Throughout my endeavors in writing, there have been many hindrances to perfection. A difficulty of mine has always been the flow of an essay. Flow is one of the most important attributes in writing. Flow allows your points to be conveyed smoothly, with a sense of ease to your writing. Without it, reading is no longer the pleasurable experience it’s supposed to be. In my previous endeavors as a student in the world of literature, my flow was atrocious, to say the least. The first writing assignment I received from high school was the Entrance Exam. Due to being fresh out of middle school, and having a summer full of tranquility, it was no wonder that my essay had its evident flaws. The topic was whether or not the US was holding up with its promises of the “unalienable rights.” After stating what the unalienable rights were, I made an abrupt follow-up with my opinion with the simple statement, “no, America is not fulfilling its promises to its people.” Reading this phrase alone, warrants a quantity of revisions, in addition to this testimony being made directly …show more content…
I was told that “a good writer should not have to convey more words to justify their reasoning.” In my entrance exam, I made this mistake in my conclusion, with the following line, “this is due to the fact (as it was stated earlier) that Life is not fair.” Though I understand that my past self wanted to reiterate that the point was made previously, the statement in parenthesis was unnecessary. An instance where I discarded the “filler words” was in my final essay about The Odyssey. When I was referring to Polyphemus calling out to his father, my words were, “he cries out to his father.” In my rough draft, I added the following phrase, “a child making a request to his beloved father.” I later realized that this was previously stated, and did not have to exist. Though I still struggle with this, the obstacle has
In an excerpt of Unteaching the Five-Paragraph Essay," Marie Foley reveals how the Five-Paragraph Essay formula contradicts writing instructor's most basic goals. Foley shows that the formula deters from generating individual thinking. In today's society, essays are used by millions of people in order to express their different ideas. The Five-Paragraph Essay formula was originally developed to help retain the efficiency and clarity of the essay. Foley, however, believes that this process eventually separates the student from his or her written expression and should be used only as a first step tool for beginning student writers. Foley insists that the formula blocks discovery, squelches authenticity and undermines the reader's need for coherence. Foley shows that patterns of organization and more natural thinking can benefit the student.
Students, who come from different cultures and backgrounds, are not prepared (especially on their own) to give up everything that they have spent the past eight-teen years believing in, in order to write the perfect college essay.
However, though John Warner’s argument is strong, Kerri smith’s argument is stronger. In Kerri Smith’s article “In Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay,” She claims that the five-paragraph essay should stay taught in schools as a guideline for a well-structured essay. She explains the five-paragraph essay as an “introduce-develop-conclude structure” that even great expository writing follows this structure (Smith 16). She purposefully communicates to her audience this idea to show that this structure gives students the knowledge and capability to write a professional essay. The five-paragraph essay includes the three key points to have a well-structured and organized essay. By mentioning that other great writers use this form of structure, she creates a stronger argument as to why the five-paragraph essay is important to education. She continues her article by explaining her early stages of writing and how she was taught; over time, her teachers would show her new ways to improve her writing which, in the end, she was told to think “of those five paragraphs simply as a mode of organization” (Smith
Many times, my writing consists of a solid introduction with a good idea, but it wanes as it nears the ending and the conclusion is not effective so as to remain consistent with the proper sequence of the sentence (2-3-1). The reader of my work must distinguish the most important points of the work, understanding the general theme, while remaining captivated by a consistently interesting paper. If a primary point exists, it needs to be expanded, emphasized, or supported. The work needs to remain interesting and captivating throughout. For the reader to infer my opinion on the subject matter, I must show approval or disapproval of it in some way.
The most powerful aspect of this essay is not the essay itself (as you will see) but, rather, the fact that it was written by an American college student.
‘I am going to fail’ was the very first thought that crept into my mind on that very first day of class. Before I stepped into the classroom on the first day, I felt pretty good about my writing. I had done previously well in English, and didn’t think this class would be much of a challenge. This all changed on the first day of school, when my professor talked about the level of reading and writing expected for this class. I remember thinking ‘I don’t read, why couldn’t I have been born someone who likes to read?!’ Since this moment on the very first day of class, I have grown immensely through hard work. In this essay, I will explain what I have learned over the course of this class about myself, and about writing.
Previous to this course, I had never been exposed to rhetoric, nor did I understand rhetoric and its influence the first time it was introduced to me. In addition to having limited exposure to rhetoric, this was my first real writing assignment for an AP course. The process I used to complete this essay is far different from the process I’ve developed throughout this school year. I allowed my anxiety to override my brain, resulting in me stressing myself throughout the whole writing process. Rather than accepting that I am good enough for an AP course, I doubted my writing skills and drove myself crazy by second-guessing every word and phrase I typed. I relentlessly researched rhetoric, vocabulary, and other writing knowledge, which would be beneficial for the future, but I let all of the writing skills I had not yet acquired prevent me from using the skills I did have to write a great essay. Now, I type everything I have to say about the essay topic and then review my work only fixing what needs to be fixed. At this point in time I had difficulty quoting text; I had to learn how to stop drop quoting and when to use brackets, commas, and ellipses. Looking back on this essay, I wish I had taken notes on the text, as it would have made analyzing structure far easier. I also wish I had asked for help when I felt unsure about rhetoric rather than trying to find answers
The strengths in my writing are my organizational skills, grammatical construct, and my work ethic. Organizing an essay is a very natural process for me. I always follow the basic guidelines for the structure of an essay, which state that one must have an introduction, thesis statement, body, conclusion, and a works cited when needed. The “Are Helicopter Parents Entering the No Fly Zone?” essay, “Animal Cloning—How Unethical Is It?” essay, and the “The Clean Water Act—Is it Successfully Reducing Water Pollution?” essay all have a proper introduction, an informative thesis statement, a body, great conclusions, and works cited pages. Formatting the essays is an integral aspect of organizational skills. Each new paragraph is indented, the font is twelve-point Times New Roman, the sentences are double spaced, and the headers are correct.
The first component of my essay is rights. Without our rights, us Americans could not live our own life. We have so many rights, from freedom of speech, to the right to bare arms, to the right to an education. We do not have to have the aspects of our life controlled by the government. In some countries, there are people who cannot
During my first day, I entered the dining room (also known as our English classroom) and received my first assignment. All 20 students were told to write a persuasive essay on a topic of their choice. The topics were required to be highly debatable and widely contested. Therefore, I chose to write my essay on the legalization of marijuana. Although any factual information regarding the topic was unknown to me at the time, I assumed an act so rebellious in nature would
As I grew up and entered high school, expectations for essays were much higher. I got my first paper back from my 9th grade English teacher with a big, fat "D" on the top left corner. I had never gotten a "D" in anything before. She allowed people to go home, make corrections, and turn it in by the end of the week. I went home that night and read my paper over and over again till I could recite it without looking at it. I couldn 't figure out how exactly I could
Aristotle once said “To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.” Aristotle means that if a writer wants to “write well” then he or she must think everything through and put his or her thoughts together before putting them on paper. A well written paper engages the audience through the use of rhetorical strategies. Rhetorical strategies can include images, examples, allusions, dictation and much more. The use of these devices can help build credibility, evoke emotions, and help structure the writing so the audience understands what they are reading. A well written paper includes all of these devices to help the paper flow and make sense, which can help the readers understand what they are reading. In
Secondly, flow and rhythm are very important in writing. When a paper doesn’t flow well, it can become
I have learned many things throughout the course of the term, including such things as: how to write an essay and how to improve on essays that I have already written, how to locate and composite better research through the use of numerous resources found at the campus library, the internet, and the “Common Sense” textbook, how to cite research, examples, and quotations properly within the contents of my research paper as well as document it accurately according to MLA standards. Through the exploration of the “Subjects and Strategies” textbook, I have learned nine different methods used when writing an effective essay and how the different writing styles affect the overall theme and tone of the essay when used properly. This past semester, I have encountered many difficulties when trying to write these essays, but through the use of the textbooks, the aide of the instructor, and once I was able to classify the different types of essays and styles, I found them possible to overcome.