... in a similar situation today? Explain.
2. The Analysis Essay
In most other classes, essay assignments will often ask you to analyze specific texts, ideas, events, or issues.
Here are three examples ... you. A successful college application essay trans-
forms you from a two-dimensional applicant into a dynamic, three-dimensional “real” person. And in most cases,
the more real you are to the admissions ... ethical dilemma you have faced, and its
impact on you.
2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
3. Indicate a person who has had a...
... great works of art. Describe a work of art a book, a movie, a pho-
tograph, a drawing, a painting, a song, or a musical composition—that had a powerful impact on your life. What
work of art was ... following?
More and more Americans are turning to alternative medicine. The ancient art of aromatherapy has gained a
tremendous following, particularly on the West Coast. Acupuncture, the traditional Chinese ... the main idea of an essay.
c. an essay that is at least three pages long.
d. the waya writer introduces an essay.
10. In the following paragraph, the first sentence is best described as which of...
... . a guide
to the proper care and feeding
of capital letters
A CAPITAL IDEA!
The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Capitalize names of days of the week, months,
and holidays.
Don’t capitalize ... the names of seasons.
Valentines Day, which is always on February
14, falls on Tuesday this year.
Next fall, before the winter storms
begin, we’re heading south.
A CAPITAL IDEA!
The Uses and ... shore of Lake Erie.
A CAPITAL IDEA!
The Uses and Rules of Capital Letters
Capitalize the names of nations, nationalities,
languages, and words based on such words.
We usually don’t capitalize...
... discussed in this book are different, your relationship to the actual reader is
quite similar in each case: that of evaluatee to evaluator. The primary reason your actual readers—college admis-
sion ... officers, SAT and ACT scorers, AP essay exam readers, and teachers—are reading your essay is not for their
reading pleasure. Instead, they are reading to evaluate.
How does this relationship affect ... demonstrate that I am a resourceful person.
explain why I took a year off after high school and show how that year prepared me
for college.
prove that Victor Frankenstein, rather than his creature,...
... the generation gap?
■
Find better ways to take care of parents, and grandparents
■
Being overwhelmed by information
■
What about the people who don’t have access to technology—social inequality
■
The ... selected a topic, write an
answer to the question(s), “What do I have to say to my audience?” or “What do I want my audience to know
about me?”
■
As with freewriting, do not edit or censor any ideas, ... exam
within 20 to 30 minutes. Fortunately, a few simple strategies can help you generate ideas for any essay assignment.
Brainstorming Ideas
How do you generate ideas? Some writers stare at a...
... mapping.
4
37
Outlining is another important essay-planning tool, but it is not a brainstorming technique. Outlining is an orga-
nizational technique that helps in planning an essay after ideas have been generated ... example, your topic might be to write
about the Cold War or about a novel you read in class. You can approach such boundless assignments in
many ways.
To write a successful essay, you need to ... brainstorming notes is at least one great idea that you can develop into an effective essay.
LESSON
Choosing a
Topic and
Developing
a Thesis
LESSON SUMMARY
This lesson explains how to narrow...
... hospitals, police, sanitation, social services
Spatial
Ideas can also be organized according to spatial principles, from top to bottom, side to side, or inside to outside,
for example. This organizational ... outline.
–OUTLINING AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES–
53
Practice 1
For the following assignment, identify a broad topic, narrow it, and turn it into a question and tentative thesis.
Assignment: Identify a factor ... a cell to the inside as she describes its structure:
Structure of an animal cell:
1. Plasma membrane
a. isolates cytoplasm
b. regulates flow of materials between cytoplasm and environment
c. allows...
... working to convince readers that your assertions are valid, it helps to use this structure. In many cases, your
least important ideas are probably also the least controversial and easiest to accept. ... learned ways to organize ideas according to time and space. Now, you’ll exam-
ine four additional principles of organization:
1. analysis/classification
2. order of importance
3. comparison and ... sen-
tences and paragraphs that bring your ideas to your audience.
What Is Drafting?
To draft means to create a preliminary version or rough form of a text. Preliminary and rough are the key...
... bound
by any rule that says they have to read each one from start to finish. The best wayto guarantee a full read and
a better chance that your essay will help the admissions officer put your application ... easier to read and understand. Long paragraphs are hard on the eye. If you’ve written a page or more without a
paragraph break, take a careful look at your ideas. Can they be broken up logically ... It’s logical to begin a paragraph with the topic sentence, but there’s no rule compelling you to place it there.
There are different ways to lay out an argument within a paragraph, and depending...
... note about a bomb threat (Mazza contends it was a joke) was found during an illegal search, the case had
to be dropped. Mazza sat taller in his seat and smiled at his parents when his attorney ... burning out,
Amy’s compassion and resolve have increased. She visits this family weekly, and is available to them almost 24
hours aday if a crisis arises. Once, she was awakened at three in the ... often an example, and a reason can also
be a fact. However, the categories are useful for discussing types of support and illustrating how to substantiate
your assertions in a variety of ways.
Specific...
... requires and monumental budget to admin-
ister and maintain. A flat tax, which would treat all taxpayers equally and dramatically reduce tax compliance cost,
is the answer.
A Question
Open up with a ... ready to kill the others if you have to for that water. What has happened?
What are you—human or animal? It is a question that H.G. Wells raises over and over in The Island of Dr. Moreau.
His answer? ... (supporting examples in the essay include discussions of atomic weapons and
cloning).
Ways to Grab Your Reader’s Attention
A good hook contains an element of creativity and an awareness of the reader’s...
... story raises a question that
is more important today that ever: What is the creator’s relationship to his or her creation?
A New Twist on a Familiar Phrase
Reword or rework an old standard to ... the Web can truly be what it was meant to be: an asset, and not a liability.
A Call to Action
Finally, you can end your essay by suggesting a specific action that your readers should take. As with ... pills and diet plans, Americans today are
heavier than ever.
There are many reasons for this nationwide weight gain, but experts agree that the main cause is lack of exer-
cise. And one of the reasons...
... looks at your essay with a stronger lens, examining it at the paragraph level.
The first question to ask about paragraphs is also a “big picture” question:
1. Are you paragraphs in a logical and ... your audience
and purpose, brainstorm, and develop a tentative thesis and outline, you should be able to avoid this prob-
lem. Go back to your prewriting notes to find the main idea you started ... need to
have a thesis that correlates with the space confines of an essay. It must be broad enough to warrant an essay-
length discussion, and narrow enough to be able to complete a thorough discussion...