Week 11: The pattern watcher

You have been reading your writer/essay/column for quite some time. You should know the writer's tendencies and voice quite well. What patterns have emerged? Does your writer love the colon? Secretly or not-so-secretly over-use the simple sentence? Think about what stands out most, what pattern is present only to the seasoned professional reader like you. Share, comment, keep up the great work!

The Example Essay

This next essay will be an example essay on the topic of forgiveness. Some things to know about an example essay (as stated in "40 Model Essays"):

1. The main purpose of an example essay is to make the general specific and the abstract concrete.
2. You can have a single extended example. This is where you might use a solid and solitary narrative to make your example concrete (i.e.: You offered your sibling forgiveness after she broke your iPod, you forgave the driver of the car who side-swiped you, you forgave yourself for being unrealistic in terms of your athletic ability while injured.)
3. You can draw from multiple examples. This will help you illustrate the range covered by your generalization. (i.e.: Generalization: Forgiveness is not practiced the US. Examples: teachers hold a grudge after you've been disciplined for cheating; former inmates are treated as second class citizens even after serving their time; insurance companies hold accidents against you for 7-10 years.) If using multiple examples, you want to make sure you order the examples in order of importance and impact. This of it as creating a climax. Don't lead with the strongest example as your essay will only fizzle from there.

Week 10: October is about to end

Let's get back to vocabulary! I was reading a piece in Newsweek and a fabulous word popped out of an article: shoal. Shoal is a shallow patch of water or a large number of people/fish, and a favorite word of mine that Macbeth uses in one of this great soliloquies. It's an older word, one used less often these days, but it's presence in the article made me keep reading. So, look for some awesome vocabulary, a word or two or three that really zing from the page.

HOMEWORK FOR TUESDAY!

Check the new syllabus on the right. There is a link to the article I'd like you to read.

Hope you enjoyed COD. I thought the guy was awesome.
mc

Week 9

Try to find a moment or a phrase or something that didn't work. I know this is quite subjective, but that just means you need to argue your point well. Being a good writer means knowing when something doesn't flow or fit with the rest of the piece. Good writing also comes from good editing. So, what piece would you edit out of this week's reading?

College Essays and you

Where to begin? How about here.

Connecticut College

Johns Hopkins

What did college presidents writer about? A great article passed on my Kearney.

Tips from Carleton College

Some other hot tips from the Stanford magazine

Week 8: The closers

Not just a show on the USA network, the closer in an essay is key to an essays success ... or its failure. So, look for awesome closing (or near the end) lines. How does the author tie everything together? share an a-ha moment? conclude? make a call to action? Does the author come back to something mentioned at the start? Or maybe the author ends with a completely new idea? Share what works and what does not.

Great cause & effect essay

From the NYT. Simple story but well done and quite effective.

Lines from the front lines .... ha ha ha

Spelling/grammar errors may be the typist's fault. Maybe.


Outside of the tennis court I am given many opportunities to succeed, but few to be successful.

They had counted on three little kids running under their feet in their thirties, three teenagers fighting over the car in their forties, and three young grown ups asking for money in their fifties.

It was a strange light-headed feeling: sounds were muffled by a high pitched buzzing noise, and the world around me started to morph, spin, and slip.

Made entirely of cement, the room seemed to generate cold hostility.

Dust and cobwebs line the windows so thick that barely any light filters in.

… I grew to love every difference that made me realize the distinction between where I was and where I lived in California …

To many people a couch has little or no importance to them, but to my family we claim ours with pride.

My grandmother always says that people don’t understand the seriousness of things until the fear of God is put into them.

Perhaps the math class was just a catalyst for me to realize my fear of being by myself, but it was not just the loneliness from being the only freshman in my math class that I tried to avoid; I tried to escape any situation in which I had to be on my own.

It had a pulley system that connected a bucket to the house we passed food through, a long wooden stepladder, a rope swing, and even a tire swing.

The island in the kitchen is where my family comes together to share meals.

We stayed up all night multiple times whispering across the room about what is going on in our lives.

I have to do everything last: I become 18 last, I become 21 last and I learn how to rive last.

Costco was my hometown, my element, and some new employee suddenly knew what was best for me?

Tahoe smells great, I thought to myself. We should get some pine trees and natural dirt and granite back home.

The MA gym doubles as the MA dojo …

On the ground there was everything you could think of that had to do with Barbie.

Week 7: Opening Lines!

We've looked at crafty words, high powered sentences, the use of cause and effect, now let's focus on opening lines. Post the opening line to your selection and comment on its success or failure.

Is it weird that I LOVE reading these posts. I hope you are enjoying what you're reading as much as I am enjoying what you write.

Keep up the good work!