Essay 1: Why Tsunamis Exist *which everybody knows, duh...* (Percy, don't expect other people to know this. Why do you think you are writing this essay?)

Bold text = Percy's scribbles
Italics = Annabeth's notes/substituted words

Tsunamis are large ocean waves that become larger as they approach the land. They typically occur tens of miles away from the coast, and some wreck disasters on mortal buildings. Normally, however, demigods would build celestial bronze bars on the infrastructure-thingys and the buildings would be loads stronger.Architects use modern technology to incorporate heavy steel bars into the building's structure, enabling stronger resistance against tsunamis.

Oftentimes, tsunamis are large ocean waves that become larger as they approach the lands – wait, did I just repeat myself? (Percy, this is a scientific essay. You should sound confident with yourself, and this should be entirely objective.)– but I'm pretty sure they are caused by my dad (I swear I think you're trying to confuse those mortals, they don't know your dad is Poseidon, and that's how it should stay!) when he falls off his bed at nighttime (Seriously?). It's either that, or when he has such a bad cold that he sneezes uncontrollably. Of course, this causes the sea to vibrate and shudder, and waves crash over the poor mortals. Then I have to step in and protect them. (Technically, this entire paragraph should be crossed out. This is terribly un-factual, at least for the mortals. Can you please just try to imagine a world without the gods?)

Usually, I get a wakup call by my windo from my friend Blackjack telling me to head off to Florida or Hawai or wherever the cowst is. Then it's just a simple deal of conccentrating. (And how is this even related to the topic?)

Of course, sometimes my dad creates tsunamis on purpose. When that happens, I *usually* don't step in. Except for that one time when he sent a wave over to Camp Jupiter when they were slow building his temple. Tsunamis are created when earthquakes originating at the seafloor, even those at lower magnitudes travel through the water and reach the surface. This causes the water to ripple, a butterfly effect that creates a small wave, one that grows larger and more powerful by distance.

(You need to list ways mortals – but use the pronoun 'we' – can protect ourselves against tsunamis. And using your powers is not an acceptable solution.) We can protect ourselves against these tidal waves by creating man-made synthetic barrier islands. These islands can absorb the larger impacts and lessen the damages to buildings and cities along the coast. Synthetic islands have been known to save millions of American dollars' worth of damage.

Anyways, that's how tsunamis form. (Your concluding sentence is too colloquial, too lazy. Use something like, 'We hope additional precautions may be discovered, in order to save the lives that may otherwise be taken,' or maybe 'Tsunamis are simply one natural disaster that occurs every day on our planet.'

Percy, what on Gaea are you thinking? You can't tell the mortals this stuff. I don't care if you didn't study your science quizzes, but the Mist can only shield the smaller evidence of our supernatural heritage from your teachers. They won't remember if you whip out your sword and quickly behead an empousai, but giving them a written record!? You will be out of that school in no time. So from now on, I will ALWAYS check your assignments, you dumb seaweed brain.

Two days later…

Thanks, Annabeth, this was the first time I didn't get an –F! Yep Wise Girl, I have an honest-to-athena B+!

What kind of paper did you submit it on?

I used my notebook paper, but it may or may not have had a scratched tear right in the middle. You see, there was this area I might have insulted–

Spare me.