Examples that show the thinking.
534 examples and lessons to explore. Find an approach, follow the thinking, and try it in your own writing.
Should Every College Student Study Imaginative Literature?
An argument for a modest, flexible imaginative-literature requirement that develops interpretation and ethical judgment without displacing specialized study.
Schools and Student Well-Being: What Belongs Beyond Academic Instruction?
An explanatory essay argues that schools should support physical activity, sleep awareness, and social connection as conditions for learning, while respecting instructional priorities and practical limits.
AI Companions and Teenagers: What Should Adults Pay Attention To?
An evidence-based essay on teen chatbot use, trust, privacy, and why adults should not confuse conversational fluency with human judgment.
Funding Major Cities: Cultural Preservation and Public Support
A qualified argument that national governments should help cities meet essential public needs, while cultural preservation and creation are responsibilities shared by urban, rural, and other communities.
Should Career Advice Follow Job-Growth Projections?
Job-growth projections can make career research more focused, but they are not promises of employment. Good advice weighs occupational outlook alongside pay, preparation, location, and personal circumstances.
Slavery’s Influence on U.S. Society, 1783–1840
A qualified argument that slavery shaped national political debate, relations between free and slave states, and antislavery petitioning, while distinguishing evidence from the period from later developments.
GRE Practice: Commitment and Critical Thinking
An argumentative essay examines when commitment encourages rigorous self-criticism and when loyalty or self-interest makes it harder to recognize a policy’s failures.
How Much Do Circumstances Determine Human Behavior? GRE Issue Essay
An argumentative essay weighs the powerful influence of social and material circumstances against human agency, using Japanese American incarceration during World War II and choices in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Should Social Platforms Do More to Protect Young Users' Privacy?
An argument for stronger privacy-by-design protections for young users, paired with age-appropriate rules and safeguards for teenagers' autonomy.
Macbeth and the Meaning of “Success”
An analysis of how success shifts from public honor to promised kingship, murderous achievement, and the impossible hope of escaping the past in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Why a Credit Score Is Not a Complete Measure of a Person's Financial Life
A credit score can help summarize credit-related information, but it cannot show every condition that shapes financial well-being. This essay explains the score’s limited scope using CFPB guidance and Federal Reserve findings about prices, savings, fraud, and insurance.
Federal Government and the U.S. Economy, 1932–1980
From the Depression-era New Deal to the political debates of the 1960s and 1970s, federal economic responsibilities expanded substantially, though they were never unlimited or uncontested. The examples show both lasting federal programs and continuing disputes over who should act, who should pay, and how much authority Washington should have.