UCS 20201 Hwang - What is the American Empire: Examples

Using Threads & Color Coding for Revision

One writer's process . . .

• List Everything – Make a list of all ideas, observations, and experiences in your draft. No judgment—everything counts.
• Highlight Threads – Assign a color to each “thread” (theme, idea, image, or topic) in your essay.
• Identify Main Thread – Look at which thread repeats most and has the most potential for expansion. This becomes the backbone of your essay.
• Weave Threads – Spread your main thread throughout the essay. Other threads can appear but keep the focus on your central idea.
• Repeat & Refine – Repetition strengthens metaphor, meaning, and cohesion. Adjust as needed—revision is part of discovery.

Tip: Visualizing your threads makes it easier to see connections, gaps, and where your essay could grow.

Read Kathryn Winograd's full essay here. 

Braided Essay Example

John Green, “Scratch ’n’ Sniff Stickers” from The Anthropocene Reviewed

By the time I was ten or eleven, everyone had moved on from sticker collecting—everyone, that is, except for me. Even in middle school, I continued to surreptitiously collect stickers, especially scratch ’n’ sniff ones, because they took me back to a time and place that felt safer (Green 73).
Friend / Therapist – Personal reflection

Scratch ’n’ sniff stickers are created by a process called microencapsulation, which was originally developed in the 1960s for carbonless copy paper. Tiny droplets of liquid are encapsulated by a coating that protects those droplets until something decapsulates them. In scratch ’n’ sniff stickers, scratching breaks open microcapsules containing scented oils (Green 73).
Scientist / Researcher – Factual explanation

The smells best captured by scratch ’n’ sniff tend to be either aggressively artificial—cotton candy, for instance—or else straightforwardly chemical. The longevity of microcapsules offers a tantalizing possibility: that as smell might disappear from our world, the microencapsulated version of that smell could survive (Green 73).
Commentator – Analysis

I wouldn’t bet against us finding a way to artificialize scent effectively—God knows we’ve artificialized much else. But when I open that ancient sticker book and scratch at the yellowing stickers curling at the edges, what I smell most is not pizza or chocolate, but my childhood (Green 73).
Preacher – Broader significance / so-what reflection

I give scratch ’n’ sniff stickers three and a half stars (Green 73).
Judge – Evaluation / concluding thought

Green, John. “Scratch ’n’ Sniff Stickers.” The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, Dutton, 2020, pp. 34–36.