...I have, in the past, been called a perfectionist. My experience with writing revolves mostly around me trying my hardest to write something I'm happy with and then pretty quickly deleting it when I decide it’s not good enough. For example, this is my fourth time trying to write an opening paragraph, my third time writing just this sentence, and I only settled on the words “opening paragraph” after writing both “first paragraph” and “the beginning of this paper.” It’s not that I have an issue finding the words, I just can’t seem to put them in an order i like. Which is why I stay on the other side of writing. I’ve been reading since a really young age. My first books were mostly science based due to my parents trying to raise me to be as...
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...want a wife”, both authors write on personal encounters they experienced. The author chooses two different methods of writing styles. E.B. White utilizes a nostalgic reflective descriptive piece, whereas Brady uses a more sarcastic narrative. Arguably both writers do a great job in their story telling skills. Both stories are respected and pleasing, yet similar but different at the same time. The authors’ choice of writing style is what gives one story more of an advantage to the other. Though descriptive and narrative essay have identical intent – to tell the reader a story- narratives are more effective in capturing the audience because the uses of different voices, they bring ideas into perspective and they are relatable. There are special components that both style of writing possesses. Narrative writing usually does not stress adjectives to give the physical details of characters, setting or events in the story. Nothing like descriptive writing, narrative writings are written in the first person in order to convey the author's attitudes, beliefs and memories. Narratives are conventional, while descriptive writings content often emphases on a single event, object or place. Occasionally, writers utilize narrative writing style to tell about the past or the future in broad terms. A narrative often reflects personal experience, clarifying what happened during some sort of incident. Narrative essay topics include recounting an experience where the learned something significant...
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...CLRC Writing Center Structure of a Personal Narrative Essay “Narrative” is a term more commonly known as “story.” Narratives written for college or personal narratives, tell a story, usually to some point, to illustrate some truth or insight. Following are some tools to help you structure your personal narrative, breaking it down into parts. The “Hook” Start your paper with a statement about your story that catches the reader’s attention, for example: a relevant quotation, question, fact, or definition. Introduction Set the Scene Provide the information the reader will need to understand the story: Who are the major characters? When and where is it taking place? Is it a story about something that happened to you, the writer, or is it fiction? Thesis Statement The thesis of a narrative essay plays a slightly different role than that of an argument or expository essay. A narrative thesis can begin the events of the story: “It was sunny and warm out when I started down the path”; offer a moral or lesson learned: “I’ll never hike alone again”; or identify a theme that connects the story to a universal experience: “Journeys bring both joy and hardship.” “Show, Don’t Tell” Good story telling includes details and descriptions that help the reader understand what the writer experienced. Think about using all five senses—not just the sense of sight—to add details about what you heard, saw, and felt during the event. For example, “My heart jumped as the dark ...
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...CLRC Writing Center Structure of a Personal Narrative Essay “Narrative” is a term more commonly known as “story.” Narratives written for college or personal narratives, tell a story, usually to some point, to illustrate some truth or insight. Following are some tools to help you structure your personal narrative, breaking it down into parts. The “Hook” Start your paper with a statement about your story that catches the reader’s attention, for example: a relevant quotation, question, fact, or definition. Set the Scene Provide the information the reader will need to understand the story: Who are the major characters? When and where is it taking place? Is it a story about something that happened to you, the writer, or is it fiction? Thesis Statement The thesis of a narrative essay plays a slightly different role than that of an argument or expository essay. A narrative thesis can begin the events of the story: “It was sunny and warm out when I started down the path”; offer a moral or lesson learned: “I’ll never hike alone again”; or identify a theme that connects the story to a universal experience: “Journeys bring both joy and hardship.” “Show, Don’t Tell” Good story telling includes details and descriptions that help the reader understand what the writer experienced. Think about using all five senses—not just the sense of sight—to add details about what you heard, saw, and felt during the event. For example, “My heart jumped as the dark shape of the brown grizzly lurched...
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...STUDIES IN PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND WORK Mike Hayler University of Brighton, UK Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education examines the professional life and work of teacher educators. In adopting an autoethnographic and life-history approach, Mike Hayler develops a theoretically informed discussion of how the professional identity of teacher educators is both formed and represented by narratives of experience. The book draws upon analytic autoethnography and life-history methods to explore the ways in which teacher educators construct and develop their conceptions and practice by engaging with memory through narrative, in order to negotiate some of the ambivalences and uncertainties of their work. The author’s own story of learning, embedded within the text, was shared with other teacher-educators, who following interviews wrote self-narratives around themes which emerged from discussion. The focus for analysis develops from how professional identity and pedagogy are influenced by changing perceptions and self-narratives of life and work experiences, and how this may influence professional culture, content and practice in this area. Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education STUDIES IN PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND WORK The book includes an evaluation of how using this approach has allowed the author to investigate both the subject and method of the research with implications for ...
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...Which Essay is Better: A Narrative or A Descriptive? Ever read a story and say to yourself, “What’s happening?” Whenever I read a descriptive essay, that’s what I would say. In this essay I would be comparing and contrasting two types of essays, a narrative and descriptive. I have chosen “Are the rich happy?” by Stephen Leacock 1916 and “Sister Flowers” by Maya Angelou, n.d. By writing my essay, I want to give my views on each and decide which I would rather write. Narrative Essay A narrative essay reflects a personal opinion that is based on your own experiences. This helps you bring a reader into your very own mind and shows him/her the topic you’re writing about through your eyes. Telling a story or event the way it happened for you. It also could provide a sort of lesson or moral to be learned from the outcome of the story as well as what the writer did that contributed to it or not. It’s more on a personal level that any one reading could say that happened to them or that they learned from the story by not doing whatever it was that the writer did. In Stephen Leacock’s “Are the Rich Happy?” the author writes about his experiences with his friends, with of modest income. Most of it, all in his opinion, points out the problems or troubles those with an existential amount of funds in their bank accounts. He goes on to give some examples that he encountered several of his friends going through. “A friend of mine who has ten thousand dollars a year told me the other...
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...Second Semester Final Exam: Portfolio A: Narrative/Descriptive Writing Parasailing (Vignette) Narrative and descriptive writing is the writing style I enjoy the most. The vignette I wrote about is a story that happened to me when I was younger and this kind of writing allows me to relive this memory on paper. I find this kind of writing easier to write and easy to relate to because it’s all about me. It is harder for me to write and relate to a book that we read in class since it isn’t about my personal life. This kind of writing style helps me reflect on the something I learned because I have seen how much I have grown this school year based off of what I wrote about and my writing style. This kind of writing style allows me to describe...
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...Writing a Literacy Narrative A literacy narrative is telling a story. To be exact, it is giving an account of an experience, most likely a personal one, which tells about a time when reading and/or writing helped you to learn something significant. The main idea of a literacy narrative is to speak about a time you were able to learn and grow from a specific experience. When writing any sort of essay or paper, it is always necessary to do the following: Pick a topic that you feel very strongly about but are willing to share. Title your paper (something suitable to your topic) Engage the reader (“Show” the reader rather than “telling” the reader.) Give vivid descriptions throughout the essay. Use sensory details, such as what you see, smell, touch, etc. Include dialogue, but use it sparingly. Dialogue is most effective when it is only used for key moments. Remember to punctuate dialogue correctly. For example: “I don’t know what happened, but I’m not going to give up,” Jasmine said. Know that an important tool in narratives is imagery, which can be defined as visually descriptive language. These details are important because recalling a day such as this shows it’s importance to you, allowing the reader somewhat of an emotional connection to the event. This method is called reflecting. Whenever you’re writing an essay that involves something from you past, it is vital that you ask yourself these following questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What...
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...slaves had different experiences with slavery, but one thing in common: share their accounts through autobiography on how slavery greatly changed their lives. The experiences, memories and treatment in any situation are viewed upon differently between a man and a woman. Obvious in the case of slavery, the two sexes were treated differently and so therefore their recollections of such events were-different Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, were both written during the same time period. Both authors go into many aspects regarding the cruelty of slavery, but they still had their differences. During each of the author’s childhood they explain how it was for them. When Harriet was growing up in her, she was shielded from slavery. Her Father was accomplished carpenter, whose wish was to someday buy his children. “I was so fondly shielded that I never dreamed I was a piece of merchandise…” On the other hand Fredrick childhood was the opposite. Fredrick was born to a slave mother and an undisclosed white man. He did not know his age growing up he had to make educational guesses. ”I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.” Another way that Jacobs and Douglass narrative works were different is the tone and the writing style that each author writes in. In Jacobs’s narrative she writes with fear, and her writing style is free-flowing...
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...As I reflect on various ways to construct Sweet Home Chicago into more of an ethnographic work, I draw on several different methodologies and recommendations from my fellow class mate as well as my own introspective analysis in conjunction with the class readings. First, one of the key shifts is to unpack for the reader the internal language that I use as a geographer. For example, I reference the significance of “spatial lineage” to engage with the various time-spaces that my family has traveled through that have contributed to my identity as a third-generation Black Chicagoan. Although ethnography is largely an academic practice, the strength that it possesses as a methodology is to invite readers from diverse backgrounds to engage with the culture, spaces, people and...
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...While writing this informational text I learned about writing and myself. In terms of writing I learned that formatting and presentation is extremely important. I found it very easy to write the text of this piece, but harder to present it in a format that made it accessible and reader friendly. Additionally, I had to make sure that as a writer I was explaining everything thoroughly, because not everyone will have the same background information on the topic of the State of Israel as I. In learning about myself I had to make sure I was not expressing my own bias when writing about things that could be deemed controversial. Additionally, I reconfirmed my passion for Israel and really enjoyed sharing factual informational about the state with readers of my text. While composing my essay I used the following strategies: planning, drafting, revising, and editing. In planning my essay I first compiled a list of topics I could write about and subcategories to make those ideas more specific. I then compiled my first draft, adding more text and pictures to express the facts I wanted to convey. Then I revised my text two times with my peers and professor in class. I shorted the list of original ideas so that I could focus more on making the ones I had more substantial. I made sure I was conveying information in a non-biased manner and in simple...
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...are your three most substantial accomplishments, and why do you view them as such? — Harvard http://www.free-essay-writing-topics.com/index.php?page=mba-application-accomplishment-questions What is the most significant change or improvement you have made to an organization with which you have recently been affiliated? Describe the process you went through to identify the need for change and manage the process of implementing change. What were the results? — Kelley Describe your greatest professional achievement and how you were able to add value to your organization. — Johnson The goal in answering this kind of question is to analyze, rather than summarize, an achievement. This advice is particularly true if you're discussing an accomplishment that is listed elsewhere on the application. Your readers want to gain insight into your character, not read a factual summary of what occurred. Here are some guiding principles to use in constructing your answer: (1) Choose something that's meaningful to you. Some applicants feel obligated to choose the most objectively impressive accomplishments. You should write about something that has personal significance, even if you weren't formally recognized for it. What matters is that you write passionately and insightfully about your subject. Unless otherwise specified, you should feel free to draw on academic, personal, or professional successes. (2) Focus on details about the process. Show the reader through concrete details how you...
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...I would categorize my senior year as one of wild progression when it came to my writing. Senior year mirrors my sophomore year almost exactly when it comes to just pure progression. In that sophomore year, I greatly improved in an area that had irked me for years, the organization of content, and I grew in other critical areas throughout the course of this year. While I would consider my writing far more refined than it was in 10th grade, there are still multiple core elements that I always work to improve. The first few journals last semester echoed the thoughts of a teen who refused to take risks in his writing, who couldn’t be told his faults without a fear of personal attack. Last year the majority of my writing was for AP courses, and...
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...Joy Luck Club both connect the maternal figure and use the narrative language to tell the stories of the women in both novels. Charlotte Brontë has created a novel that is referenced often and allows coming of age novels to spring-board off of her beliefs. Amy Tan’s coming of age novel could stand to be the test of time and can be modeled after Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre not only stands the test of time by showing the importance of women in society through Jane, but also first person to iterate the importance that Charlotte Brontë draws the reader into the narrator’s feelings. The Joy Luck Club uses the narrative language which can stand the test of time for the future similarly to Jane Eyre and develop characters through first person. Often times Brontë does not mention Jane’s mother, however, when she does elaborate on a...
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...doing a lot of creative writing.” Mrs. Phelps introduced her class with at the start of my junior year. I had always been keen to free writing for the single reason that it was easy to fluff up and fabricate. As long as it was in MLA format and grammar was correct, I could not lose. I had discovered early on in my academic career that I was a decent writer; I could establish main points and a theme as well as apply proper grammar. It speaks for my writing that I was agitable to misusers of “there, their, and they’re” to say the least. The only criticism on writing prompts I would get were technical ones, like using apostrophes incorrectly or writing the number rather than spelling it. Yet, marked in red at the top of my first paper junior year was something I had not expected, nor seen before-- “Where is your voice?” My voice? I was not mute, so what kind of question was that? I thought about it all class period and looked for the flaw within the paper. All i had to work with was that obscure note and I thought about the question again and again-- I even began...
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