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how to write a vague essay

Most Common Writing Mistakes: Why Vague Writing Is Weak Writing

how to write a vague essay

As the creator of your worlds and your characters, you will always have the ability to make statements of authority in your writing. After all, if you’re not the authority in your stories, who is? What this means is that you never need to wallow in the quagmire of vague details and fuzzy ideas.

What Vague Writing Looks Like

Take a look at the following examples of vague writing:

  • Maddock looked at the wall, which seemed to be smeared with spaghetti sauce.
  • The bomb fell approximately ten or twelve feet away from me.
  • Elle was about forty-five minutes late for her dentist appointment when a cop pulled her over, apparently for speeding.
  • Mark’s figures revealed that the addition to the house would take up roughly fifty square feet.

Did you spot the ambiguities in these sentences? Every one of these examples contains words that unnecessarily weaken the author’s intensity and certainty.

How to Fix Vague Writing

Let’s take another look, this time with the vague words removed:

Maddock looked at the wall, which was smeared with spaghetti sauce.

Unless you’re using “spaghetti sauce” to conceal the substance’s true identity (perhaps it’s blood, and you’ve a reason for delaying Maddock’s realization of this fact), don’t tell readers what something “seemed” like. Just tell them what it is .

The bomb fell ten feet away from me.

Does the narrating character know  the bomb is exactly ten feet away from her? Probably not. But, because readers will understand the narrator is making an educated guess, and because readers don’t care whether the bomb is ten feet away or twelve feet away, save yourself the extra words and the unnecessary dithering.

Elle was forty-five minutes late for her dentist appointment when a cop pulled her over for speeding.

Again, it’s probably not important whether Elle was forty-four, forty-five, or forty-six minutes late. Neither is it important to inform readers that the narrator isn’t certain the number was exactly forty-five.

Similarly, unless there’s a good reason for the narrator’s having to guess why the cop pulled her over, go ahead and delete the “apparently.” Most of the time, readers don’t care about what appeared to happen, only what did happen.

Mark’s figures revealed that the addition to the house would take up fifty square feet.

Would the word “roughly” really add anything to this sentence? If the exact figure is more or less than fifty feet, and that exact figure is important to the story, go ahead and state the exact figure. If not, just round up or down to a precise number.

10 Words That Signal Vague Writing

Occasionally, your story will demand vague phrasing for plot reasons. But when ambiguities aren’t necessary, you can save your readers from boredom and possible confusion by avoiding the following words:

  • Approximately
  • More or less
  • Give or take

If you are bold, precise, and definite in your choice of words, your readers will feel the power of your prose.

>>Click here to read more posts in the Most Common Writing Mistakes Series.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions!   What words and phrases do you feel contribute to unnecessarily vague writing? Tell me in the comments!

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how to write a vague essay

K.M. Weiland is the award-winning and internationally-published author of the acclaimed writing guides Outlining Your Novel , Structuring Your Novel , and Creating Character Arcs . A native of western Nebraska, she writes historical and fantasy novels and mentors authors on her award-winning website Helping Writers Become Authors.

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Often, my first draft contains many of the vague words or phrases that you’ve cited. They are easy to spot and remove during editing. I agree that they do weaken writing. So the question is: Why do I use them in the first place? I haven’t come up with an answer to that question yet, so editing before posting is a must.

I’ve just subscribed to your podcasts on iTunes. I have enjoyed listening to them when I visit your site, but I think that I will get to listen to them more often now that they are delivered to my iPod.

This comment has been removed by the author.

It seems like you appear to have a problem with some words being used in fiction writing. It looks more or less as if you are almost going to get annoyed, give or take, with anybody who uses some of these words. Am I approximately on the right track and thus have I roughly anticipated your attitude towards these words; or do you think I’m wrong or only nearly wrong? Excellent blog. I had some fun with these words 🙂 I use ‘seem’ far too often so I use the search command to find them when I have written – a useful editing tool. Spell check is useful also then I might learn to spell attitude better. 🙂

@Ray: Glad you’re enjoying the podcasts! You’re right – the good thing about vague words and phrasings is that removing them is usually just a simple matter of running a Find in Word.

@Christopher: You seem to be roughly on the right track – give or take a phrase or two. 😉

One reason (excuse?) for using vague words is to stay in the POV.

Would the POV character be confident the bomb fell exactly ten feet away? Probably not. But would he care?

The solution is to think more like the character.

Most people don’t measure in feet. What about car-length; compact-car-length; moving-van-length; knocked me off my feet; four steps; two bodies; dog-leash; or covered me in dust / splinters / bricks?

Even if he does think in feet (real estate agents, long-jump athlete), would he care about the measurement error? Sometimes. In the moment, probably not, unless he’s programming a bomb-disposal robot. In a legal charge, probably yes, so the defense won’t quibble over the measurement error.

Oh boy, the “should, would, could” factor! My first drafts are infested with this kind of language. By the second draft they are gone, never to be seen again.

Most of the time… 😀

@Cricket: Staying in POV is always key. If being vague shows something important about a character’s personality, definitely leave it in.

@ralfast: Good for you! Thank heavens for second drafts, eh?

Seem and almost are mine. At a class I attended, the tutor pointed out how things couldn’t be “Almost” anything. Your character either did or didn’t do something. Writing “she almost got there in time” could be simplified into “she was late”. Definitely one of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever had!

Wow!! Thanks for all the advice!!! I will just keep a note of this all!!

Thanks for listing the words instead of just telling all the advice!!

with warm regards http://becomingprince.blogspot.com

I think the word ‘very’ is vague. I read a quote from Mark Twain: “Write ‘Damn’ every time you are tempted to write ‘Very.’ Your editor will scratch it out, and you’ll be left with the sentence you ought to have written.” Since then, I scratch ‘Very’ out every time I write it, and every time, it strengthens the sentence more than weakens it. Thank you Mark Twain. And Thank you for the post!

Uh-oh, I use “seem” or “seemed” too much! thanks for such a helpful post.

I’m wondering if these words turn up a lot because they’re common in business writing. I edit a newsletter, and people just don’t want to commit, so they add the weasel words.

@Miss Cole: It’s kind of akin to Yoda’s immortal wisdom: “Do or do not. There is no try.”

@AllMyPosts: Specific lists are always more helpful in my opinion. Glad you found it useful!

@T.R.: Yes, very vague. 😉 Mark Twain’s advice rarely goes amiss.

@Elizabeth: The good news is that now that you’ve figured it out, it’s an easy issue to fix.

@Linda: Interesting observation. Makes sense to me!

Oh man, I didn’t even realize I use the “looks as if” on just about every page! *off to delete*

Thanks for this!!

Amazing how these insidious little phrases sneak in without us even being aware of them, isn’t it?

Oh I am SO guilty of this!! Ahh. Great post, and grat advice, as usual ;o) Thank you for this. Off to scan the WIP again!! LOL

We certainly give our Find tools a good workout, don’t we? Gotta wonder what writers did before them!

I just searched my last completed rough draft for these words. *wince* In 105 pages I have 240 abouts. I look forward to avoiding them in my next draft! Thanks for doing this series. It is making me eager to finish my first draft so I can start editing!

Better late than never on fixing ’em!

Thanks for this! I love the comments, too.

I find that I don’t want to “commit” to things, so I add in those vague qualifiers sometimes, too.

Another great article. One of my favorite things about your posts is that you don’t just talk about what we should and shouldn’t do. You always share multiple examples and that makes it easier to grasp whatever lesson you’re sharing. Thanks for another good one.

Great post, as always. I’m going to have to do a search for the word “seem” in my WIP.

@Sarah: As writers, we like to cover our bases. We may be *pretty* sure of a fact, but, just in case, we’re wrong we’ll stick in a qualifier. But the truth is: We either need to do the necessary research to be sure, or we need to just lie so convincingly that readers never even think about doubting us.

@Lee: You’re very welcome! I’m glad you find the examples helpful.

Great article! I find that I’m prone to use vague words when I get tired and don’t want to work at precise wording. Thanks for the list. Now I can go edit my last story and groan.

@Katie: You know, I haven’t done a search like that in a while myself. I should probably run one too!

@Karen: Editing and groaning – two actions that are often very productive when done together!

I’ve had to remove plenty of these words from my manuscript, and I’ll bet I can delete more. Thanks.

Thanks for the great reminders. And now, for fear of becoming vague or weak, I’ll just begin editing.

Get that red pen out and start wielding! 😀

@Julie: Have fun! The last thing a writer can afford is to appear weak or vague – unless, of course, he’s dealing with an intentionally weak or vague character.

I’m always looking for ways to tighten my story. Thanks for the word list.

Tight stories are usually excellent stories. Here’s to all of us achieving that goal!

I’ve had to go through and consciously remove a bunch of imprecise words for the very reasons you’ve specified out of my stories. “About” is one of my biggies, but so is “just” combined with “about”! 🙂 You have to be precise when writing mysteries, although a little obfuscation by imprecision can make good red herrings. 😉

“Just” was a word that an early editor jumped on me for overusing. I like to think I’m slightly more aware of it now days!

So true, so true! I use “seems” a lot, but I usually notice it. Still, I need to be better about getting it out of my prose.

Most vague words do a good job blending into the wallpaper. We don’t notice them, readers don’t notice them. What we *do* notice is the effect they have on our prose.

It’s taken a while to see it but once I matured as a writer I see writing like those and I feel it more than I read it. When I’m reviewing something I come across them and I feel it before I identify the ambiguous statements. It’s a fondness for adverbs.

Adverbs (and adjectives) are like candy. We love them, but they’re not necessarily good for us.

You’ve listed key indicators of diluted writing. I can’t think of another word to add to this very useful list of culprits, but will save it as a reference to perform global searches on my own manuscripts. I’ve always been weary of “seems” and “about” and any word with an -ly ending. Why make broth when you can have stew, something the reader can get their teeth into?

That’s a great analogy! Personally, I’ve never been into broth. But stew… mmm!

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OK, next lesson checked, I am guilty of these words, too. At least a bit better than my “there” sins. Thanks – now I got much closer to understand why this ProWritingAid is highlighting the vague and abstract words. I use it for editing but never paid much attention to this report. Yes, more groaning will happen soon… I’m not sure if this fits your list, but my PWA discovered an excessive usage of “all”, the worst *seems* to be in “at all” clump.

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Wow! How timely was this, my friend…I’m self-editing my first novel, and I’ve noticed these words over and over. And I’ve taken them out in order to tighten the sentences and make my characters less wishy-washy. One word I use and overuse is “sometimes”. I’ve found in several instances that taking it out defines my character: “He’d noticed over the years she sometimes reacted that way.” In the context of the scene, it’s much better to say, “He’d noticed over the years she’d reacted the same way.” Thanks, Katie! Back to spit-polishing now…

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Good addition! I like the “poetry” that sometimes adds in certain situations. But often, as you say, it’s nothing but equivocating.

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Nice “vague writing” examples, Katie. I agree with your assessment, and add one more. In the final example where the house addition is 50 square feet, this corresponds to a room that is just over 7 feet square – a hilariously tiny addition. Unless describing the surprisingly minuscule size of the addition was the intent of including the numbers, I submit that this author’s bigger mistake was mathematical!

That, my friend, is a good demonstration of my math skills. 😉

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I generally agree, but I am also sometimes jerked out of my reading bubble when characters note something of which they can’t be sure – in sentences such as: “He looked up and saw a 23-year-old woman approach him”. In such cases, please add the vagueness, or risk bursting the bubble!

In that case, I agree. It’s a matter of POV. Would the POV character think of this woman as exactly twenty-three? We might think of someone as “twenty,” but probably not “twenty-three.” If so, it’s saying something about the narrator.

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This is a great article. What do you think about using the word seemed in the cases where the narrating character, say in third person limited, is noticing the reaction of another character? Example: “He seemed unsure about the plan but eventually agreed to it.” I’ve always thought it was a great way to show the motivations of a non-narrating character without head hopping.

I like to avoid it when possible, but sometimes it’s crucial for staying in POV. You might find this post helpful: Inferring Non-POV Characters’ Thoughts .

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There are times, to me, that every story needs to be a little vague. One, to create a question in the reader’s minds. I like to give the reader 2 + 2 + 1…not 5. Make them wonder a little bit. I think it sucks them further into the story. I like small innuendos and finger posts…that must be answered, of course, at some point. I think a touch of vagueness on occasion creates mystery. Really, how many people could say with certainty that the bomb fell ten feet from me? Now I do agree that ten or twelve is a bit broad. How about a little over ten feet away… Is there really a better way to say this? — “You don’t seem to count very well…woman. They’s three of us an’ one of you.” “Just about even odds…I make it.” She grinned at the hawk-faced gunman. Or– After circling back about mile and a half, Bone approached the road from the north through the cedar trees and other brush while Loraine came in from the south. They caught sight of each other and signaled. There’s no way anyone could know if it was a mile…or a mile and a half out in the countryside. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Everything has its place…Even an occasional ‘very’.

I don’t disagree. But it’s important for writers to recognize the vague words, so we can make a conscious choice about why we may or may not be using them.

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“As the creator of your worlds and your characters, you will always have the ability to make statements of authority in your writing. After all, if you’re not the authority in your stories, who is?”

Doesn’t this presume an omniscient narrator though? If we are using first or third person limited POV, we are limited to what the character perceives and the inferences they draw about what is happening. If we tell exactly what is happening and why, we are changing POV. Or, possibly, we’re revealing something about that character. A character who isn’t noticeably aware of their own perceptions and biases may sound confident and bold, but they also may be over-confident. A character who does realise the limits of their perception (and internally questions what they are seeing and how they are interpreting it) is much wiser.

But that said, I do see you point. If we are going for a close narrative distance, we don’t want to be filtering events through the character’s senses too much. We want to reader to experience the events as the character does.

As usual, good writing is one almighty balancing act!

Taken literally, yes, my statement implies an omniscient narrator. But even within confined POVs, the author will still be choosing every word with precision. If the vagueness is a deliberate choice to characterize or remain in POV, the rules will be a little different. But even in confined POVs, there is often much more vagueness than is actually necessary to preserve integrity.

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Peter raises an interesting point/question: when should the specificity of the language reflect the author’s knowledge vs the character’s knowledge?

Or to put it another way: How fair are we obligated to play with the audience? If we’re viewing the scene through Maddock’s eyes and he sees something as tomato sauce on the wall, but it’s actually blood, is it fair and reasonable to describe it as sauce, since Maddock would assume that and hasn’t had the opportunity to discover otherwise? Or is that cheating the audience.

On the flip side, if our descriptions only lapse into vagueness when we’re hiding something from the audience, doesn’t that kind of telegraph their significance?

It always depends on the effect the author is trying to create, which is why authors must always be aware of how readers are likely to interact with any particular phrase. If the author is purposely playing against reader expectations for any variety of reasons (irony, experimentation, etc.), breaking the “rules” of POV can work. But the payoff must be a fair exchange; otherwise, readers will just end up feeling the author broke the rules out of ignorance rather than understanding.

Thanks for this post. A reminder about the trap of weasel words is always helpful.

The Elle example looks like it’s part of a larger descriptive/summary section. If it was instead introducing a scene about Elle’s encounter with the cop and you wanted to avoid losing tension by giving the outcome up front, one alternative approach would be to more precisely describe the current setup rather than the future outcome. eg. “Elle was forty-five minutes late for her dentist appointment and was doing 54 in a 50 zone when the police siren sprang into life behind her”.

Agreed. Better dramatization often fixes the problem altogether.

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It may help, too, for character and voice sake to use creative descriptors people already understand for numerical measurements. “The bomb went off a car’s length away.” “Elle was already a Law & Order late for her dentist when the cop’s lights flashed.” “Mark’s figures revealed the addition would add a McDonald’s Playland amount of space to the already sprawling project.” Those may not be the best examples, but the concept is an option.

This is especially helpful when writing fantasy, when accepted measurement standards may not work for the story.

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Oh good point. I like that. “The clever spy – or so he thought – was a noon shadow from his prize, when out of the trunk sprang a … “

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Good advice. Thank you. Can’t think of any words to add to the list. It’s pretty comprehensive. Opps. Should I have just said, it’s comprehensive?

Hah. Good save. 😉

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What is Vague Writing?

Vague writing stems from writers that have the inability to express exactly what they want to say. Instead of directly and clearly describing key points, such an author would use generalizations, avoid specifics and concrete naming, and prefers to make broad judgments instead of providing detailed facts and evidence.

e.g. (Vague) My friend is a highly erudite and educated person. (Strong) My friend has a PhD in nuclear physics from Howard University.

Why Should It Be Avoided?

Vagueness in writing negatively affects the comprehensibility of the text you are working on, because your audience will hardly understand what you intended to say. In addition, vagueness is a sign of being unprofessional; it also may be annoying to readers―especially for those who value precision and specifics.

How to Avoid Vague Writing

– Use descriptions if you need to convey your impression of an object, scene, or person. Instead of saying, “My new boss has a weird appearance,” for instance, you could write: “My new boss has purple hair and dark-red lipstick, and instead of a business suit, she wore jeans and a singlet.”

– When it is possible, use concrete names instead of talking about an object or person indirectly. Compare the following sentences: “When I was in the room, a guy whom I didn’t really know entered and started to distract me.” You might want to add more specifics to it, for example: “When I was reading The Return of the King in my room, Josh―a guy who lived next door and whom I didn’t know quite well―came in looking for my roommate, and distracted me.”

– If you are talking about qualities, specify them instead of simply mentioning that they exist.

e.g. (Vague) Hemingway was a great writer who wrote interesting books. (Strong) Hemingway was an American writer whose vivid language and rich life experience portrayed through his works helped me write my own novels.

– Keep the golden rule in mind: “If you can cut it―cut it.” Reread your writing several times, and if you have doubts whether to cut a word or phrase, or not―cut it.

– Use active verbs.

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The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Word Choice

What this handout is about.

This handout can help you revise your papers for word-level clarity, eliminate wordiness and avoid clichés, find the words that best express your ideas, and choose words that suit an academic audience.

Introduction

Writing is a series of choices. As you work on a paper, you choose your topic, your approach, your sources, and your thesis; when it’s time to write, you have to choose the words you will use to express your ideas and decide how you will arrange those words into sentences and paragraphs. As you revise your draft, you make more choices. You might ask yourself, “Is this really what I mean?” or “Will readers understand this?” or “Does this sound good?” Finding words that capture your meaning and convey that meaning to your readers is challenging. When your instructors write things like “awkward,” “vague,” or “wordy” on your draft, they are letting you know that they want you to work on word choice. This handout will explain some common issues related to word choice and give you strategies for choosing the best words as you revise your drafts.

As you read further into the handout, keep in mind that it can sometimes take more time to “save” words from your original sentence than to write a brand new sentence to convey the same meaning or idea. Don’t be too attached to what you’ve already written; if you are willing to start a sentence fresh, you may be able to choose words with greater clarity.

For tips on making more substantial revisions, take a look at our handouts on reorganizing drafts and revising drafts .

“Awkward,” “vague,” and “unclear” word choice

So: you write a paper that makes perfect sense to you, but it comes back with “awkward” scribbled throughout the margins. Why, you wonder, are instructors so fond of terms like “awkward”? Most instructors use terms like this to draw your attention to sentences they had trouble understanding and to encourage you to rewrite those sentences more clearly.

Difficulties with word choice aren’t the only cause of awkwardness, vagueness, or other problems with clarity. Sometimes a sentence is hard to follow because there is a grammatical problem with it or because of the syntax (the way the words and phrases are put together). Here’s an example: “Having finished with studying, the pizza was quickly eaten.” This sentence isn’t hard to understand because of the words I chose—everybody knows what studying, pizza, and eating are. The problem here is that readers will naturally assume that first bit of the sentence “(Having finished with studying”) goes with the next noun that follows it—which, in this case, is “the pizza”! It doesn’t make a lot of sense to imply that the pizza was studying. What I was actually trying to express was something more like this: “Having finished with studying, the students quickly ate the pizza.” If you have a sentence that has been marked “awkward,” “vague,” or “unclear,” try to think about it from a reader’s point of view—see if you can tell where it changes direction or leaves out important information.

Sometimes, though, problems with clarity are a matter of word choice. See if you recognize any of these issues:

  • Misused words —the word doesn’t actually mean what the writer thinks it does. Example : Cree Indians were a monotonous culture until French and British settlers arrived. Revision: Cree Indians were a homogenous culture.
  • Words with unwanted connotations or meanings. Example : I sprayed the ants in their private places. Revision: I sprayed the ants in their hiding places.
  • Using a pronoun when readers can’t tell whom/what it refers to. Example : My cousin Jake hugged my brother Trey, even though he didn’t like him very much. Revision: My cousin Jake hugged my brother Trey, even though Jake doesn’t like Trey very much.
  • Jargon or technical terms that make readers work unnecessarily hard. Maybe you need to use some of these words because they are important terms in your field, but don’t throw them in just to “sound smart.” Example : The dialectical interface between neo-Platonists and anti-disestablishment Catholics offers an algorithm for deontological thought. Revision : The dialogue between neo-Platonists and certain Catholic thinkers is a model for deontological thought.
  • Loaded language. Sometimes we as writers know what we mean by a certain word, but we haven’t ever spelled that out for readers. We rely too heavily on that word, perhaps repeating it often, without clarifying what we are talking about. Example : Society teaches young girls that beauty is their most important quality. In order to prevent eating disorders and other health problems, we must change society. Revision : Contemporary American popular media, like magazines and movies, teach young girls that beauty is their most important quality. In order to prevent eating disorders and other health problems, we must change the images and role models girls are offered.

Sometimes the problem isn’t choosing exactly the right word to express an idea—it’s being “wordy,” or using words that your reader may regard as “extra” or inefficient. Take a look at the following list for some examples. On the left are some phrases that use three, four, or more words where fewer will do; on the right are some shorter substitutes:

Keep an eye out for wordy constructions in your writing and see if you can replace them with more concise words or phrases.

In academic writing, it’s a good idea to limit your use of clichés. Clichés are catchy little phrases so frequently used that they have become trite, corny, or annoying. They are problematic because their overuse has diminished their impact and because they require several words where just one would do.

The main way to avoid clichés is first to recognize them and then to create shorter, fresher equivalents. Ask yourself if there is one word that means the same thing as the cliché. If there isn’t, can you use two or three words to state the idea your own way? Below you will see five common clichés, with some alternatives to their right. As a challenge, see how many alternatives you can create for the final two examples.

Try these yourself:

Writing for an academic audience

When you choose words to express your ideas, you have to think not only about what makes sense and sounds best to you, but what will make sense and sound best to your readers. Thinking about your audience and their expectations will help you make decisions about word choice.

Some writers think that academic audiences expect them to “sound smart” by using big or technical words. But the most important goal of academic writing is not to sound smart—it is to communicate an argument or information clearly and convincingly. It is true that academic writing has a certain style of its own and that you, as a student, are beginning to learn to read and write in that style. You may find yourself using words and grammatical constructions that you didn’t use in your high school writing. The danger is that if you consciously set out to “sound smart” and use words or structures that are very unfamiliar to you, you may produce sentences that your readers can’t understand.

When writing for your professors, think simplicity. Using simple words does not indicate simple thoughts. In an academic argument paper, what makes the thesis and argument sophisticated are the connections presented in simple, clear language.

Keep in mind, though, that simple and clear doesn’t necessarily mean casual. Most instructors will not be pleased if your paper looks like an instant message or an email to a friend. It’s usually best to avoid slang and colloquialisms. Take a look at this example and ask yourself how a professor would probably respond to it if it were the thesis statement of a paper: “Moulin Rouge really bit because the singing sucked and the costume colors were nasty, KWIM?”

Selecting and using key terms

When writing academic papers, it is often helpful to find key terms and use them within your paper as well as in your thesis. This section comments on the crucial difference between repetition and redundancy of terms and works through an example of using key terms in a thesis statement.

Repetition vs. redundancy

These two phenomena are not necessarily the same. Repetition can be a good thing. Sometimes we have to use our key terms several times within a paper, especially in topic sentences. Sometimes there is simply no substitute for the key terms, and selecting a weaker term as a synonym can do more harm than good. Repeating key terms emphasizes important points and signals to the reader that the argument is still being supported. This kind of repetition can give your paper cohesion and is done by conscious choice.

In contrast, if you find yourself frustrated, tiredly repeating the same nouns, verbs, or adjectives, or making the same point over and over, you are probably being redundant. In this case, you are swimming aimlessly around the same points because you have not decided what your argument really is or because you are truly fatigued and clarity escapes you. Refer to the “Strategies” section below for ideas on revising for redundancy.

Building clear thesis statements

Writing clear sentences is important throughout your writing. For the purposes of this handout, let’s focus on the thesis statement—one of the most important sentences in academic argument papers. You can apply these ideas to other sentences in your papers.

A common problem with writing good thesis statements is finding the words that best capture both the important elements and the significance of the essay’s argument. It is not always easy to condense several paragraphs or several pages into concise key terms that, when combined in one sentence, can effectively describe the argument.

However, taking the time to find the right words offers writers a significant edge. Concise and appropriate terms will help both the writer and the reader keep track of what the essay will show and how it will show it. Graders, in particular, like to see clearly stated thesis statements. (For more on thesis statements in general, please refer to our handout .)

Example : You’ve been assigned to write an essay that contrasts the river and shore scenes in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. You work on it for several days, producing three versions of your thesis:

Version 1 : There are many important river and shore scenes in Huckleberry Finn.

Version 2 : The contrasting river and shore scenes in Huckleberry Finn suggest a return to nature.

Version 3 : Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

Let’s consider the word choice issues in these statements. In Version 1, the word “important”—like “interesting”—is both overused and vague; it suggests that the author has an opinion but gives very little indication about the framework of that opinion. As a result, your reader knows only that you’re going to talk about river and shore scenes, but not what you’re going to say. Version 2 is an improvement: the words “return to nature” give your reader a better idea where the paper is headed. On the other hand, she still does not know how this return to nature is crucial to your understanding of the novel.

Finally, you come up with Version 3, which is a stronger thesis because it offers a sophisticated argument and the key terms used to make this argument are clear. At least three key terms or concepts are evident: the contrast between river and shore scenes, a return to nature, and American democratic ideals.

By itself, a key term is merely a topic—an element of the argument but not the argument itself. The argument, then, becomes clear to the reader through the way in which you combine key terms.

Strategies for successful word choice

  • Be careful when using words you are unfamiliar with. Look at how they are used in context and check their dictionary definitions.
  • Be careful when using the thesaurus. Each word listed as a synonym for the word you’re looking up may have its own unique connotations or shades of meaning. Use a dictionary to be sure the synonym you are considering really fits what you are trying to say.
  • Under the present conditions of our society, marriage practices generally demonstrate a high degree of homogeneity.
  • In our culture, people tend to marry others who are like themselves. (Longman, p. 452)
  • Before you revise for accurate and strong adjectives, make sure you are first using accurate and strong nouns and verbs. For example, if you were revising the sentence “This is a good book that tells about the Revolutionary War,” think about whether “book” and “tells” are as strong as they could be before you worry about “good.” (A stronger sentence might read “The novel describes the experiences of a soldier during the Revolutionary War.” “Novel” tells us what kind of book it is, and “describes” tells us more about how the book communicates information.)
  • Try the slash/option technique, which is like brainstorming as you write. When you get stuck, write out two or more choices for a questionable word or a confusing sentence, e.g., “questionable/inaccurate/vague/inappropriate.” Pick the word that best indicates your meaning or combine different terms to say what you mean.
  • Look for repetition. When you find it, decide if it is “good” repetition (using key terms that are crucial and helpful to meaning) or “bad” repetition (redundancy or laziness in reusing words).
  • Write your thesis in five different ways. Make five different versions of your thesis sentence. Compose five sentences that express your argument. Try to come up with four alternatives to the thesis sentence you’ve already written. Find five possible ways to communicate your argument in one sentence to your reader. (We’ve just used this technique—which of the last five sentences do you prefer?)Whenever we write a sentence we make choices. Some are less obvious than others, so that it can often feel like we’ve written the sentence the only way we know how. By writing out five different versions of your thesis, you can begin to see your range of choices. The final version may be a combination of phrasings and words from all five versions, or the one version that says it best. By literally spelling out some possibilities for yourself, you will be able to make better decisions.
  • Read your paper out loud and at… a… slow… pace. You can do this alone or with a friend, roommate, TA, etc. When read out loud, your written words should make sense to both you and other listeners. If a sentence seems confusing, rewrite it to make the meaning clear.
  • Instead of reading the paper itself, put it down and just talk through your argument as concisely as you can. If your listener quickly and easily comprehends your essay’s main point and significance, you should then make sure that your written words are as clear as your oral presentation was. If, on the other hand, your listener keeps asking for clarification, you will need to work on finding the right terms for your essay. If you do this in exchange with a friend or classmate, rest assured that whether you are the talker or the listener, your articulation skills will develop.
  • Have someone not familiar with the issue read the paper and point out words or sentences he/she finds confusing. Do not brush off this reader’s confusion by assuming he or she simply doesn’t know enough about the topic. Instead, rewrite the sentences so that your “outsider” reader can follow along at all times.
  • Check out the Writing Center’s handouts on style , passive voice , and proofreading for more tips.

Questions to ask yourself

  • Am I sure what each word I use really means? Am I positive, or should I look it up?
  • Have I found the best word or just settled for the most obvious, or the easiest, one?
  • Am I trying too hard to impress my reader?
  • What’s the easiest way to write this sentence? (Sometimes it helps to answer this question by trying it out loud. How would you say it to someone?)
  • What are the key terms of my argument?
  • Can I outline out my argument using only these key terms? What others do I need? Which do I not need?
  • Have I created my own terms, or have I simply borrowed what looked like key ones from the assignment? If I’ve borrowed the terms, can I find better ones in my own vocabulary, the texts, my notes, the dictionary, or the thesaurus to make myself clearer?
  • Are my key terms too specific? (Do they cover the entire range of my argument?) Can I think of specific examples from my sources that fall under the key term?
  • Are my key terms too vague? (Do they cover more than the range of my argument?)

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Cook, Claire Kehrwald. 1985. Line by Line: How to Improve Your Own Writing . Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Grossman, Ellie. 1997. The Grammatically Correct Handbook: A Lively and Unorthodox Review of Common English for the Linguistically Challenged . New York: Hyperion.

Houghton Mifflin. 1996. The American Heritage Book of English Usage: A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English . Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

O’Conner, Patricia. 2010. Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English , 3rd ed. New York: Penguin Publishing Group.

Tarshis, Barry. 1998. How to Be Your Own Best Editor: The Toolkit for Everyone Who Writes . New York: Three Rivers Press.

Williams, Joseph, and Joseph Bizup. 2017. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace , 12th ed. Boston: Pearson.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Humanities LibreTexts

6.4.5: Academic Writing Style, Wordiness and Concision

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Word Choice

Read this article about word choice.

What This Handout is About

This handout can help you revise your papers for word-level clarity, eliminate wordiness and avoid clichés, find the words that best express your ideas, and choose words that suit an academic audience.

Introduction

Writing is a series of choices. As you work on a paper, you choose your topic, your approach, your sources, and your thesis; when it is time to write, you have to choose the words you will use to express your ideas and decide how you will arrange those words into sentences and paragraphs. As you revise your draft, you make more choices.

You might ask yourself, "Is this really what I mean?" or "Will readers understand this?" or "Does this sound good?" Finding words that capture your meaning and convey that meaning to your readers is challenging. When your instructors write things like "awkward", vague", or "wordy" on your draft, they are letting you know that they want you to work on word choice. This handout will explain some common issues related to word choice and give you strategies for choosing the best words as you revise your drafts.

As you read further into the handout, keep in mind that it can sometimes take more time to "save" words from your original sentence than to write a brand new sentence to convey the same meaning or idea. Do not be too attached to what you have already written; if you are willing to start a sentence fresh, you may be able to choose words with greater clarity.

Awkward, Vague and Unclear Word Choice

So: you write a paper that makes perfect sense to you, but it comes back with "awkward" scribbled throughout the margins. Why, you wonder, are instructors so fond of terms like "awkward"? Most instructors use terms like this to draw your attention to sentences they had trouble understanding and to encourage you to rewrite those sentences more clearly.

Difficulties with word choice are not the only cause of awkwardness, vagueness, or other problems with clarity. Sometimes a sentence is hard to follow because there is a grammatical problem with it or because of the syntax (the way the words and phrases are put together). Here is an example: "Having finished with studying, the pizza was quickly eaten."

This sentence is not hard to understand because of the words I chose – everybody knows what studying, pizza, and eating are. The problem here is that readers will naturally assume that first bit of the sentence "(Having finished with studying") goes with the next noun that follows it – which, in this case, is "the pizza"! It does not make a lot of sense to imply that the pizza was studying. What I was actually trying to express was something more like this: "Having finished with studying, the students quickly ate the pizza." If you have a sentence that has been marked "awkward", "vague", or "unclear", try to think about it from a reader's point of view – see if you can tell where it changes direction or leaves out important information.

Sometimes, though, problems with clarity are a matter of word choice. See if you recognize any of these issues:

  • Misused words – the word does not actually mean what the writer thinks it does. Example : Cree Indians were a monotonous culture until French and British settlers arrived. Revision : Cree Indians were a homogenous culture.
  • Words with unwanted connotations or meanings. Example : I sprayed the ants in their private places. Revision : I sprayed the ants in their hiding places.
  • Using a pronoun when readers cannot tell whom/what it refers to. Example : My cousin Jake hugged my brother Trey, even though he did not like him very much. Revision : My cousin Jake hugged my brother Trey, even though Jake does not like Trey very much.
  • Jargon or technical terms that make readers work unnecessarily hard. Maybe you need to use some of these words because they are important terms in your field, but do not throw them in just to "sound smart". Example : The dialectical interface between neo-Platonists and anti-disestablishment Catholics offers an algorithm for deontological thought. Revision : The dialogue between neo-Platonists and certain Catholic thinkers is a model for deontological thought.
  • Loaded language. Sometimes we as writers know what we mean by a certain word, but we have not ever spelled that out for readers. We rely too heavily on that word, perhaps repeating it often, without clarifying what we are talking about. Example : Society teaches young girls that beauty is their most important quality. In order to prevent eating disorders and other health problems, we must change society. Revision : Contemporary American popular media, like magazines and movies, teach young girls that beauty is their most important quality. In order to prevent eating disorders and other health problems, we must change the images and role models girls are offered.

Sometimes the problem is not choosing exactly the right word to express an idea – it is being "wordy", or using words that your reader may regard as "extra" or inefficient. Take a look at the following list for some examples. On the left are some phrases that use three, four, or more words where fewer will do; on the right are some shorter substitutes:

Keep an eye out for wordy constructions in your writing and see if you can replace them with more concise words or phrases.

Clichés

In academic writing, it is a good idea to limit your use of clichés. Clichés are catchy little phrases so frequently used that they have become trite, corny, or annoying. They are problematic because their overuse has diminished their impact and because they require several words where just one would do.

The main way to avoid clichés is first to recognize them and then to create shorter, fresher equivalents. Ask yourself if there is one word that means the same thing as the cliché. If there is not, can you use two or three words to state the idea your own way? Below you will see five common clichés, with some alternatives to their right. As a challenge, see how many alternatives you can create for the final two examples.

Try these yourself:

Writing for an Academic Audience

When you choose words to express your ideas, you have to think not only about what makes sense and sounds best to you, but what will make sense and sound best to your readers. Thinking about your audience and their expectations will help you make decisions about word choice.

Some writers think that academic audiences expect them to "sound smart" by using big or technical words. But the most important goal of academic writing is not to sound smart – it is to communicate an argument or information clearly and convincingly. It is true that academic writing has a certain style of its own and that you, as a student, are beginning to learn to read and write in that style.

You may find yourself using words and grammatical constructions that you did not use in your high school writing. The danger is that if you consciously set out to "sound smart" and use words or structures that are very unfamiliar to you, you may produce sentences that your readers cannot understand.

When writing for your professors, think simplicity. Using simple words does not indicate simple thoughts. In an academic argument paper, what makes the thesis and argument sophisticated are the connections presented in simple, clear language.

Keep in mind, though, that simple and clear does not necessarily mean casual. Most instructors will not be pleased if your paper looks like an instant message or an email to a friend. It is usually best to avoid slang and colloquialisms. Take a look at this example and ask yourself how a professor would probably respond to it if it were the thesis statement of a paper: " Moulin Rouge really bit because the singing sucked and the costume colors were nasty, KWIM?"

Selecting and Using Key Terms

When writing academic papers, it is often helpful to find key terms and use them within your paper as well as in your thesis. This section comments on the crucial difference between repetition and redundancy of terms and works through an example of using key terms in a thesis statement.

Repetition vs. Redundancy

These two phenomena are not necessarily the same. Repetition can be a good thing. Sometimes we have to use our key terms several times within a paper, especially in topic sentences. Sometimes there is simply no substitute for the key terms, and selecting a weaker term as a synonym can do more harm than good. Repeating key terms emphasizes important points and signals to the reader that the argument is still being supported. This kind of repetition can give your paper cohesion and is done by conscious choice.

In contrast, if you find yourself frustrated, tiredly repeating the same nouns, verbs, or adjectives, or making the same point over and over, you are probably being redundant. In this case, you are swimming aimlessly around the same points because you have not decided what your argument really is or because you are truly fatigued and clarity escapes you. Refer to the "Strategies" section below for ideas on revising for redundancy.

Building Clear Thesis Statements

Writing clear sentences is important throughout your writing. For the purposes of this handout, let's focus on the thesis statement – one of the most important sentences in academic argument papers. You can apply these ideas to other sentences in your papers.

A common problem with writing good thesis statements is finding the words that best capture both the important elements and the significance of the essay's argument. It is not always easy to condense several paragraphs or several pages into concise key terms that, when combined in one sentence, can effectively describe the argument.

However, taking the time to find the right words offers writers a significant edge. Concise and appropriate terms will help both the writer and the reader keep track of what the essay will show and how it will show it. Graders, in particular, like to see clearly stated thesis statements.

Example: You have been assigned to write an essay that contrasts the river and shore scenes in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn . You work on it for several days, producing three versions of your thesis:

Version 1: There are many important river and shore scenes in Huckleberry Finn. Version 2: The contrasting river and shore scenes in Huckleberry Finn suggest a return to nature. Version 3: Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain's Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave "civilized" society and go back to nature.

Let's consider the word choice issues in these statements. In Version 1, the word "important" – like "interesting" – is both overused and vague; it suggests that the author has an opinion but gives very little indication about the framework of that opinion. As a result, your reader knows only that you are going to talk about river and shore scenes, but not what you are going to say. Version 2 is an improvement: the words "return to nature" give your reader a better idea where the paper is headed. On the other hand, she still does not know how this return to nature is crucial to your understanding of the novel.

Finally, you come up with Version 3, which is a stronger thesis because it offers a sophisticated argument and the key terms used to make this argument are clear. At least three key terms or concepts are evident: the contrast between river and shore scenes, a return to nature, and American democratic ideals.

By itself, a key term is merely a topic – an element of the argument but not the argument itself. The argument, then, becomes clear to the reader through the way in which you combine key terms.

Strategies for Successful Word Choice

  • Be careful when using words you are unfamiliar with. Look at how they are used in context and check their dictionary definitions.
  • Be careful when using the thesaurus. Each word listed as a synonym for the word you are looking up may have its own unique connotations or shades of meaning. Use a dictionary to be sure the synonym you are considering really fits what you are trying to say.
  • Under the present conditions of our society, marriage practices generally demonstrate a high degree of homogeneity.
  • In our culture, people tend to marry others who are like themselves. (Longman, p. 452)
  • Before you revise for accurate and strong adjectives, make sure you are first using accurate and strong nouns and verbs. For example, if you were revising the sentence "This is a good book that tells about the Civil War", think about whether "book" and "tells" are as strong as they could be before you worry about "good". (A stronger sentence might read "The novel describes the experiences of a Confederate soldier during the Civil War." "Novel" tells us what kind of book it is, and "describes" tells us more about how the book communicates information.)
  • Try the slash/option technique, which is like brainstorming as you write. When you get stuck, write out two or more choices for a questionable word or a confusing sentence, e.g., "questionable/inaccurate/vague/inappropriate". Pick the word that best indicates your meaning or combine different terms to say what you mean.
  • Look for repetition. When you find it, decide if it is "good" repetition (using key terms that are crucial and helpful to meaning) or "bad" repetition (redundancy or laziness in reusing words).

Whenever we write a sentence we make choices. Some are less obvious than others, so that it can often feel like we have written the sentence the only way we know how. By writing out five different versions of your thesis, you can begin to see your range of choices. The final version may be a combination of phrasings and words from all five versions, or the one version that says it best. By literally spelling out some possibilities for yourself, you will be able to make better decisions.

  • Read your paper out loud and at… a… slow… pace. You can do this alone or with a friend, roommate, TA, etc. When read out loud, your written words should make sense to both you and other listeners. If a sentence seems confusing, rewrite it to make the meaning clear.
  • Instead of reading the paper itself, put it down and just talk through your argument as concisely as you can. If your listener quickly and easily comprehends your essay's main point and significance, you should then make sure that your written words are as clear as your oral presentation was. If, on the other hand, your listener keeps asking for clarification, you will need to work on finding the right terms for your essay. If you do this in exchange with a friend or classmate, rest assured that whether you are the talker or the listener, your articulation skills will develop.
  • Have someone not familiar with the issue read the paper and point out words or sentences he/she finds confusing. Do not brush off this reader's confusion by assuming he or she simply does not know enough about the topic. Instead, rewrite the sentences so that your "outsider" reader can follow along at all times.

Questions to Ask Yourself

  • Am I sure what each word I use really means? Am I positive, or should I look it up?
  • Have I found the best word or just settled for the most obvious, or the easiest, one?
  • Am I trying too hard to impress my reader?
  • What is the easiest way to write this sentence? (Sometimes it helps to answer this question by trying it out loud. How would you say it to someone?)
  • What are the key terms of my argument?
  • Can I outline out my argument using only these key terms? What others do I need? Which do I not need?
  • Have I created my own terms, or have I simply borrowed what looked like key ones from the assignment? If I have borrowed the terms, can I find better ones in my own vocabulary, the texts, my notes, the dictionary, or the thesaurus to make myself clearer?
  • Are my key terms too specific? (Do they cover the entire range of my argument?) Can I think of specific examples from my sources that fall under the key term?
  • Are my key terms too vague? (Do they cover more than the range of my argument?)

Works Consulted and Additional Resources

We consulted these works while writing the original version of this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout's topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find the latest publications on this topic. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using.

The American Heritage Book of English Usage: A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English (Boston: Houghton, 1996).

Anson, Chris M. and Robert A. Schwegler. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers, 2nd ed. (New York: Addison, 2001).

Grossman, Ellie. The Grammatically Correct Handbook: A Lively and Unorthodox Review of Common English for the Linguistically Challenged (New York: Hyperion, 1997).

Cook, Claire Kehrwald. Line by Line: How to Improve Your Own Writing (Boston: Houghton, 1985).

O'Conner, Patricia C. Woe is I: The Grammar Phobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English (New York: Putnam, 1996).

Tarshis, Barry. How to be Your Own Best Editor The Toolkit for Everyone Who Writes (New York: Three Rivers P, 1998).

Williams, Joseph. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, 6th ed. (New York, Addison, 2001).

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How To Answer Vague College Essay Prompts

Julia de Raadt

Julia de Raadt

Head of research and lead admissions expert, table of contents, vague college essay prompts.

Stay up-to-date on the latest research and college admissions trends with our blog team.

How To Answer Vague College Essay Prompts

There are many questions on a college application that may seem incredibly open-ended. Some are not straightforward, so it can feel like they are meant to trick you. But really, these questions are designed to give the you the opportunity to express your creativity and your passions. Let’s discuss how to approach and ace vague college essay prompts. With the right framework, you can knock it out of the park!

Many colleges ask you to “give us your top 10” or “a list of your favorites” and many students are left saying, “Top 10 of what? Favorite what?!?” It can be easy to stress over these questions and try to tailor your answer to what you think that specific college wants to hear. But there are better ways to go about it. 

  1. There is no wrong answer.

Just because you are applying to become a Chemistry major, doesn’t mean you have to list your top 10 favorite elements on the periodic table. You can just as easily list your favorite songs, NBA players, types of dogs, or movie characters. There is no designed direction for you to take! With this question the college is giving you an opportunity to be as creative and original as possible. With any vague college essay prompts, think about what part of your personality you can demonstrate, and go from there.

2. Respond in ways that reflect who you are.

Whatever your answer may be, you should make sure that it is reflective of your interests, skills and/or passions. It should be another aspect of your application that helps tell your story. For my application to Wake Forest I provided a list of the top 10 places that were most meaningful to me. In the interview I was actually asked about my list and to explain it in more detail. I was able to go through each location I listed and describe how it shaped me as a person. I was able to explain my three week home-stay in Salamanca, Spain and how it reflected my passion for travel as well as my interest in learning about new cultures. This gives the college insight to who you are and what you value.

3. Try to differentiate yourself.

Most questions on college applications are straightforward and the format of the student’s answers varies only slightly. When colleges add a vague question on their application, you should take advantage of the opportunity to separate yourself from other candidates. Rather than spending time thinking about what the college wants you to say, you should spend that time trying to be as original as possible! You don’t need to make something up, since you still want to make your answer relevant to your interests. But innovation shows the college that you are an outside-of-the-box thinker while still adding to your own personal story.

 If you need more help in the college application process, schedule a free consult below.

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College apps can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone. empowerly college counseling is in it with you., related articles.

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Vague, General Statements and Fluff

Fluff is anything in your writing that doesn’t move the argument or story forward. Every single sentence in your writing should be pushing the reader forward, whether that means building an argument, telling a story, or stirring up their emotions. If a sentence isn’t doing anything in your writing, it doesn’t belong there. It’s fluff.

Fluff in essays is often overly vague or general, saying things that the reader already knows or saying something so vague that it pretty much says nothing at all. You want to look for fluff in introductions and conclusions, because this is where they crop up the most. Also, don’t be afraid to write fluff. It can be useful in getting words on the page, and giving you a platform to build on. I often start my introductions with nonsense fluff to help me get past the scary blank page, and I just type without worrying about how smart or profound I sound, circling around the point until I find it. This is a common writing practice; the key is to edit out all that fluff at the end. Yes, even if it’s hundreds of words. It’s done its job and now into the garbage it goes.

Here are some examples of this common writing weakness from my former students’ essays:

Sex has been a part of human nature since human nature existed.  This statement doesn’t say anything the reader doesn’t already know. This is not an effective transition to talking about human sexuality, because it’s so boring it’ll be a wonder if your reader moves past this sentence.

Nowadays, women have more rights. The problem with this bit of fluff is its vagueness. When is “nowadays,” what women, and more rights than what/when? Because the sentence doesn’t answer those questions, it simply doesn’t provide us with any relevant information. It pretends to be saying something while saying almost nothing.

Advertisements are all over the place. Like the first example, this sentence simply isn’t giving the reader any new information. Any reader would have to be living under a rock to not know about the inundation of advertisements in our everyday lives. Statements like this occur when the writer thinks that putting words down is the task set before them, but it never is. The task at hand is to say something important. Say it loudly and boldly and convincingly. Make it interesting. Make it persuasive. Whatever you do, don’t write boring, inane statements that give your reader no new information or perspective.

In today’s society, people have the freedom to do just about anything. There are many societies today, so which does the author mean? Modern Indian society? Contemporary geek subculture society? The societies formed by immigrants and former immigrants in the Rio Grande valley? Further, what does “just about anything” mean? The writer here was referring to modern American society. But there, people do not have the freedom to escape their student debts, attend a public university for free, enter private residences without permission, or walk around naked in many public areas. The vagueness in this sentence makes it fall apart into nothing, so that it merely takes up space, rather than saying something important, interesting, or at all.

It can be tempting to think “I would never write a sentence like that!” and simply not worry about fluff in your own writing. But I have been writing for over two decades and I still have to watch for fluff vigilantly. Some of these examples came from otherwise wonderful essays, because all writers, no matter their skill, are susceptible to writing boring, overly vague sentences that take up space and don’t do much else. You cannot usually avoid fluff; you must instead search for it after it’s already written. If you find yourself struggling to identify and eliminate fluff from your writing, you may consider seeking the expertise of a professional ghostwier who can provide valuable insights and help you streamline your content for maximum impact and clarity.

Watch out for fluff in your conclusions and introductions, and go through your essay with a fine-tooth comb. Aim for clarity and specificity. Ask yourself about every sentence: “Does this further my argument or story? Does it say something specific, interesting, or necessary?” Be relentless and your writing will be all the stronger for it. Moreover, ensure that your writing reflects your intended meaning and is free from unnecessary details or distractions.

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How To Write A Paper In College When The Prompt Is Vague

Professors often give vague writing prompts when a big end of the year paper is due. This is usually so that you won't feel pigeonholed to a topic and so that you have some creative freedom in writing process. For students, though, this doesn't always translate to a fun time. In fact, the endless possibilities sometimes end up hurting students more than it ends up helping them. This doesn't have to be your reality though. You can create great papers, even when your professor's prompts are less than helpful. Today's blog post is going to show you how to turn a vague prompt into a crazy amazing paper.

How To Write A Paper In College When The Prompt Is Vague | One of the hardest things to do in college is write a paper with a vague prompt. Today on The Happy Arkansan I am walking you through all the steps you need to take to write an amazing paper even when you don't fully understand the prompt given.

1. Read The Entire Prompt

Okay, so I know this seems like a bit of a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many people just don't read the prompt. Take a few minutes to sit down and completely grasp the prompt you are tackling.

  • Highlight or underline what the professor is looking for. Professors don't always give rubrics, but if you sit down and look at the paper prompt you can usually come up with your own rubric.
  • Take note of the due dates. You need to be aware of the due dates associated with your paper. Especially if this is a semester-long project, there may be many due dates along the way.
  • Be sure to list questions you have as you read. If you do have questions. make a list of them after you have given the prompt a once over. Then you can go back and look specifically to see if you just missed the answer to the question, or if you actually need to go ask for an answer to the question.

I hope those first few points were helpful as you take the first step towards owning your next paper.

2. Do A Timed Brainstorming Session

This is not something that I suggest as often as I should, but I adore timed brainstorming sessions. Sometimes when I am getting low on blog post topics or I am not sure what I would like to write about as far as school work goes, I do a timed brainstorm session.

So, how does this work? You basically take out a sheet of paper/notebook, pick a general topic or concept, set a timer for 5-10 minutes, and just write for the length of that time. You don't think about all the other stuff happening. You don't erase if you repeat an idea. You just dump all of your ideas out on a sheet of paper, even if those ideas are chicken scratch and meaningless. Then you go back and look at your brainstorming session to see exactly what you can salvage.

There is a chance you won't get anything from this session, but there is also a chance that you will have your next paper topic in that batch. I love this when I need a burst of creativity and I just need to start thinking about how to tackle a topic or a paper.

I  highly suggest getting a cute notebook to keep all your time brainstorming sessions in. I encourage you to do this because it will allow you to look back at your past brainstorming sessions when you inevitably get another vague paper prompt. Why do all your work over again, if you have already done a timed brainstorming session that relates to your current class.

Always keep your phone or a notebook handy

If timed brainstorm sessions aren't your thing, remember to always keep your phone or a notebook within reach. I get ideas for papers/blog posts/and everything in between pretty consistently. You never know when something as small as a dream can help you decide what you would like to write about for a paper. I always have a notebook near my bed for this exact purpose.

3. Research Your Heart Out

Research is a great way to get ideas for what you want to do as a project. Sometimes just spending a few hours looking through research databases can really help you when you are stuck on what to write about. I have written a lengthy blog post all about how to use research databases that I adore, if you don't know the basics of how to use a research database I really encourage reading that article because I give my best advice for doing research (and I even include a video tutorial where I show you exactly how I do research.)

While you are researching your topic you want to be able to quickly skim the articles and books you have found. I have written two lengthy posts on skimming articles and skimming academic books so that you can get right to the point and understand what you need to look at when you are reading. You shouldn't need to read the entire article or book to grasp the concepts inside it.

4. If You Are Stuck, Go To Office Hours

I know that your professor probably asks during class if you have any questions, but don't ask your questions during class . Well, if you have a complex question that is. Complex questions, in my humble opinion, are better left for office hours. So, if you want to ask your professor about the due date, definitely ask that question in class. If you have a really complex question that involves an answer that is longer than a paragraph, go to their office.

  • This helps you. Asking questions in class can be really hard. Your professor may have to answer the question so quickly that they can't go as in-depth as they'd like. This may end up leaving out a lot of the answer and leaving you feeling more confused than helped.
  • This helps your classmates. Trust me, your classmates are listening to the professors rambles just like you. If you are getting confused, chances are your classmates are too. Plus, if they feel like they have a handle on things already they may get annoyed that class time is being spent helping one student on their research paper.

On the other hand, if your professor sets aside time in class like an entire class period to answering your questions, of course, ask away. If you get confused from that session, you may still like to go to office hours for clarification though.

Chances are, if you are truly stuck, five minutes of class time where you cannot be one-on-one with the professor is not going to help unstick you. Bite the bullet and head to the professor's office hours for individualized attention.

If you have ANY preliminary information, come to the office hours session with that information on hand. Share with them some of your thoughts on the topics you are considering, share any preliminary research you have done, and come prepared with specific questions about what you find confusing about the prompt. The more specific you are, the easier it will be for your professor to help you with your paper.

Pro Tip: Never go to your professor's office hours saying you need help with EVERYTHING. This won't get you far. Come with a specific list of questions that you and your professor can go through.

5. Get An Outline Done And Ask For More Feedback

Once you have reached out to your professor the first time, you need some time to focus and re-group. Before you meet your professor the first time, you need to make adjustments and progress. Write a preliminary outline or write an introductory paragraph that touches on all the parts you want to hit in the paper. This will give your professor something to help you with that's not just abstract talking points. Give your professor something solid to help you with.

I have written an awesome article all about how to write an amazing introductory paragraph so use that as a guideline to help you write a paragraph to bring to your professor.

The reason I think you should bring an outline or an introductory paragraph to your professor is because it is a small token, gives them something to work with, and doesn't waste too much of your time in case they don't see the value in your paper idea.

6. Remember: Professors Want Originality

Even though broad prompts are extremely frustrating to students one of the reason that professors give such broad prompts is because professors want originality. Grading papers is an extremely tedious task, and sometimes getting the same paper over and over makes the process more annoying. Having your topic handed to you can be easy for the student, but it can also be painful because you are forced to research topics that you don't care about. Prompts that are too vague and too specific have their own faults.

Your professor knows that you are still learning how to write a paper correctly. When the prompt is vague it also usually accompanies project approval. If it doesn't, meet with your professor to make sure that your paper has a solid base to work with. Your professor wants just enough stress on this project to make it a worthwhile endeavor, but not so much that it causes you to have major issues. Reach out when you need to so you don't become an originality guinea pig.

7. Go Forth And Conquer Your Best Paper Yet

I know that you are capable of amazing things and that you will crush the paper that you have coming up. Right now, a paper with a vague prompt seems like the worst thing that could ever happen, but I promise with a little hard work, dedication, and visits with your professor you can craft a paper that meets and exceeds the expectations of the pickiest professor.

You have all these tools and tips at your fingertips lovely. Don't waste them.

Related Reading:

10 Mistakes College Students Make When It Comes To Writing Papers, Part One

10 Mistakes College Students Make When It Comes To Writing Papers, Part Two

Final Thoughts

I hope that you enjoyed this blog post. It is possible to create great papers even when your professor gives you a vague or broad prompt. I would love to know how you personally deal with an assignment with the prompt is too vague, Leave your thoughts in the comments below so we can continue this conversation.

Writing a paper is hard, especially when the prompt is vague. Check out tips from @happyarkansan to make it easier.

how to write a vague essay

Amanda Cross

Amanda is the original voice behind The Happy Arkansan. She is a happiness enthusiast with a passion for helping others, marketing, and red/purple lipstick.

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Strength and Sunshine

Sometimes too much freedom with the prompts can be so stressful! Ha! I have a 10 paper paper to write for one of my finals, but once I nail the topic, it all usually flows to my liking 😉

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Writing Studio

Refining thesis statements, what makes for an effective thesis.

In an effort to make our handouts more accessible, we have begun converting our PDF handouts to web pages. Download this page as a PDF: Refining Thesis Statements Return to Writing Studio Handouts

An effective thesis should be argumentative and controversial (i.e., if you could make a plausible case against your thesis, it is probably an argument), something not immediately obvious which you can persuade a reader to believe through the evidence in the body of your paper.

A strong thesis statement answers a specific question and takes a distinct position on the topic, is focused, and allows the reader to anticipate the organization of the argument to follow.

A weak thesis statement is vague (identifies a topic but does not specify an argument), offers plot summary or is a statement of fact, is un-provable, or does not give the reader a sense of why the argument is important.

Look over the two example thesis statements below. Consider and name how each of the progressively refined versions matches the criteria offered above.

Example Thesis A

Version 1: Marge Simpson is important to the plot of The Simpsons.

Version 2:  Marge Simpson is important to The Simpsons because she fulfills a significant family role as a mother and housewife.

Version 3:  Marge Simpson is important to The Simpsons because she fulfills a significant family role as a teacher and caregiver to her husband and children.

Version 4:  While Marge Simpson may be a model caregiver for her family, she is a different sort of model for her audience.

Version 5:  Despite her role as a seemingly submissive housewife and mother, Marge Simpson comes to function for the audience of The Simpsons as a subversive force against “middle class” values.

Example Thesis B

Version 1:  Eating disorders are a significant problem among college-aged students.

Version 2:  Eating disorders are a significant problem among college-aged men because they negatively affect academic performance, socializing, and overall psychological well-being.

Version 3:  Eating disorders among college-aged men are overshadowed by a focus on eating disorders among college-aged women.

Version 4:  Eating disorders among college-aged men are overshadowed by a focus on eating disorders among college-aged women; people don’t notice this because an eating disorder is typically considered a women’s disease and is stigmatized as such.

Version 5: Lack of attention to eating disorders among college-aged men not only leaves this group of students untreated, but also exacerbates feelings of isolation associated with this disease.

This handout was originally produced by Jane Wanninger, Graduate Student, Department of English, Vanderbilt University

Last revised: 07/2009 | Adapted for web delivery: 04/2021

In order to access certain content on this page, you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader or an equivalent PDF viewer software.

  • Definitional Argument Essay

For a definitional essay, you need to write an argument that a borderline or contested case fits (or does not fit) within a particular category by classifying that particular case and defining the category.

Definitional arguments require a definition of key terms:

Example: Joe is too bossy.

Define “bossy” and provide examples of his bossy attitude (poor listening skills, shouting at people, making decisions without asking committee—these are what define “bossy” in your argument.

Example : Low-carb diets are dangerous.

Define what constitutes “low-carb” and define what you mean by “dangerous.” Cite studies showing harmful effects, how substances affect the body, etc.

Criteria-Match Structure:

The criteria section of your argument explains and illustrates your criteria.

The match section of your argument persuades the reader that your example meets those criteria.

Example: Although the Hercules Shoe Company is nonpolluting and provides a socially useful product, [CLAIM] it is not a socially responsible company [BECAUSE CLAUSE] because it treats its workers unjustly.

Criteria Part: What points must be met for a company to be deemed “socially responsible”?

  • (1) Research how others have defined your term (dictionaries, judicial opinions, expert testimony, etc.
  • (2) Use your own critical thinking to make your own extended definition.

Match Part : In what ways does the shoe company meet those points?

  • (1) Supply examples of how this and other situations meet your criteria.
  • (2) Give other evidence about how your example meets your criteria.

For your Definitional Argument Essay :

  • introduce the issue and state the claim
  • define key terms
  • present your first criterion and argument that your case meets your definition
  • present your second criterion and argument that your case meets your definition
  • present your third criterion and argument that your case meets your definition (if necessary)
  • anticipate and respond to possible objections/arguments
  • conclude with return to the “big picture,” what is at stake, why your argument is important, etc.

Definitional Argument Essay Proposal

  • What vague or arguable term, phrase, or situation are you defining?
  • What scenario are you going to use to introduce your claim?
  • What is your first (1) criterion and (2) argument that your case meets your definition?
  • What is your second (1) criterion and (2) argument that your case meets your definition?
  • What is your third (1) criterion and (2) argument that your case meets your definition?
  • What are your (1) anticipated objections/arguments and (2) responses to them?
  • How will you conclude with return to the “big picture,” what is at stake, why your argument is important, etc?
  • Definition Argument. Provided by : Martin's College English. Located at : http://www.oercommons.org/courses/definitional-argument-essay/view# . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
  • Table of Contents

Instructor Resources (Access Requires Login)

  • Overview of Instructor Resources

An Overview of the Writing Process

  • Introduction to the Writing Process
  • Introduction to Writing
  • Your Role as a Learner
  • What is an Essay?
  • Reading to Write
  • Defining the Writing Process
  • Videos: Prewriting Techniques
  • Thesis Statements
  • Organizing an Essay
  • Creating Paragraphs
  • Conclusions
  • Editing and Proofreading
  • Matters of Grammar, Mechanics, and Style
  • Peer Review Checklist
  • Comparative Chart of Writing Strategies

Using Sources

  • Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Avoiding Plagiarism
  • Formatting the Works Cited Page (MLA)
  • Citing Paraphrases and Summaries (APA)
  • APA Citation Style, 6th edition: General Style Guidelines

Definition Essay

  • How to Write a Definition Essay
  • Critical Thinking
  • Video: Thesis Explained
  • Effective Thesis Statements
  • Student Sample: Definition Essay

Narrative Essay

  • Introduction to Narrative Essay
  • Student Sample: Narrative Essay
  • "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell
  • "Sixty-nine Cents" by Gary Shteyngart
  • Video: The Danger of a Single Story
  • How to Write an Annotation
  • How to Write a Summary
  • Writing for Success: Narration

Illustration/Example Essay

  • Introduction to Illustration/Example Essay
  • "She's Your Basic L.O.L. in N.A.D" by Perri Klass
  • "April & Paris" by David Sedaris
  • Writing for Success: Illustration/Example
  • Student Sample: Illustration/Example Essay

Compare/Contrast Essay

  • Introduction to Compare/Contrast Essay
  • "Disability" by Nancy Mairs
  • "Friending, Ancient or Otherwise" by Alex Wright
  • "A South African Storm" by Allison Howard
  • Writing for Success: Compare/Contrast
  • Student Sample: Compare/Contrast Essay

Cause-and-Effect Essay

  • Introduction to Cause-and-Effect Essay
  • "Cultural Baggage" by Barbara Ehrenreich
  • "Women in Science" by K.C. Cole
  • Writing for Success: Cause and Effect
  • Student Sample: Cause-and-Effect Essay

Argument Essay

  • Introduction to Argument Essay
  • Rogerian Argument
  • "The Case Against Torture," by Alisa Soloman
  • "The Case for Torture" by Michael Levin
  • How to Write a Summary by Paraphrasing Source Material
  • Writing for Success: Argument
  • Student Sample: Argument Essay
  • Grammar/Mechanics Mini-lessons
  • Mini-lesson: Subjects and Verbs, Irregular Verbs, Subject Verb Agreement
  • Mini-lesson: Sentence Types
  • Mini-lesson: Fragments I
  • Mini-lesson: Run-ons and Comma Splices I
  • Mini-lesson: Comma Usage
  • Mini-lesson: Parallelism
  • Mini-lesson: The Apostrophe
  • Mini-lesson: Capital Letters
  • Grammar Practice - Interactive Quizzes
  • De Copia - Demonstration of the Variety of Language
  • Style Exercise: Voice

sample research topic about education

sample research topic about education

AP ® Lang teachers: looking to help your students improve their rhetorical analysis essays?

Coach Hall Writes

clear, concise rhetorical analysis instruction.

Vagueness in Writing

October 29, 2022 by Beth Hall

Avoiding vagueness in writing is a quick fix to help students improve their content and style. In this post, you’ll learn about which types of words to add to your writing and which types of words to avoid in essays.

Avoid Demonstrative Pronouns

Has your English teacher ever circle the word “this” in your essay? Or maybe written “this what?”

This, that, these, and those are demonstrative pronouns.

To avoid an unclear antecedent, be sure to add a noun after the word “this.”

Here’s a quick fix: Instead of saying “this depicts” you might say “this chart depicts.”

Adding a noun after a demonstrative pronoun helps add clarity to your essay. As you are writing try to incorporate specifics whenever possible, as this leads to more precise writing.

how to write a vague essay

Add Adjective and Adverbs

Including adjectives and adverbs is a great way to avoid vagueness in writing.

I typically have my students add in adverbs and adjectives as part of the revision process. With practice, they build their vocabulary and become more likely to add in higher-level vocabulary in their rough drafts.

Consider this example: Instead of saying “she says,” try “she asserts” (or another strong verb that captures the intended meaning. Then add an adverb before “asserts.” How is she asserting that statement? What is the tone? Boldly? Logically? Emphatically?

how to write a vague essay

Words to Avoid in Formal Writing

It’s important to avid lower level words in formal writing. When writing an essay, students should strive for an academic tone. Therefore, words to avoid in formal writing include “good,” “bad,” “thing,” “stuff,” and “a lot.” Students should also avoid imprecise descriptors like “really” and “very.”

Many students try to replace “good” and “bad” with “positive” and “negative.” While “positive” and “negative” are slightly better than “good” and “bad,” “positive” and “negative” still make my list of words to avoid in writing, if possible, because saying “positive diction” or a “negative tone” is still vague. For this reason, I consider “positive” and “negative” words to avoid in formal writing.

how to write a vague essay

Other words to avoid in formal writing include “says,” “shows,” and “uses.”

There are many possible synonyms for “says.” Therefore, it is important to select a verb that precisely conveys the intended meaning. For example, while “asserts” and “implies” could both mean “says,” these two words have different meanings and uses. Selecting a stronger verbs for “says” leads to more precise writing.

Similarly, there are multiple synonyms for “shows.” These verbs can often help students lead into their commentary. Some possible alternatives include conveys, demonstrates, illustrates, highlights, portrays, reveals, emphasizes, underscores, and suggests.

These 3 quick tips will help you avoid vagueness in writing essays. Before submitting an assignment, double check that you don’t have any unclear antecedents. For a typed essay, do a “Ctrl F” and search for demonstrative pronouns in your document. You can also search for lower-level words that need a stronger synonym. Lastly, look for opportunities to add more specific evidence or detail. Adding precise adjectives and adverbs will allow students to better articulate their analysis.

Want more tips? Check out this video!

AP® Lang Teachers

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how to write a vague essay

Avoiding Vague Language in Academic Writing

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how to write a vague essay

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How To Avoid Vague Words In Writing And Make It Clear

Avoid Vague Words In Writing For More Clarity

When possible, you should try to avoid vague words because they can have an impact on the meaning of your writing.

Depending on the context, they can sometimes make it challenging for readers to understand your message clearly.

You can improve the clarity and impact of your writing by being careful with your choice of vocabulary.

The best way to avoid problems with possible misunderstandings or lack of clarity is to be more specific.

What are unclear or vague words?

Certain words that are imprecise, undefined, or lack explicitness often fail to convey a clear meaning and can lead to misunderstandings or confusion for a reader .

Common examples of vague words include thing, stuff, good, bad, and nice.

We had a nice time at the picnic yesterday.

I have to take some stuff with me to work tomorrow for the sales conference.

It’s a thing I always forget to do.

The restaurant wasn’t bad , but I’ve been to better.

Michael said the movie was good .

Words like these may seem fitting or expedient.

But you can see from the examples above they can make your writing appear dull, weak, or bland.

The easy fix is to be much more specific.

Why are vague words a problem?

Words that dilute the strength of your message can make it difficult for readers to understand your point of view.

They can also detract from the credibility of your writing by making it seem uncertain or unclear.

Your choice of words can also make it challenging for readers to grasp the key points in your writing.

For example, consider the following sentence.

The guidelines are bad.

It is a vague sentence because it needs to specify what is bad about the guidelines.

Does bad mean that the guidelines are poorly written, inaccurate, or lack enough details?

Using a word like bad fails to provide the reader with enough information to entirely understand the point.

How to avoid vague words

The obvious fix is to use more specific vocabulary and descriptive terms.

But you can’t always simply delete and replace a single word.

A weak word may be the most appropriate, so you might need to add more information.

There is always a way to make your writing stronger and clear.

Here are some quick tips to help you.

1. Identify the purpose of your writing

Before you start a new text, take a moment to think about what you want to achieve with your writing.

What message do you want to convey?

What important points do you want your readers to understand?

Having a clear purpose in mind helps you choose the most appropriate words to express your thoughts.

2. Use concrete and specific words

Instead of using vague pronouns or words, choose concrete and specific terms that clearly convey your message.

For example, you could use a product, item, or object instead of a thing.

Similarly, you could use excellent, outstanding, or superb instead of good.

Using concrete and specific words will help your readers understand your message more clearly.

3. Define your terms

If you’re using technical or specialized terms, it’s essential to define them for your readers.

You know what breakpoints with media queries are, but your readers may not.

Breakpoints with media queries are points when websites adjust to different screen sizes, such as mobile, tablet, and desktop.

It’s always better to give clear information.

The same applies when you use acronyms. Make sure you add a reference for an acronym when you first use it.

By defining, you avoid confusion and ensure that your readers understand the meaning of your writing.

4. Try to describe

When possible, use descriptive words to help your readers visualize your message.

Here’s a vague sentence.

The view was beautiful.

With more description, you can quickly improve it.

The view from the hilltop was a breathtaking panorama of endless rolling hills, valleys, and clear blue lakes.

By being descriptive, you’ll make your writing more engaging and memorable for your readers.

5. Avoid unnecessary absolutes

Words like always, never, and every are often vague because they don’t account for exceptions or limitations.

It’s better to use more flexible words that reflect the complexity of the situation.

For example, instead of saying, “Almost everyone disagrees with the policy,” you could say, “Many staff members disagree with the policy.”

But if you want to say it’s absolute, make it clear. “Not one staff member agrees with the policy.”

6. Avoid phrases that are too general

Some common phrases are too general to use in writing.

that kind of thing

stuff like that

more or less

and so forth

When you see these or similar phrases, replace them with a more specific and meaningful description or reason.

I think he more or less likes his new job.

I think he likes his new job because he loves working on policy. But he is still adjusting to all the extra meetings, traveling, and reporting.

7. Check when you edit your writing

It’s true that you should write with freedom and edit with care.

In the case of vague words and phrases, don’t worry too much about them when you are writing.

However, when it’s time to check your draft, highlight any unclear parts.

You can then revise them to ensure you convey your points more clearly and accurately to your readers.

You can’t avoid vague words and phrases all the time.

There are no good or bad words in writing because every word has its place.

But you can make your writing clearer and more precise.

When you proofread a text, think like a reader.

Ask yourself, is it clear?

Related Reading: Neutral Language Register In Writing To Present Facts

About The Author

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Derek Haines

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3 Ways to Make Conflict Less Destructive

Two ropes pulling on a larger rope to shape its path

“Do you think you could sum up the essence of all you’ve learned in one sentence?”

That was the question my friend Jim Collins, the famed leadership author, suddenly asked me as we were hiking up a mountain a few years ago.

“You’ve been wandering around the world for the last 45 years,” he continued, “working in some of the world’s toughest conflicts from the Cold War to the Middle East, from strikes to boardroom battles. What can help us in these times of intense conflict?”

I am an anthropologist by training. If I were a Martian anthropologist looking at us now, I would say we live in a time of great paradox. Never before in human evolution have we enjoyed such an abundance of opportunities to solve the world’s problems and live the life we want for ourselves and our children. And yet at the same time, with the rapid changes and disruptions, we face a wave of destructive conflict that’s polarizing every facet of life from family to work to community to our world—and paralyzing our ability to work together.

How do we navigate this stormy time to be able to realize the enormous opportunities we have at hand? 

First, we need to be realistic: we can’t end conflict. Nor should we . In fact, we may actually need more conflict, not less—and by that, I mean the healthy conflict that allows us to engage our differences, grow, and change what needs to be changed. The choice we face is not to get rid of conflict but to transform it from destructive fighting into creative, constructive, collaborative negotiation.

So what do we need to transform our conflicts and navigate these tumultuous times?

Read more: The Science of Getting Along

I would suggest we need three things above all: a clear perspective, a way out, and lots of help from others.

Let’s start with perspective. When it comes to conflict, we are often our own worst enemies. The biggest obstacle to getting what I want is not what I think it is. It is not the difficult person on the other side of the table. It is the person on this side of the table—it is the person I look at in the mirror every morning. It is our natural, very human, very understandable tendency to react—often out of fear and anger. We humans are reaction machines. As writer Ambrose Bearce once quipped, when angry you will make the best speech you will ever regret.

What’s the alternative?

It’s to do the exact opposite and pause for a moment. It is to think about what you really want and how you can get there. Imagine yourself on a stage and then go to the balcony—a place of calm where you can keep your eyes on the prize and see the bigger picture.

In other words, start by stopping.

That sets us up for the next challenge to find a way out . In today’s tough conflicts, we need more than ever to be able to find a way out of the labyrinth of destructive fights.

The other side may be far from cooperative. They dig in and refuse to budge.They pressure, attack, and threaten.  

Their position, their mind, is far away from yours. There is a huge chasm in between where you are and where they are. That chasm is filled with fear, anger, doubt, unmet needs, distrust. Our challenge is to build a bridge over the chasm—not just an ordinary bridge, a golden bridge. In other words, create an attractive way out for them and for you. 

Instead of pushing, do the exact opposite: attract. Instead of making it harder for them, do the exact opposite. Make it easier for them, easier to make the decision you want them to make. Leave your thinking for a moment and start the conversation where their mind is. Listen to them, try to put yourself in their shoes, and figure out their needs and fears so you can address them while advancing your interests, too.

That leads me to the third point: get some help . In today’s tough conflicts, it’s not easy to go to the balcony or build a golden bridge. No matter how good we might be, we are going to need help—and lots of it. 

Here’s the very common mistake we make when things get rough. We reduce the conflict to two sides—it’s us against them, union against management, Democrats against Republicans. What we forget is that in any conflict there is always a third side — the people around us, the friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, allies, and neutrals.

The third side constitutes a huge untapped potential resource for transforming the conflict. It is like a container within which even the hardest conflicts can begin to give way to dialogue and negotiation. The surrounding community can help calm the people who are fighting. It can bring the parties together and help them communicate and understand each other better. It can help them explore a way out, a golden bridge.

When the conflict is really hard, we may need a kind of community intervention. I call this a “swarm ” —a critical mass of persuasive influence and assistance—that can help the parties find a way through their difficulties. We need to mobilize the third side—the surrounding community—and build a winning coalition for agreement.

After all these decades working in tough conflicts and wars, people often ask me: are you an optimist or a pessimist? I like to answer that I am actually a “possibilist.” I believe in our human potential to transform even the toughest conflicts from destructive fights into creative negotiations. I believe it because I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes—in coal strikes, bitter boardroom battles, family feuds, and wars around the world. I’ve watched people unlock their hidden human potential and make the seemingly impossible become possible.

Where there are obstacles, possibilists look for opportunities. It is a change in mindset.

Possibilists aren’t blind to the dark side of human nature. To be a possibilist means to look at the negative possibilities too, but then to use that perspective to motivate us to look for the positive possibilities that avert the worst and bring about the possible.

I have seen how conflict can bring out the worst in us, but it can also bring out the best.

So what was the single summary sentence I offered Jim on that memorable mountain hike? “The path to possible is to go to the balcony, build a golden bridge, and engage the third side.” 

No conflict, however difficult, is impossible. Conflicts are, after all, made by humans so they can be solved by humans. And if we can transform our conflicts, we can transform our lives. We can transform our world.

That is my dream.

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Opinion: We know how voters feel about Trump and Biden. But how do the experts rank their presidencies?

Wax figures of nine American presidents.

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Presidents Day occurs at a crucial moment this year, with the presidency on the cusp of crisis as we inexorably shuffle toward a rematch between the incumbent and his predecessor. It’s the sort of contest we haven’t seen since the 19th century, and judging by public opinion of President Biden and former President Trump, most Americans would have preferred to keep it that way.

But the third installment of our Presidential Greatness Project , a poll of presidential experts released this weekend, shows that scholars don’t share American voters’ roughly equal distaste for both candidates.

Biden, in fact, makes his debut in our rankings at No. 14, putting him in the top third of American presidents. Trump, meanwhile, maintains the position he held six years ago: dead last, trailing such historically calamitous chief executives as James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson. In that and other respects, Trump’s radical departure from political, institutional and legal norms has affected knowledgeable assessments not just of him but also of Biden and several other presidents.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump greets supporters as he arrives at a campaign stop in Londonderry, N.H., Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

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The overall survey results reveal stability as well as change in the way scholars assess our nation’s most important and controversial political office. Great presidents have traditionally been viewed as those who presided over moments of national transformation, led the country through major crises and expanded the institution of the presidency. Military victories, economic growth, assassinations and scandals also affect expert assessments of presidential performance.

The presidents at the top of our rankings, and others like ours, reflect this. Hallowed leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and George Washington consistently lead the list.

Our latest rankings also show that the experts’ assessments are driven not only by traditional notions of greatness but also by the evolving values of our time.

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One example is the continuing decline in esteem for two important presidents, Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson. Their reputations have consistently suffered in recent years as modern politics lead scholars to assess their early 19th and 20th century presidencies ever more harshly, especially their unacceptable treatment of marginalized people.

More acutely, this survey has seen a pronounced partisan dynamic emerge, arguably in response to the Trump presidency and the Trumpification of presidential politics.

Proponents of the Biden presidency have strong arguments in their arsenal, but his high placement within the top 15 suggests a powerful anti-Trump factor at work. So far, Biden’s record does not include the military victories or institutional expansion that have typically driven higher rankings, and a family scandal such as the one involving his son Hunter normally diminishes a president’s ranking.

Biden’s most important achievements may be that he rescued the presidency from Trump, resumed a more traditional style of presidential leadership and is gearing up to keep the office out of his predecessor’s hands this fall.

Trump’s position at the bottom of our rankings, meanwhile, puts him behind not only Buchanan and Johnson but also such lowlights as Franklin Pierce, Warren Harding and William Henry Harrison, who died a mere 31 days after taking office.

Trump’s impact goes well beyond his own ranking and Biden’s. Every contemporary Democratic president has moved up in the ranks — Barack Obama (No. 7), Bill Clinton (No. 12) and even Jimmy Carter (No. 22).

Yes, these presidents had great accomplishments such as expanding healthcare access and working to end conflict in the Middle East, and they have two Nobel Prizes among them. But given their shortcomings and failures, their rise seems to be less about reassessments of their administrations than it is a bonus for being neither Trump nor a member of his party.

Indeed, every modern Republican president has dropped in the survey, including the transformational Ronald Reagan (No. 16) and George H.W. Bush (No. 19), who led the nation’s last decisive military victory.

Academics do lean left, but that hasn’t changed since our previous surveys. What these results suggest is not just an added emphasis on a president’s political affiliation, but also the emergence of a president’s fealty to political and institutional norms as a criterion for what makes a president “great” to the scholars who study them.

As for the Americans casting a ballot for the next president, they are in the historically rare position of knowing how both candidates have performed in the job. Whether they will consider each president’s commitment to the norms of presidential leadership, and come to rate them as differently as our experts, remains to be seen.

Justin Vaughn is an associate professor of political science at Coastal Carolina University. Brandon Rottinghaus is a professor of political science at the University of Houston.

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Guest Essay

A Slap Shot Against Climate Denial

A photo illustration of a gavel holding up the Earth.

By Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Fontaine

Dr. Mann is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of “Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons From Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis.” Mr. Fontaine is an environmental lawyer who served as co-counsel for Dr. Mann in the defamation case detailed in this essay.

The climate is warming. Polar ice is melting, glaciers are receding, the chemistry of the ocean is becoming dangerously acidic, sea levels are rising. All of this and more are consequences of the greenhouse gases we continue to emit into the atmosphere, where they trap and radiate heat that would otherwise escape into space.

Those are facts, not conjectures. Yet the scientists researching the fallout from that inconvenient fact, established more than 100 years ago, continue to face attacks that threaten their research, reputations and livelihoods.

One of us, Michael Mann, is just such a scientist. Twelve years ago, he found himself accused of research fraud for his work documenting the rapid rise of Earth’s temperature since the early 20th century.

An adjunct scholar at the time at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which has said it “questions global warming alarmism,” compared Dr. Mann on a blog hosted by the institute to a convicted sex offender. “Instead of molesting children,” the post read, “he has molested and tortured data in the service of politicized science.” Then a conservative writer republished parts of that post on a blog hosted by National Review and added that Dr. Mann was “behind the fraudulent climate-change ‘hockey stick’ graph.”

Last week, after our decade-long journey through the court system, a jury in Washington, D.C., found that both writers were liable for defamation . We hope this sends a broader message that defamatory attacks on scientists go beyond the bounds of protected speech and have consequences. The jury awarded $1 in compensatory damages from each defendant, and punitive damages of $1,000 against one defendant and $1 million against the other.

However, we lament the time lost to this battle. This case is part of a larger culture war in which research is distorted and the truth about the climate threat is dissembled.

The assault on climate science has grown broader and more sophisticated. Rachael Lyle-Thompson, a lawyer for the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, which has supported Dr. Mann in the past, warned recently that sweeping and “invasive open records requests” to harass and intimidate and “other misuse of the legal system” continue to “threaten climate scientists’ ability to freely conduct research and openly share it with the public.”

And the attacks have expanded to other frontiers of science. Witness the ongoing assault on public health experts such as the doctors Anthony Fauci and Peter Hotez, who have sought to address the Covid-19 pandemic. Or the false claims about adverse health effects from wind turbines. Or efforts by the Trump administration to limit the scientific and medical research that the government can use to determine public health regulations. Or rollbacks of environmental regulations. The list, unfortunately, goes on.

It is in the context of this broader war on science that our recent trial victory may have wider implications. It has drawn a line in the sand. Scientists now know that they can respond to attacks by suing for defamation.

A scientist defamed can publish a thousand peer-reviewed articles in the effort to clear his or her name, but when scientists and lawyers join forces, disinformation can more readily be defeated. What’s disheartening is that it took more than a decade and countless hours by a team of lawyers to win a jury verdict in our case when the verdict on human-caused global warming was rendered decades ago.

Nearly 60 years ago, in fact, scientists warned President Lyndon Johnson that the continued combustion of fossil fuels would cause irreversible warming of the Earth’s atmosphere, with consequences we are seeing today. Concentrations of carbon dioxide then were at 320 parts per million in the atmosphere, compared to preindustrial levels of approximately 280 p.p.m.

Three decades later, with atmospheric carbon dioxide at 370 p.p.m., Dr. Mann, then a young postdoc, and two veteran climatologists, Raymond Bradley and Malcolm Hughes, published the first version of a graph that resembled an upturned hockey stick.

The handle of the stick charted the relatively constant temperatures of preindustrial times, while the upturned blade showed a rapid warming that began with the Industrial Revolution. To assemble the graph, they used natural temperature archives such as tree rings, corals and sediment and ice cores to estimate global temperatures back in time. The hockey stick graph soon became what a 2013 article in The Atlantic called “ the most controversial chart in science.”

“Climate deniers threw everything they had at the hockey stick,” the author, Chris Mooney, now a climate reporter at The Washington Post, wrote. They failed to disprove it — but “they certainly sowed plenty of doubt in the mind of the public,” he noted.

Which, of course, was the point. And that brings us back to our case.

In 2012, with atmospheric carbon dioxide having risen to nearly 400 p.p.m., the two blog posts attacking the hockey stick graph appeared, comparing Dr. Mann, then a professor at Penn State, to Jerry Sandusky, an assistant football coach at Penn State who had been convicted of abusing young boys.

As a jury has now decided, those posts were defamatory and were published with actual malice — meaning the defendants either knew the allegations were false or showed reckless disregard for the truth, a difficult hurdle for plaintiffs considered public figures to clear. But we did. And the hockey stick graph in the meantime has become firmly ensconced in the wall of evidence that burning fossil fuels is warming the planet at a pace and scale unseen.

Yet the machinery of disinformation, waged in part by the fossil fuel industry, continues to seed doubt, divert attention and delay action. Indeed, one of the defendants said in court that he stood by “every word I wrote about Michael Mann” and “his fraudulent hockey stick.” Both defendants are likely to appeal.

As of Tuesday, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide had hit 424.20 p.p.m., levels not seen for at least three million years , when Earth was warmer and the seas were much higher.

Clean energy solutions are readily available. But meaningful action in the United States, one of the world’s biggest carbon emitters, is in jeopardy of being blocked or slowed if a significant portion of the electorate does not accept the basic scientific facts and understand their implications. Voters should keep this in mind when they go to the polls later this year. With climate science still under attack and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increasing, we’re running out of time.

Michael E. Mann is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of “ Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons From Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis. ” Peter J. Fontaine is chair of the environmental law practice at the law firm Cozen O’Connor and served as co-counsel for Dr. Mann in the defamation lawsuit detailed in this essay.

Source images by Roberto Machado Noa and Oleksii Polishchuk/Getty Images

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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A former Amazon recruiter says one of the biggest mistakes job seekers make is putting Miss America-style statements in résumés

  • An ex-Amazon recruiter says a key mistake job candidates make is writing vague statements in résumés.
  • She compares these to "Miss America answers" that don't highlight specific achievements.
  • It's best to quantify your achievements, she said. 

Insider Today

A former Amazon recruiter says there’s one mistake that she keeps seeing both junior and senior employees making in their résumés: writing vague statements.

Lindsay Mustain — a former Comcast and Amazon recruiter and now CEO of Talent Paradigm — compared these statements to what she’d imagine hearing at a Miss America pageant in a recent interview with CNBC Make It .

It’s a simple response describing what you do in your role without highlighting your accomplishments, she said — using: "I had stakeholder meetings with people," as an example.

Mustain says those types of answers make a résumé look "like a glorified job description," adding that it’s not just junior employees but C-suite execs who are also guilty of this. 

Instead, she suggests quantifying your accomplishments, so you have numbers to back up how you helped a company move forward. 

The "more metrics and analytics you can add to your résumé, the more impressive," she said.

Recruiters often deal with tens of thousands of applicants, so a results-based résumé is more effective as the reviewers quickly get a sense of how much value you added to a role, she said.

Eugene Hayden, who has worked at companies like Google, KPMG, and the Boston Consulting Group, previously reviewed over 800 résumés to help people in his network who were negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The most common mistake he found in the résumés he reviewed was a lack of quantifiable achievements, with 86% of résumés having this issue, he said.

"Hiring managers and recruiters are looking for people who perfectly fit the role and are able to achieve goals and evaluate their personal impact.

The best résumé is the one that shows how you are perfectly qualified for the job to which you are applying,” he previously wrote for Business Insider.

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  • How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

  • Start with a question
  • Write your initial answer
  • Develop your answer
  • Refine your thesis statement

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Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

  • Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
  • Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
  • Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

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The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .

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Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

  • Why you hold this position
  • What they’ll learn from your essay
  • The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

  • In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
  • In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

  • It gives your writing direction and focus.
  • It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

  • Ask a question about your topic .
  • Write your initial answer.
  • Develop your answer by including reasons.
  • Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

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COMMENTS

  1. Clarity: Sharpen Vague Sentences and Paragraphs

    Lindsay Kramer Updated on January 9, 2023 Students Writing Tips When you write, clarity should be one of your top priorities. This is the case for every type of writing. Clear writing that makes its point or purpose unmistakable and provides the reader with the appropriate amount of detail is strong writing.

  2. Most Common Writing Mistakes: Why Vague Writing Is Weak Writing

    Take a look at the following examples of vague writing: Maddock looked at the wall, which seemed to be smeared with spaghetti sauce. The bomb fell approximately ten or twelve feet away from me. Elle was about forty-five minutes late for her dentist appointment when a cop pulled her over, apparently for speeding.

  3. Vague or Detailed Writing

    Best Parental Сontrol Apps. Log in. (Vague) My friend is a highly erudite and educated person. (Strong) My friend has a PhD in nuclear physics from Howard University. - When it is possible, use concrete names instead of talking about an object or person indirectly. Compare the following sentences: "When I was in the room, a guy whom I didn ...

  4. Word Choice

    If you have a sentence that has been marked "awkward," "vague," or "unclear," try to think about it from a reader's point of view—see if you can tell where it changes direction or leaves out important information. Sometimes, though, problems with clarity are a matter of word choice. See if you recognize any of these issues:

  5. PDF Strategies for Essay Writing

    Harvard College Writing Center 6 point A and point B in this text," readers will want to see how you solve that inconsistency in your essay. • suggests an answer complex enough to require a whole essay's worth of discussion. If the question is too vague, it won't suggest a line of argument. The

  6. Vagueness & Ambiguity in Writing: Definition & Examples

    Updated: 11/26/2022 Vague & Ambiguous Writing Akule wrote a persuasive essay on the American immigration system. However, his teacher gave him a low grade on the rough draft and provided...

  7. 6.4.5: Academic Writing Style, Wordiness and Concision

    When writing for your professors, think simplicity. Using simple words does not indicate simple thoughts. In an academic argument paper, what makes the thesis and argument sophisticated are the connections presented in simple, clear language. Keep in mind, though, that simple and clear does not necessarily mean casual.

  8. How To Answer Vague College Essay Prompts

    1. There is no wrong answer. Just because you are applying to become a Chemistry major, doesn't mean you have to list your top 10 favorite elements on the periodic table. You can just as easily list your favorite songs, NBA players, types of dogs, or movie characters. There is no designed direction for you to take!

  9. The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Essay

    The essay writing process consists of three main stages: Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline. Writing: Set out your argument in the introduction, develop it with evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a conclusion.

  10. Essay Writing: How to Write an Outstanding Essay

    The basic steps for how to write an essay are: Generate ideas and pick a type of essay to write. Outline your essay paragraph by paragraph. Write a rough first draft without worrying about details like word choice or grammar. Edit your rough draft, and revise and fix the details. Review your essay for typos, mistakes, and any other problems.

  11. Vague, General Statements and Fluff

    Fluff in essays is often overly vague or general, saying things that the reader already knows or saying something so vague that it pretty much says nothing at all. You want to look for fluff in introductions and conclusions, because this is where they crop up the most. Also, don't be afraid to write fluff. It can be useful in getting words on ...

  12. Words and Phrases to Avoid in Academic Writing

    The following words and phrases are considered too informal for a dissertation or academic paper. Taboo. Example. Alternative. A bit. The interviews were a bit difficult to schedule. The interviews were (difficult/somewhat difficult) to schedule. A lot of, a couple of. A lot of studies.

  13. How To Write A Paper In College When The Prompt Is Vague

    Highlight or underline what the professor is looking for. Professors don't always give rubrics, but if you sit down and look at the paper prompt you can usually come up with your own rubric. Take note of the due dates. You need to be aware of the due dates associated with your paper.

  14. Refining Thesis Statements

    A weak thesis statement is vague (identifies a topic but does not specify an argument), offers plot summary or is a statement of fact, is un-provable, or does not give the reader a sense of why the argument is important. Look over the two example thesis statements below.

  15. Definitional Argument Essay

    For a definitional essay, you need to write an argument that a borderline or contested case fits (or does not fit) within a particular category by classifying that particular case and defining the category. Definitional arguments require a definition of key terms: Example: Joe is too bossy.

  16. How to Write an Argumentative Essay

    Make a claim. Provide the grounds (evidence) for the claim. Explain the warrant (how the grounds support the claim) Discuss possible rebuttals to the claim, identifying the limits of the argument and showing that you have considered alternative perspectives. The Toulmin model is a common approach in academic essays.

  17. how to write a vague essay

    Use specific language or examples. Get rid of vague, undetailed language and filler words. Use the right amount of information to make your point: Too little leaves the reader with questions, and too much obscures your purpose. Use transition sentences to connect paragraphs. Reread your writing through someone else's eyes: Does it still make sense?

  18. Vagueness in Writing

    When writing an essay, students should strive for an academic tone. Therefore, words to avoid in formal writing include "good," "bad," "thing," "stuff," and "a lot." Students should also avoid imprecise descriptors like "really" and "very." Many students try to replace "good" and "bad" with "positive" and "negative."

  19. How to Write a Good Argumentative Essay: Easy Step-by-Step Guide

    Written by MasterClass Last updated: Sep 9, 2021 • 5 min read When you're writing a persuasive essay, you need more than just an opinion to make your voice heard. Even the strongest stance won't be compelling if it's not structured properly and reinforced with solid reasoning and evidence.

  20. Avoiding Vague Language in Academic Writing

    It is also important to be specific regarding comparisons (more, less, greater, larger, and smaller); when making a comparison, it must always be specified what is being compared to what. For example: Vague: Trial 1 had a greater positive response. Clearer: The response in Trial 1 was greater than the response in Trial 2.

  21. How To Avoid Vague Words In Writing And Make It Clear

    1. Identify the purpose of your writing 2. Use concrete and specific words 3. Define your terms 4. Try to describe 5. Avoid unnecessary absolutes 6. Avoid phrases that are too general 7. Check when you edit your writing Summary What are unclear or vague words?

  22. What Is an Essay? The Definition and Main Features of Essays

    Here are some of the many definitions of an essay: According to Frederick Crews, professor of English at the University of California at Berkeley, an essay is "a fairly brief piece of nonfiction that tries to make a point in an interesting way.". Aldous Huxley, a famous essayist, notes that "the essay is a literary device for saying ...

  23. How to Make Conflict Less Destructive

    Here's the very common mistake we make when things get rough. We reduce the conflict to two sides—it's us against them, union against management, Democrats against Republicans.

  24. Experts rank Biden among the best presidents. Trump? Not so much

    Presidents Day occurs at a crucial moment this year, with the presidency on the cusp of crisis as we inexorably shuffle toward a rematch between the incumbent and his predecessor. It's the sort ...

  25. Opinion

    Dr. Mann is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of "Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons From Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis." Mr. Fontaine is an ...

  26. A Former Amazon Recruiter Shares a Common Résumé Mistake

    An ex-Amazon recruiter says a key mistake job candidates make is writing vague statements in résumés. She compares these to "Miss America answers" that don't highlight specific achievements.

  27. How to Write a Thesis Statement

    Step 1: Start with a question Step 2: Write your initial answer Step 3: Develop your answer Step 4: Refine your thesis statement Types of thesis statements Other interesting articles Frequently asked questions about thesis statements What is a thesis statement? A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay.