Writing Your Way to Success in College

 

  Title: Career as a Police Officer

  I. Financial aspect

  A. Disadvantages

  1. Low pay

  2. No opportunity to make extra income

  B. Advantages

  1. Job Security

  a. Permanent employment

  b. Attractive retirement benefits

  2. Potential for success in business or politics after retirement

  II. Social aspect

  A. Disadvantages

  1. Limited social interactions

  2. Unpredictable transfers difficult for family

  3. Discipline often wearisome

 

  Sentence Outline: In this kind of outline, each heading is a complete sentence. Example:

  Title: Career as a Police Officer

  I. Financial considerations are a big factor when choosing a career

  A. There are several disadvantages to a career in the police department

  1. The pay is low compared to other civilian jobs

  2. There is no opportunity to make extra income

  B. There are however some appealing advantages

  1. Job security is at its peak

  a. This is permanent employment

  b. The likelihood of being fired are minimal c. The retirement benefits are attractive

  d. Promotions are slow but steady

  2. There is a high potential for success in business or politics after retirement

  II. The social aspect should also be put into considerations

  A. The most apparent disadvantages include:

  1. social interactions are usually more restricted

  2. Unpredictable transfers are generally difficult for family

  3. The strict discipline is often wearisome

  B. The advantages however outweigh the disadvantages

  1. This career can be very fulfilling if one is fitted for the job

  2. There numerous opportunities to travel and see different places

  3. An annual paid leave is very appealing

  Outline Form

  Numbering lettering, indention, punctuation and other aspects of formal outlines adhere to specific conventions. The numbering and Indention should be consistent throughout. Below is a typical form of sentence and topic outline

  Main statement

  ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

  I. …………………………………………………………… (Use roman numerals for key headings)

  A. …………………………………………………….. (A capital letter for 1st subhead)

  1. ………………………………………………. (Use Arabic numeral for 2nd subhead)

  2. ……………………………………………….

  a. ……………………………………….. (Use small letters for the 3rd subhead)

  b. ………………………………………..

  1) …………………………………. (Use Arabic numeral with parenthesis

  for 4th subhead)

  B. ……………………………………………………..

  II. ……………………………………………………………

  Do not endeavor to complicate your outline. Two levels of subheads are usually sufficient for short papers while there’s hardly any need to go beyond the third subhead for longer papers.

  4. Writing a winning academic essay made easy

  Essays are common classroom assignments used to test your knowledge as well as your writing skills. A great essay will follow some basic rules in addition to fulfilling your institutions requirements on essay writing. To many students, writing an essay can pose several challenges. As such most students end up with poor or average essays.

  You can however make your average essay a great essay. This is how:

  1. Choose your topic wisely. Sometimes you may not have a choice about the topic as it may have been decided by the requirements but if you do, choose a topic that is simple, interesting to you and current.

  2. Prepare. Think about everything you will need and put things down on paper as they come to you. What type of essay is best suited to your personality, is it a persuasive, argumentative, descriptive essay etc.

  3. Create an outline to make your work organized and keep your audience in mind.

  4. Devote sufficient time to writing a great introduction and thesis statement.

  5. The body section should be used to present your arguments. Each paragraph should consist of one well supported idea. You should ensure a logical and a smooth transition from one idea to the other and one paragraph to the next.

  6. Write a conclusion that sums up your argument and calls your audience to action.

  7. Edit and proofread your work. Remove sentences that are repeated and those that do not make sense. Correct spelling mistakes, typos and grammar. You can have a

  friend read your work and critique it.

  Following these simple rules will greatly improve your essay. It is important to start writing your essay at the earliest possible moment without waiting for a “moment of inspiration”. Ideas will flow better when you start writing not before. Remember that you will edit your essay afterwards.

  Writing an essay introduction

  The introduction of your essay will determine whether the reader continues reading the rest of the essay or not, whether your audience gets a positive or negative impression of your essay. A good introduction should grab the reader’s attention and give them an idea of your objective.

  It gives your reader a point of entry to your essay.

  Attention grabber

  An introduction begins with an orientation which is a general discussion of your topic that moves to a very specific statement of the core argument also known as the thesis statement. An attention grabbing statement is oftentimes used to draw the reader’s interest. Here are some ideas for the “attention grabber”

   Use a remarkable but accurate statement that may or may not be new to your reader. This sentence should be elaborated by a sentence or two.

   Use a relevant story that illustrates the point you are making. The story should be

  short and appropriate so be careful.

   Dramatize the central issue by a key example, quotation (Bring the issue to life).

   Avoid long winded expositions and instead let the reader know what you are going to discuss without doing so.

   Use correct grammar and stay away from slang, complex sentences and difficult vocabulary.

   Keep in mind that your reader may be having many other essays to go through.

  Thesis statement

  A thesis statement basically a state what is your paper is saying/proving. It is your main point or unifying message. This is where you stick your neck out as you stake a claim/assertion. You can adjust it as you look at examples, evidence, statistics, expert testimony facts and figures etc.

  Example:

  “Dropout rates as high as 42% show that affirmative action programs bringing disabled students into national universities have not worked.”

  “Although many affirmative action students drop out, those who graduate often have

  professional careers and serve as role models for other disabled students.”

  Remember, a good introduction should:

   Open the main issues of the question

   Indicate the way the question will be addressed

   Outline how the essay is structured

   Offer a statement of the types of conclusion to be drawn.

  Finally, make it easy to transit seamlessly from your introductory paragraph to the body.

 

 

 
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  5. Annotated Bibliography

  Simply put, an annotated bibliography is a summary or a brief analysis of sources used in researching a particular subject. Writing an annotated bibliography can be an isolated assignment or it could be a part of a larger research project.

  Purpose of an annotated bibliography

   To evaluate available materials for a particular topic

   To examine and sort out sources for research

   To offer an overview of sources that may be helpful to others researching the same topic

   To gain insights from the available literature before developing your own research ideas

   To demonstrate the quality and depth of the reading you have done for your research

  Components of an annotated bibliography

   Provide full bibliographic information of the sources

   Brief description of the author’s background Summarize the content

   Identify the core argument

   Offer a statement of the types of conclusions drawn

   Indicate the relevance and usefulness of the source to your research.

  Arrange the sources alphabetically, using MLA or APA style as specified by your instructor, and then write a five-to-ten sentence blurb (short description) summarizing each source.

  Sample Annotation

  Gregory, Mann. `Parents Influence is Limited. ` The Chicago Morning News 4 Feb. 1962:

  27A. Print.

  In this editorial, Gregory first claims that people are too quick to blame a child’s parents if the child does something wrong. In fact, he says, parents might even enjoy pointing the finger at other parents who have a child in trouble. However, Gregory tells us, once he had his own children, he became more humble and realized that no matter how `good` parents are, children still do things that are `bad` and against the `rules` that guided how they were raised. This leads him to an example: a song by Margin Gaye, suggesting that parents should stop trying to mold children `like their own piece of clay.` Finally, Gregory argues that parents should keep offering wisdom, guidance, and love, but stop thinking

  that they are the ultimate influence on their children’s lives.

  6. How to write a research proposal

  A research proposal can be thought of as an intellectual outline of what you intend to do,

  why it should be done, how you will do it, what you expect to be the results and how you will interpret your results when you finally set out to do your project. It is in effect a contract between you and your supervisor, therefore when it is approved; it simply means that the lecturer has given their best judgment and that the approach to the research is reasonable and likely to yield anticipated results. A clearly done proposal will enable you to complete your project on time. A fuzzy, vague or weak proposal will render the process painful and even unsuccessful.

  Save for a few variations, a typical research proposal will basically consist of the following components;

   The title

   Introduction

   Topic area

   Research question

   Importance to knowledge

   literature review

   A review of previous researches

   Any preliminary work you had done on the same topic

   Methodology

   Involves research design, sampling techniques, data collection methods, analytical techniques to be employed, how the data will be interpreted

   Expected results

   Budget

   Bibliography( references)

  Let us now take a closer look at how these areas are important and in what perspective they should be used.

  1. The introduction

  Topic area

  A properly chosen title gives a good clue as to what the paper is all about but it is not exhaustive. It should therefore be followed with an introduction which is strong enough to vividly bring out the gist of the research paper. It should be able to provide a brief overview of what the paper is all about, using as few words as possible, to enable the reader to determine if the research is relevant or not.

  Research question(s)

  It is important that you go right to the topic once it is established. Tell the reader the specific

  topic you will be addressing as well as your intended approach and finally let them know what they will learn from the paper.

  Importance of the research

  Let it be known how relevant the whole study is to modern knowledge, how does it relate to similar work done before and why it should be supported or funded, whichever is desirable.

  Sample research questions and a brief introduction to a research paper;

  1. This research project seeks to explore the impact of power wrangles in African countries on the economies of the countries involved. In particular, it seeks to explain the extent to which regional organizations have failed to help out the member countries caught up in such situations.

  2. Leadership has for a long time been a thorn in the flesh of a majority of African states. Power doesn’t easily change hands in Africa. It doesn’t matter how well planned and executed the election might be, somehow one way or the other there will always be a disgruntled leader somewhere who will find fault with the whole process. According to Bradley (1999), power seems to be more intoxicating than the most potent of wines.

  2. Literature review

  Literature review is aimed at providing conceptual frame work to enable the reader to better

  understand the research questions. It is geared towards demonstrating how well the researcher understands and appreciates the diversity and breath of work that relates to what you are doing. These will include theories, models, assumptions, studies and methodologies that could also be an integral part of your work.

  Literature review also serves to unravel the gaps in the knowledge that need to be plugged thereby appropriately positioning your work to fit in and be relevant to the pool the existing of knowledge.