essay on a good quality

Top 10 Qualities of a Good Essay

Why are students often asked to write an essay? Because this is a type of writing work in which students learn to express their thoughts about different topics. The reasoning should be backed up by facts and statements about a particular topic. However, the author’s opinion is the main one here, and it develops students’ creative and scientific thinking at the same time.

So what makes a good essay? You will find the answer to this question in this article. Only through finding and studying additional information will you be able to develop your critical thinking .

Here are some basic points and qualities of good writing that will make your essay successful:

Small Volume.

Of course, when creativity is in its full flow, you want to write without stopping, but the first sign of what a good essay is precisely its compact volume.

Here you need to explain your opinion about the topic’s subject matter clearly, concisely, and with specific arguments that will support your opinion. Avoid arguing about your statements because it will confuse you and the reader and negate all the work on the arguments.

Specific Topic and Your Subjective Opinion.

The subject of the essay is always specific. It does not happen that the essay has several different thoughts and topics. This is what distinguishes it from other types of paper works.

Your arguments and subjective opinion should be the same. The purpose of your work is to convince the reader that your opinion is true, backed by strong facts, and is consistent throughout the work.

Free Composition

What does it mean? The essay has no specific writing rules. Yes, a certain structure distinguishes this type of work from others, but the essay composition itself is free.

If you are unsure where to start or how to write an essay, try to find free essays online by contacting professionals .

Do not use too long sentences or try to surprise the reader with difficult terms and strange words, especially if you are not sure about their meaning. On the contrary, your main task here is to engage the reader and make contact with him through the text.

As we have already written, the author needs to establish contact with the reader.

The sentences and arguments that you will use in your work should be specific but not written in strict form. You should choose the point of support of your arguments and the main opinion and stick to it throughout the work.

Sometimes arguments have to be more specific and sometimes unobtrusively described in the body of the essay.

You should try to provide information as if “by the way” so that the reader feels like you are referring to him through the text and want to explain your impressions specifically to him. Contact with the reader is very important in this form of writing.

The Paradox

One of the most important qualities of an essay is that it should surprise the reader. You should use some strong phrases or quotes that will support your argument throughout the work.

The advantage will be on your side if you use paradoxical definitions or phenomena, which will appear simultaneously as indisputable but mutually exclusive statements. Feel free to use abstracts and aphorisms.

Meaningful Unity

This is probably the only paradox of the genre (not including the point written above). Why? Because the essay must be subjective , it must have a free composition and characteristics, but at the same time, it must have an internal semantic unity.

Your personal opinion should be expressed and supported here. Actually, this is about supporting the same opinion, which you will support with different thesis and statements. All of them should bring the idea of ​​the essay to one specific conclusion, that is your opinion.

Use of Simple Language

Your essay can be written in any form, but at the same time, it is not necessary, or better to say, you cannot use slang, shortening words, light-hearted tone, using strange abbreviations, and formulaic phrases. Do not forget that this is a serious piece of work with specific arguments and not an arbitrary letter to a friend.

Authoritarianism

You should submit information in such a way as to persuade the reader to adopt the same position he supports in his work. The author should not use aggressive words, but his arguments should be specific, and they should be considered indisputable.

Use an Element of Surprise

To make your essay memorable, do not be afraid to use catchy phrases, loud quotes, and unexpected arguments. This will arouse emotions in the reader, and your essay will be remembered. The main thing is that the used arguments are not aggressive, do not contradict your basic opinion, and are not written in rough language.

The Logic of Presentation.

Again, despite the free composition, the essay must have internal unity and the coherence of the author’s statements that express his opinion.

Because the rules of writing an essay are rather conditional, the author has the opportunity to fully indulge in his creative potential and use various interesting methods for writing this genre of paperwork.

The main thing to remember is that your thoughts and arguments should be united and interest the reader to read your work and take your side.

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A (Very) Simple Way to Improve Your Writing

• Mark Rennella

It’s called the “one-idea rule” — and any level of writer can use it.

The “one idea” rule is a simple concept that can help you sharpen your writing, persuade others by presenting your argument in a clear, concise, and engaging way. What exactly does the rule say?

• Every component of a successful piece of writing should express only one idea.
• In persuasive writing, your “one idea” is often the argument or belief you are presenting to the reader. Once you identify what that argument is, the “one-idea rule” can help you develop, revise, and connect the various components of your writing.
• For instance, let’s say you’re writing an essay. There are three components you will be working with throughout your piece: the title, the paragraphs, and the sentences.
• Each of these parts should be dedicated to just one idea. The ideas are not identical, of course, but they’re all related. If done correctly, the smaller ideas (in sentences) all build (in paragraphs) to support the main point (suggested in the title).

Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here .

Most advice about writing looks like a long laundry list of “do’s and don’ts.” These lists can be helpful from time to time, but they’re hard to remember … and, therefore, hard to depend on when you’re having trouble putting your thoughts to paper. During my time in academia, teaching composition at the undergraduate and graduate levels, I saw many people struggle with this.

• MR Mark Rennella is Associate Editor at HBP and has published two books, Entrepreneurs, Managers, and Leaders and The Boston Cosmopolitans .  

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How to Write the Perfect Essay

06 Feb, 2024 | Blog Articles , English Language Articles , Get the Edge , Humanities Articles , Writing Articles

You can keep adding to this plan, crossing bits out and linking the different bubbles when you spot connections between them. Even though you won’t have time to make a detailed plan under exam conditions, it can be helpful to draft a brief one, including a few key words, so that you don’t panic and go off topic when writing your essay.

If you don’t like the mind map format, there are plenty of others to choose from: you could make a table, a flowchart, or simply a list of bullet points.

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Thanks for signing up, step 2: have a clear structure.

Think about this while you’re planning: your essay is like an argument or a speech. It needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question.

Start with the basics! It’s best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs. Three main paragraphs is a good number for an exam essay, since you’ll be under time pressure. 

If you agree with the question overall, it can be helpful to organise your points in the following pattern:

• YES (agreement with the question)
• AND (another YES point)
• BUT (disagreement or complication)

If you disagree with the question overall, try:

• AND (another BUT point)

For example, you could structure the Of Mice and Men sample question, “To what extent is Curley’s wife portrayed as a victim in Of Mice and Men ?”, as follows:

• YES (descriptions of her appearance)
• AND (other people’s attitudes towards her)
• BUT (her position as the only woman on the ranch gives her power as she uses her femininity to her advantage)

If you wanted to write a longer essay, you could include additional paragraphs under the YES/AND categories, perhaps discussing the ways in which Curley’s wife reveals her vulnerability and insecurities, and shares her dreams with the other characters. Alternatively, you could also lengthen your essay by including another BUT paragraph about her cruel and manipulative streak.

Of course, this is not necessarily the only right way to answer this essay question – as long as you back up your points with evidence from the text, you can take any standpoint that makes sense.

Step 3: Back up your points with well-analysed quotations

You wouldn’t write a scientific report without including evidence to support your findings, so why should it be any different with an essay? Even though you aren’t strictly required to substantiate every single point you make with a quotation, there’s no harm in trying.

A close reading of your quotations can enrich your appreciation of the question and will be sure to impress examiners. When selecting the best quotations to use in your essay, keep an eye out for specific literary techniques. For example, you could highlight Curley’s wife’s use of a rhetorical question when she says, a”n’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs.” This might look like:

The rhetorical question “an’ what am I doin’?” signifies that Curley’s wife is very insecure; she seems to be questioning her own life choices. Moreover, she does not expect anyone to respond to her question, highlighting her loneliness and isolation on the ranch.

Other literary techniques to look out for include:

• Tricolon – a group of three words or phrases placed close together for emphasis
• Tautology – using different words that mean the same thing: e.g. “frightening” and “terrifying”
• Parallelism – ABAB structure, often signifying movement from one concept to another
• Chiasmus – ABBA structure, drawing attention to a phrase
• Polysyndeton – many conjunctions in a sentence
• Asyndeton – lack of conjunctions, which can speed up the pace of a sentence
• Polyptoton – using the same word in different forms for emphasis: e.g. “done” and “doing”
• Alliteration – repetition of the same sound, including assonance (similar vowel sounds), plosive alliteration (“b”, “d” and “p” sounds) and sibilance (“s” sounds)
• Anaphora – repetition of words, often used to emphasise a particular point

Don’t worry if you can’t locate all of these literary devices in the work you’re analysing. You can also discuss more obvious techniques, like metaphor, simile and onomatopoeia. It’s not a problem if you can’t remember all the long names; it’s far more important to be able to confidently explain the effects of each technique and highlight its relevance to the question.

Step 4: Be creative and original throughout

Anyone can write an essay using the tips above, but the thing that really makes it “perfect” is your own unique take on the topic. If you’ve noticed something intriguing or unusual in your reading, point it out – if you find it interesting, chances are the examiner will too!

Creative writing and essay writing are more closely linked than you might imagine. Keep the idea that you’re writing a speech or argument in mind, and you’re guaranteed to grab your reader’s attention.

It’s important to set out your line of argument in your introduction, introducing your main points and the general direction your essay will take, but don’t forget to keep something back for the conclusion, too. Yes, you need to summarise your main points, but if you’re just repeating the things you said in your introduction, the body of the essay is rendered pointless.

Think of your conclusion as the climax of your speech, the bit everything else has been leading up to, rather than the boring plenary at the end of the interesting stuff.

To return to Of Mice and Men once more, here’s an example of the ideal difference between an introduction and a conclusion:

Introduction

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men , Curley’s wife is portrayed as an ambiguous character. She could be viewed either as a cruel, seductive temptress or a lonely woman who is a victim of her society’s attitudes. Though she does seem to wield a form of sexual power, it is clear that Curley’s wife is largely a victim. This interpretation is supported by Steinbeck’s description of her appearance, other people’s attitudes, her dreams, and her evident loneliness and insecurity.

Overall, it is clear that Curley’s wife is a victim and is portrayed as such throughout the novel in the descriptions of her appearance, her dreams, other people’s judgemental attitudes, and her loneliness and insecurities. However, a character who was a victim and nothing else would be one-dimensional and Curley’s wife is not. Although she suffers in many ways, she is shown to assert herself through the manipulation of her femininity – a small rebellion against the victimisation she experiences.

Both refer back consistently to the question and summarise the essay’s main points. However, the conclusion adds something new which has been established in the main body of the essay and complicates the simple summary which is found in the introduction.

Hannah is an undergraduate English student at Somerville College, University of Oxford, and has a particular interest in postcolonial literature and the Gothic. She thinks literature is a crucial way of developing empathy and learning about the wider world. When she isn’t writing about 17th-century court masques, she enjoys acting, travelling and creative writing. 

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5 Steps To Quality Essay Writing (With Examples)

Knowing how to write a good quality essay is a skill that will benefit you all your life not just in your college or university. Writing essays on different topics helps develop critical thinking and enhances your ability to observe and understand different perspectives and views. The ability to organize your ideas and thoughts can help you write not just essays but also research papers, blog post articles, business letters, company memos, and whatnot.

However, writing an essay is a strenuous and challenging task. It takes more than just your time to come up with a good-quality essay before the submission deadline. Even if you are a great writer you still need to learn a few things before you start the writing process for your essay. So, if you want to learn how to write a perfect essay in 5 easy steps then this guide is for you.

Are you feeling overburdened by loads of writing assignments and never-ending homework? Consult Essay Basics to hire our essay writing experts.

THESE ARE 5 EASY STEPS TO WRITE A PERFECT ESSAY

• Determine the title and research your audience
• Brainstorm ideas and make an outline
• Identify your thesis statement and organize your thoughts
• Start the writing process (introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion)
• Edit and proofread

Step 1: Determine the Title and Research Your Audience

The first step to writing a good essay is to come up with a good essay title. If the title is pre-assigned then you can skip this step. If you are free to choose a title then you should only choose the one that interests you the most. Choose any topic you find yourself arguing for or against or any topic you have a passion for. It is not necessary that you know everything about the topic of your interest before you start writing. If you have an interest in that topic then you can easily do research about that topic without feeling any burden. If you want to write an argumentative essay then it’s best to present arguments in favor of your thesis statement rather than against it.

Before choosing a topic you should also research your target audience and their intent on the topic. Knowing about what interests your audience and fulfilling their intent will surely help you come up with a better essay.

For example, if you are writing an essay about nature for your school assignment then you should use easy to understand words and should never add complex scientific calculations in your essay. However, if you are presenting your essay in front of Ph.D. doctors then you must add proof of your findings through references. For them, you can also use all kinds of complex calculations to support your argument.

Step 2: Brainstorm Ideas and Make an Outline

The second step is to make an outline by brainstorming about the main idea and all the supporting arguments. The best practice to organize thoughts is through mind mapping and noting down your ideas. Making an outline is simple, you just have to think about your main idea, identify key supporting ideas and start making a structure of your essay.

Many students don’t make the outline as they are eager to focus on the writing process but we never recommend it. Outlines are a great way to organize and detail your essay in a logical way to make a flow of information. An essay with a good outline will never bore your reader that will guarantee a good grade in your academic assignment .

For instance, if you don’t have relevant information about a topic sentence then you can gather random information from different sources. Find supporting ideas, research papers, relevant quotations, and statistics about your topic sentence and note them down in your own words. Use all this information to form an outline and to develop your thesis statement.

Step 3: Identify Your Thesis Statement and Organize Your Thoughts

The third step is the most important step towards writing a perfect essay. This is to identify your main idea and then put it into a single sentence. Remember that a good thesis statement is not too long but still contains all the necessary information about what you are going to talk about in your essay.

The thesis statement is usually added at the end of the introductory paragraph. This thesis statement signals to the readers about what they should expect from your essay, so it’s important that you be very clear about your main idea. This will also help you organize your thoughts about what supporting arguments you should add in the body paragraph to support your main argument.

A trick to refine your thesis statement is to read your thesis statement to a friend or relative and ask them what your essay or research paper is about. If they don’t give the expected answer then you need to refine your thesis statement.

Step 4: Start the Writing Process

Step 4 is where you actually start writing your essay and bring your ideas to life. You might think that it’s so late in the process to actually start writing but the fact is that all the above steps have made it easier for you to start writing. Now you just need to see the outline that you earlier made and the guidelines from your instructor to begin writing. Following the basic essay pattern that includes the introduction, body, and conclusion to convince the reader about your argument.

1. Introduction

Your introductory paragraph should start with the introduction and meaning of the topic in the first 2-3 lines. Then you should provide some background information about the topic and some context about why are you writing the essay. Remember that this is the next best chance to hook your reader after your title, so wisely use this space. In the last two lines, you should add your thesis statement.

2. Body paragraphs

The body of your essay is where you present supporting arguments to support your main point. In the body section, you should use your good writing skills to elaborate on all the key points that you highlighted while making the outline. While writing papers you should be careful about the sentence structure.

3. Conclusion

In the conclusion paragraph, you should sum up all your ideas and arguments. The conclusion must tie back to the introduction of your essay. This means that you should summarize how your body has provided evidence in favor of your thesis statement that was listed in the introduction. Remember to never add new information in the conclusion as this part is only used to summarize your essay.

Step 5: Edit and Proofread

Once you are done writing the first draft it’s time to edit and proofread the written words. The first thing that you should do is to look for spelling and grammatical mistakes. Secondly, you should read the text out loud and make that the essay is owing smoothly and you are always relevant to your main subject.

Some writers have difficulty pointing out their own mistakes. If you are still unsure about how your text sounds then it’s best to take a second opinion. Ask a friend to read your essay and then ask them if your arguments support your thesis statement or not. They can also point out mistakes and improve your essay structure. Once the draft is complete you can submit it to your instructor.

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These tips are very useful for writing essays. Many people can benefit from these in many ways. I look forward to reading more of this kind of instructional writing.

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Welcome to GoodWritingHelp.com!

• How to Write an Essay

How to Write a Dazzling Essay Better Than Anyone in Your Class

You have probably seen lots of how to write my essay articles already, but this manual unites most of them and is applicable for every stage of the writing process. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve just started writing, or you got stuck, or you need to make formatting or find the best sources for your quality essay — this article will help you out. Just follow its logical structure, and you will be done with your paper in no time.

How to Choose a Topic for Your Essay

Choosing a topic of your essay is not a daunting task, it is actually a blessing. Often, you receive a topic from your teacher or professor, and that makes your life a bit harder, as it doesn’t always correspond with your vision. However, let’s imagine you are given a chance to choose a narrow topic within defined, more general theme.

• Write a list of ideas you have regarding the theme. Brainstorm. Brainstorming can be fun if you truly concentrate on it for some limited time - 10-15 minutes are enough. Write down everything you can think of, and later underline some most exciting points. Drink some coffee or water, stretch your legs around the block and come back to your list.
• After you have chosen several topics of ideas to look for them on Google. If the topic you have chosen has an enormous amount of matches, it is not a good sign. It looks like you won’t have problems with the research, but it only means you’ve chosen a mediocre or too hype theme, and the research will be a nightmare or repeating sources and similar thoughts.
• Choose the one which makes you at least a bit excited. We would like to say that you need to choose a topic that will make you thrilled, but it rarely happens in academic. So, among all the options choose the which bore you less. This way you will at least have a good start.
• Make it easier for your professor to approve your topic. There is a room for manipulation and it is not a shame to use it. First of all, present him or her 3 topics. It will show that you’ve worked with the material, did research, and you are willing to show this field from different angles. Be ready to explain why you see more potential in one particular topic of those three.

How to Create a Catchy Title for any Essay

We would lie if we said that title is the most important part of your essay, but among the criteria used to assess your paper, it plays its crucial role. Let’s take a closer look at the characteristics of a good essay title:

• It should be eye-catching . Of course, you are not writing for a boulevard gazette, but it still should be interesting, attract attention. Restrain yourself from writing scandalous titles.
• It shouldn’t normally contain a question. Rhetorical questions are used only rarely when it comes to essay titles, as this style is more inherent to blogs. You can have some sort of a hidden question within your title, however.
• No passive voice, please. Previously, like about 10 years ago passive voice was an inevitable part of almost any academic paper. Now, it is considered a sign of a bad taste. You don’t need to use passive voice to convince people your work is serious enough.
• Don’t make it too long. Again, as the same with a passive voice, long, “curled” sentences are not welcome in your title. If you open JSTOR and read titles which are about 20 years old, you will be surprised how far from “catchy” they are. So, don’t repeat those mistakes.

How to Write a Plan for an Essay and Follow It

We bet, if you open your textbooks and look for the components of a great essay, a well-thought-out plan will be one of them. It sounds exceptionally boring, but it actually works, as you need to follow the plan when writing your paper. It doesn’t matter whether it is a high-school, college or university essay, you need to create an outline for yourself, which will show you steps you should make to receive a strong paper in the end.

• Always make a plan for an urgent essay. It is true that you will lose some time doing it, but you will have a full understanding of what you are going to write. It will definitely work for you when the deadline is scarily close. you are nervous and can’t concentrate.
• Writing a plan for yourself make it realistic. Time estimation for writing is not easy, especially if you are not experienced in this matter. However, give yourself limited time for each part of your essay, and don’t forget about the required format, citation style.
• Skip to the next point even if the previous one is not polished yet. It is important to move forward when writing an essay. We understand your desire to do everything perfectly, go with the flow, etc., but “done is better than perfect.” We tend to overestimate our abilities to finish the task on time.

How to Make a Quality Research for a College Essay

• Start with the Google Scholar search engine, not with a common Google search. English academically valid articles are easier to find this way. If you start with a common search you will get snowed under irrelevant results, blog posts, advertisements, etc.
• Limit your time for research. It is great to do in-depth research of your topic, but you are not writing a dissertation or getting ready to a crucial exam, so limit it.
• Look for the up-to-date sources, even if it means paying for them . Sometimes you need to pay several dollars to get access to the needed paper or study. If you are sure that that reference will truly make your essay shine, and your credit for this essay means something for your education — pay for it.

Guide on Writing Well-Structured Introduction, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusion

Don’t use online examples, use your textbooks. Of course, online samples also include the needed components of a good essay, but definitely not all of them. So, pay attention to the requirements given by your professor and textbooks they are based on.

• Make sure to write a quality, catchy thesis statement. There should not be any quality academic paper without a relevant thesis statement, even if it is only a high-school paper. Thesis statement in the Introduction shows the entire idea of your text.
• The end of one abstract should be connected with the beginning of the next one. Sounds simple, but students tend to forget about it. Make sure all the sentences are interconnected. If you can drop something and the logic of the essay won’t suffer — drop it.
• When writing a Conclusion, make sure not to add any new information. In the Conclusion part, you wrap up everything written before that and once again confirm your thesis statement, nothing more.

Extra Tips on Formatting Essays

Formatting takes time, but it is critical for your essay, so make sure to start this process not 10 minutes before the submission period ends. Use MLA, APA, or another manual, as required in the instructions to your paper. To make formatting properly you should use only the latest versions of the manuals. If you use citation generators to finish faster, check their most recent updates.

Writing an essay can be not that challenging if you don’t postpone it to the last moment and follow this plan meticulously.

How to Write a Good:

• Research Paper
• Dissertation
• Book Report
• Book Review
• Personal Statement
• Research Proposal
• PowerPoint Presentation
• Reaction Paper
• Annotated Bibliography
• Grant Proposal
• Capstone Project
• Movie Review
• Creative Writing
• Critical Thinking
• Article Critique
• Literature Review
• Research Summary
• English Composition
• Short Story
• Poem Analysis
• Reflection Paper
• Disciplines

Essay Types

• 5-Paragraph essay
• Admission essay
• Analytical essay
• Argumentative essay
• Cause and Effect essay
• Classification essay
• Compare and Contrast essay
• Critical essay
• Deductive essay
• Definition essay
• Descriptive essay
• Discussion essay
• Exploratory essay
• Expository essay
• Informal essay
• Narrative essay
• Personal essay
• Persuasive essay
• Research essay
• Response essay
• Scholarship essay
• 5-page essay
• Process essay
• Justification essay

What Makes a Good Essay?

By stephanie whetstone.

The deadline for this year’s Princeton Writes Prize Staff Essay Contest has been set (March 1, 2020)! We hope you are already hard at work polishing your prose, but in case you are struggling to get started, let’s consider what makes a “good” essay.

Dictionary.com defines the essay as “a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.” This leaves a lot of room for creativity. For a personal essay, focus on the personal part. Why are you writing about this subject? Why now? How does your experience connect with your audience’s? A personal essay is not self-indulgent; rather, it is a means of connecting with others through the common experience of being human.

The winners of the Princeton Writes Prize have written about New South, travels in Japan, a timeworn stone step, and a dining room table. None of these subjects is inherently gripping, but they became so when connected to the writer’s thoughtful, heartfelt experience.

Write as specifically as you can about what is important to you, what excites you, what connects you to the world, or what you can’t seem to get off your mind. So how do you start? Think about your purpose: is it to entertain, to explain, to argue, to compare, or to reveal? It can also be a combination of these things.

At Princeton, we are lucky to have one of the great essay writers of our time, John McPhee, on faculty. In his wonderful essay, “Searching for Marvin Gardens,” McPhee has a few stories going at once: the “real time” experience of playing monopoly with a friend, his walk through the streets of Atlantic City, the history of the creation of the game of Monopoly, and a commentary about the economic and social realities of the time in which the essay was written. It begins:

“Go. I roll the dice—a six and a two. Through the air I move my token, the flatiron, to Vermont Avenue, where dog packs range.

“The dogs are moving (some are limping) through ruins, rubble, fire dam­age, open garbage. Doorways are gone. Lath is visible in the crumbling walls of the buildings. The street sparkles with shattered glass. I have never seen, anywhere, so many broken windows. A sign—”Slow, Children at Play”—has been bent backward by an automobile. At the farmhouse, the dogs turn up Pacific and disappear.”

The primary action puts the reader immediately into the world the writer has created and follows “characters” through a plot. The connecting paragraphs provide context and place the experience in the broader world. You may want to tell your story straight through or, like McPhee, stray from a linear structure—not just beginning, middle, end—moving back and forth in time.

Begin your story at the last possible moment you can without losing important information. If you are writing about the birth of a child, for example, you might want to start in the hospital in the midst of labor, rather than months before.

To shift in time, make sure you have an object or experience to “trigger” the shift, such as McPhee’s dogs. You need not be as accomplished as he to write your own essay, but reading his work and the work of other writers can provide guidance and inspiration.

Remember that an essay is a story, so even though it is nonfiction, it will benefit from the elements of a story: characters, plot, setting, dialogue, point of view, and tone. Is your story funny, sad, contemplative, nostalgic, magical, or a combination of these?

Your job as a writer is to help the reader imagine what you see in your mind’s eye. That requires sensory detail. Be sure to write about sounds, sights, smells, textures, and tastes. Remember, too, that your work will be read by a wide audience, so you need to determine how much of yourself and your intimate experience you are comfortable sharing.

Another great Princeton writer, Joyce Carol Oates, writes with exquisite sensory detail in her essay, “They All Just Went Away.”

“To push open a door into such silence: the absolute emptiness of a house whose occupants have departed. Often, the crack of broken glass underfoot. A startled buzzing of flies, hornets. The slithering, ticklish sensation of a garter snake crawling across floorboards.

“Left behind, as if in haste, were remnants of a lost household. A broken toy on the floor, a baby’s bottle. A rain-soaked sofa, looking as if it had been gutted with a hunter’s skilled knife. Strips of wallpaper like shredded skin. Smashed crockery, piles of tin cans; soda, beer, whiskey bottles. An icebox, its door yawning open. Once, on a counter, a dirt-stiffened rag that, unfolded like precious cloth, revealed itself to be a woman’s cheaply glamorous “see-through” blouse, threaded with glitter-strips of gold.”

No matter what you choose to write about, forgive your first draft if it’s terrible. You will improve it in the editing. And finally, read each draft aloud: tell the story first to yourself.

Happy writing!

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7 Qualities of a Successful College Essay

Bonus Material:  30 College Essays That Worked

The college essay is one of the most important aspects of a student’s application.

It gives applicants an opportunity to articulate their personal values, character traits, and perspectives. It’s also a chance to add more value to your application, simply by demonstrating who you are outside of your resume and transcript.

A “successful” college essay is one that makes the most of these opportunities and, in many cases, earns an acceptance.

We’ve demystified what most admissions officers look for in college applications . But what are these officers looking for in the college essay itself? What are the top qualities of a successful application essay?

In analyzing various essays of admitted applicants, we’ve come up with a list of the characteristics that most of these pieces have in common. We’ll be referring to some of these pieces throughout the post.

Plus, we give you access to 30 college essays that earned their writers acceptance into Ivy League schools. Grab these below.

Download 30 College Essays That Worked

Here’s what we cover:

• What is The College Application Essay (in a nutshell)?
• 7 Qualities of a Successful Essay
• Bonus: 30 College Essays That Worked

The College Application Essay In a Nutshell

Most students applying to a college or university in the U.S. must submit an application essay (or “personal statement”) with their application.

Depending on the application platform the college uses (typically either Coalition or the Common App ), students have 500-650 words to craft a response. While each of these platforms has college essay prompts, it’s helpful to view these prompts as general guidelines as to what colleges are looking for in a response.

Based on these prompts and our own experience coaching college essay students , the application essay is:

• the chance to say what the rest of your application doesn’t say
• a demonstration of your character, values, and/or voice
• the platform to show who you are outside of a resume/transcript
• an introspective personal essay

The college essay is NOT :

• a rehashing of your resume
• an excuse or explanation of other components of your application
• a formal, five-paragraph essay
• what you think “colleges want to hear”

A standard college application includes an academic transcript, recommendation letters, extracurricular / activities section, an optional resume, and standardized test scores. The essay is an addition  to these 4 general components, so it makes sense that it should complement them by saying something new.

That’s why we like to define the essay as a “demonstration of character, values, and/or voice.” True, these elements can be inferred from other components of the application. But the essay is your opportunity to clearly and personally demonstrate what matters to you, who you are at the core, and/or your essential perspectives of the world.

For this reason, the college essay is introspective and personal. Colleges want to hear that “I” voice in the application essay, loud and clear, and they want active, intelligent reflection.

You can see this in action in the 30 college essays that worked, which you can download below.

( Note: Some colleges might require applicants to submit supplemental essays in addition to their personal statement. These often have very specific prompts and different word lengths. Here are 8 great tips for approaching supplemental essays . )

 7 Qualities of a Successful College Essay

We’ve assessed several college essays of applicants admitted to a wide range of schools, including Ivy League institutions. While extremely diverse, these pieces generally had the following characteristics in common.

1. Introspective and reflective

Many English teachers tell their students not to use the first-person “I” in their essays. While this might be the standard for some academic essays, the college essay  should  include that “I.” What’s more, it should include a  lot  of that “I”!

This can be understandably uncomfortable for students, many of whom may simply not be used to talking about themselves openly and declaratively on a page. It can also feel awkward from a stylistic point of view for students who are not used to writing in the first-person.

Yet colleges want to hear your words in your own voice, and they are especially interested in learning more about your perspectives on the world and insights gleaned from your various life experiences. That’s why many successful college essays are highly introspective, full of the writer’s active reflections on what they’ve learned, how they view the world, and who they are.

We typically see the bulk of such introspection at the  end  of an essay, where the writer summarizes these reflections (although this is by no means standard), as we can see in the conclusion to Erica’s essay here, which describes her earlier attempt to write and publish a novel:

Sometimes, when I’m feeling insecure about my ability as a novelist I open up my first draft again, turn to a random chapter, and read it aloud. Publishing that first draft would have been a horrible embarrassment that would have haunted me for the rest of my life. Over the past half-decade, I’ve been able to explore my own literary voice, and develop a truly original work that I will be proud to display. This experience taught me that “following your dreams” requires more than just wishing upon a star. It takes sacrifice, persistence, and grueling work to turn fantasy into reality.

In her personal statement, Aja reflects deeply on what she specifically learned from an experience described earlier on in the piece:

I found from my experiment and questioning within my mind that my practices distinguished me from others, thereby allowing me to form relationships on the basis of common interest or personality, rather than cultural similarities, that summer. I valued the relationships more, and formed a deep connection with my lab partner, whom I had found was similar to me in many ways. 

Notice how both of these selections contain a lot of that first-person voice, which is critical to elaborating perspectives, learning points, and introspective thoughts. And did we mention that admissions officers are  looking for  those specific perspectives, learning points, and thoughts that compose who you are?

2. Full of a student’s voice

An academic transcript can be revealing to admissions officers. The same goes for recommendation letters and resumes. But it’s hard to convey an individual voice in these application components. The college essay is your prime vehicle for speaking directly to colleges in your own words  about what matters to you.

Successful college essays thus veer away from the formal voice many students employ when writing academic essays. Rather, they showcase a student’s unique way of expressing themselves on a page, which can be, for example, humorous, informal, intimate, lyrical, and/or speculative.

Voice is at the forefront of Elizabeth’s essay about her love for “all that is spicy:”

I am an aspiring hot sauce sommelier. Ever since I was a child, I have been in search for all that is spicy. I began by dabbling in peppers of the jarred variety. Pepperoncini, giardiniera, sports peppers, and jalapeños became not only toppings, but appetizers, complete entrées, and desserts. As my palate matured, I delved into a more aggressive assortment of spicy fare. I’m not referring to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the crunchy snack devoured by dilettantes. No, it was bottles of infernal magma that came next in my tasting curriculum.

Notice how Elizabeth’s descriptions of her passion for spice are rich with her voice: playful, intelligent, and humorous. This also gives us insight into a specific aspect of her character–that’s the power of voice when it comes to personal essay writing, and college admissions officers are very interested in applicants’ characters.

3. Descriptive and engaging

You don’t have to be a natural creative writer to compose a successful college essay. Yet competitive essays aren’t afraid to dive deeply into a subject and describe it, whether that description relates to imagery, emotions, perspectives, or insights. A college essay shouldn’t leave the reader guessing in any way–it should be highly specific and it should tell your story in an engaging fashion.

Harry’s more intellectual essay presents his views on common values in society. He is careful to be very specific and descriptive in these views, incorporating both a relevant incident from history and his own direct relationship to the issue:

Admittedly, the problem of social integration is one I feel can be widely overstated – for example, when I was looking into some research for a similar topic a couple of years ago, I found numerous surveys indicating that ethnic minorities (especially Islam) identify much more closely with Britain than do the population at large. Still though, I, like many others, find myself constantly troubled by the prospect of the war from within that seems to be developing. This fear is fuelled by events such as the brutal killing of the soldier Lee Rigby at the hands of two British Muslims a couple of years ago.

In her essay, Amanda is extremely detailed in describing her experience as a caretaker for a difficult child. The result is a clear portrait of the challenge itself and Amanda’s relationship to this challenge, told from the perspective of an engaging storyteller:

Then I met Robyn, and I realized how wrong I was. Prone to anger, aggressive, sometimes violent (I have the scar to prove it). Every Sunday with Robyn was a challenge. Yoga, dancing, cooking, art, tennis – none of these activities held her interest for long before she would inevitably throw a tantrum or stalk over to a corner to sulk or fight with the other children. She alternated between wrapping her arms around my neck, declaring to anyone who passed by that she loved me, and clawing at my arms, screaming at me to leave her alone.

The successful college essays we see always  emerge from a place of honesty. Writing with honesty also is more likely to accurately convey a student’s unique voice, inspire reflection and introspection, and result in a descriptive, meaningful piece (all of the qualities listed in this post!).

Sometimes this means adopting a candid or direct voice on the page. James starts his essay frankly in this singular statement:

Simply put, my place of inner peace is the seat of that 50 foot sliver of carbon and kevlar called a rowing shell, cutting through the water in the middle of a race.

Or it might mean describing a challenge, vulnerability, or perspective truthfully, as Martin does in his essay about the experiences that have molded his character over the years:

Looking back, I have never been the “masculine boy” as society says my role to be. I have always thought I do not fit the social definition of a male as one who is “manly” and “sporty” and this alienating feeling of being different still persists today at times. However, I also have become more comfortable with myself, and I see my growth firsthand throughout high school.

Given that many universities value “truth” in their own mission statements and mottos, admissions officers will prioritize those essays that ring with a student’s honest voice.

5. Unconventional & distinct

This is by no means a requirement of a successful college essay. But many of the essays that earn students acceptance at their dream schools veer away from the predictable or expected, as we saw in Elizabeth’s essay above (“I am an aspiring hot sauce sommelier”). They are, in a nutshell, 100% unique.

We’ve seen some essays, for example, that follow more radical structures, such as list formats or experimental narratives. Others focus on unexpected subjects, like Shanaz’s piece on the relevance of Game of Thrones in her life and trajectory of learning.

And, time and again, successful college essays step away from what admissions officers already see in applications–academics, standardized tests, extracurricular activities, and classes. They may focus on something very specific (hot sauce or Game of Thrones ), seemingly ordinary (eating a kosher meal in public or working on a problem set), or personally interesting (a historic murder or wrestling game).

Regardless, the essays that “work” emphasize the unexpected, as opposed to the expected. Distinct essays will also feel as if they could not have been written by anyone else .

6. Well-written

This might also sound like an obvious quality of a successful essay, but it’s still worth mentioning. The most competitive application essays showcase strong writing skills, providing evidence of a student’s ability to tell a specific story artfully and well. 

Essays should also be error-free, grammatically precise, and stylistically on point. Successful pieces also might demonstrate versatility through varied sentence structure, word choice, and rhetorical or literary devices. Lastly, well-written essays typically adhere to a specific storytelling structure.

This excerpt from Justin’s essay about his experience in the California Cadet Corps, for example, displays a high command of language, word choice, and sentence structure:

Through Survival, I learned many things about myself and the way I approach the world. I realized that I take for granted innumerable small privileges and conveniences and that I undervalue what I do have. Now that I had experienced true and sustained hunger, I felt regret for times when I threw away food and behaved with unconscious waste. 

7. Meaningful

Above all, a successful college essay adds value to a student’s holistic college application. It is full of  meaning , in that it

• showcases a student’s unique voice
• elucidates an applicant’s particular perspective(s), character trait(s), and/or belief(s) and
• honestly conveys a significant component of who a student is

It might be difficult to compress the entirety of who you are into 650 words. Yet it is most certainly possible to craft 650 words that add significant meaning to an overall application in terms of a student’s  personal potential for the future. This is exactly what admissions officers are looking for . 

What can you do to ensure that your college essay aligns with these successful qualities? You can check out examples of essays that do!

You can download 30 actual college essays that earned their writers acceptance into Ivy League schools, right now, for free.

Kate is a graduate of Princeton University. Over the last decade, Kate has successfully mentored hundreds of students in all aspects of the college admissions process, including the SAT, ACT, and college application essay. 

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How to Write an Essay about Your Qualities

In this tutorial, you will learn how to write an essay about your qualities. We’ll also write a sample essay together!

Whether you’re writing for your homework or college applications, writing such an essay is easy if you know where to start and what to do. So, let’s get right to it.

To write an essay about your qualities, consider what makes you stand out. Pick a main idea, choose three qualities that best describe you, write an introduction and a paragraph for each quality, and write a conclusion. 

Let’s face it: you have many qualities, and writing such an essay could be tricky, especially if you don’t organize your thoughts first. So, let’s make things easier for you!

First, pick a main idea.

You need to choose a central idea that overarches the qualities you want to talk about in your essay. To do this, you can think of a personality trait or behavior you can describe using three supporting points— three prominent qualities.

Whatever you choose will be your essay’s thesis .

For example, our main idea can be: “ I am a people’s person . ”

Next, choose three qualities that best support the main idea.

Let’s use the Power of Three to keep your ideas flowing.

The Power of Three divides an essay’s main idea into three supporting points. It is a three-part structure that helps you create your essay’s body paragraphs.

It’s easy to get stuck if you don’t divide your essay’s subject. Similarly, dividing it into only two supporting ideas is not enough, although it may be better than having one undivided main idea.

But dividing it into three is the best way to go. Three is the perfect number of supporting ideas, and it always works.

Make sure you choose ideas distinct from one another to make your essay clear to your readers. But, you should reflect all three supporting points in your thesis statement .

Now, let’s see how this works when writing about your qualities.

For our sample essay, let’s choose these qualities:

I am kind to my family.

This quality talks about how you treat the people closest to you — your family . It also relates to being a people’s person, which should be reflected in the essay.

We can answer questions like these in this part of our essay:

• “Why is it important to be kind to your family?”
• “How do you show kindness to your family?”

I am a loyal friend.

Like the first one, this quality relates to being a people person. 

However, it is different from being kind to your family because it talks about a quality related to your friends .

In this part of our essay, we will answer questions like:

• “Why do you think you need to be loyal to your friends?”
• “How do you show loyalty to your friends?”

I am approachable.

Lastly, also related to being a people’s person, this quality talks about a trait related to people who are not really familiar to you — acquaintances and strangers .

We will answer the following questions in this part of our essay:

• “What does it mean to be approachable?”
• “Do you do something to look approachable to other people?”

Notice how all three qualities relate to being a people person. These three, plus our main idea, are enough for now. Later, you will understand how we can expand them into an entire essay.

Now we have a clear picture of our essay’s structure after dividing the main idea into three distinct supporting points.

Now, write an introduction and a body paragraph for each quality.

Now that we have a general idea of what to write in our essay, we can create the introductory paragraph and three body paragraphs, one for each quality we chose.

To write an introductory paragraph , you need an opening sentence (the introduction) that briefly sets the context of your essay. Next comes the thesis (the main idea) and three supporting points.

Here’s an example of an introductory paragraph:

“Our qualities make us unique. Others say I am a people’s person because I am kind to my family, I am a loyal friend, and I am approachable. I help my family in any way I can and avoid using harsh words when we have disagreements. I support my friends and call them out when they are wrong. And I love smiling nicely so other people won’t be scared of approaching me.”

Note that this paragraph goes from a general statement to three specific ideas.

Great! Now, let’s move on to our body paragraphs , containing our three supporting points — the three qualities we want to discuss in our essay.

To write a body paragraph, start with a topic sentence summarizing it. Then, you will briefly explain it and provide examples to illustrate your idea.

Here are examples of body paragraphs for our essay:

Paragraph 1

“I always choose to be kind to my family because it builds my relationship with them. I help my parents with cleaning up around the house, and even buying groceries sometimes. I also help my siblings with their homework and school projects. And I avoid harsh, insulting words when we have disagreements. Instead, I try to stay calm, understand their point of view, and talk to them kindly.”

Paragraph 2

“My loyalty to my friends is one of the qualities I am proudest to have. I always express my genuine happiness to my friends when they achieve something, big or small. And sometimes, although it is hard, I tell them what they need to hear instead of just telling them what they want. For example, I remember telling my friend Kate she was wrong when she got the highest score for our exam because of cheating. She knows I always support and want the best for her, so she appreciated that I called her out for her mistake.”

Paragraph 3

“Whenever I am at an event, strangers and acquaintances tell me I am approachable. They tell me I look easy to talk to, friendly and welcoming because I always have a nice smile. For instance, I attended a party my new colleague invited me to, where I did not know many people. So, I just smiled and politely introduced myself. After a few minutes, my colleague’s friend — a stranger — told me she found me approachable and would love to be friends.”

Note how all three body paragraphs follow the diagram above. They started with topic sentences, followed by explanations and examples.

Finally, write the conclusion.

Restating your main idea and the three supporting points you used (paraphrasing your introductory paragraph) is the quickest and easiest way to write the conclusion for your essay. 

Let’s try this time-tested method for our essay.

Here’s an example of a concluding paragraph:

“Our qualities make us all unique, and they either make people like or dislike us. Many people tell me I am a people’s person. I get along well with my family because I always choose to be kind to them. I always express my loyalty to my friends. And I enjoy smiling, making people feel welcome and comfortable when they are around me.”

Finally, we’re done writing our sample essay! 

I hope this has been helpful. Now go ahead and write your essay about your qualities!

Tutor Phil is an e-learning professional who helps adult learners finish their degrees by teaching them academic writing skills.

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Largest Compilation of Structured Essays and Exams

Essay on Quality

April 17, 2018 by Manasi Shewale Leave a Comment

Table of Contents

What is Quality?

The literal meaning of quality means “the degree of excellence”. It simply means that whenever we compare any 2 things for examples, when we go to buy something, we always compare those things. Whichever object we think is better than the other, we go ahead and buy it.

So, the degree of measurement when two similar things are compared is called as the quality of that object. For example, a wooden table will obviously be better than a plastic table because wood is more durable than plastic and would not break as easily as a plastic table might. Therefore, this makes the quality of a wooden table better than that of the plastic table.

This was the meaning of quality in simple terms but in our daily life quality and quality assessment is done for the simplest as well as for the most complex object also. We find quality everywhere that is, in food, clothes, accessories, while buying property, etc.

In fact, nowadays even a human being and his skills are measured in terms of quality skills or if that person can contribute qualitatively to any company he would be working for. That’s the importance of quality and it should be after all we would not be living a satisfactory life without having quality in it.

Is Quality Assurance Necessary?

Quality assurance is no doubt necessary as a qualitative product is always a desired result of the entire manufacturing procedure. Therefore, the output of any such tedious process should have a certain well-defined quality.

There is a standard set up by International Organization for Standardization which is non-governmental organization with more than 162 nations as members. This organization does the work of setting up the quality standards of each and every product.

This is basically done to help a customer identify a quality product and choose this product over a non-quality product. There is an Indian organization also which is named as the Bureau of Indian Standards which also does the similar work like ISO to give a quality mark to a certain product. This ark is known as the ISI mark.

In the Business sector, quality plays a very important or rather a very crucial role. There are often 2 or more companies manufacturing the same stuff. Let’s fore example, take an ice cream. There are so many different companies which produce and supply ice cream.

But still we eat or rather prefer to eat the ice cream manufactured by a specific company. Here, we decide the quality of an ice cream on the basis of its taste. We would try and taste different ice creams produced by different companies and ultimately select the one which tastes better to us.

This is how it works in most of the sectors for business. Customers will always compare and choose the product which they like or which they think has a better quality than other company’s products.

Therefore, it can be said that different manufacturing companies always have some competition to make better quality products than the rival company. This in turn gives a better quality product to the customer.

There are many sectors where quality assurance is important. Another such sector is the chemical or pharmaceutical laboratory. Here, quality of the chemicals being used as well ass the glassware to measure and handle the chemicals should all have a standard quality.

According to the BIS and the ISO, there are different standards set up to handle and work on a chemical in the laboratory which requires a different set of environments as well as experience to work with the hazardous chemicals.

For example, the glassware and other measuring flasks of a laboratory are all tested for their quality. Now here, by quality it means that a measuring flask of 10 ml is cross checked to confirm that it will hold only 10 ml of any given liquid.

Therefore, a flask holding 9.9 ml or even 10.1 ml of the liquid will be declared as a non-quality product and therefore, will be discarded. This is done because in a laboratory it is very essential to measure the proper amount of these hazardous liquids as even a drop more than the required quantity can lead to a disaster.

Such is the importance of quality in the chemical laboratories and the respected manufacturing companies. Quality assurance is also done in banking and other financial institutes.

We must have heard the word Audit being mostly done by an external officer who will come to the company and cross-check your files and work and on that basis will give the company a grade or a rank.

This rank decides whether the work they are doing or their strategy is qualitative or not. This mark also decides whether they are following all the rules mentioned in the Guidelines for Ethical Work Proceedings.

The Audit is nowadays done in almost all companies, banks and small-scale manufacturing companies where it is tested if they are following all the legally mentioned procedures of manufacturing and processing and also to rank them on the basis of the quality of their work.

Nowadays due to excessive competition and increasing population, there is a high demand for skilled and knowledgeable employees.

About Manasi Shewale

Manasi Shewale loves to read novels and review them inturn. She is an avid reader of various topics of scientific interest in Chemistry and Biology.

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Quality and Value of Food Essay

Introduction, food procurement, food storage, food preparation and service, reference list.

Quality and value of food is an important factor in retention of loyal and creation of customers in a restaurant especially when targeting tourists.

Tourists sample food in order to gain the real sense of the place they visit; therefore, this has called for development of local and foreign foods in most restaurants as the competitive factor in the business. Food quality has positive association with value of money a customer is willing to spend on food.

Quality of food has positive effects on retention and creation of customers. Food of poor quality keeps off the customers and even the new customers do not return if they encounter poor quality on their first visit. On the other hand, customers remain loyal to a specific restaurant if they experience food of good quality and value for the first time.

Restaurant business is a very competitive industry and to be above our competitors, we have to look at the quality and value of food we are preparing and serving to the customers. Tourist customers look for aspects such as available varieties of food, quality, and value for money for their satisfaction (Clark & Wood 1998). This paper will look comprehensively at the value and good quality of food in creation and retention of customers in a restaurant.

There are many people such as producers, suppliers, storage personnel, preparation and service staff involved directly and indirectly in determining the quality and value of food. Producers being the farmers are involved in producing food.

Preparation of food of good quality means use of ingredients of good quality thus food production by farmers affects directly the quality and value of food. Customers have to get the value for money they are spending on producing food and this is only achieved if the farming materials used are of high quality.

Farmers have to be in touch with requirements and changing tastes at restaurants. For instance, the quality of locally produced meat, vegetables and organic food has been creating extra value as this is desired by tourists and local customers. Suppliers also affect the quality and value of food offered at a restaurant (Crotts & Raschid 2008).

This means they should supply food on time when still fresh as some foods like vegetables are perishable and lose value with time. Thus this calls for the manager to be careful when choosing his suppliers. This ensures availability of quality ingredients whenever needed to avoid losing customers.

According to Crotts & Raschid (2008), food has to be stored properly and safely to ensure it does not lose quality and meets health standards. This calls for the manager to ensure that the restaurant has good storage facilities.

Cold rooms for vegetables should always be well maintained and good hygiene observed when handling food thus the manager should ensure he has employed a qualified and experienced store keeper with knowledge of food handling techniques as this affects directly the quality of food prepared and served to customers.

When it comes to food preparation it affects directly the quality and value of food served to the customers. The manager should ensure that he has recruited the right staff with the knowledge and experience in production and preparation of different food items in the menu. This means there should be specialization of roles in the kitchen where by every cook prepares and produces what he/she is good at.

Also, there should be use of specialized tools and equipment during food preparation (Crick & Campbell, 2007). This saves on cost of production as there is minimized wastage of food. With good organization in the kitchen, production and preparation of quality food on time is achievable.

This attracts and retains both local and tourist customers as they are satisfied with the quality of food and get value for money they are spending on food.

The preparation area has to be well arranged to ensure minimized interruptions among the cooks which might cause delay in preparation of food. This ensures there is no mixed flavors’ among different food items thus food served is of the exact flavor as expected by the customer.

Food should be classified depending on their cooking time to ensure they are well cooked and do not keep customers waiting for long. The manager should always ensure his staff is learning continuously to keep in touch with new menu items in the market and changing methods of preparation. Different food items in the market must be prepared well to compete effectively with other restaurants.

In all the preparation and production units the chef should always check and emphasize on maintenance of good hygiene which can never be neglected when it comes to preparation of quality food.

The manager should employ qualified and experienced waiters for them to offer high standard services to the customers. They should be well trained on hospitality as are the ones who are in direct contact with the customers.

They should cooperate with the team in the preparation section and inform them accurately on demand of different food items on the menu and the expressed desires by the customers to avoid losing customers to other restaurants. This calls for a very effective team work in the restaurant in order to satisfy the customers (Ekinci & Massey 2008).

It has been shown clearly that the quality and value of food are important factors in retention of loyal and creation of new local and tourist customers in a restaurant and thus a manager should pay close attention to these factors in order to be the leading food provider in today’s competitive tourism industry.

Clark, M. A., & Wood, R. C. (1998). Consumer loyalty in the restaurant industry—A preliminary exploration of the issues. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 10 (4), 139-44.

Crick, A., & Campbell, A. (2007). McDonaldization, Mass customization and Customization: An analysis of Jamaica‘s all-inclusive hotel sector. Ideaz, 6, 22-41.

Crotts, J., Pan, B., & Raschid, A.E. (2008). A survey method for identifying key drivers of guest delight. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management , 20(4), 462-470.

Ekinci, Y., Dawes, P. L., & Massey, G. R. (2008). An extended model of antecedents and consequences of consumer satisfaction for hospitality services. European Journal of Marketing, 42 (1/2), 35-68.

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IvyPanda. (2023, November 1). Quality and Value of Food. https://ivypanda.com/essays/quality-and-value-of-food/

"Quality and Value of Food." IvyPanda , 1 Nov. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/quality-and-value-of-food/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Quality and Value of Food'. 1 November.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Quality and Value of Food." November 1, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/quality-and-value-of-food/.

1. IvyPanda . "Quality and Value of Food." November 1, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/quality-and-value-of-food/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Quality and Value of Food." November 1, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/quality-and-value-of-food/.

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NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

David Folkenflik

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust.

NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to reflecting a diverse array of views on Tuesday after a senior NPR editor wrote a broad critique of how the network has covered some of the most important stories of the age.

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America," writes Uri Berliner.

A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR's former CEO, John Lansing, has fed "the absence of viewpoint diversity," Berliner writes.

NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner's assessment.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," she wrote. "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

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She added, "None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole."

A spokesperson for NPR said Chapin, who also serves as the network's chief content officer, would have no further comment.

Praised by NPR's critics

Berliner is a senior editor on NPR's Business Desk. (Disclosure: I, too, am part of the Business Desk, and Berliner has edited many of my past stories. He did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Berliner's essay , titled "I've Been at NPR for 25 years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," was published by The Free Press, a website that has welcomed journalists who have concluded that mainstream news outlets have become reflexively liberal.

Berliner writes that as a Subaru-driving, Sarah Lawrence College graduate who "was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother ," he fits the mold of a loyal NPR fan.

Yet Berliner says NPR's news coverage has fallen short on some of the most controversial stories of recent years, from the question of whether former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, to the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, to the significance and provenance of emails leaked from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. In addition, he blasted NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

On each of these stories, Berliner asserts, NPR has suffered from groupthink due to too little diversity of viewpoints in the newsroom.

The essay ricocheted Tuesday around conservative media , with some labeling Berliner a whistleblower . Others picked it up on social media, including Elon Musk, who has lambasted NPR for leaving his social media site, X. (Musk emailed another NPR reporter a link to Berliner's article with a gibe that the reporter was a "quisling" — a World War II reference to someone who collaborates with the enemy.)

When asked for further comment late Tuesday, Berliner declined, saying the essay spoke for itself.

The arguments he raises — and counters — have percolated across U.S. newsrooms in recent years. The #MeToo sexual harassment scandals of 2016 and 2017 forced newsrooms to listen to and heed more junior colleagues. The social justice movement prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 inspired a reckoning in many places. Newsroom leaders often appeared to stand on shaky ground.

Leaders at many newsrooms, including top editors at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , lost their jobs. Legendary Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron wrote in his memoir that he feared his bonds with the staff were "frayed beyond repair," especially over the degree of self-expression his journalists expected to exert on social media, before he decided to step down in early 2021.

Since then, Baron and others — including leaders of some of these newsrooms — have suggested that the pendulum has swung too far.

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New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warned last year against journalists embracing a stance of what he calls "one-side-ism": "where journalists are demonstrating that they're on the side of the righteous."

"I really think that that can create blind spots and echo chambers," he said.

Internal arguments at The Times over the strength of its reporting on accusations that Hamas engaged in sexual assaults as part of a strategy for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel erupted publicly . The paper conducted an investigation to determine the source of a leak over a planned episode of the paper's podcast The Daily on the subject, which months later has not been released. The newsroom guild accused the paper of "targeted interrogation" of journalists of Middle Eastern descent.

Heated pushback in NPR's newsroom

Given Berliner's account of private conversations, several NPR journalists question whether they can now trust him with unguarded assessments about stories in real time. Others express frustration that he had not sought out comment in advance of publication. Berliner acknowledged to me that for this story, he did not seek NPR's approval to publish the piece, nor did he give the network advance notice.

Some of Berliner's NPR colleagues are responding heatedly. Fernando Alfonso, a senior supervising editor for digital news, wrote that he wholeheartedly rejected Berliner's critique of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, for which NPR's journalists, like their peers, periodically put themselves at risk.

Alfonso also took issue with Berliner's concern over the focus on diversity at NPR.

"As a person of color who has often worked in newsrooms with little to no people who look like me, the efforts NPR has made to diversify its workforce and its sources are unique and appropriate given the news industry's long-standing lack of diversity," Alfonso says. "These efforts should be celebrated and not denigrated as Uri has done."

After this story was first published, Berliner contested Alfonso's characterization, saying his criticism of NPR is about the lack of diversity of viewpoints, not its diversity itself.

"I never criticized NPR's priority of achieving a more diverse workforce in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I have not 'denigrated' NPR's newsroom diversity goals," Berliner said. "That's wrong."

Questions of diversity

Under former CEO John Lansing, NPR made increasing diversity, both of its staff and its audience, its "North Star" mission. Berliner says in the essay that NPR failed to consider broader diversity of viewpoint, noting, "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans."

Berliner cited audience estimates that suggested a concurrent falloff in listening by Republicans. (The number of people listening to NPR broadcasts and terrestrial radio broadly has declined since the start of the pandemic.)

Former NPR vice president for news and ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin tweeted , "I know Uri. He's not wrong."

Others questioned Berliner's logic. "This probably gets causality somewhat backward," tweeted Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann . "I'd guess that a lot of NPR listeners who voted for [Mitt] Romney have changed how they identify politically."

Similarly, Nieman Lab founder Joshua Benton suggested the rise of Trump alienated many NPR-appreciating Republicans from the GOP.

In recent years, NPR has greatly enhanced the percentage of people of color in its workforce and its executive ranks. Four out of 10 staffers are people of color; nearly half of NPR's leadership team identifies as Black, Asian or Latino.

"The philosophy is: Do you want to serve all of America and make sure it sounds like all of America, or not?" Lansing, who stepped down last month, says in response to Berliner's piece. "I'd welcome the argument against that."

"On radio, we were really lagging in our representation of an audience that makes us look like what America looks like today," Lansing says. The U.S. looks and sounds a lot different than it did in 1971, when NPR's first show was broadcast, Lansing says.

A network spokesperson says new NPR CEO Katherine Maher supports Chapin and her response to Berliner's critique.

The spokesperson says that Maher "believes that it's a healthy thing for a public service newsroom to engage in rigorous consideration of the needs of our audiences, including where we serve our mission well and where we can serve it better."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

Essay on Qualities Of A Good Friend

Students are often asked to write an essay on Qualities Of A Good Friend in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Qualities Of A Good Friend

Introduction.

A good friend is like a treasure. We all want friends who are kind, loyal, and honest. But, what makes a friend truly good? Here are some qualities that define a good friend.

Trustworthiness

Trust is a key quality. A good friend is someone you can rely on. They keep your secrets safe, and you know they won’t let you down. They show you that you can trust them through their actions.

A good friend is kind. They are always there to lend a helping hand. They care about your feelings and try to make you feel better when you’re sad. They share your happiness and your sadness.

Honesty is another important quality. A good friend tells you the truth, even when it’s hard. They give you honest advice because they want the best for you. They don’t lie or hide things from you.

Loyalty is a must in a good friend. They stand by your side no matter what. They support you and defend you. They stay true to you even when times are tough.

In conclusion, a good friend is trustworthy, kind, honest, and loyal. These are the qualities that make a friend special. So, if you have a friend with these qualities, treasure them. They are truly a gift.

250 Words Essay on Qualities Of A Good Friend

Friends play a crucial role in our lives. They are like the family we choose for ourselves. Good friends are a blessing, and they possess certain qualities that make them special.

Trustworthy

A good friend is trustworthy. They keep our secrets safe and never break our trust. We can rely on them in tough times, knowing they won’t let us down.

Loyalty is another quality of a good friend. They stand by us in good and bad times. They don’t leave us when things get tough. They are always there to support us.

Understanding

A good friend understands us. They know our strengths and weaknesses. They accept us as we are without trying to change us. They are patient and tolerant with us.

Honesty is a key quality of a good friend. They are truthful and sincere. They tell us the truth, even if it’s hard to hear. They don’t lie or deceive us.

Kind and Caring

A good friend is kind and caring. They show love and care for us. They help us when we need it and share our happiness and sadness.

In conclusion, a good friend is like a treasure. They are trustworthy, loyal, understanding, honest, and kind. They enrich our lives and make our journey more enjoyable. Everyone should strive to be a good friend and value the good friends they have.

500 Words Essay on Qualities Of A Good Friend

Friendship is one of the most beautiful relationships in the world. It is a bond that is built on trust, respect, and mutual understanding. A good friend is a treasure that can make our lives more meaningful and enjoyable. But what makes a good friend? Let’s explore some of the qualities that a good friend should have.

Trust is the foundation of any friendship. A good friend is someone who you can trust completely. They will keep your secrets safe, and you can count on them to be there for you in times of need. They will never betray your trust or let you down.

Honesty is another important quality of a good friend. They will always tell you the truth, even if it might hurt your feelings. They believe in the importance of being honest and will not deceive you or lie to you. Their honesty helps to build trust in the friendship and makes the relationship stronger.

Supportiveness

A good friend is always supportive. They stand by you in your ups and downs, cheering you on when you succeed and lifting you up when you fall. They believe in you and your abilities, and they are always there to encourage and motivate you. They are your biggest cheerleader and your most reliable shoulder to lean on.

Understanding is a vital quality of a good friend. They understand your feelings, your thoughts, and your actions. They accept you for who you are, with all your strengths and weaknesses. They do not judge you or try to change you. Instead, they appreciate your individuality and respect your decisions.

Respect is another essential quality of a good friend. They respect your opinions, your choices, and your personal space. They consider your feelings and are careful not to hurt you. They value your friendship and show it through their actions and words.

In conclusion, a good friend is someone who is trustworthy, honest, supportive, understanding, and respectful. These qualities make a friend more than just a companion; they make them a confidant, a supporter, and a valuable part of our lives. Having such a friend can bring joy, comfort, and richness to our lives. Therefore, it’s important to choose our friends wisely and to strive to be a good friend ourselves. After all, to have a good friend, we must first be a good friend.

Remember, a good friend is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have. So, if you have such a friend, cherish them, appreciate them, and hold onto them tightly. Because a good friend is a true blessing in life.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Qualities Of A Good Father
• Essay on Qualities Of A Good English Teacher
• Essay on Qualities Of A Good Police Officer

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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