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How to Write Your College Essay: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide

Getting ready to start your college essay? Your essay is very important to your application — especially if you’re applying to selective colleges.

Become a stronger writer by reviewing your peers’ essays and get your essay reviewed as well for free.

We have regular livestreams during which we walk you through how to write your college essay and review essays live.

College Essay Basics

Just getting started on college essays? This section will guide you through how you should think about your college essays before you start.

Why do essays matter in the college application process?
What is a college application theme and how do you come up with one?
How to format and structure your college essay

Before you move to the next section, make sure you understand:

How a college essay fits into your application

What a strong essay does for your chances

How to create an application theme

Learn the Types of College Essays

Next, let’s make sure you understand the different types of college essays. You’ll most likely be writing a Common App or Coalition App essay, and you can also be asked to write supplemental essays for each school. Each essay has a prompt asking a specific question. Each of these prompts falls into one of a few different types. Understanding the types will help you better answer the prompt and structure your essay.

How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges
Personal Statement Essay Examples
How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity Essay
Extracurricular Essay Examples
Tips for Writing a Diversity College Essay
Diversity Essay Examples
Tips for Writing a Standout Community Service Essay
How to Write the “Why This Major” Essay
How to Write a “Why This Major” Essay if You’re Undecided
How to write the “Why This College” Essay
How to Research a College to Write the “Why This College” Essay
Why This College Essay Examples
How to Write The Overcoming Challenges Essay
Overcoming Challenges Essay Examples

Identify how each prompt fits into an essay type

What each type of essay is really asking of you

How to write each essay effectively

The Common App essay

Almost every student will write a Common App essay, which is why it’s important you get this right.

How to Write the Common App Essay
Successful Common App Essay Examples
5 Awesome College Essay Topics + Sample Essays
11 Cliché College Essay Topics + How to Fix Them

How to choose which Common App prompts to answer

How to write a successful Common App essay

What to avoid to stand out to admissions officers

Supplemental Essay Guides

Many schools, especially competitive ones, will ask you to write one or more supplemental essays. This allows a school to learn more about you and how you might fit into their culture.

These essays are extremely important in standing out. We’ve written guides for all the top schools. Follow the link below to find your school and read last year’s essay guides to give you a sense of the essay prompts. We’ll update these in August when schools release their prompts.

See last year’s supplemental essay guides to get a sense of the prompts for your schools.

Essay brainstorming and composition

Now that you’re starting to write your essay, let’s dive into the writing process. Below you’ll find our top articles on the craft of writing an amazing college essay.

Where to Begin? 3 Personal Essay Brainstorming Exercises
Creating the First Draft of Your College Application Essay
How to Get the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay
What If I Don’t Have Anything Interesting To Write About In My College Essay?
8 Do’s and Don’t for Crafting Your College Essay
Stuck on Your College Essay? 8 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block

Understand how to write a great hook for your essay

Complete the first drafts of your essay

Editing and polishing your essay

Have a first draft ready? See our top editing tips below. Also, you may want to submit your essay to our free Essay Peer Review to get quick feedback and join a community of other students working on their essays.

11 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your College Essay
Getting Help with Your College Essay
5 DIY Tips for Editing Your College Essay
How Long Should Your College Essay Be?
Essential Grammar Rules for Your College Apps
College Essay Checklist: Are You Ready to Submit?

Proofread and edited your essay.

Had someone else look through your essay — we recommend submitting it for a peer review.

Make sure your essay meets all requirements — consider signing up for a free account to view our per-prompt checklists to help you understand when you’re really ready to submit.

Advanced College Essay Techniques

Let’s take it one step further and see how we can make your college essay really stand out! We recommend reading through these posts when you have a draft to work with.

10 Guidelines for Highly Readable College Essays
How to Use Literary Devices to Enhance Your Essay
How to Develop a Personalized Metaphor for Your College Applications

Ultimate Guide to Writing Your College Essay

Tips for writing an effective college essay.

College admissions essays are an important part of your college application and gives you the chance to show colleges and universities your character and experiences. This guide will give you tips to write an effective college essay.

Want free help with your college essay?

UPchieve connects you with knowledgeable and friendly college advisors—online, 24/7, and completely free. Get 1:1 help brainstorming topics, outlining your essay, revising a draft, or editing grammar.

Writing a strong college admissions essay

Learn about the elements of a solid admissions essay.

Avoiding common admissions essay mistakes

Learn some of the most common mistakes made on college essays

Brainstorming tips for your college essay

Stuck on what to write your college essay about? Here are some exercises to help you get started.

How formal should the tone of your college essay be?

Learn how formal your college essay should be and get tips on how to bring out your natural voice.

Taking your college essay to the next level

Hear an admissions expert discuss the appropriate level of depth necessary in your college essay.

Student Stories

Student Story: Admissions essay about a formative experience

Get the perspective of a current college student on how he approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about personal identity

Get the perspective of a current college student on how she approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about community impact

Student story: admissions essay about a past mistake, how to write a college application essay, tips for writing an effective application essay, sample college essay 1 with feedback, sample college essay 2 with feedback.

This content is licensed by Khan Academy and is available for free at www.khanacademy.org.

College Students: A Writing Resource Guide

Writing papers in college is difficult and intimidating for many students. Our writing resources can help make the job easier.

A college-level paper is much more difficult than any of the papers you wrote in high school.

Unlike high school essays that often focus more on summarizing information or demonstrating knowledge of a topic, college-level essays demand a deeper critical thinking and analysis writing process. A college-level academic essay needs to make a claim in the introductory paragraph and then spend the next several paragraphs backing up those claims with research to support your theory before leading the reader to a conclusion.

Featured Programs

What is academic writing.

College/academic writing is more complex than everyday writing for several reasons.

Academic writing is characterized by its formality, precision, clarity, and credibility. It often uses complex sentence structures to convey a lot of information efficiently. It deals with abstract concepts and prioritizes objectivity, focusing on ideas rather than the author’s identity. Rigor and logical argumentation are essential, with careful support and explanation of ideas. Academic writing also features a tightly knit structure that ensures a logical flow of ideas throughout the text.

Academic writing has several significant benefits for students.

Express Understanding : It enables students to communicate their grasp of complex subjects, assisting them in precisely articulating what they have learned.
Develop Analytical Thinking: Academic writing promotes critical thinking by requiring students to analyze information, form opinions, and communicate their findings effectively.
Focus on Style and Technique: This course strongly emphasizes style and technique, teaching students how to effectively communicate their ideas through organized, well-written essays—a crucial ability for academic and professional success in the future.
Enhance Critical Thinking and Objectivity: Students learn to consider various viewpoints, improving their capacity for critical thought and an objective approach to subjects.
Promote Professionalism: Having college students carefully follow directions and guidelines instills a sense of professionalism in them, preparing them for their future employment.
Improve Research Skills: Academic writing helps students and scholars improve their research abilities by requiring careful data collection, analysis, and critical thought.
Inculcate Work Ethic: It instills work ethics in students and motivates them to adhere to academic writing guidelines and standards while promoting discipline and commitment.

The Importance of Writing Skills in College

Writing is a universal skill that extends beyond formal academic and professional contexts. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) affirms that everyone is a writer to some extent.

While developing writing skills in college may require effort and practice, the long-term benefits are substantial. Writing proficiency is a valuable asset in the workforce and a skill that fosters critical thinking, communication, and personal development. Here are quick tips on how to improve your writing skills in college:

Establish Productive Writing Habits: Cultivate writing habits that suit your workflow. This may involve setting aside dedicated writing time, creating a conducive environment, or utilizing techniques like freewriting and brainstorming.
Extensive Reading: Dive deep into your specific academic field and explore diverse subjects in related fields. Broadening your knowledge base can inspire new ideas and perspectives for your writing.
Linguistic and Grammatical Proficiency: Enhance your linguistic awareness and grammatical sensitivity. Pay attention to language nuances and ensure your writing is free from grammatical errors, as precision in language is crucial in academic writing.
Navigate the Writing Process: Embrace the recursive nature of academic writing, which includes planning, outlining, drafting, revising, polishing, and ultimately presenting or publishing your work. Recognize that multiple revisions and iterations are often necessary for high-quality writing.
Address Key Elements: Focus on essential elements of academic writing, such as understanding your audience and purpose, organizing your content logically, developing a consistent writing style, ensuring clarity in your arguments, maintaining a smooth flow of ideas, and paying attention to the overall appearance and formatting of your work.
Cultural Awareness: If you encounter cultural barriers, work to overcome them. Be mindful of cultural diversity in communication styles, expectations, and references. Seek guidance or feedback from peers, mentors, or writing centers to bridge cultural gaps.

Students who embrace the importance of writing in college can reap rewards throughout their academic journey and future careers. According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities, 90% of the surveyed employers viewed writing as either a “somewhat important” or “very important” skill.

Types of Academic Writing

Academic writing aims to persuade and change how people think and act, pushing society forward. This is why college students, or prospective college students, should quickly realize the importance of writing clearly and precisely.

In the world of academic writing, there are many types of writing styles, each with its own purposes and characteristics. These styles are like tools students use to communicate within their chosen fields of study. For example, there are research papers that dig deep into new ideas and discoveries, uncovering things we didn’t know before.

Below are the main types of academic writing you’ll encounter in college.

Research Papers

Research papers offer a thorough examination, assessment, or interpretation of a specific subject supported by empirical data. Research papers emphasize using statistical data and prior research and adhere to a rigorous reference style.

The most efficient way to disseminate knowledge over an extensive network is through research articles, which are the foundation of contemporary science.

Research papers often use professional, or even dull, language that eliminates bias because of their importance. For other researchers to use the publication in future research, original researchers must clearly express their findings and provide supporting data.

A typical research paper includes an introduction with a clear thesis statement, a literature review to provide context, a methodology section detailing research methods, results, or findings, and a conclusion summarizing key points and implications.

Research papers rely heavily on academic sources such as scholarly articles, books, and primary research materials. Proper citation and referencing are crucial in research papers, typically following a specific citation style .

Argument Papers

Your position, assertion, or perspective on your subject is your academic argument.

This position, assertion, or point of view gives your readers a viewpoint, perspective, or point of view on the subject at hand and adds to the present discussion on it.

An argument paper is not a conflict, combat, or hostile encounter. Argument papers are persuasive essays that present a clear and convincing argument or viewpoint on a particular issue or topic. They require students to use logical reasoning and evidence to make a case for their perspective.

Argument papers aim to influence the reader’s opinion, beliefs, or actions. They require students to consider counterarguments and address them effectively.

Argument papers usually begin with an introduction containing a thesis statement, followed by body paragraphs presenting evidence and reasoning, and a conclusion summarizing the argument and its implications.

To support their claims, students must provide credible evidence, such as statistics, research findings, expert opinions, or examples. Addressing opposing viewpoints and demonstrating their weaknesses is critical to successful argument papers.

Academic Proposals

Academic proposals are like carefully drawn maps for research projects that students want to do. They’re not just random notes on paper; they are detailed plans that show the way for future research.

In these proposals, you will find a detailed research plan. This plan has important parts like well-thought-out research questions, clear goals, a step-by-step plan for how to do the research, and a convincing reason for why the study is important. All these parts fit together to give a clear picture of what the research will be like.

One big job of these proposals is to ask for approval or money to do the research. Think of them as persuasive tools for getting support and resources to turn an idea into a real research project.

If we break down an academic proposal, we can see its basic parts. It starts with a good title that says what the research is about. Then comes the introduction, which explains why the research is needed and important.

A literature review is like showing what others have said about the topic and what’s still unknown. Research questions or hypotheses are like guiding stars that help the researcher know where to go.

The methodology section explains the tools and methods the researcher will use. Anticipated outcomes are like predictions about what the research will find, and the bibliography lists all the sources that were used to make the proposal.

You should be clear and concise when writing academic proposals. Otherwise, your work may be denied and will be left collecting dust.

Exam Essays

Exam essays are written responses to questions or prompts provided during examinations. They require students to demonstrate their understanding of course material, critical thinking skills, and the ability to convey ideas effectively within a limited timeframe.

The format of exam essays may vary, but they often require the college student to answer specific questions or respond to prompts with concise, well-organized reports.

Successful exam essays require thorough preparation, including a review of course materials, outlining key points, and practicing time management.

Due to time constraints, clarity and concise expression of ideas are crucial in writing essays in exams.

Expository Papers

Expository papers are informative documents that inform, describe, or explain a particular topic or concept to the reader. They do not necessarily require persuasive arguments. Expository papers seek to educate the reader by providing precise and unbiased information on a subject.

They typically follow a clear and organized structure, presenting information logically and sequentially.

Expository papers can be explanatory essays, how-to guides, informative articles, or reports. The primary focus in expository writing is on clarity and the effective transmission of information.

Tips for Writing a More Effective College-Level Academic Writing Piece

The best way to start your college paper is by creating an outline to help you organize your thoughts and make sure that your paper flows from paragraph to paragraph in a logical manner. Then, do multiple drafts to ensure that you can be proud of the finished project you hand in.

Aside from taking the time to outline, do your researc, and write multiple drafts, there are plenty of other important tips you should follow to put your best foot forward while writing a college paper.

Start Early and Draft Strategically

Start your essay early to make sure that you have a strong understanding of the topic and to give you plenty of time to brainstorm and find all of the sources you need to make a good argument. Extra time means that you can easily write a few different drafts of the essay to ensure that you clearly and precisely make the point you’re trying to make without bogging down your essay with unnecessary information.

The added benefit of starting early with your paper is that it gives you enough time to have your final draft reviewed by someone else, such as a friend, classmate, or writing tutor. Receiving feedback helps you avoid overlooking errors. This will help you pinpoint specific areas that need improvement rather than making arbitrary content modifications.

Here are some resources to consider:

University Writing Centers
Online Writing Communities

This social networking site has many subreddits, each focusing on a different subject or set of interests. Writing-related subreddits like r/writing, r/writers, and r/KeepWriting provide forums for discussing various elements of writing and publishing and asking for criticism on written work. Users can join discussions on literature and writing, post questions, and share their writing.

Stack Exchange:

This is a valuable tool for getting responses to writing-related concerns because users can ask questions regarding grammar, style, publication, and other writing-related topics.

Scribophile:

You can post your original paper and ask other users within the community for criticism. The platform encourages participants to constructively review and converse with one another to develop their writing abilities.

Critique Circle:

This writing community strongly emphasizes criticism and feedback. The platform runs on a credit system. This promotes a climate of reciprocity and helpful criticism among its participants.

Achieve Writing Excellence

Your papers should always use correct grammar and standard English. This is where it can be beneficial to write multiple drafts; that way, you can catch errors in an earlier draft and fix them before you hand in your final essay.

Don’t use jargon, slang, or symbols in your writing. Try to keep your tone formal, and don’t emphasize words with all caps, underlines, bold, or italic lettering. However, that doesn’t mean you have to overuse flowery language to sound more formal. Keep your words clear and concise so your reader always understands the point you’re trying to make.

Watch out for these common writing pitfalls:

Active vs. Passive Voice: Active voice is best for more straightforward writing. Passive voice is acceptable in some contexts but should only be employed occasionally.
Punctuation: Incorrect use of commas, semicolons, colons, and apostrophes are typical punctuation mistakes. Review the punctuation guidelines, then carefully edit your writing. Think about getting other people’s opinions or employing grammar-checking software.
Run-on Sentences and Sentence Fragments: Sentences that are too long and wrongly integrate multiple independent clauses are run-on sentences. On the other hand, sentence fragments are incomplete sentences that are missing crucial elements like subjects or verbs. To avoid these problems, shorten long sentences, check that each sentence has a distinct subject and verb, and punctuate independent clauses correctly.
Repetition: Repeating exact words, phrases, or concepts can make your writing uninteresting. Change up your sentence construction and vocabulary. Substitute words for the original ones or reword your phrases to avoid duplication.
Clichés and Overused Phrases : Clichés are overused expressions that have lost their originality and freshness. Clichés should be swapped out with creative and detailed wording. Strive to communicate your views in original ways.

Here are some of the most commonly used resources and writing tools to spot grammar errors:

This is a popular online writing tool that offers tips for sentence structure, style, and clarity, as well as help with grammar, punctuation, and spelling. This tool is widely used to improve the quality of writing and is available as a desktop application, browser extension, and online editor.

Hemingway Editor:

Using the Hemingway Editor, student writers can make their work more understandable and readable. It points out issues like difficult-to-understand sentences, too many adverbs, and passive voice, and suggests ways to make the text simpler and more readable.

Ginger offers real-time recommendations and corrections as a grammar and spelling checker. It provides functions including sentence rephrasing, grammatical checking, and translation support.

WhiteSmoke:

This tool offers grammar, spelling, and punctuation checks. It also features a plagiarism checker and stylistic recommendations.

After the Deadline:

This grammar and proofreading tool can be incorporated into several content management systems and other programs. It looks for spelling, grammar, and style mistakes and offers ideas for correction.

LanguageTool:

This is an open-source grammar and style checker supporting several languages. It examines grammatical, punctuation, and stylistic mistakes and justifies suggested corrections.

ProWritingAid:

This is a thorough writing tool that offers functions including readability analysis, plagiarism detection, and tips for enhancing writing style in addition to grammar and style checks. It can be linked to other writing systems or used as an online editor.

Maximize Academic Resources

Make use of resources such as your campus library, your school’s writing lab, your professors, and the Internet. The writing lab has tutors who can review your paper to help you make sure you’re handing in the best project possible. The library and the Internet are perfect places for finding more sources to cite for your research, and of course, your professor is a well of information to answer any questions you may have about your assignment.

Popular online writing resources include:

International Writing Centers Association:

You can use this recourse to seek professional writing support. This is a hub for sharing best practices, research, and resources. It also provides a network for professionals to connect, collaborate, and discuss writing center pedagogy and administration.

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL):

This resource provides several support services, including comprehensive writing guides, well-written examples, guidance on citing sources correctly, interactive exercises and quizzes, and virtual writing consultations. Plus, it’s typically free!

The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill:

College students can access this resource to seek support in various aspects of writing. You’ll gain access to one-on-one consultations, workshops, online resources, and specialized assistance.

The University of Iowa’s Writing Center:

The University of Iowa has a fantastic writing center and is known for the esteemed Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Their tools include everything from basic academic writing to mastering syntax and punctuation, demonstrating their dedication to assisting students in all areas of writing.

Avoid Plagiarism and Use Proper Source Citation

Don’t plagiarize. When using other people’s work in your essay, always make sure to cite your sources appropriately. While it may be easy to claim an idea as your own, it’s not honest, and you risk getting caught and possibly expelled. You can use other people’s findings and talk about them, as long as you give credit where it’s due.

Here are some helpful plagiarism resources:

Document and Citation Resources for Writers:

The center provides helpful guidance and research aid for authors, including help making sure proper citations are provided.

Harvard University’s Tips to Avoid Plagiarism:

The resource explains the importance of proper citation, paraphrasing, and quoting, and it offers strategies to ensure that your writing is ethically sound and free from plagiarism.

Plagiarism.org:

Plagiarism.org is a comprehensive online resource that addresses plagiarism in writing and academia, offering information on prevention, content-checking tools, and resources for educators, students, and professionals to uphold academic integrity.

This free, open-source reference management tool helps students simplify source collection, organization, citation generation in multiple styles, and bibliography creation for research projects.

This is a reference management software designed for researchers, students, and professionals, facilitating the organization of large reference collections, bibliography creation, and citations in various styles commonly utilized in academic and research settings.

This reference management tool allows users to organize research libraries, collaborate, and generate citations and bibliographies with seamless integration into word processing software, offering both free and paid versions and finding popularity among researchers and academics.

How to Properly Source Citations

Here are quick tips on how to properly source citations.

Use a Consistent Citation Style

Choose a specific citation style, such as MLA style, APA style, or Chicago, and stick to style rules throughout your document.

Different fields and publications have their preferred styles, so ensure you follow the appropriate one:

MLA style is common in the humanities.
APA style is targeted in the social sciences and beyond.

Chicago style consists of two systems:

Chicago author-date , used in the (social) sciences
Chicago notes and bibliography , common in the humanities

In addition to the commonly known citation styles mentioned, there are many specialized citation styles for other academic disciplines . When in doubt about which citation style to use, consulting with your instructor or advisor is an excellent approach. They can give you the style guide for the assigned topics or research project.

Include Essential Information

Each citation should include essential elements, such as the author’s name, publication date, title, source (e.g., book, article, website), and page numbers (if applicable). The exact format may vary based on the citation style you’re using.

For online sources, include the URL or DOI (Digital Object Identifier) if available. If the source might change over time (e.g., web pages), provide the date you accessed it.

Consider Parenthetical Citations

When you use information from a source within your text, include a parenthetical citation (in-text citation) to indicate the source. For example: (Chapman, 2019, p. 126) or (Johnson & Brown, 2020, p. 45).

Use Quotation Marks and Page Numbers

If you directly quote text from a source, enclose the quoted text in double quotation marks and include the page number. If you’re citing a source that you found cited in another work (secondary source), try to locate and cite the original source whenever possible.

Create a Full Bibliographic Entry

At the end of your document, create a comprehensive list of all sources used, known as a bibliography or reference list. Organize this list alphabetically by the author’s last name. If there’s no author, use the title.

Additional Writing Resources

Nine Basic Ways to Improve Your Academic Writing Style : These tips from the UC Berkeley Student Learning Center are designed to help you improve your writing for academic papers.
Writing Tips and Techniques for Your College Essay : Writing papers to get into college can be just as stressful, if not more stressful, than the papers you write in college. This list of tips can help you relax and figure out what needs to go on the paper.
Writing Rescue Guide for College Students : This guide breaks down the different writing styles, how they’re used, and what topics they address as well as common problems students have.
How to Write a Comparative Analysis : Comparative analysis papers are some of the most common types of college papers you’ll encounter. This guide breaks down how to do them well.
A Guide to Plagiarism and Paraphrasing : More than 60% of undergraduate students admit to cheating on writing assignments, but plenty of those students get caught and face serious consequences. This page explains how and when to cite sources and how to avoid plagiarizing accidentally.
Academic Writing Guide : Good academic writing is an important skill to have, and there are strategies you can use to make the process easier.
Six Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills : Writing is one of the oldest forms of communication still in existence, and being able to use that skill wisely is a great achievement. These tips can help improve your writing skills.
Eight Tips for Writing Your College Essay : College essays, or personal statements, are a common part of the application process, and they give colleges a good idea of where your writing skills are before admission.
College Essay Writing Tips : Use these tips as well as common do’s and don’ts to write winning college essays that show just how skilled of a writer you are.
Point of View in Academic Writing : This page includes a chart to help you understand the appropriate pronouns for your essays.
Five Tips to Make Your Writing More Exciting : Academic writing doesn’t have to be boring to read. A few different word choices can help to liven up your writing.
Tips for College Papers : What makes a great college paper? These essential writing tips give you a breakdown of what every successful paper must include.
Basic Steps in the Research Process : Writing requires research to create a well-constructed paper. Here are some of the basic steps you should take while doing research for your paper.
Writing in College : This in-depth guide walks you through everything you need to know about writing for college and how it differs from writing for high school.
College Essay Writing Tips : These tips will help you narrow down what you want to get out of a college admission essay to put your best foot forward.
Tips for Writing College Essays With Dyslexia and ADHD : Writing a good paper is tough enough for college students, but when you add dyslexia or ADHD, writing a paper can be even harder. These tips can help students find their motivation and put their thoughts on paper.
Essay Tips : These tips can help you write a strong essay that shows off your writing prowess.
Ten Tips for College Writing : When you’re writing college-level essays, it’s important to place value on the words you use. This guide gives some great tips on how to choose valuable words.
ADHD and College Writing : ADHD can make writing college papers more difficult. This page offers tips to make the process easier so papers feel like a less daunting task.

Frequently Asked Questions

What common problems do most college students encounter in dealing with writing.

Many students encounter common problems when dealing with academic writing. These challenges can be frustrating but are also opportunities for growth and improvement. The most common problems college students encounter are lack of clarity and focus, poor organization, grammar and style errors, plagiarism, citation and referencing issues, and coping with feedback.

What is the most important thing in academic writing?

The most essential element in academic writing is communication clarity. The goal of academic writing is to present complicated concepts, research findings, and arguments in a way that is both clear and understandable. Academic writing is far less successful when it lacks clarity.

What makes academic writing different from other writing?

Academic writing is distinct from other types of writing, such as creative or journalistic writing, due to its specific characteristics, style, and purpose. Unlike journaling and creative writing, the foundation of academic writing is data and research. College students must use proper citations and are required to avoid colloquial language and casual terms.

How can I find good sources for my research paper?

To begin research effectively, start with Google and Wikipedia. Follow these steps to find good sources:

Create a list of research terms.
Consider the source type needed for your assignment.
Explore library research guides.
Select sources aligned with your research question.
Review works cited sections for more materials.
Use “Cited by” in platforms like Google Scholar.
Seek guidance from university librarians.

Visit our Study Guide Headquarters for tips, tools, and much more.

See our Resources Guide for much more on studying, starting your job search, and more.

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Introduction
Why a Study Plan?
Create a Study Schedule
Create a Task List
How Long Will It Take?
Can You Get It Done?
Your Study Routine
When To Study
Where To Study
Study Methods
How to Take Notes
How to Study a Textbook
How to Study For Exams
How To Write a Paper

How to Write a College Paper

It’s been a long time since I wrote an essay so I’ve delegated the discussion of this topic to Dr. Genevieve Carlton. She’s had a lot of experience writing and grading papers. We appreciate her advice and you should too.

How to Write a Great Paper, by Genevieve Carlton Ph.D

A college paper is the standard assignment in humanities and social sciences. You need to master writing essays if you want to earn the best grades. But writing papers isn’t just about the grade. It’s about honing your language and persuasion skills – the most powerful tools you always have at your disposal.

If you’re intimidated by the basic five-page paper, you aren’t alone. But college essays are not rocket science. Regardless of whether you’re writing a paper for history, English, sociology, psychology, or any other class, these simple methods will raise your grade on any college paper.

Let’s jump in.

Start Writing Your College Essay at Least Two Weeks Before The Due Date

There are a lot of different approaches to writing an essay, but they all share one thing: start early! Never put off writing an essay until the last minute, you’ll make sloppy mistakes or risk late penalties that will destroy your grade. Instead, start at least two weeks before the due date. Btw, Shovel makes this easy. Just set that you want to get started 14 days before the essay is due. Shovel will let you know if it’s enough time and will remind you when to get started.

Why is it so important to start early? If you pull an all-nighter right before the due date, it will show. You’ll end up with mediocre argument, poor evidence, and a lack of polish… trust me, professors can tell. And you’ll miss out on the opportunities to gain feedback from your professor during your writing process.

There’s no secret formula to writing a perfect paper right before the deadline. Writing a great paper takes time, so you need to start early.

Read, Read, and Re-Read the Essay Assignment

Some professors might not admit it, but here’s the truth: every professor wants something slightly different from your paper.

Your English professor wants you to emphasize narrative styles, while your art history professor cares about technique. Your history professor wants quotes from the reading, while your psychology professor expects you to summarize (and cite!) the sources. One professor might knock off points for using in-line citation, while another hates footnotes. Even professors in the same department might want completely different essays.

So how are you supposed to figure out what your professor wants? It’s easy: study the assignment and ask questions. Even better, ask if your professor uses a grading rubric for essays. Then you’ll know exactly what your professor wants to see.

Studying the assignment is your key to getting an A on every paper. Your professor tells you exactly what he or she is looking for: will you be graded largely on your argument, your evidence, or your grammar? Does the professor want a persuasive argument or a descriptive argument? If the assignment doesn’t say, ask! You can easily raise your grade from the middle of the bell curve to top of the class just by making sure you’re writing the paper your professor wants to see.

You’ve Already Done Half the Work

Here’s the good news: if you’re on top of your course reading, you’ve already done half the work the day your professor hands out the paper topics.

Most essay assignments come directly from the reading: Create an analysis of race in Huck Finn. Explain Machiavelli’s attitude on power in The Prince. Compare and contrast two perspectives on World War II.

You have a major advantage if you read the material closely. And don’t just read: highlight the most important passages, write down the key arguments, and take notes on the major points. If you do that, you’ve literally done half the work for your paper.

So don’t cut corners when it comes to the assigned reading. In fact, read with an essay question in mind––look for the quotes that you’ll use to build your argument now, and it will be much easier to build your evidence list later.

Know Your Five-Paragraph Essay

College essays come in many shapes and sizes, from persuasive to argumentative, and from narrative to analytical. But they often follow a similar format: the standard five-paragraph essay, drilled into every high school student’s mind. And unless the assignment requests something different, use the five-paragraph essay as your template for most college essays.

As a reminder, the five-paragraph essay opens with your introduction paragraph, which ends with your thesis statement, or argument. The next three body paragraphs lay out your evidence. The essay wraps up with a conclusion, where you reiterate your point.

That same format works for everything from a three-page analytical essay to a fifteen-page research paper. You’ll obviously need more body paragraphs in a longer paper, and in any argumentative paper you’ll want to address counter-arguments or problems in your argument. But use the five-paragraph template to create an outline for your paper.

Always Create an Outline for Structure

Professors can nearly always spot an essay written at the last minute. And here’s why: they ramble; they don’t have a clear structure; they wander from point to point without building to anything. Needless to say, those papers don’t earn high grades.

You can avoid that pitfall by writing a strong outline before drafting the essay.

An outline helps you arrange your ideas before you begin drafting the paper. Start by re-reading the assignment and jotting down the main topics your paper must address. And then think about how to order them: which of the two readings should you discuss first? Where should you address counter-arguments? Should your descriptive paragraph come right after your introduction, or can it wait until page two?

Essentially, writing an outline forces you to think about how to make your argument. It doesn’t need to be a polished document, because it will evolve as you work on the paper. At this stage, your outline might look more like a list of paragraph topics, with not much else filled in. But having that framework helps ensure that your essay stays focused on the topic.

Start with your Evidence

Don’t start by writing your introduction. The introduction is the absolutely most important part of any paper. Within that first paragraph, your professor is already deciding whether you’ve submitted an A paper or not.

So leave the introduction until you’re able to write the most focused, best paragraph that you’ve ever created.

Instead, start with your evidence. Read the essay prompt and make a list of the crucial evidence. Use your notes on the reading to pull out the strongest building blocks for your case. Write down examples you want to pull from lectures. Collect a list of the best quotes from the readings.

And look at your outline. Start filling in the examples you’ll use in each paragraph.

Once you have an evidence list, it will be much easier to craft your body paragraphs, the meat of your paper where you lay out your argument. Now that you know your evidence, it’s time to hone your argument.

It’s All About The Argument

The argument, or thesis statement, is the most important sentence in your paper. That one sentence lays out your answer to the essay prompt and sets up your body paragraphs. So it has to be great.

While you’re creating your evidence list, jot down a few potential arguments. Don’t pick one just yet, though. Instead, try on a few different arguments and see if you have the evidence to support them. Stay open to changing your argument.

Your thesis statement will look different in an expository essay versus an argumentative essay. But the general idea is the same: your argument sums up your paper’s point of view. So make sure it’s strong.

And here’s one important rule for all types of papers: never, ever have a thesis statement that just says “Yes” or “No.” Your argument should always explain why. If the essay prompt gives you a statement and asks you to agree or disagree, explain why. If the prompt tells you to pick one side of a debate, explain why. Just make sure you have the evidence to back it up.

It’s Finally Time To Write

That’s right, there are seven steps before you get to actually write the essay. That’s one reason you need to start early.

Before you start writing your paper, you should have a clear roadmap for your argument and evidence. You should know what the professor wants, and you should have an outline to answer the essay prompt. You should feel confident that you understand the reading and that you’ve pulled out the major points.

Then––and only then––it’s time to start writing.

Start with your body paragraphs, incorporating the examples from your outline and evidence list. Open each paragraph with a topic sentence, which tells your reader what to expect from the following paragraph. Add your citations as you go, whether as footnotes or inline citations––it will save time to include them now instead of going back to add them later. After writing a paragraph, re-read it. Edit as you go to polish your ideas and make sure you aren’t leaving out any evidence.

Once you have a draft of your body paragraphs, create the conclusion. And then go back to write the introduction. Save your professor grief by avoiding opening sentences like “Since the dawn of time . . .” or “The Oxford English Dictionary defines . . .” The last thing you write should be your thesis statement.

You’ve finished a complete draft of your paper––congratulations! But you’re not done yet.

Talk to Your Professor or TA

No one makes a better editor than the person grading your essay. So you should always check whether your professor or TA will review a draft of your paper before the due date. Ask if they have a policy about reading drafts––or at least ask if they’ll read your first paragraph, which will make or break your grade.

Be prepared to send your professor or TA a full or partial draft at least three or four days before the deadline. Even though some professors have a policy against reading drafts, it never hurts to ask. And it’s a guaranteed way to improve your paper, since you’ll get feedback from the person assigning your grade.

Revise, Revise, Revise Your Essay

The biggest mistake students make in papers is never revising––in fact, most students don’t even proofread. Professors notice sloppy mistakes like grammatical errors and typos, and it automatically weakens your grade. It tells the professor you didn’t take the assignment seriously enough to leave time for revisions.

Aim to have a full draft at least three days before the due date, so you’ll have time to perfect your paper. What should you look for when revising? Eliminate any typos, correct your grammar, and delete any dumb mistakes, like sentences that simply end in the middle of a thought (yes, I’ve seen that in multiple papers). That’s the easy step.

Now re-read your introduction. Go back to your outline and evidence list. Can you strengthen your argument, now that you’ve compiled your evidence? Can you do a better job connecting the evidence back to your argument? Look for weaknesses in your paper. Are there holes in your argument? Are there obvious counter-examples you need to address?

Imagine you’re the professor, red pen poised over the paper, and ask yourself how to make your paper stronger.

Once you complete the revisions, submit the essay and take a break. You’ve earned it.

Study Your Paper

You didn’t think you were done just because you turned in the paper, right?

When it comes to college, analyzing your results is almost as important as writing the paper in the first place. Your graded essay tells you everything you need to know to ace the next paper for that professor. So study the comments––the line edits, the marginal suggestions, and the scrawl on the final page, right above your grade.

Did you lose points because you didn’t follow the proper citation style? Correct it next time. Was your argument unclear? Put an extra hour into honing your argument on the second paper. Whatever you missed this time, learn from it, so you don’t lose more points on the next assignment.

Ask About Rewrites

The last thing most college students want to do after submitting an essay is to rewrite it. But you’d be surprised how many students lose the opportunity to improve their grades, simply because they don’t ask about rewrites.

So if you earned less than an A on your paper, it really can’t hurt to ask the professor if you can rewrite using their feedback. Some professors will automatically say no, but others will let you submit a revised version for a higher grade.

When you’re rewriting the paper, don’t simply correct the typos and submit again––professors might feel like you’re wasting their time if you don’t listen to their comments. You might need to add more sources or strengthen your argument. It might require several hours of work. But if that means raising your grade on a significant assignment, it’s time well spent.

Plagiarism Is Never The Easiest Option

Yes, writing an essay the right way is a time-intensive process. And cutting corners is easier than ever, thanks to the internet. But plagiarism––representing any work as your own when it’s not––is never the right choice.

It might seem easier than writing your own paper, but it’s not. I guarantee it. Here’s why: it’s easy to plagiarize. Google any topic and you’ll find a dozen or more essays. But the cost is too high.

Take it from a professor––plagiarism is shockingly easy to notice. Essays that don’t answer the assignment, or that only cite books not assigned in class. Papers with five-syllable words in one paragraph and typos in the next, or that switch voices halfway through. Papers that include complicated ideas not mentioned in class––or that leave out core concepts from lecture. These all set off a professor’s plagiarism detector. And then there’s actual plagiarism detection software. In short, there’s a good chance you’ll get caught.

Most colleges have a no plagiarism policy. That means if your professor finds out you plagiarized, you could get an automatic zero on the assignment, or even in the class. You could get suspended from school or even expelled.

It’s not worth it to game the system.

Time Management

Essays make up a big part of your grade in some classes––in most of mine, for example, papers accounted for 30% or more of the final grade. That means you should spend a significant amount of time on those papers.

What does that mean? You need to master time management for college papers.

It’s not always easy to figure out how much time you need to write a paper. It’s different for every student, and sometimes different for every paper. Some students can craft a perfect essay in just a few hours, while others require double that time or more. Starting early is one of the best ways to manage your time. That way the deadline won’t sneak up on you.

Consider using a tool like the Shovel app to manage your time. Shovel lets you schedule blocks of time in advance, so you’ll never run out. You can budget time for research and outlining, writing drafts, and revising the paper. And Shovel can also track your time, so you’ll know how long it takes to write a paper. The next time you tackle an essay, you’ll have an even better idea how much time you need. And if you start tracking now, you’ll benefit for your next four years of writing papers––because you’re going to write a lot in college.

Depending on your major, you might find yourself working on multiple papers every week, especially near the end of the semester. And as long as you schedule out the time in advance, you’ll never get stuck rushing to finish an essay at the last minute.

If you study the assignment, plan out your essay before you start writing, and always leave time for revisions, you can easily raise your grade on any college paper.

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How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay with Examples

March 30, 2024

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples – The College Board’s Advanced Placement Literature and Composition Course is one of the most enriching experiences that high school students can have. It exposes you to literature that most people don’t encounter until college , and it helps you develop analytical and critical thinking skills that will enhance the quality of your life, both inside and outside of school. The AP Lit Exam reflects the rigor of the course. The exam uses consistent question types, weighting, and scoring parameters each year . This means that, as you prepare for the exam, you can look at previous questions, responses, score criteria, and scorer commentary to help you practice until your essays are perfect.

What is the AP Lit Free Response testing?

In AP Literature, you read books, short stories, and poetry, and you learn how to commit the complex act of literary analysis . But what does that mean? Well, “to analyze” literally means breaking a larger idea into smaller and smaller pieces until the pieces are small enough that they can help us to understand the larger idea. When we’re performing literary analysis, we’re breaking down a piece of literature into smaller and smaller pieces until we can use those pieces to better understand the piece of literature itself.

So, for example, let’s say you’re presented with a passage from a short story to analyze. The AP Lit Exam will ask you to write an essay with an essay with a clear, defensible thesis statement that makes an argument about the story, based on some literary elements in the short story. After reading the passage, you might talk about how foreshadowing, allusion, and dialogue work together to demonstrate something essential in the text. Then, you’ll use examples of each of those three literary elements (that you pull directly from the passage) to build your argument. You’ll finish the essay with a conclusion that uses clear reasoning to tell your reader why your argument makes sense.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples (Continued)

But what’s the point of all of this? Why do they ask you to write these essays?

Well, the essay is, once again, testing your ability to conduct literary analysis. However, the thing that you’re also doing behind that literary analysis is a complex process of both inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning takes a series of points of evidence and draws a larger conclusion. Deductive reasoning departs from the point of a broader premise and draws a singular conclusion. In an analytical essay like this one, you’re using small pieces of evidence to draw a larger conclusion (your thesis statement) and then you’re taking your thesis statement as a larger premise from which you derive your ultimate conclusion.

So, the exam scorers are looking at your ability to craft a strong thesis statement (a singular sentence that makes an argument), use evidence and reasoning to support that argument, and then to write the essay well. This is something they call “sophistication,” but they’re looking for well-organized thoughts carried through clear, complete sentences.

This entire process is something you can and will use throughout your life. Law, engineering, medicine—whatever pursuit, you name it—utilizes these forms of reasoning to run experiments, build cases, and persuade audiences. The process of this kind of clear, analytical thinking can be honed, developed, and made easier through repetition.

Practice Makes Perfect

Because the AP Literature Exam maintains continuity across the years, you can pull old exam copies, read the passages, and write responses. A good AP Lit teacher is going to have you do this time and time again in class until you have the formula down. But, it’s also something you can do on your own, if you’re interested in further developing your skills.

AP Lit Prose Essay Examples

Let’s take a look at some examples of questions, answers and scorer responses that will help you to get a better idea of how to craft your own AP Literature exam essays.

In the exam in 2023, students were asked to read a poem by Alice Cary titled “Autumn,” which was published in 1874. In it, the speaker contemplates the start of autumn. Then, students are asked to craft a well-written essay which uses literary techniques to convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.

The following is an essay that received a perfect 6 on the exam. There are grammar and usage errors throughout the essay, which is important to note: even though the writer makes some mistakes, the structure and form of their argument was strong enough to merit a 6. This is what your scorers will be looking for when they read your essay.

Example Essay

Romantic and hyperbolic imagery is used to illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn, which conveys Cary’s idea that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.

Romantic imagery is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s warm regard for the season of summer and emphasize her regretfulness for autumn’s coming, conveying the uncomfortable change away from idyllic familiarity. Summer, is portrayed in the image of a woman who “from her golden collar slips/and strays through stubble fields/and moans aloud.” Associated with sensuality and wealth, the speaker implies the interconnection between a season and bounty, comfort, and pleasure. Yet, this romantic view is dismantled by autumn, causing Summer to “slip” and “stray through stubble fields.” Thus, the coming of real change dethrones a constructed, romantic personification of summer, conveying the speaker’s reluctance for her ideal season to be dethroned by something much less decorated and adored.

Summer, “she lies on pillows of the yellow leaves,/ And tries the old tunes for over an hour”, is contrasted with bright imagery of fallen leaves/ The juxtaposition between Summer’s character and the setting provides insight into the positivity of change—the yellow leaves—by its contrast with the failures of attempting to sustain old habits or practices, “old tunes”. “She lies on pillows” creates a sympathetic, passive image of summer in reaction to the coming of Autumn, contrasting her failures to sustain “old tunes.” According to this, it is understood that the speaker recognizes the foolishness of attempting to prevent what is to come, but her wishfulness to counter the natural progression of time.

Hyperbolic imagery displays the discrepancies between unrealistic, exaggerated perceptions of change and the reality of progress, continuing the perpetuation of Cary’s idea that change must be embraced rather than rejected. “Shorter and shorter now the twilight clips/The days, as though the sunset gates they crowd”, syntax and diction are used to literally separate different aspects of the progression of time. In an ironic parallel to the literal language, the action of twilight’s “clip” and the subject, “the days,” are cut off from each other into two different lines, emphasizing a sense of jarring and discomfort. Sunset, and Twilight are named, made into distinct entities from the day, dramatizing the shortening of night-time into fall. The dramatic, sudden implications for the change bring to mind the switch between summer and winter, rather than a transitional season like fall—emphasizing the Speaker’s perspective rather than a factual narration of the experience.

She says “the proud meadow-pink hangs down her head/Against the earth’s chilly bosom, witched with frost”. Implying pride and defeat, and the word “witched,” the speaker brings a sense of conflict, morality, and even good versus evil into the transition between seasons. Rather than a smooth, welcome change, the speaker is practically against the coming of fall. The hyperbole present in the poem serves to illustrate the Speaker’s perspective and ideas on the coming of fall, which are characterized by reluctance and hostility to change from comfort.

The topic of this poem, Fall–a season characterized by change and the deconstruction of the spring and summer landscape—is juxtaposed with the final line which evokes the season of Spring. From this, it is clear that the speaker appreciates beautiful and blossoming change. However, they resent that which destroys familiar paradigms and norms. Fall, seen as the death of summer, is characterized as a regression, though the turning of seasons is a product of the literal passage of time. Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.

Scoring Criteria: Why did this essay do so well?

When it comes to scoring well, there are some rather formulaic things that the judges are searching for. You might think that it’s important to “stand out” or “be creative” in your writing. However, aside from concerns about “sophistication,” which essentially means you know how to organize thoughts into sentences and you can use language that isn’t entirely elementary, you should really focus on sticking to a form. This will show the scorers that you know how to follow that inductive/deductive reasoning process that we mentioned earlier, and it will help to present your ideas in the most clear, coherent way possible to someone who is reading and scoring hundreds of essays.

So, how did this essay succeed? And how can you do the same thing?

First: The Thesis

On the exam, you can either get one point or zero points for your thesis statement. The scorers said, “The essay responds to the prompt with a defensible thesis located in the introductory paragraph,” which you can read as the first sentence in the essay. This is important to note: you don’t need a flowery hook to seduce your reader; you can just start this brief essay with some strong, simple, declarative sentences—or go right into your thesis.

What makes a good thesis? A good thesis statement does the following things:

Makes a claim that will be supported by evidence
Is specific and precise in its use of language
Argues for an original thought that goes beyond a simple restating of the facts

If you’re sitting here scratching your head wondering how you come up with a thesis statement off the top of your head, let me give you one piece of advice: don’t.

The AP Lit scoring criteria gives you only one point for the thesis for a reason: they’re just looking for the presence of a defensible claim that can be proven by evidence in the rest of the essay.

Second: Write your essay from the inside out

While the thesis is given one point, the form and content of the essay can receive anywhere from zero to four points. This is where you should place the bulk of your focus.

My best advice goes like this:

Choose your evidence first
Develop your commentary about the evidence
Then draft your thesis statement based on the evidence that you find and the commentary you can create.

It will seem a little counterintuitive: like you’re writing your essay from the inside out. But this is a fundamental skill that will help you in college and beyond. Don’t come up with an argument out of thin air and then try to find evidence to support your claim. Look for the evidence that exists and then ask yourself what it all means. This will also keep you from feeling stuck or blocked at the beginning of the essay. If you prepare for the exam by reviewing the literary devices that you learned in the course and practice locating them in a text, you can quickly and efficiently read a literary passage and choose two or three literary devices that you can analyze.

Third: Use scratch paper to quickly outline your evidence and commentary

Once you’ve located two or three literary devices at work in the given passage, use scratch paper to draw up a quick outline. Give each literary device a major bullet point. Then, briefly point to the quotes/evidence you’ll use in the essay. Finally, start to think about what the literary device and evidence are doing together. Try to answer the question: what meaning does this bring to the passage?

A sample outline for one paragraph of the above essay might look like this:

Romantic imagery

Portrayal of summer

Woman who “from her golden collar… moans aloud”
Summer as bounty

Contrast with Autumn

Autumn dismantles Summer
“Stray through stubble fields”
Autumn is change; it has the power to dethrone the romance of Summer/make summer a bit meaningless

Recognition of change in a positive light

Summer “lies on pillows / yellow leaves / tries old tunes”
Bright imagery/fallen leaves
Attempt to maintain old practices fails: “old tunes”
But! There is sympathy: “lies on pillows”

Speaker recognizes: she can’t prevent what is to come; wishes to embrace natural passage of time

By the time the writer gets to the end of the outline for their paragraph, they can easily start to draw conclusions about the paragraph based on the evidence they have pulled out. You can see how that thinking might develop over the course of the outline.

Then, the speaker would take the conclusions they’ve drawn and write a “mini claim” that will start each paragraph. The final bullet point of this outline isn’t the same as the mini claim that comes at the top of the second paragraph of the essay, however, it is the conclusion of the paragraph. You would do well to use the concluding thoughts from your outline as the mini claim to start your body paragraph. This will make your paragraphs clear, concise, and help you to construct a coherent argument.

Repeat this process for the other one or two literary devices that you’ve chosen to analyze, and then: take a step back.

Fourth: Draft your thesis

Once you quickly sketch out your outline, take a moment to “stand back” and see what you’ve drafted. You’ll be able to see that, among your two or three literary devices, you can draw some commonality. You might be able to say, as the writer did here, that romantic and hyperbolic imagery “illustrate the speaker’s unenthusiastic opinion of the coming of autumn,” ultimately illuminating the poet’s idea “that change is difficult to accept but necessary for growth.”

This is an original argument built on the evidence accumulated by the student. It directly answers the prompt by discussing literary techniques that “convey the speaker’s complex response to the changing seasons.” Remember to go back to the prompt and see what direction they want you to head with your thesis, and craft an argument that directly speaks to that prompt.

Then, move ahead to finish your body paragraphs and conclusion.

Fifth: Give each literary device its own body paragraph

In this essay, the writer examines the use of two literary devices that are supported by multiple pieces of evidence. The first is “romantic imagery” and the second is “hyperbolic imagery.” The writer dedicates one paragraph to each idea. You should do this, too.

This is why it’s important to choose just two or three literary devices. You really don’t have time to dig into more. Plus, more ideas will simply cloud the essay and confuse your reader.

Using your outline, start each body paragraph with a “mini claim” that makes an argument about what it is you’ll be saying in your paragraph. Lay out your pieces of evidence, then provide commentary for why your evidence proves your point about that literary device.

Move onto the next literary device, rinse, and repeat.

Sixth: Commentary and Conclusion

Finally, you’ll want to end this brief essay with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis, briefly touches on your most important points from each body paragraph, and includes a development of the argument that you laid out in the essay.

In this particular example essay, the writer concludes by saying, “Utilizing romantic imagery and hyperbole to shape the Speaker’s perspective, Cary emphasizes the need to embrace change though it is difficult, because growth is not possible without hardship or discomfort.” This is a direct restatement of the thesis. At this point, you’ll have reached the end of your essay. Great work!

Seventh: Sophistication

A final note on scoring criteria: there is one point awarded to what the scoring criteria calls “sophistication.” This is evidenced by the sophistication of thought and providing a nuanced literary analysis, which we’ve already covered in the steps above.

There are some things to avoid, however:

Sweeping generalizations, such as, “From the beginning of human history, people have always searched for love,” or “Everyone goes through periods of darkness in their lives, much like the writer of this poem.”
Only hinting at possible interpretations instead of developing your argument
Oversimplifying your interpretation
Or, by contrast, using overly flowery or complex language that does not meet your level of preparation or the context of the essay.

Remember to develop your argument with nuance and complexity and to write in a style that is academic but appropriate for the task at hand.

If you want more practice or to check out other exams from the past, go to the College Board’s website .

Brittany Borghi

After earning a BA in Journalism and an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Iowa, Brittany spent five years as a full-time lecturer in the Rhetoric Department at the University of Iowa. Additionally, she’s held previous roles as a researcher, full-time daily journalist, and book editor. Brittany’s work has been featured in The Iowa Review, The Hopkins Review, and the Pittsburgh City Paper, among others, and she was also a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominee.

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How To Write A Research Paper

Find Sources For A Research Paper

How to Find Sources For a Research Paper | A Guide

10 min read

Published on: Mar 26, 2024

Last updated on: Mar 25, 2024

How to find sources for a research paper

Step 1: Define Your Topic and Research Questions

Before you venture into your quest for sources, it's essential to have a clear understanding of your research topic and the specific questions you aim to address. Define the scope of your paper and identify keywords and key concepts that will guide your search for relevant sources.

Step 2: Utilize Academic Databases

Academic databases are treasure troves of scholarly articles, research papers, and academic journals covering a wide range of subjects. Institutions often provide access to these databases through their libraries. Some popular academic databases include:

IEEE Xplore
Google Scholar

These databases allow you to search for peer-reviewed articles and academic papers related to your topic.

Use advanced search features to narrow down your results based on publication date, author, and keywords .

Academic Resources Classified by Discipline

Here's a breakdown of prominent databases categorized by academic discipline:

Step 3: Explore Library Catalogs

Your university or local library's catalog is another valuable resource for finding sources. Library catalogs contain books, periodicals, and other materials that may not be available online.

Use the catalog's search function to locate relevant books, journals, and other materials that can contribute to your research.

Step 4: Consult Bibliographies and References

When you find a relevant source, take note of its bibliography or make a list of sources for the research paper. These lists often contain citations to other works that may be useful for your research.

By exploring the references cited in a particular source, you can uncover additional resources and expand your understanding of the topic.

Step 5: Boolean Operators for Effective Searches

Boolean operators are words or symbols used to refine search queries by defining the relationships between search terms. The three primary operators include "AND," which narrows searches by requiring all terms to be present; "OR," which broadens searches by including either term or both; and "NOT," which excludes specific terms to refine results further.

Most databases provide advanced search features for seamless application of Boolean logic.

Step 6: Consider Primary Sources

Depending on your research topic, primary sources such as interviews, surveys, archival documents, and original data sets can provide valuable insights and support for your arguments.

Primary sources offer firsthand accounts and original perspectives on historical events, social phenomena, and scientific discoveries.

Step 7: Evaluate the Credibility of Sources

Not all sources are created equal, and it's crucial to evaluate the credibility and reliability of the information you encounter.

Consider the author's credentials, the publication venue, and whether the source is peer-reviewed. Look for evidence of bias or conflicts of interest that may undermine the source's credibility.

Step 8: Keep Track of Your Sources

As you gather sources for your research paper, maintain a systematic record of the materials you consult. Keep track of bibliographic information, including author names, publication dates, titles, and page numbers . This information will be invaluable when citing your sources and creating a bibliography or works cited page.

Other Online Sources

In addition to academic databases and library catalogs, exploring popular online sources can provide valuable insights and perspectives on your research topic. Here are some types of online sources you can consider:

Websites hosted by reputable organizations, institutions, and experts (such as the New York Times) can offer valuable information and analysis on a wide range of topics. Look for websites belonging to universities, research institutions, government agencies, and established non-profit organizations.

Crowdsourced Encyclopedias like Wikipedia

While Wikipedia can provide a broad overview of a topic and lead you to other sources, it's essential to verify the information found there with more authoritative sources.

Use Wikipedia as a starting point for your research, but rely on peer-reviewed journal articles and academic sources for in-depth analysis and evidence.

Tips for Assessing the Credibility of Online Sources

When using online sources, it's important to exercise caution and critically evaluate the credibility and reliability of the information you find. Here are some tips for assessing the credibility of online sources:

Check the Domain Extension: Look for websites with domain extensions that indicate credibility. URLs ending in .edu are educational resources, while URLs ending in .gov are government-related resources. These sites often provide reliable and authoritative information.
Look for DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers): DOIs are unique alphanumeric strings assigned to scholarly articles and indicate that the article has been published in a peer-reviewed, scientific journal. Finding a DOI can help you assess the scholarly rigor of the source.
Evaluate the Authorship and Credentials: Consider the qualifications and expertise of the author or organization behind the website or blog. Look for information about the author's credentials, affiliations, and expertise in the subject matter.
Consider the Currency and Relevance: Assess how up-to-date the information is and whether it aligns with the scope and focus of your research. Look for recent publications and timely analyses that reflect current trends and developments in the field.

Wrapping it up!

Finding sources for your research paper may seem like a challenge, but by following these steps, you can locate credible sources to support your arguments and enhance the quality of your paper.

By approaching the research process systematically and critically evaluating the information you encounter, you can produce a well-researched and compelling research paper.

If you are struggling with finding credible sources or have time constraints, do not hesitate to seek writing help for your research papers . CollegeEssay.org has professional writers ready to assist you.

Connect with our essay writing service now and receive expert guidance and support to elevate your research paper to the next level.

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Should college essays touch on race? Some feel the affirmative action ruling leaves them no choice

When the supreme court ended affirmative action, it left the college essay as one of few places where race can play a role in admissions decisions.

Max Decker, a senior at Lincoln High School, sits for a portrait in the school library where he often worked on writing his college essays, in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

Amanda Loman / AP

Like many students, Max Decker of Portland, Oregon, had drafted a college essay on one topic, only to change direction after the Supreme Court ruling in June.

Decker initially wrote about his love for video games. In a childhood surrounded by constant change, navigating his parents’ divorce, the games he took from place to place on his Nintendo DS were a source of comfort.

But the essay he submitted to colleges focused on the community he found through Word is Bond, a leadership group for young Black men in Portland.

As the only biracial, Jewish kid with divorced parents in a predominantly white, Christian community, Decker wrote he felt like the odd one out. On a trip with Word is Bond to Capitol Hill, he and friends who looked just like him shook hands with lawmakers. The experience, he wrote, changed how he saw himself.

“It’s because I’m different that I provide something precious to the world, not the other way around,” wrote Decker, whose top college choice is Tulane, in New Orleans, because of the region’s diversity.

This year’s senior class is the first in decades to navigate college admissions without affirmative action . The Supreme Court upheld the practice in decisions going back to the 1970s, but this court’s conservative supermajority found it is unconstitutional for colleges to give students extra weight because of their race alone.

Still, the decision left room for race to play an indirect role: Chief Justice John Roberts wrote universities can still consider how an applicant’s life was shaped by their race, “so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability.”

Scores of colleges responded with new essay prompts asking about students’ backgrounds.

FILE - Demonstrators protest outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, in this June 29, 2023 file photo, after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, saying race cannot be a factor.

Jose Luis Magana / AP

Writing about feeling more comfortable with being Black

When Darrian Merritt started writing his essay, his first instinct was to write about events that led to him going to live with his grandmother as a child. Those were painful memories, but he thought they might play well at schools like Yale, Stanford and Vanderbilt.

“I feel like the admissions committee might expect a sob story or a tragic story,” said Merritt, a senior in Cleveland. “I wrestled with that a lot.”

Eventually he abandoned the idea and aimed for an essay that would stand out for its positivity.

Merritt wrote about a summer camp where he started to feel more comfortable in his own skin. He described embracing his personality and defying his tendency to please others. But the essay also reflects on his feelings of not being “Black enough” and getting made fun of for listening to “white people music.”

Related: Oregon colleges, universities weigh potential outcomes of US Supreme Court decision on affirmative action

Essay about how to embrace natural hair

When Hillary Amofa started writing her college essay, she told the story she thought admissions offices wanted to hear. About being the daughter of immigrants from Ghana and growing up in a small apartment in Chicago. About hardship and struggle.

Then she deleted it all.

“I would just find myself kind of trauma-dumping,” said the 18-year-old senior at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago. “And I’m just like, this doesn’t really say anything about me as a person.”

Amofa was just starting to think about her essay when the court issued its decision, and it left her with a wave of questions. Could she still write about her race? Could she be penalized for it? She wanted to tell colleges about her heritage but she didn’t want to be defined by it.

In English class, Amofa and her classmates read sample essays that all seemed to focus on some trauma or hardship. It left her with the impression she had to write about her life’s hardest moments to show how far she’d come. But she and some classmates wondered if their lives had been hard enough to catch the attention of admissions offices.

Hillary Amofa, laughs as she participates in a team building game with members of the Lincoln Park High School step team after school Friday, March 8, 2024, in Chicago. When she started writing her college essay, Amofa told the story she thought admissions offices wanted to hear. She wrote about being the daughter of immigrants from Ghana, about growing up in a small apartment in Chicago. She described hardship and struggle. Then she deleted it all. "I would just find myself kind of trauma-dumping," said the 18 year-old senior, "And I'm just like, this doesn't really say anything about me as a person."

Charles Rex Arbogast / AP

Amofa used to think affirmative action was only a factor at schools like Harvard and Yale. After the court’s ruling, she was surprised to find that race was taken into account even at public universities she was applying to.

Now, without affirmative action, she wondered if mostly white schools will become even whiter.

It’s been on her mind as she chooses between Indiana University and the University of Dayton, both of which have relatively few Black students. When she was one of the only Black students in her grade school, she could fall back on her family and Ghanaian friends at church. At college, she worries about loneliness.

“That’s what I’m nervous about,” she said. “Going and just feeling so isolated, even though I’m constantly around people.”

Related: Some Oregon universities, politicians disappointed in Supreme Court decision on affirmative action

The first drafts of her essay didn’t tell colleges about who she is now, she said.

Her final essay describes how she came to embrace her natural hair. She wrote about going to a mostly white grade school where classmates made jokes about her afro.

Over time, she ignored their insults and found beauty in the styles worn by women in her life. She now runs a business doing braids and other hairstyles in her neighborhood.

“Criticism will persist,” she wrote “but it loses its power when you know there’s a crown on your head!”

Ma reported from Portland, Oregon.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org .

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These 5 Books Can Give You More Than a College Degree

I n the midst of late-night study sessions, essay reviews for that upcoming paper, and pondering " write papers for me " solutions, have you ever wondered if there’s more to learning than what’s found in college textbooks? Well, you’re onto something.

Books, especially those outside academic curriculums, can offer a wealth of knowledge, insights, and life lessons that often surpass what you learn in a lecture hall. Let’s explore some groundbreaking books that can give you more than a college degree.

“Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman

Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking, Fast and Slow” offers a journey into the depths of the human mind. Kahneman, a renowned psychologist and Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences, introduces us to the two thinking systems: fast/emotional and slow/logical.

Throughout the book, Kahneman engages readers with compelling examples and insightful experiments that reveal how our thinking can often be flawed and biased, even when we feel we are being rational.

This book lays bare the inner workings of decision-making. It illuminates how we make choices in our daily lives, from the mundane to the significant. It’s a transformative read that reshapes your understanding of logic, reason, and human error.

“Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari

“Sapiens” is a grand narrative of human history. It takes readers on an epic journey through the annals of human evolution, from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa to the rise of empires and the complexities of modern life.

In this sweeping narrative, Harari sheds light on:

The cognitive revolution ‒ how Homo sapiens came to dominate the Earth, thanks to our unique ability to believe in shared myths;
The agricultural revolution ‒ the transformation from foraging to farming, which changed our societies and lifestyles irrevocably;
The unification of humankind ‒ the formation of larger and more complex civilizations.
The scientific revolution ‒ a recent development that has given humans god-like powers but also the responsibility for the future of life on Earth.

“Sapiens” prompts us to ponder over our origins, our future, and our place in the world.

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey

The self-help book is a guide for personal and professional transformation. Covey introduces seven habits that promise to change not only the way you work but also the way you live.

The book goes beyond traditional productivity tips and delves into character development and intrinsic values. Covey emphasizes that real change starts from within and radiates outward.

Covey’s book is especially relevant in a world where success is often superficially defined. It encourages students to build a foundation of effective habits that lead to lasting and meaningful achievements.

Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/123-let-s-go-imaginary-text-704767/

“Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell challenges the traditional narrative of success that focuses solely on individual talent and ambition. Instead, he introduces us to a world where success is also a product of historical and cultural circumstances, unexpected opportunities, and the amount of time spent practicing one’s craft.

He uses compelling stories and research to illustrate how factors like birth month, cultural heritage, and even the 10,000-hour rule play a significant role in shaping high achievers.

Gladwell’s book is a revelation, especially for students who are often fed the narrative that success is only about hard work and talent. “Outliers” encourages students to consider their background, opportunities, and the sheer amount of practice in their pursuits. Gladwell’s insightful analysis shows that success is not just about what you do but also where, when, and how you do it.

“How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie

First published in the 1930s, the principles discussed in this book are still relevant today. Carnegie’s book delves into the psychology behind everyday interactions and provides practical advice for enhancing communication and influence. The core of his teachings revolves around the idea that understanding and empathizing with others’ perspectives is the key to building meaningful connections.

The book breaks down essential interpersonal skills and presents them in a manner that is easy to understand and apply. Carnegie also touches upon how to handle disagreements and criticisms constructively.

The lessons in “How to Win Friends and Influence People” extend beyond just making friends; they are about developing a charismatic and considerate persona that can lead to success in various aspects of life. In a world where networking is often key to opportunities, Carnegie’s teachings offer timeless wisdom for building a network with authenticity and integrity.

The Bottom Line

From understanding the complexities of human behavior and history to mastering interpersonal skills and redefining success, these reads provide a well-rounded education.

Some of the most valuable lessons come from outside the classroom. So, immerse yourself in these books and complement your college education with insights and wisdom that will last a lifetime.

In the midst of late-night study sessions, essay reviews for that upcoming paper, and pondering "write papers for me" solutions.

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Sob stories? Trauma dumps? Black kids worry about writing college essays after affirmative action ban

When the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in higher education, it left the college essay as one of few places where race can play a role in admissions decisions.

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CHICAGO (AP) — When she started writing her college essay, Hillary Amofa told the story she thought admissions offices wanted to hear. About being the daughter of immigrants from Ghana and growing up in a small apartment in Chicago. About hardship and struggle.

Then she deleted it all.

When the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in higher education , it left the college essay as one of few places where race can play a role in admissions decisions. For many students of color, instantly more was riding on the already high-stakes writing assignment. Some say they felt pressure to exploit their hardships as they competed for a spot on campus.

In English class, Amofa and her classmates read sample essays that all seemed to focus on some trauma or hardship. It left her with the impression she had to write about her life’s hardest moments to show how far she’d come. But she and some of her classmates wondered if their lives had been hard enough to catch the attention of admissions offices.

“For a lot of students, there’s a feeling of, like, having to go through something so horrible to feel worthy of going to school, which is kind of sad,” said Amofa, the daughter of a hospital technician and an Uber driver.

This year’s senior class is the first in decades to navigate college admissions without affirmative action. The Supreme Court upheld the practice in decisions going back to the 1970s, but this court’s conservative supermajority found it is unconstitutional for colleges to give students extra weight because of their race alone.

“A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that student’s courage and determination,” he wrote.

Scores of colleges responded with new essay prompts asking about students’ backgrounds. Brown University asked applicants how “an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you.” Rice University asked students how their perspectives were shaped by their “background, experiences, upbringing, and/or racial identity.”

Wondering if schools ‘expect a sob story’

When Darrian Merritt started writing his essay, he knew the stakes were higher than ever because of the court’s decision. His first instinct was to write about events that led to him going to live with his grandmother as a child.

Those were painful memories, but he thought they might play well at schools like Yale, Stanford and Vanderbilt.

“I feel like the admissions committee might expect a sob story or a tragic story,” said Merritt, a senior in Cleveland. “And if you don’t provide that, then maybe they’re not going to feel like you went through enough to deserve having a spot at the university. I wrestled with that a lot.”

He wrote drafts focusing on his childhood, but it never amounted to more than a collection of memories. Eventually he abandoned the idea and aimed for an essay that would stand out for its positivity.

Merritt wrote about a summer camp where he started to feel more comfortable in his own skin. He described embracing his personality and defying his tendency to please others. The essay had humor — it centered on a water gun fight where he had victory in sight but, in a comedic twist, slipped and fell. But the essay also reflects on his feelings of not being “Black enough” and getting made fun of for listening to “white people music.”

“I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to write this for me, and we’re just going to see how it goes,’” he said. “It just felt real, and it felt like an honest story.”

The essay describes a breakthrough as he learned “to take ownership of myself and my future by sharing my true personality with the people I encounter. … I realized that the first chapter of my own story had just been written.”

A ruling prompts pivots on essay topics

Like many students, Max Decker of Portland, Oregon, had drafted a college essay on one topic, only to change direction after the Supreme Court ruling in June.

But the essay he submitted to colleges focused on the community he found through Word is Bond, a leadership group for young Black men in Portland.

As the only biracial, Jewish kid with divorced parents in a predominantly white, Christian community, Decker wrote he constantly felt like the odd one out. On a trip with Word is Bond to Capitol Hill, he and friends who looked just like him shook hands with lawmakers. The experience, he wrote, changed how he saw himself.

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“It’s because I’m different that I provide something precious to the world, not the other way around,” he wrote.

As a first-generation college student, Decker thought about the subtle ways his peers seemed to know more about navigating the admissions process. They made sure to get into advanced classes at the start of high school, and they knew how to secure glowing letters of recommendation.

If writing about race would give him a slight edge and show admissions officers a fuller picture of his achievements, he wanted to take that small advantage.

His first memory about race, Decker said, was when he went to get a haircut in elementary school and the barber made rude comments about his curly hair. Until recently, the insecurity that moment created led him to keep his hair buzzed short.

Through Word is Bond, Decker said he found a space to explore his identity as a Black man. It was one of the first times he was surrounded by Black peers and saw Black role models. It filled him with a sense of pride in his identity. No more buzzcut.

The pressure to write about race involved a tradeoff with other important things in his life, Decker said. That included his passion for journalism, like the piece he wrote on efforts to revive a once-thriving Black neighborhood in Portland. In the end, he squeezed in 100 characters about his journalism under the application’s activities section.

“My final essay, it felt true to myself. But the difference between that and my other essay was the fact that it wasn’t the truth that I necessarily wanted to share,” said Decker, whose top college choice is Tulane, in New Orleans, because of the region’s diversity. “It felt like I just had to limit the truth I was sharing to what I feel like the world is expecting of me.”

Spelling out the impact of race

Before the Supreme Court ruling, it seemed a given to Imani Laird that colleges would consider the ways that race had touched her life. But now, she felt like she had to spell it out.

As she started her essay, she reflected on how she had faced bias or felt overlooked as a Black student in predominantly white spaces.

There was the year in math class when the teacher kept calling her by the name of another Black student. There were the comments that she’d have an easier time getting into college because she was Black.

“I didn’t have it easier because of my race,” said Laird, a senior at Newton South High School in the Boston suburbs who was accepted at Wellesley and Howard University , and is waiting to hear from several Ivy League colleges. “I had stuff I had to overcome.”

In her final essays, she wrote about her grandfather, who served in the military but was denied access to GI Bill benefits because of his race.

She described how discrimination fueled her ambition to excel and pursue a career in public policy.

“So, I never settled for mediocrity,” she wrote. “Regardless of the subject, my goal in class was not just to participate but to excel. Beyond academics, I wanted to excel while remembering what started this motivation in the first place.”

Will schools lose racial diversity?

Now, without affirmative action, she wondered if mostly white schools will become even whiter.

“That’s what I’m nervous about,” she said. “Going and just feeling so isolated, even though I’m constantly around people.”

The first drafts of her essay focused on growing up in a low-income family, sharing a bedroom with her brother and grandmother. But it didn’t tell colleges about who she is now, she said.

Her final essay tells how she came to embrace her natural hair. She wrote about going to a mostly white grade school where classmates made jokes about her afro. When her grandmother sent her back with braids or cornrows, they made fun of those too.

Over time, she ignored their insults and found beauty in the styles worn by women in her life. She now runs a business doing braids and other hairstyles in her neighborhood.

“I stopped seeing myself through the lens of the European traditional beauty standards and started seeing myself through the lens that I created,” Amofa wrote.

“Criticism will persist, but it loses its power when you know there’s a crown on your head!”

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The War at Stanford

I didn’t know that college would be a factory of unreason.

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ne of the section leaders for my computer-science class, Hamza El Boudali, believes that President Joe Biden should be killed. “I’m not calling for a civilian to do it, but I think a military should,” the 23-year-old Stanford University student told a small group of protesters last month. “I’d be happy if Biden was dead.” He thinks that Stanford is complicit in what he calls the genocide of Palestinians, and that Biden is not only complicit but responsible for it. “I’m not calling for a vigilante to do it,” he later clarified, “but I’m saying he is guilty of mass murder and should be treated in the same way that a terrorist with darker skin would be (and we all know terrorists with dark skin are typically bombed and drone striked by American planes).” El Boudali has also said that he believes that Hamas’s October 7 attack was a justifiable act of resistance, and that he would actually prefer Hamas rule America in place of its current government (though he clarified later that he “doesn’t mean Hamas is perfect”). When you ask him what his cause is, he answers: “Peace.”

I switched to a different computer-science section.

Israel is 7,500 miles away from Stanford’s campus, where I am a sophomore. But the Hamas invasion and the Israeli counterinvasion have fractured my university, a place typically less focused on geopolitics than on venture-capital funding for the latest dorm-based tech start-up. Few students would call for Biden’s head—I think—but many of the same young people who say they want peace in Gaza don’t seem to realize that they are in fact advocating for violence. Extremism has swept through classrooms and dorms, and it is becoming normal for students to be harassed and intimidated for their faith, heritage, or appearance—they have been called perpetrators of genocide for wearing kippahs, and accused of supporting terrorism for wearing keffiyehs. The extremism and anti-Semitism at Ivy League universities on the East Coast have attracted so much media and congressional attention that two Ivy presidents have lost their jobs. But few people seem to have noticed the culture war that has taken over our California campus.

For four months, two rival groups of protesters, separated by a narrow bike path, faced off on Stanford’s palm-covered grounds. The “Sit-In to Stop Genocide” encampment was erected by students in mid-October, even before Israeli troops had crossed into Gaza, to demand that the university divest from Israel and condemn its behavior. Posters were hung equating Hamas with Ukraine and Nelson Mandela. Across from the sit-in, a rival group of pro-Israel students eventually set up the “Blue and White Tent” to provide, as one activist put it, a “safe space” to “be a proud Jew on campus.” Soon it became the center of its own cluster of tents, with photos of Hamas’s victims sitting opposite the rubble-ridden images of Gaza and a long (and incomplete) list of the names of slain Palestinians displayed by the students at the sit-in.

Some days the dueling encampments would host only a few people each, but on a sunny weekday afternoon, there could be dozens. Most of the time, the groups tolerated each other. But not always. Students on both sides were reportedly spit on and yelled at, and had their belongings destroyed. (The perpetrators in many cases seemed to be adults who weren’t affiliated with Stanford, a security guard told me.) The university put in place round-the-clock security, but when something actually happened, no one quite knew what to do.

Conor Friedersdorf: How October 7 changed America’s free speech culture

Stanford has a policy barring overnight camping, but for months didn’t enforce it, “out of a desire to support the peaceful expression of free speech in the ways that students choose to exercise that expression”—and, the administration told alumni, because the university feared that confronting the students would only make the conflict worse. When the school finally said the tents had to go last month, enormous protests against the university administration, and against Israel, followed.

“We don’t want no two states! We want all of ’48!” students chanted, a slogan advocating that Israel be dismantled and replaced by a single Arab nation. Palestinian flags flew alongside bright “Welcome!” banners left over from new-student orientation. A young woman gave a speech that seemed to capture the sense of urgency and power that so many students here feel. “We are Stanford University!” she shouted. “We control things!”

“W e’ve had protests in the past,” Richard Saller, the university’s interim president, told me in November—about the environment, and apartheid, and Vietnam. But they didn’t pit “students against each other” the way that this conflict has.

I’ve spoken with Saller, a scholar of Roman history, a few times over the past six months in my capacity as a student journalist. We first met in September, a few weeks into his tenure. His predecessor, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, had resigned as president after my reporting for The Stanford Daily exposed misconduct in his academic research. (Tessier-Lavigne had failed to retract papers with faked data over the course of 20 years. In his resignation statement , he denied allegations of fraud and misconduct; a Stanford investigation determined that he had not personally manipulated data or ordered any manipulation but that he had repeatedly “failed to decisively and forthrightly correct mistakes” from his lab.)

In that first conversation, Saller told me that everyone was “eager to move on” from the Tessier-Lavigne scandal. He was cheerful and upbeat. He knew he wasn’t staying in the job long; he hadn’t even bothered to move into the recently vacated presidential manor. In any case, campus, at that time, was serene. Then, a week later, came October 7.

The attack was as clear a litmus test as one could imagine for the Middle East conflict. Hamas insurgents raided homes and a music festival with the goal of slaughtering as many civilians as possible. Some victims were raped and mutilated, several independent investigations found. Hundreds of hostages were taken into Gaza and many have been tortured.

This, of course, was bad. Saying this was bad does not negate or marginalize the abuses and suffering Palestinians have experienced in Gaza and elsewhere. Everyone, of every ideology, should be able to say that this was bad. But much of this campus failed that simple test.

Two days after the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Stanford released milquetoast statements marking the “moment of intense emotion” and declaring “deep concern” over “the crisis in Israel and Palestine.” The official statements did not use the words Hamas or violence .

The absence of a clear institutional response led some teachers to take matters into their own hands. During a mandatory freshman seminar on October 10, a lecturer named Ameer Loggins tossed out his lesson plan to tell students that the actions of the Palestinian “military force” had been justified, that Israelis were colonizers, and that the Holocaust had been overemphasized, according to interviews I conducted with students in the class. Loggins then asked the Jewish students to identify themselves. He instructed one of them to “stand up, face the window, and he kind of kicked away his chair,” a witness told me. Loggins described this as an effort to demonstrate Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. (Loggins did not reply to a request for comment; a spokesperson for Stanford said that there were “different recollections of the details regarding what happened” in the class.)

“We’re only in our third week of college, and we’re afraid to be here,” three students in the class wrote in an email that night to administrators. “This isn’t what Stanford was supposed to be.” The class Loggins taught is called COLLEGE, short for “Civic, Liberal, and Global Education,” and it is billed as an effort to develop “the skills that empower and enable us to live together.”

Loggins was suspended from teaching duties and an investigation was opened; this angered pro-Palestine activists, who organized a petition that garnered more than 1,700 signatures contesting the suspension. A pamphlet from the petitioners argued that Loggins’s behavior had not been out of bounds.

The day after the class, Stanford put out a statement written by Saller and Jenny Martinez, the university provost, more forcefully condemning the Hamas attack. Immediately, this new statement generated backlash.

Pro-Palestine activists complained about it during an event held the same day, the first of several “teach-ins” about the conflict. Students gathered in one of Stanford’s dorms to “bear witness to the struggles of decolonization.” The grievances and pain shared by Palestinian students were real. They told of discrimination and violence, of frightened family members subjected to harsh conditions. But the most raucous reaction from the crowd was in response to a young woman who said, “You ask us, do we condemn Hamas? Fuck you!” She added that she was “so proud of my resistance.”

David Palumbo-Liu, a professor of comparative literature with a focus on postcolonial studies, also spoke at the teach-in, explaining to the crowd that “European settlers” had come to “replace” Palestine’s “native population.”

Palumbo-Liu is known as an intelligent and supportive professor, and is popular among students, who call him by his initials, DPL. I wanted to ask him about his involvement in the teach-in, so we met one day in a café a few hundred feet away from the tents. I asked if he could elaborate on what he’d said at the event about Palestine’s native population. He was happy to expand: This was “one of those discussions that could go on forever. Like, who is actually native? At what point does nativism lapse, right? Well, you haven’t been native for X number of years, so …” In the end, he said, “you have two people who both feel they have a claim to the land,” and “they have to live together. Both sides have to cede something.”

The struggle at Stanford, he told me, “is to find a way in which open discussions can be had that allow people to disagree.” It’s true that Stanford has utterly failed in its efforts to encourage productive dialogue. But I still found it hard to reconcile DPL’s words with his public statements on Israel, which he’d recently said on Facebook should be “the most hated nation in the world.” He also wrote: “When Zionists say they don’t feel ‘safe’ on campus, I’ve come to see that as they no longer feel immune to criticism of Israel.” He continued: “Well as the saying goes, get used to it.”

Z ionists, and indeed Jewish students of all political beliefs, have been given good reason to fear for their safety. They’ve been followed, harassed, and called derogatory racial epithets. At least one was told he was a “dirty Jew.” At least twice, mezuzahs have been ripped from students’ doors, and swastikas have been drawn in dorms. Arab and Muslim students also face alarming threats. The computer-science section leader, El Boudali, a pro-Palestine activist, told me he felt “safe personally,” but knew others who did not: “Some people have reported feeling like they’re followed, especially women who wear the hijab.”

In a remarkably short period of time, aggression and abuse have become commonplace, an accepted part of campus activism. In January, Jewish students organized an event dedicated to ameliorating anti-Semitism. It marked one of Saller’s first public appearances in the new year. Its topic seemed uncontroversial, and I thought it would generate little backlash.

Protests began before the panel discussion even started, with activists lining the stairs leading to the auditorium. During the event they drowned out the panelists, one of whom was Israel’s special envoy for combatting anti-Semitism, by demanding a cease-fire. After participants began cycling out into the dark, things got ugly.

Activists, their faces covered by keffiyehs or medical masks, confronted attendees. “Go back to Brooklyn!” a young woman shouted at Jewish students. One protester, who emerged as the leader of the group, said that she and her compatriots would “take all of your places and ensure Israel falls.” She told attendees to get “off our fucking campus” and launched into conspiracy theories about Jews being involved in “child trafficking.” As a rabbi tried to leave the event, protesters pursued him, chanting, “There is only one solution! Intifada revolution!”

At one point, some members of the group turned on a few Stanford employees, including another rabbi, an imam, and a chaplain, telling them, “We know your names and we know where you work.” The ringleader added: “And we’ll soon find out where you live.” The religious leaders formed a protective barrier in front of the Jewish students. The rabbi and the imam appeared to be crying.

scenes from student protest; row of tents at Stanford

S aller avoided the protest by leaving through another door. Early that morning, his private residence had been vandalized. Protesters frequently tell him he “can’t hide” and shout him down. “We charge you with genocide!” they chant, demanding that Stanford divest from Israel. (When asked whether Stanford actually invested in Israel, a spokesperson replied that, beyond small exposures from passive funds that track indexes such as the S&P 500, the university’s endowment “has no direct holdings in Israeli companies, or direct holdings in defense contractors.”)

When the university finally said the protest tents had to be removed, students responded by accusing Saller of suppressing their right to free speech. This is probably the last charge he expected to face. Saller once served as provost at the University of Chicago, which is known for holding itself to a position of strict institutional neutrality so that its students can freely explore ideas for themselves. Saller has a lifelong belief in First Amendment rights. But that conviction in impartial college governance does not align with Stanford’s behavior in recent years. Despite the fact that many students seemed largely uninterested in the headlines before this year, Stanford’s administrative leadership has often taken positions on political issues and events, such as the Paris climate conference and the murder of George Floyd. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Stanford’s Hoover Tower was lit up in blue and yellow, and the school released a statement in solidarity.

Thomas Chatterton Williams: Let the activists have their loathsome rallies

When we first met, a week before October 7, I asked Saller about this. Did Stanford have a moral duty to denounce the war in Ukraine, for example, or the ethnic cleansing of Uyghur Muslims in China? “On international political issues, no,” he said. “That’s not a responsibility for the university as a whole, as an institution.”

But when Saller tried to apply his convictions on neutrality for the first time as president, dozens of faculty members condemned the response, many pro-Israel alumni were outraged, donors had private discussions about pulling funding, and an Israeli university sent an open letter to Saller and Martinez saying, “Stanford’s administration has failed us.” The initial statement had tried to make clear that the school’s policy was not Israel-specific: It noted that the university would not take a position on the turmoil in Nagorno-Karabakh (where Armenians are undergoing ethnic cleansing) either. But the message didn’t get through.

Saller had to beat an awkward retreat or risk the exact sort of public humiliation that he, as caretaker president, had presumably been hired to avoid. He came up with a compromise that landed somewhere in the middle: an unequivocal condemnation of Hamas’s “intolerable atrocities” paired with a statement making clear that Stanford would commit to institutional neutrality going forward.

“The events in Israel and Gaza this week have affected and engaged large numbers of students on our campus in ways that many other events have not,” the statement read. “This is why we feel compelled to both address the impact of these events on our campus and to explain why our general policy of not issuing statements about news events not directly connected to campus has limited the breadth of our comments thus far, and why you should not expect frequent commentary from us in the future.”

I asked Saller why he had changed tack on Israel and not on Nagorno-Karabakh. “We don’t feel as if we should be making statements on every war crime and atrocity,” he told me. This felt like a statement in and of itself.

In making such decisions, Saller works closely with Martinez, Stanford’s provost. I happened to interview her, too, a few days before October 7, not long after she’d been appointed. When I asked about her hopes for the job, she said that a “priority is ensuring an environment in which free speech and academic freedom are preserved.”

We talked about the so-called Leonard Law—a provision unique to California that requires private universities to be governed by the same First Amendment protections as public ones. This restricts what Stanford can do in terms of penalizing speech, putting it in a stricter bind than Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, or any of the other elite private institutions that have more latitude to set the standards for their campus (whether or not they have done so).

So I was surprised when, in December, the university announced that abstract calls for genocide “clearly violate Stanford’s Fundamental Standard, the code of conduct for all students at the university.” The statement was a response to the outrage following the congressional testimony of three university presidents—outrage that eventually led to the resignation of two of them, Harvard’s Claudine Gay and Penn’s Liz Magill. Gay and Magill, who had both previously held positions at Stanford, did not commit to punishing calls for the genocide of Jews.

Experts told me that Stanford’s policy is impossible to enforce—and Saller himself acknowledged as much in our March interview.

“Liz Magill is a good friend,” Saller told me, adding, “Having watched what happened at Harvard and Penn, it seemed prudent” to publicly state that Stanford rejected calls for genocide. But saying that those calls violate the code of conduct “is not the same thing as to say that we could actually punish it.”

Stanford’s leaders seem to be trying their best while adapting to the situation in real time. But the muddled messaging has created a policy of neutrality that does not feel neutral at all.

When we met back in November, I tried to get Saller to open up about his experience running an institution in turmoil. What’s it like to know that so many students seem to believe that he—a mild-mannered 71-year-old classicist who swing-dances with his anthropologist wife—is a warmonger? Saller was more candid than I expected—perhaps more candid than any prominent university president has been yet. We sat in the same conference room as we had in September. The weather hadn’t really changed. Yet I felt like I was sitting in front of a different person. He was hunched over and looked exhausted, and his voice broke when he talked about the loss of life in Gaza and Israel and “the fact that we’re caught up in it.” A capable administrator with decades of experience, Saller seemed almost at a loss. “It’s been a kind of roller coaster, to be honest.”

He said he hadn’t anticipated the deluge of the emails “blaming me for lack of moral courage.” Anything the university says seems bound to be wrong: “If I say that our position is that we grieve over the loss of innocent lives, that in itself will draw some hostile reactions.”

“I find that really difficult to navigate,” he said with a sigh.

By March, it seemed that his views had solidified. He said he knew he was “a target,” but he was not going to be pushed into issuing any more statements. The continuing crisis seems to have granted him new insight. “I am certain that whatever I say will not have any material effect on the war in Gaza.” It’s hard to argue with that.

P eople tend to blame the campus wars on two villains: dithering administrators and radical student activists. But colleges have always had dithering administrators and radical student activists. To my mind, it’s the average students who have changed.

Elite universities attract a certain kind of student: the overachieving striver who has won all the right accolades for all the right activities. Is it such a surprise that the kids who are trained in the constant pursuit of perfect scores think they have to look at the world like a series of multiple-choice questions, with clearly right or wrong answers? Or that they think they can gamify a political cause in the same way they ace a standardized test?

Everyone knows that the only reliable way to get into a school like Stanford is to be really good at looking really good. Now that they’re here, students know that one easy way to keep looking good is to side with the majority of protesters, and condemn Israel.

It’s not that there isn’t real anger and anxiety over what is happening in Gaza—there is, and justifiably so. I know that among the protesters are many people who are deeply connected to this issue. But they are not the majority. What really activates the crowds now seems less a principled devotion to Palestine or to pacifism than a desire for collective action, to fit in by embracing the fashionable cause of the moment—as if a centuries-old conflict in which both sides have stolen and killed could ever be a simple matter of right and wrong. In their haste to exhibit moral righteousness, many of the least informed protesters end up being the loudest and most uncompromising.

Today’s students grew up in the Trump era, in which violent rhetoric has become a normal part of political discourse and activism is as easy as reposting an infographic. Many young people have come to feel that being angry is enough to foment change. Furious at the world’s injustices and desperate for a simple way to express that fury, they don’t seem interested in any form of engagement more nuanced than backing a pure protagonist and denouncing an evil enemy. They don’t, always, seem that concerned with the truth.

At the protest last month to prevent the removal of the sit-in, an activist in a pink Women’s March “pussy hat” shouted that no rape was committed by Hamas on October 7. “There hasn’t been proof of these rape accusations,” a student told me in a separate conversation, criticizing the Blue and White Tent for spreading what he considered to be misinformation about sexual violence. (In March, a United Nations report found “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence,” including “rape and gang rape,” occurred in multiple locations on October 7, as well as “clear and convincing information” on the “rape and sexualized torture” of hostages.) “The level of propaganda” surrounding Hamas, he told me, “is just unbelievable.”

The real story at Stanford is not about the malicious actors who endorse sexual assault and murder as forms of resistance, but about those who passively enable them because they believe their side can do no wrong. You don’t have to understand what you’re arguing for in order to argue for it. You don’t have to be able to name the river or the sea under discussion to chant “From the river to the sea.” This kind of obliviousness explains how one of my friends, a gay activist, can justify Hamas’s actions, even though it would have the two of us—an outspoken queer person and a Jewish reporter—killed in a heartbeat. A similar mentality can exist on the other side: I have heard students insist on the absolute righteousness of Israel yet seem uninterested in learning anything about what life is like in Gaza.

I’m familiar with the pull of achievement culture—after all, I’m a product of the same system. I fell in love with Stanford as a 7-year-old, lying on the floor of an East Coast library and picturing all the cool technology those West Coast geniuses were dreaming up. I cried when I was accepted; I spent the next few months scrolling through the course catalog, giddy with anticipation. I wanted to learn everything.

I learned more than I expected. Within my first week here, someone asked me: “Why are all Jews so rich?” In 2016, when Stanford’s undergraduate senate had debated a resolution against anti-Semitism, one of its members argued that the idea of “Jews controlling the media, economy, government, and other societal institutions” represented “a very valid discussion.” (He apologized, and the resolution passed.) In my dorm last year, a student discussed being Jewish and awoke the next day to swastikas and a portrait of Hitler affixed to his door.

David Frum: There is no right to bully and harass

I grew up secularly, with no strong affiliation to Jewish culture. When I found out as a teenager that some of my ancestors had hidden their identity from their children and that dozens of my relatives had died in the Holocaust (something no living member of my family had known), I felt the barest tremor of identity. After I saw so many people I know cheering after October 7, I felt something stronger stir. I know others have experienced something similar. Even a professor texted me to say that she felt Jewish in a way she never had before.

But my frustration with the conflict on campus has little to do with my own identity. Across the many conversations and hours of formal interviews I conducted for this article, I’ve encountered a persistent anti-intellectual streak. I’ve watched many of my classmates treat death so cavalierly that they can protest as a pregame to a party. Indeed, two parties at Stanford were reported to the university this fall for allegedly making people say “Fuck Israel” or “Free Palestine” to get in the door. A spokesperson for the university said it was “unable to confirm the facts of what occurred,” but that it had “met with students involved in both parties to make clear that Stanford’s nondiscrimination policy applies to parties.” As a friend emailed me not long ago: “A place that was supposed to be a sanctuary from such unreason has become a factory for it.”

Readers may be tempted to discount the conduct displayed at Stanford. After all, the thinking goes, these are privileged kids doing what they always do: embracing faux-radicalism in college before taking jobs in fintech or consulting. These students, some might say, aren’t representative of America.

And yet they are representative of something: of the conduct many of the most accomplished students in my generation have accepted as tolerable, and what that means for the future of our country. I admire activism. We need people willing to protest what they see as wrong and take on entrenched systems of repression. But we also need to read, learn, discuss, accept the existence of nuance, embrace diversity of thought, and hold our own allies to high standards. More than ever, we need universities to teach young people how to do all of this.

F or so long , Stanford’s physical standoff seemed intractable. Then, in early February, a storm swept in, and the natural world dictated its own conclusion.

Heavy rains flooded campus. For hours, the students battled to save their tents. The sit-in activists used sandbags and anything else they could find to hold back the water—at one point, David Palumbo-Liu, the professor, told me he stood in the lashing downpour to anchor one of the sit-in’s tents with his own body. When the storm hit, many of the Jewish activists had been attending a discussion on anti-Semitism. They raced back and struggled to salvage the Blue and White Tent, but it was too late—the wind had ripped it out of the ground.

The next day, the weary Jewish protesters returned to discover that their space had been taken.

A new collection of tents had been set up by El Boudali, the pro-Palestine activist, and a dozen friends. He said they were there to protest Islamophobia and to teach about Islam and jihad, and that they were a separate entity from the Sit-In to Stop Genocide, though I observed students cycling between the tents. Palestinian flags now flew from the bookstore to the quad.

Administrators told me they’d quickly informed El Boudali and his allies that the space had been reserved by the Jewish advocates, and offered to help move them to a different location. But the protesters told me they had no intention of going. (El Boudali later said that they did not take over the entire space, and would have been “happy to exist side by side, but they wanted to kick us off entirely from that lawn.”)

When it was clear that the area where they’d set up their tents would not be ceded back to the pro-Israel group willingly, Stanford changed course and decided to clear everyone out in one fell swoop. On February 8, school officials ordered all students to vacate the plaza overnight. The university was finally going to enforce its rule prohibiting people from sleeping outside on campus and requiring the removal of belongings from the plaza between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. The order cited the danger posed by the storm as a justification for changing course and, probably hoping to avoid allegations of bias, described the decision as “viewpoint-neutral.”

That didn’t work.

About a week of protests, led by the sit-in organizers, followed. Chants were chanted. More demands for a “river to the sea” solution to the Israel problem were made. A friend boasted to me about her willingness to be arrested. Stanford sent a handful of staff members, who stood near balloons left over from an event earlier in the day. They were there, one of them told me, to “make students feel supported and safe.”

In the end, Saller and Martinez agreed to talk with the leaders of the sit-in about their demands to divest the university and condemn Israel, under the proviso that the activists comply with Stanford’s anti-camping guidelines “regardless of the outcome of discussions.” Eight days after they were first instructed to leave, 120 days after setting up camp, the sit-in protesters slept in their own beds. In defiance of the university’s instructions, they left behind their tents. But sometime in the very early hours of the morning, law-enforcement officers confiscated the structures. The area was cordoned off without any violence and the plaza filled once more with electric skateboards and farmers’ markets.

The conflict continues in its own way. Saller was just shouted down by protesters chanting “No peace on stolen land” at a Family Weekend event, and protesters later displayed an effigy of him covered in blood. Students still feel tense; Saller still seems worried. He told me that the university is planning to change all manner of things—residential-assistant training, new-student orientation, even the acceptance letters that students receive—in hopes of fostering a culture of greater tolerance. But no campus edict or panel discussion can address a problem that is so much bigger than our university.

At one rally last fall, a speaker expressed disillusionment about the power of “peaceful resistance” on college campuses. “What is there left to do but to take up arms?” The crowd cheered as he said Israel must be destroyed. But what would happen to its citizens? I’d prefer to believe that most protesters chanting “Palestine is Arab” and shouting that we must “smash the Zionist settler state” don’t actually think Jews should be killed en masse. But can one truly be so ignorant as to advocate widespread violence in the name of peace?

When the world is rendered in black-and-white—portrayed as a simple fight between colonizer and colonized—the answer is yes. Solutions, by this logic, are absolute: Israel or Palestine, nothing in between. Either you support liberation of the oppressed or you support genocide. Either Stanford is all good or all bad; all in favor of free speech or all authoritarian; all anti-Semitic or all Islamophobic.

At January’s anti-anti-Semitism event, I watched an exchange between a Jewish attendee and a protester from a few feet away. “Are you pro-Palestine?” the protester asked.

“Yes,” the attendee responded, and he went on to describe his disgust with the human-rights abuses Palestinians have faced for years.

“But are you a Zionist?”

“Then we are enemies.”

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