138 / Types of Writing
-^ Answer to the point, with specific details, statistics, and examples.
Example: While maintaining a 3.8 overall grade point average, I also worked
20 hours a week at a farm store repairing lawnmowers and volunteered as an
Eagle Scout setting up audio and video equipment for hospital patients.
-^ Be straightforward, honest, and candid.
-^ Avoid a dull recount of your activities in thoughtless prose.
-^ Avoid strings of sentences beginning with “I.”
-^ Make sentences lively and paragraphs sparkle.
-^ Use formal but not stilted language with accurate sentence and paragraph
structure.
-^ Don’t use trite, superficial, preachy, or tiresome prose.
-^ Write in a personal voice so that selection committee members can “hear” you.
-^ Be concise but complete.
-^ Do not skip questions. If something does not apply to you, write “Not
applicable,” but don’t leave the space blank.
STEP 7: Proofreading—Perfecting Your Essay
Because tens of thousands of dollars often ride on a scholarship application, you
should submit as perfect a product as you can produce. This is not the time or place
for slack.
-^ Check word length. Make sure your essay is exactly within the limit set out in
the application.
-^ Read your essay aloud to help you spot errors you may otherwise skip over.
-^ Do not rely on spell checkers. Words may be spelled correctly but be the wrong
words.
-^ Proofread repeatedly, and then proofread again.
-^ Ask others to proofread your work; new eyes sometimes see new errors.
-^ Double check that you have followed all the rules set forth in the scholarship
application. To ignore even a single rule is to say to the selection committee
that you either can’t or won’t follow rules.
-^ Because the more professional your essay looks the more professional you
look, submit your essay typewritten.
STEP 8: Proofreading—Formatting Your Essay
Students are often surprised that selection committees care one way or another
about formatting. They do. In fact, the format of your essay will be the first thing
they notice. As you prepare your final documents, follow these formatting guidelines: