orochigenocide's blog

For the most part, I edited most (hopefully all) of the grammatical errors, but as for the content and structure, I'll probably go back and look over it again to see if I need to edit the content and structure of the essay. Anyway, this is another one of my timed practice essays that was for my English class. I think I might have one of two left to type up. The topic was what should be an important factor for museums to choose a specific artifact. Should be the marketability the determining factor or should museums be more focused on culture in their exhibitions. Funny how it's all about the money sometimes. . .

The synthesis free-response question can be found here in this PDF file: http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/english/ap07_eng_...

Considerations of Museums

Museums– are they just a group of boring buildings? You’d be surprised at how museums make decisions and considerations on certain artworks and artifacts. Is marketability an essential part of appealing to visitors or should culture and historical accuracy be the dominating factor for these considerations? Although money is an important part to keeping a museum function, financial decisions shouldn’t overshadow the cultural aspect of each exhibition.  Read More »

I thought I should post this (yes, another one of my timed practice essays for English :P) because 1) I really like the descriptive nature of the language 2) I liked analyzing the rhetorical devices being used in the passage and 3) Phillips' speech is about a Haitian general who toppled many of his enemies and that the color of a person's skin doesn't determine their capabilities.

The analysis free-response question can be found in this PDF file: http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/english/ap07_eng_...

Wendell Phillips

During a time rife with racism and heated contentions over issues of slavery, a prominent white Abolitionist named Wendell Phillips delivers an outspoken speech about Haitian general Toussant-Louverture to address allowing African Americans to join the military and help with the war efforts. His rhetoric serves not only to emphasize his points but also to address his audience effectively through his usage of personal pronouns. In addition, the historical allusions, anaphoras, and establishment of perspective further add to Phillips’ praise and ability to appeal to the audience.  Read More »

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/english/ap07_eng_...

Another timed practice essay back in April for AP prep. :P With this one, I got a little sidetracked from my essay outline when I wrote it, but I made major edits today to clarify the main ideas. I thought this should be posted on the site because the topic is something we encounter everyday and gathers quite an amount of criticism. Ads– would you say they’re a form of democracy?

(Also, if there are inaccuracies in the paragraph about ads and the economy, feel free to comment and make corrections.)

Synthesis - Advertisments as Free Dissemination?

From schools to grocery stores and the internet, advertisements are everywhere. Rarely anyone can avoid advertisements wherever they go and how can they when these marketing strategies impact us daily? Although ads are bound to have fierce critics, ads affect our economy in a huge way as well as pleading people to get involved with their communities.  Read More »

This is another essay I wrote for my history class a little less than two years ago. My class was learning about European explorations in America and how their maritime expeditions had such an impact worldwide. The Columbian Exchange was quite a factor in changing how the world was then and setting the basis of how our world is now. Most of the expository content was from the history textbook my class was using, but I obtained the concept of the North-South axis and East-West axis (which indicated whether the climates varied over the regions or basically remained similar to each other) and how it affected vegetation from Jared Diamond’s book, Guns, Germs, and Steel. If you have any questions or if there’s something you’d like to correct, please feel free to comment. :)

Change Over Time: The Columbian Exchange

The impact of the Columbian Exchange not only had global significance, but also had effects on two regions that were directly involved: Western Europe and the Americas. Because of this historical event, the catalyst was set into place of global impact, such as demographic transition, and the spread of Enlightenment ideas. Intellectual fermentation spurred across the West, influencing needed factors for global exploration and leading to the challenge of all political structures.  Read More »

Back in December, my English teacher assigned the class a practice free-response essay. However, it wasn’t a timed-essay and she assigned it to us as a take-home essay for us to work on during the weekends. I remember I was having a hard time trying to understand the passage. Maybe it’s because I was too focused on the terms I didn’t know (i.e., scrivener, liver-complaint, and wiseacres) or too frazzled at the time. Now, I feel pretty stupid because I realized I was reading WAY too into it. After reading it for a few minutes today (and not remembering the definitions of certain terms as listed above), I could extract the main ideas of his essay. It was basically a list of all the things the want of money can do to a person. :P It seemed as though Hazlitt had such a negative view on the want of money due to his word choice, of course. I wanted to post his essay (along with my response essay) because his usage of language to illustrate his points had made quite an impression on me. In this modern-day, it seems as though the ‘flowery’, descriptive language is being downsized, and we’re more concentrated on keeping our writing compositions concise and straight to the point.

Hazlitt’s essay can be found here in this PDF file: http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/english/ap06_frq_...  Read More »

Back in April, my English class was beginning to do some practice essays for the AP test, and this is the first one we did. I thought this might be an interesting essay to post because it questions the role of incentives for participation in donations. Since it was our first timed essay, my teacher was going over essay organization and structure and provided some examples to help us brainstorm ideas and then the class began to discuss other examples they’ve encountered in their lives, especially charity events sponsored by our school. For example, we had an event called “Pasta for Pennies”; it’s pretty self-explanatory: students donate pennies and other coins for good causes (I couldn’t remember what they were) and the student who donates the most amount of change wins a pasta dinner. So, wouldn’t the student pretty much pay for the pasta? Does the incentive diminish the purpose of the charity event or would it help persuade people to donate?

Free-Response Question: The practice of offering incentives for charitable acts is widespread, from school projects to fund drives by organizations such as public television stations, to federal income tax deductions for contributions to charities. In a well-written essay, develop a position on the ethics of offering incentives for charitable acts. Support your position with evidence from your reading, observation, and/or experience.

The actual question can be found in this PDF file: http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/english/ap07_eng_...  Read More »

The following is an essay assigned in my English class to introduce everyone the background information of our studies on The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible. The required passages we had to read, Of Plymouth Plantations and A History of the Dividing Line gave us a glimpse of early American literature as well as the development of the American culture.

Puritans vs. Cavaliers: Compare and Contrast

After the discovery of the New World in the 15th century, the vast territory of America would become a land of opportunity for settlers, particularly English immigrants. Some includes the Puritans fleeing religious persecution and maritime travelers, later known as Southern Aristocrats or Cavaliers, searching for bullion. Already, the reason for their arrival will further add to the many differences they share.  Read More »

Another one of my world history essays. This is a comparison between ancient Chinese and Muslim empires. It's interesting to see a side-by-side comparison of long-standing dynasties in China (before they adopted a communist government) vs. disputes for succession in Muslim empires, their founding philosophy/religion (Confucianism and Islam), and their ethnocentrism.  Read More »