Showing not telling

pch340
Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:36:41 +0000

Yes, it is a very effective method for writing successful college essays, but you have to be careful in how you approach it. The basic idea is you want to express your thoughts toward the experience or situation, rather than simply describing what happened or how you felt. Here’s a quick example…

Telling:
Building houses on my missionary trip to Haiti last summer was a largely rewarding experience for me. I was able to gain a better perspective on the value of life and understand how grateful I should be for everything I have.

Showing:
As I sat waiting for the morning construction shift to start, I couldn’t help but ponder the gaping differences between my own life and the lives of the children we were helping. How is it that resources in this world are allotted in such a way that some live circumstantially according to the constant charity of others? Was I any more deserving than them?

One is bad, the other isn’t.