How to Write an Essay - Dont Give Yourself Free Rides

How to Write an Essay - Don't Give Yourself Free RidesAt the start of this month I wrote a blog post on how to write an essay. In it I mentioned that sometimes my own experience and opinions might get in the way of my students getting good results when they are writing essays.So, to be honest with you I wrote this article as a plea to the students that write their own essays to think twice before giving themselves free reign to express their own opinion and feelings. Especially in regards to these days in the university world there seems to be more bias towards a certain opinion than there used to be. And if that happens then you should know by now that your students will struggle with coming up with a coherent piece of work because they have been told what to write about.How does one get past the notion that there should be some sort of censorship when it comes to expressing a particular opinion? Well, there is no need to be corny here, but the only way is to challenge the prevailin g ideas. What does that mean? It means expressing a view that is contrary to the thinking and belief of your current instructor or professor.Well, that's all well and good when your instructor doesn't really care about what you write anyway. But some professors do take it upon themselves to tell you exactly what you should not write about. What happens is they will do a reading for the class or have a group discussion at the beginning of every semester or quarter. They will pull from their time in government or finance or whatever and tell you what to write about, and this is going to be reflected in your assignment.This is great if they are telling you to talk about the great things your country has done, or inspiring you to be the next President, or if they are just telling you to write about some true stories or writing about yourself in order to make you feel good about yourself. But if you come from a different political perspective then you will find that a great many of these pieces will be about issues that are in opposition to your views.Well, don't worry about this because it's going to happen anyway. One thing that I found helpful when trying to come up with good ways to challenge these ideas is by having students read from nonfiction books that seem to contradict the current teaching and thoughts of the class. And that's exactly what I did in the article I wrote on how to write an essay.And this works because they tend to become more educated and challenge their viewpoints if they are from a different perspective. For example, if the professor is trying to teach you to care about others rather than yourself; and you are from a more selfish view then you will read a book about how to be better to others rather than yourself.And on a more serious note, what you will learn is that no matter what the topic is you must do your best to think logically and ethically about the subject. You must understand the current events and debates in order to see what is happening around the world, and in this way you will become a better citizen, a better student, and a better writer.