For example, if you're passionate about history, you might write about a formative experience volunteering at a local historical society or museum, she says. Writing the College Essay Experts say ...

A few less-common yet well-placed punctuation marks can give your application essay a sophisticated edge. For example, consider adding a semicolon to connect two closely related sentences ...

In a literature essay, this usually means looking closely at a text (for example, a novel, poem or play) and responding to it with your ideas. Essays can focus on a particular section of a text ...