Categories
College Essay Examples

College Writing Skills with Readings

Select three of the essay development patterns and explain them in your own words. What are the important considerations in each type of essay development?

Description

This essay development pattern focuses on highlighting the attributes of a person, place, or thing, allowing the readers to use their imagination to form a mental picture. The words used usually charm any reader’s five senses to make it as graphic as possible. This type of easy development uses much descriptive detail. The details help the writer share his experience with the readers.

Considerations

The primary consideration for this essay is the purpose; what does the writer hope to achieve with this message? For descriptive essays, a writer wishes to transmit and share his experience most vividly. The topic chosen must appeal to ones sensing to create a spark within the writer that fuels the creative detail writing process. When presenting an idea that the audience already knows about and is familiar with, background information is not essential. Unfamiliar topics such as the house one grew up in must be presented with background information. Description as a pattern of essay development has sight as an asset, picturing and describing them down to the small details. The details then inspire the rest of the essay. When describing a place, it is essential to use events that occur there and the type of people; this helps by giving the place character.

Narration

This pattern of essay development is based on a storytelling theme. The story is based on the people, places, and events that have already taken place. It can be inspired by an experience or knowledge acquired from reading and observation. The story should support the writer’s thesis while also being appealing and chronological.

Considerations

The story should support a specific theory. The story should be enjoyable for readers, which might involve engrossing events with exquisite detail. The story must be in line with the audience’s interests. People are vital to narration, and dialogue can communicate a lot about characters. Dialogue can help create suspense or clarify issues within the story.

Exemplification

Uses a series of cases, examples, and ideas to make a theory or general idea concrete; this helps persuade the reader. The writer uses a series of similar arguments to clarify an idea. One presents an opinion using a statement and then gives examples to strengthen their point, leading to a general conclusion.

Considerations

When developing an essay using consideration, the writer must consider the purpose of the writing and the audience it is meant for. The examples must align with the message one is trying to communicate and should be varied to make the essay as enjoyable as possible. It is also crucial that one mentions the people, actions, places, and things to create an atmosphere. Mentioning everyday items to the reader also helps the reader relate to the situation one is describing. Mentioning facts and events also helps make the essay more concrete. Facts and events are also crucial when talking about sensitive topics such as racism. The examples must be relevant to the story and must support the main idea. Anecdotes can serve as examples and can help make the story interesting. They emphasize the variation of a single experience and communicate the facts and personal feelings associated with the experience. Anecdotes can sometimes be used to set the theme of the story.

How to Develop the Idea for a Narration Essay Through Prewriting

The prewriting stage involves conceptualizing the ideas of one’s essay and putting them down. Prewriting strategies include brainstorming, journaling, questioning, and rewriting. An outline helps when writing the essay. First, it is essential to consider what one will write about and why the topic is essential. Second, identify the question that the essay will answer and the best way to go about it. Sources of facts that can support the idea should also be thought of during this stage. Everything is then noted down with just enough details to jog one’s memory. Third, the facts related to the topic are collected, going only for papers and stories that answer the topic question. Going for only relevant sources saves time and energy. Then go ahead and write your ideas about the topic and why it is essential to you. A personal view ensures that the story is a reflection of your voice. Identify the main idea and stick to it throughout the prewriting process. Once the central idea has been identified, organize the facts and ideas to develop the topic, focusing on issues relevant to the essay.

Question 1

About Unity

  1. Which essay lacks an opening thesis statement? Write a thesis statement that might work for that essay.

The essay ‘Taking on a disability’ lacks a thesis statement.

 Adopting a disability taught me a lot about the struggles of those with disabilities.

  1. Which sentence in paragraph 4 of “Taking on a Disability” should be omitted in the interest of paragraph unity? (Write the opening words.)

Thanks to a new building program

  1. What sentence in paragraph 3 of “A Night of Violence” should be omitted in the interest of paragraph unity? (Write the opening words.)

Pine Street had a lot of

  1. Reread the conclusions to both essays. Which one contains a sentence introducing a new topic and should be eliminated? (Write the opening words of that sentence.)

I hope my parents and

About Support

  1. a. Find a sentence in “Taking on a Disability” that contains words appealing to both sight and touch. (Write the opening words.)

My palms reddened

  1. Find a sentence in “A Night of Violence” that contains words appealing to hearing. (Write the opening words.)

The club thudded loudly

  1. In a narrative, the main method of organization is time order. Which sentence in paragraph 3 of “A Night of Violence” is placed out of order? (Write the opening words.)

The incident was planned one Thursday night

  1. Reread paragraph 4 of “Taking on a Disability.” Then record three details that support that paragraph’s topic sentence.

Every time the congregation stood up, the narrators blocked his view.

The narrator always seemed to be on the way no matter where he parked himself.

When people talked to the narrator after mass, he had to strain his neck to look up at them.

About Coherence

  1. The first stage of the writer’s experience in “Taking on a Disability” might be called sitting down in the wheelchair. What are the other two stages of the experience?

Coping with the wheelchair

Getting through the service on a wheelchair

  1. List four transitions in paragraph 3 of “A Night of Violence.” What type of transitions are they?

Suddenly

When

As we

After

  1. What method of writing introductions explained in Chapter 4 is used in the first paragraph of “A Night of Violence”?

Use an incident or a brief story

Write a narrative five paragraphed Essay

Hoping and praying are easier but do not produce as good results as hard work.—Andy Rooney

AFTER THE HONEYMOON

My ex-husband and I were best friends for more than half our lives when we got married. We started dating when we were both twenty-three and got married at twenty-eight, on my birthday no less. The wedding ceremony was a joyous moment for both of us. I was marrying my best friend; I was living every girl’s dream. After the honeymoon, we slipped, and we never picked ourselves up. 

The first few weeks of marriage were bizarre. There were some things that I had not noticed about my husband before. First, the way he left his sweaty gym clothes strewn all over the floor, mark you, the laundry basket was a few feet away. The disorderliness irritated me. Additionally, he snored loudly through the night, and it made it impossible for me to sleep. I tried falling asleep before he came to bed, but this did not work. My ex-husband would toss and turn for hours before finally falling asleep. His fast, jerking movements would wake me up in the middle of the night exhausted and angry. Consequently, I was constantly complaining about his sleeping habits.

Loyalty can make or break a marriage. I was barely one year into my marriage, and I was already suffocating. My husband would come home with the intoxicating smell of his secretary’s cheap perfume. The unfaithfulness was not just physical. It was emotional as well. I was never a priority, and he was always focused on work, leaving early in the morning and coming home past midnight. Furthermore, he never defended me when his drunk-wining mom attacked me during the family gatherings. I constantly felt like an outsider.

Three years in and I found solace in my work. I dedicated all my time to the investment firm I was working at. I was promoted twice in two years. I ate and drunk policies and projections. I neglected my duties as a wife, did not cook nor clean the house. I did not go to the office parties he invited me to. I forgot anniversaries and birthdays over and over again. By the time we got to our fourth anniversary, we were just housemates sharing living space. To sum it up, we continued to ignore the problem. We eventually got a divorce after five years of marriage.

Problems are part of every aspect of life. Choosing someone to go through life with is one of the most important decisions a young person will ever make. Loving someone is a gift, and fighting for your marriage should never be a choice. Going for counseling and choosing your partner every day is one of the ways you fight. Hoping and praying for the situation to change will not help unless one takes action.

 

Reference

Langan, J. (2013). College writing skills with readings. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Avatar photo

By Hanna Robinson

Hanna has won numerous writing awards. She specializes in academic writing, copywriting, business plans and resumes. After graduating from the Comosun College's journalism program, she went on to work at community newspapers throughout Atlantic Canada, before embarking on her freelancing journey.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts