On Identifying Strong Essay Writing Techniques

…in a way that (hopefully) won’t freak you out.

NYU’s Sarah Beck and University of Pittsburg’s Amanda J. Godley conducted a study in 2023 seeking to answer, “What are the characteristics of the self represented in successful college application essays?” I have a separate blog post explaining existing answers to this first research question, but here I want to address their second concern: “How do writers linguistically and discursively construct these characteristics?” Below, I am going to name some of the techniques Beck and Godley identified as having a positive effect on application reviewers. But remember, to avoid anxiety it’s important to not read other students’ essays while you are trying to construct your own. For this reason, I am going to use samples from a completely separate, but similar, writing genre—creative nonfiction essays (all free online!)—to demonstrate what these techniques are and how they operate.

Extended Metaphor: E.B. White’s “Once More to the Lake” (Harper’s Magazine, 1941)

Extended metaphor is, basically, when you use a concrete image to describe something abstract (like a personality trait or a deep emotion), and you use it throughout an entire piece. You use extended metaphor to create in-depth descriptions without directly stating your point, making it a great device to “show” and not “tell.”   

In his essay “Once More to the Lake,” E.B. White uses a thunderstorm as a metaphor for the experience of time repeating itself. Throughout his piece, White describes a lake that feels frozen in time, as being there with his son reminds him of when he visited the lake with his father during his own childhood. To describe this feeling of timelessness, he writes about a storm that he observes over the lake, framing it as a production he “had seen long ago with childish awe.” By describing this storm as a familiar show, complete with the same “second-act climax,” the same “kettle drum, then the snare, then the bass drum and cymbals,” and the same “calm, the rain steadily rustling in the calm lake, the return of light and hope and spirits…,” White expresses, without saying, that this lake is a cyclical place where time stands still.

Returning to an image in your own essay is a great way to communicate abstract thoughts like White’s without spelling them out too plainly for your readers.

Niche Interests: CJ Hauser's "The Crane Wife" (The Paris Review, 2019) 

Describing a unique interest of yours can be a great way to help application readers remember who you are. In her short essay “The Crane Wife,” CJ Hauser does a wonderful job outlining her research of an obscure subject, the Whooping Crane. She writes:

[W]e counted berries. Counted crabs. Measured water salinity. Stood in the mud. Measured the speed of the wind.

It turns out, if you want to save a species, you don't spend your time staring at the bird you want to save. You look at the things it relies on to live instead. You ask if there is enough to eat and drink. You ask if there is a safe place to sleep. Is there enough here to survive?

Hauser’s detail about her experiences studying these cranes shows just how much she knows about the topic, in a way that is far more interesting than just writing, “I study birds.” Lines like, “We counted berries. Counted crabs,” convince us of her expertise, as these are specifics she could only know after spending real time in the field.

If you have a niche interest you want to bring into your essay, try to include all of the little things that go into it. Show your readers how much you know about it, and they’ll leave your essay feeling impressed and able to identify a passion of yours.

Appraisal: CJ Hauser's "The Crane Wife" (The Paris Review, 2019)

Appraisal refers to the way a writer embeds their values, judgements, and attitudes into their language. Think about it this way: the words you choose when telling a story communicate how you feel about what you’re saying while you’re saying it. I’m going to continue with the Hauser example here, because “The Crane Wife” also uses appraisal quite distinctively. Hauser’s crane deep-dive actually comes within a larger story about the end of her engagement. In multiple instances, Hauser uses appraisals to share how she feels about her ex-fiancé. She writes:

I had put on a favorite red dress for a wedding. I exploded from the bathroom to show him. He stared at his phone.

These are three very cut-and-dry sentences. Nowhere does Hauser directly express any judgement on what she’s describing, but we still feel a sense of disappointment from her. The word “exploded” communicates excitement about this dress, compared with the stark contrast of “stared at his phone.” When her liveliness is pitted against her fiancé's disregard, we can clearly see the neglect she feels from him.

I think appraisal is the most difficult of this list to understand, but the good thing is, most writers use appraisal without even trying. If you write the way you speak, as if you’re talking to a friend, you will naturally let your emotion come into and alter your writing. Using appraisal will help readers get a sense of who you are from the way that you write, which is actually a point that admissions reviewers stress as important. You have a voice when you create, and this is where it comes out (if you let it).

Micronarratives and Moving Between Exposition and Narrative: Annie Dillard's "Seeing" (from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 1974)

Beck and Godley found in their study that admissions reviewers like to see a particular combination of expository (argumentative) and narrative (storytelling) writing. This combination is unique, and it is rarely trained in the high school classroom, making it often a weird first encounter in your college essay. Annie Dillard’s “Seeing” offers a very clear example of how to use both styles at once. These passages are a bit longer, but give them a full read to really get this idea:

When I was six or seven years old, growing up in Pittsburgh, I used to take a precious penny of my own and hide it for someone else to find. It was a curious compulsion; sadly, I've never been seized by it since. For some reason I always 'hid' the penny along the same stretch of sidewalk up the street. I would cradle it at the roots of a sycamore, say, or in a hole left by a chipped-off piece of sidewalk. Then I would take a piece of chalk, and, starting at either end of the block, draw huge arrows leading up to the penny from both directions. After I learned to write I labeled the arrows: SURPRISE AHEAD or MONEY THIS WAY.

This passage comes from the opening of the piece, and it creates a micronarrative that helps us get to know Dillard, her childhood, and a concrete desire she had as a girl – to share her joy of finding lucky pennies with others.

Then suddenly, Dillard shifts into expository writing:

The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But—and this is the point—who gets excited by a mere penny? If you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days.

Here, Dillard moves into direct address to make her argument, using the penny as a jumping-off point. She outright states, “and this is the point,” giving a clear indication of her claim: that by finding joy in small things (like a penny), you will unlock a much happier life.

If you blend your personal narrative with statements that establish a clear takeaway for readers, you will do the work of direct and indirect communication all at once. Successfully pulling this narrative-expository combination off will show admissions reviewers that you have command over language and understand how to express yourself—two things they love in an applicant.

Verbs Indicating Realization and Change: David Sedaris’ “Us and Them” (from Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, 2004)

Strong verbs make writing interesting to read, and in a piece centered on personal development, you want to include verbs that make your growth active and obvious to your audience. These go nicely in your expository sections or conclusions, where you speak more directly about yourself. David Sedaris’ “Us and Them” is a personal essay about his childhood in North Carolina. In his conclusion, he writes:

For months I had protected and watched over these people, but now, with one stupid act, they had turned my pity into something hard and ugly. The shift wasn't gradual, but immediate, and it provoked an uncomfortable feeling of loss... The only alternative was to do as my mother had instructed and take a good look at myself.

Notice his verbs: “turned,” “provoked,” “take a good look at myself.” They all work together to depict a state of advancement, where the narrator actively learns something new. By describing this growth process, Sedaris lets us into his mind and gives us a clue about how he evaluates the world around him. If you actively grow before your readers, you will communicate your personal reasoning, which will help reviewers feel that they know you.

That’s all I have for you today! I hope these explanations are clear and will help you write in a way that demonstrates strong skill and a clear sense of self.

If you need individual help making these techniques work in your own essay, sign up for a personal guidance session here.