How to Fluff an Essay
I know — this is a bad topic to write about, because it will adversely influence the kids. They should be writing well-planned and thoroughly researched essays, not fluff, it’s true. But trust me, the kids aren’t so innocent, and it’s widely known among the essay-reading crowd that fluff is as common as flies on Munster.
The problem is, the kids who fluff are often as bad at writing fluff as they are at making a valid point. The goal of this tutorial (okay, article) is to at least provide some help in that department. Once this point is nailed down, they can move on to valid, “good” writing advice. But it’s easier to be good at writing if you know how to manipulate and make fun of writing, right? Let’s do this.
1. Make one point, very thoroughly. The number one mistake made by fluffers is becoming daunted by the sheer number of words expected of them, and the result is often a rambling, incoherent mess of disjointed statements. A one-thousand-word essay sounds like a prison sentence if you let this fear control you. Words are a dime a dozen. You can use 50 of them in one sentence about one thing, if you want to. Get around the word hurdle by isolating the one point you want to make, then grinding it into the ground with analogies, clever imagery, explanations, and an unrelenting, statesman-like panache. For example, making this one point ate up 121 words of this article. See? There is no try.
2. Repeat yourself. Nothing demonstrates your understanding of a concept like running it over again from a different direction, in another context, with another factor in play, from the opposite point of view, or in reverse-context (as if said point didn’t exist). Remember, the person grading this essay is probably reading it from the assumptive perspective of one who thinks they know more about the subject than you. Retreading your words will come across as a striking revelation in progress, and your reader will be feasting on the aura of your sudden clarity … while remaining completely oblivious to the paperback thesaurus in your hand.
3. Include personal experience. If there’s one subject you know better than anyone else, it’s you. Therefore, as long as you’re in your own arena writing about your own existence, no one can argue. You just have to tie it into your main thesis so your tirade has a point. This method was of particular use to me during the stretch of time I was responsible for a weekly opinion column: Try having opinions on current events while you’re double-majoring in college. My ammunition was past experience, and it entertained 
readers for months, until the more observant administrators called me on my supposed narcissism. That was overkill, your essay should fare better.
4. Argue against your point. One rather uncommon trick is playing devil’s advocate by attempting to disprove your own point. The key is, if your point makes sense to you, there has to be at least one reason why an argument against it will fail. Show the weakness in your counter-argument, and you’ve spent at least a paragraph or two strengthening your actual argument. Of course, you could leave out this tactic. It is a tricky method, and suddenly pushing against the flow you’ve created may raise some eyebrows among your audience. It may get you into trouble. Unless you pull it off. In that case, it will just sound refreshing and clever.
5. Bring up a side argument. Is your essay on the strengths and weaknesses of the constitutional monarchy of Japan? Make a point about the constitutional monarchy of Great Britain, then draw parallels between your two points. If your overall goal is to use up word space, there are plenty of topics to spend words on, as long as you stay relevant. If your goal was to spend money, why would you stay in only one store?
6. Disguise your arguments and reuse them. How do you get around a one-item-per-customer policy? Put on a different jacket and go into the store again. This tactic won’t necessarily add value to your essay, but it’s definitely a good way to eat up page space, and your reader will delight in the re-affirmation of your understanding. For example, see #2.
7. Don’t get distracted. One of the strongest elements of good fluffery is a strong voice. You want to make sure you’re taking your readers by the face and leading them down your maze of rhetoric and bedazzlement. However, distraction can make your voice falter, as mine almost did when I took a quick research break during the writing of point #5, to make sure both Japan and Great Britain do, in fact, have
constitutional monarchies. It took a couple of minutes of re-reading my own article to get back into the “zone.” Be wary of this pitfall.
8. Tie it up before it gets too long. Fluff’s biggest weakness is the attention span it warrants. Eventually, your reader will tire of you running circles around the English language, and you will tire of doing it. Therefore, tying it off just short of “the right length” will do three things: It will stop the charade before your audience catches on, it will leave the reader wanting a little more, and, if both of these are accomplished, it will make you sound like a solid expert, earning your essay at least a B.
These eight tactics, though sneaky and dodgy, may well turn your next excruciating writing assignment into an admirable piece of hooligan artwork, and the toast of the good-old-boys. Happy fluffing.
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October 17th, 2008 at 11:40 am
My favorite fluff phrase is, “To clarify…”
October 17th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Ah, yes, one can never be too clear. You tend to develop signature “extension” lines when you do this.
October 18th, 2008 at 12:24 am
My personal experience indicates that the quality of an essay is negatively correlated with its length. Fluff is a sucker’s bet.
October 20th, 2008 at 10:33 am
True. Real quality comes from research and planning, while fluff is the tool of the procrastinator. But such a widely used tool it is…
October 20th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
At least two of those points have been taught to me as vital things to do in an essay anyway, and the rest would result in the lecturer writing profanities all over my essay. But if it’s just a matter of getting the thing in on time and up to wordcount, then yay fluff! A paragraph entirely on the background of a subject, outside of the introduction is always a good way to use up another 200 words or so…
October 20th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Eddie, I wholeheartedly agree! I am at my best when I am allowed to be concise and clear. The longer I must write, the more the message becomes lost.
October 21st, 2008 at 8:56 am
Yeah, fluffing will really not fool your professor in college, generally it will just annoy them. If you are going to add “fluff” you paper better be WAY over the minimum length, remember most professors went to school for quite some time and are not idiots (no matter what you might like to think).
October 21st, 2008 at 9:02 am
Stupid word counts… look what they make us resort to! This is good until I work on my research skills.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:02 am
[...] The problem is, the kids who fluff are often as bad at writing fluff as they are at making a valid point. The goal of this tutorial (okay, article) is to at least provide some help in that department. Once this point is nailed down, they can move on to valid, “good” writing advice. But it’s easier to be good at writing if you know how to manipulate and make fun of writing, right? Let’s do this. [ACE Online School] [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Let’s not let politics come into play here, please. We don’t need no temper tantrums.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I could never get away with fluffing an essay like that in one of my classes. My teachers usually give us a minimum number of specific examples we need per paragraph and we are marked off for repetition. Damn IB program.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:23 am
Thank you so much. I am terrible at fluff, and in grade 12 highschool that’s all they expect. I normally get all the information they want, and really everything we have learned on the subject, in a third of the minimum requirements for an essay. Untill we get teachers that understand that quality not quantity is the sign they should be looking for for student comprehension, this is a legitimate tactic for passing many courses.
March 11th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
E, the IB programme is freakishly over structured. I did it myself and it turns out that though the work ethic you learn is great, the obsessive nitpicky-ness is never again repeated.
Relate each paragraph to a thesis statement, use arguments and counter arguments and avoid fluff.
Also : make each period 14 point font, adds a surprising amount of length to your essay (if going by pages) without looking wordy. Result: seemingly succinct work.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
I have students do this all the time. You ask for a 600 word article based upon a VERY specific subject, and you end up getting off topic dribble just to fill space. Its how they get out of actually researching. And your right it sounds awful.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:09 am
What a great article, I have been ” fluffing” my essays successfully since early grade school. This ” Fluffing” of essay’s’ is a great skill to learn, I encourage you to developing it- it will help you be successful in college, grad school and in the workplace. I am finishing up my masters degree in Business Administration and my adviser has told me to leverage any techniques you want to help you be successful just don’t get caught!
The only other skill that I think is more valuable is the ability to successfully plagiarize without getting caught. I basically copy , paste, reword as much as possible and restructure some of the sentences. Can someone point me to a good article on” how to successfully cheat in school”. Evey teenager headed to college should understand and utilize these skill-sets to help them through school. Happy Cheating!!
December 20th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
You’d be surprised at how many college professors will fall for fluffing - I don’t know about tenured professors (although you’re in luck if you’re in the sciences as their definition of good writing is something that clearly explains your point/data/whatever) but most TA’s and grad students, who are usually the ones who end up grading your paper anyways, will fall for it. And, if you’re in the sciences, you’re in luck, because… well, go read some journal articles or abstracts sometimes, and you’ll see why it’s not hard to get an A for a paper in a science class.
Also, use adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, etc, and when in doubt, clarify! It’s even better if you’ve got a good vocabulary, cause whoever’s grading your paper will usually be impressed both at how clear you’re being and at your command of the English language.
Oh, and if you’re writing ANYTHING for the social sciences, humanities, or so on, I’ve found that I’ve NEVER gotten less than an A when I used the word ‘heteronormative’ properly in my paper. Apparently, professors are so impressed at your enlightenment (cause, after all, you are aware of heteronormativity! And you know how to describe it!) that it will make up for incredible amounts of fluff.
December 27th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
As an illustration student, I find that liberal arts profs are incredibly susceptible to this sort of thing, and some of them even classify it as proper English usage. I routinely fluff the living crap out of art history essays, because let’s face it, the precise sort of paint Mondrian used on Composition Number 10 might be factual, but it’s also completely pointless info. That’s one of my favorite fluff techniques. Just work some of the really obvious info or some of the stuff that’s related but unnecessary like what kind of paint they used or whatever and tie it in. Those extra few words it takes to say “oil paint on canvas” versus “paint” really add up over the course of a paper.
Some of the things in this list though, like going over the counter-argument are actually really good ideas too, because they really do strengthen the essay. Overall though, I think professors use the length requirement as a way to force people to do more than just write a half-assed page about what they heard about the subject over their lunch break.
Though, you do have to be careful. After a few years of fluffing the living crap out of all your essays, you start to write that way even when you’re not fluffing things up.