epdf.pub_cbest-cliffs-test-prep13a9b242c7cb4125e6cca92d00a73d5a41681

The Writing Section
A Well-Written Essay
Essay 2
Orienting the reader to
the writerÕs background
and experience.
Restricting the discussion
appropriately.
Balanced, contrasting sentence
addressing point (1) from first
paragraph. Able to control
syntax, reference to specific
details, orderly phrasing.
Thesis sentence, highlighting the
significance of this paragraph.
Summary sentence, reinforcing
the overall point of the paragraph.
Reference to point (3) of the
opening paragraph.
Specific supporting detail.
By the time I was a junior in college, I had
developed criteria for good teaching and bad
teaching, criteria based on my experiences during
those first two college years. The good teachers
were always (1) models of enthusiasm and
curiosity about their subject, (2) interested in
studentsÕ fulfilling their own potential and not
trying to please the instructor, and (3) friendly as
well as scholarly. Of the few good teachers I
enjoyed, Bob Lincoln (a professor of English) was
the best. Four times a week, sluggish and yawning
from listening to my classics professor drone
endlessly in a muffled monotone about Zeus and
the Olympians, I slumped into Dr. LincolnÕs class
on the Victorian novel. And always he would lift my
spirits with his own spirited approach; his was a
remarkable talent for making connections
between the experiences of Jane Eyre, Becky
Sharp, and Adam Bede, and very modern
problems of repression, alienation, and greed. He
showed that good teachers make their subjects
part of their own life and time and that literature
can help us understand ourselves.
But Dr. Lincoln never imposed his viewpoints on
us. The importance of the literature was ours to
decide. We kept journals in which we wrote about
how instances in the novels were like those in our
own experience, and by sharing those responses in
class we learned how many different viewpoints a
novel can provoke and learned to respect each
otherÕs differences. All this came about because
Dr. Lincoln was more interested in what the
subject meant to us than what it meant to him.
His attention to our learning didnÕt stop at the
end of a class meeting. Always willing to make
himself available for further discussion, Dr. Lincoln
even invited us to his home at times. These
uncommon occasions, sharing the professorÕs
"natural habitat," helped us to learn that teachers are
people, too, and that the best teachers are those who
transform their students into a community, not just a
bunch of anonymous paper pushers.
Designating the points to be
discussed; focusing the essay.
Vivid portrait of bad teacher and
the effects of bad teaching.
Effective transition (but),
reference to point (2).
Clear, brief sentence; interesting
contrast with longer ones.
Specific supporting details,
logical parallel structure.
Additional information, fluency,
and humor; clearly states the
significance of the experience
and its relationship to the
general topic.
Ties the past into the
present gracefully.
Each day of my own training in education and
practice in teaching, I try to remember what Dr.
Lincoln taught me. Good teaching takes energy,
commitment, and good humor; it is a product of
people, not merely of books and papers.
Summary conclusion that does
more than simply restate what
has already been said.
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