For example, Stanford University in California asks students to answer several short questions, with a 50-word limit, in addition to answering three essay questions in 100 to 250 words.

Essays can focus on a particular section of a text, for example, a particular chapter or scene, or ask a big picture question to make you think deeply about a character, idea or theme throughout ...

This can sometimes work well, but can also result in essays that feel forced, with content that doesn’t quite answer the question. These types of essay flaws are remarkably easy to spot by ...