Write about an environmental disaster that you have either witnessed or heard about recently in the news.

First jot down notes on a blank page under three headings: “Land,” “Air,” and “Water.” Now draw on these notes to classify, in an essay, the effects of the disaster in each of your three categories. Do not withhold frightening or gross information, for it will show the reader the importance of your subject. In your second draft add more sense images and sharpen your transitions. Read your final draft aloud to someone keeping enough eye contact to judge which passages have the strongest effect.