Reflective Essay Image - Fe Ilya
What is the easiest essay to write? A persuasive essay? An argumentative essay? A persuasive essay is challenging as it requires the ability to persuade the audience without alienating all readers. And the argumentative essay requires a balanced view of the topic when arguing for and against. The title of the easiest essay to write then goes to a third essay type – the reflective essay.
A reflective essay as its name suggests, focuses on reflection and gentle consideration of the topic. This is a form of essay writing in which you put down your thoughts. It is quite a flexible form of writing, but there are some general rules that you should stick to. You will have a general layout for your essay, which includes an introduction, a main body and a conclusion. An interesting aspect of reflective essay writing is that you and your reader may benefit by what you reflect on.
Your reflective essay may discuss a course taught at college. Your teacher will read whatever you put down. This can be advantageous to you as well as your teacher because you can express your positive and negative thoughts about what you have learned and the manner in which it was taught. In your essay, some of your thoughts may include your descriptions of what you enjoyed in a course along with descriptions of your teacher’s teaching style. You can also include the parts that you did not find interesting. Your teacher will take note of this area. Perhaps some solution could be achieved through this, as your teacher might work to make a less interesting area of a course more stimulating in future. Therefore, future students of the same course will benefit from what you write.
Reflective essay writing is something that you will do throughout your education. If you happen to become a teacher, you will need to write many more essays. This is because reflective essay writing is an important self-assessment tool for students as well as teachers. Through this form of writing you come to know a lot more about how much you have gained through your course work.
When you get down to writing your essay, there are few points you need to keep in mind. You should remember that your introduction is used for describing or explaining the background of your course. You also need to mention your role in the course you describe, along with the reasons you had for selecting it. If your essay is based on a project you have worked on, you need to mention your goals for further developing the project.
In your reflective essay body paragraphs, you will need to describe the process you used for working on your project. You need to describe this process from its starting point to the end stages. Your essay should reveal detail about strong and weak points in your coursework or project. You also need to share your positive and negative experiences, as well as your feelings about working with others.
For concluding your essay, there are few important points you need to consider. You need to determine whether or not you have achieved your goals. You also need to think about what you would like to change in your course work or project. Maybe you will not benefit from this change, but other students will have a chance to do so. In your conclusion, you should think about the expertise you have gained and how you would apply it in your professional life.
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Essay Types by Tnarik
What are the different essay types? Generally, there are about 6 different essay types and each will be used depending on what you are trying to achieve with your essay. If you are instructed to use a particular type of essay, then this article will give you a quick overview of what you have to focus on for that type. If you are given the choice of essay type, then you can make this decision based on a few questions about your topic. In particular, what technique works for your selected topic? What kind of writing style is suitable? What tone is efficient?
Here are the common types of essays that can help students on their paper writing activities:
Persuasive or argumentative essay – A persuasive or argumentative essay makes a claim or position regarding a subject for the main purpose of persuasion. It is usually presented with statistics, expert opinions, and well-supported arguments about a claim or controversy. In using an argumentative tone in essay writing, it is essential that the issue to be discussed is two-sided wherein the writer takes a stand. Also, the main argument must be clear, exact, and highly focused.
Comparison and Contrast essay – This type of essay writing takes two subjects and identifies their similarities and differences. A good comparison and contrast paper possesses a valid basis for comparison – a limited focus and catchy information. In writing essay using compare and contrast, it is vital that the purpose for comparing and contrasting the two subjects is made clear. This purpose is crucial because it provides focus to the paper.
Descriptive essay – Descriptive essays’ aim is to provide a vivid picture of a certain person, place, object, or event. It offers concise details that enable the readers to imagine the subject described. Generally, descriptive essays explain the “what, why, when, where, and how” of a topic.
Definition essay- Definition essay writing demands writers to present a meaning of a term that goes beyond the objective definition offered in the dictionary. Essay writers need to provide a more focused and exact description of the term than what is offered in reference sources.
Narrative essay – A narrative essay tells a story in a sequence of events. This type of essay is told from a defined point of view, often the author’s. It offers specific and often sensory details to get the reader involved in the elements and sequence of the story. Verbs must be vivid and precise.
Evaluation essay – The prime purpose of this essay writing style is to form judgment on certain ideas, places, services, etc. basing on clear-cut criteria. An informed opinion is critical to the development of this essay. It is important to use facts, statistics and other authoritative resources to establish and organize the criteria to present a substantial analysis and evaluation.
Essay writing is just one tough kind of various paper writing activities. Students usually ask for professional essay help to assist them on what type of approach or style to use in their composition.
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Grab Your Readers by Yoshimai
Whether it is a short essay or an epic novel, there is one goal that is critical to an author. You must grab and hold your reader’s attention. An audience is unforgiving in this decade. They are use to instant gratification and a short attention span. And it is not hard to see why. Technology such as twitter means that breaking news spreads almost instantly.
The bad news is that your penmanship has to move with the times and grab your audience immediately. Fail to create an impact in the introduction to your essay or that first chapter of a book, and it is quickly put down and forgotten.
What does it take to grab your readers? Caterina Christakos says the purpose of creating a story is to create a world that will draw the reader away from their own. In order to do this one must create suspense, drama and mystery. Your reader must absolutely need to get from page to page, to find
out what happens.
There are several simple techniques to get your story going and draw the reader in. Here are just a few:
- Start in the middle of a problem – A lover’s quarrel, a murder, a personal dilemma.
- Start with an unusual environment – Alice in Wonderland, the beginning of the final frontier, a journey to a new world.
- Start with action – A gun has just been fired, a woman is deciding whether to jump, a hospital ER.
- Start with a feeling – The soft silk slid across her skin, as she finally slid into his bed. Hot coals burned his
stomach as the bullet tore through him. The rich velvety feel of chocolate on her tongue was the
perfect end to a dreadful day.
Don’t spend the first day bogged down on details, unless they are absolutely crucial to understanding your story. Even then, save descriptions for later in your story, if you can. Get the reader hooked first, then you can describe the rich incandescence of his eyes or the exact color of her house. Remember your story should be like life, fast paced, even at a standstill, and utterly surprising.
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Bath by Alun Salt
What is an analytical essay? Put simply, it is when the author analyzes the subject at hand. The purpose here is to identify the issues at hand and analyze the effect that have on the question at hand. It is a balanced approached – it is there to explore all facets of an issue.
So what can you write an analytical essay about? This is the fun bit – just about anything. You can tackle any subject that interests you. In this example, Marc reviews one of his favorite poem-stories, the “Wife Of Bath”.
Every time I read Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath,” (prologue and tale), I come with a different conclusion as to what the good wife did actually want or aspire to in life. I won’t comment on what the author meant to convey; I will leave this to the end. In this last reading I want to comment on Dame Alice’s motivation in telling us her tale.
Within a few verses the Wife tells us that her story will be about her personal experiences and marriages-all five of them:
That marriage is a misery and a woe;
For let me say, if I may make so bold,
My lords, since I was but twelve years old,
Thanks be to God Eternal evermore,
Five husbands have I had the church door;
As I read the poem-story, nothing to me is more pleasing than to visualize the woman’s visage:
Yes, I’m gap-toothed; it suits me well I feel,
It is the print of Venus and seal,
So help me God I was a lusty one
Fair, young, and well-to-do, and full of fun!
Isn’t this the picture of a feisty character? Not only is she young, fair, rich, full of fun, but also well-to-do. And if we add an appropriate dress we can complete the picture: “And always wore my gayest scarlet dress.”
Under no circumstance should we interpret Dame Alice as an early feminist as we understand the term today: someone who advocates the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. Of course the feminist movement has spawned many other more radical stances, but the core belief will suffice: feminists want equality.
Yet, throughout the prologue we see that the Wife doesn’t really want equality but woman’s supremacy. Today she could be called sexist.
In the same manner, in the actual tale, the queen sends the offending knight in a quest to find the answer to the questions of the ages: “What is the thing that women most desire?” To save his life, the knight must return with the right answer in a twelvemonth and a day’s time. And the correct answer he submits turns out to be that what women most desire is the supremacy of woman over man:
‘A woman wants the self-same sovereignty
Over her husband as over her lover,
And master him; he must not be above her …’
When novelist Alice Walker coined the term ‘Womanist prose’ she meant to highlight the plight of the African American woman, whose condition was different from the constraints suffered by white feminists. Womanism has of late come to mean a benign sisterhood free from ill will to men.
But the Wife of Bath if full of ill will towards her five husbands. Womanism isn’t applicable here, for not only is she jealous, but she is also vindictive and cruel:
I told you how it filled my heart with spite
To see another woman his delight,
By God on earth I was his purgatory.
How many were the ways I tortured him,
And when she buries her fourth husband, at the very same funeral, she flirts with Johnny -the handsome former Oxford student- and wins him to become her fifth husband. And just like she did with the previous husbands, she strips them of their manhood, house, land, and wealth.
Unsatisfied, ribald, and lascivious, Dame Alice seeks pleasure in and outside marriage. In this light we can say that the neofeminist paradigm fits her well: “love me for my body-not my mind.” This man-hungry model (neofeminism) fits her well since throughout her narrative she alludes to her strong sexual proclivities. To short circuit censorship and to avoid vulgar language, the Wife refers to sex in a variety of ways: “Silly instrument,” “In wifehood I will use my instrument,” “My husband, he shall have it eve and morrow,” “And was unable to deny in truth, My chamber of Venus to a likely youth,” and my favorite stanza:
‘What ails you, man, to grumble so and groan?
Just that you want my what-not all your own?
Why, take it all, man, take it every bit!
St. Peter, what a love you have for it!
For if I were to sell my belle chose,
I could go walking fresher than a rose;
Given that in the end we can see that she is half deaf (from a beating), that she is a battered wife, and who despite the violence inflicted to her by her five husbands she only makes fun of her situation in life, one can assume that she suffers from low self-esteem.
To all this, what was Chaucer’s agenda? On first impression it seems that Chaucer is actually using the character of a picturesque woman to prove that women can be lethal to men. On a deeper level one can say that by exposing the husband’s abusive behavior, which in those years was common, he could bring about social change.
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Academic Writing by Belgapixel
At the heart of any field of research is the academic paper. University academics live by the motto “publish or perish”. That is, to maintain the prestige of their work, and their tenure, they must regularly publish in respected journals.
If you have enrolled in a science related curriculum you will quickly learn that persuasive writing is a core competency. But writing for research is far different to writing for English literature. In a persuasive essay you can be emotive to illustrate your point. In contrast, a research paper is cold and unemotional. Facts, not descriptive narrations form the basis of your argument.
The structure of an academic paper also differs from a persuasive essay. Typically, there are 7 sections that must be addressed -
Title page – This part of a research paper includes a highlight of the subject matter to be researched. Mostly, it is supposed to contain a brief title which in most cases is in form of a thesis.
Abstract – This is the second part of a research paper and it contains a concise summary of the work contained in a research paper. It should be brief containing just about two hundred words; just enough to give the reader a chance to have an idea of the research paper content within a few minutes. The Abstract gives a general approach used in writing a research paper, important conclusions and pertinent results of the study.
Introduction – This marks the beginning of a research paper and involves a brief description of the past details of a similar research or related research. The introduction forms the base of the study and involves outlining the following four things: describing the importance of the study, defending the model used within the study, providing the rationale e.g. writing down the objectives and stating the hypothesis for the research paper. Lastly for this section, is a brief description of the experimental design.
Material and Method/Methodology – This section contains a summary of the materials to be used in carrying out the study and stating the methods to be used in assimilating data. There is no page limit to this but the point is to keep it concise as the reader may want to fully grasp the information written on it.
Result – This section represents the results of a research paper. Mostly the data in this section may be in its raw form and later on summarized by the use of tables or graphs. However, a concise summary of results is better for it accords coherence. Thus, the best way for data presentation is the use of tables and graphs in this part.
Discussion – This is the analysis of the information and findings gathered throughout the study. This is done to ensure that a proper summary which is supported by data gathered throughout the research paper is derived.
Literature cited/Bibliography – This is the last part of a research paper and involves writing down all the research material used in the study. This is to help readers who may want further illustrations or information about the researched topic.
Contributing Author – Vishal Dwivedi Image shown under creative commons share alike – Source
Power Up Your Essay by Mugley
Today for my persuasive essay students I have an article from a guest author on using ‘power subjects’. What are ‘power subjects’ you may ask? No, it is not a dissertation on energy for engineers – it is the use us of a topic to build your essay. David Bowman from Precise Edit explains -
Strength-training isn’t just for the beef-heads at the gym. It’s for you, sitting at your desk preparing a business letter, writing the next award-winning novel, or banging out a killer blog post that will ignite the world’s consciousness. Strength-training for you doesn’t mean training yourself to lift small cars (in case you don’t know how to use a jack); strength-training means building the power of your subjects to lift your ideas.
When you use power subjects, you transform listless, weak, vague, and uninspiring writing into writing that is active, engaging, inspiring, clear, and persuasive writing.
Step One to Using Power Subjects: The Main Action
To determine the power subject, you first have to find the main action. When you write a sentence, ask yourself, “Self, what’s the action being described by this sentence?” The answer to this question may or may not be the main verb. Let’s try this with an easy example.
“There is a good reason for the fire department to follow this policy.”
The main verb of this sentence is “is,” and the subject of “is” is “there.” But what action does this sentence describe? What is this sentence about? This sentence focuses on having a good reason, so that’s the main action. “Is” is a wimpy verb; nothing happens with “is.” On the other hand, the reader can visualize “having.” Someone can perform the action of “having.”
Choose a sample sentence in your own writing and find your main actions.
Step Two to Using Power Subjects: The Main Actor
Once you have found the main action in your sentences, ask yourself, “Self, who is doing the main action?” The answer to this question will be the power subject, i.e., the doer of the main action. In the sample sentence above, we identified the main action as following the policy. Now we ask the question.
Who has a good reason? The answer to this question is “the fire department,” which makes “the fire department” the power subject. We call this the main actor because it does the main action.
Great writing uses the power subject for the subject of a sentence and the main action for the main verb. Together, these form the basis of a powerful sentence: “The fire department has a good reason….” Now we just add the rest of the content, and we change a weak, original sentence into buffed-up, strong writing.
“The fire department has a good reason for following this policy.”
The Power of the Power Subject
Why do we call this the power subject? We can answer this question in two ways. First, we call this the power subject because it has power over the rest of the sentence. As we saw in the sentence above, we were forced to change the entire sentence when we used the power subject.
Second, we use the term power subject because it makes your writing more powerful. When someone reads your writing, he or she wants to know “Who is doing what?” The power subject answers that question. This means your writing will impact and influence your reader. It will have power over your reader; it will make your reader respond.
Two More Samples of the Power Subject
Many people find the concept of power subjects new. Maybe it’s new to you, so let’s look at two more samples. We will analyze sentences to find the main actions and actors, and then we will use them to revise the sentences.
Example one: “The tables in the office were designed by the Julius brothers.”
Current subject and main verb: “The tables in the office” – “were designed”
Main action: design, designing the tables
Main actor: the Julius brothers.
Revision: “The Julius brothers designed the tables in the office.”
Example two: “It’s not clear whether the CEO understands the situation.”
Current subject and verb: “It” – “is”
Main action: “knowing about the CEOs level of understanding”
Main actor: The actor is not named in this sentence, but we know from the context that we are writing about ourselves. As such, the main actor is “We.”
Revision: “We don’t know if the CEO understands the situation.”
Let’s take another look at the second example. In the revision, we decided that the sentence is about our knowledge of the CEOs understanding. However, we might decide, instead, that the sentence is not about us but about the CEO. This gives us the following.
Main action: understanding about the situation
Main actor: the CEO
Revision: “The CEO might, or might not, understand the situation.”
Final Thoughts on Power Subjects
You won’t be able to use power subjects in every sentence, nor should you. For example, sometimes you are not describing actions but what something is, so you will use “to be” verbs, such as “is” and “are.” At other times, you won’t be able to identify or determine the actor, or you won’t want to focus on the actor and main action. In these cases, you might use the passive voice.
In most sentences, however, you can identify and use the power subject. This may take some practice, both to understand the concept and to apply it. Then again, you don’t build muscle strength by reading about lifting weights. You get strong by stepping into the gym, day after day, and lifting weights.
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In order to write a successful and persuasive essay, you first have to be able to write well. In the age of texting and instant messaging, a short hand form on English is emerging. Summary words such as ROLF and LOL are entering mainstream communication, at least in the under 35 age bracket.
To write a persuasive essay though, you need to get back to basics. What are the fundamental issues that go to make up a good essay? Writing is a key component in effective communication. In order for your thoughts to have any value you must be able to clearly communicate them. Here are 5 basic tips for writing well.
Create and outline – Gather your thoughts and ideas, a blue print, of what you want the final outcome to entail. It doesn’t matter what you are writing it will always be beneficial to have something go by.
Vocabulary – Expand your vocabulary; teach yourself if you have to. It is so important to use the write words. You don’t have to use big fancy words and it’s actually better if you don’t. It’s in your best interest if your reader can understand what they are reading rather than getting lost in big words.
Use short sentences – It’s important to get straight to the point and we tend to use too many words. If you use long drawn out sentences your message may get lost. Short sentences make it easier to understand, remember, and it’s more powerful.
Use an active voice – t’s important to use active voice rather than passive. You don’t want to put your readers to sleep or bore them with dull statements. Active voice tends to make the writing tighter, more personal, and introduces action.
Writing is rewriting – Always do a rough draft. Once you have finished writing proof read your work. It also helps if you read it out loud. Have a friend proof read your work and make changes. Its always better the second time.
Contributing author – Brandy Larrimore
In the introduction paragraph to your persuasive essay, the last sentence is known as the proposition and is the important sentence in the opening stanza.
But what about the remaining paragraphs? The opposite is true. These sentences are know as “topic sentences” and set the scene for what the paragraph will discuss.
What is a thesis statement? When considering how to write your persuasive essay, it is the thesis statment that sets the frame for your essay.
The format for a 5 paragraph essay -