essay guide peterson

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A collection of articles to help a writer follow Dr. Jordan B Peterson's essay writing process using essay.app

How to Write an Essay - The Jordan Peterson Writing Template

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JORDAN PETERSON

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The Levels of Resolution

An essay exists at multiple levels:

• The choice of words
• The formation of sentences
• The arrangement of sentences in a paragraph
• The arrangement of paragraphs in a logical progression, beginning to end
• The essay as a whole

A good essay works at every one of those levels simultaneously.

7.01K reads

Step 1: Choose Topic, Read & Take Notes

Writing begins with these 3 steps:

• Pick a topic: because your essay should answer a central question.
• Make a reading list: You should aim to read 5-10 books before you write an essay. And plenty of online sources. 
• Take Notes: of everything that catches your attention. 

6.94K reads

Step 2: Make an Outline

The outline is the skeleton of the essay and provides its structure. 

An essay that is 1,000 words requires a 10 sentence outline.  

Jordan Peterson's Rules of Thumb for Note Taking

• Take note of anything that catches your attention.  
• Don't highlight or underline .  (That doesn't work.)  
• Read a bit, then write down what you have learned or any questions that arise.  
• Take about 2 to 3 times as many notes by word as you will need for your essay.  

6.74K reads

Step 3: Write Paragraphs

Use your notes.  You can work back and forth between changing the outline and your sentences.

6.36K reads

Jordan Peterson's Rules of Thumb for Writing

• Your  first draft should be 25% longer than your final draft.   This will give you material to throw away during the editing process. 
• Each paragraph in your final draft should be about 10 sentences or 100 words long.   If your paragraph is much shorter than this, that is a sign that your idea isn't substantial enough.  If your paragraph is much longer, it's a sign you have multiple ideas going and need to split them into separate paragraphs.

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Step 4: Edit Your Sentences

Working paragraph by paragraph, take each one of your sentences and write a better version of it. 

 Peterson advises you place each sentence on its own line and write the revised version underneath.

Jordan Peterson's Editing Advice

• Make your sentences shorter , eliminating all unnecessary words.  U should cut each sentence by 15-25%.
• Make sure each word is precisely the right word to express your meaning.  Don't use vocabulary you haven't fully mastered.
• Read each sentence aloud and listen to how it sounds.   If it sounds awkward, try saying it a different way, then write that down.

4.84K reads

Steps 5&6: Reorder Sentences & Paragraphs

Within each paragraph, see if your sentences are in the best possible order.   Get rid of any sentences that are no longer necessary.  

Same for paragraphs:  They should help the essay flow in the best, most logical progression. Move the corresponding paragraphs until they are in the most appropriate order.

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Step 7: Make a NEW Outline

After finishing your first draft:  write a NEW outline of 10-15 sentences.   DON'T LOOK BACK AT YOUR ESSAY WHILE YOU DO THIS!!! 

The purpose of this step is to force yourself to reconstruct your argument from memory.   Generally, when you remember something, you simplify it and retain only what is most important.  Doing this, you will remove what is useless and keep what is vital.

4.52K reads

Step 8,9&10: Repeat Editing & Add References & Format

To continue improving your essay, you can repeat the process of re-writing and re-ordering your sentences, re-ordering your paragraphs, and re-outlining. Add references, links, biography. 

Then format it: 12pt font, tabbed idents. 

4.88K reads

Jordan Peterson Writing Template

For Peterson, writing is not just a matter of fulfilling an assignment; it is a skill with deeply existential consequences.  

Never stop learning new things, no matter how old you are.

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“Whaling Logbooks”: The 2024 Senior Fellowship Exhibit opens April 29

For nearly two centuries, the coast of New England was home to the “Yankee” whaling industry. In Connecticut, the industry operated from ports in New London, Mystic, and New Haven.

This exhibit—curated by AJ Laird ’24, this year’s senior exhibit fellow—features logbooks from the Sterling Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Whaling Logs Collection. Laird, who has firsthand experience as a deckhand on sailing vessels, also conducted research at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts and at the Portsmouth Athenaeum in New Hampshire.

The Whaling Logs Collection

During the early 19th and early 20th centuries, mariners’ logbooks were essential navigational tools, allowing ship’s captains to track a vessel’s position in terms of latitude and longitude. As the works in this exhibition show, logbooks extensively documented sea voyages, revealing the complex world of the whaling industry. The books were also tools for gathering information to map ocean charts and track climate patterns and wind systems that would affect a ship’s passage. “Not merely record books,” Laird said, “these logs tell a tangible, visual story of an ocean-going industry.”

The Senior Exhibit Fellowship

The Senior Exhibit Fellowship at Yale Library, introduced in 2021, expanded a previous program that annually gave a selected rising senior the opportunity to curate an exhibition based on the student’s senior essay. Laird is only the second student to receive the summer fellowship, which provides financial support for a research residency on campus. The fellowship also provides mentoring support from a library advisor, faculty advisor, and the library’s exhibit production staff.

Laird’s librarian advisor is James Kessenides, Kaplanoff Librarian for American History, Department of Area Studies and Humanities Research Support; Mark Peterson, Edmund S. Morgan Professor of History, Department of History, is Laird’s faculty sponsor.

Read about the 2023 Senior Fellowship Exhibit and curator Chucho Martínez Padres.

Learn more about the fellowship program and how to submit a proposal.

—Deborah Cannarella

Images: “A Tub for the Whale!” by James Gillray, 1806;  “Journal of a Whaling Voyage” by Moses F. Little, 1848;  “A View of Staaten Island with a Herd of Seals” by Sigismund Bacstrom, ca. 1792;  Exhibition graphic by Sidney Hirschman; 

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10 Step Guide To Clearer Thinking Through Essay Writing - Jordan B. Peterson

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Earth Day celebrated at charter school in SE Gainesville

Caring and Sharing Learning School hosted its Earth Day program on Monday where students from different grades performed and essay contest winners were chosen.

“I am very pleased with the celebration,” said Nkwanda Jah, executive director of the Cultural Arts Coalition which sponsored the essay contest. “Thank you again for putting on the best program for Earth Day.”

Jah hosts the East Gainesville Science Club at the school every Wednesday and the George Washington Carver Science Club.

All students participated in the singing of Life Every Voice and Sing and the school song led by music instructor Angie Terrell.

Guardian Newsletter: Gainesville-based nonprofit to host after-school program focused on youth gun violence

Judge Gloria Walker of the 8th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida introduced Baylea Carey as the first-place winner of the Earth Day essay contest.

“I encourage each and every one of us to dream big,” Walker said. “You too can be anything you put your mind to as long as you work hard and believe in yourself.”

Topson Favor, who came in second in the contest, was introduced by State Rep. Yvonne Hinson, D-Gainesville.

“Thank you for recognizing the Earth and the importance of keeping it,” Hinson said. “We only have one Earth, and we have to take care of it.”

Josiah Sheppard and Barrington Carey were recognized for receiving honorable mentions as contestants in the essay contest by Alachua County Commissioner Mary Alford.

Alachua County Commissioner Charles “Chuck” Chestnut IV read a proclamation on behalf of the Alachua County commission that mentioned that Earth Day was established in 1970.

Desmon Duncan-Walker, who represents District 1 on the Gainesville City Commission, told the students and those attending the program that she was proud of their efforts to save the earth.

“I am so encouraged and inspired to see you all celebrate Earth Day,” Duncan-Walker said. “I have great hope for District One and Gainesville because you are leaving it better than you found it. That is the purpose of Earth Day. Thank you for being one of the most phenomenal educational institutions that I have ever witnessed.”

The Soaring Dancing Eagles, comprised of students from all grade levels, danced to Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror which was choreographed by Elois Waters.

The program also featured the school’s third-grade students reciting a poem by Joyce Kilmer titled “Trees.”

“It is important that we celebrate the Earth, the freedom and sustenance we get from being the children of the planet,” said Keturah Acevedo, CSLS office manager and host of the event that also featured an African drum and dance presentation by the Patricia Hilliard-Nunn Sankofa Legacy Dancers and Drummers.

Tom Kay, executive director of the Alachua County Conservation Trust, along with students and staff planted trees behind the school and CSLS principal Curtis Peterson awarded Kay with a certificate for his participation.

Jah and Clyde Hall, who taught at the school for 11 years, are the co-founders of the Earth Day celebration at the award-winning charter school in southeast Gainesville.

“Every second here is a historical moment,” Hall said. “These teachers love the children and make sure they become what they need to be. She (Jah) is really invested in the Gainesville community. She is Ms. Gainesville.”

Guests were welcomed to the program by Aaliyah Baker.

“Earth Day is like a big party for our planet but instead of presents, we make a promise to take care of it,” Baker said. “Forests and oceans are filled with life, and it is up to us to take care of those gifts. Let’s prepare to cherish our planet every single day.”

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Guest Essay

What Sentencing Could Look Like if Trump Is Found Guilty

By Norman L. Eisen

Mr. Eisen is the author of “Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial.”

For all the attention to and debate over the unfolding trial of Donald Trump in Manhattan, there has been surprisingly little of it paid to a key element: its possible outcome and, specifically, the prospect that a former and potentially future president could be sentenced to prison time.

The case — brought by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, against Mr. Trump — represents the first time in our nation’s history that a former president is a defendant in a criminal trial. As such, it has generated lots of debate about the case’s legal strength and integrity, as well as its potential impact on Mr. Trump’s efforts to win back the White House.

A review of thousands of cases in New York that charged the same felony suggests something striking: If Mr. Trump is found guilty, incarceration is an actual possibility. It’s not certain, of course, but it is plausible.

Jury selection has begun, and it’s not too soon to talk about what the possibility of a sentence, including a prison sentence, would look like for Mr. Trump, for the election and for the country — including what would happen if he is re-elected.

The case focuses on alleged interference in the 2016 election, which consisted of a hush-money payment Michael Cohen, the former president’s fixer at the time, made in 2016 to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. Mr. Bragg is arguing that the cover-up cheated voters of the chance to fully assess Mr. Trump’s candidacy.

This may be the first criminal trial of a former president in American history, but if convicted, Mr. Trump’s fate is likely to be determined by the same core factors that guide the sentencing of every criminal defendant in New York State Court.

Comparable cases. The first factor is the base line against which judges measure all sentences: how other defendants have been treated for similar offenses. My research encompassed almost 10,000 cases of felony falsifying business records that have been prosecuted across the state of New York since 2015. Over a similar period, the Manhattan D.A. has charged over 400 of these cases . In roughly the first year of Mr. Bragg’s tenure, his team alone filed 166 felony counts for falsifying business records against 34 people or companies.

Contrary to claims that there will be no sentence of incarceration for falsifying business records, when a felony conviction involves serious misconduct, defendants can be sentenced to some prison time. My analysis of the most recent data indicates that approximately one in 10 cases in which the most serious charge at arraignment is falsifying business records in the first degree and in which the court ultimately imposes a sentence, results in a term of imprisonment.

To be clear, these cases generally differ from Mr. Trump’s case in one important respect: They typically involve additional charges besides just falsifying records. That clearly complicates what we might expect if Mr. Trump is convicted.

Nevertheless, there are many previous cases involving falsifying business records along with other charges where the conduct was less serious than is alleged against Mr. Trump and prison time was imposed. For instance, Richard Luthmann was accused of attempting to deceive voters — in his case, impersonating New York political figures on social media in an attempt to influence campaigns. He pleaded guilty to three counts of falsifying business records in the first degree (as well as to other charges). He received a sentence of incarceration on the felony falsification counts (although the sentence was not solely attributable to the plea).

A defendant in another case was accused of stealing in excess of $50,000 from her employer and, like in this case, falsifying one or more invoices as part of the scheme. She was indicted on a single grand larceny charge and ultimately pleaded guilty to one felony count of business record falsification for a false invoice of just under $10,000. She received 364 days in prison.

To be sure, for a typical first-time offender charged only with run-of-the-mill business record falsification, a prison sentence would be unlikely. On the other hand, Mr. Trump is being prosecuted for 34 counts of conduct that might have changed the course of American history.

Seriousness of the crime. Mr. Bragg alleges that Mr. Trump concealed critical information from voters (paying hush money to suppress an extramarital relationship) that could have harmed his campaign, particularly if it came to light after the revelation of another scandal — the “Access Hollywood” tape . If proved, that could be seen not just as unfortunate personal judgment but also, as Justice Juan Merchan has described it, an attempt “to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.”

History and character. To date, Mr. Trump has been unrepentant about the events alleged in this case. There is every reason to believe that will not change even if he is convicted, and lack of remorse is a negative at sentencing. Justice Merchan’s evaluation of Mr. Trump’s history and character may also be informed by the other judgments against him, including Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling that Mr. Trump engaged in repeated and persistent business fraud, a jury finding that he sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll and a related defamation verdict by a second jury.

Justice Merchan may also weigh the fact that Mr. Trump has been repeatedly held in contempt , warned , fined and gagged by state and federal judges. That includes for statements he made that exposed witnesses, individuals in the judicial system and their families to danger. More recently, Mr. Trump made personal attacks on Justice Merchan’s daughter, resulting in an extension of the gag order in the case. He now stands accused of violating it again by commenting on witnesses.

What this all suggests is that a term of imprisonment for Mr. Trump, while far from certain for a former president, is not off the table. If he receives a sentence of incarceration, perhaps the likeliest term is six months, although he could face up to four years, particularly if Mr. Trump chooses to testify, as he said he intends to do , and the judge believes he lied on the stand . Probation is also available, as are more flexible approaches like a sentence of spending every weekend in jail for a year.

We will probably know what the judge will do within 30 to 60 days of the end of the trial, which could run into mid-June. If there is a conviction, that would mean a late summer or early fall sentencing.

Justice Merchan would have to wrestle in the middle of an election year with the potential impact of sentencing a former president and current candidate.

If Mr. Trump is sentenced to a period of incarceration, the reaction of the American public will probably be as polarized as our divided electorate itself. Yet as some polls suggest — with the caveat that we should always be cautious of polls early in the race posing hypothetical questions — many key swing state voters said they would not vote for a felon.

If Mr. Trump is convicted and then loses the presidential election, he will probably be granted bail, pending an appeal, which will take about a year. That means if any appeals are unsuccessful, he will most likely have to serve any sentence starting sometime next year. He will be sequestered with his Secret Service protection; if it is less than a year, probably in Rikers Island. His protective detail will probably be his main company, since Mr. Trump will surely be isolated from other inmates for his safety.

If Mr. Trump wins the presidential election, he can’t pardon himself because it is a state case. He will be likely to order the Justice Department to challenge his sentence, and department opinions have concluded that a sitting president could not be imprisoned, since that would prevent the president from fulfilling the constitutional duties of the office. The courts have never had to address the question, but they could well agree with the Justice Department.

So if Mr. Trump is convicted and sentenced to a period of incarceration, its ultimate significance is probably this: When the American people go to the polls in November, they will be voting on whether Mr. Trump should be held accountable for his original election interference.

What questions do you have about Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial so far?

Please submit them below. Our trial experts will respond to a selection of readers in a future piece.

Norman L. Eisen investigated the 2016 voter deception allegations as counsel for the first impeachment and trial of Donald Trump and is the author of “Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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