An argumentative essay has five essential elements: 1. Claim. The claim in argumentative writing is the central argument or point of view that the author aims to establish and defend throughout the essay. A claim must state your position on an issue and must be defensible. This can guide the entire discussion.~ 🧑: College essay ideas about your personal experience will help you discover more about yourself. You can find additional topics in our article on personal essays: 📝: Topics from your daily life, even, Don't repeat. If you mentioned an activity, story, or anecdote in another part of your application, do not repeat it in your essay. Your essay should say something to college admissions officers: Essay: Malaria is a contagious disease caused by parasites that are spread to humans by female Anopheles mosquitoes. Millions of people contract malaria every year, among them sub-Saharan Africa.Ideas. Write down the key points, arguments, or examples you want to include in your essay. Don't get too caught up in the details during this step. Just try to write down all the big ideas you want to get across. Your main argument or theme will likely emerge as you think about it. Research and create a basic outline as you go. Consolidate the research and initial description process into one simple step. As you research, create a bulleted list of information on the topics you want to cover. Add links to articles and quotes as you go so you can easily refer to them. Figure out what you want to say. Again, we recommend sticking to standard fonts and sizes. Times New Roman, 12 point, is a standard tool. You can probably go there. double space. Standard margins. Basically, show them that you're ready to write in college using the formatting you'd normally use in college. College Essay Examples 9 32: School: Princeton University. Prompt: Princeton has a long-standing commitment to service and civic engagement. Tell us how your story intersects or will intersect with these ideals. I met Jennifer at the local LVA chapter of Literacy Volunteers and Advocates.