"The Effects of Returning to School"
- 1. Doe 1 The writer uses correct Jane Doe MLA formatting for the header and title. Professor S Lindquist English 101 Also, the title gives the reader a concrete idea } 26 January 2010 of the essay’s topic. The Effects of Returning to School My family was ruled by a very old-fashioned man, my father. These first two There were five kids and a variety of old-maid aunts who lived in our sentences act as a “hook,” an engaging 100-year-old, two-story farmhouse, so I can understand his desire to get opening that grabs the us off on our own as soon as possible. There was a difference between reader and “hooks” them into reading on. my brothers’ purpose for leaving home and we girls’, however. The boys were to enter the military, be honorably discharged and then get a union job so that they could support a family, or they were to borrow the money to put themselves through college and enter a profession so they could The introductory support a family. We girls were supposed to get ourselves a husband and paragraph provides the context and background be full time mommies and housewives. To that end, we learned how to for the cause and effect do housework and to become good cooks at an early age. We also learned analysis that follows. This lead-in technique that if we did these things well, a good man would take care of us. is sometimes called a “funnel” introduction Unfortunately, we weren’t given the knowledge to choose good hus- because it moves from bands, and both my sister and I ended up as single-moms with no way to broad to specific. support ourselves or our kids. My sister took on menial jobs as a house- keeper for a variety of families and then was struck with MS, not able to do physical work anymore. I chose to continue my education and so, at the age of 33, I became a college freshman with two kids and three dead end jobs. Even though returning to school was difficult in many ways, The introduction concludes with a clear there were positive effects to my self-esteem, my parenting skills, and thesis that fulfills the requirement for a cause my time management. and effect essay--that returning to school resulted in positive effects to the writer’s life.
- 2. A helpful transitional phrase alerts the reader to the writer’s first main Doe 2 point. Doe 3 First of all , my self-esteem was pretty low because I had been weekends, I’d show them how to do these household tasks properly and The writer employs the in a really abusive marriage for more years than I should have. I had same terms and phrases we’d do them together. Now, during the week, they had the confidence found in the thesis. come to believe that I was unlikeable and only had friends because they to fend for themselves at dinner time and to sort laundry so that there had liked my husband. In my first semester in college, I discovered a lot were no more pink undershirts. Now that I was gone so much I learned of women who were in the same predicament as I. I willingly listened to to prioritize the quality of the housework. Was it important to be able to their worries and shared my own and soon found that I had a whole lot eat off the floor or was it good enough to be able to walk across the floor of new friends who were, like me, beginning life anew. I had come to without our shoes sticking to it? Did the whole shirt need to be ironed or believe that I was ugly because my ex told me that I was. I had a just the part that the public would see? And most importantly, my kids moment of epiphany one day, however, when I bumped into an old friend saw me working toward an important, long term goal; they saw that of our family who said that he barely recognized me! It’s true: I had education was something for which no one got too old. They learned been extremely gaunt and had put on 15 pounds since my divorce; I had that a bad test or a tough teacher wasn’t an excuse to quit . My children A transitional word and formerly rarely smiled because I was usually on the defense, but I didn’t learned that knowing how to take care of themselves was powerful, to topic sentence for the This sentence is an third and final effect have to worry about flying fists or drunken rages in the classroom, so I effective conclusion to be tenacious in the face of adversity, that life was something that was that was caused by the paragraph because it this writer’s return to found things to smile about. I had come to believe that I was not very planned and managed—not something that just happened. school. does two things: wraps smart, but I was giddy with happiness when I received my first up the main idea of the Lastly, returning to school increased my ability to manage my paragraph and then college essay with comments from my professor that said: “You are a introduces the upcoming time. I had formerly had all day to do the housework and cook the meals one. very talented writer! I really enjoyed your essay.” The return to school and get a full night’s sleep. In school, I quickly found out that my Each main body para- wasn’t just good for me; it was also good for my kids. sleeping time was limited and that the information I was trying to cram graph covers a specific effect that a return to Before I returned to school, I think that I’d been as good a mom into my brain was growing. How to manage learning all of this new Again, the writer signals school caused. In this as I could but my parenting skills took on a different emphasis when the move to the second information and sift out what was important for my future and what paragraph, the effect is main effect by using the improved time I was in the class room rather than the laundry room. To begin with, wording from the wasn’t? Once I knew my major would be English, I gave those classes management. introduction and thesis. my kids had their weekly chores, but they had little meaning to them more study time. The required math and science classes were, for me, If you review the three or to me. In other words, if they didn’t do them, I did. It didn’t really short term information only. I quickly learned to make flashcards for body paragraphs, you’ll notice that each con- matter. Once I was in school all day and at a job every night, my kids had science and Spanish class and quizzed myself over the vocabulary and tains points of develop- ment like these. These to learn how to cook, do laundry, and problem-solve as issues arose. On the concepts. I used the flashcards while I stood in the grocery line and at are important because they are examples of the effect, allowing the reader to “see” how retuning to school changed the writer.
- 3. Since the writer references an outside source, she includes a Doe 4 Doe 5 Works Cited page with the full MLA citation. work during breaks. When I or the kids had a doctor appointment, I used Works Cited This is helpful in case the wait time to read required chapters. I never went anywhere without Here is another point Graves, Ron. Adversity to Success! New York: Morrow, 2007. Print. the reader wants to view my book bag. My greatest discovery was to learn that some employers of development for the the exact source the main idea of time writer used. encouraged study during slow times at work, and I quickly shifted to management. those employers. But my most important lesson about studying was this: one hour of study when one first wakes up is worth three hours of study after dinner! I tested this theory again and again and found that getting up an hour before the kids did and using that time to drink my coffee and study was an excellent use of my hour. I remembered the information longer and could remember more of it. Although we don’t plan for the bad things that happen in our lives, we must count on the fact that bad things happen to everyone. } Very often, depending on our reaction to those bad things, we can turn them around so that they become our best growth experiences. My story Notice how this writer’s really isn’t all that special. Significant challenges have not deterred a lot concluding paragraph of people. Ron Graves’ book, Adversity to Success!, recounts places her individual story within a larger historical figures like Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln, group of people. personalities from the world of entertainment like Red Skelton, Johnny The writer returns to Cash and Paul Newman and athletes like Jim Abbott and Wilma Rudolph discussing her personal experience generally among others, who overcame losses, disadvantaged backgrounds, age and even incorporates an outside source to put limitations, physical disabilities, and personal tragedy to make a positive her story in context. impact on the world. For me, returning to school was very frightening and I didn’t know if I would successfully complete my degree; however, such positive effects came from my experience that I continued on to graduate school and then post graduate school.