How to research a college essay with a librarian or parent

AAdmissions readers remember essays built on material a student went looking for, and two of the best sources of that material are people most applicants never think to ask. Students looking for essay material tend to start and end with a search bar. They type in their theme, skim the first page of results and come away with whatever is easiest to find, which is also what every other applicant can find.

That is a quiet disadvantage, and an easy one to avoid. Each of these two people can do something no search engine can, one of them in a few minutes and the other entirely from memory, and both are usually closer at hand than a student realizes.