500 Word Essay Essay Example for Free

500 Word Essay Essay What a thing of beauty is the well-written 500-word essay. In some ways, it is the perfect length to express a certain level of knowledge about a particular subject. It is long enough to allow the writer to show familiarity, and possibly expertise, regarding her chosen topic. But it is not a length that requires copious amounts of research. When sufficiently motivated, one can manage to research, write, and revise such an essay in an hour or two, given enough practice. Given the fact that students will write dozens, if not hundreds, of essays in their high school and college careers, it can be advantageous to become familiar with the mechanics, tools, and resources associated with essay writing. The mechanics of a paper include such elements as accurate spelling, correct grammar, and proper formatting. The conscientious writer does not simply rely on spell check to make sure his paper does not contain misspellings. A thorough proofreading will catch mistakes that spell check misses. For instance, spell check might not know the difference between homophones such as â€Å"there,† â€Å"their,† and â€Å"they’re. † A careful review by the writer (or a friend) should catch these errors. Using correct grammar in all its forms – the parts of speech, subject-verb agreement, and punctuation – can ensure that brilliant writing is not overshadowed by careless or sloppy mechanics (Writing Mechanics). The â€Å"look† of the paper is important as well. High school teachers and college professors alike appreciate readable papers with a consistent appearance. This means using the Times New Roman font, size 12, and double-spacing the body of the essay. The title should also be a size 12 font, center justified, with the first word, the last word, and other important words all capitalized. The default margin settings of one inch at the top, bottom, left, and right, give the paper a professional look. While having a crisp, clean look is valuable, the substance of the paper is of the greatest importance. Supplementing one’s own personal knowledge with well-researched material is the key to a terrific essay. A 500-word essay is not going to require as much research as a six- or ten-page paper. The individual assignment and the topic will determine where to seek out information. But once the research is done, the bibliography (or Works Cited list) can be assembled quite easily using EasyBib (EasyBib). What used to be quite a laborious task – putting sources in the correct MLA format, then alphabetizing them all – is now a fairly automatic process using this handy website. Some students are intimidated when given a writing assignment. Hopefully, the hints given in this essay will make it easier for students to get started on their own essays. Becoming fairly automatic about formatting a paper prevents too much time from being wasted â€Å"reinventing the wheel. † Using viable, trustworthy websites and resources for research will help writers supplement their own knowledge. Knowing how to organize these resources into a coherent bibliography will cap off the paper quite nicely. Using these â€Å"tricks of the trade† should help students concentrate on the composition of their papers, and not obsess on the minutiae.

A Humourous Ritual :: miscellaneous

A Humourous Ritual Have you ever witnessed a humorous ritual that was really funny? I witness one everyday and it makes me wonder. This ritual is the one that many people that you and I both know participate in. this ritual is going to school. Everybody does it nowadays. The reason why it is funny is that we get up early everyday to learn stuff we don’t need to, we eat horrible food and even pay for it, and when we try to be an individual we get in trouble for doing so. Everyone says â€Å"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.† well that is very, very true statement, even though my name isn’t Jack. Millions of students worldwide get up at early hours of the day to get to school to learn a lot of stuff that we don’t need to know, such as information about Puritans. Not only that, we must endure the torture of worrying about our grades; that if we don’t work hard then we get bad grades, and that makes it much harder to get into Harvard Law School. Everyday, students must worry about their grades and they must do their work, and it isn’t fun. During the school day, one must eat. We get in trouble if we choose to eat in a classroom or quench our thirst by drinking an ice cold beverage during class. So we are forced to either bring a lunch, which is trouble in itself, or eat the school food from the cafeteria. Everyday when I make my journey across campus and past the cafeteria, I wonder what the intoxicating smell is coming from the building. The fries are not nutritious and are very greasy and salty, the chicken burgers are not cooked thoroughly, and the cheeseburgers are tasteless. The only thing I think is edible in the school is a Coca-Cola. The water in the fountains taste really bad. Yet everyday, hundreds of students flock to the cafeteria to poison their bodies, in a sense. Why cant we all just be happy and eat Subway everyday? That would make more sense, no? I was raised to express myself and be an individual. I was taught to not follow the pack and create my own trend. So, I try to do just that. I dress different than most, I act the way I want to act, I get piercings, and hopefully soon I will be getting some tattoos.

Book Report on Dear America Series- Diary of Hattie Campbell Essay

This book, written by Kristiana Gregory, is about a thirteen year old girl from Pennsylvania, Hattie Campbell. On her birthday, she was given a diary by her mother and her Aunt June. In the first entry, she mentions her Uncle Milton’s death three days ago while fixing her family’s barn and his funeral the eve of her birthday. At the funeral, the coffin fell out of their cart and was washed into the nearby river. Her father tried to save it but was almost sucked into the paddles of a riverboat. As a sign of apology, the riverboat captain agreed to give Mr Campbell and his family free tickets on his riverboat to go anywhere they wanted. That night, he announced that the family would be heading to the untamed West, at that time occupied by the Indians who were known to be violent. Mrs Campbell was very angry and initiated a â€Å"cold war† with her husband. Two days later, she relents and agrees to head out West. On the way out West, the family met a young adult named Tall Joe, who eventually becomes the captain of their group. Throughout the long trip, they lost many partners as their oxen died or they were shot by Indians. One day, Hattie and her friend, Pepper, are out playing and happened to stumble across what they thought were wild carrots and parsnips. They took some back as it was their turn to cook for the group. Back at camp, they got around their chores and started cooking. A little girl, Cassia, looked longingly at the â€Å"carrots and parsnips† and takes two bites before running off to play. Later, as they were rolling out pastry, they heard screams. They went in the direction of the screams and were horrified to find Pepper’s twin brother, Wade, and some of his friends lying on the ground, jaws clenched so tightly that nobody could pour charcoal and water into their systems to absorb the poison. In the end all of them except Wade died. The women were able to pour charcoal into his mouth. Hattie’s father then went to the tent where the kitchen was. When he saw the â€Å"carrots and parsnips†, he asked Hattie to cut some for him. He put it on the edge of his tongue and spat it out immediately. He said that it was actually water hemlock, a poisonous plant which could kill a horse if it just ate one. A man would die from a bite. They immediately remembered Cassia. They found her limp body and buried her together with the boys. The priest prayed over their graves. The next day, they called all the children and drew on the dirt to show them the difference between water hemlock and wild carrots and parsnips. Eventually, after twenty six months on the road, they reach their destination, Oregon. Along the way the accompanying Aunt June gave birth to a daughter, River Ann Valentine. The family, Aunt June and her husband settled in Oregon and became one of the first pioneers to make it to their destinations.

Essay on Ergotism, Hysteria, and Disorders Detected in Salem

Many people believe the Salem Witch Trials were caused by Ergotism, while others believe it to be just a form of hysteria, but what if I told you it could have been all of those combined together with another theory added in? In the story, The Crucible, mass hysteria broke out all through Salem being caused by the witch trials. The witch trials, however, may not have been the only thing causing the hysteria. Argot poisoning in the water along with puritan pressure causing the little girls to act out and throw fits could also be blamed on starting the hysteria. Disorders that could have been passed down through heredity could also have a part in this. Hysteria was a common contribution to the Salem Witch Trials. The first instances of†¦show more content†¦In late winter and early spring of 1692, residents of Salem Village, Massachusetts, a thinly settled town of six hundred began to suffer from a strange physical and mental malady. Fits, hallucinations, temporary paralysis, and â€Å"distracted† rampages were suddeny occuring sporadically in the community. The livestock, too, seemed to suffer from the unexplainable illness. With the limited scientific and medical knowledge of the time, physicians who were consulted could only offer witchcraft as an explanation. Psychiatric disorder is used in a slightly different sense in the argument that the Witchcraft crisis was a consequence of two party factionalism in Salem Village in this account the girls are unimportant factors in the entire incident. Their behavior â€Å"served as the kind of Roschach test into which adults read their own concerns and expectations.â €  Possessed individuals exhibited learned behavior patterns and that words and actions varied only slightly among them. The affected women experienced an inner conflict which was explained by the ministers as a struggle between good and evil. As to the physical symptoms: the fits, trances, and paralyzed limbs, among others, Karlsen attributes them to the afflicted girls’ actual fear of witches as well as the idea that once they fell into an afflicted state they were free to express