How is this different from the Critical Analysis topic?

Critical Analysis is about interpreting literary texts — what a passage means and how to defend that reading. Advanced Composition is about the writing itself: argument construction, source synthesis, structure, and sentence style, applied to argumentative and researched essays across any subject.

Can it help with a research paper for a history or science class?

Yes. The work is on argument, evidence handling, and citation, which transfers across subjects. Evelyn can help you shape a research question, organise sources by claim, and format citations, though it will not verify subject-matter facts in a specialised field for you.

Will Evelyn write or rewrite my essay?

No. Sessions work by identifying what a paragraph is doing versus what it needs to do, and you make the changes. Evelyn will model a technique on a sample sentence to show a contrast, but the draft stays yours.

My student writes fluently but keeps getting mid-range grades. What is usually wrong?

Most often the argument is under-specified rather than the prose being weak — a thesis that describes instead of claims, or paragraphs where evidence is presented but never interpreted. These are structural issues, and a session usually starts by reverse-outlining a graded essay to locate them.

Advanced Composition

High School (11-12) · English Language Arts

Advanced Composition in grades 11 and 12 shifts the focus from writing about a text to controlling the essay itself: how a claim is built, how sources are woven into your own line of reasoning, and how sentences carry emphasis. Sessions work on your actual drafts — a synthesis essay, a researched argument, a timed persuasive piece — treating structure, evidence handling, and prose style as separate problems that get separate fixes. Discussion is spoken, so you talk through why a paragraph stalls or why a thesis is describing rather than arguing before you rewrite it.

Start a session on Advanced Composition

What this covers

Building an arguable thesis that carries tension, and testing it against the objection a reasonable reader would raise
Synthesising three or more sources into one argument rather than summarising them in sequence, including how to make sources disagree with each other on the page
Paragraph architecture: topic sentence, warrant, evidence, and the interpretive sentence that most drafts leave out
Sentence-level craft — subordination, parallelism, varied openings, cutting nominalisations and filler verbs — and hearing the difference when read aloud
Integrating quotations and data with signal phrases, and citing in MLA or APA including in-text conventions and works cited formatting
Revision as restructuring: reverse-outlining a finished draft, resequencing paragraphs, and cutting 15 percent without losing content

Where learners get stuck

Treating a thesis as an announcement of subject ('This essay examines the effects of social media on civic engagement') rather than a contestable claim.: Five-paragraph training rewarded clear signposting, and announcing the topic feels safe. At this level a reader wants to know what you are asserting that someone could deny, which requires committing before the evidence is fully arranged.
Source-by-source structure in synthesis writing — one paragraph per author — which produces a report instead of an argument.: It mirrors how the reading was done, one article at a time, and it feels organised. Synthesis requires organising by idea, which means breaking each source apart and redistributing it across paragraphs.
Assuming a quotation proves the point on its own, so the paragraph ends immediately after the citation.: Writers can see the connection in their own heads and do not notice it is unstated. The missing move is the warrant — explaining why this evidence licenses this claim — which is the sentence graders most often mark as absent.

What a session looks like

You bring a draft, an assignment prompt, or a set of sources. Evelyn reads what you have and asks you to state the argument out loud in one sentence — usually the fastest way to find where the draft and the intention diverge. From there a session targets one layer: reverse-outlining to expose structure, rewriting a single paragraph three ways to compare emphasis, or working through how a counterargument section should be positioned. You revise between exchanges rather than receiving a corrected version, and prose problems get diagnosed by ear, since spoken sentences reveal padding and tangles that silent reading skips over.

Helpful to know first

Comfort writing a multi-paragraph essay with a thesis and supporting evidence
Experience reading and taking notes from non-fiction sources or articles
Familiarity with basic quotation and citation, even if the format rules are still shaky
An assignment, draft, or topic to work on — sessions are built around your own writing

Questions

How is this different from the Critical Analysis topic?: Critical Analysis is about interpreting literary texts — what a passage means and how to defend that reading. Advanced Composition is about the writing itself: argument construction, source synthesis, structure, and sentence style, applied to argumentative and researched essays across any subject.
Can it help with a research paper for a history or science class?: Yes. The work is on argument, evidence handling, and citation, which transfers across subjects. Evelyn can help you shape a research question, organise sources by claim, and format citations, though it will not verify subject-matter facts in a specialised field for you.
Will Evelyn write or rewrite my essay?: No. Sessions work by identifying what a paragraph is doing versus what it needs to do, and you make the changes. Evelyn will model a technique on a sample sentence to show a contrast, but the draft stays yours.
My student writes fluently but keeps getting mid-range grades. What is usually wrong?: Most often the argument is under-specified rather than the prose being weak — a thesis that describes instead of claims, or paragraphs where evidence is presented but never interpreted. These are structural issues, and a session usually starts by reverse-outlining a graded essay to locate them.