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The Entrance / Scholarship Personal Essay: Craft MovesWriting StandardsMentor Text #1: “Dancing with Melissa”Mentor Text #2: “My Name is Osama”Mentor Text #3:“Breaking Into a Car”How is the essay organized?In media res (“Taking my place near the end of the line…”) draws the reader immediately into the problem.A summary that builds momentum.It begins with a moment and then the writer reflects on a realization.Which vocabulary is particularly effective?“Life is full of irony” – this expression establishes the writer’s purpose.The “I knew that mirroring their hostility…” passage shows evidence of the author’s maturity.Play on words: “Suddenly two things clicked.”Precise language: “omniscient elder.”How does sentence structure enhance the communication?Parallel structure: (“…how awkward I might feel, how I don’t know how to dance, and how uncomfortable the whole night would be”) creates cohesion and emphasizes the writer’s unease with the situation.“Osama, my name is Osama.” This line is conversational and instantly reveals the problem to readers.One sentence paragraph: “I had never broken into a car before.”Colon use: to highlight the “So What?” of the entrance essay (“much of life is unexpected”).Describe the voice. How was this achieved?Rhetorical question (“What had I gotten myself into?”) adds authenticity and honesty.Lacks enthusiasm. Appears calculated and logical.Reflective / accepting: “It’s family. It’s society. And often, it’s chaos.”What literary / structural techniques were used?Zoom in / zoom out: The writer zooms in during paragraph one; then zooms out during paragraph two. IronyNarrative Arc: overcoming the monsterNarrative Arc: Overcoming the monsterCompressing Time: “The years following September 11th were a true test of character for me.”Cause and EffectNarrative Arc: Voyage and returnQuestion and answer: The question is presented at the beginning and is revealed at the end.Problem and SolutionTerms DefinedNarrative arc: Sometimes simply called "arc" or "story arc," narrative arc refers to the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story.Parallel Structure: is a balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the same grammatical structure. ................
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