...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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...and Judy Brady’s “I 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...
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...How to Say Nothing in 500 Words by Paul Roberts, an essay, discusses common mistakes made by college freshmen in academic writing. During my semester of Intro to Expository Writing, my academic writing has greatly improved. My writing started as “Elementary school was like a fairytale; there was a pretty princess and a handsome prince, but I was an evil villain.” And has grown to “Through her diction, Walls creates various tones in order to convey to her audience that despite obstacles, it is possible to escape from a dysfunctional family in hopes of a brighter future.” Using How to Say Nothing in 500 Words, I will be evaluating my own writing by discussing my strengths, weaknesses, and how I have grown as a writer. Writing narratives have always been a personal struggle for me. Unless I passionately come up with a story, and immediately write it on paper, my narratives are bland. It is hard to write personal life-changing stories when I have a deadline. One weakness of mine is using colorful words. For example, a sentence from my personal narrative was written as “It was magnificent with its stained green carpet and plenty of wooden bookshelves stocked with colorful books.” In retrospect, this is how it could have been written, “The spacious library had wooden bookshelves stuffed with leather-bound books, which rested on gritty emerald carpet.”...
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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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...Descriptive vs. Narrative Essays Camille Hall English 121 Instructor James Welch March 17, 2013 Descriptive vs. Narrative Essays Descriptive essays are much more detailed and expressive than narrative essays and are more apt to hold the reader’s attention by ejecting more emotion. The narrative essay uses detail to advance the story, while the descriptive uses to detail to describe an unfamiliar subject. The ability to describe something convincingly is always important to both the writer and their audience. Both descriptive and narrative essays use detail but for different purposes. In this essay I will compare and contrast two essays; “I Want A Wife” and “Caged Bird” in order to give insight into each type of essay. The aim of a narrative essay is to describe a course of events from a subjective point, is usually told in chronological order, and is usually written in first person. Narrative essays are used to tell a story in a way so that the reader learns a lesson or gains insight, much of this is done through lots of detail about the subject that is being written about. The best narrative essays are those inducing images in the reader’s minds about what's happening by using concrete, specific verbs and nouns rather than a lot of adverbs and adjectives. To write a narrative essay you will need to tell a story (usually about something that has happened to you) or it could be fiction. The purpose is for your reader to learn a lesson or gain insight of...
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...N I N G O B J E C T I V E S 10 1. Identify the purpose and structure of narrative writing. 2. Recognize how to write a narrative essay. Rhetorical modes simply mean the ways in which we can effectively communicate through language. This chapter covers nine common rhetorical modes. As you read about these nine modes, keep in mind that the rhetorical mode a writer chooses depends on his or her purpose for writing. Sometimes writers incorporate a variety of modes in one essay. In covering the nine rhetorical modes, this chapter also emphasizes these as a set of tools that will allow you greater flexibility and effectiveness in communicating with your audience and expressing your ideas. rhetorical modes The ways in which we effectively communicate through language. 1.1 The Purpose of Narrative Writing Narration means the art of storytelling, and the purpose of narrative writing is to tell stories. Any time you tell a story to a friend or family member about an event or incident in your day, you engage in a form of narration. In addition, a narrative can be factual or fictional. A factual story is one that is based on, and tries to be faithful to, actual events as they unfolded in real life. A fictional story is a made-up, or imagined, story; the writer of a fictional story can create characters and events as he or she sees fit. However, the big distinction between factual and fictional narratives is based on a writer’s purpose. The writers of factual stories try to recount...
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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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...How to Write an "Accomplishment Essay" What 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...
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...importance of revision, especially when you’re writing to the deadline. For our discussion this week, we read Rachel Toor’s essay, “Not My Type.” Toor doesn’t really get into the idea of allowing for time and space between drafts, but she does discuss how much better her work is when she can approach it as an outsider (Toor, 2012). Take a look at the Narrative essay you submitted in week four. Read through it and find a few things you could have done better. In at least 150 words, discuss those changes. While you can mention it, try to look deeper than any formatting or grammar issues you may have had. Look at the way you organized your essay, how you tied everything together, even at your word choice. Could you have benefitted from writing your essay in multiple drafts? About my narrative essay, it could have been a lot smoother and easier if I had my original story. For a month I have been dealing with a failed hard drive and 2 more failed ones that I have been sent to find out it’s my power supply hahaha. Anyway I liked revisiting my past because it made me really happy to write about it and be descripted with the event as a whole. I could have it a bit more organize it just happened a more than 10 years ago. I could have done better if I wrote two drafts instead of one; I’m taking my time with my persuasive essay so it will be better than this one. Also rushing the essay instead of being able to take my time was an issue also. Writing about an older event is kind of hard because...
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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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...When I first thought about my English 11 class I was thinking about how I wanted to better myself in the future. I was hoping that I would get a teacher that would help me improve my writing skills and help me improve my SAT score and I received my wish. I ended up getting Mrs. Miles as a my English teacher and I was very excited to get her as a teacher because I wanted to see how fun she makes English and it was a lot of fun.Writing is like cooking you can only have a few ingredients but, you can make something actually mouth-watering out of it. Overall, I have greatly improved my writing skills for the future. The first essay that I would like to talk about is my Romanticism Fictional Narrative that I made in my 10th grade English class. The reason why I chose to talk about this essay is because it shows how creative I can without an outline. What I liked about this essay is how creative and descriptive it is. I made this essay by basically going off what my brain imagined. What I learned from this essay is when I do not use an an outline my ideas are more artistic....
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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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...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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...McGraw−Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life, 2/e II. Using What You’ve Learned to Share Information The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life, Second Edition 4. Writing to Share Experience © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2011 13 Reading, Inquiry, and Research ■ PART 2 | Using What You Have Learned to Share Information 57 TANYA BARRIENTOS Se Habla Español MEMOIR he man on the other end of the phone line is 1 Tanya Maria telling me the classes I’ve called about are firstBarrientos has rate: native speakers in charge, no more than six stuwritten for the dents per group. Philadelphia “Conbersaychunal,” he says, allowing the fat vow- 2 Inquirer for more than els of his accented English to collide with the sawedtwenty years. off consonants. I tell him that will be fi ne, that I’m familiar with 3 Barrientos was born in Guatethe conversational setup, and yes, I’ve studied a bit mala and raised of Spanish in the past. He asks for my name and I in El Paso, Texas. Her first novel, Frontera Street, was supply it, rolling the double r in Barrientos like a pro. published in 2002, and her second, That’s when I hear the silent snag, the momentary Family Resemblance, was pubhesitation I’ve come to expect at this part of the exlished in 2003. Her column “Unchange. Should I go into it again? Should I explain, conventional Wisdom” runs every the way I have to half a dozen others, that I am Guaweek in the Inquirer. This essay originally appeared...
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...The writing of the long song “How can I be proud of my Jamaican roots, when my ancestors had been slaves”? This question asked by a woman with Jamaican roots followed British novelist Andrea Levy for a long time. She wondered how anyone could be ashamed of his or her legacy and thus the foundation of her book, The Long Song, was laid. However, writing the book was a more difficult task than presumed. Levy considered many things at the preliminary stage of the book as she knew that she didn’t want to write yet another historical novel about slavery. This is the reason why she chose to write the “behind the scenes”-essay, The Writing of The Long Song. Herein she elaborates and discusses the process of writing her book and raises important questions that deal with extremely relevant themes such as family pride and the filtering of history. Levy opens her essay with a flashback to the conference she attended several years earlier in London where the main theme was the legacy of slavery. She remembers a woman asking the panel how she could be proud of her Jamaican roots when her ancestors had been slaves (p. 7, ll. 5-7). Levy doesn’t remember the panel’s answer to the woman but the question stayed with her for a long time and it ended up being her motivation for writing the book The Long Song. Levy is of Jamaican heritage herself and in contrary to the young woman, she proudly acknowledges her slave ancestry: “If our ancestors survived the slave ships they were strong. If they...
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