Hot Essay Info » admission essay

Response Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:05:10 +0000

Thesis
A thesis might be about some trends in the use of images in the work or about parallels with the author’s own life.
Body
The body of the response essay is a careful working through of the work in question, examining all relevant aspects of it. Usually there is too much to work with so you need to focus your work on a limited number of points.
Some of the ways you read through a work of literature include
* identify literary devices such as simile, metaphor, image, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoiea and others and show how they help to convey the overall meaning of the work.
* find themes which are addressed in various parts of the work and show how they contribute to the overall meaning.
* find the roots of words such as the Greek or Latin roots or archaic usage and show how the writer has used these deeper meanings to add layers of complexity to his work.
* relate aspects of the work to the author’s own life or experience.
Conclusion
All you have to do is state that the bulk of your evidence supports your thesis. If there are any major arguments against your thesis, you can take one more shot at them.
What is the maker looking for?
A new analysis of an old work might be a good start. Find subtle points, which support your argument, which you haven’t seen, presented in other essays. A creative thesis is a good start, but beware of trying to make a work of art say something, which the author couldn’t have possibly intended. (There’s a whole bunch of critical theory around this,but unless you are working on a graduate level essay, just stick to things relevant to the author.)

Cause and Effect Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:33 +0000

What is a cause and effect essay?
Cause and effect essays are concerned with why things happen (causes) and what happens as a result (effects). Cause and effect is a common method of organizing and discussing ideas.
Follow these steps when writing a cause and effect essay
1. Distinguish between cause and effect. To determine causes, ask, “Why did this happen?” To identify effects, ask, “What happened because of this?” The following is an example of one cause producing one effect:
Cause
You are out of gas.
Effect
Your car won’t start.
Sometimes, many causes contribute to a single effect or many effects may result from a single cause. (Your instructor will specify which cause/effect method to use.) The following are examples:
Causes
liked business in high school
salaries in the field are high
have an aunt who is an accountant
am good with numbers
Effect
choose to major in accounting
Cause
reduce work hours
Effects
less income
employer is irritated
more time to study
more time for family and friends
However, most situations are more complicated. The following is an example of a chain reaction:
Thinking about friend:forgot to buy gas:car wouldn’t start:missed math exam:failed math course.
2. Develop your thesis statement. State clearly whether you are discussing causes, effects, or both. Introduce your main idea, using the terms “cause” and/or “effect.”
3. Find and organize supporting details. Back up your thesis with relevant and sufficient details that are organized. You can organize details in the following ways:
* Chronological. Details are arranged in the order in which the events occurred.
* Order of importance. Details are arranged from least to most important or vice versa.
* Categorical. Details are arranged by dividing the topic into parts or categories.
4. Use appropriate transitions. To blend details smoothly in cause and effect essays, use the transitional words and phrases listed below.
For causes
because, due to, on cause is, another is, since, for, first, second
For Effects
consequently, as a result, thus, resulted in, one result is, another is, therefore
When writing your essay, keep the following suggestions in mind:
* Remember your purpose. Decide if your are writing to inform or persuade.
* Focus on immediate and direct causes (or effects.) Limit yourself to causes that are close in time and related, as opposed to remote and indirect causes, which occur later and are related indirectly.
* Strengthen your essay by using supporting evidence. Define terms, offer facts and statistics, or provide examples, anecdotes, or personal observations that support your ideas.
* Qualify or limit your statements about cause and effect. Unless there is clear evidence that one event is related to another, qualify your statements with phrases such as “It appears that the cause was” or “It seems likely” or “The evidence may indicate” or “Available evidence suggests.”
To evaluate the effectiveness of a cause and effect essay, ask the following questions:
What are the causes? What are the effects? Which should be emphasized? Are there single or multiple causes? Single or multiple effects? Is a chain reaction involved?

5-paragraph Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:25 +0000

Introductory paragraph
The introductory paragraph should also include the thesis statement, a kind of mini-outline for the essay. This is where the writer grabs the reader’s attention. It tells the reader what the paper is about. The last sentence of this paragraph must also include a transitional “hook” which moves the reader to the first paragraph of the body of the essay.
Body - First paragraph
The first paragraph of the body should include the strongest argument, most significant example, cleverest illustration, or an obvious beginning point. The first sentence should contain the “reverse hook” which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the introductory paragraph. The subject for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This subject should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the second paragraph of the body.
Body - Second paragraph
The second paragraph of the body should include the second strongest argument, second most significant example, second cleverest illustration, or an obvious follow up the first paragraph in the body. The first sentence of this paragraph should contain the reverse hook, which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the first paragraph of the body. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the third paragraph of the body.
Body - Third paragraph
The third paragraph of the body should include the weakest argument, weakest example, weakest illustration, or an obvious follow up to the second paragraph in the body. The first sentence of this paragraph should contain the reverse hook, which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the second paragraph. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional concluding hook that signals the reader that this is the final major point being made in this essay. This hook also leads into the concluding paragraph.
Concluding paragraph
The fifth paragraph is the summary paragraph. It is important to restate the thesis and three supporting ideas in an original and powerful way as this is the last chance the writer has to convince the reader of the validity of the information presented.
This paragraph should include the following:
1. an allusion to the pattern used in the introductory paragraph,
2. a restatement of the thesis statement, using some of the original language or language that “echoes” the original language. (The restatement, however, must not be a duplicate thesis statement.)
3. a summary of the three main points from the body of the essay.
4. a final statement that gives the reader signals that the discussion has come to an end. (This final statement may be a “call to action” in a persuasive essay.)
Example
1Stephen King, creator of such stories as Carrie and Pet Sematary, stated that the Edgar Allan Poe stories he read as a child gave him the inspiration and instruction he needed to become the writer that he is. 2Poe, as does Stephen King, fills the reader’s imagination with the images that he wishes the reader to see, hear, and feel. 3His use of vivid, concrete visual imagery to present both static and dynamic settings and to describe people is part of his technique. 4Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a story about a young man who kills an old man who cares for him, dismembers the corpse, then goes mad when he thinks he hears the old man’s heart beating beneath the floor boards under his feet as he sits and discusses the old man’s absence with the police. 5In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a careful reader can observe Poe’s skillful manipulation of the senses.
The introductory paragraph includes a paraphrase of something said by a famous person in order to get the reader’s attention. The second sentence leads up to the thesis statement which is the third sentence. The thesis statement (sentence 3) presents topic of the paper to the reader and provides a mini- outline. The topic is Poe’s use of visual imagery. The mini- outline tells the reader that this paper will present Poe’s use of imagery in three places in his writing: (1) description of static setting; (2) description of dynamic setting; and (3) description of a person. The last sentence of the paragraph uses the words “manipulation” and “senses” as transitional hooks.
1The sense of sight, the primary sense, is particularly susceptible to manipulation. 2In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe uses the following image to describe a static scene: “His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness . . .” Poe used the words “black,” “pitch,” and “thick darkness” not only to show the reader the condition of the old man’s room, but also to make the reader feel the darkness.” 3″Thick” is a word that is not usually associated with color (darkness), yet in using it, Poe stimulates the reader’s sense of feeling as well as his sense of sight.
In the first sentence of the second paragraph (first paragraph of the body) the words “sense” and “manipulation” are used to hook into the end of the introductory paragraph. The first part of the second sentence provides the topic for this paragraph–imagery in a static scene. Then a quotation from “The Tell-Tale Heart” is presented and briefly discussed. The last sentence of this paragraph uses the expressions “sense of feeling” and “sense of sight” as hooks for leading into the third paragraph
1Further on in the story, Poe uses a couple of words that cross not only the sense of sight but also the sense of feeling to describe a dynamic scene. 2The youth in the story has been standing in the open doorway of the old man’s room for a long time, waiting for just the right moment to reveal himself to the old man in order to frighten him. 3Poe writes: “So I opened it [the lantern opening]–you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily–until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.” 4By using the metaphor of the thread of the spider (which we all know is a creepy creature) and the word “shot,” Poe almost makes the reader gasp, as surely did the old man whose one blind eye the young man describes as “the vulture eye.”
The first sentence of the third paragraph (second paragraph of the body) uses the words “sense of sight” and “sense of feeling” to hook back into the previous paragraph. Note that in the second paragraph “feeling” came first, and in this paragraph “sight” comes first. The first sentence also includes the topic for this paragraph–imagery in a dynamic scene. Again, a quotation is taken from the story, and it is briefly discussed. The last sentence uses the words “one blind eye” which was in the quotation. This expression provides the transitional hook for the last paragraph in the body of the paper.
1The reader does not know much about what the old man in this story looks like except that he has one blind eye. 2In the second paragraph of “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe establishes the young man’s obsession with that blind eye when he writes: “He had the eye of the vulture–a pale blue eye, with a film over it.” 3This “vulture eye” is evoked over and over again in the story until the reader becomes as obsessed with it as does the young man. 4His use of the vivid, concrete word “vulture” establishes a specific image in the mind of the reader that is inescapable.
In the first sentence of the fourth paragraph (third paragraph in the body), “one blind eye” is used that hooks into the previous paragraph. This first sentence also lets the reader know that this paragraph will deal with descriptions of people: “. . . what the old man looks like . . ..” Once again Poe is quoted and discussed. The last sentence uses the word “image” which hooks into the last paragraph. (It is less important that this paragraph has a hook since the last paragraph is going to include a summary of the body of the paper.)
1″Thick darkness,” “thread of the spider,” and “vulture eye” are three images that Poe used in “The Tell-Tale Heart” to stimulate a reader’s senses. 2Poe wanted the reader to see and feel real life. 3He used concrete imagery rather than vague abstract words to describe settings and people. If Edgar Allan Poe was one of Stephen King’s teachers, then readers of King owe a debt of gratitude to that nineteenth-century creator of horror stories.
The first sentence of the concluding paragraph uses the principal words from the quotations from each paragraph of the body of the paper. This summarizes those three paragraphs. The second and third sentences provide observations which can also be considered a summary, not only of the content of the paper, but also offers personal opinion which was logically drawn as the result of this study. The last sentence returns to the Edgar Allan Poe-Stephen King relationship that began this paper. This sentence also provides a “wrap-up” and gives the paper a sense of finality.

Introduction to Prewriting (Invention)

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:18 +0000

When you sit down to write…
* Does your mind turn blank?
* Are you sure you have nothing to say?
If so, you’re not alone. Many writers experience this at some time or another, but some people have strategies or techniques to get them started. When you are planning to write something, try some of the following suggestions.
You can try the textbook formula:
1. State your thesis.
2. Write an outline.
3. Write the first draft.
4. Revise and polish.
. . . but that often doesn’t work.
Instead, you can try one or more of these strategies:
Ask yourself what your purpose is for writing about the subject.
There are many “correct” things to write about for any subject, but you need to narrow down your choices. For example, your topic might be “dorm food.” At this point, you and your potential reader are asking the same question, “So what?” Why should you write about this, and why should anyone read it?
Do you want the reader to pity you because of the intolerable food you have to eat there?
Do you want to analyze large-scale institutional cooking?
Do you want to compare Purdue’s dorm food to that served at Indiana University?
Ask yourself how you are going to achieve this purpose.
How, for example, would you achieve your purpose if you wanted to describe some movie as the best you’ve ever seen? Would you define for yourself a specific means of doing so? Would your comments on the movie go beyond merely telling the reader that you really liked it?
Start the ideas flowing
Brainstorm. Gather as many good and bad ideas, suggestions, examples, sentences, false starts, etc. as you can. Perhaps some friends can join in. Jot down everything that comes to mind, including material you are sure you will throw out. Be ready to keep adding to the list at odd moments as ideas continue to come to mind.
Talk to your audience, or pretend that you are being interviewed by someone - or by several people, if possible (to give yourself the opportunity of considering a subject from several different points of view). What questions would the other person ask? You might also try to teach the subject to a group or class.
See if you can find a fresh analogy that opens up a new set of ideas. Build your analogy by using the word like. For example, if you are writing about violence on television, is that violence like clowns fighting in a carnival act (that is, we know that no one is really getting hurt)?
Take a rest and let it all percolate.
Summarize your whole idea.
Tell it to someone in three or four sentences.
Diagram your major points somehow.
Make a tree, outline, or whatever helps you to see a schematic representation of what you have. You may discover the need for more material in some places. Write a first draft.
Then, if possible, put it away. Later, read it aloud or to yourself as if you were someone else. Watch especially for the need to clarify or add more information.
You may find yourself jumping back and forth among these various strategies.
You may find that one works better than another. You may find yourself trying several strategies at once. If so, then you are probably doing something right.

The Descriptive Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:05 +0000

What is a Descriptive Essay?
The descriptive essay is a genre of essay that asks the student to describe an object, person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc. This genre encourages the student’s ability to create a written account of a particular experience. What is more, this genre allows for a great deal of artistic freedom (the goal of which is to paint an image that is vivid and moving in the mind of the reader).
One might benefit from keeping in mind this simple maxim: If the reader is unable to clearly form an impression of the thing that you are describing, try, try again!
Here are some guidelines for writing a descriptive essay:
Take time to brainstorm
If your instructor asks you to describe your favorite food, make sure that you jot down some ideas before you begin describing it. For instance, if you choose pizza, you might start by writing down a few words: sauce, cheese, crust, pepperoni, sausage, spices, hot, melted, etc. Once you have written down some words, you can begin by compiling descriptive lists for each one.
Use clear and concise language.
This means that words are chosen carefully, particularly for their relevancy in relation to that which you are intending to describe.
Choose vivid language.
Why use ‘horse’ when you can choose ’stallion’? Why not use ‘tempestuous’ instead of ‘violent’? Or why not ‘miserly’ in place of ‘cheap’? Such choices form a firmer image in the mind of the reader and often times offer nuanced meanings that serve better one’s purpose.
Use your senses!
Remember, if you are describing something, you need to be appealing to the senses of the reader. Explain how the thing smelled, felt, sounded, tasted, or looked. Embellish the moment with senses.
What were you thinking?!
If you can describe emotions or feelings related to your topic, you will connect with the reader on a deeper level. Many have felt crushing loss in their lives, or ecstatic joy, or mild complacency. Tap into this emotional reservoir in order to achieve your full descriptive potential.
Leave the reader with a clear impression.
One of your goals is to evoke a strong sense of familiarity and appreciation in the reader. If your reader can walk away from the essay craving the very pizza you just described, you are on your way to writing effective descriptive essays.
Be organized!
It is easy to fall into an incoherent rambling of emotions and senses when writing a descriptive essay. However, you must strive to present an organized and logical description if the reader is to come away from the essay with a cogent sense of what it is you are attempting to describe.

Essay Writing

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:03:57 +0000

Overview
The essay is a commonly assigned form of writing that every student will encounter while in academia. Therefore, it is wise for the student to become capable and comfortable with this type of writing early on in her training.
Essays can be a rewarding and challenging type of writing and are often assigned both in class-which requires previous planning and practice (and a bit of creativity) on the part of the student-and as homework, which likewise demands a certain amount of preparation. Many poorly crafted essays have been produced on account of a lack of preparation and confidence. However, students can avoid the discomfort often associated with essay writing by understanding some common genres within essay writing.
However, before delving into its various genres, let’s begin with a basic definition of the essay.
What is an Essay?
Though the word ‘essay’ has come to be understood as a type of writing in Modern English, its origins provide us with some useful insights. The word comes into the English language through the French influence on Middle English; tracing it back further, we find that the French form of the word comes from the Latin verb exigere, which means ‘to examine, test, or (literally) to drive out’. Through the excavation of this ancient word, we are able to unearth the essence of the academic essay: to encourage students to test or examine their ideas concerning a particular topic.

What makes a good essay?

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:03:53 +0000

Read the topic and sample essay, then study the comments. Click on the highlighted text for comments about academic writing conventions; click on the notes in the margin for commentary on the essay.
comment
Essay topic:
“Birth rates are falling in developed countries. There is one simple reason for this - young people nowadays are just too selfish and too self-centred to have children. And this is particularly true of women”. To what extent do you agree with this view? Support your argument with relevant readings and evidence.
Sample essay
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Using “I” - first person pronouns
Notice how the student uses “I” in his essay:
The best explanation, I believe, is…. And in the previous sentence, another first person pronoun is used: My argument is that …
Some students have the impression that they are not allowed to use these words in their written work. But in fact they can often be found in academic writing. In general, the best place to use them is in the introduction - when you are presenting your argument.
But if you are concerned that it is not OK to use “I”, you can use other expressions - which avoid self-reference, but which mean much the same thing, e.g. This essay will argue that … Remember though, that the really important issue is not the words you use to present your argument - but that your essay actually has a clear argument.
commentCountries in the developed world have seen a big shift in attitudes to population growth. Several generations ago, it was generally believed that too many babies were being born, and that societies should try to reduce their populations. Nowadays, however, the concern is the reverse - that birthrates are falling too low and that urgent action is needed to encourage people to have more children. But what are the causes of this trend? And how much are the attitudes and lifestyles of young people to blame? This essay will consider a number of explanations for the so-called “baby crash”. commentMy argument will be that to hold young people responsible is neither valid nor helpful. The best explanation, I believe, is to be found in the condition of increased economic insecurity faced by the young.
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Paragraphs
Try to keep your paragraphs a reasonable length. (Most paragraphs in this essay are around 7-8 sentences long.)
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Citation 1 (Chesnais, 1998)
Citations are used to indicate the source of the ideas you have used in your essay. Note that there are two main citation systems:
1. the author-date system (also known as Harvard);
2. the footnote system (also known as Oxford).
In this essay, the author-date system has been used. (Always check which system is required in each of your subjects.)
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Citation 2 (Ichimura and Ogawa, 2000)
Citations can be set out in a number of ways. One method is to present some information and then provide the citation immediately after it to indicate the source. These are known as ‘information-prominent’ citations eg:
Japan now has a birthrate of only about 1.3, and Hong Kong’s has fallen to below 1.0 (Ichimura and Ogawa, 2000).
Other formats are considered further on.
comment The birth rate has fallen dramatically in many parts of the world. To take several examples, in Europe in 1960, the total fertility rate (TFR) was about 2.6 births per female, but in 1996 it had fallen to 1.4 (Chesnais, 1998). In many Asian countries, similar declines have been experienced. Japan now has a birthrate of only about 1.3, and Hong Kong’s has fallen to below 1.0 (Ichimura and Ogawa, 2000). A TFR of below 2.0 means that a country’s population is not replaced, and thus there is a net population decline. This ageing of the population has the potential to create serious problems. Fewer children being born means that in the long term, a smaller proportion of the populace will be economically productive, whilst a larger proportion will be old and economically dependent - in the form of pension, health care and other social services. Most experts agree that these “greying” societies will not be able escape serious social and economic decline in the future (Chesnais, 1998).
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Citation 3 Masahiro Yamada (cited in Ashby, 2000)
This citation means that the student is dealing with the ideas of Yamada, but actually read about them in Ashby’s text. Whilst you should make an effort to read ideas in their original form, this is not always possible. In such cases, use the ‘cited in’ format.
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Reporting expressions
When you are summarising the ideas of a writer, you need to use reporting expressions like the ones used here:
He [Yamada] uses the term …
According to Yamada,…
… he says …etc.
commentSo what are the causes of this trend and what can be done to stop it? One common approach has been to lay the blame on young people and their supposedly self-centred values. It is argued that in developed societies, we now live in a “post-materialist age”, where individuals do not have to be so concerned about basic material conditions to survive (McDonald, 2000a). Thus people, especially the young, have become more focussed on the values of self-realisation and the satisfaction of personal preferences, at the expense of traditional values like raising a family. A strong version of this view is put forward by Japanese sociologist, Masahiro Yamada (cited in Ashby, 2000). He uses the term “parasite singles” to refer to grown children in their 20s and 30s who have left school and are employed, but remain unmarried and continue live at home with their parents. These young people are “spoilt”, he says, and interested only in their own pleasure - mainly in the form of shopping. According to Yamada, it is this focus on self, more than any other factor, that is responsible for Japan’s languishing birth rate (Ashby, 2000). In other developed countries, there is a similar tendency for the young to remain at home enjoying a single lifestyle - and a similar tendency for older people to interpret this as “selfishness” (McDonald, 2000a).
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“Scare quotes”
You use these to distance yourself from certain language. eg. when you are using an informal expression, or a term used by others that you don’t necessarily agree with.
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Careful language (it seems that….)
In this paragraph, the student wants to reject the view in the topic - that young people’s selfishness is to blame for the declining birthrate. Notice how he does this in a careful way, by using expressions like:
Findings like this suggest that …
It seems then that …
Being careful about the way you express your claims is a distinctive feature of academic style.
commentBut is it reasonable to attribute the baby crash to the “pleasure-seeking” values of the young? The problem with this view is that whenever young people are surveyed about their attitudes to family, not only do they say they want to have children, they also express preferences for family sizes that are, on average, above the replacement level (McDonald, 2000a). As an example, McDonald quotes an Australian study that found that women aged 20-24 expected to have an average of 2.33 children in their lifetime. Findings like this suggest that the values of the young are not at all incompatible with the idea of having a family. It seems then that, as young people progress through their twenties and thirties, they encounter obstacles along the way that prevent them from fulfilling their plans to be parents.
commentSome conservative thinkers believe the main “obstacle” is the changed role and status of women (eg. Norton, 2003). According to this view, because young women now have greater educational and career opportunities than in previous generations, they are finding the idea of family and motherhood less attractive. Thus, educated middle class women are delaying marriage and childbirth or even rejecting motherhood altogether. It is claimed that women’s improved status - which may be a good thing in itself - has had the unfortunate consequence of threatening population stability.
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“Quoting”
When you quote an author (like Chesnais here) you need to use quotation marks, and indicate the exact page number in the citation.
Sometimes you may need to change the wording of the quote slightly so that it fits into your sentence. If you need to add/change any words, use [ ]; if you need to delete words, use … (Whilst it is OK to change the wording of a quote, you must never change its sense.)
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Italics - for emphasis
Use italics when you want to emphasise a word. (When you do this in a quote, you need to indicate that it is your emphasis.)
commentBut there are several problems with this argument. For one, the lowest TFRs in Europe are found in Spain and Italy (around 1.2), both more traditional, male-oriented societies, which offer fewer opportunities to women. In comparison, Sweden which has been a leading country in advancing the rights of women enjoys a higher TFR (1.6 in 1996) - even though it is still below replacement. Chesnais (1998: p. 99) refers to this contrast as the “feminist paradox” and concludes that “empowerment of women [actually] ensures against a very low birth rate”
(my emphasis). Another problem with trying to link improved education levels for women to low birth rates is that fertility in developed countries seems to be declining across all education and class levels. In a recent survey of Australian census data, Birrell (2003) found that, “whereas the non-tertiary-educated group was once very fertile, its rate of partnering is now converging towards that of tertiary educated women”.
We can summarise the discussion to this point as follows:
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Dot points
It’s OK to use dot points in an essay (or numbered points here), but use them very sparingly.
1. Young people today, in spite of what’s said about their values, still express a desire to have children. However, few end up having as many as they say they would like.
2. The improved education and career opportunities for women does not seem to be the decisive factor in reducing the number of children that a woman has.
commentThese conclusions suggest that there must be something else involved. Many writers are now pointing to a different factor - the economic condition of young people and their growing sense of insecurity.
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Citation 4 Peter McDonald (2000a) … discusses
Notice how in some citations the author can be part of the sentence: Peter McDonald (2000a) … discusses some of the things etc. This is known as an ‘author-prominent’ citation and is very common in academic writing. Notice the use of reporting verbs in this citation type (”discusses”).
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Titles
Use ‘inverted commas’ for the title of an article. Use italics for the title of a book
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More reporting expressions
Notice some of the other reporting expressions used in the student’s summary of Peter McDonald’s ideas:
… what McDonald calls…
… McDonald suggests …
… McDonald points to …
… which he thinks…
Peter McDonald (2000a) in his article ‘Low fertility in Australia: Evidence, causes and policy responses’ discusses some of the things that a couple will consider when they are thinking of having a child. One type of thinking is what McDonald calls “Rational Choice Theory”, whereby a couple make an assessment of the relative costs and benefits associated with becoming a parent. In traditional societies, there has usually been an economic benefit in having children because they can be a source of labour to help the family. In developed societies, however, children now constitute an economic cost, and so, it is argued, the benefits are more of a psychological kind - for example, enjoying the status of being a parent, having baby who will be fun and will grow up to love you, having offspring who will carry on the family name etc. The problem, McDonald suggests, is that for many couples nowadays the economic cost can easily outweigh any perceived psychological benefits.
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Indenting of paragraphs
It’s very important to make it clear to your reader when one paragraph ends and a new one begins. In this paragraph (#9), there is some potential for confusion. Notice how the student has used indenting to make this clear.
comment McDonald (2000b) discusses another type of decision-making - “Risk Aversion Theory” - which he says is also unfavourable to the birth rate. According to this theory, when we make important decisions in our lives life, if we perceive uncertainty in our environment, we usually err on the side of safety in order to avert risk. McDonald points to a rise in economic uncertainty which he thinks has steered a lot of young people away from life-changing decisions like marriage and parenthood:
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“Quoting” 2 - longer quotes
Quotes of more than one sentence in length should be separated from the main text. Notice how these are indented and are in a slightly smaller font. Again you should indicate the page number
Jobs are no longer lifetime jobs. There is a strong economic cycle of booms and busts. Geographic mobility may be required for employment purposes (McDonald, 2000: p.15).
Birrell (2003) focuses on increased economic uncertainty for men. Referring to the situation in Australia, he discusses men’s reluctance to form families in terms of perceived costs and risks:
Many men are poor - in 2001, 42 per cent of men aged 25-44 earnt less than $32,000 a year. Only two-thirds of men in this age group were in full-time work. Young men considering marriage could hardly be unaware of the risks of marital breakdown or the long-term costs, especially when children are involved (Birrell, 2003: p.12).
And Yuji Genda (2000) in Japan, responding to Yamada’s analysis of “parasite singles”, argues that the failure of young Japanese to leave home and start families is not due to self-indulgence, but is an understandable response to increasingly difficult economic circumstances. Genda (2000) notes that it is the young who have had to bear the brunt of the decade long restructuring of the Japanese economy, with youth unemployment hovering around 10% and a marked reduction in secure full-time jobs for the young.
Young people around the world seem to have an increasing perception of economic uncertainty and contemplate something their parents would have found impossible - a decline in living standards over their lifetime. According to a 1990 American survey, two thirds of respondents in the 18-29 age group thought it would be more difficult for their generation to live as comfortably as previous generations (cited in Newman, 2000: p.505). Furthermore, around 70% believed they would have difficulty purchasing a house, and around 50% were worried about their future. Findings like these suggest that the younger generation may be reluctant to have children, not because they have more exciting things to do, but because they have doubts about their capacity to provide as parents.
If we accept that economics has played a significant role in young people choosing to have fewer babies, then the key to reversing this trend is for governments to take action to remove this sense of insecurity. A number of policy approaches have been suggested. Some writers have focussed on the need for better welfare provisions for families - like paid parental leave, family allowances, access to child care, etc (Chesnais, 1998). Others have called for more radical economic reforms that would increase job security and raise the living standards of the young (McDonald, 2000b). It is hard to know what remedies are needed. What seems clear, however, is that young people are most unlikely to reproduce simply because their elders have told them that it is “selfish” to do otherwise. Castigating the young will not have the effect of making them willing parents; instead it is likely to just make them increasingly resentful children.

How to Write an Essay: 10 Easy Steps

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:03:45 +0000

Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
– Gene Fowler
Why is writing an essay so frustrating?
Learning how to write an essay can be a maddening, exasperating process, but it doesn’t have to be. If you know the steps and understand what to do, writing can be easy and even fun.
This site, “How To Write an Essay: 10 Easy Steps,” offers a ten-step process that teaches students how to write an essay. Links to the writing steps are found on the left, and additional writing resources are located across the top.
Learning how to write an essay doesn’t have to involve so much trial and error.
steps to writing an essay
Brief Overview of the 10 Essay Writing Steps
Below are brief summaries of each of the ten steps to writing an essay. Select the links for more info on any particular step, or use the blue navigation bar on the left to proceed through the writing steps. How To Write an Essay can be viewed sequentially, as if going through ten sequential steps in an essay writing process, or can be explored by individual topic.
1. Research: Begin the essay writing process by researching your topic, making yourself an expert. Utilize the internet, the academic databases, and the library. Take notes and immerse yourself in the words of great thinkers.
2. Analysis: Now that you have a good knowledge base, start analyzing the arguments of the essays you’re reading. Clearly define the claims, write out the reasons, the evidence. Look for weaknesses of logic, and also strengths. Learning how to write an essay begins by learning how to analyze essays written by others.
3. Brainstorming: Your essay will require insight of your own, genuine essay-writing brilliance. Ask yourself a dozen questions and answer them. Meditate with a pen in your hand. Take walks and think and think until you come up with original insights to write about.
4. Thesis: Pick your best idea and pin it down in a clear assertion that you can write your entire essay around. Your thesis is your main point, summed up in a concise sentence that lets the reader know where you’re going, and why. It’s practically impossible to write a good essay without a clear thesis.
5. Outline: Sketch out your essay before straightway writing it out. Use one-line sentences to describe paragraphs, and bullet points to describe what each paragraph will contain. Play with the essay’s order. Map out the structure of your argument, and make sure each paragraph is unified.
6. Introduction: Now sit down and write the essay. The introduction should grab the reader’s attention, set up the issue, and lead in to your thesis. Your intro is merely a buildup of the issue, a stage of bringing your reader into the essay’s argument.
(Note: The title and first paragraph are probably the most important elements in your essay. This is an essay-writing point that doesn’t always sink in within the context of the classroom. In the first paragraph you either hook the reader’s interest or lose it. Of course your teacher, who’s getting paid to teach you how to write an essay, will read the essay you’ve written regardless, but in the real world, readers make up their minds about whether or not to read your essay by glancing at the title alone.)
7. Paragraphs: Each individual paragraph should be focused on a single idea that supports your thesis. Begin paragraphs with topic sentences, support assertions with evidence, and expound your ideas in the clearest, most sensible way you can. Speak to your reader as if he or she were sitting in front of you. In other words, instead of writing the essay, try talking the essay.
8. Conclusion: Gracefully exit your essay by making a quick wrap-up sentence, and then end on some memorable thought, perhaps a quotation, or an interesting twist of logic, or some call to action. Is there something you want the reader to walk away and do? Let him or her know exactly what.
9. MLA Style: Format your essay according to the correct guidelines for citation. All borrowed ideas and quotations should be correctly cited in the body of your text, followed up with a Works Cited (references) page listing the details of your sources.
10. Language: You’re not done writing your essay until you’ve polished your language by correcting the grammar, making sentences flow, incoporating rhythm, emphasis, adjusting the formality, giving it a level-headed tone, and making other intuitive edits. Proofread until it reads just how you want it to sound. Writing an essay can be tedious, but you don’t want to bungle the hours of conceptual work you’ve put into writing your essay by leaving a few slippy misppallings and pourly wordedd phrazies..
You’re done. Great job. Now move over Ernest Hemingway - a new writer is coming of age! (Of course Hemingway was a fiction writer, not an essay writer, but he probably knew how to write an essay just as well.)
My Promise: The Rest of This Site Will Really Teach You How To Write an Essay
For half a dozen years I’ve read thousands of college essays and taught students how to write essays, do research, analyze arguments, and so on. I wrote this site in the most basic, practical way possible and made the instruction crystal clear for students and instructors to follow. If you carefully follow the ten steps for writing an essay as outlined on this site - honestly and carefully follow them - you’ll learn how to write an essay that is more organized, insightful, and appealing. And you’ll probably get an A.
Now it’s time to really begin. C’mon, it will be fun. I promise to walk you through each step of your writing journey.

How to Choose an Essay Topic

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:03:32 +0000

You’ve just received an essay assignment, and you’re staring at a blank sheet of paper.
The choices are endless, and your mind is blank. Where do you start?
As with any project idea, you should choose a topic that you care about. You’ll do a much better job working with a topic that is meaningful to you.
The “most list” brainstorming method will help you find a topic that you relate to. First, jot down a list of these moments or memories. Make a list of:
3 most scary moments
3 most happy moments
3 most embarrassing moments
3 most rewarding moments
3 favorite memories
3 favorite places
Once you’ve completed this list, you’ll probably have an idea for your topic. One of those moments has probably prompted the urge to write about it. If you listed an automobile accident for a scary moment, for instance, you might want to use that experience to write a persuasive essay that addresses the dangers of driving under certain circumstances.
One danger of using this method is the possibility of making the essay too personal. To avoid this, try writing the essay without using your own experience in your first draft. Then work it into the introductory, or perhaps one of the body paragraphs as you write a second draft. The essay will be most effective with a variety of points—so be sure to use a variety of sources and views in addition to your own.

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Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:02:43 +0000

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