Beginning Of The Document Content.. In Previous High School

After returning from war, veterans often face many hardships. This theme is demonstrated through pathos and logos in both “The Odyssey” by Homer and “Back from War but Not Really Home” by Caroline Alexander. These texts use these rhetorical devices to prove that a soldier’s struggle does not stop when he leaves the battlefield. By doing so, they open the eyes of the reader to the injustice they face.

Resources http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/topic.htm and http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/paragraphs/topicsentences have made it clear the importance if good topic sentences, and I will continue to check these two sites for future papers.

I never wrote one paper in my AP English Literature class my senior year. There was so much angst in my life at that time. I felt like I was stuck in a rut, that my writing could not get any better. I finally decided to go onto YouTube and search ‘AP Essay Writing Techniques’. Most of the videos I watched taught that a well-organized essay always got the better grade. I started putting the plan into action on my AP practice essays. I noticed that instead of 3’s I was getting 5’s. To this day I still believe that organization is

During my English courses throughout high school, I learned many things from writing simple journals, research papers, and a single term paper. During high school, I was laid back and procrastinated for much of my work. During the latter part of high school when I wrote my term paper my senior year, I found out that working a little every night writing a few paragraphs helped me out greatly. I was not just throwing something together just to get the grade and the paper finished. I spent time on the paper and

War is by no means simple. It is not just a battle between men or nations, as there are wars rooted within ourselves. War to many is unknown and painful, showing the dark side of humanity, and to others it is a sign of glory and conquest. Ernest Hemingway shows his view of the realities of war in “Soldier’s Home” by the experiences pinned onto Harold Krebs, a WWI veteran. Krebs' loss of interest and detachment to post-war society alludes that an unattainable reality to fit back into everyday life was placed on veterans by civilians who had romanticized views of war. This marks the need for elaborated war stories to end in order for veterans to be deservingly accepted back into society.

In my first “Who I am as a Writer” paper I stated how one of the areas that I needed to improve was writing. I went into more depth talking about how my writing is not descriptive enough and how I cannot grab the reader's attention. Even though I still need to continue making improvements, I have gotten better in both of these aspects. Compared to my papers in high school my introduction paragraphs have improved.

Many people, especially old veterans, are very excited of reminiscing their war experiences. They are also keen to pass down their experience by telling to other people. Sometimes they share the stories of each other. Many war stories are told. However, a true war story isn’t only about being a hero in the battlefield or generalizing that war is hell. There are some situations should be shared to get the “moral” of a true war story. In his story, “How to Tell a True War Story,” O’ Brien reveals all of the lies and secrets of other war stories that people have been told. Therefore, the author mentions in his story that “True war stories do not generalize” (page 1) and “War is hell, but that’s not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love” (page 2).

I entered my first-year college composition course believing I was equipped with the knowledge, skill, and ability to write an efficiently researched and well-organized essay. In high school, I learned how to create the traditional five-paragraph paper with its introduction of a thesis, explanation of that claim through three sections riddled with supporting quotes, and conclusion that restated the author’s substantiated statement. This was the prescribed formula I had learned and grown accustomed to using for book reports, compare-and-contrast papers, and research essays and, from my bestowment of high grades and praise, I’d never thought to question or deviate from its pattern. When I attended my first college writing class, I thought

The soldiers suffered greatly from this war physically, mentally and socially. Veterans of this war did not come home to welcome arms or warm greetings; instead they came home

I’ve always struggled to break the boundaries entangled within the composition of traditional essays. Between AP Language/Literature courses and AP U.S. History, my writing had become noticeably formulaic; I relied heavily on templates and felt awkward abandoning the traditional five paragraph essay. Although the formulaic way of writing assisted in my capability to critically recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, the patterns were not helpful in developing my organizational skills. My ability to form argumentative ideas from given prompts strengthened, while unity and coherence within paragraphs proved to be my downfall. It was not until my second semester of English at the University of Georgia that I noticed my organization was not comprehensible to the reader. Some paragraphs were like mazes; they left the reader wondering how the first sentence connected to the following sentence. Along with organization, English 1102 helped identify my lack of transitional phrases within paragraphs and the tendency for my argument to shift. Nonetheless, this course has highlighted my strengths as a writer, including my ability to incorporate evidence so that it supports an intelligent, challenging thesis.

Within English 219, we have already learned a vital set of writing skills, that will allow for the improvement of essays, and summaries that must be written for future assessments. Some of these skills that would be relevant for achieving general writing improvement could be ideas such as thesis development, structuring and planning, or more specific examples when actually fleshing out the essay such as elements of grammar and style. Thesis development which is crucial so that ideas can be fully explained and related back to a point which can be interpreted as an overarching theme for the entire paper, and allows the reader to interpret the topic of not only the essay but of each paragraph. Taking a step back we looked in class at the subject

Since the first conflicts thousands of years ago, war has been a constant occurrence in this world. Men have risked their lives to brutally kill an enemy for some justified or unjustified reason. What portion of those men return home whole and sound? How have these men changed? Can they recover? Jim O 'Brien’s “Speaking of Courage” wants readers to pose these questions; arriving at the sad but very well existent conclusion. Through the protagonist’s Paul Berlin, actions and mindset, O 'Brien reveals that in the United States, especially after modern wars such as Vietnam, an unfair view of veterans has emerged. These beliefs do not help them cope with all the horrors they see. In modern times, even if soldiers don’t come home with physical wounds, they are still damaged inside, mentally. As a country we have to change, we must stop being indifferent and help these veterans or else the men who protect us will not be able to protect themselves.

Moreover, a topic sentence always appears on the top of the paper and by using a meaningful topic sentence will help me stay on topic and develop the main ideas without getting off topic. It is a crucial part of writing that clearly tells the reader what I am writing about. In my first, second, and third essay I struggled with coming up with a clear and meaningful topic sentence. I got a feedback from the second essay that I submitted to my instructor MaCaughey, and he said, “You might try for a more creative title”(1). After the feedback from my instructor, I focused on using a creative and meaningful topic sentence for my fourth essay. Furthermore, I got a feedback from the fourth essay that I submitted and it did not say that I needed to come up with a creative title. I learnt that using a creative and meaningful topic sentence would improve my writing skills

Throughout my high school career, I've learned a few things about myself and how I write formal and informal literature. one of the things I've learned was that, I write better papers when I have a strict guideline on how the paper should be formatted. A big issue I face when writing a paper without guidelines is, when I begin to type the essay, i have no structure to build off of. Being that structure is very important to me, another element that I must account for before starting an assignment is an outline. The outline assures me that I will not experience writers block while i’m in the stages of crafting my first draft. when it comes to different forms of writing, one particularly area I struggle in is analysis essays. the reason

In writing an essay I also struggle with incorporating clear topic sentences and connecting my paragraphs ideas back to my thesis statement. This struggle is based on last years’ experience with writing essays. This struggle can be improved upon by concentrating on what exactly my thesis is stating and building my sentences to relate and explain the thesis further. Improving on this will allow my writing ability to increase and help me become a more successful writer.