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Essay Lab

Shmoop's Essay Lab Makes Writing Better

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"Ninety percent of the game is half mental." - Yogi Berra

"Ninety percent of life is just showing up." - Woody Allen

"Ninety percent of everything is crap." - Sturgeon's Law

By the transitive property, then: "Ninety percent of crap is showing up half mental." - Shmoop's Law

Just kidding. This is the real Shmoop's Law: Ninety percent of writing is thinking.

Shmoop's Essay Lab will help you sharpen your own ideas, then guide you through writing them. You'll get more out of the Essay Lab if you start early and give your ideas time to grow. Think early and think often, then write with speed and confidence. Use our Essay Lab to guide you through writing an English paper or college essay and we guarantee* you'll end up with a paper to be proud of. So let's get thinking.

And remember: Two thirds cabbage, shredded, mixed shredded carrots, parsnips and mayo based dressing: ColesLaw.

*Guarantees not guaranteed.

College Essays
Ready to dazzle those admissions officers? Shmoop will help you whip your personal statements into shape.
Choose an essay topic:
Common Application - Essay Option 1:
Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
Common Application - Essay Option 2:
Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
Common Application - Essay Option 3:
Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
Common Application - Essay Option 4:
Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
Common Application - Essay Option 5:
A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
Literature Essays
Vanquish the dreaded blank sheet of paper. Our Literature Essay Lab will guide you from idea to thesis to finished five-paragraph essay.
Pick a book:

Essay Lab Tour
Let us give you a little tour before you start!