This book is intended to help you write your college admission essays, but it also has a larger purpose: to help you write in general. Breathe a sigh of relief when you finish your college essays, but you should realize your writing journey is only beginning. You will be writing for the rest of your life—everything from e-mails to term papers, dissertations, graduate school and job applications, recommendation letters, or maybe even your own book someday (someday refers to an indefinite time in the future, some day refers to one definite day in the future that may be unknown or unspecified).
We are honored that you chose this book to begin your journey, and we wish to recommend other books that will help you along the way. Please don’t roll your eyes, we know books are out of fashion, and in consideration of that, we have recommended some useful websites in our text. But we believe, if you plan on writing and doing it well, there are certain books that you might want to have on your shelf. It is certainly not an all-inclusive list, and bear in mind that there is no such thing as the definitive resource. In fact, you are likely to find some disagreement between different references on style and rules of grammar. Don’t worry; just use the following books, others that you might come across, some good websites, and (we hope) this book to learn about good writing and create your own personal style.
The essentials, the best basic books on writing in general:
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, 30th Anniversary Edition by William Zinsser
One of our favorite authors, an expert on writing style:
How Not to Write: The Essential Misrules of Grammar by William Safire
There is no better book for improving your writing:
Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer
General resources:
The Chicago Manual of Style
The AP Stylebook, 55th Edition
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
Roget’s International Thesaurus, Eighth Edition
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations
In your writing career, you will find other books that you will make your favorites. It is our hope this will be one of them.