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Online Continuing Education
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The Power of Being Different

Final Assessment

Lesson 9: Writing your essay: guidelines

Write an essay about the lessons learned in this course. Make it original. You can, for instance, decide to write about your experiences on being different since you started practicing what we've discussed in this course. Or you can look into the future and write how you think it will benefit you. To get you going, here are some general essay-writing guidelines:

1)      Decide on your topic: make sure your heart is in it. Don't bore yourself with something that will only lead to a dead end. Think thoroughly before you start writing.

2)      Organize your ideas. You can prepare an outline or diagram to put your ideas about the topic on paper, in a moderately organized format. Decide whether you want to make it flowing, or more bullet-point-like. You can always change your structure later.

3)      Write a thesis statement. This is simply a two-part statement:

                     i.            The first part is about the topic. How are you going to build that up? What will your focus be? How many different points will you highlight?

                   ii.            The second part explains why you are actually writing the essay: what is so interesting about the points you mentioned under the first part? Here's where you give the action details.

4)      The topic you have chosen must now be explained, described, or argued. Each main idea that you wrote down in your diagram or outline will become one of the body paragraphs. Make sure that each body paragraph will have the same basic structure.

5)      Write the introduction. This should be designed to attract the reader's attention and give her/him an idea of the essay's focus. Hint: try to begin with an attention grabber. It works great!

6)      Write the conclusion. This brings closure to the reader, summing up your points or providing a final perspective on your topic.

7)      Do the finishing touch. Wait! Before considering your essay finished, review the formatting again.

                     i.            Check the order of your paragraphs.

                   ii.            Check the instructions. Are you on target?

                  iii.            Check your writing.

Final tips:

  • Write this essay as a story that you will be able to hold on to for years to come.
  • As mentioned before: put your heart in it. Explain the change that you have experienced in yourself--or expect to experience in the near future.
  • Incorporate the essential parts of the 9 lessons of this course in your essay.
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