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.