Writing and Thinking

    The thinking process is important to writing, and yes, it’s also true that writing can help one thinks more clearly. As writing process goes on, writers are able to develop more and more ideas. Putting words down on paper or on a computer can help a writer better know what he or she thinks or feels because along the way they write, they would have a clearer picture of what to write. Also, their emotions can be brought out easily as words are flowing out of their minds.

   One example of how writing helps one understand one’s own thoughts and emotions you come up with is writing journals. The first time we start to write journal, we would only describe the specific event. But after writing for many times, we would also write down how we feel about things that happened. Another example is when writing books. For first few chapters, sometimes writers aren’t sure what to write about yet, so these chapters are more general. However, when readers get to chapters at the back, they can finally understand what the story is talking about because writers are able to express the information more clearly since authors have a better idea of what to write and find a way to show their emotions.

Presence of Mind

    To me, this “perfect presence of mind” means the mind is in a peaceful, calm, undisturbed state. When I’m playing basketball games, I think my mind is in the situation of perfect presence. While on the court, I only think about one thing, and that thing is to score as many points as possible. The tempo on the field is fast, so if I’m not focused, then the opponent might get in 10 points of more. Also, basketball is about cooperation between teammates, so we can’t lose easy points such as miss catching a ball. Everyone on the court must not be distracted, so we can pay attention to the ball, thus gaining as many points as possible.

    For writing a compare and contrast essay, this presence of mind is particularly important because we have to think of the similarities and differences between two subjects carefully, unhurried. We sit down in front of the desk, think thoroughly, and write down about the two things that are being compared and contrasted with. At first we might have lots of ideas, but many of them might be eliminated because they are either insignificant or biased. As for result, when our essays are out, there would be less of our own opinions because we have edited and revised our paper.

Revising and Editing

    After finish writing an essay, we can’t just send it out to teachers or colleges without using techniques of revising and editing. Thus, this explains why there are so many drafts needed to be done and so much time the essay process takes. By revising, we are changing the larger part of the whole essay, which is our development of idea. It’s essential for us to check whether our ideas developed as the way we want, and whether we are sending the message we’re trying to tell correctly. Admission office must go over thousands of applicants each day, so it’s impossible for staff to look at each individual’s essay carefully. As for result, an outstanding essay has to show its significance right away, letting colleges feel that your essay is excellent, and they have to accept you.

   Editing is changing smaller parts of the essay, which is fluency of sentence, grammar. By looking at the essay line by line and word by word, we’ll be able to use the most concise sentence to tell the same message eventually. After reading some sentences for several times, there will be changes made. As for result, this makes the whole essay not only sounds better, but also look more complete. Although the process of revising and editing is lengthy, it’s also graceful because essays we wrote are going into a more wonderful stage.

Your Audience

   Writers write books, but how can they know whether their books are good or not? One solution is through us, the readers, giving feedback to authors in order to let them improve their writing or applaud their hard work. Writers are like performers: they need the audience to inspire them so they can continue on their path of writing career. A writer can get feedback from his or her audience through ways such as readers commenting on the blog. Also, if the writer is willing to give his or her email address or telephone number to the public, readers can send emails, call the writer, or even have face to face discussion. In addition, the audience can send letters to author’s living place. Other than direct contact with the writer, there is indirect one. If the writer finds out that the sale of his or her books start to drop, then this shows that the author fails to get the appetite of the readers.

  However, there’s solution for writers to improve their writing. Nowadays, the fast speed of Internet allows readers and writers to have closer relationship and to communicate in a more effective and convenient way compared to the past. By going over the feedback and understanding what the general public want to read, the writer can again produce books that the audience would like.

Before Writing...

      Before we start to write essays, we have to go through an important process first, which is developing our thoughts. During the time of brainstorming, we quickly jot down ideas that we’re going to include in our essays. It’s important to think because after we got through this process, which is the most complicated one, the rest of the work can be done quickly. The writing part doesn’t really take lots of time. Rather, it is actually the thinking part that needs the most time because the ideas have to go through several revisions. The revision process is essential for us to make sure whether our ideas fit the essay topic perfectly.

    During the time of writing application essays, our ideas need to go through many stages. Sometimes, we    might think of our ideas are great, but they get rejected quickly by teachers. Teachers are more capable than us to spot what do the essays truly want, what do they require applicants to include. I’m sure that nobody wants to write irrelevant essays because we care about getting into our dreamed colleges in the future. After our ideas are set, then it’s time for us to organize them and turning them into essays.

What is “News” to You?

There are many kinds of media in our societies: newspaper, magazine, radio, digital, and each media focus on different kinds of news. News about public welfare, such as schools, government infrastructures, education, children rights, economy, are emphasized more in print news sources rather than in digital. To the television companies, newsworthy news are those shocking ones: natural disasters, wars, accidents. In order to earn money, the companies have to report news that is appealing to people, that can feed people right into their stomach.  

When I look for news, I tend to seek out terrorist and celebrity ones because they can grab my attention. Recently, I’ve learned a lot about the Taliban in Afghanistan in the International Relations class. After knowing what have they done to their country and to the United States, I found out that I have a strong interest in trying to help the Afghans to restore their lives. Thus, I follow the news about the terrorist organization more often than I used to.

        In addition, I like to watch news about celebrities because I’m pretty interested in gossips. Also, the news are entertaining rather than serious, so reading it is a way for me to relax after whole day of hard work, and to recap from exhaustion.

Which News Source Do You Prefer?

   Nowadays, it is convenient for us to get news because there are so many sources. Internet, magazines, printed newspaper, media, radio, etc, are places where we can get information that happened around us or even in distant countries. My favorite way of getting news is through media, the television.

Advantages of this source are that I can just sit there watching news, and I like the sound. If I were to read news from the Internet or the newspaper, my hands couldn’t take a rest because I had to click the mouse or turn a page. When reporters use descriptive language to describe a new event, I prefer to see the vivid image and hear sound right away. Thus, it’s quite an important element that TV provides sound.

However, there are disadvantages to this news source. Whenever I turn on the TV, the news is always about violence and natural disasters rather than schools, government policies, charity groups. No matter which channel I switch to, the news are always about the same materials. If I read newspapers or Internet, I could skip things and choose article that I’m more interested in to read.

   The main reason that I prefer TV over others is mainly I’m a TV person, and I want to let my hands relax while reading news.

Comparison

   As senior year started, I brought laptop to school more often. At first this didn’t cause any problem, but my mom began to feel inconvenient over time. I didn’t have my own computer, so the one I brought to school was also the one that my family used. I stayed at school almost every day, and when I got home it was already 10:30pm. For the whole day, my mom couldn’t do her work or chat with my brothers because the lacking of the computer. Thus, she decided to let me buy my own notebook.

   The laptop that I’m using now was purchased just few weeks ago, when my brother came back to Taiwan for vacation. Because I didn’t really know how to buy a “good” computer and I was afraid that I might be deceived, so my brother helped me to choose which one I should buy. He had went online to research and sorted out the top 3 recommended computers. We went to NOVA to buy computers because there were various computer stores. I was choosing between two laptops, one was Toshiba, and the other one was ASUS.

   My brother then asked the sales what was the difference between two types of computers, and he helped me to decide which one was the most suitable for me. After comparing the two, he found out that the ASUS one was better than that of the Toshiba in means of functions. Thus, I bought the ASUS computer, and I loved it very much.

Longer or Shorter?

   Taking more time to write something shorter may at first seems weird, not making sense, and impossible to happen. However, when we think about this more carefully, we could find out that it’s harder to write concisely than having long essays.

The process of writing application essays is long because our essays have to go through many stages of revisions. When we finish our first draft, we might exceed the word count that universities want. At this time, we have to try to eliminate extra words that just function to describe things or we need to put several sentences together in just a few words. The reason why the essay process is always so lengthy is revision. In addition, the most difficult part for revising our essays is that how can we deliver the same message without confusing readers in the most concise way.

There are other things besides writing that this quote could be applied to. In the field of media, take movies as example. Average length of a movie is about 2 hours, but some films might be over the time. I think it’s okay for the audience to sit in movie theater for such a long time as long as the movie is enjoyable and good. However, many films failed to achieve this. Long films are always dull and boring, so it’s better for movie producers to cut down the length of the movies.

Media Comparison

Media includes movies, TV, books, newspapers, magazines, radio, and the Web. Media is powerful in providing us information about sports, world news, fashion, entertainments, music. Everything we see, we hear, we perceive about events that happen around the world is due to media’s strength. Because of media, we can constantly update about our information of places even far away from us. Moreover, our life has more fun when media is involved.

  However, media has some weaknesses. No matter in what countries, the news, the magazines tend to report more about negative stuffs, such as disasters, murder, gossip. The reason why media doesn’t prefer more positive topics is the public are lacking interest on charity, volunteering work. In order to boost the sale and to make more money, the media has to satisfy what the majority want.

In America, the media has created an atmosphere of fear throughout the country because the movies, the television shows, and the news are always about violence. Thus, the crime rate is so high in America. Every day when the public turn on the TV, they only see bad stuff.

  For coverage of an important event, I think newspapers seem most dependable to me. I believe that physical copies are always more formal than online ones, so it’s appropriate to have printed newspapers while reporting important event.

Telling Your Story

Presenting to the public always makes me nervous. Moreover, presenting own work is really embarrassing. Even though we just need to tell the stories to our classmates, who we are familiar with, I am still anxious and worried. I am afraid that while I’m presenting, I couldn’t deliver my story clearly. My voice might shake or my volume is too small to hear what I’m talking about. In addition, I don’t want to bore people by speaking in a flat tone. There are climaxes appeared in my story, and I don’t want to pass those parts with a normal tone. However, speaking in a dramatic way needs courage of not feeling ashamed in front of the whole class. This is what I have to work on before presenting my story.

I hope that I can draw others attention successfully and let them really enjoy my story. Also, I hope they are curious all the way through and are desperate to know what’s happening next. I don’t want my classmates playing games, doing their own work, or chatting during my presentation because this is not only disrespectful, but also is weakening my self-confidence.

I am afraid of telling my story to others because I don’t think it is really eye-catching or attractive. Causing confusion is the last thing I want. So, I should practice on some story-telling skill, and tell it in a concise yet descriptive way.

What I Like About This Class

  About the College Research Essay Writing class, there are still things that I like. The part that I like the most is having period when we can do our own work. Mr. McCool would teach for the first 30 to 40 minutes instead of the whole class. Time is important, especially for me at this stage, the most crucial and busiest point of high school life. I not only have to handle school work, but also things about college application. I only get to sleep for 3 to 4 hours every day since I become a senior. What’s even worse is that I’m not able to finish all my homework on time even though I stay up late at night. Thus, claiming more of the class time and be able to turn in all my assignments is essential for me to keep up my grade in senior year. In addition, universities in Canada take into great account of score in the 1^st semester of senior year. I definitely can’t let bad grades ruin my future, so I need to learn to use and manage time I have wisely and perform well in every class.

   Another thing I like about this class is the view. Because there are windows in the class, so I can look outside and enjoy the view whenever I feel tired or my eyes are sore.

What I Don’t Like About This Class

    College research essay writing class isn’t an interesting and fun one. What we do for class routine schedules: roots quiz and Mr. McCool’s lecture. I don’t like about the lecture is that I think it is too boring. Mr. McCool should provide more fun visual materials, so that we wouldn’t fall asleep easily. Because the class period is right after lunch, so students tend to feel tired easier than in other time. Thus, the teacher should teach lessons through more interactive methods or tell more jokes to wake students up. Moreover, Mr. McCool should spend some time to discuss problems that we have in grammar workbook. Although we have learned everything before, we forget after time. Also, I don’t really think it’s necessary to deduct points when we have 1 inch rather than 1.5 inch while having writing assignments. We follow the instructions, and why do we have to have such serious punishments. Except these problems, I think this class is pretty good. Seniors are busy, so time seems more valuable to us than at other stages of our lives. Because we can have free period to do our own work while we can still learn something, this class is actually pretty well.

My Main Character

  My main characters are Edward and Elizabeth. Edward is merely a regular high school student studying at Dunkun High School. He isn’t the popular kind of person at school. Instead, he is beaten up by other high school boys almost every day. Moreover, he is always teased by mean girls. The reason he becomes the target of being picked on might be his outfit. He dresses in an unusual way that makes him look like a weirdo. He likes to mix different colors of clothes and makes himself look extremely colorful. However, it’s too uncomfortable for other people’s eyes to see the image. This is why people want to bully Edward. In addition, he wouldn’t fight back no matter how bad he is treated. He is afraid that he might get beaten harsher, so he just seals his mouth for the treatment he gets at school.

Another major character is Elizabeth, the dancing queen of the Dunkun High School. Elizabeth is so beautiful that over half of the boys at school are crazy for her. She has milky white skin, dark hair, and a slender body. School to her is like a stage. Every day, she wears different kinds of fashion clothes. Sometimes, she dresses up like a princess. Other times, she dresses up like a super star. No matter how she dresses up, she could always catch people’s eyesight. Not only she is pretty, but also she has great personality. She is friendly and kind, and everyone wants to be friends with her. She wouldn’t only make friends with popular people. Instead, she tries to have as many friends from different social groups as possible.

Where Am I?

The setting of my story is mainly at the Black Forest. The Black Forest got its name because no light can be seen, not even the dimmest one. Even the glaring sunlight is always blocked by the thick trees growing at the region. The trees are enormous that they can almost reach the sky. Moreover, these trees have huge leaves, which can be used for people’s roofs. Whether the sun comes out or not, the region is never bright for 24 hours the whole day, the whole week, the whole year, forever. The forest is just like an enlarged playground or backyard especially set for the giants.

   Inside the Black Forest lives various species, including animals, human, elves, vampires, anything one can imagine. Although there are so many species, they are organized. Each divides into groups among themselves. The most dangerous species, the Tyra Wolves, acts as leaders for all other kinds. The wolf pack gets the food sources by hiding behind the dense trees and attacking victims suddenly. With their quick movement faster than wind and the strategy of using trees as camouflage, the wolves never allow their stomach have chances to be starving. Because of their strength undefeated by other groups, it is suitable for the Tyra Wolves to be the leader.   

My Mini-Saga

     Edward, a junior, decided to ask the girl he liked out. They date at the Black Forest and enjoyed everything. When the moon was full, Elizabeth suddenly bit Edward on his neck, and wolf pack attacked him unexpectedly. Since then, Edward mutated into a wolf-vampire, killing everyone without any tolerance.

The Worlds We Know and Don’t Know

    Fiction are made up stories, which can’t happen in real life. Some plots in the fiction are elements or worlds that we are familiar with, and some are of author’s imagination or worlds that we don’t know. Take one of the world’s best selling books, Harry Potter, as an example. Two worlds are being presented in this book, which are that of the common people and the magicians’. I believe everyone knows well about the world of the common people. However, nobody knows what’s going on in the magicians’ world. We are aware of the fact that magic can’t exist in the real world. However, fiction stories allow authors to put as much creativity and imagination as they can. After reading Harry Potter, my curious mind was filled with the author’s extraordinary talent of coming up with such fancy ideas. In the magician world, I found out there were lots of interesting and fun stuffs around. I’m sure that life would never be boring if I had magic power because I could do anything I want by then. I really hope that I can live in a world where there exists magic power. However, this is never going to be possible. In order to satisfy my thought and imagination, reading fiction would be a good solution.

What I learned from Creating an Oral History

For the creating an oral history project, my group had three people: me, Julie

Tsai, and Victoria Chiu. We used paper-scissor-stone to decide the order of interviewing. My interviewee was Julie Tsai. Interviewing and presenting her taught me that she had been through severe hardships during her life in America. When I met her, she was a humorous and funny person. It was hard for me to imagine that she was bullied by her classmates and ignored by her tutors while she was studying 6^th grade in the States. After hearing her story, I learned that I shouldn’t be defeated when I face difficult situations. Instead, I should overcome the circumstances, and there was a chance to become an optimistic person.

The most difficult aspect of doing this project was to come up with questions. I had to ask questions that could let Julie bring out her interesting personal anecdotes, and this took me a while to think. Comparing to Victoria’s questions, mine were too broad and lack of meaning. Also, answering questions was pretty hard. When Victoria asked me “How would you describe yourself?” I didn’t know the answer because I never thought of this kind of question before. However, Victoria’s questions helped me to discover myself when thinking how to answer. The easiest aspect of doing this project is to listen to interviewee’s story. I only had to take some notes and enjoyed her talk, which was a relaxing job to do. Next time, I will think more thoroughly for questions I’m going to ask when I do a similar project.

What I learned from writing a reflective essay

I chose to write about the first friend I made in Pacific American School. Writing about her taught me that my personality had changed and becoming friends with her was such a nice thing. In general, I learned about the importance of cooperation and I discovered I am actually a funny person who has the ability to make everyone around me happy. Also, I learned that one can gain lots of benefits from a positive relationship in which one’s true friend really tries to help you.

    Compared to other essay I have written, the most difficult aspect of writing this essay was to come up with a subject. We meet lots of people every day, and all of them might have some effects on us. However, we have to write about the person who has the most significant influence on us. The thinking process was hard and time consuming, but it was the most important part. After the outline was ready, I think the writing part became easier. The writing only had to follow structure of the outline and be careful about grammatical errors. When I write a reflective essay next time, I will go more in depth for my thinking process. So, I can find out who is the one helps to shape my characteristics.

Know Then Thyself

 I think I don’t really know myself well because when people ask me to describe myself, I can’t. I don’t know what unique personality I have that sets me apart from others. However, by expressing one’s personality is helpful for understanding own more. Finding out the difference between me and others allows me to know myself more.

    I express my individuality through my appearance. Girls at my age usually wear skirts, high heels, have make-up, and long hair. However, I am not like that. I have short hair, and I haven’t worn skirts since I was five years old. Also, I wear T-shirt and pants all the time. I wear sneakers rather than high heels because I think high heels make feet uncomfortable. In contrast, sneakers are comfortable and always look good with any kind of clothes. My outfit represents my only style.

   I am satisfied and happy with my style at the present time. When I stand in a crowd of high school girls, I wouldn’t be hidden. My physical appearance makes me stand out and people can spot me quickly. In the past, I think there is no difference between me and others. However, it feels good that I find my style which fits me well now.

How a Story is Told

    How a story is told is important because nobody makes the same interpretations. Although the plot remains the same, everyone has different feelings toward it. Looking at the story from different perspectives results into various conclusions being drawn by each person. If “Three Little Pigs”, one of the most famous tales around the world, is told by different people, our impressions for the pigs might change. While we translate the tale in our own way, we create a personal style that is unique. Also, if story teller’s tone changes during the story, even boring parts might seem interesting. However, if the tone is flat all the way through the book, climaxes not only become dull, but also are ruined.

   A summary of a story is insufficient in conveying the emotional weight of the tale because summary is too broad. Summary only collects brief parts from each chapter. Specific details from every chapter wouldn’t be included, thus changes the way how audience understands the story. While leaving out details, we might miss parts of why certain actions are done, why the characters’ emotions changed. With these questions in mind, and not fully understanding what’s going on, it is hard for the audience to enjoy the reading completely.

Think as a Reader/Writer

The writer, Alice Walker, is surprised at the modesty of her mother’s desires. Her mother has moved from the dream house to a small, tight apartment. Her mother has hardly any thirst for a cold or a hunger for a piece of fried chicken or fish. Moreover, the mother’s possessions seem to become less every time the author visits her.

Whenever I see ketchup, I would remember my friend who is crazy for it. This friend who I met in the basketball team once told everyone that she really loves ketchup. She could even eat merely ketchup without having any French fries. That was the first time I’ve ever seen the situation. Since then, I always relate ketchup with this cool friend who is fervor for ketchup.

This author’s way of expressing herself is in an expressive style, which conveys a writer’s thoughts and feelings in her own unique voice. The voice of her writing is informal because she use colloquial or daily conversation words. In addition, her way of writing is emotional because she said that the big blue bowl that she got from her mother’s place full of whatever was the most tasty thing on earth. The author learned from her mother of letting go of possessions easily, without emphasis or regret. And, her mother gave Alice a symbol of what she self represented in the writer’s life.

Writing as self-discovery

  Writing and life are alike because while we are coming up with ideas for what to write about, we refresh our memories of events that happened in our lives. Before developing an essay, we always make an outline listing some general ideas. At the same time as this process proceeds, we are going through a voyage of discovery. We not only find good stories in our lives that we can write about, but also discover more things out of ourselves. I remembered when I wrote about the “significance essay” for college application, I didn’t come up with any ideas at first. I decided to sit in front of my desk and rethink carefully for every event that happened before. After the journey of discovering, I found good stories that were touching. At last, I used one of these stories and wrote an essay. To me, writing definitely serves as a vehicle of self-discovery.

Considering Reflections

   As we grow up, we are constantly influenced by other people or things. Sometimes, others influence on us can be so small that it’s hard to notice we’ve changed. People often talk or think about the effects that they have on others or affected by others because these effects shape what we’ve become. Every aspect in our lives is influenced by these effects.
   I remembered the year when I went to Canada to visit my mom’s friend. An event happened which affected me deeply since then. My mom’s friend had a small dog, and she never went to school because she was too old. I think the dog was cute, so I touched her softly. While I stretched out my hand, she suddenly bit my thumb. I was shocked for few seconds, then I cried out loudly because it hurt badly. I could clearly see the bitten trace and blood flooding out on my thumb. Although my thumb had recovered, but the painful wound stays in my memory forever. Now, whenever I see dogs would recall my miserable memory of bitten by the dog which looked adorable.