College Essay Writing Do's and Don'ts

You must have the right approach for writing your college essay. Here are some ideas that you should constantly have at the back of your mind. They are not just steps but also like a basic set of rules that establish the fundamentals of college essay writing.

Do’s:

• Begin writing well before the deadline date. Writing a great essay takes time and if you have that luxury, use it.

• Find a point of focus. Usually when you are given a topic to write on you can write about it in various ways. Try to brainstorm to come up with different ideas related to the topic. Pick the best idea as your central theme and limit your writing to that theme.

• Sound credible when you write. Use facts to back up your opinions and conclusions. You should present examples and research data when appropriate to prove your point.

• Be specific when you write. For example, if you use a quote then specify whom it’s from rather than just writing “somebody once said.”

• Be who you are. Don’t hide behind other people’s back. You should be confident in representing yourself and your own ideas in the college essay. You should share your own thought process rather than just what other people have said.

• Get off on the right foot. Come up with the best opening sentence. The opening sentence often decides a lot about the rest of the essay, for the writer as well as the reader. The first impression can be the last impression sometimes, so make sure you impress the reader from the start.

• Read the brief carefully again and again to make sure you meet all of the requirements. You may end up writing a great essay but if it doesn’t meet the requirements your application will still get rejected.

• Act normal. Don’t force yourself to write in ways that don’t come naturally to you. You should do the best you can rather than comparing yourself to others and trying to write like them.

• Use a reliable software that can thoroughly proofread and edit your essay. However, you should still edit manually as well.

• Commit yourself to the task. Gathering tips is useless if you don’t implement them with sincerity.

Not doing the wrong thing is just as important as doing the right thing. Here are some common mistakes that you should avoid.

Don'ts:

• Don’t panic. See the process of writing essays as a pleasurable activity that gives you the opportunity to show off your writing skills. Do the best you can rather than worrying about how others will judge you. If you still feel stressed just try to let out your ideas and you will feel better once you’ve got some of the work done.

• Don’t write the essay like a resume. The essay should not sound like a job application.

• Don’t make things more difficult than they need to be. Pick the topic that you are comfortable writing about.

• Don’t pick a topic that is too broad or specific. You should be able to include all of the main information about the topic within the word limit.

• Don’t include unnecessary information. If the information is not a vital part of your essay then it shouldn’t be mentioned.

• Don’t be too verbose. It is more important to write clearly and concisely to get your point across rather than writing in a posh or pompous manner.

• Don’t use fancy tricks. Colleges want to read an essay, not assess your multimedia skills. These can be mentioned elsewhere on the admissions application form.

• Don’t use preset templates or essay structures. Your essay should be unique in every way possible. Being different is an asset, not a flaw.

• Don’t let others do the work for you. Even when you ask for feedback, you should be the only one making changes to your essay. Colleges want to know more about you, don’t you want to be the one telling them?

Structuring and Editing College Essays

The structure is particularly important when you are writing long essays. Follow these guidelines:

• Decide what the main ideas discussed in the essay will be. These ideas should be related to each other so there is unity and a smooth flow of information from the beginning to the end of your college essay.

• Develop curiosity in the introductory paragraph. You could ask questions to make the reader think and wonder about the topic that you are writing about. Don’t give away your personal opinions in the introductory paragraph. Instead, you should approach the beginning with an open mind.

• Make the reader want to read your essay again. Of course, the quality of your writing helps in doing this a lot, but there are also other techniques that you can use. For example, in your ending paragraph you could summarize the points discussed in your essay so the reader may want to refer to some points again in detail by reading previous paragraphs. Also, you should have paragraphs interlinked so reading one paragraph will make the reader read the other paragraphs as well. This will prevent skim-reading and ensure that the essay is read properly so you can more appreciation for it.

Edit your essay a few days after you have written the rough copy. This will ensure that you come back to the essay with a fresh mind and are able to find flaws that you were overlooking before. Keep the following in mind when editing college essays:

• Don’t treat the essay like a resume. It should be about who you are, not what you’ve done in the past.

• Have you met the minimum words requirement? Usually it is a good idea to write just a few extra words, just to be safe, but don’t exceed the minimum words requirement too much because this will make the reader not want to spend extra time reading it properly.

• Don’t repeat information. If you have already provided certain information in your application, like the schools that you have previously attended, you don’t have to mention these in your essay.

• Use proper grammar and spelling. Keep the tone of the essay formal but personal.

• Assess your own reactions to the essay or have others read it. The voice should sound natural with lots of useful information presented in a clear manner. If you don’t like your essay then others will probably not like it either, so write for yourself first and then think about others.

• Use examples to back up the information that you provide. Even if you are writing about yourself you can use personal stories as examples. For example, if you have mentioned in your college essay that you like outdoor activities, you can share a brief story about one of your camping trips. Make the reader believe in what you are writing.

• Make sure you meet all of the requirements set for the task. For example, the essay should be formatted properly (usually MLA, APA or Chicago style). If you need to cite sources, they need to be cited in the correct format as well. You need to use the correct font and may be required to create a title page.

Brainstorming Tips

Follow these basic brainstorming tips step-by-step when writing college essays about yourself:

• Jot down words to create a list outlining your personal characteristics. You should mention personality traits that make you a better student or more suitable for the courses that you want to take at the college. At this point you should not be focusing on your qualifications and past experiences but instead on who you are as a person.

• Write off the top of your and be spontaneous when making your initial notes. The first brainstorming step should not take you longer than a few minutes. You should let your thought process flow smoothly with constant ideas. Don’t be afraid to write whatever comes to mind, remember that you can always edit things out later.

• Divide your list into separate notes and elaborate on each item on the list that you think is worth mentioning in your college essay.

• Share the information on your list with your friends and close relatives to get some feedback. At times others can tell us things about us that we don’t realize ourselves.

• Add past experiences that relate to each personality trait on your list. For example, if you are a social person you can mention various public relations activities that you have participated in such as organizing events or dealing with customers at a charity booth.

• Combine parts of your list that go together. For example, if you have mentioned traits such as “social,” “caring” and “communicative” you can combine these traits to give a general idea that you are someone who likes to make a positive impact on the local community and would like to participate in organizing college events in future.

• Try to build a point of focus using your notes. The point of focus for a personal college essay is similar to the USP (Unique Selling Point) of a product; it should mention what you do best and what sets you apart from the rest of the applicants. Using this technique will make your college application unique with higher chances of acceptance.

Now you can move on to the advanced brainstorming tips. Ask yourself the following questions to further assess the attributes of your personality and bring out the “real you” on paper:

• What do you care about most in life?
• What makes you special?
• What are your views about current topics in the news?
• What is your main goals?
• How have you learned from past experiences?
• What are the events in your life that really changed you or strongly influenced you?
• Who are the people you look up to as role models?
• How have you influenced the world around you? What are the positive impacts that you’ve had on society?
• What do you do to deal with stress and difficult situations?

If you’ve been assigned to write about something other than yourself, you may still want to give personal links while writing the essay for college. For example, if you’ve been asked to write about a famous personality such as Martin Luther King, you can write how you personally relate to Martin Luther King and the attributes that you share with his personality. You could say that you are not afraid to stand up for your rights like Martin Luther King did. You could also mention how the personality that you are writing about has inspired you and share your own personal stories.

Writing College Essays in 4 Easy Steps

Knowing the process involved in writing an essay really helps you do a better job at writing successfully. You should think of essay writing as more of a process and procedure that you need to follow than an end result. A lot of times, it helps if you stop worrying about how your essay will end up being. In the beginning, you should not worry about what others think, even when you are writing college essays, because this limits your thought. You should be able to think freely and express yourself as openly as possible. The refining comes much later after you have enough put down on paper to work with and that point you can also start thinking about what sort of response you want to get when people read your essay.

Here are the 4 easy steps that you should follow when writing college essays, or any essay for that matter. These are the basic steps that eventually everybody has to go through. However, it is important that you are aware of each step so you can consciously work on improving on your weaknesses and writing more successfully.

1. Brainstorming.
Come up with ideas and jot them down. At times you can draw a spider diagram (also known as a tree diagram), which starts with the central topic written in the middle and then develops into different branches or legs relating to the central topic. For example, you may be writing about the education system. You can write “education system” and then draw different branches like “teaching,” “funding,” “higher education programs” and “curriculum.” Then you can divide the branches further, like mentioning “special education,” “classroom sizes” and “teaching methods” under “teaching.” Keep your brainstorming diagrams safe so you can refer to them later to get ideas.

2. Rough Copies.
Write a few rough copies. You should not spend too much time on these rough copies because they are not meant to be used as a final essay. The rough copies will just get you warmed up and give you ideas of how you want to structure your essay. After you have written various versions of your essay, read through each version and select which one you like best. Or, you can choose parts from different rough copies and combine them to make an improved rough draft. Use the best rough draft as an example to follow when writing your final copy.

3. Editing.
Proofread your final essay at least twice to make sure there are no spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. The essay should not have any sentences that drag on. Your essay should also contain relevant information that is written to keep the reader focused on the topic. The voice of your essay also needs to be consistent; write in first person only or only the passive voice depending on which voice you choose. You also need to format your essay in the specified format such as APA, MLA or Chicago format. Colleges give great value to essays that have been written without any errors in the proper use of the English language.

4. Revisions.
This is perhaps one of the easiest steps for writing college essays but also the most frequently overlooked. After you have your final copy ready, you should ask others to revise it. You could ask your high school English teacher, admissions counselor or even a parent to revise your essay. At times, the teacher that you submit your college essay to will give you time to do revisions so you can improve your grade. This is a great opportunity because you get feedback directly from your teacher and find out exactly what is required to write a better essay.

Feel confident when you write your essay. Learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them. You will feel a great sense of achievement when you know that you have done the best you can.

College Admission Essays - Getting Started

Most colleges and universities ask you to write one of 2 types of essays. The first type is the personal essay, which asks you to share personal information about yourself. The second type is a topic-specific essay, which gives you a specific topic to write about.

Many times you are given a choice of which type of college essay to write. In such cases, you should choose the type that you are most comfortable with. Some students don’t like to write personal essays for colleges because they don’t like to share personal information or feel that there are many aspects of their personality that will not be appreciated. To them, applying to college or university is all about business and they have a right to feel this way if they wish to do so. For others, writing the topic-specific essay may be difficult because they are not familiar with the topic selections that have been provided. In such cases, you may want to try doing a little research so you can familiarize yourself with the topic that you write on first.

There is also a third approach, and this approach is probably the most successful. Try to combine the 2 types of essays. For example, you can write a personal essay for college but also show interest in the topics that have been specified. Or, you can write on a specific topic but include personal opinions or conclusions. However, make sure you always read the brief carefully so you know exactly what is required from you. Here are some writing tips that you can follow.

• Add quotes and references. You could even start the essay with a quote that you like or a quote that relates to the topic that you are writing on.

• Start writing early. Make notes that you can structure your college admission essays around.

• Work on a draft and read it repetitively over time. You can use this technique to gain a fresh perspective each time you read your essay. You could even try reading it pretending to be a member of the admissions department and thinking of how someone in the admissions department would respond to your essay.

• Read articles and essays that are similar to the one that you are writing. You should not steal ideas but you can gain inspiration for other people’s work, specially those who have been writing professionally for a long time.

•Meet the complete requirements of the essay, including word length, format, language and tone.

•Don’t overdo the task. Stick to the points that need to be covered without going into distracting tangents.

• Write in the first person if you are allowed to do so. Give personal reflections.

• Do what you do best instead of trying to be an over-achiever. You don’t have to try to show off things that you are not good at, this will only show your flaws and reflect negatively on you. Try to write naturally.

• Ask others to read your college essay and provide feedback. Getting feedback from other people will help you realize things about your essay that you may not have noticed yourself.

• Make sure you know the correct deadline for your college admission essays and always submit the essays on time.

What Colleges Want in Admission Essays

Colleges and universities receive thousands of applications for admission every day, and admission essays are one of the most common methods that colleges use to filter students. Writing a good college essay is just as important as going to a good high school and getting good grades in the subjects that you take. The college wants to make sure that it grants admission to the students that are most deserving and who will do well in the courses that they take at the college or university. The education institutes also want to make sure that the student will fit in with the college environment and social circles, which is why they often also require a personal essay to decide who to give admission to.

After the college or university receives your admission essay the admissions board usually reviews it. However, many members of the admissions committee don’t have time to read all of the essays, which is why a screening process takes place beforehand. The committee will often read college admission essays of only a few applicants that have the highest Grade Point Average (GPA), SAT and other admission test scores, as well a good educational background (accredited high school and no criminal background). Sometimes the admissions board will also count extra curricular activities as a vital part of the student’s credentials because that will tell them more about your personality.

Don’t let college admission essays intimidate you. Instead, think of them as an opportunity to really show off your credentials and convince the college or university to grant you admission. You are being asked to write college admission essays because educational institutes are interested in knowing more about you, and that is a very positive sing. Cease this opportunity to share the following information about yourself:

• Use excellent English language skills to show that you are an expert in written English. However, don’t be too verbose and try to keep things short and simple. It is very important for colleges to find students that can communicate well, so use proper grammar and make sure your college essay does not have any spelling mistakes.

• Share information about yourself. Write with a personal perspective so the reader can learn about your personality and opinions. Write positively about yourself, but don’t keep things only about you because that will seem like you are bigheaded.

• Make yourself unique. Give the admissions committee a reason or several good reasons to choose you over the thousands of other applicants.

• Convince the board that you will have a positive impact on the college or university’s reputation. For example, you can mention that you can do volunteer work or arrange social gatherings to help the college become a more integral part of the local community or help the other students mingle and develop a strong student community.

• Share your dreams. Tell the reader how important it is for you to get admission at the college and how it will change your life. Write how grateful you will be and thank them for their consideration and for the opportunity of applying for admission.

• It may be a good idea to add some references, but you should not make the references sound like you are threatening or pressuring the reader. For example, you should not write how your father or other relative has made large donations to the college and that the college will suffer financially if you don’t get admission. Instead, you can mention how someone you know has made you realize how important it is to contribute to the growth of the college or university and that you wish to do the same. You can also mention that many people have recommended that you attend this university. However, in the end you have to convince the admissions committee that you are applying for admission because you are genuinely interested, not because someone else is making your or talking you into it.

In summary, college admission essays should demonstrate that you want to attend the college, that you’ll be a good fit for the courses or degree that you are applying for, and that you’ll make the most of the opportunity by pursuing a career in the field related to your studies. You should sound grateful and think of the task of admission essay writing as an opportunity rather than an inconvenience.

David Berkowitz "Son of Sam" Murders

Sources:

Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness by James A. Haught
Get Me a Murder a Day!: A History of Mass Communication in Britain by Kevin Williams
Fall River Tragedy: A History of the Borden Murders by Edwin H. Porter
Cannibal Killers: The History of Impossible Murders by Moira Martingale
Murder in Our Midst: The Holocaust, Industrial Killing, and Representation by Omer Bartov

The glorification of mobsters, gangster, thugs and murderers is too often the intention of media and society. Some of that fascination comes out in the writing of some biographies as well. How have these individuals with their political ties, union connections and power through various criminal activities helped shape our culture in its present state? To answer this, we shall study some of the most famous murders.

Death is very final and murder often a simple crime to commit, which is perhaps why crime intrigues us all. Life is very frail.

At one time or another most people have thought or said: I'd like to murder him or her. They do not usually mean it. Most murders are not committed with premeditation. They are the product of one manic moment. When the mind can take no more and usual restraints suddenly snap they are often result in the long pent-up emotions erupting in a fatal outburst.

Some murders are more malevolent, less simple to understand and less easy to forgive than others. The murders that horrify us most are those caused by greed or envy, or those which are the sadistic product of a twisted mind. Sometimes they seem to be caused by nothing more than lust for cruelty.

The most infamous of those murders are studied here. They are collected together in no particular order. Nobody can hope to explain the savage slaughters of Jack the Ripper, the maniacal fervor of Charles Manson's followers, or the child slayings of the Moors Murderers.

As Shakespeare described:
"Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange and unnatural."

These are the types of crimes that we shall study - murders in their most raw form.

During the year he terrorized New York, Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz murdered six people in cold blood and wounded another seven. He shot five women and one man dead in a series of vicious killings which spread panic around the city in 1977. Son of Sam struck at courting couples and lone women. The killer also turned his gun on two dogs. Discos and restaurants were deserted as the population made sure they were home before dark. Hysteria mounted when the spate of killings were linked.

Berkowitz became known as Son of Sam in the last few months of his crime spree. Police found a letter lying in the road just a few yards from the dead bodies of two young lovers. The letter read: "Dear Captain Joseph Borelli, I am deeply hurt by your calling me a woman hater. I am not. But I am a monster. I am the Son of Sam." After he fired at a couple as they embraced in a car, Berkowitz left the letter in the road.

After the letter was published, New York's Mayor Beame ordered police to "catch this man." He had already killed three people and wounded four. A special squad of 200 detectives was formed. Every rumor and tip-off was followed up but the identity of the killer remained a mystery. Whenever there was a clue to where he might strike again more than 100 police were put on nightly patrols, especially in areas of the Bronx and Queens.

Police came up with the theory that Berkowitz aka Son of Sam might believe himself the victim of demonic possession. Because of the way Berkowitz escaped detection, it was believed at one time that he might be a policeman using inside information to vanish undetected. Meanwhile the killings continued. Police described the killer as "neurotic, schizophrenic and paranoid ."

A high-school girl and her boyfriend were shot as they got into their car one night. Hitting the boy in the arm and the girl in the head, neck and shoulder, Berkowitz fired through the windscreen. A month later he struck again. Two 20-year-olds on their first date together were shot as they kissed in a car. Bobby Violante was just telling Stacy Moskowitz how much he cared for her when the bullet which was to blind him hit him in the face. Stacy died 38 hours later on a hospital operating table.

Berkowitz was caught eventually because of a parking ticket on his car. When the police had gone he walked over and screwed up the ticket. But he was seen by a woman walking her dog. She thought he had a strange smile on his face and when he came close to her she saw that he had a gun in his hand. She called the police the next day and told them about the parking ticket. They traced the car through their records. Police lay in wait for Berkowitz the following day. He walked to his car with the .44 calibre gun in a paper bag. He told police in his soft voice, "I'm Sam" when he felt threatened by the police.  The officers remember that he had a peculiar, child-like smile on his face. He claimed bloodthirsty demons made him kill at his trial. According to Berkowitz, one of the dogs he shot had the spirit of a 6,000-year-old man who ordered him to kill.

After he pleaded guilty to the series of attacks and killings Berkowitz, aged 28, was sentenced to 30 years in jail. He has claimed that he was a member of a New York satanic cult and other men were involved in the murders since his conviction. He passed his days in jail writing letters to women penfriends, newspapers, journalists and congressmen.

Police still believe that Berkowitz acted alone. But other people take seriously his claim that more people were involved. Eyewitness descriptions of the killer varied markedly in height and appearance. And none of the four different police sketches of the murderer closely resembled Berkowitz. Nor does the handwriting on many of the messages sent to police and newspapers by Son of Sam match up with Berkowitz's. Who owned the dog that Berkowitz claimed bewitched him is the most intriguing riddle involving Sam Carr. John and Michael, Carr's two sons, both died in suspicious circumstances after Berkowitz was arrested. John Carr was found shot to death in his girlfriend's apartment and Michael died when his car crashed for no apparent reason. Some lawyers claim that Berkowitz was only a lookout for a group involved in the murders..

People who knew Berkowitz before his arrest say he was a loner without any personal charms. He loved to gorge himself on junk food. His favorite meal was hamburgers followed by chocolate ice-cream. Police at first took him to be retarded when he was arrested. Two guns were pressed against his head and he was ordered to 'freeze,' but his only response was to keep smiling. "He had that stupid smile on his face, like it was a kid's game," arresting officer John Falotico remembers.

After the first killing of Donna Lauria, the murders became an addiction. He drove around New York night after night looking for victims. He also liked to return to the scene of his murders. One night after shooting a courting couple, instead of fleeing the scene he drove on a few blocks to catch a glimpse of the apartment block where his first victim Donna had lived. He told police that after a murder he felt "flushed with power." After a killing he would go to a late night snack bar to eat his favorite chocolate deserts. Nobody knows why Berkowitz started to kill.

At one place where he lodged, all that the family could remember of him was that he was a "regular sort of guy who used to take his car out in the middle of the night." It was Berkowitz's ordinariness that helped him escape capture.

Berkowitz has gone some way to achieving his ambition of becoming a celebrity since he has been in prison. He has unlimited letter writing privileges and conducts a few pen-friend romances with women. Berkowitz has made more than $200,000 from various articles, a book and film rights to his life. A court battle by the relatives of his victims to prevent him getting any of the money failed.