...to draw an analogy with the process of reading application essays. The bad. Ninety percent of the applications I read contain what I call McEssays - usually five-paragraph essays that consist primarily of abstractions and unsupported generalization. They are technically correct in that they are organized and have the correct sentence structure and spelling, but they are boring. Sort of like a Big Mac. I have nothing against Big Macs, but the one I eat in Charlottesville is not going to be fundamentally different from the one I eat in Paris, Peoria or Palm Springs. I am not going to rave about the quality of a particular Big Mac. The same can be said about the generic essay. If an essay starts out: "I have been a member of the band and it has taught me leadership, perseverance and hard work," I can almost recite the rest of the essay without reading it. Each of the three middle paragraphs gives a bit of support to an abstraction, and the final paragraph restates what has already been said. A McEssay is not wrong, but it is not going to be a positive factor in the admission decision. It will not allow a student to stand out. A student who uses vague abstractions poured into a preset form will end up being interpreted as a vague series of abstractions. A student who uses cliché becomes, in effect, a cliché. If we are what we eat, we are also what we write. Not only does a preset form lead to a generic essay, so does a generic approach to what is perceived as the right topic....
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...try to draw an analogy with the process of reading application essays. The bad. Ninety percent of the applications I read contain what I call McEssays - usually five-paragraph essays that consist primarily of abstractions and unsupported generalization. They are technically correct in that they are organized and have the correct sentence structure and spelling, but they are boring. Sort of like a Big Mac. I have nothing against Big Macs, but the one I eat in Charlottesville is not going to be fundamentally different from the one I eat in Paris, Peoria or Palm Springs. I am not going to rave about the quality of a particular Big Mac. The same can be said about the generic essay. If an essay starts out: "I have been a member of the band and it has taught me leadership, perseverance and hard work," I can almost recite the rest of the essay without reading it. Each of the three middle paragraphs gives a bit of support to an abstraction, and the final paragraph restates what has already been said. A McEssay is not wrong, but it is not going to be a positive factor in the admission decision. It will not allow a student to stand out. A student who uses vague abstractions poured into a preset form will end up being interpreted as a vague series of abstractions. A student who uses cliché becomes, in effect, a cliché. If we are what we eat, we are also what we write. Not only does a preset form lead to a generic essay, so does a generic approach to what is perceived as the right topic....
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...of revision, especially when you’re writing to the deadline. For our discussion this week, we read Rachel Toor’s essay, “Not My Type.” Toor doesn’t really get into the idea of allowing for time and space between drafts, but she does discuss how much better her work is when she can approach it as an outsider (Toor, 2012). Take a look at the Narrative essay you submitted in week four. Read through it and find a few things you could have done better. In at least 150 words, discuss those changes. While you can mention it, try to look deeper than any formatting or grammar issues you may have had. Look at the way you organized your essay, how you tied everything together, even at your word choice. Could you have benefitted from writing your essay in multiple drafts? About my narrative essay, it could have been a lot smoother and easier if I had my original story. For a month I have been dealing with a failed hard drive and 2 more failed ones that I have been sent to find out it’s my power supply hahaha. Anyway I liked revisiting my past because it made me really happy to write about it and be descripted with the event as a whole. I could have it a bit more organize it just happened a more than 10 years ago. I could have done better if I wrote two drafts instead of one; I’m taking my time with my persuasive essay so it will be better than this one. Also rushing the essay instead of being able to take my time was an issue also. Writing about an older event is kind of hard because things...
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...Rap games! A Wittgensteinian analysis of modern hip hop culture and language! Running Head: RAP GAMES! 2 Rap games - a Wittgensteinian analysis of modern hip hop culture and language! Introduction For new listeners many hip hop songs will be almost incomprehensible due to the language used. Yet seasoned listeners will be able to explain new songs without much thought. I take this to suggest that the language of hip hop resembles language games as per Wittgenstein’s view. In this short essay, I set out to explain this statement. Firstly, the hip hop culture is discussed together with the characteristics of the language used in hip hop culture. Next the explained culture is analysed using Wittgenstein’s theory as based on his Philosophical Investigations.! In order to analyse the culture properly, it is necessary to somewhat limit the scope of this essay. The “rap games” mentioned in the title refer (in this case) to the communicative aspect of rap music. More so than other music, rap songs refer and react to other rap artists, songs and expressions. The ways in which these reactions manifest itself in rap music and language are the focus of this essay. ! Hip hop culture and language Hip hop consists of different types of expression, but this essay only looks at the one most relevant to our discussion, namely rap. Rap consists of “the aesthetic placement of verbal rhymes over musical beats” (Alim, 2001, p. 272). In essence it is similar to musically spoken poetry, but...
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...devote my declining years to the composition of a textbook which shal focus the whole art of detection into one volume. Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Abbey Grange Sherlock Holmes is sometimes compared to a bloodhound. He smels out clues, folows them, and catches criminals. He is very good at this, and although he sometimes fails (as in The Yelow Face) his success rate is very high. Now there is an art in doing this, which Sherlock Holmes cals the art of detection, and he is an expert in this art. In fact he was planning on writing a textbook on the subject when he retired. But as far as we know he never got around to it. Sherlock Holmes is not the only one who folows clues, scientists do as wel, , and probably al of us. For it is by folowing clues that we find out things on our own, doing so without being told by those in the know. Sherlock Holmes catches criminals, and then they confess, not the other way 'round. Scientists find things out by themselves, not by asking God. Now finding out things on our own is not easy, but in ways big or smal most of us would have had this kind of experience whether we are aware of it or not. This is to say in practice we al know something about this art which here, folowing Sherlock Holmes, we are caling the art of detection. Indeed when reading Sherlock Holmes or other detectives few of us would hesitate to put in our two cents worth: we are competent to criticise their techniques since we too know something about this art...
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...Comparative essay on race/ethnicity ENG 125 – Introduction to Literature Instructor Benjamin Daw May 15, 2011 Comparative essay on race/ethnicity In this comparative essay, I will talk over the role and ethnicity in “The Welcome Table”, written by Alice Walker and “What it’s like to be a black girl”, written by Patricia Smith by exploring the difficulties that black women face, no matter of age or where they may live. When it comes to these two stories and poem both written by black women, the one thing both writers have in common is their main character is a black women or girl. Both have dealt with some form of discrimination because of the color of their skin is black. In Alice Walker, “The Welcome Table”, she writes in third-person omniscient trying to explain to the audience how this old black lady just wanted to worship inside of a church, any church. This older black woman has finally found a church, once she was inside she did not even realize that this church was for the white folks – all she wanted was to worship the lord. The older woman in this story was not afraid of the fact that all the members were white, this is the first sign of discrimination against her based off her race no one wanted her to stay there but she was determined to worship the lord inside of this church. Everyone in the church wanted her to leave the church, telling her this is not your church and she did not belong there. For some unknown reason...
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...University of Phoenix Material Metaphysics Matrix and Essay Part 1 Matrix: Analyze metaphysics in philosophy by completing the following matrix. Provide a definition of the branch of philosophy as given in a philosophical source (the readings, supplemental materials, or outside academic sources) and list a minimum of three historical developments, theories, key contributors, and principal issues. Bullet point answers are acceptable. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ...
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...Most five year olds are ready to go to “big school,” also known as kindergarten. I had and uneasy feeling about going to school all day since I had been homeschooled in pre-school by my mother. A full seven-hour day of school seemed as if the day would never end. I could not make it through. I was used to doing a couple hours of school work; then I would be able to go outside and play. The concept of writing is mostly learned in elementary school. The complexity of writing increased as the years of English classes pasted. For some people writing comes natural to them, but for some writing is very difficult. I am in the group that is not good writers and it does not come natural. The difficult experience I had with writing is that my speech affected my first step in learning to write, crippled my writing structure and lowered my writing confidence; these speech issue discouraged me from writing....
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...Hero Essay English 9 Mr. Castellano Our next major writing assignment is to write an essay about someone you consider to be a hero. We are doing this essay now because it coincides nicely with our reading of The Odyssey. As we have discussed in class, Odysseus is the archetypal Western hero: brave, strong, clever, quick-thinking, steadfast. The list could go one. My point is that as we read about this ancient and, I believe, still relevant hero I want you to think and write about someone who is a hero to you. This should be a fun assignment. I am sure you have heard all too often that there are no more heroes today, that everyone we look up to is corrupt and will ultimately disillusion us. I whole heartedly disagree. Heroes are everywhere we look: we just need to look. (In a book I read this Summer, one of the characters says, “We find what we look for.”) Heroes can be people we know personally and people we have only heard about. Here are only a few suggestions: Jesus Christ, St. Francis, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Obama, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, your Mom or Dad, an athlete, coach, teacher, or friend. Again, the list goes on. Just thinking about and planning this essay (as well as writing it, of course) will be a good exercise in recognizing how many heroes you have – how many people strive for high ideals and live virtuous lives. They’re there: look for them. Part of this essay will include what you define as...
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...on Wednesday nights, where they taught us how to look for tricks in the test, how to avoid doing actual work, sneaking, crafting the trade of shortcuts. I remember sitting there in the bright fluorescently lit, bleak whitewashed room that was 163, while the older woman preached how the ACT is all about knowing the little nuances of the ACT. At this point it is 8pm I have been awake for 14 hours, my head is tucked away in my arm, cocooning into my jacket, entangled in a web of dreams. However hearing this my ears perk up, like a dog barking at the mailman, I drag my head up, eyes adjusting to the light, brain rebooting, I raise my somewhat limp and half extended hand up. I asked so you mean to tell us that the ACT doesn’t even look for our academic ability? She proceeds with the deadly stare as is if this 60 year old woman was going to grab the yardstick nearby and break it over my head for asking such a dumb question. She clears her wrinkly dangling throat and proceeds with of “course it’s about academic ability, we are just trying to teach you how to look at the test”. Standardized Tests were devised by experts convened by state education commissioners and governors to set uniform benchmarks for learning. They come labeled in different names from District Assessments,...
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...we started first to look at Apples ethics if you look it up on the web you’ll find it. Then we started to research anything bad that the company had been going through in the last couple of years. We stumbled upon something that caught our eyes. So, we went with that. To keep it short, we did a whole bunch of research on the company and how bad it was ethically. When we had all the information we needed we made a little power point presentation as assigned. This is where the skills of oral commutation come out. Whenever you are giving a speech with something in the background, you cannot have a lot of context. For instance, like having an entire paragraph in your slides, because your listeners will be caught up with reading it instead of listening to you. That way no one will learn. So, whenever I use slides on my presentations I try to use images that will help me remember what I have to say. I also, but very rarely, use small phrases to help me remember as well. Something else that I use when trying to do presentations is to incorporate humor. As you can see with this presentation I was making fun of the Prius throughout the entire presentation. Don’t get me wrong humor has its time and place when it comes to giving speeches. I feel like as a human being you should know when you can tell a joke or not. But...
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...In this essay I’m going to look at some of the important elements in the short-story Wood Grouse on a High Promontory Overlooking Canada. The ones I am going to look at are: The setting of the short-story, a characterization of the two characters in the story, the theme(s), and the ending of the story. The story takes place on a high promontory, the two brothers Gary and Bud are fishing in the lake, but the fish don’t seem to bite. The promontory overlooks Canada on one side and the United States of America on the other. The scenery is peaceful and almost perfect, though in a realistic way. Bud is the younger of the two, being only 15 years old and seemingly an average active teenager. He seems carefree and happy. We are told that he likes baseball and that he likes throwing stones and that while doing so he imagines himself a hunter. Gary on the other hand is quite a bit older, I’d guess about 20-25, as he’s just returned from the war in Vietnam. Gary appreciates the peace around him and notices the beauty in the small things, unlike Bud who is more interested in throwing stones for fun. It’s not because Bud is evil, but simply because Gary has been changed by what he’s experienced in Vietnam. He carries a heavy burden around because of the war, but he doesn’t want to talk about it and when Bud asks him. He simply says to him that he wouldn’t want to know. It also seems like it’s hard for him to admit that he killed people in Vietnam when Bud asks, though I think...
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...Essay #4: The Host ‘The Host’ was a very interesting novel to read and discuss. Reading the novel made me think of how someone could portrait the scenes in a movie or a visual act. Therefore, watching the movie made things even more interesting. The novel had quite a few scenes that could have been shown in the movie and made the movie more like the book. Also, changes of character appearance really changed and got some focused off the movie. One of the main character difference that I found interesting was the Seeker. The Seeker from the movie was not what I expected after reading the novel. While reading a novel I always have interesting thoughts such as, what if there was a movie that portrayed this book? Would all the scenes be shown on the movie or would they take some out? Would the characters look the way they are described? As I was reading the novel ‘The Host” I imagined and made pictures in my head of how each character looked by the way the book described it. I would always have the picture in my head of how the characters looked to me. After finishing the novel and proceeding to watch the movie I expected the characters to look somewhat how I imagined. First of all Melanie looked somewhat how I imagined, young and innocent looking. I imagined Wanda like some sort of bright, flashy soul looking thing, and that’s how it kind of looked in the movie. Yet, I found one big difference in a character. The Seeker did not look nothing like I imagined or how it was described...
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...mother told Maxine never to speak about to anyone, especially not her father. In No Name Woman quotes not italics Maxine’s mother opens the story by warning her “[y]ou must not tell anyone,” mother said, “what I am about to tell you. In China your father had a sister who killed herself. She jumped into the family well. We say your father has all brothers because it is as if she had never been born” (29). In Maxine’s family, the tradition her mother wants her to follow is that of not speaking about a tragedy that happened on the father’s side of the family. As demented as it is to tell a daughter what she just did, it is more traditionally important to her mother that Maxine not break the silence and speak on this matter, however, Maxine has questions of her own regarding this story that have never been answered; she decides to break tradition and publishes a paper on what she thought has happened and the possible events that lead to it. Run-on sentence? Even with semi colons that’s really long. Throughout No Name Woman Quotes not italics Maxine’s mother exclaims “[d]on’t let your father know...
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...DREAM ANALYSIS This reflective essay illustrates Freud’s theory of dream analysis. It will begin with a brief overview of Freudian dream theory and will go on to describe the various components of personality structure and the unconscious from a psychodynamic perspective. This essay will analyse one of my personal dreams using Freud’s dream analysis theory and conclude with a critical reflection on the application of his theory as it relates to my dream. When Freud famously referred to dreams as being the ‘royal road to the unconscious’, he meant that dreams were a way in which to access the unconscious mind. Dream analysis in psychoanalysis is the process used to explore the role dreams play in the unconscious (Corey, 2005). The purpose of Freud’s theory of dream analysis is to gain better access to the unconscious in order to bring it into the conscious (Day, 2008). Freud believed that the mind represses painful events that the conscious does not want to remember due to the pain and anxiety they cause (Scharf, 2008). These repressed desires and motivations are freed through dreams which are a direct connection to the unconscious. Freud saw the unconscious as sexual and instinctual in nature and the dream as a disguised unfulfilled wish (Welsh, 1994). To better understand the dynamics between the conscious and the unconscious parts of the mind, Freud (1994) developed the structural model of the psyche which he called “the psychic apparatus”. Freud proposed that the part...
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