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Provides style advice on American punctuation, MLA in-text citations and a “References Cited” section, and common issues such as passive voice and contractions.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/","Template",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/paper-templates/","Paper Templates",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/the-500-word-essay-some-thoughts/349770/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-500-word-essay-some-thoughts/349770.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":42,"@type":43},"\tCallum ","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-07","2026-09-22",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What are the main goals of short essays in this seminar?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"They let writers explore course topics and form opinions, show engagement and understanding, and provide focused practice to improve writing skills including grammar, punctuation, spelling, and citation.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How should you structure a good essay?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"A good essay has a clear beginning, middle, and end: use an opening that captures attention and presents a thesis, develop the evidence in the middle, and conclude by showing how the evidence supports the argument.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Which citation style and format are recommended?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Students should use MLA style for in-text citations and include a “References Cited” section at the end so readers can trace information to specific pages.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},349770,1791205500,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,89,94,99,104,109,114,119,123],{"id":85,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":86,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":88},11,"Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":90,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":91,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":95,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":100,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":105,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":110,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":115,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":120,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},21,5,"papers-templates",{"id":124,"doc_module":22,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":126},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":128},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":129,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":130,"doc_module":22,"category_id":120,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":131,"file_id":132,"file_url":133,"file_type":134,"file_size":135,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":30,"language":136,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":140,"read_time":22},137451211410,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/2000bb0a9246f588df?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786362646172706240","The 500-word Essay: Some Thoughts  \nGordon Thompson  \nThe 500-word length is consistent with many other kinds of professional writing, from blogs to book reviews. Moreover, if you want to capture and hold your audience's attention, the threesection statement maximizes your opportunity. The statements below provide ideas on how you might successfully write.  \nThe short essays for this seminar have several goals.  \n1. They provide you with an opportunity to explore a topic we have covered in our discussions and readings and to formulate an opinion about some aspect of those ideas.  \n2. These essays also provide me with a sense of your engagement and understanding of the material we cover, as well as your ability to explain your position.  \n3. Each essay offers you a focused opportunity to improve your writing skills. Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and citation all figure in the act of scholarly writing. A short essay allows me to work with you on these details.  \n4. The 500-word essay represents a miniature paper that includes all of the same features of a longer paper. Indeed, the longer papers you will write as Skidmore students will often consist of subsections consistent with the goals of these shorter essays. That is, you can form a large paper by organizing your ideas into short subsections that address the different issues comprising your topic.  \nFinally, you should have writing clearly as your unambiguous goal. Consult the The Skidmore Guide to Writing for examples of how to cite, to punctuate, and to improve your ability to communicate in writing. For my seminars and classes, I ask that students use the MLA style of in-text citations with a “References Cited” section at the end.  \nThe Essay  \nA good essay has an arch with a beginning, middle, and end.  \nJust like a half-hour (20- minute) television show, you need to grab your audience's attention with your opening sentence, let them know your topic, and project a thesis about what you plan to prove. A good title can also grab their attention.  \nIf you look at a newspaper, the front page will have several articles on it, each one hoping to capture your attention. The authors intend their titles and their first sentences to pull you into their articles. The title of your essay and your first sentence should identify your topic and make your reader want to continue. Often, the last sentence of the first paragraph presents your position.  \nThe middle of your essay should explore the data that you hope will prove your thesis, just as in a mystery the detective compiles the evidence through observation, interviews, and analysis. You only have a few hundred words with which to accomplish this so choose your topic selectively and, just as you might find red herrings in a detective story  \n(i.e., clues that lead nowhere), choose your sources carefully. Citing your sources represents a particularly important feature of an academic essay. A reader should be able to trace the  \nsources of your information back to the specific page/s of a publication. (As indicated above, for this seminar, use the MLA form of citation and bibliography.)  \nThe more focused you can make your essay the better you will be able to provide relevant supporting documentation. At the end, you need to drive home your argument. Did your evidence support your thesis? Have you made us think differently about your subject? Leave your reader thinking that they have just had a revelation, just as a detective  \nexplains how s/he has solved a crime. Good conclusions allow us new insights into what we have just read.  \nStyle  \nTwo different systems compete in academic writing: the British and the American. Given that we use American spellings, we should also use American punctuation. For example, when quoting a source or highlighting a word, use double quotation marks and place punctuation such as periods and commas inside those marks. When placing a quote inside a quote, set the second quote in single quotation mar","cbCaiiTpqIugm6bS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiTpqIugm6bS","pdf",408952,"English","# The 500-word Essay: Some Thoughts\n## Goals of the 500-word Essay\n## The Essay Structure\n## Style","[{\"question\":\"What are the main goals of short essays in this seminar?\",\"answer\":\"They let writers explore course topics and form opinions, show engagement and understanding, and provide focused practice to improve writing skills including grammar, punctuation, spelling, and citation.\"},{\"question\":\"How should you structure a good essay?\",\"answer\":\"A good essay has a clear beginning, middle, and end: use an opening that captures attention and presents a thesis, develop the evidence in the middle, and conclude by showing how the evidence supports the argument.\"},{\"question\":\"Which citation style and format are recommended?\",\"answer\":\"Students should use MLA style for in-text citations and include a “References Cited” section at the end so readers can trace information to specific pages.\"}]","The 500-word Essay - Some Thoughts | PDF",1790085470]