Personal Belief
TOPIC CHOICE:
Be specific. Take your belief out of the ether and ground it in events that have shaped your core values. Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or changed. Think of your own experience, work, and family, and tell of the things you know that no one else does. Your EXAMPLES don’t have to be heart-warming or gut-wrenching. They can even be funny, BUT it should be real. Make sure your EXAMPLES tie to the essence of your daily life philosophy and the shaping of your beliefs. Name your belief: If you can’t name it in a sentence or two, your essay might not be about belief. Focus on one core belief. (For example, my sample essay on the content page is about my belief that reading is beneficial with three examples of those benefits.) Be positive: Write about what you do believe, not what you don’t believe. Avoid statements of religious dogma. Be personal: Make your essay about you; speak in the first person. Avoid using “you” because “you” is referring to the reader.
OBJECTIVES:
Write at least a 500-word essay, which will count 10% of overall grade, and will focus on the following:
a. Creating a powerful lead-in that draws the reader’s attention and relates to the essay topic.
b. Establishing a strong thesis statement that explains the writer’s argument and the point of this essay without producing an essay map.
c. Developing at least three body paragraphs (each establishing one idea about the thesis) and displaying at least ten sentences of support, including facts, concrete examples, action verbs, descriptive adjectives and adverbs, and specific details.
d. Providing an essay free of all red-flag errors: fragments, comma splices, run-on sentences, use of 2nd person “you,” subject/verb agreement errors, and spelling errors.
e. Proving to the reader what you believe and why
