A whole library of possibilities.
534 examples and lessons to explore. Find an approach, follow the thinking, and try it in your own writing.
Macbeth’s Ambition: Why Is Kingship Not Enough?
An analysis of Macbeth’s pursuit of kingship, his fear of losing it, and the play’s portrayal of power when ambition turns into an attempt to secure a dynasty.
Are All Human Actions Based on Self-Interest?
An argument that self-interest is one motive among several, and that the possibility of personal benefit does not prove every action is ultimately selfish.
What History Teaches About People Across Time
An argument that history reveals enduring human motives while showing how institutions and circumstances shape their expression—and why both insights matter.
Why Environmental Claims Need a Clear Measure
An evidence-based explanatory essay distinguishes preventing waste, recovering materials, and reducing resource consumption, using U.S. EPA examples in food, recycling, and household water use.
Commonplace Interests and the Source of Good Ideas: GRE Issue Essay
An argumentative essay that defends a qualified case for attentive observation of familiar subjects while showing how unfamiliar questions and specialized knowledge can also generate valuable ideas.
Student Input and Curriculum Design
An argument for using students’ stated interests to make curriculum more relevant while preserving educators’ responsibility to teach essential, unfamiliar, and challenging material.
Why Preventive Public Health Depends on Ordinary Daily Environments
An explanatory essay on how everyday settings shape opportunities to sleep, move, and connect, and why public-health efforts must account for unequal access and individual experience.
Technology, Efficiency, and Leisure Time: GRE Issue Essay
An argumentative essay weighing when efficiency can create usable leisure against other benefits and costs of technological progress, using historical examples and a clearly identified hypothetical case.
Pride and Prejudice: Lydia’s Secret Elopement and Family Reputation
A literary analysis of how Lydia’s concealed departure with Wickham threatens the Bennet family’s reputation and prospects, while Darcy’s intervention complicates the novel’s account of responsibility.
Renting Versus Owning in Today's America: A Comparison Beyond Monthly Payments
An evidence-based comparison of renting and owning that looks beyond monthly payments to flexibility, household costs, financial exposure, and the limits of broad national statistics.
Religion and the Development of North American Colonies, 1600–1700
A comparison of religion’s influence on Massachusetts Bay and Maryland, set against European migration to the Americas. The supplied primary sources document later events, so they can establish part of the colonies’ subsequent political context but cannot verify claims about religious life in the seventeenth century.
Why Rising Sea Levels Matter to American Coastal Communities
An evidence-based explanation of why rising seas threaten U.S. coastal communities, how global sea-level rise differs from local shoreline change, and why local assessment and climate action both matter.