to prevent the committee from getting bored.Remember folks, just be yourself- in a good way I mean.

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The content or topic of your paper is simply not enough to impress your readers. The first sentence is also a way to make an impact. Hey, you could even score an A+ Who knows?

Don't take the beginning of your essay for granted, okay?

Good luck and see you!

If you enjoyed this article, please, 👏 — it's free. Share it so that others can find it too.

Study smarter, not harder. Learn more from Nerdify today:

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Striking photo essay about Oakland's Black Panther Party (1968)

Fifty years ago, San Francisco's DeYoung Museum exhibited Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones's striking photo essay depicting Oakland's Black Panther Party at the peak of their community activism and political activity. Starting this week, those powerful images will be displayed again as part of the Vanguard Revisited: Poetic Politics & Black Futures exhibition at the San Francisco Art Institute.

The work is still pertinent today and will serve as a platform to discuss issues of documentary photography, social activism, and how the Black Liberation Movement of the 1960s in many ways manifests itself in the social context of today...

Black Futures is not delivered with a passive voice, but a voice steeped in deft poetics and sharp politics that continue to accumulate power from its own rich history.

See more of the images at Juxtapoz.

To learn about the Black Panthers's inspiring, polarizing, and ultimately tragic history, I recommend the fantastic documentary "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution."

Aerial photographer and filmmaker Toby Harriman turned his lens on the soaring public housing apartment block towers in Hong Kong.

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Photographer unknown. (via r/mildlyinteresting)

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Samsung's latest phones have a "portrait" mode that cleverly fakes the look of a shot taken with a fancy lens on a full-frame sensor. But a picture they used as an example in an ad turns out to be a stock photo taken with a high-end DLSR. Moreover, the photographer, Dunja Djudjic, has a blog […]

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For the newbie, Python can seem like the most intimidating programming language. After all, it can be used to create everything from simple apps to vast networks of web crawlers. But there are fundamental principles that underlie all the uses of this versatile platform, and you can absorb them all with the Python Master Class […]

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Building a website on WordPress has always been easy. But if you really want to make your website stand out from the growing crowd, you're going to need some help. For our money, a subscription to Storeshock WordPress Themes & Elements does the trick almost as well as having a pro designer by your side […]

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These days, there isn't much our iPhone camera can't do – except feel like an actual phone. Despite years of steadily increasing resolution and image sensing technology, we're still taking shots awkwardly with two hands, fumbling for the shutter button. Leave it to an avid photographer to design Shuttercase, a versatile iPhone case that solves […]

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