Advice The best general advice I can give about writing a good essay is this: make your overall argument a simple one, but prove every point upon which your argument is based! (A personal opinion is not considered a reasonable thesis.) Assume that you are writing for a very critical reader who is motivated to find a weakness in your argument. A good thesis should be like an iceberg (only 1/8th of an iceberg sticks out of the water), with a very small argument positioned at the top of a great deal of supporting evidence.

In the end, you cannot simply ask the reader to accept your argument. You must prove your argument!

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