How to Write a Book Report

How to Write a Book Report How to Write a Book Report School reports demonstrate one’s ability to present information in a clear, definitive and concise way. You, perhaps, think that such kind of essays are quite pointless and do not add anything to your knowledge or skills. This is not true: in our era of internet technologies we are becoming very careless about presenting a piece of information adequately and without distortions. Instead of describing the plot of a movie, for instance, we prefer expressing our personal opinion on it. The same is with books: our descriptions of the books we have read render only a small part of the books’ content. Thus, it happens that when a school student hears the phrase â€Å"book report†, he/she associates it with writing personal opinion or description of a very interesting situation from the book, and that’s all. However, writing a book report indicates good skills to understand the essence of a book and its message, and to present them properly and adequately. How to write a book report – essential tips Understand your task A task has its goal and context. You cannot accomplish it without realizing what is required from you. In such sense, a short conversation with your teacher is never needless. Ask him/her what you should do, in formal (regarding the structure and length of the essay) and substantial (regarding its contents) sense. Don’t be shy and talk freely with your teacher. Prepare yourself You should do this preparation by reading not only the particular book, but also some critical analyses on it. Criticism is very important when you are not familiar with the author’s biography, style, personal beliefs and interests, and so forth. However, you should not go too far in reading secondary literature, as it would enforce the critics’ opinions on your mind. Another flaw of students is to read secondary literature instead of the book in question. This is reasonable, if we take it for granted that it is difficult to read a 500-page book. But then, what is the sense to write a book report at all? You can rather write a report on the secondary literature available. Grasp the message Every work of art has to tell something to its audience. There is no such thing like art without meaning (even contemporary art has a message for us). Different writers have various ways for telling the message; one way is to manifest it through characters’ actions and interactions; second way is through the narrator (who could explain what is happening and why); third way is through writing an afterword. This, let’s say it again, depends on the personal style of every author. Messages are usually very abstract. They concern social (alienation), economical (poverty), political issues (war), or explore existential topics (the meaning of life, love, friendship, loneliness). There may be a series of â€Å"small† messages, and one â€Å"big† message which serves as a basis for the whole book. Brevity is the soul of wit Do not describe too much. Your task is to write a report. Traditionally, school reports are a few pages long. The key is the proper structure of the essay, and particularly, the correlation between its parts. We recommend you the following: 1. Introduction: three or four sentences regarding the topic will do. 2. Main part: information about the author: one short paragraph; plot description: two or three paragraphs. It should not exceed one-fourth of the whole text of the report; characters: take two or three characters as points of departure. Tell about their interactions this may take up to four paragraphs; message: try to connect it logically with the previous point. The length of this part may take several paragraphs (again not more than one-fourth of the report), including references to some critical analyses. Here you can also use short quotes from the book in order to prove that your interpretation is correct. 3. Conclusion: you can recapitulate the main topic of the book and its message. The problem how to write a book report seems to be solved when you have enough knowledge about the book and the author in question. Just be careful with your style of writing and structure of the essay. Revise it carefully and then hand it over to your teacher.

Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches

Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches By Maeve Maddox The President has invited some factions to Washington to break the lockjam. The copywriter who came up with this statement confused two common English expressions used to convey a state of of inaction: deadlock and logjam. The term deadlock refers to a stoppage brought about by the opposition of two forces, neither of which will budge. The term logjam comes from the practice of floating newly-cut trees (logs) down a river. When several logs become so crowded they can no longer move, the result is a logjam. I understand such idiomatic confusion in the speech of someone speaking off the cuff. We all come out with mixed-up speech from time to time, especially when were surprised or nervous. My examples are not from people responding to impromptu interview questions. They come from newspaper stories and the words of professional announcers or scriptwriters. I see the tendency to conflate idioms in this way as a result of limited reading. Others may disagree, seeing it instead as innovation, the deliberate altering of old expressions to avoid clichà ©. It may be the lattersome of the time. Idioms are something that have to be absorbed from immersion in the language. My own language patterns were set when English teachers corrected their students grammar every time they opened their mouths, and assigned book reports and summer reading. Back then, movie and radio scripts were written by men and women who observed not only pronoun case, but the subjunctive mood of verbs! Somewhere theres a growing disconnect between the usual sources of idiomatic language and the people who write for the media. I think that it is a problem and that the solution is close reading of the best authors. Here are some more examples: They took it in good stride. The context was a news story about a group that was dealing with disappointment. The two expressions mingled here are to take something in stride and to take something in good part. Both have the sense of dealing with something without making a fuss. if other airlines join suit and raise their fares. This is from a news story. The altered expression is to follow suit. It is an expression taken from a card game. One player leads with a heart and the next one must follow suit by putting down another heart. guess well have to button down the hatches. This was spoken by a Fox anchorman talking about a coming storm in Florida. The expression is to batten down the hatches. It refers to the act of nailing lengths of wood (battens) across trapdoors in a ships deck so they wont open during a storm. We use it in the sense of securing things before a storm, either a real storm or a metaphorical one. The present participle form is battening. Deliberately altering a familiar idiom for effect is one thing. The result can be witty and entertaining. Mixing them up out of ignorance is something to be avoided. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Program vs. ProgrammeThe Difference Between "will" and "shall"20 Ways to Laugh

Online and Face-to-Face Learning Research Paper

Online and Face-to-Face Learning - Research Paper Example Scholars have identified for decades the inadequacies of the faculty- positioned classroom, nonetheless it has become hard to break free from the pattern. Whether the schoolroom instructor uses discussions, lectures, small group activities, role-playing, or else any other method, it is conversely, the instructor overseeing the show. Within an online atmosphere, nevertheless, the instructor presently seats back. Students are encouraged to study as individual as well as they educate one another. Predominantly in the debate group mode, learners have the prospect to explicate, comment upon, share, critique, and cultivate course resources among themselves into a manner hardly seen within the face-to-face classroom. For numerous years, academics from English department have asserted that the soundest way to educate learners on ways to write out more efficiently is to let them engage in writing more frequently. Online learning has made this adage veracity. Typically, online curriculums are far above writing- exhaustive than customary courses have ever encompassed. In both face-to-face and internet-based classes, major projects are handed in a written form. However, in an internet-based course, general consultations, requests for assistance or elaboration, responses to directed queries, group tasks, majority of assignments, and numerous quizzes and tests are in a written form too. The accord among online instructors is that, the minute they want the students to submit prudently written and edited assignments, the value of most the learners' work enhances over the spell of the curriculum (Aragon & Johnson, 2009). Discussion forum is among the most thrilling features of an internet-based course. Within the traditional face-to-face classroom, the lecturer... Discussion forum is among the most thrilling features of an internet-based course. Within the traditional face-to-face classroom, the lecturer asks a query, and the similar five or six extroverted learners unavoidably each raise his or her hands. He or she offers impulsive, often un-explored responses within the restricted time fixed for discussion. Within the online situation, discussions get into a new aspect. Once a lecturer posts a query upon the asynchronous forum board, each learner in the tutorial is expected to act on, respond shrewdly, and for numerous times. Majority of online learners have specified that this could be the first instance they have â€Å"chatted up" in lesson and that most enjoy the prospect. Similarly, lecturers articulate that it is a gratification to pick up the remarkably compelling concepts of the more withdrawn participants of their sessions. Most online coaches have also witnessed that the comparative "anonymity" of internet-based discussions assists as a form of a level-playing arena for homosexuals, women, learners with physical disabilities, and participants of other possibly sidelined groups, since they can contribute in course undertakings without being maligned. Additionally, the set-up provides non-native mutterers of English additional time to envision queries and compose suitable answers.

Attraction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Attraction - Essay Example It is also possible that the other individual is repelled when it comes to the liking and disliking discussion. Speaking from a very spiritual perspective, it is up to the human beings as to how they see the basis of their life shaping up and what measures they enact in order to decide between the good and the bad, the virtue and the evil. It is also a known truth that evil seems to make home within the hearts of the human beings in a faster manner than goodness would do. (Author Unknown, 2006) This is because there is more attraction in going towards the evil and actually committing to it as compared to the good deeds that are also in abundance in this world. The difference is that good deeds make their way within our hearts in a slow but calming way. However it is also a known piece of information that virtue has its own way of reaching our hearts and just like water it chooses its own route, no matter how tough the barriers ought to be. Thus attraction is a very complex system to understand in the sheerest sense. As human beings age, they start developing feelings which they did not have in the past. Then again as they grow older, they start getting away from things they found attractive in the yesteryears. There are different comprehensions when it comes to getting aged. Age changes the different nuances of attraction and quite rightly so. With that the circumstances that take their toll on a person with the changing times and events, also shape up the manner under which his attractive intents are altered or amended. He might like a particular thing when he is a teenager but will laugh off the belief that he actually liked such a thing in the past, at a later stage. Experiences also shape up the way people perceive attraction. A grown up individual would most likely get attracted to intellect and knowledge while a teenager would go for looks and worldly possessions in a person. Therefore it would be right to deduc e that attraction is a very complex phenomenon which has more levels of understanding within it than the human mind can even think of. Getting attracted to a person of the opposite gender is just one of the aspects that come under this debate. (Sprecher, 2002) Infatuation is one form of attraction that develops in a person when he sees someone from the opposite gender. He feels that this is some form of love which has come for his own good yet this is a short term phenomenon which takes over his mind and heart completely. He starts believing in the power of love but what he forgets is the fact that this is mere infatuation at the end of the day and nothing else. Infatuation, if continued for a long period of time could change into love but there are very less chances of this happening. Usually this fades away after a certain period of time. Attraction similarly is a phenomenon which fades off after the individual exhibits certain actions and/or behaviors which are not appreciated by the party which has the attraction button activated within his own personality. (Langford, 1999) These feelings can also change with the passage of considerable time, someone else entering into this person's life or any other reason. It would be correct to stat e that attraction is indeed a very diverse subject and needs to be broken into smaller sub-segments so that the understanding is drawn out

Chronic Disease Essay Example for Free

Chronic Disease Essay Chronic disease is an illness. It can be regulated but not cured. It is in most cases a long-lasting medical condition that can have a long-term variation in the body (Prakash, Porwal, Saxena, 2012). There are many cases of chronic disease around the world but in the United States it is the foremost cause of death. Seven out of 10 deaths amid Americans every year are from chronic diseases. One disease that can be severe, depending on the stage is colon cancer. It is also known as colorectal cancer. It grows in the digestive tract, which ultimately can change into a cancerous polyp. A polyp is a benign growth on the body that sometimes becomes malignant (Prakash, Porwal, Saxena, 2012). This means it can spread throughout the body. The colon is complete with three parts, the ascending, transverse, and descending also known as the sigmoid colon. It lies within the large intestine and is directly above the rectum. The sigmoid is to help digest, process, and eliminate food. If someone were to get colon cancer it would start in the sigmoid and if it is not treated early, it can result in losing his or her colon (Prakash, Porwal, Saxena, 2012). There are quite a few risk factors with this disease; the people who have the highest risk to develop colon cancer are 50 or older, the chances increase with age. Gender also plays a big role; they say men have a higher risk than women because they tend to have more occurrences with adenomas or benign tumors in tissue glands. There are also two types of medical conditions that increase chances of acquiring colon cancer; they are ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s. Another name for them is Inflammatory Bowel Disease. They are set off by long-term inflammation. My boyfriend has ulcerative colitis and a friend has crohn’s disease, they have to get regular checkups every six weeks and an infusion. Otherwise they would be sick and probably develop colon cancer. They also get colonoscopies every so often seeing how much of a risk they have. According to Emedicinehealth (2012), â€Å"A colonoscopy is a procedure through which a physician inserts a viewing tube (endoscope) into the rectum for the purpose of inspecting the colon. During a colonoscopy, polyps can be removed, bleeding can be cauterized, and a biopsy can be performed if abnormal areas of the colon are seen† (para.27). To do this procedure they, use an endoscope. It is a medical tool made up of a long tube inserted into the body. It may sound scary to have done or painful, but it could save a life. Some ways to decrease modifiable risk factors for colon cancer are by doing what is best for the body, just like with any other types of disease but there are a few differences. One important thing to do is screening, which is a test for a disease (2002). That way if one does have any polyps it can get removed before becoming cancerous. Another important thing to do is diet, especially if they are obese because obesity is a high risk factor. Fats, alcohol, and too much red meat can also lead to a higher risk. Eating more vegetables, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight, these are good lifestyle choices, and everyone should keep them in mind. (Davies, Batehup, Thomas, 2011). One thing that lowers the risk of most cancers is staying away from smoking; it is a bad habit for anyone, whether they are sick or not (Daniela, Simona, Imola, 2011). So if one starts to have symptoms such as rectal bleeding, dark stools called melena which is began by bleeding into the bowel, passing of solid waste, gas discomfort, backache, and liquid discharge from the rectum, they should go immediately to see a doctor because those are signs of a tumor in the colon and can lead to severe colon cancer. If someone needs help or support when dealing with colon cancer there are quite a few sources of help that he or she may reach out to. The American Cancer Society, the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS), and Fight Colorectal Cancer.org. These organizations care about people and their needs. Colon cancer is a very serious disease and can be life threatening. So if you or someone you love has cancer make sure to eat healthy, exercise, avoid unhealthy habits, such as smoking and get daily screenings to protect yourselves. Acquiring a polyp or strange bleeding from your rectum can be life threatening, so a screening and a colonoscopy is crucial. ‘Works Cited Continue colonoscopy screening in stable patients, regardless of age. (2002). Geriatrics, 57(1),23.http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7cc2eb43-5583-4161-b181 f6ccc2c74387%40sessionmgr112vid=3hid=102 Daniela, C., Simona, B., Imola, T., Melania, M., Silvia, S. (2011). Smoking and the

Flourishing in Video Games: The Improvements of Child Development throu

This paper defines human flourishing as living a life of optimal functioning based upon positive productivity. What productivity is, in this sense, is undefined; leading myself to gleam from personal experience what society purports it to be. Common answers involve actions, such as working and social interaction. Self-centered hobbies, such as video games, are often left out, viewed as promoting little towards productivity and its assumed benefits. This produces tension through what is commonly considered to be positively productive towards flourishing, and a growing medium, with children especially, which proposes enjoyment through technological solitude. From this, I wonder if optimal functioning is only attainable through traditional methods of productivity as compared to the passivity gaming is perceived to promote. This paper aims to examine these claims closely in adolescents, for if a large majority turns towards video games as an extracurricular, I write it can be concluded t hat there is an aspect increasing their happiness. The truth of this shall be evaluated in this paper, lending to the larger topic of what promotes psychological happiness and optimal human functioning. Knowledge around the effects of video games produces agreement that games do not always hinder, providing benefits in developmental child growth at some points. Shelley L. Gable and Jonathan Haidt state a need to focus on psychological aspects providing benefits to mental health rather than what detracts (105-107), which I relate to popular views of most games as an unhealthy medium. Cheryl K. Olson fulfills this need, drawing upon research to examine what influences children to play video games, and its positive effects, such as creating self-developme... ...d Consequences. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006. 363-378. Web. 10 March 2014. Fredrickson, Barbara L. and Michael F. Losada. "Positive Affect and the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing." American Psychologist 60.7 (2005): 678-686. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. Gable, Shelley L. and Jonathan Haidt. "What (and Why) Is Positive Psychology?" Review of General Psychology 9.2 (2006): 103-110. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. Li, DongDong, Albert Liau and Angeline Khoo. "Examining the Influence of Actual-Ideal Self-Discrepancies, Depression, and Escapism, on Pathological Gaming Among Massively Multiplayer Online Adolescent Gamers." Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 14.9 (2011): 535-539. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. Olson, Cheryl K. "Children’s Motivations for Video Game Play in the Context of Normal Development ." Review of General Psychology 14.2 (2010): 180-187. 10 March 2014.

Flannery O’Conners “Good Country People” Essay

Love and friendship can make a wonderful story but why not add a twist of mistrust and deceit. That’s what Flannery O’conner did in â€Å"Good Country People.† By doing this she communicated her theme that people aren’t always what them seem. The Irony of the characters and what they symbolize exaggerates the theme very well. The way the characters were developed showed their diversity in â€Å"Good Country People†. Hulga had a degree in philosophy which made her believe that she was smarter than everyone else because she had learned more than they had. But in all actuality she was not, this was proven by the good ol’ bible salesman who was supposed to be honest and good and he was making a living by selling family bibles to country people. He started courting Hulga and when he won her over they met one afternoon for a walk. During this walk both their true colors began to shine through. After being led on a not so unplanned walk through the woods. Hulga was humiliated when the conniving salesman wanted to have sex with her but when she denied him he took her wooden leg. Which showed her to be naive and fragile. Through wooden legs and bibles symbolism comes through strongly. Hulga as a child lost her leg and the doctors gave her a wooden prosthetic leg as a replacement. This wooden leg props up its own symbolism throughout the story as well as it props up Hulga. She believed she needed no help throughout life. With her believe or non-believe rather, she has the notion she needs no family, no God, and no support. But really deep down she needs all of it. The leg physically support’s Hulga her whole life. When she has her wooden leg stolen from her by the bible salesman she realizes she had the support she needed all along, but until now when she loses one sort of support, does she know she needs the others as well. The Bible is also a big symbol in this story. The Holy Bible represents good and truth in the world. The Bible salesman pushes this in his sales pitch, but to him it symbolizes a place where he can keep all his secrets. What’s inside the hollow Bible in his suitcase is what the Bible really symbolizes to him, absolutely nothing. To Him its a place to store his ideas of sex, booze, and porn. Which makes it really something that isn’t as it seems. Which leads to another symbol Hulga herself. After she becomes wise in the ways of the world and does not  believe she needs God, or anyone else anymore. She changes her name of happiness, Joy, to an ugly meaningless name of Hulga. She does this to show to everyone that she does not need the joy or happiness in her life anymore, she has philosophy and education. Irony comes through in many ways especially through the characters. Throughout the story Hulga believes she is more intelligent than the people in her family and town because she went to college and earned a Ph.D. in philosophy. The truth is though she is just as plain and simple as the â€Å"good country people† she is surrounded by. This is proven by the innocent bible salesman, who in all reality is pretty much the Devil. She goes out to seduce the innocent, but in turn she is blind to the fact he is tricking her. They lead each other to a barn where the innocent bible salesman shows his inner most devil by belittling all Hulga’s beliefs and reviling to her she is not better but just as simpleminded and naive as everyone else in her town. Another ironic tidbit is how Joy changed her name to Hulga. It totally highlights the fact she wants nothing to do with her joyful Christian upbringing by her country uneducated family. And not unlike Hulga the bible salesman is also an ironic factor in this story. He is supposed to represent good Christian morals that are taught in church and through the bible. However all he is a thief and a whore with no morals. He is the pentacle of the bad boy scene. He keeps in the Holiest of all books the Bible condoms, a flask of booze and playing cards with naked girls on them. Then to top it off he likes to collect fake body parts he has stolen from girls he has fooled. It its completely not what one would learn from the Bible. Finally Hulga accepts her name of Joy again and hopefully appreciates her family and how good that it can be from time to time to be simple. The salesman isn’t heard from again and life goes on. But after all of the twists and turns of the story â€Å"Good country People† by Flannery O’ Conner, one learns a moral from all the evil and mistrust. Never judge a book by its cover.