Sample by My Essay Writer
Part One
Selection A: Excerpt from WikiHow article on “How to Build a Birdhouse”
“Attach the roof. Lie the birdhouse down on a stable work surface, which the back flat against the surface. Take two roof panels, cut from 1×6 boards. One will need to be cut to 9? in length, the other will need to be 8 1/4?. Fit the pieces so that they overlap and sit flush with the sides and back panel. Glue and then screw them into place, using 4 equally spaced screws, as before.”[Click Essay Writer to order your essay]
Audience
The audience for the piece is average people who want to learn how to build a birdhouse. It assumes some literacy and ability to follow basic directions but no higher education. It is more appropriate for someone who has at least limited experience with basic construction. The intended age demographic is old enough to read and follow instructions and young enough to have the necessary dexterity to complete the project.[Need an essay writing service? Find help here.]
Purpose
Its purpose is instructive and informative, as it is intended to give directions that can be followed by the reader to accomplish a specific goal. It is highly descriptive, as it is intended to provide all necessary steps to complete the task of building a birdhouse without additional help.
Influences
The influences for the piece are likely personal construction experience and a desire to teach others to do things for themselves. Important factors include a desire to encourage the author’s audience to adopt a do-it-yourself, or DIY, ethic and attempt to teach themselves valuable life skills.
Selection B: Excerpt from blog post on “Anything Goes!”
“It has been a wet and rainy past couple of mornings over here. It’s a good thing that I’m on a short rehab from running for the moment or it would have definitely disrupted my running plans. Not have a race to train for also makes me kinda lazy to wake up and lace up.
“The plus side of the morning rains is the yearly haze hasn’t been showing itself and I’m hoping it stays that way. The skies have been nice and clear after the morning rains unlike the past few years where there would be a blanket of haze enveloping the country.”
Audience
The audience for this piece is an average blog reader, most likely someone who personally knows the author as it is a personal blog post with no informative or instructional content. It is more suited to younger readers who don’t have anything better to do than read a random person’s personal reflections than to a busy professional. However, the language used is not very challenging, so it is appropriate for most age groups. There is nothing in the post that makes it particularly appealing to one gender over another.
Purpose
The excerpt’s purpose is to share the author’s personal reflections with a general audience, and it is format reflects this purpose. It reads more or less like someone’s personal journal entry.
Influences
The direct influences behind this piece are strictly personal; the author just wants to share his reflections on his own life. On a larger scale it could be argued that its creation is also influenced by blogging culture, in which average people are encouraged to keep what are essentially personal reflections journals available to a wider audience via the internet.
Selection C: Excerpt from scientific paper abstract
“Nanosized TiO2 powders were prepared using the sol-gel procedure. The selected colloidal suspensions were stabilized with polyethylene glycol (PEG). This polymer prevented sintering of TiO2 particles during the calcination of the starting material. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) phase analysis showed that the samples, obtained up to 500°C, were a mixture of anatase and brookite. In the samples, obtained at 850°C and higher temperatures, rutile as a single phase was detected. The TGA/DTA curves were dependent on the preparation of TiO2 samples. The samples were also characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and laser Raman spectroscopy.”
Audience
The audience for this piece is very specific. It is intended to be read and appreciated by the niche scientific community interested in the chemical and structural properties of TiO2. The age group and demographic being targeted is extremely highly educated adults, whose choice of employment implies that they are probably also middle to upper class citizens.
Purpose
The excerpt’s purpose is to summarize the information gathered in the course of a scientific experiment to the relevant community.
Influences
The language used in writing this abstract was influenced by the scientific community, in which an extreme amount of jargon and other very specialized language is considered necessary. It is very academic in nature and is all but completely incomprehensible to someone outside of the specialized field with which it is concerned. [“Write my essay for me?” Get help here.]
Part Two
Selection A
Illustration of quality of diction
“Take two roof panels…”
Characteristics of excerpt
The level of language is quite low in order to make the piece easy to understand. The word choice is simple and direct, using the second person imperative. The image of the roof panels is intended to be interpreted as strictly concrete and representing parts of a very particular activity.
Alternative wording
Two panels traditionally used for roofing were obtained.
Explanation of change
Through changing the wording to use the passive voice and adding a few words, the intended audience for the piece has also been altered. It sounds more like steps to be followed in recreating a scientific experiment rather than steps that anyone can follow to perform a simple task, which would encourage an academic audience rather than an average reader.
Selection B
Illustration of quality of diction
“….kinda lazy to wake up…”
Characteristics of excerpt
The excerpt uses slang and incorrect grammar, drawing attention to itself as a piece of personal writing rather than an excerpt from a formal or academic work. The language is concrete and uninspired, allowing anyone to read and understand it but not encouraging creative thought.
Alternative wording
…the seas of sleep break harshly upon the vessel of my waking mind…
Explanation of change
The removal of grammatical errors and slang and addition of a more interesting abstract image and alliterative sound devices causes the phrase to read more like poetry and less like a boring personal journal. It creates more nuanced meaning while still conveying the same basic idea.
Selection C
Illustration of quality of diction
“…selected colloidal suspensions were stabilized…”
Characteristics of excerpt
It uses the passive tense, as is necessary in scientific writing, and employs obscure terms without giving any definitions or explanations for them. The level of language is extremely high as it is throughout the piece, and the word choice is very concrete.
Alternative wording
…we stabilized our chosen mixture somewhere between a liquid and a solid phase, creating a colloidal suspension…
Explanation of change
The change in wording makes the phrase sound much more approachable, using active voice instead of passive and offering an explanation of the meaning of “colloidal suspension.” Such revisions would make the piece more accessible to a wider audience instead of requiring a high degree of academic achievement and very specialized knowledge. With the revision it continues to be a concrete and literal image, but it is now one that can be more easily understood.[Click Essay Writer to order your essay]
Part Three
Dear Jane,
Just wanted to write ya a quick note to let ya know that I’ll be moving soon. Didn’t think it would come to this; I love my school and all my teachers and the new friends I’ve made (especially you), but I just don’t love this city like I thought I would. I hope you know that I’m gonna miss you like crazy, though!
I’ve been losing it a little bit since moving into my new place, to be honest. I can’t stand my roommates and I even hate the room I live in. The white washed walls are stifling, and it feels like I can’t even see the sun shining in through the windows. Maybe it’s not the city; maybe it’s me. Either way, I already applied to a new school and I’m gonna be transferring at the end of the semester.
The new school I’ll be attending offers all the classes I need for my major, plus some that ours doesn’t! I can choose whether or not to live on campus, and the campus itself is beautiful. The weather will be fine and I’ll be able to ride my bike to the beach! Don’t worry, though, I won’t forget about ya; you’ll always be my best friend, and placing even a whole country’s worth of distance between us wouldn’t change that.
Love,
Your Best Friend
Sarah
Explanation
The purpose of this fictional letter to my best friend Jane is to convey information, but also to establish an emotional connection. The devices I chose to focus on were the use of slang, such as “ya” instead of “you” and “gonna” instead of “going to;” connotative language like “love” and “best friend,” and sound devices like the alliteration of “white washed walls.”
Works Cited
Furic, K., Ivanda, M. Gotic, M., Music, S., Popovic, S., Sekulic, A., Trojko, R., & Turkovic, A.
“Chemical and micro structural properties of TiO2 synthesized by sol-gel procedure.”
Materials Science and Engineering: B, vol 47, no. 1, May 1997, pp 33-40. DOI:
10.1016/S0921-5107(96)02041-7.
Phillips, Nick. “Wet Mornings.” Anything Goes!, 9 Sept. 2016.
“How to Build a Birdhouse.” WikiHow
