An argumentative essay expresses an extended argument for a particular thesis statement. The author takes a clearly defined stance on their subject and builds up an evidence-based case for it.
Argumentative essays are by far the most common type of essay to write at university.
Continue reading: How to write an argumentative essay | Examples & tips
“Expository” means “intended to explain or describe something.” An expository essay provides a clear, focused explanation of a particular topic, process, or set of ideas. It doesn’t set out to prove a point, just to give a balanced view of its subject matter.
Expository essays are usually short assignments intended to test your composition skills or your understanding of a subject. They tend to involve less research and original arguments than argumentative essays.
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Clear transitions are crucial to clear writing: They show the reader how different parts of your essay, paper, or thesis are connected. Transition sentences can be used to structure your text and link together paragraphs or sections.
Continue reading: Transition sentences | Tips & examples for clear writing
Transition words and phrases (also called linking words, connecting words, or transitional words) are used to link together different ideas in your text. They help the reader to follow your arguments by expressing the relationships between different sentences or parts of a sentence.
For clear writing, it’s essential to understand the meaning of transition words and use them correctly.
Continue reading: Transition Words & Phrases | List & Examples
Good academic writing requires effective planning, drafting, and revision.
The writing process looks different for everyone, but there are five basic steps that will help you structure your time when writing any kind of text.
Continue reading: A step-by-step guide to the writing process
Literary analysis means closely studying a text, interpreting its meanings, and exploring why the author made certain choices. It can be applied to novels, short stories, plays, poems, or any other form of literary writing.
A literary analysis essay is not a rhetorical analysis, nor is it just a summary of the plot or a book review. Instead, it is a type of argumentative essay where you need to analyze elements such as the language, perspective, and structure of the text, and explain how the author uses literary devices to create effects and convey ideas.
Before beginning a literary analysis essay, it’s essential to carefully read the text and come up with a thesis statement to keep your essay focused. As you write, follow the standard structure of an academic essay:
Continue reading: How to write a literary analysis essay | A step-by-step guide
An MLA website citation includes the author’s name, the title of the page (in quotation marks), the name of the website (in italics), the publication date, and the URL (without “https://”).
If the author is unknown, start with the title of the page instead. If the publication date is unknown, or if the content is likely to change over time, add an access date at the end instead.
Websites don’t usually have page numbers, so the in-text citation is just the author name in parentheses. If you already named the author in your sentence, you don’t need to add a parenthetical citation.
The format differs for other types of online content, such as YouTube videos, TED Talks, and podcasts.
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An MLA book citation always includes the author(s), title (italicized), publisher, and publication year in the Works Cited entry. If relevant, also include the names of any editors or translators, the edition, and the volume. “University Press” should be abbreviated to “UP” in a Works Cited entry.
The in-text citation gives the author’s last name and a page number in parentheses.
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The MLA Works Cited entry for an online video contains the video’s creator, the title, the website or platform in italics (e.g. YouTube), the channel or user that uploaded the video, the upload date, and the URL.
If the video was uploaded by the same person or organization that created it, or if no clear creator can be identified, omit the author element and start with the video’s title instead.
The in-text citation should match the first element of the Works Cited (either the creator’s name, or a short version of the title). You can also include a timestamp in place of a page number.
Note that if you are citing a whole movie that has been uploaded to a video-sharing platform, you should use the format of an MLA movie citation instead. The same goes for a TV episode. For a TED Talk, you can follow the YouTube format if you cite it from YouTube.
Continue reading: How to cite a YouTube video in MLA
An MLA Works Cited entry for a journal article contains the author(s); article title; journal name; volume and issue; month and year; page range; and a DOI if accessed online. In the in-text citation, include the author’s last name and the page number.
Continue reading: How to cite a journal article in MLA style