College Knowledge

Essay #1—An Admirable Person

Part 1 asks you to write about someone you know personally and admire, someone who has influenced you for the better. There are 5 paragraphs to this part:

Para #1, the introduction, should answer these questions in an interesting way:

· Who is this person?

· When and where did you meet or how did you become aware of this person?

· What was this person doing when you met or first became attentive to him or her?

· Why were you there?

Para #2 asks for a thorough description of this person’s physical appearance: height, build, gait, face, hair, eyes, clothing, gestures, movements, etc.

Para #3 asks you to describe what this person said or did when you encountered him or her; if it is a family member you’ve known all your life, then describe a typical action or behavior of the person—an early memory. Make sure this person seems alive and moving in the paragraph. Be sure your reader knows what is admirable from the scene you’ve set.

Para #4 puts you in the picture, so answer these questions:

• What were you like at this time?
• How old were you when you met or when you first became aware of this person’s importance in your life?
• What grade were you in?
• Where, so far as you know, do you think you stood in relation to this person? That is, how did he or she see you?

Para #5, the conclusion, asks you to explain the importance of having met this individual.

Part 2 asks you to provide helpful cues to your reader.

1. For the first paragraph, answer this question: Overall, what did this person mean to you? Include the answer to this question in the paragraph at the last sentence—it is the thesis/controlling idea of the essay.
2. For each of the next three paragraphs, answer this question: What is this paragraph saying, or what purpose does it serve? Include your answer to the question at the beginning of each paragraph—it will be the controlling idea of the paragraph or the topic sentence.
3. For the conclusion, answer this question and include the answer in your paragraph: Why should everyone have the chance to meet somebody like your subject?

Individual paragraphs completed: Jan 13

Draft with beautiful focusing sentences: Jan 14

Typed—double-spaced—Draft for peer review: Jan 15