Ashford University Essays Discussion

I hear it all the time: “Why do I need to write essays? I’ll never have to write an essay again in my life.”

It’s a valid question that often goes unanswered. The essay has been used as the preferred learning and writing format in education for thousands of years for a good reason. Why? Because the essay encompasses the essential aspects of ALL OTHER types of writing. Essays teach us the importance of staying focused on a topic, supporting our ideas with strong evidence, and keeping an audience’s attention. They help us to present information in a clear, engaging manner.

It’s true: very few people write essays as part of their job. What they DO write, however, are reports, documents, requisitions, letters, emails, proposals, and so on. And if you learn how to write a successful essay, you will have the skills needed to write any other form of written work.

Another reason for writing essays in school is that they help you develop critical thinking and communication skills. In terms of schoolwork, practicing these skills will help you learn the material better. In terms of your career, these skills will help you to be an effective communicator, whether it’s written or verbal communication. 

1. For this week’s discussion, take a look at the following articles. Take notes as you read. 

11 Reasons Why Essay Writing Is Important in One’s Professional Life (suffolkgazette.com) (Links to an external site.)

Why Is Writing Important? | GCU Blogs (Links to an external site.)

2. Next, compose a response paragraph of about 150 words in which you discuss one idea from either article that you hadn’t considered before. Summarize the idea and explain how it challenges your previous views on essay writing in school. Support your response with a brief direct quote from the article (no more than a sentence.)

3. At the end of your response, include a citation in MLA format that follows this pattern (you only need to do this for the article you discuss in your response):

“Page or article title in quotations.” Website name, Day Month Year of publication, URL. Day Month Year of access. 

Example:

“Exclamation Point (or Exclamation Mark).” Grammarly, 14 Jan. 2021, www.grammarly.com/blog/exclamation-mark.  Accessed 4 May 2022.

3. Finally, post a short reply to one of your classmates. Agree, disagree, ask questions if you want. Whatever you do, be sure you are respectful and thorough. A simple “I agree” is not enough.