...Writing a Descriptive Essay Directions An essay has the same elements as a well-written paragraph. A paragraph has a topic sentence; an essay has a thesis statement. A paragraph is developed with supporting statements; an essay has three paragraphs based on the thesis statement's supporting ideas. A paragraph has a concluding sentence; an essay has a concluding paragraph. An introduction does two things: it gets your reader's attention, and it presents the thesis statement. The thesis statement identifies the topic of the essay. Look at the introductions below Example #1 If we were to place the body of every teenager who died in an alcohol-related accident in the last five years endto-end, the line would circle the globe three times. Every year, hundreds of teenagers lose their lives because of drunk drivers. Driving drunk is a growing problem in our society, and the consequences are great. Example #2 Hundreds of teenagers lose their lives because of drunk drivers. It is a problem that affects students in every school in America. Driving drunk is a growing problem in our society because more and more teens are drinking and then driving without considering the serious consequences that could result from their actions. These consequences include financial burdens, sorrow caused to those losing loved ones, and the senseless reduction of our greatest natural resource: our young people. Which introduction catches your interest and pulls you into the text? Hopefully...
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...Cost Per. 3 10/17/07 Persuasive Essay Its Friday night, you’re with a few of your friends celebrating the weekend with a few beers. While you’re living it up, getting tipsy, you get a call from a friend who’s stuck at home, without a car. You tell your friend you’re on your way to get him, when he asks, “Are you sure you can drive?” you reply, “Oh I’ve only had a few beers, I’m alright.” So you get your keys and head off to your friends house. While you’re driving, you notice you are feeling a little drowsy. You see some headlights that look like they are heading towards you. Then all of the sudden you collide. After everything settles, you realize you are alright. You crawl out of the window and walk towards the other car. Looking through the spider-cracked windshield, you see a woman and her two kids, all dead. In 2005, there were an estimated 16,885 alcohol related fatalities in the U.S. That is over 39% of automobile related fatalities that year. On average, 254,000 people are injured in alcohol related wrecks in a year. After hearing these statistics, you can tell that drinking and driving is a huge issue in America. The dangers of drunk driving effect drivers of America every day. Not only do you have to be responsible enough to control yourself from drinking and driving, you also have to worry about other people that are drinking and driving. Even though you may not wreck while driving drunk, there are other risks involved. When driving while impaired by alcohol...
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...Persuasion, Indoctrination and Inoculation Refraining From Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol and Drugs Pamela Hill PSY/285 August 3, 2014 Lynn Lunceford The following essay is an attempt to persuade my fellow classmates to take action and to support my position of refraining from driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. This essay will incorporate inoculation and indoctrination, while including logical inquiry, problem solving and critical thinking to support arguments and peripheral cues. Not only does driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs create risks for the driver, but everyone else on the road as well. Alcohol and drug use behind the wheel has become second nature in our country, and must be stopped. Each day in the United States, people drive under the influence of alcohol and drugs almost 300,000 times, but fewer than 4,000 are actually arrested for this crime (Federal Bureau of Investigation. Crime in the United States: 2012). In 2012 alone, 10.3 million people reported driving under the influence of illicit drugs in the past year (2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health). The consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs can be numbing; arrests, property damage, injury and most likely death. Based on information provided by the Bureau of Transportation, every two hours, at least three people are killed in alcohol and drug related highway crashes. Drugs and alcohol are not only responsible for highway...
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...Sports Utility Vehicle Morgan Martin Liberty University Education APA format Abstract "Did My Car Join Al Qaeda" by Woody Hochswender is a well written persuasive argument that powerfully portrays his point of view. All three types of appeals are presented within the essay to attract all different styles of readers. Hochswender starts the essay with an ethical or ethos appeal, “I drive a large, for-wheel vehicle. Does that mean I’m a bad person” (Muller & Wiener, 2009, pg. 154). It is quite obvious that Mr. Hochswender has received cruel comments about owning an SUV since he is considering himself a bad person for possessing a particular type of vehicle. Although some people do not agree with Hochswender choice of owning an SUV he is very passionate and vibrant in his view about his rights to own an SUV. He then goes on to explain logical or logos by explaining how in many situations SUVs are safer than normal cars, “However, if some drunken driver veers across the center divider- a situation I have no control over- I would prefer that my 9-year-old and I not be inside a Corolla.”(Muller & Wiener, 2009, pg. 155) Even though SUVs waste a lot more money on gas, in the event of an accident the chances of survival in an SUV would be much more than a small car. He then concludes the essay by explaining how he does know of other way to conserve energy, but the safety of him and his family is prioritized above buying a new heat and air-conditioning...
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...Persuasive Essay I can’t wait until you turn 21 and then you can buy us alcohol!” something I’m sure many of you have said to an older friend or sibling. Well, many of you may not know this but I was surprised when I learned that the law in IL only states that the possession and purchase of alcohol for those who are underage is illegal. ProCons.org informs us that exceptions do exist on a state-by-state basis for consumption at home, under adult supervision, for medical necessity, and other reasons. So this brings about a very controversial question that I have. Why can’t we lower the drinking age? Yes, there are risks, but there are also many facts that bring the pros of this recreation to light. (First, let me say, that I am definitely not delusional in saying this would be a perfect plan, but even though there are risks they do not outweigh the good) Before we go into the pros and cons of this situation I think you should all know the reason as to why the drinking age is 21 anyway. Well, according to a blog from a reputable source called the mental floss, we ended up with a national minimum age of 21 because of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. This law doesn't prohibit drinking per se; it merely requires states to outlaw purchase and public possession by people under 21. So, that being said, the first risk everyone seems to touch upon is that drinking under the age of 21 can interfere with brain development. I have learned from previous classes that...
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...Constructing an Argument Section 1: Big Ideas Many people believe that everything is an argument—every piece of writing, every image you see. That's because every time we write something down—with the possible exception of a private journal entry—we are anticipating that someone else will read or see it, and we hope to achieve some kind of response in that reader or viewer. So even if you are writing a description of your favorite vacation spot, you are probably trying—maybe without even realizing it—to convince your reader that your vacation spot is the most beautiful place in the world. Think about it. When did you read any nonfiction writing that wasn't, finally, trying to persuade you of something in some way? Most rhetoricians—that's people who think about argument and language—agree that there are three basic ways to appeal to an audience. You can appeal to logic. That is, you can lay out your argument in clear, coherent steps, so your reader or listener can see how you get from one conclusion to the next. Or you can appeal to authority. Here you may want to find experts or facts to support your argument—think about Tiger Woods endorsing golf clubs. (Of course, do we also trust Tiger to advise us on buying watches? Not so clear.) Or you can appeal to emotion. Emotional appeals can be extremely powerful, especially when you are able to relate your argument to your readers' values or needs. Most good arguments make use of all three appeals in some way. But...
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...talking to walls. The odd sight you are witnessing in the ERC is the speech gym. But, if you walk by the ERC in February it is a much smaller group of twelve students, working until the long hours of the night. These students are the state series representatives. Speech is a competitive activity in which student are able to participate in fourteen events, in the areas of public speaking, acting, or interpretation. In most tournaments there are generally three preliminary rounds of competition, and the top-ranking competitors in each event advance to the final round. In Dramatic Duet Acting, senior best friends, Sean Herpolsheimer and Nate Reilly, act out an dramatic piece about two college boys finding themselves in prison after a drunk driving accident. Where they both learn from their mistakes, and find the true meaning of friendship. Paige Valente, senior, is doubled entered this year; in Dramatic Interpretation and Poetry Reading. Her Dramatic Interpretation is about a dancer at the peak of her career, who struggles to transition out of her profession. Meanwhile, her poetry program is a collection of different poems meshed together that discusses what Lady Liberty stands for versus what Americans really believe. Senior, Elsa Barron, is an event called Extemporaneous Speaking. The speakers have 45 minutes to prepare a six minute speech using news articles to answer a question. The topics cover domestic to global issues that are currently trending in the news. Barron...
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...Should Marijuana be Legalized? BCOM/275 November 26, 2012 Should marijuana be legalized? Throughout the years, the topic should marijuana be legalized is often heavily debated. For many years the use of marijuana was forbidden and outlawed in the United States, but in more recent years marijuana seems to be becoming accepted. Scientist has found many useful applications for marijuana. Recently, here in the United States, many states have approved legislation for marijuana for medical purposes. Most recently, two states Colorado and Washington have passed referendums that will allow people over the age of 21 recreational use of marijuana without the penalty of a criminal offense. These two states will oversee the use of marijuana for its constituents similar to how alcohol is controlled. Whereas, the government at the state level in Colorado and Washington is in favor for the legalization and passed legislation for the legalization of marijuana, the federal government has not. This causes legal, moral, and ethical issues and begs that questions; should marijuana be legalized? Pros of Legalization One benefit of the legalization of marijuana would be the ability for state and local governments to tax the legal production and sale of it. Currently, because marijuana is illegal the sale of it is not taxed so the local, state, and federal governments do not reap any of the benefits of this “$10.5 billion dollar industry” (Miron, 2005, p.4). In a report written by Jeffrey A....
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...HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS Lauren Starkey ® NEW YORK Copyright © 2004 LearningExpress All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Learning Express, LLC, New York. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Starkey, Lauren B., 1962– How to write great essays / Lauren Starkey. —1st ed. p. cm. ISBN 1-57685-521-X 1. English language—Rhetoric—Problems, exercises, etc. 2. Essay—Authorship—Problems, exercises, etc. 3. Report writing—Problems, exercises, etc. I. Title. PE1471.S83 2004 808'.042—dc22 2004003384 Printed in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition ISBN 1-57685-521-X For more information or to place an order, contact LearningExpress at: 55 Broadway 8th Floor New York, NY 10006 Or visit us at: www.learnatest.com Contents Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 vii Organization 1 Clarity 11 Word Choice 21 Mechanics 39 Revising, Editing, and Proofreading 55 Untimed Essay Writing Strategies 67 Timed Essay Writing Strategies 85 Sample Essay Prompts and Essays 97 Resources 111 CONTENTS HOW TO WRITE GREAT ESSAYS v Introduction n your preparations for college, you may find yourself facing a handful of high-stakes essays. Your college application requires at least one, and the SAT requires another. Depending upon the high...
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...this situation sounds familiar, you may find it reassuring to know that many professionals undergo these same strange compulsions before they begin writing. Jean Kerr, author of Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, admits that she often finds herself in the kitchen reading soup-can labels—or anything—in order to prolong the moments before taking pen in hand. John C. Calhoun, vice president under Andrew Jackson, insisted he had to plow his fields before he could write, and Joseph Conrad, author of Lord Jim and other novels, is said to have cried on occasion from the sheer dread of sitting down to compose his stories. To spare you as much hand-wringing as possible, this chapter presents some practical suggestions on how to begin writing your short essay. Although all writers must find the methods that work best for them, you may find some of the following ideas helpful. But no matter how you actually begin putting words on paper, it is absolutely essential to maintain two basic ideas concerning your writing task. Before you write a single sentence, you should always remind yourself that 1. You have some valuable ideas to tell your reader, and 2. More than anything, you want to communicate those ideas to your reader. These reminders may seem obvious to you, but without a solid commitment to your own opinions as well as to your reader, your prose will be lifeless and boring. If you don’t care about your subject, you can’t very well expect anyone else to. Have confidence that your ideas are...
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...English-E11-12 7/27/07 2:24 PM Page 1 Ministry of Education The Ontario Curriculum Grades 11 and 12 English Printed on recycled paper 07-003 ISBN 978-1-4249-4741-6 (Print) ISBN 978-1-4249-4742-3 (PDF) ISBN 978-1-4249-4743-0 (TXT) © Queen’s Printer for Ontario, 2007 2007 REVISED CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 3 Secondary Schools for the Twenty-first Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Importance of Literacy, Language, and the English Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Principles Underlying the English Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Roles and Responsibilities in English Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH 3 3 4 5 9 Overview of the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Curriculum Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Strands in the English Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT Basic Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . ....
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...Instructor’s Manual to Accompany The Longman Writer Rhetoric, Reader, Handbook Fifth Edition and The Longman Writer Rhetoric and Reader Fifth Edition Brief Edition Judith Nadell Linda McMeniman Rowan University John Langan Atlantic Cape Community College Prepared by: Eliza A. Comodromos Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey New York San Francisco Boston London Toronto Sydney Tokyo Singapore Madrid Mexico City Munich Paris Cape Town Hong Kong Montreal NOTE REGARDING WEBSITES AND PASSWORDS: If you need a password to access instructor supplements on a Longman book-specific website, please use the following information: Username: Password: awlbook adopt Senior Acquisitions Editor: Joseph Opiela Senior Supplements Editor: Donna Campion Electronic Page Makeup: Big Color Systems, Inc. Instructor’s Manual to accompany The Longman Writer: Rhetoric, Reader, Handbook, 5e and The Longman Writer: Rhetoric and Reader, Brief Edition, 5e, by Nadell/McMeniman/Langan and Comodromos Copyright ©2003 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Instructors may reproduce portions of this book for classroom use only. All other reproductions are strictly prohibited without prior permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Please visit our website at: http://www.ablongman.com ISBN: 0-321-13157-6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - D O H - 05 04 03 02 CONTENTS ...
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...Resources for Teaching Prepared by Lynette Ledoux Copyright © 2007 by Bedford/St. Martin’s All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. 2 1 f e 0 9 d c 8 7 b a For information, write: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116 (617-399-4000) ISBN-10: 0–312–44705–1 ISBN-13: 978–0–312–44705–2 Instructors who have adopted Rereading America, Seventh Edition, as a textbook for a course are authorized to duplicate portions of this manual for their students. Preface This isn’t really a teacher’s manual, not, at least, in the sense of a catechism of questions and correct answers and interpretations. Because the questions provided after each selection in Rereading America are meant to stimulate dialogue and debate — to generate rather than terminate discourse — they rarely lend themselves to a single appropriate response. So, while we’ll try to clarify what we had in mind when framing a few of the knottier questions, we won’t be offering you a list of “right” answers. Instead, regard this manual as your personal support group. Since the publication of the first edition, we’ve had the chance to learn from the experiences of hundreds of instructors nationwide, and we’d like to use this manual as a forum where we can share some of their concerns, suggestions, experiments, and hints. We’ll begin with a roundtable on issues you’ll probably want to address before you meet your class. In the first section of this manual, we’ll discuss approaches to...
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... Developing Supporting Material 9. Locating Supporting Material 10. Doing Effective Internet Research 1 Citing Sources in Your Speech 1. 36 37 49 57 64 73 83 PART 3 • ORGANIZATION 1 Organizing the Speech 2. 1 Selecting an Organizational Pattern 3. 1 Outlining the Speech 4. 92 93 103 1 10 PART 4 • STARTING, FINISHING, AND STYLING 15. Developing the Introduction and Conclusion 16. Using Language 1 22 1 23 1 31 PART 5 • DELIVERY 1 Choosing a Method of Delivery 7. 18. Controlling the Voice 19. Using the Body 1 39 1 40 1 44 1 48 PART 6 • PRESENTATION AIDS 20. Types of Presentation Aids 21. Designing Presentation Aids 22. A Brief Guide to Microsoft PowerPoint 154 155 161 164 PART 7 • TYPES OF SPEECHES 23. Informative Speaking 24. Persuasive Speaking 25. Speaking on Special Occasions 1 74 1 75 188 21 7 PART 8 • THE CLASSROOM AND BEYOND 230 26. Typical Classroom Presentation Formats 27. Science and Mathematics Courses 28. Technical Courses 29. Social Science Courses 30. Arts and Humanities Courses 31. Education Courses 32. Nursing and Allied Health Courses 33. Business Courses and Business Presentations 34. Presenting in Teams 35. Communicating in Groups 231 236 240 243 246 248 25 1 253 258 262 APPENDICES A. Citation Guidelines B. Question-and-Answer Sessions C. Preparing for Mediated Communication D. Tips for Non-Native Speakers of English Glossary Notes Index 267 268 282 284 286 290 309 323 This page intentionally left blank A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking THIRD...
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...ACT/SAT T EST Preparation and Practice Workbook Grateful acknowledgment is given to authors, publishers, and agents for permission to reprint the following copyrighted material. Every effort has been made to determine copyright owners. In case of any omissions, the Publisher will be pleased to make suitable acknowledgments in future editions. Excerpt from The Mystery of Comets by Fred L. Whipple. Copyright © 1985 by Smithsonian Institution. Reprinted by permission. Excerpt from Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories, by Ellen Levine. Copyright © 1993 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Putnam. Excerpt from New Essays on the Psychology of Art by Rudolf Arnheim. Copyright © 1986, University of California Press. Reprinted by permission. Excerpt from The Natural History of Cats by Claire Necker. Copyright © 1970, A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc. Reprinted by permission. Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior permission of the publisher. Send all inquiries to: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill 8787 Orion Place Columbus, OH 43240-4027 ISBN-13: 978-0-07-876567-4 ISBN-10: 0-07-876567-6 Printed in the United States of America. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 021 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 ACT/SAT Test Preparation and Practice ...
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