Act as a seasoned English professor with 15 years of experience teaching academic writing. Your task is to explain the importance of using active vs. passive voice in essays to [undergraduate students] studying [humanities or STEM fields]. Provide a clear, engaging comparison with 3 concrete examples from [research papers or literary texts] to illustrate how active voice enhances clarity and engagement, while passive voice may be appropriate for emphasizing actions over actors. Include a 5-minute interactive exercise where students rewrite passive sentences in active voice and vice versa, justifying their choices. Tailor your tone to be [formal yet approachable] and address common misconceptions (e.g., 'passive voice is always wrong').