Outlines are visual. They are a visual representation—a picture—of what is going on inside a whole composition. In this article, we are going to discuss nine important concepts in writing. Interestingly, in writing, the use of these concepts is often not clearly...
Do you read? If so, what do you think about paragraphs? Do the paragraphs you read in your daily reading match what you have been taught about paragraphs? Chances are, they don’t. As discussed in Before the Rules: How Paragraphs Actually Developed, writers were using...
Writers were using paragraphs long before anyone could explain how they worked. This may sound strange. How can something be widely used, yet not clearly understood? But that is exactly what happened with the paragraph. For centuries, writers broke up their writing...
What’s a paragraph? You know what one is, don’t you? If you are not sure, just look down this page, and if necessary, the next page. What do you see? Do you see chunks of text surrounded by whitespace? If so, you are seeing paragraphs. (If not, please rush to a doctor...
Why Do Some Well-Structured Essays Still Feel Weak? Students can follow a clear structure and still produce ineffective writing. The reality is that structure alone is not sufficient. Students must understand the purpose of their writing. This is where the four main...
Why Students Struggle With Essays (and How to Fix It) Most students don’t struggle with writing because they lack ideas—they struggle because they lack structure. If your students’ writing feels unfocused, repetitive, or unclear, the problem may not be effort—it may...
Beginning, Middle, and Ending (BME) is one of the most essential concepts in writing—and it has been for over two thousand years. “A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.” — Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC) This is not just a writing principle. It is a...
Understanding essay writing is critical for teachers, students, readers, and writers. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), a famous essayist, defined an essay this way: “The essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.” That’s a great...
“What’s your point?” That’s the most critical concept in writing. It’s crucial at the paragraph level and the whole composition level. Writers need clear and organized thinking throughout the entire writing process. Let’s look at four key concepts that help writers...
Have you heard of Malcolm Gladwell? He’s written five New York Times bestsellers. I first became aware of him with his 2001 bestseller, The Tipping Point. A few years back, a friend was raving about a Malcolm Gladwell book he had just read and was unsuccessfully...
What is an essay? If you cannot answer that question concretely and competently, you are lost when it comes to fully grasping writing and literature. Understanding essays and essay writing is critical for students, teachers, writers, and readers of all ages. I have a...
Have you noticed the different sizes and colors of headings in a textbook? Have you noticed that many textbooks use text of various sizes and colors in the table of contents? Have you noticed that the table of contents usually looks like an outline? Writing is a...
Are you confused about the many different types, kinds, and forms of writing? The best way to become clear is to first understand the Four Modes of Discourse. In his 1866 book, English Composition and Rhetoric, Alexander Bain introduced two models that have remained...
What’s So Special About The Five-Paragraph Essay? Recently, a student asked me what made the five-paragraph essay so important—so special. In short, the student was asking why five paragraphs? Why not three or four or six or seven? Why five? I explained that in my...
Do you have an elementary or middle school state or district writing assessment coming up? Or perhaps you simply want your students to write excellent essays? If so, read on! And if you teach beginning essay writers or struggling essay writers, be sure to check out...
