...Final ‘Hindsight’ essay checklist Criteria | | Marking scheme | Central Idea | The central idea is clear and sharply focused on one issue explained through an event/experience or a series of events/experiences of Sarah’s, the protagonist of the short story “A Sudden Trip Home in the Spring.” | 1 | Content | Your essay contains a series of well-crafted memories of an event/experience or a series of interrelated events/experiences (surrounding a relationship) which describes Sarah’s significant feelings, before, during and after the event/s; remember that you are not re-telling her story, but are reflecting on memories of her feelings, expressing them, reflecting (her thoughts and opinions) on them, and considering them with the ability of hindsight (looking back). Reflections (how it had made her who she was and how a turning point brought about a change in her) are also well-explained. | 2 | Organization | The organizational strategy demonstrates evidence of planning and a logical progression of ideas. The essay presents interesting introduction, effective conclusion and thoughtful transitions that convey a sense of wholeness. Content is sequenced effectively and organised in ways which assist impact. | 2 | Word choice | Word choice is precise, effective, and includes some vivid words and phrases as appropriate to the task. | 1 | Sentence fluency, grammar and mechanics | Sentences are fluent and vary in length, structure, and beginnings; they express thoughts and feelings...
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...HINDSIGHT ESSAY Life was all about friends. My parents were of lesser importance to me. Friends were such an intergral part of my life that I could not imagine a single day without them. We did practically everything together. Travelled around Pakistan, hiked, camped and explored so much together. All spent every weekend at my place. Ate, slept, played in fact lived together. Life was good. Life was happy. The cloud of gloom could not wait any longer and it showered the rain of envy and spite. The people I loved so much turned out to be foes. All along I had been associating with people who were not genuine to me. Who had envy in their hearts. Who were fake. All my life was fake. Pretence. St.Patricks High School used to be a very happy place. The year 2013 goes down in the history of St.Patrick’s history as the saddest year ever. It witnessed many fights and destructions of relationships. My best friend, Ahmed Abdullah Siddiqui, became an enemy. Politics. Dirty politics. He got indulged in what one should abstain from ; destructive competition. Thirteen years of a beautiful friendship were squashed burnt ans trashed. It was heartbreaking. Just for a petty post he decided to give up such a divine bond. Whenever there is a fight there are always two sides or more. Sadly, not a single person from the people I called friends stood with me. All along I played a neutral, calm and composed role. Despite of the aggressive and offensive behavior of Abdullah I maintained my composure...
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...Some moments can change one’s life completely. It just takes a few minutes to alter to alter the way one thinks or behaves. Such an instant came in my life which taught me a lesson for life. During my schooldays, I used to be very irresponsible. My parents used to tell me to leave this attitude but I used to turn a deaf ear to all their advice. I didn’t pay attention to my studies. I didn’t study the whole year and just opened the books a week before my exams. My parents always asked me to take things seriously. However, since I used to pass every exam without studying much, I thought that it was a piece of cake. With the same reckless attitude I came to class matric. I was confident that I would pass this class with flying colors and little effort. Nevertheless this time it didn’t happen. My over-confidence didn’t pay off and I didn’t score well in my midterms. My result was a slap in my face. I felt dejected. I suddenly realized how my heedless attitude had led me to this stage. Then I made a resolution to myself to take my life seriously. I started studying on regular basis. I didn’t become a book-worm but I started paying attention to my studies. My parents were very happy to see that I had changed. At the end of the year, not only did I get highest marks in my school, but also achieved a position in BISE Hyderabad. This was certainly the best moment of my life. My parents were over-whelmed with joy. I am not irresponsible anymore...
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...THE BLESSING OF PARENTS I remember the time when I used to be young and naïve. I took everything in life for granted, particularly the immeasurable blessing of having parents. During the entire time that I was with my parents, I used to be ignorant and resentful. My parents raised me, they nourished me, they educated me, and they tended to each and every one of my wishes. Yet I took their love and care for granted. I could never see the value of what they were doing for me. My parents never let any of my needs go unfulfilled. Still, I always demanded more and more of them. My father worked his shoes off to be able to provide for me while my mother sacrificed everything from her time to her energy for raising me. She taught me, cleaned after me, cared for me, and helped me strive for success in life. But alas, I was young, I was naïve. I never recognized what they would do for me. Whenever they could not fulfill my wishes on time, I would feel discontent with life. Whenever they could not tend to any one of my silly needs, I would be angry and upset with them. Whenever they forbid me from doing something, I would argue with them, not realizing that it was for my own good that they always forbade me. Today, I sit here in my house, my own house, thinking of how stupid and child-like I used to be. Through the efforts of my parents, I’ve become what you would say a ‘success’ in life. I have a stable job, my own family, my own car, my own house; but is this everything that matters...
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...Moments are known to change one’s life completely. Something beautiful or drastic could happen just in a minutes’ time and could alter the way one thinks or behaves altogether. Such was the case with me, when an incident on the 30th of October, 2012, changed the way I drove. It was my birthday. The day had been going well except the few delays before the party at Boat Club. I was anxiously waiting for nightfall since quite a few of my old friends were turning up this time: most of them were studying abroad and it had been a while since I had met them. The celebrations were under way by half past nine and a couple of hours later, the guests had started to leave. By the time everyone had left, it was a quarter to twelve and my best friend was the only one left since I had to drop him home on my way back. It was late and my parents had started calling my phone so we rushed out and into my car. The roads were quiet and empty since it was past midnight on a weekday. I was driving over the speed limit. I distinctly remember my friend telling me to slow down, and, using the phrase “better late than never”. I turned towards him, looking at his face over the rim of my glasses, and said “don’t worry, you know how I drive. I’ve got this!” I had been driving for a few years so I was confident about myself but what soon followed shattered all my confidence and courage since after that night. The car was going at a 100 km/hr and just when I crossed Pizza Hut at the Mai Kolachi – Boat...
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...Brandon Pitchford 4/21/2013 English Comp II Editing and Revising Being a college student I can clearly see how the average writer can become “cluttered” or “flustered” when writing paper with the increase flow of all this new information. When you find all these different articles or facts off the Internet or textbooks we students can sometimes put too much information in our papers and not have enough sited sources. Often times the cluttering of essay and point can side track or even confuse the reader. This is the reason the revision of essays is 100 percent fool proof and is essential to have an extra set of eyes read your own work. In the essay "Simplicity," William Zinnser states, "clutter is the disease of American writing" (129). With writing any type of paper the writer may run into the same problems that pelages many students, which is the clutter of information. Today generation have an almost infinite amount of sources of information on the Internet trying to document each source is often not taking into account. The biggest problem that professors have is to advise students to site their sources to comply with MLA format; but if hey have too much information and don’t source their information they are plagiarizing. With today’s technology becoming smarter the younger generations are losing some of their grammar skills with spell check or auto spell. In "Its Academic, or Is it?” Charles R. Larson writes how students writing grammatically correct...
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...college at all. Dramatic right? This is because I knew that essays go hand and hand with any English class like side effects with chemotherapy. And just like the cancer treatment, the pain needs to be endured in order to advance to the next level. So that is what this course was for me -- a 5-week chemotherapy session. I have never had to go through chemo so I do not have the credibility to compare the two, but just allow me to exaggerate my disdain for writing. Throughout this course, I repeatedly participated in the essay review process, was forced to learn how to form a proper thesis, and was introduced to graphic organizing techniques that will, unfortunately, actually help me out in the future. The essay review process is almost as boring as it sounds and is self-defined in its name. Writing an essay consists of brainstorming ideas, creating a rough draft, reviewing the rough draft, then submitting the final paper. We learned this early on in English class and as a matter of fact, we had to submit a “bio” of who we were on the first day of class. Now as I look back at that...
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...“There’s No Place Like Home’’ written by Joel Kotkin he talks about a new popular trend known as “localism’’. Joel Kotkin’s assertion of localism is that people are beginning to like to stay at home rather than moving from one place to another. He describes it as being rooted more in your community. He even goes on to say that the longer that people live in their homes or communities that they begin to identify more with those places, which helps local businesses and other institutions thrive. I agree with some of Joel Kotkin ideas of localism for instance I am very much rooted within the city I live in but I am very nomadic. In my twenty-one years of life I have never moved outside of the city limits. Joel Kotkin stated in his essay that people are wanting to stay at home more to stay close to their relatives, friends, local clubs, religious places of worship and just familiar surroundings. One of the main factors that keeps me rooted in Kansas City is my mother. My mother is at an age to where she is comfortable with the city she’s in so instead of her leaving the place she knows and calls home she would rather stay here in Kansas City and just move every so often. As an only boy I feel like it is my duty to always be near my mother and as close to her as possible she is the driving force for the reason I am so rooted or as I like to say stuck in Kansas City. As a nomadic man of my era, I have always resided in many different communities within the Kansas City...
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...I had honestly never realized how easy it was to plagiarize someone’s work until this class. In hindsight, I had always assumed plagiarizing meant that the writer used someone else’s exact words or very near the exact words. It took some practice on my part to ensure that I was adequately using my research without stealing another writer’s ideas. In my previous writings, I had never used parenthetical citations. I quickly learned that the use of parenthetical citations was absolutely necessary in writing my research paper. The actual MLA structure of writing the paragraphs and spacing was easier to learn, as I have had to use it in several other classes as well. This semester, I have learned a lot about writing an effective research paper. On several occasions the assignments seemed repetitive, but I now realize that each step brought me closer...
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...vague because when I connected something to real life I didn’t give specific examples which made my analyses and points come across weaker. What could you do to improve your writing? I could have one of my parents or a friend read my essay before I turn it in to make sure that it makes as much sense to them as it does to me. To fix my grammar mistakes I could proofread better and/or use an app or website like Grammarly to check my english. What were you able to contribute to the seminar? Did you contribute mostly commentary and analysis, or did you ask questions?...
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...Academic essay on Annie Proulx's "Job Story" Choices are something we all make. Not necessarily important choices, but there will always be a time to make them. It's not always good choices, but they have to be made. There will always be consequences, whether it's bad or good. Throughout the story, Leeland Lee has to make a lot of choices. Where to live, where to work and when to work. All the different choices he made, put him in the position he is now. Leeland Lee is an awkward-looking young boy. His face is heavily boned, which he has gotten from his mom, his neck is quite thick and he has red-gold hair. His eyes are as pouchy as a middle-aged alcoholic. His nose is broad and lays close to his face. Lori Bovee is Leeland Lee's wife. She has an undistinguished oval face, and hair of medium length. Leeland Lee is the protagonist of the story, because he is the main character. I would say Leeland is a flat and static character as he is an endless optimist. He doesn't give up when it comes to finding a new job, and despite his wife dying he still gets a job at Unique Eats. The reason he is a static character is because he doesn't change at all. After getting several different jobs he doesn't change anything, after his mom and wife dies he doesn't change one single thing except the fact he isn't listening to the radio anymore, but since that have been an important factor of the story all along, it can also show a lot about how he has changed. The story starts November...
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...Essay on “Job History” written by Annie Proulx In the short story “Job History” written by Annie Proulx, we follow Leeland Lee from the time of his birth, until he is about fifty years old. In the short story we follow Leeland through his harsh life, with ups and downs, in the form of thoughts, feelings, incidents, etc. Leeland is born in a ranch in Wyoming, and lives there with his wife Lori. Leeland does not look particularly good, in fact he is a very unattractive man; (page 91, line 12)“Leeland’s face shows heavy bones from his mother’s side. His neck is thick and his red-gold hair plastered down in bangs. Even as a child his eyes are as pouchy as those of a middle-age alcoholic, the brows rod-straight above wandering out-of-line eyes. His nose lies broad and close to his face, his mouth seems to have been cut with a single chisel blow into easy flesh” And in the top of that, we see how Leeland through his life, tries to find a successful career, but fails consistently. He moves various times from place to place, too seek occupation and good business. But it is hard when you’re a high school dropout, without a career. Leeland have to changes his job constantly, because of his lack of luck, and since he can’t get along white his bosses. He is never able to stay at one job or place for long, which lead to problems in the family. He has a hard time supporting his wife, and their children financially. Throughout the story the author, Annie Proulx manages...
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...An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal[->0] point of view[->1]. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism[->2], political manifestos[->3], learned arguments[->4], observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition of an essay is vague, overlapping with those of an article[->5] and a short story[->6]. Almost all modern essays are written in prose[->7], but works in verse[->8] have been dubbed essays (e.g. Alexander Pope[->9]'s An Essay on Criticism[->10] and An Essay on Man[->11]). While brevity usually defines an essay, voluminous works like John Locke[->12]'s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding[->13] and Thomas Malthus[->14]'s An Essay on the Principle of Population[->15] are counterexamples. In some countries (e.g., the United States and Canada), essays have become a major part of formal education[->16]. Secondary students are taught structured essay formats to improve their writing skills, and admission essays[->17] are often used by universities[->18] in selecting applicants and, in the humanities and social sciences, as a way of assessing the performance of students during final exams. The concept of an "essay" has been extended to other mediums beyond writing. A film essay is a movie that often incorporates documentary film making styles and which focuses more on the evolution of a theme or an idea. A photographic essay[->19] is an attempt to cover a topic...
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...We all know love. We have all loved in some kind of way. We love our parents, significant others and even our friends. But we can also love other things like animals or material things. But what is the difference between loving and liking? And is it better not to love and feel pain or to love and be hurt in the progress? Jonathan Franzen seeks to answer these questions in his essay “Liking Is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts”. The essay “Liking Is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts” is, as mentioned, written by Jonathan Franzen and published in The New York Times, May 28, 2011. Jonathan Franzen is born in 1959, and he is an acclaimed American novelist and essayist. The essay is based on the commencement speech he delivered at Kenyon College in Ohio, USA. “Our technology has become extremely adept in creating products that correspond to our fantasy ideal of an erotic relationship, in which the beloved object asks for nothing and gives everything, instantly. (…)” As Franzen claims in his essay, many people can feel like they love their technological object. It gives them a satisfaction, which human interaction maybe wouldn’t. Franzen however thinks, that people in general don’t love material things: they like them. There is a major difference between loving and liking – even though it might appear small. “Liking, in general, is commercial culture’s substitute for loving.” Products are made to be likeable, but if that concept in transferred to a person, you would instantly see...
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...Reaction – “Salvation” The nonfiction short essay “Salvation” written by Langston Hughes in 1940, presents a theme on the literal and often manipulated perception of children. Hughes narrates the essay as he recounts his disappointing attempt at salvation. Hughes aunt told him that when she was saved by Jesus she saw a light, and felt something happen within herself. As children will do, Hughes took her story literally and was heartbroken as he sat in front of the church and watched other children “saved” while he was not. He believed that Jesus must not want him because he did not see or feel anything. In the end, Hughes is forced to lie about accepting Jesus and in turn rejects the Christian faith all together. I related to Hughes story on many accounts. I am a mother of three young children who perceive everything in life literally, and as a young girl I was raised in a very religious environment. I could visualize and almost feel Hughes devastation as he sat at the front of the church crushed by the thoughts of God not wanting him. “Still I kept waiting to see Jesus” (Barnet, Cain, & Burto, 2011, pp. 351). One of the churches that my family attended for a short time during my childhood practiced speaking in tongs. I specifically remember feeling just like Hughes during a service when other children were speaking in unnatural languages perceived to be sent from God himself. I could not understand why I was not chosen to talk for God and intern was hurt and...
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