🏫 College Advising

A student's essay draft reads very formally and academically, not quite capturing their authentic personality. As an advisor, what is the best strategy to help the student inject more of their unique voice into the essay?

A Suggest replacing formal vocabulary with more common, informal terms.
B Offer specific examples of how other students have written with a unique voice.
C Ask the student to read the essay aloud to identify sections that don't sound like them and discuss why.
D Directly edit sentences to make them sound more conversational and less academic.

✓ Correct Answer: Option C

Reading aloud helps students hear how their words sound and identify where their natural voice might be missing. This empowers them to make authentic revisions, rather than just imitating others or having the advisor rewrite.

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