Extensions

In this extension, you will share your application essay with a classmate, teacher, or family member, ask for feedback about your essay, and make changes based on their suggestions.

Your application essay should undergo several revisions before it’s ready for submission.

Digitally share your essay with people who you think can provide good feedback and can help improve your application essay.

To begin, open your essay draft document.

Open the share settings.

Add the email address of the person you want to share your document with.

Select the permission you want to use: Edit means the person you share with can make changes directly in your document.

Comment allows them to make comments, but not change the document.

And view lets them see your document only.

For this lesson, select “comment.” Then, write a message to the person you would like feedback from.

Be specific about the kind of feedback you would like to see.

For example, you may want suggestions for additional information you could incorporate in the body paragraphs.

Or, you may want them to check whether the concluding paragraph helps wrap-up the essay.

Be clear about how you want them to respond to you.

They could make a suggestion...

Insert comments….

Or summarize feedback in an email.

Once they’ve provided feedback, decide which ideas you’d like to use, and make changes to your document as necessary.

Now, it’s your turn: Open your college application essay document, Share it with a partner, Ask for specific feedback, And implement the ideas you’d like to use.

In this extension, you will use suggesting mode to edit your application essay draft document.

“Suggesting” mode allows you to make changes to your document while keeping the original text.

For example, maybe you want to try out two different ways to phrase a sentence.

With suggesting mode, you can think about whether it’s best to keep your changes or return to the original.

To begin, open your application essay draft.

Turn on “Suggesting” mode.

Make suggestions about any part of your essay, such as adding new information, changing existing information, or making changes to spelling, grammar and punctuation.

As you edit, make at least four suggestions for revision.

You can also leave notes or reminders about your suggestions.

To do this, add a comment underneath the suggestion.

Next, review your essay again and specifically look at your suggestions.

Accept the ones you like.

Reject a suggestion if you change your mind or decide you want to word something differently.

Or, leave the suggestion and make a decision about it later.

Using suggesting mode instead of making direct edits gives you more time to consider your changes and decide which option is best.

You can also use suggesting mode to collaborate with others.

For example, edit a classmate’s application essay using suggesting mode, or ask a friend or family member to make suggestions on your own essay.

Then, decide whether to accept their changes or keep your original version.

Sharing your essay with someone else helps you see things you might otherwise miss, and makes your essay stronger.

Now, it’s your turn: Turn on suggesting mode in your application essay document, And make at least four suggestions.

In the main lesson, you drafted an application essay.

In this video, you will create another draft of your essay and find ways to make your text more descriptive, clear, concise, and enjoyable to read.

To begin, open your application essay draft document.

Make a copy of the document.

Include the name of the draft version in the title.

In the document, turn on “Suggesting mode”.

You will use Suggesting mode instead of editing your essay directly so your teacher can see how you improved it.

Next, determine whether the adjectives are impactful and interesting and replace them if necessary.

Adjectives add descriptive qualities about nouns and pronouns in your sentences and help your reader get a detailed picture of the things you are writing about.

If you need help replacing adjectives or other words, you can use the dictionary tool to find synonyms of the word you want to replace.

You can also add new adjectives to your essay to help describe words and make them more interesting.

Next, review your sentences.

Think of ways you could express your ideas to make them clearer and more concise while retaining the same meaning.

This includes deleting or replacing text.

Look for words that are unnecessary or don’t add value to the sentence, and remove them or replace them to make stronger, more direct sentences.

Now, it’s your turn: Open your application essay document, Make a copy and rename it, Turn on “Suggesting” mode, Replace adjectives with more impactful adjectives, And edit sentences to make them more clear and concise.