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Revising
Now that you written a first draft and set it aside for a few days,
you are ready to go back and start revising it. Later you may be asking
other people, such as friends or teachers, to read your essays and offer
their comments and suggestions.
The first step in revising is to re-read your essay. The first time
that you re-read your essay, do not mark any corrections on it. Reading the
essay uninterrupted will help you understand how your essay fits together.
In subsequent readings, read to revise. When you read for the purpose
of revising, you should read from a particular point of view -- the
reader's. Imagine that you are reading an essay written by a stranger. Be
critical in asking yourself questions about your essay.
There are many elements of your essay to focus on when revising. You
can examine your essay as a whole, or as whole paragraphs, to revise items
like theme, structure, and general content. Bob calls these items, "big
picture items." You can also examine your essay on the sentence or word
level, focusing on details like spelling, grammar, and diction. Bob calls
these details, "little picture details." Check out Bob's revision
tips for more on revising.
Revision Tips: Big Picture Items
"Big picture items" are elements of the essay that involve
the entire essay as a unit, or entire paragraphs. When revising your essay
your should first consider these big picture items before considering things
such as grammar, spelling, and word choice.
Big Picture Points to Consider
A. Theme and Topics
1、Does the essay answer the essay question completely?
2、Does the essay describe you accurately and completely?
3、Does the essay have a clear and consistant main point? Are all the
sections of the essay related to this point?
B. Support and Specifics
1、Are there any important assumptions or background information you do not
include that would make your essay easier to understand?
2、Do you go into adequate detail on important points, or do you explain
each point only superficially?
C. Organization
1、Does the essay have a logical beginning, middle, and end?
2、Are the essay's paragraphs organized in a logical sequence?
One way to make sure your essay follows a logical order is to read the
essay again, write a one sentence summary for each paragraph, and then check
to see if the sentence summaries you have written follow a clear order.
3、Is the essay written as one coherent piece of writing or several
unrelated sections?
An essay should not be organized as separate sections introduced with
individual titles (for examples, dividing your essay into the separate
sections "My Family," "Educational Background,"
"Extracurricular Experiences," "Work Experiences,"
"Career Goals," etc.).
.
Revision Tips: Little Picture Details
After you have evaluated your essay's big picture items, it is time to
take a look at the essay on a sentence and word level. Below are Bob's tips
for revising the "little picture details."
Tips on Content/Subject:
1、Remove any facts or specifics that can be found in other parts of your
application, such as your transcript or resume. You can refer the reader to
other parts of your application by including parenthetical comments in your
essay, such as "(see resume)" or "(see essay #2)."
2、Remove any criticism of previous professors, classmates, schools, or
programs with which you have been involved.
3、Remove sexist or racist language.
4、Revise any blatant self-promotion, for example "I am not only an
outstanding student, but also one of the most generous and giving
individuals in my entire university." Detail specific examples and
experiences which reveal your positive traits.
5、Remove sentences that begin with "I have always wanted to
be..." Do not write about how your interest in your field of study
began when you were a small child.
6、Remove empty praises of the school for which you are writing the essay.
If you complement a school in a such a general way that you could praise
every other school you are applying to the same way, your compliments will
be taken by the schools as insincere.
7、Avoid writing with a pessimistic or depressed tone.
Other Tips:
1、Be extremely careful when using modifiers, words like beautiful,
wonderful, interesting, challenging, regarding, excellent, and meaningful.
Instead of using such common adjectives, describe your experiences as they
actually happened.
2、Use transition words like furthermore, thus, additionally, and however,
to move from paragraph to paragraph and sentence to sentence.
3、Remove qualifiers like somewhat, partially, possibly, quite, and rather.
Qualifiers make the writer seem unsure and unconfident.
4、Try to make your sentences as concise as possible. Remove needless
words.
5、Use a thesaurus to replace overused adjectives. Make sure to pick
appropriate synonyms.
6、Make sure there are no misspelled words
7、Avoid using quotation marks to highlight "adjectives."
Quotation marks should only be used to note dialogue. If you are using
quotation marks to surround adjectives it means the adjective you chose does
not match your intended meaning. Check a dictionary or thesaurus to find a
more precise adjective to use.
And Finally:
Make sure you personally understand every word in your essay
Tips for Writing Business School Essays
Business schools often consider application essays a more important
part of the application than other graduate programs. This is because
business schools believe that job performance and job experience, which are
described in application essays, are a better indicator of an applicant's
business potential than academic achievement. In writing business school
essays you should not only give an accurate, detailed description of
yourself but also demonstrate an understanding of some part of the business
world (e.g., banking, manufacturing, marketing, or consulting).
Here are some tips on answering the most common types of business
school application essays.
The Achievement Essay:
"What do you consider to have been your single most important
achievement to date?"
Describe the problem you faced, the steps you took to deal with it,
and how you solved it. The importance of your achievement is not all that
important. What is important is revealing how you deal with challenging
situations. In your answer try to show that you have creativity, initiative
and focus.
The Extracurricular Activity Essay:
"Describe the non-professional activities you enjoy."
This is not a trick question. You do not need to describe only hobbies
that are business related. Admissions committees care about what you enjoy
outside of work because they want to know that you are a likable person who
will fit into their school's student body.
The Character Essay:
"What do you consider your best character traits? Which traits
would you most like to change"
You do not have to answer this question completely honestly. For good
traits, try to show that you possess traits that will help you do well in an
M.B.A. program, such as the ability to work with others, the ability to
self-motivate, or strong analytical skills.
As for weaknesses, do not mention character weaknesses such as
dishonesty or greed. Rather, discuss weaknesses that can be strengths in
disguise, such as being too details-oriented or too curious. Because many
applicants will probably mention the same strengths and weaknesses as you,
be sure to provide specific supporting evidence.
The M.B.A. and Career Goals Essay:
"Why do you want to pursuean M.B.A.? What are your short and
long-term career goals?"
There are many strong applicants competing with you to be accepted.
You need to show the admissions committee why you need an M.B.A. and how you
will use it. If studying business represents a big career change or is
unrelated to what you studied in college, Try to make pursuing an M.B.A.
seem compatible with your interests and skills. Your career goals do no have
to be overly ambitious. Modest career goals are fine too. If you do have
very ambitious goals, you should also have a realistic plan for attaining
them.
The Work Experience Essay:
"Describe a significant managerial or other work
experience."
Remember, your complete work history is already detailed on your
resume, so you do not have to restate it when writing this essay. Do not
just write a detailed account of all your work responsibilities, but instead
focus on one specific project. Try to write about an experience that reveals
character strengths or other positives.
The Ethical Essay:
"Describe an ethical dilemma that you have personally
encountered. What alternatives did you consider and why?"
The admissions committee is asking you to prove to that you will be an
upright and moral student and business professional. There is no need to
praise yourself too much, you can be modest here. Do not describe problems
that you caused yourself. If you have not had much work experience, write
about a school experience.
Tips for Writing Law School Essays
In evaluating application essays, law school admissions officers pay
attention both to what you write and to how you write. In terms of content,
what you write, the essay should provide another dimension to your
application. It should make you stand out and reveal something not already
detailed in your application. Do not just recapitulate your grades and LSAT
score. Instead, try to write something that can provide evidence you possess
the potential to become a successful lawyer. Being a lawyer requires strong
morals, attention to details, and the ability to cope with long periods of
monotony and boredom.
Lawyers generally write a lot and so they need to be able to write
clearly and concisely. If you are unsure how to write your essay, the
simpler the better. Finally, although some schools do not place a specific
limit on the length of the personal statement, do not write more than three
double-spaced pages. Most of the time two pages is enough.
Getting Outside Opinions on Your Essay
After you feel comfortable with your essay you should show it to a few
people whose opinions you respect. These might be friends, classmates, or
teachers. If you can, you should also ask for help from a native speaker of
English, since he should at least be able to help correct essay grammar.
Do not be afraid of your readers' criticisms. After all, you should
know your essay's weak points so you can fix them.
Listen to outside suggestions and consider them, but do not
automatically accept them. Remember that this is your essay. You should use
your own judgment in deciding how to revise it.
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