essay handwriting

How to Write an Essay

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Essay Writing Fundamentals

How to prepare to write an essay, how to edit an essay, how to share and publish your essays, how to get essay writing help, how to find essay writing inspiration, resources for teaching essay writing.

Essays, short prose compositions on a particular theme or topic, are the bread and butter of academic life. You write them in class, for homework, and on standardized tests to show what you know. Unlike other kinds of academic writing (like the research paper) and creative writing (like short stories and poems), essays allow you to develop your original thoughts on a prompt or question. Essays come in many varieties: they can be expository (fleshing out an idea or claim), descriptive, (explaining a person, place, or thing), narrative (relating a personal experience), or persuasive (attempting to win over a reader). This guide is a collection of dozens of links about academic essay writing that we have researched, categorized, and annotated in order to help you improve your essay writing. 

Essays are different from other forms of writing; in turn, there are different kinds of essays. This section contains general resources for getting to know the essay and its variants. These resources introduce and define the essay as a genre, and will teach you what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab

One of the most trusted academic writing sites, Purdue OWL provides a concise introduction to the four most common types of academic essays.

"The Essay: History and Definition" (ThoughtCo)

This snappy article from ThoughtCo talks about the origins of the essay and different kinds of essays you might be asked to write. 

"What Is An Essay?" Video Lecture (Coursera)

The University of California at Irvine's free video lecture, available on Coursera, tells  you everything you need to know about the essay.

Wikipedia Article on the "Essay"

Wikipedia's article on the essay is comprehensive, providing both English-language and global perspectives on the essay form. Learn about the essay's history, forms, and styles.

"Understanding College and Academic Writing" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This list of common academic writing assignments (including types of essay prompts) will help you know what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Before you start writing your essay, you need to figure out who you're writing for (audience), what you're writing about (topic/theme), and what you're going to say (argument and thesis). This section contains links to handouts, chapters, videos and more to help you prepare to write an essay.

How to Identify Your Audience

"Audience" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This handout provides questions you can ask yourself to determine the audience for an academic writing assignment. It also suggests strategies for fitting your paper to your intended audience.

"Purpose, Audience, Tone, and Content" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

This extensive book chapter from Writing for Success , available online through Minnesota Libraries Publishing, is followed by exercises to try out your new pre-writing skills.

"Determining Audience" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This guide from a community college's writing center shows you how to know your audience, and how to incorporate that knowledge in your thesis statement.

"Know Your Audience" ( Paper Rater Blog)

This short blog post uses examples to show how implied audiences for essays differ. It reminds you to think of your instructor as an observer, who will know only the information you pass along.

How to Choose a Theme or Topic

"Research Tutorial: Developing Your Topic" (YouTube)

Take a look at this short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to understand the basics of developing a writing topic.

"How to Choose a Paper Topic" (WikiHow)

This simple, step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through choosing a paper topic. It starts with a detailed description of brainstorming and ends with strategies to refine your broad topic.

"How to Read an Assignment: Moving From Assignment to Topic" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Did your teacher give you a prompt or other instructions? This guide helps you understand the relationship between an essay assignment and your essay's topic.

"Guidelines for Choosing a Topic" (CliffsNotes)

This study guide from CliffsNotes both discusses how to choose a topic and makes a useful distinction between "topic" and "thesis."

How to Come Up with an Argument

"Argument" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

Not sure what "argument" means in the context of academic writing? This page from the University of North Carolina is a good place to start.

"The Essay Guide: Finding an Argument" (Study Hub)

This handout explains why it's important to have an argument when beginning your essay, and provides tools to help you choose a viable argument.

"Writing a Thesis and Making an Argument" (University of Iowa)

This page from the University of Iowa's Writing Center contains exercises through which you can develop and refine your argument and thesis statement.

"Developing a Thesis" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page from Harvard's Writing Center collates some helpful dos and don'ts of argumentative writing, from steps in constructing a thesis to avoiding vague and confrontational thesis statements.

"Suggestions for Developing Argumentative Essays" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

This page offers concrete suggestions for each stage of the essay writing process, from topic selection to drafting and editing. 

How to Outline your Essay

"Outlines" (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill via YouTube)

This short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows how to group your ideas into paragraphs or sections to begin the outlining process.

"Essay Outline" (Univ. of Washington Tacoma)

This two-page handout by a university professor simply defines the parts of an essay and then organizes them into an example outline.

"Types of Outlines and Samples" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL gives examples of diverse outline strategies on this page, including the alphanumeric, full sentence, and decimal styles. 

"Outlining" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Once you have an argument, according to this handout, there are only three steps in the outline process: generalizing, ordering, and putting it all together. Then you're ready to write!

"Writing Essays" (Plymouth Univ.)

This packet, part of Plymouth University's Learning Development series, contains descriptions and diagrams relating to the outlining process.

"How to Write A Good Argumentative Essay: Logical Structure" (Criticalthinkingtutorials.com via YouTube)

This longer video tutorial gives an overview of how to structure your essay in order to support your argument or thesis. It is part of a longer course on academic writing hosted on Udemy.

Now that you've chosen and refined your topic and created an outline, use these resources to complete the writing process. Most essays contain introductions (which articulate your thesis statement), body paragraphs, and conclusions. Transitions facilitate the flow from one paragraph to the next so that support for your thesis builds throughout the essay. Sources and citations show where you got the evidence to support your thesis, which ensures that you avoid plagiarism. 

How to Write an Introduction

"Introductions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page identifies the role of the introduction in any successful paper, suggests strategies for writing introductions, and warns against less effective introductions.

"How to Write A Good Introduction" (Michigan State Writing Center)

Beginning with the most common missteps in writing introductions, this guide condenses the essentials of introduction composition into seven points.

"The Introductory Paragraph" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming focuses on ways to grab your reader's attention at the beginning of your essay.

"Introductions and Conclusions" (Univ. of Toronto)

This guide from the University of Toronto gives advice that applies to writing both introductions and conclusions, including dos and don'ts.

"How to Write Better Essays: No One Does Introductions Properly" ( The Guardian )

This news article interviews UK professors on student essay writing; they point to introductions as the area that needs the most improvement.

How to Write a Thesis Statement

"Writing an Effective Thesis Statement" (YouTube)

This short, simple video tutorial from a college composition instructor at Tulsa Community College explains what a thesis statement is and what it does. 

"Thesis Statement: Four Steps to a Great Essay" (YouTube)

This fantastic tutorial walks you through drafting a thesis, using an essay prompt on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter as an example.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through coming up with, writing, and editing a thesis statement. It invites you think of your statement as a "working thesis" that can change.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (Univ. of Indiana Bloomington)

Ask yourself the questions on this page, part of Indiana Bloomington's Writing Tutorial Services, when you're writing and refining your thesis statement.

"Writing Tips: Thesis Statements" (Univ. of Illinois Center for Writing Studies)

This page gives plentiful examples of good to great thesis statements, and offers questions to ask yourself when formulating a thesis statement.

How to Write Body Paragraphs

"Body Paragraph" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course introduces you to the components of a body paragraph. These include the topic sentence, information, evidence, and analysis.

"Strong Body Paragraphs" (Washington Univ.)

This handout from Washington's Writing and Research Center offers in-depth descriptions of the parts of a successful body paragraph.

"Guide to Paragraph Structure" (Deakin Univ.)

This handout is notable for color-coding example body paragraphs to help you identify the functions various sentences perform.

"Writing Body Paragraphs" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

The exercises in this section of Writing for Success  will help you practice writing good body paragraphs. It includes guidance on selecting primary support for your thesis.

"The Writing Process—Body Paragraphs" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

The information and exercises on this page will familiarize you with outlining and writing body paragraphs, and includes links to more information on topic sentences and transitions.

"The Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post discusses body paragraphs in the context of one of the most common academic essay types in secondary schools.

How to Use Transitions

"Transitions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill explains what a transition is, and how to know if you need to improve your transitions.

"Using Transitions Effectively" (Washington Univ.)

This handout defines transitions, offers tips for using them, and contains a useful list of common transitional words and phrases grouped by function.

"Transitions" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This page compares paragraphs without transitions to paragraphs with transitions, and in doing so shows how important these connective words and phrases are.

"Transitions in Academic Essays" (Scribbr)

This page lists four techniques that will help you make sure your reader follows your train of thought, including grouping similar information and using transition words.

"Transitions" (El Paso Community College)

This handout shows example transitions within paragraphs for context, and explains how transitions improve your essay's flow and voice.

"Make Your Paragraphs Flow to Improve Writing" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post, another from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming, talks about transitions and other strategies to improve your essay's overall flow.

"Transition Words" (smartwords.org)

This handy word bank will help you find transition words when you're feeling stuck. It's grouped by the transition's function, whether that is to show agreement, opposition, condition, or consequence.

How to Write a Conclusion

"Parts of An Essay: Conclusions" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course explains how to conclude an academic essay. It suggests thinking about the "3Rs": return to hook, restate your thesis, and relate to the reader.

"Essay Conclusions" (Univ. of Maryland University College)

This overview of the academic essay conclusion contains helpful examples and links to further resources for writing good conclusions.

"How to End An Essay" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) by an English Ph.D. walks you through writing a conclusion, from brainstorming to ending with a flourish.

"Ending the Essay: Conclusions" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page collates useful strategies for writing an effective conclusion, and reminds you to "close the discussion without closing it off" to further conversation.

How to Include Sources and Citations

"Research and Citation Resources" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL streamlines information about the three most common referencing styles (MLA, Chicago, and APA) and provides examples of how to cite different resources in each system.

EasyBib: Free Bibliography Generator

This online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. Be sure to select your resource type before clicking the "cite it" button.

CitationMachine

Like EasyBib, this online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. 

Modern Language Association Handbook (MLA)

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of MLA referencing rules. Order through the link above, or check to see if your library has a copy.

Chicago Manual of Style

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of Chicago referencing rules. You can take a look at the table of contents, then choose to subscribe or start a free trial.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

"What is Plagiarism?" (plagiarism.org)

This nonprofit website contains numerous resources for identifying and avoiding plagiarism, and reminds you that even common activities like copying images from another website to your own site may constitute plagiarism.

"Plagiarism" (University of Oxford)

This interactive page from the University of Oxford helps you check for plagiarism in your work, making it clear how to avoid citing another person's work without full acknowledgement.

"Avoiding Plagiarism" (MIT Comparative Media Studies)

This quick guide explains what plagiarism is, what its consequences are, and how to avoid it. It starts by defining three words—quotation, paraphrase, and summary—that all constitute citation.

"Harvard Guide to Using Sources" (Harvard Extension School)

This comprehensive website from Harvard brings together articles, videos, and handouts about referencing, citation, and plagiarism. 

Grammarly contains tons of helpful grammar and writing resources, including a free tool to automatically scan your essay to check for close affinities to published work. 

Noplag is another popular online tool that automatically scans your essay to check for signs of plagiarism. Simply copy and paste your essay into the box and click "start checking."

Once you've written your essay, you'll want to edit (improve content), proofread (check for spelling and grammar mistakes), and finalize your work until you're ready to hand it in. This section brings together tips and resources for navigating the editing process. 

"Writing a First Draft" (Academic Help)

This is an introduction to the drafting process from the site Academic Help, with tips for getting your ideas on paper before editing begins.

"Editing and Proofreading" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page provides general strategies for revising your writing. They've intentionally left seven errors in the handout, to give you practice in spotting them.

"How to Proofread Effectively" (ThoughtCo)

This article from ThoughtCo, along with those linked at the bottom, help describe common mistakes to check for when proofreading.

"7 Simple Edits That Make Your Writing 100% More Powerful" (SmartBlogger)

This blog post emphasizes the importance of powerful, concise language, and reminds you that even your personal writing heroes create clunky first drafts.

"Editing Tips for Effective Writing" (Univ. of Pennsylvania)

On this page from Penn's International Relations department, you'll find tips for effective prose, errors to watch out for, and reminders about formatting.

"Editing the Essay" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This article, the first of two parts, gives you applicable strategies for the editing process. It suggests reading your essay aloud, removing any jargon, and being unafraid to remove even "dazzling" sentences that don't belong.

"Guide to Editing and Proofreading" (Oxford Learning Institute)

This handout from Oxford covers the basics of editing and proofreading, and reminds you that neither task should be rushed. 

In addition to plagiarism-checkers, Grammarly has a plug-in for your web browser that checks your writing for common mistakes.

After you've prepared, written, and edited your essay, you might want to share it outside the classroom. This section alerts you to print and web opportunities to share your essays with the wider world, from online writing communities and blogs to published journals geared toward young writers.

Sharing Your Essays Online

Go Teen Writers

Go Teen Writers is an online community for writers aged 13 - 19. It was founded by Stephanie Morrill, an author of contemporary young adult novels. 

Tumblr is a blogging website where you can share your writing and interact with other writers online. It's easy to add photos, links, audio, and video components.

Writersky provides an online platform for publishing and reading other youth writers' work. Its current content is mostly devoted to fiction.

Publishing Your Essays Online

This teen literary journal publishes in print, on the web, and (more frequently), on a blog. It is committed to ensuring that "teens see their authentic experience reflected on its pages."

The Matador Review

This youth writing platform celebrates "alternative," unconventional writing. The link above will take you directly to the site's "submissions" page.

Teen Ink has a website, monthly newsprint magazine, and quarterly poetry magazine promoting the work of young writers.

The largest online reading platform, Wattpad enables you to publish your work and read others' work. Its inline commenting feature allows you to share thoughts as you read along.

Publishing Your Essays in Print

Canvas Teen Literary Journal

This quarterly literary magazine is published for young writers by young writers. They accept many kinds of writing, including essays.

The Claremont Review

This biannual international magazine, first published in 1992, publishes poetry, essays, and short stories from writers aged 13 - 19.

Skipping Stones

This young writers magazine, founded in 1988, celebrates themes relating to ecological and cultural diversity. It publishes poems, photos, articles, and stories.

The Telling Room

This nonprofit writing center based in Maine publishes children's work on their website and in book form. The link above directs you to the site's submissions page.

Essay Contests

Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards

This prestigious international writing contest for students in grades 7 - 12 has been committed to "supporting the future of creativity since 1923."

Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest

An annual essay contest on the theme of journalism and media, the Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest awards scholarships up to $1,000.

National YoungArts Foundation

Here, you'll find information on a government-sponsored writing competition for writers aged 15 - 18. The foundation welcomes submissions of creative nonfiction, novels, scripts, poetry, short story and spoken word.

Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest

With prompts on a different literary work each year, this competition from Signet Classics awards college scholarships up to $1,000.

"The Ultimate Guide to High School Essay Contests" (CollegeVine)

See this handy guide from CollegeVine for a list of more competitions you can enter with your academic essay, from the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards to the National High School Essay Contest by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Whether you're struggling to write academic essays or you think you're a pro, there are workshops and online tools that can help you become an even better writer. Even the most seasoned writers encounter writer's block, so be proactive and look through our curated list of resources to combat this common frustration.

Online Essay-writing Classes and Workshops

"Getting Started with Essay Writing" (Coursera)

Coursera offers lots of free, high-quality online classes taught by college professors. Here's one example, taught by instructors from the University of California Irvine.

"Writing and English" (Brightstorm)

Brightstorm's free video lectures are easy to navigate by topic. This unit on the parts of an essay features content on the essay hook, thesis, supporting evidence, and more.

"How to Write an Essay" (EdX)

EdX is another open online university course website with several two- to five-week courses on the essay. This one is geared toward English language learners.

Writer's Digest University

This renowned writers' website offers online workshops and interactive tutorials. The courses offered cover everything from how to get started through how to get published.

Writing.com

Signing up for this online writer's community gives you access to helpful resources as well as an international community of writers.

How to Overcome Writer's Block

"Symptoms and Cures for Writer's Block" (Purdue OWL)

Purdue OWL offers a list of signs you might have writer's block, along with ways to overcome it. Consider trying out some "invention strategies" or ways to curb writing anxiety.

"Overcoming Writer's Block: Three Tips" ( The Guardian )

These tips, geared toward academic writing specifically, are practical and effective. The authors advocate setting realistic goals, creating dedicated writing time, and participating in social writing.

"Writing Tips: Strategies for Overcoming Writer's Block" (Univ. of Illinois)

This page from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Center for Writing Studies acquaints you with strategies that do and do not work to overcome writer's block.

"Writer's Block" (Univ. of Toronto)

Ask yourself the questions on this page; if the answer is "yes," try out some of the article's strategies. Each question is accompanied by at least two possible solutions.

If you have essays to write but are short on ideas, this section's links to prompts, example student essays, and celebrated essays by professional writers might help. You'll find writing prompts from a variety of sources, student essays to inspire you, and a number of essay writing collections.

Essay Writing Prompts

"50 Argumentative Essay Topics" (ThoughtCo)

Take a look at this list and the others ThoughtCo has curated for different kinds of essays. As the author notes, "a number of these topics are controversial and that's the point."

"401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing" ( New York Times )

This list (and the linked lists to persuasive and narrative writing prompts), besides being impressive in length, is put together by actual high school English teachers.

"SAT Sample Essay Prompts" (College Board)

If you're a student in the U.S., your classroom essay prompts are likely modeled on the prompts in U.S. college entrance exams. Take a look at these official examples from the SAT.

"Popular College Application Essay Topics" (Princeton Review)

This page from the Princeton Review dissects recent Common Application essay topics and discusses strategies for answering them.

Example Student Essays

"501 Writing Prompts" (DePaul Univ.)

This nearly 200-page packet, compiled by the LearningExpress Skill Builder in Focus Writing Team, is stuffed with writing prompts, example essays, and commentary.

"Topics in English" (Kibin)

Kibin is a for-pay essay help website, but its example essays (organized by topic) are available for free. You'll find essays on everything from  A Christmas Carol  to perseverance.

"Student Writing Models" (Thoughtful Learning)

Thoughtful Learning, a website that offers a variety of teaching materials, provides sample student essays on various topics and organizes them by grade level.

"Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

In this blog post by a former professor of English and rhetoric, ThoughtCo brings together examples of five-paragraph essays and commentary on the form.

The Best Essay Writing Collections

The Best American Essays of the Century by Joyce Carol Oates (Amazon)

This collection of American essays spanning the twentieth century was compiled by award winning author and Princeton professor Joyce Carol Oates.

The Best American Essays 2017 by Leslie Jamison (Amazon)

Leslie Jamison, the celebrated author of essay collection  The Empathy Exams , collects recent, high-profile essays into a single volume.

The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate (Amazon)

Documentary writer Phillip Lopate curates this historical overview of the personal essay's development, from the classical era to the present.

The White Album by Joan Didion (Amazon)

This seminal essay collection was authored by one of the most acclaimed personal essayists of all time, American journalist Joan Didion.

Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace (Amazon)

Read this famous essay collection by David Foster Wallace, who is known for his experimentation with the essay form. He pushed the boundaries of personal essay, reportage, and political polemic.

"50 Successful Harvard Application Essays" (Staff of the The Harvard Crimson )

If you're looking for examples of exceptional college application essays, this volume from Harvard's daily student newspaper is one of the best collections on the market.

Are you an instructor looking for the best resources for teaching essay writing? This section contains resources for developing in-class activities and student homework assignments. You'll find content from both well-known university writing centers and online writing labs.

Essay Writing Classroom Activities for Students

"In-class Writing Exercises" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page lists exercises related to brainstorming, organizing, drafting, and revising. It also contains suggestions for how to implement the suggested exercises.

"Teaching with Writing" (Univ. of Minnesota Center for Writing)

Instructions and encouragement for using "freewriting," one-minute papers, logbooks, and other write-to-learn activities in the classroom can be found here.

"Writing Worksheets" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

Berkeley offers this bank of writing worksheets to use in class. They are nested under headings for "Prewriting," "Revision," "Research Papers" and more.

"Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism" (DePaul University)

Use these activities and worksheets from DePaul's Teaching Commons when instructing students on proper academic citation practices.

Essay Writing Homework Activities for Students

"Grammar and Punctuation Exercises" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

These five interactive online activities allow students to practice editing and proofreading. They'll hone their skills in correcting comma splices and run-ons, identifying fragments, using correct pronoun agreement, and comma usage.

"Student Interactives" (Read Write Think)

Read Write Think hosts interactive tools, games, and videos for developing writing skills. They can practice organizing and summarizing, writing poetry, and developing lines of inquiry and analysis.

This free website offers writing and grammar activities for all grade levels. The lessons are designed to be used both for large classes and smaller groups.

"Writing Activities and Lessons for Every Grade" (Education World)

Education World's page on writing activities and lessons links you to more free, online resources for learning how to "W.R.I.T.E.": write, revise, inform, think, and edit.

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• Tips for Reading an Assignment Prompt
• Asking Analytical Questions
• Introductions
• What Do Introductions Across the Disciplines Have in Common?
• Anatomy of a Body Paragraph
• Transitions
• Tips for Organizing Your Essay
• Counterargument
• Conclusions
• Strategies for Essay Writing: Downloadable PDFs
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Easy Ways to Get Good Handwriting

Last Updated: March 31, 2024 Fact Checked

Analyzing Your Handwriting

Changing your handwriting.

This article was co-authored by Courtney Copriviza and by wikiHow staff writer, Devin McSween . Courtney Copriviza is an Elementary School Teacher based in Maui, HI. Courtney specializes in elementary education, classroom management, and social and emotional development. She holds a BA in Communication with a minor in Urban Education and an MA in Teaching from Santa Clara University. Courtney has also taught high school in Madrid, Spain. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi International Honors Society in Education. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 4,085,530 times.

We’ve all been there: you’re reviewing your lecture notes but can’t seem to make out your words as they run together and tilt off the page. It would be great if you didn’t have to decode your own writing, so is there any way you can make it better? Whether you’re trying to reign in unruly letters or get back your handwriting flair from years ago, we’ll show you the techniques to use to improve your handwriting. Read on to learn how!

Things You Should Know

• Find handwriting inspiration online to develop your handwriting style. Copy your favorite letters to incorporate them into your writing.
• Write out the alphabet to make your letters consistent. Then, practice writing full sentences.
• Hand write things every chance you get. Write out work to-dos, school notes, start a journal, and send letters to friends.

• Look at the size of your letters in relation to each other, too. Capital letters should be larger than lowercase ones, while tall letters like “t” should extend past small letters like “a.”

• You don’t have to adopt an entirely new style or copy someone else’s word for word. Just pick and choose certain aspects of different styles to incorporate the shapes and letters into your writing and make them your own.

• Your general posture can help improve your writing, too. Wiggle your wrist to loosen it and relax your shoulders as you write.

• When you find the type of pen or pencil you like, experiment with different lead sizes and pen tips to find what thickness makes your handwriting pop, too.

• If writing the same phrase over again gets tiring, write down some of your favorite quotes and song lyrics, or practice your own name.

• To practice your writing every day, start a journal , make your to-do lists by hand, or complete handwriting practice sheets.

Community Q&A

Handwriting Practice Page

• Writing equal sized letters makes your handwriting look neat and tidy. Thanks Helpful 18 Not Helpful 0
• Use lined paper to help keep your writing straight. Stay on the line, only taking the letters above or below it as required by the letter's shape (e.g. “q,” “y” and “g”). Thanks Helpful 16 Not Helpful 0
• Aim to write at least one paragraph each day to help improve your handwriting. Thanks Helpful 14 Not Helpful 5

Tips from our Readers

• Writing with a gel pen on smooth paper can make your lines flow better.
• Try using a pencil gripper to change your grip.

• Don't press the nib, or tip, of your pen hard on the paper as you write. Pressing down hard can cause your hand to cramp, so keep your pressure even. Thanks Helpful 22 Not Helpful 3
• Don't throw away your templates or practice sheets. Use these as guidelines as you write to see how the letters should look and what you need to improve. Thanks Helpful 13 Not Helpful 3
• To prevent writer's cramp, use your wrist and arm to support your hand. Then, relax your grip on your pen or pencil. Thanks Helpful 12 Not Helpful 4
• Reuse your practice sheets and paper as much as you can to prevent excess waste. Use the front and back of each sheet and write in the margins. Thanks Helpful 11 Not Helpful 6

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.popsci.com/diy/how-to-improve-handwriting/
• ↑ https://realtytimes.com/agentnews/agentadvice/item/8744-20060406_handwriting
• ↑ https://www.businessinsider.com/tips-to-improve-handwriting-2014-7
• ↑ https://www.nhsggc.org.uk/kids/resources/ot-activityinformation-sheets/holding-a-pencil/
• ↑ ​​ https://masgrimes.com/journal/how-to-improve-your-handwriting
• ↑ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21395194/
• Videos provided by Katie Angel

About This Article

To get better handwriting, write so there's enough space between each of your words to fit an imaginary letter "O," and make sure you're writing your letters straight, not slanted. Practice writing with smooth, even lines instead of lines that are squiggly and uneven. Write every day, and handwrite your notes whenever you get a chance so you can keep improving. To learn about how to fix slants and get better line quality while you write, keep reading the article! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
• All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
• Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
• If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
• Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Best Handwriting Examples and Tips

 Writing is a part of everyday life. Perfect  handwriting  not only helps children improve their academic performance but also increases their focus.  Handwriting  skills are essential for both youngsters and adults. It is said that perfect handwriting, like  speech  fluency, is an essential personality trait of a person. Thus, it is essential to have good, clean, legible handwriting. 

In this article, we will look at the characteristics of good handwriting and  tips  on how to improve your handwriting. Furthermore, we have listed some perfect handwritings written by individuals that will leave you awestruck.

What is perfect handwriting?

Specific shape, character spacing, characterization, paper pressure, connecting strokes, beginning and ending strokes, dots and cross-strokes, space between the words, select a look.

• Examine your Posture

Select the Appropriate Pen

A beautiful grocery list, a mesmerizing self-affirmation quote, cursive handwriting, a list of cabinet ministers, the finest hindi handwriting, simple notes in simple handwriting.

Perfect handwriting has certain requirements. They are as follows:

• The font should be readable. 
• The alphabets should be uniform, balanced and well-spaced. 
• You must write with minimal pressure.

Now, let us dive deeper into the characteristics of good handwriting. 

Tips  on  “How to write an Informal Letter”

Characteristics of Good Handwriting

This means that letters should be of the  right shape . For example, do not write an ‘a’ to look like an ‘o’. 

The amount of space between characters must be appropriate. For example, all alphabets in a word are connected but the alphabets in two different words have a space between them. 

The slope of an alphabet (the angle at which a character tends to tilt) must be uniform. Furthermore, ensure that the letter tilts to the right side.

Font size  should not be too large or too small to read. Additionally, it must be clearly readable.

Paper pressure refers to the pressure a writer puts on the paper when writing. Applying too much pressure lead to an imprint on the later pages, thus, making the information on those pages illegible. 

Connecting strokes  are those that link one alphabet to the next. These strokes indicate whether the writer wishes to raise the pen to go to the next word or wants to keep the alphabets together to form one word.  

This indicates if the writer uses an ending or a beginning stroke, thus, allowing the reader to understand if he is beginning or ending the sentence. 

Dots are used in some characters like ‘i’ and ‘j,’ whereas cross strokes are used in letters like ‘f’ and ‘t’. These dots and cross-strokes must be made perfectly for the handwriting to be considered good.

We have already talked about spaces between the words above, but for handwriting to be perfect and readable, there must be space between the words. Good handwriting with the appropriate gap between words earns a high legibility score.

Make your Handwriting Better

The foundations for good handwriting are laid by solid writing  motor abilities . It’s crucial to learn and improve fundamental motions such as the smooth movement of fingers as well as wrists. Furthermore, you should hold the pen correctly, and ensure that you handle the writing tool and paper with less pressure.

These basic skills translate into writing words, sentences and paragraphs. 

If you have the basic skills down,  then  look below for a few tips to improve your handwriting. 

Several handwriting styles are available to writers.  Cursive  handwriting, in which capital and lowercase letters flow together on a sheet of paper, is preferred by the majority. However, some individuals even opt for a  print font . Here are the differences between the two types of fonts:

Writers with exceptional handwriting may pursue a profession in hand lettering and typeface design. For example, calligraphers perform  calligraphy , an ancient  art form  in which letterforms are handled with the same attention and regard as painted images.

Examine your  Posture

Sit straight with your legs uncrossed, and your feet flat on the ground. Relax your forearm and hand. Then, make your hand floppy by shaking it. 

Many youngsters curl their arm over the paper when writing, but sitting up straight, with your forearm resting on the table, allows the arm to move the fingers rather than the wrist, which is better for perfect handwriting.

Fountain pens , which lend themselves nicely to cursive writing, are commonly used in modern calligraphy. Ballpoint pens use less ink, and while they’re fantastic for  doodling  and scribbled notes, they’re often insufficient for fine lettering. However, they are a student’s choice of pen and are great while writing  exams . 

Select the Appropriate Paper

Write on  lined paper . When beginning to  practice  writing, opt for a lined paper with lines much larger than normal to ensure good letter  formation . When things have improved, you may reduce the width of the lines. Furthermore, a bulky pad may cause your posture to be distorted, so pull off a few pages or use a thin pad. 

Look through your work

Write the alphabets on a sheet of lined paper, striving to unite every letter. Concentrate on the letters that are the most difficult for you. For example, your ‘Os’ could resemble your ‘ Qs’ or the other way around. Check if any letters are not properly formed. For example, writing with the tops of your ‘g’ and ‘a’ open, allowing them to be mistaken for a ‘y’ or ‘u’. Finally, make a note of the letters you don’t like and focus on fixing them.

Double-check the letter heights

Letters must have the exact height in proportion to one another; if the height of your letters is incorrect, it will be difficult to understand your writing. For example, your ‘k’ has a small ascender, but ‘g’, ‘j’ and ‘y’ have large descenders that invade the line below, making your writing seem cramped. 

Consistent practice is essential

If you want to improve your penmanship start by writing on lined paper. You can use a handwriting book to practice writing, but the most basic method of handwriting practice is to simply write a piece of  prose , concentrating on one sentence at a  time .

Make sure you have the right grip. Furthermore, avoid using a vice grip with your pen; this approach is unsuitable for any type of writing, even doodling. Instead, use your  index  finger to guide your pen.

Here is a worksheet you can use to practice.

Cursive Lowercase Letters | Worksheet – Download

Take it easy and go slow

There’s no need to write at breakneck speed unless you’re in a hurry for an exam. Thus, focus on each word and ensure that the content you are writing is clean and legible. 

Begin keeping a notebook or journal

Start a daily notebook to practice your handwriting regularly. All you need to do is spend about five minutes writing a small paragraph in your notebook. This will help you improve your handwriting faster. Additionally, you may also maintain a journal and write in it every day. 

Make a copy of your favourite handwriting

Get some tracing paper and start copying a new style. The more you duplicate a certain method of writing, the simpler it will be to incorporate its components into your handwriting.

Consider enrolling in a formal class

It may be difficult to obtain a handwriting class after high school, however,  calligraphy classes  may be found in most cities. Graphic designers may also teach community programs, however, these are mostly for digital skills like layout and typeface design.

We have a step by step instruction guide given below. This guide is a summary of the  points  mentioned above.

People with the Best Handwriting

One of Continental Kosher Butchers’ clients submitted this list of meats she desired. The customer’s penmanship piqued the shopkeeper’s interest, and he couldn’t help but publish it on Instagram. 

Richa Mourya posted this self-affirmation quotation to her Instagram account, captioning it, “Everything you express of yourself comes true.” Her flawless and neat handwriting is astounding and without a doubt one of the greatest examples of perfect handwriting you would’ve ever seen.

A Thank You Note!

Comfort posted a thank you card received to them by a client on Instagram. You can’t help but notice the lovely penmanship for the client. 

Gorgeous calligraphy

Best Handwriting has presented gorgeous handwriting that undoubtedly elevated  calligraphy  to a whole new level, thus, providing handwritten inspiration.

Beautiful Classroom Lesson

 Vinyl Sonar can do an almost impossible feat of writing on a chalkboard in such exquisite handwriting. This may be one of the greatest pieces of penmanship in the world.

An Essay on Children’s Day Celebrations

Master handwriting posted a message in immaculate handwriting by Sri Laxmi. This is sure to blow your head. 

Master handwriting added another set of handwritten sentences to their collection. These words are written in cursive and will surely inspire you to improve your cursive writing skills.

Master Handwriting presented a list of India’s cabinet ministers in immaculate penmanship. This may be one of the greatest handwriting in the world.

When it comes to handwriting, English isn’t the only language that can exhibit perfect handwriting. This Marathi phrase was written by Samriddhi Deshmukh, who has one of the world’s cleanest, most wonderful, and greatest handwritings.

Your Easy Notes supplies students with a variety of stationery. They demonstrate some of the greatest writings when it comes to handwritten notes.

Handwriting with a stylish sharp edge

Another hit by Master Handwriting offered one of the most stylish cutting edge handwriting. Its lovely English penmanship looks like it is typed rather than penned.

Indian National Flag Essay

One more hit from Master Handwriting some of the world’s greatest handwriting. This is another example of  calligraphy-style  handwriting that makes you want to change your writing style.

A Handwritten Letter by a Third Grade Student

A third-grade student Ashton wants to ask for new flags. So he writes a letter to a Federal Member of Corio, Richard Marles. This is his beautifully written letter which, Richard Marles even posted on Instagram.

Hindi handwriting that is neat and clean

Your Easy Notes shared one of the greatest Hindi handwriting in the world. It is nice as well as clean and additionally, anybody can read the content. This is a must to look at if you write in Hindi.

Urdu Handwriting at its finest

Another one by Your Easy Notes, however, this time it is written in Urdu. Even if you do not understand Urdu, you can always appreciate how nicely the words are written.

Who has the world’s best handwriting?

Finding the most perfect handwriting in the world is an easy process thanks to the  internet . The same was not true in the  past  when there were geographical limits and thus, determining who had the greatest handwriting in the world was a far more difficult undertaking.

In 2021, Prakriti Malla, an eighth-grade student of Nepal was declared to have the world’s most beautiful handwriting and she quickly became a viral phenomenon on the internet. Her world-class handwriting has yet to be surpassed by anyone, although, to the best of our knowledge, there might be a plethora of people on the globe who have some of the most beautiful handwriting in the world.

What are some of the greatest scripts for handwriting?

Certain scripts are regarded as the best handwriting scripts. These are as follows:

• Textura script: It is a middle Age script dating back to the 12th to 16th centuries. Gothic Handwriting or Black Letter Handwriting are some other names for this script.
• Cursive Script: This is one of the most beautiful cursive handwriting scripts.
• Court Hand Script: This is another mediaeval script that was employed during that time and was regarded as the most beautiful handwriting in the world at the time.

Who has the best handwriting in India?

Ann Mariya Biju, class president, of Nirmala Higher Secondary School in Chemperi, Kannur, has won first place in the ‘artistic handwriting’ category of the World Handwriting Contest. The event, which is judged in New York, takes submissions from all over the world, and, Ann, who won in the teen category, claims that Kerala has only had one previous winner.

She has said that her books and answer papers are so nice that they earn her excellent grades. Ann became interested in calligraphy during the lockdown when she wanted to try something new and different. The youngster has even launched a YouTube channel to show people how to write in calligraphy.

Ann is self-taught and has honed her craft through constant practice, and this is a talent she would like to continue to practice after she becomes a doctor. She performs calligraphy in both English and Malayalam, although she prefers the former since it allows her to explore with different styles. She said, “Proper calligraphy is achieved by the use of good equipment, practice, and effort.” Therefore, she has invested in quality pens and paper for her hobby. Furthermore, she also states that as people have different handwriting each calligrapher would have evolved their style. 

Which handwriting style is ideal for students?

Both a print and cursive font is acceptable in an exam. If you can write correctly in the script, then use that, but if your script is not legible, then a print front is the best option. A point to note is that cursive, joined-up writing enhances processing speed and accuracy. Remember that your handwriting should not be flashy or crammed in. It should be simple straightforward and easy-to-read text.

What are the benefits of perfect handwriting?

Benefits of a perfect handwriting, for children, handwriting stimulates the brain.

Writing requires advanced motor and cognitive abilities. Furthermore, as it triggers the visual perception of letters, good handwriting leads to reading fluency. 

Students with dyslexia benefit from cursive writing.

Because several of the letters, especially ‘b’ and ‘d’, seem identical, children may struggle with writing in print. Additionally, writing in print may make them uneasy and feel disconnected. Cursive writing gives each letter a unique appearance and thus, helps the student write in a fluid, comfortable manner. Children may also overcome their dyslexic inclinations and gain  confidence  in their abilities.

For teenagers

Many standardized evaluations, like timed examinations, are based on written work..

Students will lose out on  learning  opportunities and fall behind if they cannot write quickly and legibly. Furthermore, for many qualifications, good handwriting is a primary element of evaluation. 

Poor handwriting can lead to low self-esteem, which in turn can lead to a lack of confidence.

Children who struggle with handwriting may avoid writing altogether. Moreover, it is difficult for children with terrible handwriting to proofread their work. Therefore, they will be unable to see their errors, causing their confidence to plummet even more.

Examiners must decipher the written text. 

The examiner must understand the content of the paper. If the handwriting is not legible, then the students will receive a lesser grade even if the paper is good. 

Handwriting aids in the development of better writers.

Handwriting greatly affects the composition’s fluidity and quality. Furthermore, legible writing that can be produced quickly and easily allows students to focus on higher-level components of writing composition and topic. Thus, children who have mastered handwriting are more imaginative and talented writers.

Note-taking necessitates the use of handwriting.

Students of all ages should take notes by hand since it increases their attention, understanding, and results. Notes from students must be self-legible, otherwise, they are useless.

Handwriting is used to judge people.

Even after graduation, good penmanship is vital. People are assessed by their handwriting in our society.

It aids communication.

When writing down e-mail addresses, website URLs, and phone numbers, learning to write letters and numbers correctly is vital.  Communication  might be hampered by a single incorrect letter or number.

You can also read about  Common Mistakes made by Calligraphy Beginners

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Writing Experience — Importance of handwriting

Importance of Handwriting

• Categories: Writing Experience

About this sample

Words: 361 |

Published: Mar 28, 2019

Words: 361 | Page: 1 | 2 min read

Works Cited:

• Adichie, C. N. (2004). Purple hibiscus. Algonquin Books.
• Ang, I. (2001). Silent citizenship: Critical citizens and cultural politics. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 4(2), 165-181.
• Bonham, V. (2011). "Women’s voices will not be silenced": Women and silence in contemporary Nigerian fiction. Research in African Literatures, 42(3), 119-133.
• Clark, A. H. (2010). A rhetorical analysis of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED Talk, "The Danger of a Single Story." Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, 1(1), 1-9.
• De Weerdt, Y. (2013). The silence of women in African literature: A comparative analysis of Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi. Journal of International Women's Studies, 14(3), 91-105.
• Groom, H. (2012). Religion and silence in the fiction of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 47(1), 53-68.
• Hadjioannou, M. (2016). "You are a story": Silence, storytelling, and feminist resistance in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novels. MFS Modern Fiction Studies, 62(1), 61-80.
• O'Callaghan, E. (2013). A comparison of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 48(2), 269-286.
• Ogundimu, F. (2014). Culture, violence and narrative strategies in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 23(2), 90-103.
• Zajicek, A. M. (2017). The sound of silence: Contemporary Nigerian women writers and the question of voice. Women's Studies, 46(2), 127-142.

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Recent IELTS Essay: Handwriting Skills for Children

Below is a recently reported essay question with some useful ideas. This essay question appeared in 2015 and again in 2020. Read through the ideas and learn any new vocabulary.

Some people think that it is important to teach children the skill of handwriting. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Reasons in Support of Children Learning Handwriting Skills

• poor handwriting skills or illegible writing can have negative effects on school performance
• these are basic and fundamental requirements for any school child
• in some situations it is better to write by hand rather than type
• children learn better when they are forced to write something by hand

Other Ideas

• being proficient in the use of modern technological devices by touch typing is essential for the future
• time could be better spent on developing other useful skills and knowledge
• therefore less time should be spent focusing on this

Feel free to post more ideas if you have them.

………………………….

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Hello Liz, I have learnt a whole lot through your videos and model answers and I would like to appreciate all that you do for us. I had my ielts general test today and this question came out! However, I didn’t cover this question but I could say seeing your answer right now makes me happy because I stated some similar points. My result will be out in 7 days and I’m hoping to give you the good news. Thanks Liz

Fingers crossed for your results 🙂

liz i wanna ask you something that why nowadays you don’t post any IELTS material and YouTube videos as well

I just posted a new lesson two days ago: https://ieltsliz.com/uk-us-spelling-main-differences/ . Regarding videos, I’m too sick to make videos and have been for a few years now.

Get well soon Liz. Wishing you a healthy recovery. Thank you for all you have and still do for us.

Kind Regards,

Can we use “Kith and Kin” instead of friends and relatives in writing essay 2 ?

No. This is a formal essay about you should stick with appropriate language. Your aim is not to be creative or descriptive. Your aim should be to avoid errors.

Hi Liz, Thank you for all the splendid work you’re doing. This is my problem, I write really slow, and even after practising there seems to be no improvement. It’s seriously affecting performance in Writing. Please, do you have any tip for solving this issue?

If your typing skills are good, you could consider taking the Computer Delivered IELTS test. Otherwise, you will just have to keep practising. There is no other way. You must be able to write about 180 words for task 1 and about 280 words for task 2 in 1 hour. You can use any type of handwriting as long as it is clear to see and shows proper use of capital letters and punctuation.

Hi Liz, I’ve practised cursive handwriting since my childhood. Is it okay to use a cursive handwriting in ielts exam? Or is it advisable to write in print type writing where the letters are not conjoined? Please let me know which option is better to use especially for the Writing section. But I must mention that when I start writing, my handwriting automatically switches to cursive handwriting.

Your handwriting needs to be clear – otherwise – anything goes. Write in any style you want – just make it easy to read.

Ms Liz im weak in enlish ,specially academic writing task 1 and 2.despite knowing all grammar.it is to much difficult for me using paasive in writing. can u tell me how can i improve myself as a good writer….

https://ieltsliz.com/liz-notice-2015-2016/

Hi Liz, Could you please advise me on this essay. Can I get band 7 for it? I don’t know which area I should improve my writing, thank you so much Liz. It is thought by some that children should be taught to write rather than just be good at touch-typing. In my opinion, I support that idea because I believe that handwriting is very important for all literary people, especially for children even though they are living in the computer era. Firstly, handwriting is an essential skill for all pupils who are attending primary to high schools. This is because there are a number of areas in which the schools require them to use their handwriting ability such as taking notes, doing tests and writing homework. If the children were not able to write or wrote but poorly, they might not get the desired results regardless of their good understanding of the subjects, which in turn influence their overall performance. Secondly, learning something by writing it down enable most people to understand more deeply and remember longer. Take for example children who are studying mathematics. Learning math requires the learners to understand the formulas which can be complicate. If the children learnt a formula by writing it down and then analyzing each of its parts, they would be able to understand it more clearly than those who did not. Last but not least, handwriting is also an important skill in later life. There are many situations in reality with which people need to deal by using their handwriting skills such as writing their personal names at bank or completing a form. Those who are able to do these well when necessary are more effective than those who are not and just type all the times. In conclusion, children should practice writing by hand at early age because this skill enables them to study well at school and is vital in their future. Parents and teachers ought to help kindergartens and young pupils practice frequently to ensure the skill is competent to them after the first years of school life.

Sorry I don’t mark writing. https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-essay-correction/ All the best Liz

Thank you for your response Liz. I followed your techniques to complete my essay. Thank you so much for that. I have seen some other teachers’ technique but I think yours are most closed to marking criteria. For example, you use most complex sentences in the essays. I really wish to know if my sentences are good enough and my supporting points are not overgeneralizing and clear. Thank you Liz. Kind regards, Tina

Hey Liz How can I write to you to correct my writing in the 2 Ielts tasks ? best regards

For the question “to what extent do you agree or disagree”, do it really necessary to mention the “extent” in thesis statement such as “partly”, “totally”, “strongly”? Can I just state “I agree” or “I disagree” in my statement?

No, you can just state what your opinion is. You don’t actually need to use the words “partially” or “totally”. See my model essays on the writing task 2 page. All the best Liz

Hi Liz, Could you please check my essay on this topic? Thank you.

In today’s society, people are increasing likely to rely on typing words by computers to deal with daily issues. This growing trend arouses the debate on the importance of learning handwriting skill at an early age. In this essay, I will present my reasons why I strong support the view that it is significant to educate children writing by hand. One reason for this is that handwriting is a basic tool for study. Young students not only need to acquire academic knowledge by listening to the lectures, but also need to make notes, do homework, and take tests. Most of these should be performed by hand written. Poor handwriting could result in negative effects on the performance. For example, an illegible handwritten answer might confuse the reader and cause misunderstanding; therefore, legible work is graded more favorable than messier counterparts. A further reason is that there is a link between golden career opportunity and beautiful handwriting. It is socially acceptable that a person, who could manage proper handwriting skill is always welcome as a well-educated and decent one. Although this view might be biased to some extent, indeed it works commonly. For instance, job applicants with excellent hand written resume in the labor market, tend to be easier to have ideal jobs on all occasions. It is benefited from their skilled handwriting style, which enhances good impression to recruiters, so they are expected to have more opportunities to win particular positions. In conclusion, I agree that it is very consequential for children to learn handwriting skill, because it could help them to succeed in both academic performance and future.

Liz, my teacher said I have actually changed the topic completely,”the question doesnt ask you the benefit of a good hand written skill”, I dont think so . In my opinion, I support the view that handwriting is important to children,so I need to present the benefits of what the children could get from hand writing. In addition, my teacher changed some words, for example, in the first paragraph, he used : I will argue why I strong support the view that it is …..(but some teacher said it can be “I will present my reasons,..”). In the second paragraph, he used: One ‘argument’for this is , instead of mine”one reason for this…” However, I checked another book, it is said the correct one is “one reason for this …”

…..I am so confused…could you please help me with it?

Thank you .

You don’t have to state in the body paragraphs “I will argue why I support…” or “I will present my opinions” because you should already have given your opinion in the introduction. The body paragraphs just explain your main points “Firstly, one reason why handwriting …”. So your writing method for body paragraphs is fine. Although it must be said that your teacher’s method is not wrong, it just isn’t vital. These are all minor differences which will not change your score one way or the other way.

The best way to your a thesis statement for an opinion essay is “In my opinion, I agree that children should be taught …”. You don’t need to tell the examiner what the essay will do, you need to give your answer “do you agree or disagree?”. All the best Liz

Thank you so much! I feel that I could have a better sleep tonight….. I was scored 5 by my teacher so ….

Thank you so much.

I think your teaching method is so useful, and I want to steal some of your ideas ha ha ~ if you dont mind….

Thanks a gain.

Have a lovely day,

Elsa from AUSTRALIA

My ideas are all to help you – feel free to take them all 🙂 Liz

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Essay: Handwriting

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Handwriting is a form of expressive moment frozen on the paper, through which physiological and psychological functions are revealed. The handwriting of a person undergoes certain variations with his changing frame of mind and emotions [14]. The person’s disposition, whether glad or contented, happy or excited, sad or disappointed, are spoken out through his handwriting. These emotions can be characterized through various handwriting indicators or traits of writing like Baseline, Slant, Pen-pressure, Size, Strokes, Spacing, Margins, Loops, ‘i’-dots, ‘t’-bar etc. These features and the emotions depicted by them are further described. A. Baseline The line on which most of the letters rest is known as baseline [5]. It is an important factor in inferring the emotional stability of the writer. It reveals the writer’s attitude about reaching his goals and the kind of mental energy he applies to various situations [14]. There are four most common baselines namely, Ascending, Descending, Straight and Wavy Baseline whose significant emotional characteristics are described in the following table [6], [10], [30] TABLE 2. TYPES OF BASE LINE AND RELATED EMOTION B. Slant Slant is the predominant angle of the upward or downward stroke or in simpler terms, it is the relative alignment of the letters to the baseline. It is a significant factor in interpreting the inner mind of a person as it discloses the person’s truthfulness and emotional responsiveness. It indicates the degree to which the writer expresses his real emotions and feelings to the world around him. The slants in handwriting varies from extreme left through left, vertical and right to extreme right [6], [14], [30]. TABLE 3. TYPES OF SLANT AND RELATED EMOTIONS C. Pen-Pressure Pen-pressure is defined as the force which we apply on the writing surface with the writing instrument. Pen-pressure corresponds to the intellectual vitality, mental energy, intense feelings, determination, passivity and emotional intensity. The pressure exerted maybe heavy, light or average. [5], [6], [14], [29]. TABLE 4. TYPES OF PRESSURE AND RELATED EMOTIONS D. Size The size is an unstable peculiarity which varies according to the disposition of the writer. Usually the size of handwriting is cataloged as large, overly large, medium, small and microscopic sized handwriting. However, the sudden transformation in the size of one’s handwriting from normal to microscopic portrays that the writer is sinking down in dejection [14]. It describes a deeply distressed or sorrowful emotional status of the writer. TABLE 5. SIZE TRANSFORMATION AND EMOTION CONNECTION E. Margin Each side of the page and the entire layout has a meaning which communicates much about the person’s aspiration and the desire for appreciation. The margin could be either left, right or the text could be all over the page. Wide right margin indicates the writer’s agonize about future and fear of the unknown. It may widen temporarily resulting from a particular stressing situation and will return to normal width once the crisis has ended. TABLE 6. MARGIN AND RELATED EMOTIONS F. Zone A line of handwriting is separated into three zones namely the upper zone, lower zone and middle zone. The zones signify three diverse parts of thought and are dependent on emotional vigor of the writer. ‘ Dominating Middle Zone: The size and formation of middle zone discloses the level of content and joy being experienced by the writer. Abrupt alteration in the middle zone and the diminishing of letters with respect to the rest of the two zones shows the occurrence of some incidences which lead to insightful sorrow. ‘ Upper Zone: It represents the anger, stress, aggravation, nervousness and concern. Letters with upper loops resembling balloon on a thread shows abnormal thinking similar to the writing. It hints about mentally ill or a psychotic person who distorts the reality around him instead of trying to interpret it [32]. ‘ Pointed Upper Loop Zone: TABLE 7. ZONES AND RELATED EMOTIONS IV. EMOTION RECOGNITION THROUGH HANDWRITING ANALYSIS The process of automated emotion recognition through handwriting analysis is a multi stage procedure [13], [24]. It begins with collecting the handwritten samples on plain white A4 size paper. These samples are then scanned and converted to JPEG format images which are then processed for handwriting analysis. The analysis and classification based on these processed images results into the recognition of corresponding emotions. The system architecture is depicted in Fig 1. The entire processing includes the following steps: A. Image Pre-processing Image pre-processing is the technique in which the handwritten sample is translated to a digital image by executing certain operations on it to extract the required information [18], [19]. The scanned image is studied appropriately, analyzed and processed to manipulate it. The output of this analysis enables us to understand the image and the features in it in an easier manner [8]. This process is carried out with an objective to emphasize the characteristics of the handwriting which are to be extracted and classified to recognize the corresponding emotions. B. Segmentation It’s a process used to partition a digital image into multiple sets known as segments. Therefore by this way the image is represented into more meaningful way which will become easier to analyze it. Image segmentation usually locates the object’s lines, curves and its boundaries as the image has its own limitations and problems like image data ambiguity and information noise [19]. Segmentation includes the thresholding and binarization of the image [18]. At this stage, the pixels which represent certain objects such as text or line image like graphs, maps are extracted. With the help of binarization, the pixels that are true regions with foreground being of single intensity and background being of different intensities are marked [26]. text in here…

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Question and Answer forum for K12 Students

Paragraph For Handwriting Practice: A Comprehensive Guide

Paragraph For Handwriting Practice: In today’s digital age, it can be easy to overlook the importance of handwriting practice. However, handwriting remains a critical skill for both children and adults. Handwriting practice not only helps develop fine motor skills but also plays a significant role in cognitive development, creativity, and memory retention. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the benefits of handwriting practice, techniques for improving handwriting, and resources for both children and adults.

Paragraph For Handwriting Practice

In this blog Paragraph For Handwriting Practice, we include the Paragraph For Handwriting Practice, in 100, 200, 250, and 300 words. Also cover the Paragraph For Handwriting Practice belonging to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and up to the 12th class. You can read more Essay Writing in 10 lines, and about sports, events, occasions, festivals, etc… Paragraph For Handwriting Practice is also available in different languages. And the following are the benefits, tips, practices, and resources of Paragraph For Handwriting Practice.

Benefits Of Handwriting Practice

• Improved hand-eye coordination: Handwriting practice involves the coordination of hand and eye movements. This helps develop fine motor skills and improves hand-eye coordination, which is essential for other activities such as sports and playing musical instruments.
• Increased cognitive development: Handwriting engages the brain in ways that typing on a keyboard cannot. Writing letters and forming words by hand helps develop cognitive skills, such as problem-solving and critical thinking.
• Boost in creativity and imagination: Handwriting encourages creativity and imagination by allowing individuals to express themselves freely without the constraints of a keyboard. It is a more personal and intimate form of expression.
• Improved memory retention: Studies have shown that handwriting helps with memory retention. This is because writing by hand requires individuals to engage with the material more deeply and make a stronger connection between the mind and the written word.
• Enhanced communication skills: Handwriting is an essential component of communication skills. The ability to write legibly and effectively convey a message through handwriting is critical in personal and professional settings.

How To Practice Handwriting

• Choosing the right writing tool and paper: The writing tool and paper used for handwriting practice can make a significant difference in the quality of handwriting. A comfortable pen or pencil and smooth, high-quality paper can make the writing experience more enjoyable and improve the overall outcome.
• Proper grip and posture: Proper grip and posture are critical for comfortable and efficient handwriting. The pencil or pen should be held in a comfortable and relaxed grip, and the paper should be positioned at a comfortable angle.
• Basic letter formation and practice exercises: Practicing basic letter formation and common handwriting patterns are essential for developing good handwriting skills. Simple exercises such as tracing letters and writing out words can help improve handwriting.
• Tips for improving handwriting skills: Consistency is key when it comes to improving handwriting skills. Practicing regularly and paying attention to details such as letter size, spacing, and slant can help improve handwriting skills over time. Writing slowly and focusing on each letter’s formation can also help improve legibility.

Handwriting Practice For Children

• The role of handwriting in childhood development: Handwriting is an essential component of early childhood education. Learning to write by hand helps develop fine motor skills, cognitive skills, and communication skills.
• Activities to help children develop handwriting skills: There are several activities parents and educators can use to help children develop handwriting skills. These include practicing letter formation, tracing letters, and drawing pictures.
• Benefits of incorporating handwriting practice in the classroom: Incorporating handwriting practice in the classroom can help children develop writing skills, critical thinking skills, and communication skills. It can also help children develop a love of learning and a sense of accomplishment.

Handwriting Practice For Adults

• The impact of technology on adult handwriting skills: Technology has made typing on a keyboard the primary mode of communication for most adults. This has resulted in a decline in adult handwriting skills.
• Techniques for improving handwriting as an adult: Adults can improve their handwriting skills by practicing regularly, focusing on details such as letter formation and spacing, and using resources such as workbooks or online courses.
• Benefits of incorporating handwriting practice in daily life: Incorporating handwriting practice in daily life can help adults develop cognitive skills, improve memory retention, and reduce stress. It can also be a relaxing and creative activity.

Handwriting Practice Resources

• Tools and resources for handwriting practice: There are several tools and resources available for individuals looking to improve their handwriting skills. These include workbooks, online courses, handwriting apps, and handwriting analysis tools. Workbooks, such as the “Handwriting Without Tears” series, provide structured lessons and exercises for improving handwriting skills.
• Online courses, such as those offered by Udemy or Skillshare, offer more flexible and personalized instruction. Handwriting apps, such as iTrace or Letter School, provide interactive activities and games for practicing handwriting skills. Handwriting analysis tools, such as Graphology, can provide insight into an individual’s personality and behavior based on their handwriting.
• Best practices for utilizing handwriting practice resources: When using handwriting practice resources, it is essential to choose a resource that fits your needs and learning style. It is also important to set realistic goals and expectations for improvement. Consistent practice and dedication are key to improving handwriting skills, regardless of the resource used.

In conclusion, handwriting practice is a critical skill for both children and adults. It offers numerous benefits, such as improved hand-eye coordination, cognitive development, creativity, memory retention, and communication skills.

Techniques for improving handwriting include choosing the right writing tool and paper, practicing basic letter formation and handwriting exercises, and focusing on details such as letter size and spacing.

Resources for improving handwriting include workbooks, online courses, handwriting apps, and handwriting analysis tools. Regardless of the resource used, consistent practice and dedication are key to improving handwriting skills.

By incorporating handwriting practice into daily life, individuals can improve their cognitive skills, reduce stress, and enjoy relaxing and creative activities. So, pick up a pen or pencil and start practicing today!

Read More: Write A Short Paragraph On The Harms Caused By Microorganisms

FAQs On Paragraph For Handwriting Practice

Question 1. What can we write for handwriting practice?

Answer: To practice handwriting, you can:

• Write the letters of the alphabet in both uppercase and lowercase.
• Practice writing common words and phrases, such as “hello,” “thank you,” and “have a nice day.”
• Write out quotes or passages from books or articles that you enjoy.
• Write a daily journal entry, short story, or letter to a friend or family member.

Question 2. How do you write a good handwriting paragraph?

Answer: To write a good handwriting paragraph:

• Choose a topic and write a clear topic sentence at the beginning.
• Use proper grammar and punctuation to make your sentences clear and easy to read.
• Write neatly and legibly, making sure that your letters are properly formed and spaced.
• Proofread your work for spelling and grammar errors, and make any necessary corrections.

Question 3. How do you write a paragraph for a handwriting competition?

Answer: To write a paragraph for a handwriting competition:

• Choose a topic that allows you to showcase your handwriting skills.
• Write a clear and engaging topic sentence that captures the reader’s attention.
• Use proper grammar and punctuation to write well-structured and easy-to-read sentences.
• Focus on neatness, consistency, and legibility, making sure that every letter is well-formed and well-spaced.

Question 4. How do I start practicing handwriting?

Answer: To start practicing handwriting:

• Choose a comfortable writing tool, such as a pen or pencil, and good-quality paper.
• Practice writing the letters of the alphabet, both uppercase and lowercase, to ensure that you are forming them correctly.
• Use handwriting practice sheets that can be found online or in workbooks to help you with letter formation and spacing.
• Write every day for at least 15 minutes, gradually increasing the amount of time as your handwriting improves.

Question 5. What are the 5 types of handwriting?

Answer: The 5 types of handwriting are:

• Print: This is the most basic form of handwriting, where each letter is written separately and in a uniform manner.
• Cursive: This is a flowing style of handwriting where the letters are joined together in a continuous motion.
• Italic: This is a slanted form of handwriting that is often used for formal writing such as invitations, certificates, and diplomas.
• Gothic: This is an ornate and decorative style of handwriting often used in the Middle Ages.
• Hand lettering: This is a more artistic form of handwriting that involves creating unique and stylized letters using a variety of techniques such as calligraphy, brush lettering, and graffiti.

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Essay Topics – List of 500+ Essay Writing Topics and Ideas

List of 500+ essay writing topics and ideas.

Essay topics in English can be difficult to come up with. While writing essays , many college and high school students face writer’s block and have a hard time to think about topics and ideas for an essay. In this article, we will list out many good essay topics from different categories like argumentative essays, essays on technology, environment essays for students from 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grades. Following list of essay topics are for all – from kids to college students. We have the largest collection of essays. An essay is nothing but a piece of content which is written from the perception of writer or author. Essays are similar to a story, pamphlet, thesis, etc. The best thing about Essay is you can use any type of language – formal or informal. It can biography, the autobiography of anyone. Following is a great list of 100 essay topics. We will be adding 400 more soon!

But Before that you may wanna read some awesome Essay Writing Tips here .

Get the Huge list of 100+ Speech Topics here

Argumentative Essay Topics

• Should plastic be banned?
• Pollution due to Urbanization
• Education should be free
• Should Students get limited access to the Internet?
• Selling Tobacco should be banned
• Smoking in public places should be banned
• Facebook should be banned
• Students should not be allowed to play PUBG

Essay Topics on Technology

• Wonder Of Science
• Mobile Phone

Essay Topics on Festivals on Events

• Independence Day (15 August)
• Teachers Day
• Summer Vacation
• Children’s Day
• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
• Janmashtami
• Republic Day

Essay Topics on Education

• Education Essay
• Importance of Education
• Contribution of Technology in Education

Essay Topics on Famous Leaders

• Mahatma Gandhi
• APJ Abdul Kalam
• Jawaharlal Nehru
• Swami Vivekananda
• Mother Teresa
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
• Subhash Chandra Bose
• Abraham Lincoln
• Martin Luther King
• Lal Bahadur Shashtri

Essay Topics on Animals and Birds

• My Favorite Animal

Essays Topics About Yourself

• My Best Friend
• My Favourite Teacher
• My Aim In Life
• My Favourite Game – Badminton
• My Favourite Game – Essay
• My Favourite Book
• My Ambition
• How I Spent My Summer Vacation
• India of My Dreams
• My School Life
• I Love My Family
• My Favourite Subject
• My Favourite Game Badminton
• My Father My Hero
• My School Library
• My Favourite Author
• My plans for summer vacation

Essay Topics Based on Environment and Nature

• Global Warming
• Environment
• Air Pollution
• Environmental Pollution
• Water Pollution
• Rainy Season
• Climate Change
• Importance Of Trees
• Winter Season
• Deforestation
• Natural Disasters
• Save Environment
• Summer Season
• Trees Our Best Friend Essay In English

Essay Topics Based on Proverbs

• Health Is Wealth
• A Stitch in Time Saves Nine
• An Apple a Day Keeps Doctor Away
• Where there is a will, there is way
• Time and Tide wait for none

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Essay Topics for Students from 6th, 7th, 8th Grade

• Noise Pollution
• Environment Pollution
• Women Empowerment
• Time and Tide Wait for none
• Science and Technology
• Importance of Sports
• Sports and Games
• Time Management
• Cleanliness is next to Godliness
• Cleanliness
• Rome was not Built in a Day
• Unemployment
• Clean India
• Cow Essay In English
• Describe Yourself
• Festivals Of India
• Ganesh Chaturthi
• Healthy Food
• Importance Of Water
• Plastic Pollution
• Value of Time
• Honesty is the Best Policy
• Gandhi Jayanti
• Human Rights
• Knowledge Is Power
• Same Sex Marriage
• Childhood Memories
• Cyber Crime
• Kalpana Chawla
• Punctuality
• Rani Lakshmi Bai
• Spring Season
• Unity In Diversity
• Artificial Intelligence
• Online Shopping
• Indian Culture
• Healthy Lifestyle
• Indian Education System
• Disaster Management
• Environmental Issues
• Freedom Fighters
• Grandparents
• Save Fuel For Better Environment
• Importance Of Newspaper
• Lal Bahadur Shastri
• Raksha Bandhan
• World Environment Day
• Narendra Modi
• What Is Religion
• Charity Begins at Home
• A Journey by Train
• Ideal student
• Save Water Save Earth
• Indian Farmer
• Safety of Women in India
• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• Capital Punishment
• College Life
• Natural Resources
• Peer Pressure
• Nature Vs Nurture
• Romeo And Juliet
• Generation Gap
• Makar Sankranti
• Constitution of India
• Girl Education
• Importance of Family
• Importance of Independence Day
• Brain Drain
• A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed
• Action Speaks Louder Than Words
• All That Glitters Is Not Gold
• Bhagat Singh
• Demonetization
• Agriculture
• Importance of Discipline
• Population Explosion
• Poverty in India
• Uses Of Mobile Phones
• Water Scarcity
• Train Journey
• Land Pollution
• Environment Protection
• Indian Army
• Uses of Internet
• All that Glitters is not Gold
• Balanced Diet
• Blood Donation
• Digital India
• Dussehra Essay
• Energy Conservation
• National Integration
• Railway Station
• Sachin Tendulkar
• Health And Hygiene
• Importance Of Forest
• Indira Gandhi
• Laughter Is The Best Medicine
• Career Goals
• Mental Health
• Save Water Save Life
• International Yoga Day
• Winter Vacation
• Soil Pollution
• Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining
• Indian Culture And Tradition
• Unity Is Strength
• Unity is Diversity
• Wildlife Conservation
• Cruelty To Animals
• Nelson Mandela
• Of Mice And Men
• Organ Donation
• Life in a Big City
• Democracy in India
• Waste Management
• Biodiversity
• Afforestation
• Female Foeticide
• Harmful Effects Of Junk Food
• Rain Water Harvesting
• Save Electricity
• Social Media
• Social Networking Sites
• Sound Pollution
• Procrastination
• Life in an Indian Village
• Life in Big City
• Population Growth
• World Population Day
• Greenhouse Effect
• Statue of Unity
• Traffic Jam
• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
• Importance of Good Manners
• Good Manners
• Cyber Security
• Green Revolution
• Health And Fitness
• Incredible India
• Make In India
• Surgical Strike
• Triple Talaq
• A Good Friend
• Importance of Friends in our Life
• Should Plastic be Banned
• Nationalism
• Traffic Rules
• Effects of Global Warming
• Fundamental Rights
• Solar System
• National Constitution Day
• Good Mother
• Importance of Trees in our Life
• City Life Vs Village Life
• Importance of Communication
• Conservation of Nature
• Man vs. Machine
• Indian Economy
• Mothers Love
• Importance of National Integration
• Black Money
• Greenhouse effect
• Untouchability
• Self Discipline
• Global Terrorism
• Conservation of Biodiversity
• Newspaper and Its Uses
• World Health Day
• Conservation of Natural Resources
• A Picnic with Family
• Indian Heritage
• Status of Women in India
• Child is Father of the Man
• Reading is Good Habit
• Plastic Bag
• Terrorism in India
• Library and Its Uses
• Life on Mars
• Urbanization
• Pollution Due to Diwali
• National Flag of India
• Vocational Education
• Importance of Tree Plantation
• Summer Camp
• Vehicle Pollution
• Women Education in India
• Seasons in India
• Freedom of the Press
• Caste System
• Environment and Human Health
• Mountain Climbing
• Depletion of Natural Resources
• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
• Health Education
• Effects of Deforestation
• Life after School
• Starvation in India
• Jan Dhan Yojana
• Impact of Privatization
• Election Commission of India
• Election and Democracy
• Prevention of Global Warming
• Impact of Cinema in Life
• Subhas Chandra Bose
• Dowry System
• Ganesh Chaturthi Festival
• Role of Science in Making India
• Impact of Global Warming on Oceans
• Pollution due to Festivals
• Ambedkar Jayanti
• Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat
• Family Planning in India
• Democracy vs Dictatorship
• National Festivals of India
• Sri Aurobindo
• Casteism in India
• Organ trafficking
• Consequences of Global Warming
• Role of Human Activities in Global Warming
• Issues and Problems faced by Women in India
• Role of Judiciary in the Country Today
• Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan
• PUBG Mobile Game Addiction
• Role of Youths in Nation Building
• Value of Oxygen and Water in Life/Earth
• Farmer Suicides in India
• Start-up India
• Pollution Due to Firecrackers
• Life of Soldiers
• Child Labour
• Save Girl Child
• Morning Walk
• My School Fete
• Essay on Financial Literacy
• Essay On Sustainable Development
• Essay On Punjab
• Essay On Travel
• My Home Essay
• Child Marriage Essay
• Importance Of English Language Essay
• Essay On Mass Media
• Essay On Horse
• Essay On Police
• Essay On Eid
• Essay On Solar Energy
• Animal Essay
• Essay On Mango
• Gender Discrimination Essay
• Essay On Advertisement
• My First Day At School Essay
• My Neighborhood Essay
• True Friendship Essay
• Work Is Worship Essay
• Essay On Self Confidence
• Essay On Superstition
• Essay On Bangalore
• Sex Vs Gender Essay
• Essay On Social Issues
• Time Is Money Essay
• Essay About Grandmothers
• Essay On Hard Work
• First Day Of School Essay
• Flowers Essay
• My Favorite Food Essay
• Essay on Birds
• Essay on Humanity
• Essay on Sun
• Essay on Kargil War
• Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining Essay
• Francis Bacon Essays
• Importance of Cleanliness Essay
• My Sister Essay
• Self Introduction Essay
• Solar Energy Essay
• Sports Day Essa
• Value Of Education Essay
• Essay On Isro
• Essay On Balance Is Beneficial
• Essay On Reservation In India
• Essay On Water Management
• Essay On Smoking
• Essay On Stress Management
• Essay On William Shakespeare
• Essay on Apple
• Essay On Albert Einstein
• Essay On Feminism
• Essay On Kindness
• Essay On Domestic Violence
• Essay on English as a Global Language
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• Overpopulation Essay
• Smartphone Essay
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• Essay On Facebook
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• Engaging With Sources Effectively

by acburton | Apr 30, 2024 | Resources for Students , Writing Resources

We’ve talked about the three ways to integrate sources effectively that allow writers to provide evidence and support for their argument, enter the scholarly conversation, and give credit to the original authors of the work that has helped and informed them. Sources also encourage writers to share their own knowledge and authority with others, help readers find additional sources related to the topic they are interested in, and protect you by giving credit where credit is due (thus avoiding plagiarism). In other words, sources are much more than just something we add on at the end of our writing!

When writing about a source or simply referencing it, we are positioning ourselves in response to, or in conversation with that source, with the goal of focusing our writing on our own argument/thesis. Sources do not stand on their own within a piece of writing and that is why, alongside finding strong and reputable sources worth responding to and making sure that we fully understand sources (even before writing about them), it is critical to engage with our sources in meaningful ways. But how exactly do we effectively engage with our sources in our writing?

Joseph Harris, in How To Do Things with Texts , presents four different ways of “rewriting the work of others”, three of which provide insight into the how of engaging sources. When a writer forwards the work of another writer, they are applying the concepts, topics, or terms from one reading, text, or situation to a different reading, text or situation. By countering the ideas found in source material, a writer argues “against the grain of a text” by underlining and countering ideas that a writer may be in disagreement with. Taking an approach is the adaptation of a theory or method from one writer to a new set of issues or texts. Harris’ book provides a thorough classification of methods to engage with a source. For something a little simpler, here are three basic ways you can get started effectively engaging with sources (Harris 5-7).

3 Basic Ways to Engage with Sources Effectively

• Disagree and Explain Why. Persuade your reader that the argument or information in a source should be questioned or challenged.
• Agree, But With Your Own Take. Add something new to the conversation. Expand a source’s insights or argument to a new situation or your own example. Provide new evidence and discuss new implications.
• Agree and Disagree Simultaneously. This is a nuanced approach to complex sources or complex topics. You can, for example, agree with a source’s overall thesis, but disagree with some of its reasoning or evidence.

Remember that this is not an exhaustive list. When engaging with others’ sources as a way to support our own ideas and argument, it is crucial that we engage with critical thinking, nuance, and objectivity to ensure that we are constructing unbiased, thoughtful, and compelling arguments.

Some of the different areas throughout your essay that will benefit from effective engagement with source material include: your thesis statement, analysis, and conclusion.

• Thesis Statement. The argument that you make in your thesis statement can challenge, weaken, support, or strengthen what is being argued by your source or sources.

Analysis. Thorough analysis in your body paragraphs emphasize the role of your argument in comparison to that found in your source material. Bring your analysis back to your thesis statement to reinforce the connection between the two.

• Conclusion. Consider the “big picture” or “takeaways” to leave your reader with.

There are many other, sometimes optional, essay sections or writing styles that benefit from critical engagement with a source. These can include literature reviews, reflections, critiques, and so on.

Strategies for Engaging Critically From Start to Finish

• Aim to dig deeper than surface level. Ask the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of a source, as well as ‘how’ and ‘why’ it is relevant to the topic at hand and the argument you are making.
• Ask yourself if you’ve addressed every possible question, concern, critique, or “what if” that comes to mind; put yourself in the place of your readers.
• Use TEAL body paragraph development as a template and guide for developing thorough analysis in your body paragraphs. Effectively engaging with your sources is essential to the analysis portion of the TEAL formula and to creating meaningful engagement with your sources.
• Visit the Writing Center for additional support on crafting engaging analyses and for other ways to engage with your source material from thesis to conclusion.

Our Newest Resources!

• Revision vs. Proofreading
• The Dos and Don’ts of Using Tables and Figures in Your Writing
• Synthesis and Making Connections for Strong Analysis
• Writing Strong Titles

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• Self-Guided and Directed Learning Activities

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The company doesn’t clearly communicate the fact that some disciplines can cost more than others;

Customer service couldn’t be more responsive.

I’ve used ExpertWriting for various academic assignments, and I’ve found it to be a reliable service. This platform offers a variety of academic writing services, including essay writing, research papers, term papers, and coursework, as well as editing and proofreading to improve your essays.

The process is straightforward. You submit your assignment details, and they quote a rate. If you agree, you gain access to their pool of essay writers and editors who can assist with your writing needs. You’ll receive your completed work by the deadline you set.

ExpertWriting is known for being affordable, which is great for students on a budget. They are often recommended on platforms like Reddit as a cost-effective option without compromising on quality. They also offer discounts for bulk orders, which can help save even more.

I’d particularly recommend ExpertWriting if you’re pressed for time. We’ve all been there—needing to complete a solid piece of academic work in a rush. While their prices go up for tighter deadlines, they manage them well. For example, they can deliver work in as little as three hours, though for more complex papers, more time will naturally be required.

However, it’s wise not to expect miracles for extremely short deadlines, especially for lengthy papers. For a more realistic turnaround, an eight-hour deadline is doable for them without sacrificing the quality too much.

Pricing on ExpertWriting is reasonable. For a less urgent two-week deadline, you’ll pay around $11 per page, which can increase depending on the urgency, academic level, and length of your paper. This is pretty standard across most professional writing services.

Lastly, they don’t just handle essays. You can get help with almost any type of academic writing, including research proposals, creative writing assignments, cover letters, and literature reviews. It’s a versatile platform that can meet various academic needs.

6.  ExtraEssay  — Best Customer Service

Affordable prices and good quality;

Free, unlimited revisions for 10 days after order delivery;

Exceptional customer service, the customer support team is always ready to help anytime.

Sometimes ExtraEssay fails to meet customers’ deadlines.

I’ve been turning to ExtraEssay for my academic writing needs for a couple of years now, and they’ve been a reliable resource ever since they started up about seven years ago. Their focus is clear—they prioritize attention to detail, reliability, and professionalism.

They offer a broad spectrum of about 20 services, primarily catering to students. You can get anything from basic essays to more specialized documents like resumes and cover letters, all tailored to meet your needs.

What really sets ExtraEssay apart for me is their competitive pricing. It’s rare to find such affordable rates without compromising on quality. The essays and support you receive are absolutely top-tier. Speaking of support, their customer service is remarkable. I’ve had several interactions with their team, and each time they were exceptionally helpful and knowledgeable.

Navigating their website is a breeze too. The homepage is packed with useful information, making it easy for anyone to understand their offerings right off the bat. From a handy price calculator to detailed descriptions of the ordering process, everything is laid out to ensure a smooth user experience.

They don’t just cater to experienced users, and newcomers will find themselves comfortably making their way through the site. They’ve also detailed essential features like free revisions and continuous customer support, which have been lifesavers for me on more than one occasion.

With thousands of clients each year and an 85% return rate, it’s clear they’re doing something right. Their commitment to their customers really shows through in every aspect of their service.

7.  GradeMinders  — Best for Quick Turnaround

Reputable company, solid and consistent quality;

The fastest college essay service on the market (1-hour turnaround time available);

Finding a writer during crunch season might be time-consuming.

GradeMiners is more expensive than most essay writing sites in the industry.

I’ve been using GradeMiners for a while now, and I have to say, they offer a solid service at a fair price. A high school essay runs about $16 per page, and a college paper is $18 per page. They offer a wide array of professional academic writing services beyond just essays; you can get help with everything from presentations and book reviews to lab reports and dissertations.

The process is straightforward: you go to their website, pick your subject, set your deadline, and the professional writers take it from there. They assure that your paper will be completely original and plagiarism-free, which is crucial.

One of the standout features is their speedy delivery. If you’re pressed for time, you can get a college paper done within an hour—as long as it’s not too long. This frees you up to concentrate on other things that might need more of your attention or are more appealing to you.

8. EssayTerritory — Best New Essay Writing Company

Good quality, fair price;

Great loyalty program, good choice for students who are looking to use this site regularly;

Exceptional customer service.

No sample essays available;

Plagiarism report doesn’t come for free;

Expensive extras.

I recently tried out EssayTerritory, a new but promising college paper writing service. It was easy to find an essay writer that matched my specific needs, and the platform has a roster of over 800 active paper writers. They’ve already completed more than 1300 orders, which is impressive for a newcomer.

What stands out most about EssayTerritory is their 98% satisfaction rate. It seems they really know how to please their customers, as about 85% of users return for more academic papers. They offer a plagiarism-free guarantee like many top essay writing services, and they’ll give you a full refund if they miss your deadline or if your work contains plagiarism.

You can order various assignments from them—essays, research papers, case studies, term papers, dissertations, and even help with presentations or speeches if that’s what you need. They also provide proofreading and editing services.

Privacy and confidentiality are top priorities for them. They ensure that every “write my essay” request is kept anonymous and your personal details are secure. They have robust measures in place to prevent any data leaks. This level of security gave me a lot of confidence in using their essay writer service.

FAQs About Best Paper Writing Services

Should i trust essay writing service reviews.

Trusting essay writing service reviews can be tricky. Unfortunately, some companies that offer a custom essay writing service also operate fake review sites to maintain a positive online reputation. This means you need to be cautious about where you look for reviews.

For more reliable information, it’s better to use independent review platforms like SiteJabber and Reviews.io. These sites are generally more trustworthy because they’re not directly affiliated with any essay writing services.

However, even with these platforms, it’s wise to approach reviews with a critical eye. Some dedicated essay writing review sites might have biases or hidden motives, so take their recommendations with skepticism and always cross-reference multiple sources if possible.

How long does it take to have my essay written for me?

Essay writers generally focus on producing high-quality work, and the time it takes to write an essay largely depends on its length. For a standard 275-word essay, the average turnaround is about 3 hours. Most essay writing services strive to meet these deadlines consistently.

If you’re in a rush and your deadline is just a few hours away, you can opt for a premium service. This usually involves having several top-rated writers collaborate to deliver your essay in about half the standard time.

It’s worth noting that the best college paper writing services might experience delays during peak times when demand is high. Typically, they recommend giving writers at least six hours to complete an essay. If you’re willing to pay extra, your order can be prioritized to ensure a faster delivery.

For more complex assignments like thesis papers or extensive research projects, the process can take up to five days. Writers often submit a partial draft by the second day for client feedback, allowing any revisions to be included in the final submission by day five.

Will my essay be written by a professional essay writer?

Picking a reliable essay writing website is crucial for ensuring the safety, confidentiality, and quality of the service.

When hiring writers, most companies put them through a rigorous vetting process. They typically require that writers have native or near-native proficiency in the language they’ll be writing in, along with a relevant degree from an accredited university.

Once hired, these writers undergo further training on the platform to polish their linguistic and formatting skills. They only start working on actual assignments once their writing meets the company’s professional standards.

The best writing services take extra steps to maintain high-quality standards. For example, every piece of work is checked by a moderator before it goes to the client. Writers are also provided with ongoing opportunities to enhance their skills within the company’s supportive environment.

The person who is labeled as a premium paper writer often has more experience and higher qualifications, like a Ph.D., and at least two years of writing experience. While their services cost a bit more, the quality they deliver usually makes the investment worthwhile.

Is using a paper writing service confidential and safe?

The internet is a vast resource where people often share their knowledge, which is a huge help, especially for college students working on their homework. It’s also completely legal and secure to purchase essays and custom papers online if you need them. However, it’s crucial to choose a reputable provider to avoid issues like plagiarism or low-quality work, which could waste your time, money, and effort.

I’ve found that doing your homework on these services is essential. Make sure to look at the company’s refund policy in case you’re not satisfied with their work, and confirm that they’ll keep your school’s name confidential. It’s also a good idea to check reviews of their past work to see if it’s well-written and structurally sound.

From my experience, as long as you do this research beforehand, buying essays online can be a safe option that keeps your details private. Just be vigilant to avoid scams.

What if I’m not satisfied with my paper?

Most top-rated essay writing companies strive to deliver excellent quality, because they want their customers to come back. They have skilled writers who are well-versed in various academic tasks, including essays, lab reports, and research papers. They work hard to produce top-quality work.

If there are any issues with the finished product, these services usually offer free revisions until you’re satisfied with the quality. Client satisfaction is a high priority for these companies, driven by stiff market competition. The goal is to deliver a flawless paper that helps you achieve a high grade.

What are the main drawbacks of using essay writing services?

For many students, using essay writing services is considered a luxury, primarily because the reputable ones that offer great reviews, unlimited revisions, and maintain confidentiality tend to be more expensive. Opting for cheap essay writing services often means risking quality and reliability, especially when it comes to meeting deadlines.

Plagiarism is another serious issue. Both intentional and unintentional plagiarism can occur, particularly with services that don’t carefully vet their writers. Sometimes, clients don’t discover the plagiarism until it’s too late to rewrite the paper and meet their deadline.

Moreover, if an essay writing company lacks a quality control team, the work submitted by writers might be subpar, filled with typos and grammatical errors. Some writers might also resist feedback, making it hard to get the necessary revisions to ensure the essay meets your standards.

Who will write my work and what determines the price?

Your assignment will be handled by writers with diverse backgrounds. Some are full-time professionals dedicated solely to writing, while others are former academics who’ve embraced the flexibility of working from home. There are also those who write as a side job.

Regarding pricing, we’ve discussed the main factors in our article: the length of the assignment, its complexity, and the deadline. Another element influencing cost is the location of the company. Businesses based in regions like Eastern Europe, North Africa, and Central Asia often have lower rates because the cost of living is lower there, making the dollar stretch further.

Comparison of the Top Paper Writing Services

#1. paperhelp 🏅.

Academic papers written from scratch by writers with Ph.D. and Master’s degrees;

No need to provide any personal information;

Reasonable price, great quality, plagiarism-free papers.

#2. BBQPapers 🥈

Premium quality, best writers in the industry;

On-time delivery guarantee, even on rush orders;

Free revisions.

#3. EssayPro 🥉

Good quality at a reasonable price (ENL writers);

Free plagiarism report;

Good reputation.

Best Essay Services: Conclusion

Working with a professional essay writing service is important not only for the quality of the work you’ll receive but also for the security of your personal details. Many students turn to these services when they’re pressed for time and need to complete their academic tasks—there’s nothing wrong with this approach.

Today, numerous legitimate essay writing services uphold high standards of academic integrity and deliver plagiarism-free papers. These paper writing websites are generally affordable for most students, although there are some exceptions.

Before placing an order, it’s important to do your homework. Check the company’s reviews, find out if it offers a refund policy, and look into its track record on past projects. A reliable service will prioritize your confidentiality, which is a vital consideration.

The news and editorial staff of the Santa Cruz Sentinel had no role in this post’s preparation. This is a paid advertisement and does not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, its employees, or subsidiaries.

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AskEasy: AI ChatBot Assistant 12+

Ask chat bot・your 24/7 helper, zilingial limited, designed for iphone.

• #57 in Productivity
• 4.7 • 18.3K Ratings
• Offers In-App Purchases

iPhone Screenshots

Description.

AskEasy: simplify your life with a smart assistant! Looking for a good recipe to surprise your guests? Need ideas for a birthday party? Or some help with writing an essay or composing a resume? Simply open the app and ask! AskEasy is a real lifesaver. It finds answers to any questions, generates texts and brainstorms ideas, helps with daily tasks, proofreads and improves your content, and even acts as a fun empathetic friend always open for a chat! All you need to do is just type in your request and see how an accurate answer magically appears on your screen! What sets this app apart are its four most powerful chat models: GPT 3.5, GPT 4, Llama 2, and Gemini. These cutting-edge AI technologies ensure that you can easily choose the model that best meets your specific needs, providing tailored, intelligent responses in real-time. Have questions about a YouTube video? Or need a short summary of a video instead of watching it whole? Now, you can simply paste the video link and ask away. Our chatbot will answer your questions based on the video content and provide a concise summary of it. Need to create unique visuals for your project? Go to Image Generator and get inspiring images generated by AI in seconds! All you have to do is just to type in the text description – and see how it magically transforms into images. Moreover, you can easily get creative captions, tags and stories based on your images by using the Text to Image tool. AI understands and interprets the context and emotions of your photos, and brings the ideas of creative texts that will enhance your social media presence. With """"Upload & Ask,"""" you have the power to directly upload a PDF document and effortlessly ask questions about its content. This feature deciphers the text, providing you with precise answers and insights without the need for manual searching or reading. Meanwhile, """"Ask by Link"""" offers an equally innovative capability where you can insert a link to a web page and receive answers derived from its content. Whether it's a detailed explanation, summary, or specific information, this feature ensures you get the answers you need quickly and efficiently. Your creativity is your only limit! Experiment with your queries to discover everything the chatbot can do for you, and you will be amazed by the mind-blowing results: - Choose the chat model (GPT 3.5, GPT 4, Llama 2, or Gemini) to solve your tasks quickly and efficiently - Write anything: from tweets, email responses, and ad copies to essays, poems, and creative stories - Brainstorm ideas: new recipes, movie and song recommendations, places to go, party ideas, etc. - Check and improve your writing - Simplify your texts by summarizing them - Insert a link to YouTube video and ask your questions based on it - Get quick and concise summary of a video on YouTube - Get AI-generated images from your word description - Transform any text into visually captivating quotes - Generate captivating captions, relevant tags, or stories for your pics - Create original jokes and holiday greetings - Translate texts into other languages or even into programmatic commands - Use it for analytics and business intelligence - Get prepared for an exam or job interview - Or simply check out your daily horoscope! Features: - Smart chat for iPhone - GPT 3.5, GPT 4, Llama 2, and Gemini support - Spell and grammar check - Images Generator - Quote Maker - Text for Image - “Ask by Link” and “Upload & Ask” features - Ask Youtube and Youtube Summary - Text writing and facts search - History of your queries - CV and social profile builder - Clear and smart design - Simple and blazingly fast to use Privacy Policy Url - https://mychat-ai.cloud/pp Term Of Use Url - https://mychat-ai.cloud/tou Support Address - [email protected]

Version 2.0

We’re thrilled to introduce some powerful new features: - GPT 3.5, GPT 4, Llama 2, and Gemini support ensures that you have access to a wide range of responses, tailored to meet your specific needs more accurately than ever before - “Ask by Link” feature allows you simply insert a link to a web page and let the AI extract the answers you need - “Upload & Ask” offers a possibility to upload a document and ask any questions regarding its content - Image Generator for you to create unique visuals based on your text descriptions - And now the app is available in Portuguese Brazil to reach even more users across the globe! As always, we are committed to delivering the best for our users, and your feedback helps a lot!

Ratings and Reviews

18.3K Ratings

Ok so I have a problem

The concept of having ai write you a story is amazing. The stories are amazing. But, what good is it if it doesn’t give an ending. It doesn’t have to be long to end well. But it leaves you hanging. Not a fan of that. Especially since I paid for it UPDATE: ok, so I changed most review from three stars to 5z mainly because regardless of if the story ends or not, I’m able to end it myself quite well. I enjoy the app and it helps me a lot in my work

Developer Response ,

Dear Juliabrown1966!!!!!Thank you for your feedback. We apologize for the inconvenience caused and we understand your frustration with the limitations you've encountered in the application. The application has certain restrictions in place due to server limitations and the significant computing resources required for advanced AI technology like GPT-4. These limitations are in place to ensure the app's performance and availability for all users. We have increased the limit of characters to the maximum allowed from GPT itself and we cannot go beyond it. Thank you for understanding. Warmest regards, AI ChatBot: Smart Assistant Support Team

Not as described

Right after installing presented programs not functioning, i didn’t get try all, with in two minutes was forced to rated with 5 stars if i was too quick to press buttons. I didn’t even get to read what was the gpt’s response to me but as it was typing things really fast noticed everything being typed was flickering like screen power is too low. Remember after 3 days i trial you will be charged automatically. This look good but just like most of them, taking a freeware altering in some cases not much from the original and start chasing the money with tricks and dancing around the truth with lies. I think today’s browsers gpt is good as most of these tricksters version unless you need a serious one for school or work then I suggest getting a real one pay a few more dollars than what these people are asking and have a real one, if that’s not the case stick with ones as browsers add on is my opinion.

Dear User! We are very grateful to you for taking the time to leave us a review. We consider a customer-centric approach and always put ourselves in our customer’s mind. That way, we can align the learning experience with their expectations and improve our application. We will definitely take into account the fact that the users need more time to evaluate the application and will not force them to rate the app too quickly. We have our users' best interests at heart and will continue to work tirelessly to better ourselves and our application. Best regards, AI ChatBot: Smart Assistant Support Team

Concern over longevity

I have tried numerous AI Assistants. And this one, by far, is my favorite. I even went so far as to opt in for paying for full features. However, as an assistant or even aid, it is limited and out dated. When querying about the up-to-date information it could provide me, my assistant informs me that it is only as up-to-date as 2021. So, I queried about when the databases may be updated. And there was no information on that. The databases are already years behind and this is concerning. I didn’t pay to have something that can’t actually do as it is alleged to be able to perform. I can google and get more current information.

Dear Crashed and Lost! Thank you for your feedback and for choosing our AI ChatBot as your favorite assistant. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the limitations of the up-to-date information provided. We are constantly working on improving our databases and ensuring the latest information is available. But as we use the official open AI api and their system is based on data up to 2021, the assistant informs you that it is only as up-to-date as 2021. Best regards, AI ChatBot: Smart Assistant Support Team

App Privacy

The developer, Zilingial Limited , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

Data Used to Track You

The following data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies:

• Identifiers

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

• Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese

• AI ChatBot: 1 Week Access $7.99
• AI ChatBot - 1 Week Access $7.99
• AI ChatBot: Access for 1 Year $49.99
• AI Chat Bot: Weekly Access $7.99
• AI ChatBot: 1 Week Access $4.99
• AI Assistant - 1 Month $19.99
• AI ChatBot for 1 Year $19.99
• AI ChatBot: 1 Year $39.99
• AI ChatBot: 1 Year Access $49.99
• AI Helper for 1 Week $4.99
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AI Wallpapers & Widgets - Flex

How Often Are Students Submitting AI Papers? Frequently, Says New Data

More than two million papers reviewed by Turnitin's AI detection tool had at least 80% AI-generated content

Turnitin released its AI detection tool in April 2023 and since then it has reviewed more than 200 million student papers and found that 10.3% included at least 20% AI-generated content. In addition, 3% — more than 2 million papers or other written materials — consisted of at least 80% AI-generated content. 

A separate Turnitin-sponsored survey about use of AI in college among faculty and students also found that between spring 2023 and fall 2023 the number of students who said they used AI at least once a month rose 22%, going from 27% to 49% of respondents. 

These findings mesh with other recent data points on AI use, including a recent survey of college students from Intelligent.com that found that 37% of students used AI, and 29% percent of these students use it to generate entire papers. 

Anecdotally, I’ve noticed a steady trend upward in the number of AI-generated papers I am seeing in the introductory English courses I teach. 

I recently spoke with Patti West-Smith, Turnitin’s Senior Director of Customer Engagement and Customer Experience and a former principal. She discussed what this recent AI cheating data from Turnitin means and what we as teachers can do to protect academic integrity, and more importantly, the student learning that occurs through writing. 

Are 1 in 10 Students Really Using AI To Cheat?  

Not exactly. Though the Turnitin data found that roughly 1 in 10 papers submitted contained at least 20% AI-generated content, West-Smith isn’t particularly concerned about those papers because that level of AI writing in a paper might involve legitimate use. 

“Students who are struggling with language might be looking for a little help or have used it for research, and potentially didn't know that they should cite that depending on the instructor and the institution and their requirements,” she says. 

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What About The 3% of Papers That Were More Than 80% AI-Generated? 

These 2 million-plus papers are more concerning. “That indicates that the AI is being substituted for the student's own thinking,” West-Smith says. 

This is a problem for several reasons. “You don't want a student to get credit for work that they didn't complete, and from an assessment perspective, that's a really big deal,” she says. 

But more important than academic integrity is how the student is shortchanging their own learning process, West-Smith says. “Writing is a tool for thinking. It's the way that the brain makes sense of information. And if you are outsourcing that to AI on a regular basis on a big scale, like 80% of the writing, then what that indicates to me is that as a student, you're completely disengaged from that learning process, you have essentially outsourced it to a contractor.” 

Has AI Cheating Replaced Other Forms of Cheating?  

I’ve written about how the prevalence of AI-generated papers in my classroom has cost me a lot of time . However, on the bright side, I've started seeing less instances of traditional plagiarism. Unfortunately, this appears to be a fluke. 

“We theorized that potentially we would see this dramatic drop off of more classic instances of plagiarism,” West-Smith says. Turnitin data has not revealed that so far. “We are seeing just as much text similarity that comes in. I think one of the reasons for that is, in some cases, text similarity is not intentional plagiarism. You get a lot of skill deficit that leads to that. Students who don't know how to properly paraphrase. Students who don’t understand citation.” 

What Can I Do To Prevent AI Writing in My Class?  

This is one of the pressing questions in education. For her part, here are West-Smith’s suggestions: 

• Institutions should have clear guidance around AI use that is communicated to teachers and from them to students. 
• Institutions should also have clear guidance around whether AI detection tools are being used, which ones and what educators can do with the information these tools provide. Because of false-positives, educators should use AI detection readings as just one data point in assessing whether a student used AI.
• Educators should educate themselves about AI. Learn the tool’s strengths, weaknesses, etc. 
• Specific class policies around AI should be communicated as many instructors have AI use cases they are okay with and ones they don't allow. These policies sometimes vary from class to class. 

Ultimately, West-Smith says the communication component is critical and all too easy to overlook. 

“A mistake we sometimes make as instructors is that we make these assumptions that students have the same sort of value systems that we do, and they will just implicitly know what is right or wrong from our perspective. And it's been my experience that that's almost always not true,” she says. “The moment that you assume students believe the same thing you do. You already are at a level of miscommunication.” 

• 8 Ways to Create AI-Proof Writing Prompts
• 7 Ways To Detect AI Writing Without Technology

Erik Ofgang is Tech & Learning's senior staff writer. A journalist,  author  and educator, his work has appeared in the Washington Post , The Atlantic , and Associated Press. He currently teaches at Western Connecticut State University’s MFA program. While a staff writer at Connecticut Magazine he won a Society of Professional Journalism Award for his education reporting. He is interested in how humans learn and how technology can make that more effective. 

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Sophia Bush Reflects on Coming Out By Sharing Quote from Poet Maggie Smith: 'We Are All Nesting Dolls'

The actress confirmed her relationship with former soccer player Ashlyn Harris in a striking personal essay for 'Glamour'

Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

Sophia Bush is feeling freer than ever after coming to terms with her sexuality . 

In a candid essay for Glamour 's April cover, the actress, 41, reflected on her divorce from Grant Hughes and revealed her relationship with soccer player Ashlyn Harris . She also admitted that this year felt like her “very first birthday” as she wrote, “I finally feel like I can breathe.”

Bush continued to reflect on the striking piece on Instagram, revealing that poet Maggie Smith has inspired much of her revelations — and her thoughts on her birthday, in particular.

“I feel like last summer I had my very first birthday. My own,” Bush wrote in a post shared on April 28. “And last summer Maggie Smith’s words helped me begin to understand why. From afar, she helped me put myself back together.”

“She said: ‘How I picture it: We are all nesting dolls, carrying the earlier iterations of ourselves inside. We carry the past inside us. We take ourselves— all of our selves —wherever we go. Inside forty-something me is the woman I was in my thirties, the woman I was in my twenties, the teenager I was, the child I was… I still carry these versions of myself. It’s a kind of reincarnation without death: all these different lives we get to live in this one body, as ourselves,’” the One Tree Hill alum shared.

Bush continued, “This week I got to share my own words, that I wrote down from the bottom of my ever-evolving heart. When I uttered ‘I really love who I am, at this age, and in this moment’ I sort of couldn’t believe it. It just fell out of me. Simple. But profound. I’ve always wanted to feel that in my bones. Suddenly I do. It took a long time and a lot of work to get here.”

She concluded her post with a message of support to all those who have resonated with her words and her story in the days since it was published. “We are all in this together. Walking each other home. Here is to the becoming ✨.”

Paul Morigi/Getty

In the essay, Bush admitted that much of her life — including her marriage to Grant Hughes — “all came crashing down at once ” during her run on the West End’s 2:22: A Ghost Story , which she exited early due to health issues .

“It was clear that my body was screaming and I had to listen. It was hard for me to accept. I was part of a team. But I needed to go home, where my doctors (and, truthfully, my health insurance) could get a better handle on my symptoms,” she shared. “My time in London was over. So was my marriage. It all came crashing down at once.”

Now, Bush is “taking deep breaths again” and is finally feeling settled inside herself. Her relationship with Harris, 38, began in the summer of 2023 as they were both healing from separations from their respective spouses. (The former soccer player officially filed for divorce from her wife of three years, Ali Krieger , in October 2023.)

The first time Bush asked Harris to hang out sans other friends ended up being a transformative four-hour dinner that she described as one of "the most surreal experiences."

“Maybe it was all fated. Maybe it really is a version of invisible string theory. I don’t really know,” she wrote. “But I do know that for a sparkly moment I felt like maybe the universe had been conspiring for me. And that feeling that I have in my bones is one I’ll hold on to no matter where things go from here.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Bush and Harris' relationship began last fall, and PEOPLE confirmed that October that their romantic connection was "recent" as they were "both beginning new chapters." After her Glamour essay was published, Bush made her red carpet debut with Harris at the 2024 White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C. on April 27.

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The best new science fiction books of May 2024

A new Stephen King short story collection, an Ursula K. Le Guin reissue and a celebration of cyberpunk featuring writing from Philip K. Dick and Cory Doctorow are among the new science fiction titles published this month

By Alison Flood

A new short story collection from Stephen King, You Like It Darker, is out in May

Shane Leonard

Every month, I trawl through publishers’ catalogues so I can tell you about the new science fiction being released. And every month, I’m disappointed to see so much more fantasy on publishers’ lists than sci-fi. I know it’s a response to the huge boom in readers of what’s been dubbed “ romantasy ”, and I’m not knocking it – I love that sort of book too. But it would be great to see more good, hard, mind-expanding sci-fi in the offing as well.

In the meantime, there is definitely enough for us sci-fi fans to sink our teeth into this month, whether it’s a reissue of classic writing from Ursula K. Le Guin, some new speculative short stories from Stephen King or murder in space from Victor Manibo and S. A. Barnes.

Last month, I tipped Douglas Preston’s Extinction and Sofia Samatar’s The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain as books I was looking forward to. I can report that they were both excellent: Extinction was a lot of good, clean, Jurassic Park -tinged fun, while Samatar’s offering was a beautiful and thought-provoking look at life on a generation ship.

The Language of the Night: Essays on writing, science fiction, and fantasy by Ursula K. Le Guin

There are few sci-fi and fantasy writers more brilliant (and revered) than Ursula K. Le Guin. This reissue of her first full-length collection of essays features a new introduction from Hugo and Nebula award-winner Ken Liu and covers the writing of The Left Hand of Darkness and A Wizard of Earthsea , as well as her advocacy for sci-fi and fantasy as legitimate literary mediums. I’ve read some of these essays but not all, and I won’t be missing this collection.

Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen

This isn’t science fiction, not quite, but it is one of the best and most important books I have read for some time. It sees Jacobsen lay out, minute by minute, what would happen if an intercontinental ballistic missile hit Washington DC. How would the US react? What, exactly, happens if deterrence fails? Jacobsen has spoken to dozens of military experts to put together what her publisher calls a “non-fiction thriller”, and what I call the scariest book I have possibly ever read (and I’m a Stephen King fan; see below). We’re currently reading it at the New Scientist Book Club, and you can sign up to join us here .

Read an extract from Nuclear War: A scenario by Annie Jacobsen

In this terrifying extract from Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario, the author lays out what would happen in the first seconds after a nuclear missile hits the Pentagon

The Big Book of Cyberpunk (Vol 1 & 2)

Forty years ago, William Gibson published Neuromancer . Since then, it has entranced millions of readers right from its unforgettable opening line: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel…”. Neuromancer gave us the literary genre that is cyberpunk, and we can now welcome a huge, two-volume anthology celebrating cyberpunk’s best stories, by writers from Cory Doctorow to Justina Robson, and from Samuel R. Delaney to Philip K. Dick. I have both glorious-sounding volumes, brought together by anthologist Jared Shurin, on my desk (using up most of the space on it), and I am looking forward to dipping in.

You Like It Darker by Stephen King

You could categorise Stephen King as a horror writer. I see him as an expert chronicler of the dark side of small-town America, and from The Tommyknockers and its aliens to Under the Dome with its literally divisive trope, he frequently slides into sci-fi. Even the horror at the heart of It is some sort of cosmic hideousness. He is one of my favourite writers, and You Like It Darker is a new collection of short stories that moves from “the folds in reality where anything can happen” to a “psychic flash” that upends dozens of lives. There’s a sequel to Cujo , and a look at “corners of the universe best left unexplored”. I’ve read the first story so far, and I can confirm there is plenty for us sci-fi fans here.

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

Not sci-fi, but fiction about science – and from one of the UK’s most exciting writers (if you haven’t read The Essex Serpent yet, you’re in for a treat). This time, Perry tells the story of Thomas Hart, a columnist on the Essex Chronicle who becomes a passionate amateur astronomer as the comet Hale-Bopp approaches in 1997. Our sci-fi columnist Emily Wilson is reviewing it for New Scientist ’s 11 May issue, and she has given it a vigorous thumbs up (“a beautiful, compassionate and memorable book,” she writes in a sneak preview just for you guys).

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

Dr Ophelia Bray is a psychologist and expert in the study of Eckhart-Reiser syndrome, a fictional condition that affects space travellers in terrible ways. She’s sent to help a small crew whose colleague recently died, but as they begin life on an abandoned planet, she realises that her charges are hiding something. And then the pilot is murdered… Horror in space? Mysterious planets? I’m up for that.

In Hey, Zoey, the protagonist finds an animatronic sex doll hidden in her garage

Shutterstock / FOTOGRIN

Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan

Hot on the heels of Sierra Greer’s story about a sex robot wondering what it means to be human in Annie Bot , the acclaimed young adult and children’s author Sarah Crossan has ventured into similar territory. In Hey, Zoey , Dolores finds an animatronic sex doll hidden in her garage and assumes it belongs to her husband David. She takes no action – but then Dolores and Zoey begin to talk, and Dolores’s life changes.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

Davi has tried to take down the Dark Lord before, rallying humanity and making the final charge – as you do. But the time loop she is stuck in always defeats her, and she loses the battle in the end. This time around, Davi decides that the best thing to do is to become the Dark Lord herself. You could argue that this is fantasy, but it has a time loop, so I’m going to count it as sci-fi. It sounds fun and lighthearted: quotes from early readers are along the lines of “A darkly comic delight”, and we could all use a bit of that these days.

Escape Velocity by Victor Manibo

It’s 2089, and there’s an old murder hanging over the clientele of Space Habitat Altaire, a luxury space hotel, while an “unforeseen threat” is also brewing in the service corridors. A thriller in space? Sounds excellent – and I’m keen to see if Manibo makes use of the latest research into the angle at which blood might travel following violence in space, as reported on by our New Scientist humour columnist Marc Abrahams recently.

The best new science fiction books of March 2024

With a new Adrian Tchaikovsky, Mars-set romance from Natasha Pulley and a high-concept thriller from Stuart Turton due to hit shelves, there is plenty of great new science fiction to be reading in March

In Our Stars by Jack Campbell

Part of the Doomed Earth series, this follows Lieutenant Selene Genji, who has been genetically engineered with partly alien DNA and has “one last chance to save the Earth from destruction”. Beautifully retro cover for this space adventure – not to judge a book in this way, of course…

The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer

Two sets of people have had their minds uploaded into a quantum computer in the Ontario of 2059. Astronauts preparing for the world’s first interstellar voyage form one group; the other contains convicted murderers, sentenced to a virtual-reality prison. Naturally, disaster strikes, and, yup, they must work together to save Earth from destruction. Originally released as an Audible Original with Brendan Fraser as lead narrator, this is the first print edition of the Hugo and Nebula award-winning Sawyer’s 26 th novel.

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

Just in case you still haven’t read it, Justin Cronin’s gloriously dreamy novel The Ferryman , set on an apparently utopian island where things aren’t quite as they seem, is out in paperback this month. It was the first pick for the New Scientist Book Club, and it is a mind-bending, dreamy stunner of a read. Go try it – and sign up for the Book Club in the meantime!

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Guest Essay

I Was an Attorney at the D.A.’s Office. This Is What the Trump Case Is Really About.

By Rebecca Roiphe

Ms. Roiphe is a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Now that the lawyers are laying out their respective theories of the case in the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump in New York, it would be understandable if people’s heads are spinning. The defense lawyers claimed this is a case about hush money as a legitimate tool in democratic elections, while the prosecutors insisted it is about “a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election.”

Yet this case is not really about election interference, nor is it a politically motivated attempt to criminalize a benign personal deal. Boring as it may sound, it is a case about business integrity.

It’s not surprising that the lawyers on both sides are trying to make this about something sexier. This is a narrative device used to make the jurors and the public side with them, but it has also created confusion. On the one hand, some legal experts claim that the conduct charged in New York was the original election interference. On the other hand, some critics think the criminal case is a witch hunt, and others claim it is trivial at best and at worst the product of selective prosecution.

As someone who worked in the Manhattan district attorney’s office and enforced the laws that Mr. Trump is accused of violating, I stand firmly in neither camp. It is an important and straightforward case, albeit workmanlike and unglamorous. In time, after the smoke created by lawyers has cleared, it will be easy to see why the prosecution is both solid and legitimate.

It would hardly make for a dramatic opening statement or cable news sound bite, but the case is about preventing wealthy people from using their businesses to commit crimes and hide from accountability. Manhattan prosecutors have long considered it their province to ensure the integrity of the financial markets. As Robert Morgenthau, a former Manhattan district attorney, liked to say , “You cannot prosecute crime in the streets without prosecuting crime in the suites.”

Lawmakers in New York, the financial capital of the world, consider access to markets and industry in New York a privilege for businesspeople. It is a felony to abuse that privilege by doctoring records to commit or conceal crimes, even if the businessman never accomplishes the goal and even if the false records never see the light of day. The idea is that an organization’s records should reflect an honest accounting. It is not a crime to make a mistake, but lying is a different story. It is easy to evade accountability by turning a business into a cover, providing a false trail for whichever regulator might care to look. The law ( falsification of business records ) deprives wealthy, powerful businessmen of the ability to do so with impunity, at least when they’re conducting business in the city.

Prosecutors and New York courts have interpreted this law generously, with its general purpose in mind. The element of intent to defraud carries a broad meaning, which is not limited to the intent of cheating someone out of money or property. Further, intent is often proved with circumstantial evidence, as is common in white-collar cases. After presenting evidence, prosecutors ask jurors to use their common sense to infer what the possible intent may be, and New York jurors frequently conclude that a defendant must have gone to the trouble of creating this false paper trail for a reason.

Mr. Trump is accused of creating 11 false invoices, 12 false ledger entries and 11 false checks and check stubs, with the intent to violate federal election laws, state election laws or state tax laws. The number of lies it took to create this false record itself helps prove intent. His defense attorneys will claim that he was merely trying to bury a false story to protect his family from embarrassment. The timing of the payments — immediately after the potentially damaging “Access Hollywood” tape was released and right before the election — makes that claim implausible.

As many have pointed out, Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, is a witness with a remarkable amount of baggage. But as with most business records cases, his testimony will largely add color to the tweets, handwritten notes, bank documents and shell corporations. Documents don’t lie.

More important, jurors are particularly good at applying common sense. Mr. Trump didn’t go to all this trouble just to protect his family members, who might have known about accusations of his involvement with the porn star Stormy Daniels or similar ones. We may never learn which crime the jurors believe Trump was seeking to commit or cover up, but they can still conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that this was his intent.

It is not unusual for lawyers to give narrative arcs to their legal theories, reasons to care about the evidence and animating thoughts that may make jurors more inclined to convict or acquit.

When the jurors deliberate, they will weigh the warring narratives in light of the evidence, and the judge will instruct them in the law. Then the narrative frames should recede into the background. The key is to offer one that is both captivating and closely tied to the facts so that when the jurors put the pieces of evidence together, it is the story they believe.

If one side promises too much, it risks losing the jurors. In their opening remarks, Mr. Trump’s lawyers insisted that he was innocent, that all the witnesses were liars. Such a sweeping theory is a dangerous strategy because if the jurors believe part of the prosecution’s case, just one or two of the witnesses, then the jurors may lose faith in the defense altogether.

For the prosecution, the elements of the crime in this case do not require a finding that Mr. Trump interfered with the 2016 election. Nor does it matter whether he had sex with Ms. Daniels. Instead, the real elements concern the way Mr. Trump used his business for a cover-up. By emphasizing the crime he was intending to conceal rather than the false business records, the prosecution also risks confusing the jury into thinking about whether the lies affected the election. It might lead them to wonder why Mr. Trump wasn’t charged with this alleged election crime by the federal government — a talking point that he has promoted publicly.

Even if the case seems simpler in this light, we are still left with the question: Is it really worth charging a former president for this? While the New York business records law is important, it is no doubt true that the conduct pales in comparison with the effort to overthrow the 2020 election, at issue in the special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 prosecution of Mr. Trump.

Taking this case on its own terms as a business records case offers a different and arguably more convincing way to defend its legitimacy. It is a simple case that is similar to hundreds of other cases brought in New York. The simplicity and run-of-the-mill nature of the prosecution make it easier to defend against claims of politicization in the following sense: Mr. Trump was a businessman for many years in New York long before he was president. If others would be prosecuted for this conduct and no man is above the law, then he should be, too.

So by all means, listen to the stories that the lawyers tell, soak up the drama of hush-money payments and the alternate universe in which Hillary Clinton won the election. But just as the jurors should ultimately consider the facts and the law, it would be wise for everyone else to focus on what the case is really about.

Rebecca Roiphe, a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, is a law professor at New York Law School.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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