How to Be Specific in College Essays
By Kathleen M.
One of the key lessons to learn as you write your personal narrative as a part of your college application is to be specific. Two of the words that get in the way of that specificity are “it” and “that.” Sure they are handy words to use and work in all kinds of ways in all kinds of sentences, but if you are working to make your writing more specific, they are good to avoid.
Passive Voice – one of the key reasons to avoid these words in writing is that they are often the culprit for passive voice. And we all know we are trying to avoid passive voice as much as possible in order to make our writing lively.
Example: It was managed by the user through the settings screen.
That was managed by the user through the settings screen.
Revised: The user manages the subscription options through the settings screen.
Unclear reference – another of the reasons to avoid these words is that it can be unclear what they refer to in the sentence, or if they refer to the previous sentence, or the coming sentence.
We do not want our readers to have to guess at the meaning we want to communicate.
Example: When the settings were changed, it improved the account significantly.
When the settings were changed, that improved the account significantly.
Revised: When the settings were changed, the flexibility of movement between tasks improved the account significantly.
Impossible to Avoid Entirely – to make matters more complicated, you can’t avoid these words at all costs. You will need that and it to communicate clearly and concisely, but you should check your writing to make sure you aren’t overusing them!
Here is a fun earlier Ivy Boost blog post about using “It” in your writing. Remember that you can always revise to make these kinds of changes in your writing – so write away, and then go back and reconsider some of your sentences/language to consider how to be more specific.
