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Literature Essay

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:56 +0000

* Introduction: Be Brief; give some suggestion of the direction you intend to take in your essay. Indicate the aspects of the book you intend to deal with.
* Paragraphing: In your plan you should identify very clearly around six distinct points you intend to make and the specific parts of the text that you intend to examine in some detail. When writing your essay you should devote one or two paragraphs to each point. Try to make smooth links between paragraphs.
* Evidence: When you make a point - you must prove it. Just as a lawyer in court must produce evidence to support his case, so you must produce evidence to prove the comments you make about characters, relationships, themes, style etc. When you make a point, refer to the text. give an example to support what you say. Better still, use a quote.
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Quotes: Remember to lay out quotes correctly. Start a new line and indent like this:
“quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote quote”
Remember to introduce the quote with a colon and use quotation marks. It is important to lay out quotes correctly because it shows you are professional about what you are doing. Keep them short - no more than three or four lines each.
* Selection: Avoid the trap of just re-telling the story. The important thing is to be selective in the way you use the text. Only refer to those parts of the book that help you to answer the question.
* Answer the question: it sounds obvious, but it’s so easy to forget the question and go off at a tangent. When you have finished a paragraph read it through and ask yourself. “How does this contribute to answering the question?” If it doesn’t, change it so that it does address the question directly.
* Conclusion: At the end, try to draw all the strands of your various points together. This should be the part of your essay, which answers the question most directly and forcefully.
* Style: Keep it formal. Try to avoid making it chatty. If you imagine you are a lawyer in court trying to prove your point of view about a book, that might help to set the right tone.
* Be creative: Remember you do not have to agree with other people’s points of view about literature. If your ideas are original or different, so long as you develop them clearly, use evidence intelligently and argue persuasively, your point of view will be respected. We want literature to touch you personally and it will often affect different people in different ways. Be creative.
Checklist after writing your essay
Have you:
1. Put the full title of the question and the date at the top?
2. Written in cleat paragraphs?
3. Produced evidence to prove all your points?
4. Used at least five quotes?
5. Answered the question?
Novel essay
Theme, plot, setting, characters, style; fair divisions for any essay. Order and emphasis will depend on bias of question.
If the question is about theme, talk about it in the introduction, then discuss, one per paragraph, how the other aspects contribute to it, and conclude by talking about the success or otherwise of the author in communicating his/her theme.
Drama essay
Theme, plot, setting, characters, technique.
If the question is about technique, talk about how it affects the others-one per paragraph.
Poetry essay
Theme, style, technique (include such aspects as alliteration, assonance, versification, rhyme, rhythm, where appropriate).
THE TITLES OF PLAYS, NOVELS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, JOURNALS (things that can stand by themselves) are underlined or italicized. Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye don’t seem to have much in common at first. If you’re using a word processor or you have a fancy typewriter, use italics, but do not use both underlines and italics. (Some instructors have adopted rules about using italics that go back to a time when italics on a word processor could be hard to read, so you should ask your instructor if you can use italics. Underlines are always correct.) The titles of poems, short stories, and articles (things that do not generally stand by themselves) require quotation marks.
Tools of the Trade: Subjects and Verbs
Whenever possible, use strong subjects and active constructions, rather than weak verbal nouns or abstractions and weak passive or linking verbs: instead of “Petruchio’s denial of Kate of her basic necessities would seem cruel and harsh…,” try “By denying Kate the basic necessities of life, Petruchio appears cruel and harsh–but he says that he is just putting on an act.” Don’t forget that words and even phrases can serve as strong sentence subjects: “Petruchio’s ‘I’ll buckler thee against a million’ injects an unexpectedly chivalric note, especially since it follows hard on the heels of his seemingly un-gentlemanly behavior.” And remember–use regular quotation marks unless you’re quoting material that contains a quotation itself.
In General, Avoid the Swamp of Published Criticism
Do not try to sift through the many hundreds of pounds of critical inquiry about the scene or the play. I am most interested in what you bring to the plays, not the ways in which you try to spew back your versions of what “experts” have written to get tenure or score points with other tweed-jacketed types. Honest confusion and honest mistaking are part of the learning process, so don’t try to seek out some other “authority” for your proof.

Classification Essay

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:04:36 +0000

What is a Classification Essay?
In a classification essay, a writer organizes, or sorts, things into categories.
Three Steps to Effective Classification:
1. Sort things into useful categories.
2. Make sure all the categories follow a single organizing principle.
3. Give examples that fit into each category.
Finding Categories
This is a key step in writing a classification essay. To classify, or sort, things in a logical way, find the categories to put them into. For example, say you need to sort the stack of papers on your desk. Before you would put them in random piles, you would decide what useful categories might be: papers that can be thrown away; papers that need immediate action; papers to read; papers to pass on to other coworkers; or papers to file.
Thesis Statement of a Classification Essay
The thesis statement usually includes the topic and how it is classified. Sometimes the categories are named.
(topic)…(how classified)…(category) (category) (category)
Ex: Tourists in Hawaii can enjoy three water sports: snorkeling, surfing, and sailing.
How to Write an Effective Classification Essay
1. Determine the categories. Be thorough; don’t leave out a critical category. For example, if you say water sports of Hawaii include snorkeling and sailing, but leave out surfing, your essay would be incomplete because surfing is Hawaii’s most famous water sport. On the other hand, don’t include too many categories, which will blur your classification. For example, if your topic is sports shoes, and your organizing principle is activity, you wouldn’t include high heels with running and bowling shoes.
2. Classify by a single principle. Once you have categories, make sure that they fit into the same organizing principle. The organizing principle is how you sort the groups. Do not allow a different principle to pop up unexpectedly. For example, if your unifying principle is “tourist-oriented” water sports, don’t use another unifying principle, such as “native water sports,” which would have different categories: pearl diving, outrigger, or canoe racing.
3. Support equally each category with examples. In general, you should write the same quantity, i.e., give the same number of examples, for each category. The most important category, usually reserved for last, might require more elaboration.
Common Classification Transitions
* The first kind, the second kind, the third kind
* The first type, the second type, the third type
* The first group, the second group, the third group
Remember: In a classification essay, the writer organizes, or sorts, things into categories. There are three steps to remember when writing an effective classification essay: organize things into useful categories, use a single organizing principle, and give examples of things that fit into each category.

Essay Contests

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:03:10 +0000

Are you a writer? You may be able to win cash, scholarships, trips, and other awards with your essay-writing abilities. There are many contests out there that address a wide variety of topics. Why not enter a competition today?
Contest rules will vary significantly, and some may contain important information about possible restrictions, so be sure to read all individual rules carefully. Please note that most of these competitions require that participants be citizens of the United States.
1. NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund
The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund(NRACRDF) is holding an essay competition to encourage students to recognize the Second Amendment as an integral part of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The theme for the essay is “The Second Amendment to the Constitution: Why it is important to our nation.” Students can win up to $1000 in savings bonds.
2. Confronting Crimes Against Humanity
The United States Institute of Peace offers a contest on “confronting crimes against humanity.” Those interested are prompted to discuss “how international actors (the UN, regional organizations, governments, and/or non-governmental organizations) can improve their capacity to implement the responsibility to protect civilians from crimes against humanity during conflict.” The deadline is February 1, 2009.
3. In Darwin’s Footsteps
The Alliance for Science sponsors a contest called “In Darwin’s Footsteps” in which students are encouraged to “write about a person or group who is expanding the horizons of knowledge today, and show how their work reflects the values and principles Darwin demonstrated during his life.”
4. UNA-USA
The United Nations Association of the United States of America offers the annual National High School Essay Contest in which students must write a letter to the president addressing the topic of environmental sustainability. One first place winner will receive a scholarship of $1,500, and a trip to UNA-USA’s Member’s Day, held at the United Nations Headquarters in March 2009.
5. 2009 Holocaust Remembrance Project
The Holocaust Remembrance Project invites high school students to write an essay to “analyze why it is vital that the remembrance, history and lessons of the Holocaust be passed to new generations; and suggest what you, as students, can do to combat and prevent prejudice, discrimination and violence in our world today.” Students can win scholarship money up to $10,000 and a trip to visit the new Illinois Holocaust Memorial Museum.
6. CCBA Student Essay Contest
Planning to attend a community college? The Community College Baccalaureate Association (CCBA) is announcing its 6th Annual Student Essay Contest. The essay topic for 2009 is “Why obtaining a four year degree on my community college campus would be important to me.” Entries must be postmarked by February 5, 2009.
7. 4th Annual DNA Day Essay Contest
The American Society of Human Genetics announces their 4th Annual National DNA Day Essay Contest. In this competition, entrants are asked to “reflect on important concepts of genetics.” Please note that essays for this competition must be submitted by a teacher. Deadline for entering is March 16, 2009.
8. Dream Deferred Essay Competition
Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance invites submissions from students in which they should “consider the new civil rights movement rising today in the Mideast, and make the case for why Americans should help reformers on the frontlines.” Deadline for this competition is January 31.
9. Improving the Lives of Children
The New America Foundation is hosting a competition inviting students to first imagine they’ve been elected president. Students should then explain in an essay no longer than 600 words what they would do to improve the lives of children. Deadline for this contest is February 20, 2009.
10. JASNA Essay Contest
Fans of Jane Austen may be delighted to learn about the contest offered by The Jane Austen Society of North America. The topic of this essay contest is “siblings” and students are encouraged to write about the significance of sibling relationships in novels and in real life. Submission deadline is May 1, 2009.

Lesson Three: Short Essays

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:59:42 +0000

Some schools require you to write a series of short essays rather than submit a single personal statement. If this is the case for you, then you should consider the impact that your essay set will have as a whole. You need to balance the structure and content of the set as much as you do within each essay individually. Yet, with these challenges come several advantages. More essays means more opportunity to sell yourself. Multiple essays give you ample space to do justice to all the different areas of your life, avoiding the pitfall of cramming too many points into one essay. And, you can take more risks being creative in one essay, while providing other traditional essays, thus appealing to readers with different tastes.
When you are required to answer multiple questions, there is often a strict word limit for each answer. But even though each essay is short, each one requires as much attention as long essays. The best way to approach a short essay is to write a regular, full-length essay and then cut it down. Let yourself write as long as you feel inspired, without time limits or length constraints. After you have the ideas on paper, go back and look for the pieces of gold buried under all of the words. Begin by reducing the introduction and the conclusion from one paragraph to one sentence each. Choose only the clearest, most direct parts.
Some short-answer questions ask for lists of activities, jobs, or honors. There are two approaches to answering such a question: the list and the paragraph. For each, provide complete information about the items you are listing, following the same format for each list. Include the activity, your involvement, and the time commitment. Make it clear that your activities have involved responsibility and effort. And don’t worry about the number of activities you list — when it comes to quality, less is often more.
We have stressed in numerous places throughout this course the importance of proofing your essays and getting feedback. While most applicants are stringent about taking this step after writing individual essays, some forget to apply the same advice to their essay set as a whole. Before you send in your application, assess the impression that your essays will make when taken together.
* Are my main points evident?
* Are there redundancies or apparent contradictions between essays?
* Is a coherent image presented throughout the essays and does each essay contribute to the same image?
* Is a consistent voice and style used throughout the essays? Does it sound as though they were written by the same person?
* Does the essay set support the impression that is made in the rest of the application?

Lesson Three: Structure and Outline

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:59:28 +0000

Introduction
The easiest way to sabotage all the work you have done so far is to skip this lesson. Writing is as much a discipline as it is an art, and to ensure that your essays flow well and make sense, you need to construct solid outlines before you write. Unless you conscientiously impose structure around your ideas, your essay will be rambling and ineffective. An outline should make sense on its own; the ideas should follow logically in the order that you list them. As you add content around these main points, these words should support and reinforce the logic of the outline. Finally, the outline should conclude with an insightful thought or image. Make sure that the rest of your outline reinforces this conclusion.
The body paragraphs should consist of events, experiences, and activities you have already organized in chronological order or in order of importance. In many of the essays that our editors read, the order of paragraphs seems to have been chosen at random. Make clear why one point follows another: each point in your outline should connect with the next; each main category should be linked to your introduction or thesis; and each sub-category should be linked to the main category. As you make your outline you should be able to see where there are holes in your essay.
Continue on to descriptions and examples of various essay structures, a sample outline and essay, short essay strategies and samples.
The following structures are demonstrated and discussed:
*Example Structure
* Compare and Contrast
* Narrative or Chronological Structure
* Descriptive Structure
* Cause-and-Effect
Example Structure
The Example Structure follows the rules of a traditional academic essay: begin with a main argument or thesis statement, follow this with three pieces of evidence that support the argument, and wrap up by stating what the essay has shown. This is a good structure to use when making a single, strong point. Its power lies in its simplicity. Because it allows you to present several points neatly in support of a single claim, it is especially useful for making a persuasive argument. This format will be most helpful when writing short essays, but for longer personal statements, it might appear formulaic and dull. One of the more creative structures described below might draw attention more successfully to your writing.
Compare and Contrast
For some questions, this structure is a natural choice, as in the personal growth and development question, which asks you to compare yourself now to the way you once were. You can structure a cause-and-effect essay point for point, by comparing one aspect of the object or situation at a time. Or you can choose to employ the block method by thoroughly covering all the points of the first object or situation in the first half of the essay and then comparing it with all the points of the other in the last half.
Narrative or Chronological Structure
If you have decided to focus on a single event in your life, you will want to use this structure. It can be filled with action, dialogue, and subtle details. Although, you should not confuse effective drama with overwrought, Hollywood-style melodrama. The briefest and simplest of events can take on meaning when told convincingly. Using a chronological or narrative structure over a long period of time (anything more than a day or two) can often read like a ship’s log. You don’t want to sound like you’re rattling off a schedule of events. Rather, take on the role of storyteller and provide great detail about a very specific set of events. The sequence of events will help reinforce flow from one stage of the essay to the next and will make the difficult task of transitioning between paragraphs very natural. While the narrative is one of the most effective forms of writing for an essay, it can also be difficult. Use the following tips as your write your narrative:
* Make the reader aware of chronology and keep the story generally moving forward.
* Don’t feel obligated to tell more of the story than you need to convey your point. Extra details distract from the main drive of the story.
* Try not to use reflective conclusions or introductions describing what you learned; start and end with the action and have everything take place within the context of the story.
* Describe events, people, and places in very specific, colorful terms.
Narrative can be combined with other structures for an approach that is less risky but still interesting. Beginning an essay with a brief story is the most common and effective of such methods. Another twist on the narrative essay is one that describes a single place, person, or action in great detail. It appeals to the senses of the audience without necessarily drawing on the action of a story. There is no standard structure found in this type of essay — each is differently organized — but all rely on crisp imagery and sensory detail, leaving the reader with a single, vivid image. Single images are easier to remember than a list of points, qualities, traits, or qualifications, no matter how impressive any one or all of them may be. Still, this is a risky approach and is best employed when you have to provide multiple essays for one school so that you have a chance to structure your other essays more traditionally.
Descriptive Structure
This is similar to the chronological structure except that instead of walking step by step through increments of time, it follows step by step through a description of a place, person, or thing. The first paragraph gives an introduction describing the general feel of the place, person, or thing. The body paragraphs offer in-depth descriptions of two or three particular aspects of the place, person, or thing. In the last paragraph, the writer steps out of the descriptive mode and offers a brief conclusion of what the place, person, or thing says about him or her.
Cause-and-Effect Structure
Often times you will be asked for a life-changing experience or about someone or something that has had a great influence on you. This structure shows that you understand and appreciate the effect that other entities have had on your development and maturity. For these essays, you will want to use the body paragraphs to first describe the influence and then move onto how that has had an effect on you. You can either divide the essay into a “cause section” and an “effect section” or you can mesh the two together by taking each small description one by one and explaining the effect it has had on you. If you decide to use this structure, be sure that you don’t write yourself out of the equation; make the point that you were the catalyst between the cause and the effect. That way, you demonstrate that you know how to take action and create change.

Lesson Two: Brainstorming a Topic

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:59:20 +0000

Introduction
Choosing an essay topic can be one of the most difficult aspects of the entire admissions process. Questions often ask you to think about your entire life, pick just one thing, and talk about it in great depth. Even the most reflective writers are left wondering: “How am I supposed to know the ONE event that has changed my life or the one thing that represents my entire personality.” In all likelihood there isn’t just one. But there probably is one that you can write about most passionately and effectively. The most important part of your entire essay is finding this one subject. Without a topic you feel passionate about, without one that brings out the defining aspects of you personality, you risk falling into the trap of sounding like the 90 percent of applicants who will write boring admissions essays. Coming up with this idea is difficult and will require a great deal of time. But whatever you do, don’t let this part stress you out. Have fun!
EXERCISE #1: BRAINSTORMING
First please complete our Brainstorming Worksheet. The worksheet is a .PDF file and requires the free Adobe Acrobat viewer. If you do not yet have the free viewer, please click here to download it.
After Completing the Worksheet…
You should now have between 25 and 75 potential essay topics. The next step is to narrow this list down to the topics that are most suited to an admissions essay. For each item listed above, answer the following questions. Some of your ideas may reveal themselves as dull, while you will find plenty to discuss for others.
For each person you have listed, ask:
* Why have I named this person?
* Do I aspire to become like this person?
* Which of this person’s traits do I admire?
* Do I aspire to become like this person?
* Which of this person’s traits do I admire?
* Is there something that this person has said that I will always remember?
* Did he or she challenge my views?
For each event in your life you have listed, ask:
* Why do I remember this particular event?
* Did it change me as a person?
* How did I react?
* Was the event a moment of epiphany, as if my eyes saw something to which they had previously been blind?
For each of your favorites and least favorites, ask:
* Why is this a favorite or least favorite?
* Has this thing influenced my life in a meaningful way?
For each failure, ask:
* What if anything did I learn from this failure?
* What if anything good came out of this failure?
For each of the personal characteristics or skills you have listed, ask:
* Does it distinguish me from others I know?
* How did I develop this attribute?
For each of the activities you have listed, ask:
* What made me join this activity?
* What made me continue to contribute to it?
In answering these questions, you will probably find that you have a great deal to talk about, at least for five to seven topics. You must now confront the underlying problem of the admissions essay: find the one topic that will allow you to synthesize your important personal characteristics and experiences into a coherent whole while simultaneously addressing your desire to attend a specific institution. While most admissions essays allow great latitude in topic selection, you must also be sure to answer the questions that were asked of you. Leaving a lasting impression on someone who reads 50 to 100 essays a day will not be easy, but we have compiled some guidelines to help you get started.