Guides
Place essay guide: landscape, history, people, and point of view
A place essay explains how a location works and what it means, using boundary, evidence, sensory detail, and a narrator who states their own limits.
Essay Desk
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Guides
Place essay guide: landscape, history, people, and point of view
A place essay explains how a location works and what it means, using boundary, evidence, sensory detail, and a narrator who states their own limits.
Guides
Profile essay guide: access, observation, interviews, and structure
Profile essay guide to choosing a subject, negotiating access, observing work, interviewing other people, verifying scenes, and shaping a fair portrait.
Rules
US copyright registration and fair use for essayists
US copyright registration and fair use for essayists: understand ownership, registration, the four fair use factors, permissions, and takedown notices.
Guides
Public-domain and archival research at the Library of Congress for essay evidence
Library of Congress research for essay evidence means using the catalog, Chronicling America, datasets and rights checks to build a citable archive trail.
Features
New York City submission paths: literary magazines, essay prizes, and publishers
New York City essay submission paths: literary magazines, essay prizes, and publishers, with reading periods, fees, and rights clauses explained.
Features
Iowa City essay community, the Writers' Workshop and its affiliated festivals
Iowa City essay community: how the Writers' Workshop, its nonfiction track, festivals, readings and residencies shape a national essay scene.
Latest from Essay Desk
Guides
Place essay guide: landscape, history, people, and point of view
A place essay explains how a location works and what it means, using boundary, evidence, sensory detail, and a narrator who states their own limits.
Features
Building a craftsperson profile from two interviews and observation case
Craftsperson profile case showing how two interviews, one workshop observation, artifacts, source checks, and a process structure become a bounded portrait.
Rules
Interview and profile problems: leading questions, composite scenes and quote drift
Interview and profile problems explained with diagnosis and repairs for leading questions, composite scenes, quote drift, vulnerable sources, and access pressure.
Maintenance
Interview consent, recording, quotation, and fact-check checklist
Interview consent and fact-check checklist covering identity, purpose, recording, ground rules, sensitive details, quotation review, records, and corrections.