Essay Lab Group at eNotes

I need help writing a good into here is my thesis: Romantic love is a...

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:26:33 PST

I need help writing a good into here is my thesis: Romantic love is a volatile and passionate force that one person feels for another. In the novels Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, this love is the driving force behind the main events, and is used by both authors to develop the personalities of Heathcliff and Mr. Rochester. In the novels, the principles and demands of society create an obstacle with romantic love which in turn has a...

Reply to #5--good advice! If the paper is to be 3-5 pages, you need to...

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:04:12 PST

Reply to #5--good advice! If the paper is to be 3-5 pages, you need to narrow the topic or you'll end up with 30-50 pages! I would keep it to one character's life experiences and focus on 3-4 events from the book which effect that character. Boo Radley is a good one, Mrs. Dubose is a good one, Tom's trial is a good one, the white man married to a black woman who everyone thinks is the town drunk but he's only sipping Coca-Cola is a good...

At this point, I would just review the essay and make sure that...

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:15:55 PST

At this point, I would just review the essay and make sure that everything flows. You don't want to develop too many ideas, as you indicated in your first post. Three events and the focus on two characters are fine - I think going into a tangent on the multiple themes, etc., would be taking the ideas too far so that you lose the main point.Make sure that the thesis makes a clear statement of what an experience does for the individual...

It sounds to me like you have it figured out :) What else do you need...

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:30:45 PST

It sounds to me like you have it figured out :) What else do you need to know? If you want, just post a link to the paper ... I'm sure you'll get some good feedback.

In reply to #2: Hi...the paper is to be min of 3 pages....MLA...

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:45:25 PST

In reply to #2: Hi...the paper is to be min of 3 pages....MLA format...There is no definition from the teacher as to what constitutes a significant eventthe teacher asked for 3-5 specific examples from novel and quotes as well. life and events(age, gender, race, education etc...)I used meeting Boo Radley and kids involvement and beliefs about him., Trial of Tom and aunt alexandra as the examples of events in Jem and Scouts lives that impacted...

It's hard to tell ... we probably need more information: how long...

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:12:18 PST

It's hard to tell ... we probably need more information: how long should/can the paper be? What does the teaching define as a"significant experience"? Does the teacher ask for a specific number of examples?Please provide some additional information and I'm sure you'll get help.

HELP Mom needs help in understanding what the teacher is asking....

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:56:12 PST

HI I am new to this site and I am in the process of helping my 15 year old with an essay.

Her topic is: What ideas does Harper Lee develop regarding the impact of significant experience on the individual? (In To Kill a Mockingbird.I wonder is the topic really asking her this: What...

hi, i have to write an argumentative essay and i choose to write about...

Thu, 6 Nov 2008 14:40:01 PST

hi, i have to write an argumentative essay and i choose to write about the alcoholism and my thesis is - alcoholism should be treated as an illness. my reasons for this topic are that the alcoholism causes death, affects to the social life. but my instructor said that i can't prove with these reasons that alcholism should be treated as an illness.i need help about those reasons, i don't know what exactly they can be.

I've used some material available at Purdue's writing lab to help...

Sat, 1 Nov 2008 09:43:59 PST

I've used some material available at Purdue's writing lab to help students learn how to integrate quotations smoothly into their text. This website offers a wealth of helpful information: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

I find that students will copy out huge blocks of text, so I encourage...

Sun, 5 Oct 2008 12:35:09 PST

I find that students will copy out huge blocks of text, so I encourage them to use only fragments of sentences, and to choose the best fragment to support their idea. So, I look for a sentence of evidence to look like this:By the end of the play, Oedipus condemns himself saying that his failure is "by heaven itself declared" (Sophocles 69).

do you think being intiated is worth the risk if the rituals are dangerous

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:10:18 PST

intiations schools in africa

Another point about quotations is that many students do not know how to...

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:31:26 PST

Another point about quotations is that many students do not know how to properly place long quotations using MLA standards, so I have to make sure they read about how to do this in their Hodges' Harbrace Handbook.

I truly despise when a student uses a quote that is extremely long and...

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:37:24 PST

I truly despise when a student uses a quote that is extremely long and doesn't really apply to what he/she is saying in the essay just to take up space. I encourage students to use partial quotes to help support the points they are making, and to limit full quotes to four or fewer lines.

kwoo1214's note about introducing quotes is very well taken. I...

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:36:38 PST

kwoo1214's note about introducing quotes is very well taken. I encourage beginning writers to write without quotes. We spend a great deal of time learning how to paraphrase/summarize. I think this teaches them to write in their own voice without interruption. When they get better at this, we look at their papers together and try to decide where the work would be strengthened with a specific quote. Usually it is something that is...

One thing I tell students to avoid is placing quotations in a paper...

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:11:57 PST

One thing I tell students to avoid is placing quotations in a paper without properly introducing them. One of my pet peeves is seeing a quotation standing alone in an essay without proper introduction (an attributive tag). An example: "Hemingway is one of our most celebrated authors" (Mahoney 15).Correct introduction: Allen Bates, a Hemingway scholar, states that, "Hemingway is one of our most celebrated authors"...

Using Quotations

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:19:05 PST

Skillfully integrating quotations in an essay is one of the trickiest things for student writers to master. Do you have any examples of what students should avoid doing?

As the assignment is an essay, as opposed to a cover letter, you have...

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 10:49:11 PST

As the assignment is an essay, as opposed to a cover letter, you have leniency to be more creative. You might start with a personal anecdote that shows the audience what skills you have in an interesting manner, without having to "announce" the details. Then you could go into depth on what previous experience you have had to demonstrate those skills.

Begin your conclusion by going back to your introduction. Whatever...

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 10:47:20 PST

Begin your conclusion by going back to your introduction. Whatever hook you used to start your intro, return to that hook for your conclusion to create continuity. For example, if you started with a quote by Thomas Jefferson, mention Jefferson's name to start your conclusion. Quote in Intro: "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other...

Conclusion is a crucial part of an essay, because it leads the reader to...

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 09:29:45 PST

Conclusion is a crucial part of an essay, because it leads the reader to understand that the author has finished providing his observations and therefore he is summing up. The best conclusion would be that which gives an overall impression of the topic that has been discussed in the main part of the essay. While in the introduction the author has to concentrate on initiating the main points of his discussion, in the conclusion he should try...

You want to "sell" yourself when you are trying to get a job,...

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 18:43:15 PST

You want to "sell" yourself when you are trying to get a job, so the first thing you normally want to do when writing an essay or job letter, you want to introduce yourself and how you heard about the job opening. Then, you might state that you are qualified for the job and list a few main reasons why. This is imperative because you want to point out right off the bat why you might be better than someone else for that particular...