Essay Writing

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Essay Writing

• The Painful Reality of Putting Pen to Paper

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Like all good stories, let us start with an
argument
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The Great Philosophical Debate with the Good
Doctor

• Be who you are, say what you feel, those who mind
  dont matter, and those who matter dont mind
• Dr. Seuss

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The Great Philosophical Debate with the Good
Doctor

• I hate to argue with the late great Dr. Seuss,
  but is it true in essay writing the you should
  Be who you are, say what you feel, those who
  mind dont matter, and those who matter dont
  mind
• I would say Yes and No.
• Yes, be who you arebut I would take it a step
  further. Be who you can become.
• Yes, say what you feelbut I would take it a
  notch higher. Say what you and others around you
  feel.
• Yes, those who mind dont matterand dont waste
  your energies on those who are downers.
• But NO, those who matter dont mind is an
  outright lie. Those who matter DO mind because
  they want you to better yourself.

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Pick Your Reader
A face in a lonely crowd
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Pick Your Reader
A Glamour Girl
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Pick Your Reader
A Superhero with unnaturally strong powers
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Pick Your Reader

• A Genius Mind

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Pick Your Reader
I wrote for my professor Dr. Patricia Shaw who
never viewed my work until it was in a finished
copy. She was always present in the back of my
mind when I wrote because I knew that if I made
an error, she could tear me apart.

• Pick someone who would be a critic for you, real
  or imagined who will tell you straight up what is
  good and what is bad about your writing and
  always always always write for that person.

Stephen King writes for his wife Tabitha.
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Pick Your Reader

• There is no such thing as an ideal reader, free
  of narrow-mindedness and unencumbered by social
  prohibitions or national myths, just as there is
  no such thing as an ideal novelist. But a
  novelist's search for the ideal reader - be he
  national or international - begins with the
  novelist's imagining him into being, and then by
  writing books with him in mind.
• --Orhan Pamuk The New York Times Syndicate, Who
  do you write for? That is the question.
  Published July 28, 2006

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The No-Nos

• Writing should be difficult business, the very
  heart of essay writing is in its difficulty
  Darcy retorted, avoiding eye contact with the
  very beautiful Elizabeth Bennet.
• She looked downward, then with torrential
  passion let loose the achings of her heart. And
  those are the words of a gentleman. From the
  first moment I met you, your arrogance and
  conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of
  others made me realize that you were the last man
  in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to
  marry.
• Their eyes met for what seemed an eternity, then
  with solemn resignation, Mr. Darcy sighed,
  Forgive me, madam, for taking up so much of your
  time.
• Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice (paraphrase)

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The No-Nos

• Its not rocket science, you know. But it very
  well might be brain surgery.
• On Essay Writing, E. DeMott

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The No-Nos

• The Be Verbs
• The Thing Endings
• Contractions
• The Personal Pronouns
• Overly Generalized Statements
• I believe or I think

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The No-Nos The Be Verbs

• Here they are in all There Glory
• Here they are in all Theyre Glory
• Heres the list
• Banned words
• Be
• Is
• Are
• Was
• Were
• Being
• Been
• Will be

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The No-Nos The Be Verbs

• Rationale
• Be verbs are in passive voice, and thus do not
• -commit the writer to an answer
• -allow students to take a strong stance on an
  issue
• -keep it short and simple but fogs over the
  writing with ambiguity
• -show who or what is responsible for an action
• -provide interesting information to read

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The No-Nos The Be Verbs

• Example
• The window was broken (by Tom).
• The window broke.
• Tom broke the window.
• Tom is the agent of the sentence and is
  responsible for the action. In a shorter amount
  of words, the reader knows what is happening and
  can go on.

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The No-Nos The Be Verbs

• Examples.
• -America is dependent upon foreign oil.
• -The economy is in massive decline.
• -Human Rights violations are rampant in Africa.
• -Osama bin Ladin was responsible for the
  September 11th attacks on the USA.
• -The quest for fresh water will be the reason for
  going to war in the future.

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The No-Nos The Thing endings

• Its not that theyre stupid, its just that
  they dont know anything.
• On Students, Mike Griffith, Sociology Teacher

Nothing says you dont know anything like the
thing ending. E. DeMott
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The No-Nos The Thing endings

• Examples
• -The economy will falter if no one does anything
  about it.
• -Something should be done about terrorism.
• -Everybody knows that the world is getting
  warmer.
• -No one seems to care about womens rights.

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The No-Nos The Thing endings

• Something, Anything, Everything, Nothing,
• As well as Everyone, Anyone, Someone, No
  one
• And Everybody, Anybody, Somebody, Nobody
• All have Overly-Generalized sense to them and
  weaken the argument because its like admitting
  you dont have any solid examples to provide, so
  you provide a non-commital word to gloss over
  your ignorance.

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The No-Nos The Thing endings
Question Does Puff Daddy show his ignorance in
the following quotes?

• Bad Boy Entertainment did not shoot anybody. I
  didn't shoot anybody. Puff Daddy
• I wouldn't abandon nobody. I would be lying if I
  said I was just talking to everybody. Puff
  Daddy
• I'm glad the truth is out. I'm glad everyone
  knows I'm innocent, not guilty. Puff Daddy

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The No-Nos Contractions

• Its KY 2 use Contrts OK?

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The No-Nos The Personal Pronouns

• I
• We
• You
• My
• Mine
• Your
• Our
• This rule differs among scholars, however, the
  more professional, the less youll admit the
  material comes from you. Instead imagine
  yourself as one person from a group of experts on
  a topicthis group knowledge is essential in
  putting your best foot forward.

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The No-Nos Common Grammatic Errors

• There, Theyre and Their
• Alot
• Its and Its
• Your and Youre
• Got can be replaced with other words

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The No-Nos Overly Generalized Statements

• There are many reasons why
• sort of
• kind of
• On one hand, A is true, on the other B is true

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Basic Format
We Hold These Truths To Be Self Evident That All
Essays are Created Equal Thomas Jefferson
(paraphrased)
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Basic Format

• Decide on your topic.
• Prepare an outline or diagram your ideas.
• Write your thesis statement
• Write the body
• Write the main points.
• Write the subpoints.
• Elaborate on the subpoints.
• Write the Introduction
• Write the conclusion
• Add the finishing touches.

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Basic Format

• Decide on your topic
• -should be interesting to you
• -remember that passion translates
• -story of the boy who had everything and the boy
  who had a barn full of manure
• -decide what level of background knowledge is
  necessary for your reader
• -decide how balanced or biased you wish your
  essay to be
• -remember everything is biased, its just the
  level of bias that differs.

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Basic Format

• Prepare an outline or diagram your ideas
• Outline form
• Inspiration program
• Visual diagrams
• Every example needs support
• The less it sounds like it comes from you, the
  better it is.

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Basic Format

• Write your Thesis Statement
• Answer the question in one sentence.
• It should be your opinion.
• It should be prove-able.
• It should have expert opinions supporting you.

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Basic Format

• Write the Body

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Basic Format

• Write the Introduction

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Basic Format

• Write the Conclusion

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Basic Format

• Add the Finishing Touches
• Use figurative language. Spice up your statements
  with metaphor and simile
• Use adjectives and adverbs
• Use a thesaurus and a dictionary
• And remember specific examples means you need to
  know more, so research your answer.