Outline.

Intro: I'm walking down an aisle to get to a stage, and as I do

I get "flashbacks" which illustrate my feelings toward writing, 

reading and medicine.

Standing Up: Internal monologue focusing on how at the end of 

a major part of your life you reflect on the things you've gained

and the things you've lost.

 -Transition to: Seventh Grade: my teacher gives me detention for

not paying attention in class. During the detention she gives me

the first book I actually had to read about adventure and taking

those first few steps to greatness

 

- I'm walking down the aisle thinking about words I might need

to say and how I should phrase them...with the realization of what

I need to say when I get up there

 

 - Flash to 9th grade writing for the school newspaper. Highlighting

myself enjoying writing will illustrate my interest in writing.

 - Flash to 11th grade when my girlfriend is in the hospital where

I volunteer. I 

write her a small song and go to visit her. As I'm waiting a doctor

runs by with people surrounding a stab wound victim. As I watch, 

I walk toward the scene, a pair of hands grab my shouilder.

- I'm being patted on the back as I reach the stage and walk up to the podium

and I have my final Flashback

- I'm lying in a hospital bed afraid that I'm going to die, with my stomach in 

pain. The doctors wheel me in for surgery as my appendix has burst and I'm slowly

dying. I want to take the knife and do it myself and make the pain go away, but I'm

too weak. As I fade out to unconciousness...

- I open my eyes. I tell the audience in front of me my name and the college I attend.

I share my career goals and cite my inspirations, my hopes and also my fears. I 

encourage them to do what they need to do to have a happy life and remember that its the 

small things in life that matter. The End of the Speech will be the end of the paper.

top ten criteria for a persuasive essay

1- A logically progressive argument.

2- Citation of statistics relevant to the argument.

3- Effective use of quotations.

4- Inclusion of author's own personal ideas.

5- Examples which further illustrate the argument.

6- A contradiction free argument.

7- Strategic distmantling of the opposition's argument.

8- Use of proper terminology related to the topic.

9- Avoiding restating the same reasons/ideas over and over.

10- A powerful conclusion

Change the BC Food Service

One of my biggest complaints about Boston College is the Food Service. There are numerous changes which could be made to make the Food Service better which would result in a popular motion of support from the student body. The main issues are the cost of the food, the quality of the food and the hours of operation.

We pay 54K a year to come to school here, a good portion of which is dedicated to room and board (and a meal plan). We are alotted roughly 20 dollars a day for the entire semester based on the "average" college student. Three meals a date but only totaling 20 at the end of the day? Wow, I was unaware that the average college student is an anorexic wreck of a human being (funny for a sports school). Must be really cheap food then! Wrong. The food prices here are worse than an upscale restraunt. A poptart which costs a dollar in a normal vending machine is 1.50 here. Cookies? 6.50. A Sub with a bag of chips? 13.99 to a normal $5. These jacked up prices make it harder for students to stay within their meal plan forcing them to add more money to their account while giving BC a hefty profit. And does the cost match the quality?

As a Newtonite, I have the "honor" of eating at Stuart Dining hall, which is supposedly the best dining hall in BC (I honestly prefer Lower's Corcoran Commons). The quality of the food is subpar for an institution which claims to offer only the best. Their baked goods are stale and flaky. What cookies aren't sold are ground up and used as toppings for Fro-yo in the dining halls. The "Quality" dinners are priced at 15 dollars and they are dry or undercooked. As a result I go to eat at the far less nutrituous late night, so that I can have some grilled food that isn't health but is definately cheaper. Occationally, the food itself is off and hasn't been changed in time to save the poor soul who tries to eat it. Adding this to the fact that Newton's dining hall is only open until 12 (as opposed to Main Campus dining Halls open until 2), leads to a very dissatisfying experience.

Several changes need to be made in order to solve this problem. The first is for BC to either lower prices or increase the amount of money allotted for meals without increasing tuition costs. Especially given the fact that the school is being run like a business, there needs to be an effort to make it more affordable for the students. By lowering the prices, students will have an easier time budgeting their money without worrying about starving. Lowering the prices of the healthy dinners and keeping the price of late night reasonable would result in less freshmen students suffering from the freshman 15 (30 in some cases...). Extending the operating hours of all dining halls would also help students with their late night cravings and reduce any losses the university would experience for reducing their outrageous prices. While these are just suggestions, the student body would applaud these measures because they are practical, rational suggestions with the express purpose of helping out the students (which is what a university should do.)

Pro Life Information

When accidental pregnancies occur, there are many options available. However, the only one which should not be considered is abortion. Abortion is the murder of an unborn fetus which prevents the irresponsible parent from having to live up to their responsiblities. Legalized under Roe v. Wade, it granted women their right to privacy but served to legalize a procedure which was based on underdeveloped scientific techniques. As members of a Catholic community, we should all support the idea that a life begins at conception (intentional or otherwise), an idea which has recently been bolstered by scientific developments. In 8 weeks a fetus's brain and nerve system is full operational. To have an abortion is to dismember the fetus's head and suck out the body, an act which the fetus feels due to the presence of nerves.  Not only is abortion morally wrong, but it is a risk to the mother who undergoes the operation. In today's society there are numerous ways to deal with unwanted pregnancies which do not involve killing the baby. Instead of killing the child, the mother could carry the child to term and put the child up for adoption. Also, carrying the child to term could result in the mother changing her mind about the baby and end up raising the baby. While perfectly legal, that doesn't mean that it is right for people to get abortions to solve their problems. People argue that abortions are necassary in cases of rape or incest, but statistics have proven that these reasons account for only 5% of recorded abortions. The overwhelming opinion is that an abortion is had because it isn't convenient for the mother. We don't allow murder in general so why should we allow abortions just because its not convenient? If a person went up and killed someone because they were an" inconvinience" we would arrest that person and send him to jail. The same should apply with abortion. 

In Defense of Wikipedia

The persuasive essay on Wikipedia found in Fresh Ink is meant address the debate that has been raging over whether or not Wikipedia is a credible source due to its open edit nature. The author starts by introducing the topic and then diving into the main criticism. While many people believe that since Wikipedia can be editted by anyone, the author argues that the arguement is not as strong as most teachers and professors would have us believe. The author refers to the reason that wikipedia is an open edit encyclopedia and then addresses the main complaints against it. He highlights a severe instance of fictional information on Wikipedia in one paragraph in order to illustrate the arguement of one side, but then switches and presents the counter arguement by the end of the paragraph.

This essay had me from the word go. Wikipedia is a site I go on once a day, if not more. Whenever I have to do preliminary research for a paper, that is where I go first. However, I could not clearly determine the side the author favored. While he focused on the flaws of the website, he also gave evidence throughout the essay which undermined the flaws. By the end of the essay it became clear that the student was pro-wikipedia, but that initial confusion lingered throughout much of the essay. It could have benefited from a stronger introductory paragraph and changing of sentence structure in several parts. However, the jumbling all came together at the conclusion which satisfied me as the reader and was very clear cut.

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The Decline of Language...

According to George Orwell the English language is on the decline. Orwell claims that our "foolish" thoughts are making the English language "sloven and innaccurate". However, Orwell also points out in his intro that the process is reversible if steps are taken to prevent the spreading of damage. He presents 5 examples of poor English and then points out what is wrong with them in the rest of his essay. He focuses on the their flaws. He points out that by using pointless words we construct meaningless statements which have no clear objective and which only serve to confuse the hell out of everyone. He targets metaphors, cliches and ambiguity in writing and decimates them as rubbish which tarnishes English language for future generations. Connotation and Denotation are heavily referenced in regards to political works. Orwell makes it clear that mainly the delivery of catchphrases to snare the public's attention in order to further the cause. Without using originality we become weaker and so we need to find new, proper methods to bring this to the forefront of English writing. Slowly but surely attention to the work we produce will lead to wide spread changes to the English language and writing. Simply creating a message and putting it out helps make things simple for everyone. Overall I agreed with Orwell message bout found that his guidelines were rather restricting for a writer such as myself . When I write I try to use cliches to an extent in order to give off the sense of being witty but never to further my arguements. However, as a reader I feel that his words could not be truer since convoluted writing is a hassle to try and disect.