How to write college essays.docx

1、How to write college essays Structure of an Essay Title of the EssayIntroduction Opening remarks to catch readers interest Thesis statement Plan of development (optional) Topic sentence 1 (supporting point 1) Specific evidenceBody Topic sentence 2 (supporting point 2) Specific evidence Topic sentenc

2、e 3 (supporting point 3) Specific evidenceConclusion Summary (optional) General closing remarks (Or both)Model EssayThe Hazards of MoviegoingI am a movie fanatic. When friends want to know what picture won the Oscar in 1980 or who played the police chief in Jaws, they ask me. My friends, though, hav

3、e stopped asking me if I want to go out to the movies. The problems in getting to the theatre, the theater itself, and the behavior of some patrons are all reason why I often wait for a movie to show up on TV.First of all, just getting to the theatre presents difficulties. Leaving a home equipped wi

4、th a TV and a video recorder isnt an attractive idea on a humid, cold, or rainy night. Even if the weather cooperates, there is still a thirty-minute drive to the theater down a congested highway, followed by the hassle of looking for a parking space. And then there are the lines. After hooking your

5、self to the end of a human chain, you worry about whether there will be enough tickets, whether you will get seats together, and whether many people will sneak into the line ahead of you. Once you have made it into the box office and gotten your tickets, you are confronted with the problems of the t

6、heater itself. If you are in one of the rundown older theaters, you must adjust to the musty smell of seldom-cleaned carpets. Escaped springs lurk in the faded plush or cracked leather seats, and half of the seats you sit in seem loose or tilted so that you sit at a strange angle. The newer twin and

7、 quad theaters offer their own problems. Sitting in an area only one-quarter the size of a regular theater, moviegoers often have to put up with the sound of the movie next door. This is especially jarring when the other movie involves racing cars or a karate war and you are trying to enjoy a quiet

8、love story. And whether the theater is old or new, it will have floors that seem to be coated with rubber cement. By the end of a movie, shoes almost have to be pried off the floor because they have become sealed to a deadly compound of spilled soda, hardening bubble gum, and crushed Ju-Jubes.Some o

9、f the patrons are even more of a problem than the theater itself. Little kids race up and down the aisles, usually in giggling packs. Teenagers try to impress their friends by talking back to the screen, whistling, and making what they consider to be hilarious noises. Adults act as if they were at h

10、ome in their own living rooms and comment loudly on the ages of the stars or why movies arent as good as anymore. And people of all ages crinkled candy wrappers, stick gum on their seats, and drop popcorn tubs or cups of crushed candy ice and soda on the floor. They also cough and burp, squirm endle

11、ssly in their seats, file out for repeated trips to the rest rooms or concession stand, and elbow you out of the armrest on either side of your seat.After arriving home from the movies one night, I decided that I was not going to be a moviegoer anymore. I was tired of the problems involved in gettin

12、g to the movies and dealing with the theater itself and some of the patrons. The next day I arranged to have cable TV service installed in my home. I may now see movies a bit later than other people, but Ill be more relaxed watching box office hits in the comfort of my own living room. Introductions

13、, Conclusions, and TitlesA well-organized essay should have a strong introductory paragraph, an effective concluding paragraph, and a good title.Common Methods of Introduction1. Begin with a broad, general statement of your topic and narrow it down to your thesis statement. Broad, general statements

14、 ease the reader into your thesis statement by providing a background for it. Bookstore shelves today are crammed with dozens of different diet books. The American public seems willing to try any sort of diet, especially the ones that promise instant, miraculous results. And authors are more than wi

15、lling to invent new fad diets to cash in on this craze. Unfortunately, some of these fad diets are ineffective or even unsafe. One of the worst is the “Palm Beach diet”. It is impractical, doesnt achieve the results it claims, and is a sure route to poor nutrition.2. Start with an idea or situation

16、that is the opposite of the one you will develop. This approach works because your readers will be surprised, and then intrigued, by the contrast between the opening idea and the thesis that follows it. When I decided to return to school at age thirty-five, I wasnt at all worried about my ability to do the work. After all, I was a grown woman who had raised a family, not a confused teenager fresh out of high school. But