Essay on writing essays

I would like to discuss one of the most horrific terms that has struck mortal
fear into the hearts of millions of students. Essay. "Essay" can be viewed as a
term of unspeakable horror, afflicted torture, and a weekend destroyer to the average student. Urbandictionary.com offers the following definitions of the term essay: 1. A composition that is usually a few pages long. 2. The bane of my existence. 3. A ploy conceived by English teachers to show their jaded outlook towards students who are either too stupid to do it anyway, or are smart, but prefer pin-point to the point answering rather than spending five paragraphs trying to convince "X" to do "Y". They usually give people a week or so to do the essay, but it is known fact that nobody does the stupid things until the night before it's due.
My experience with the aforementioned definitions is true, as well as timeless. I am now faced with the challenge of writing an essay in college during 2010, when my prior experience was in high school, 20 years ago. I really struggled with writing in high school, and I hope now that I am an older, more serious college student, that I can successfully accomplish writing this paper, even though so much has changed in two decades.
The last time I wrote an essay was in the year 1990. I was a sophomore in Ms. Best's European History class at Ursuline Academy in Springfield, Illinois. Our essays were to be 3-5 pages long, double-spaced, either handwritten or typed. We would also present our papers in front of the class. She allowed us to choose from a list of historical figures, and I had selected Marie Antoinette. January 19th, 2010 is my first official day in Mrs. Malouf's English Comp class at Saint Louis Community College at Forest Park. This is also the first day I started researching my first essay topic. Our essays are to be 3-5 pages, double-spaced, and typed in minimum font size of 12. We will need to submit both a paper copy, and an electronic copy through a school program called "Blackboard". We are able to write about anything we choose. Originally, I thought I would write about a personal experience. However, according to our syllabus, we will be studying descriptive, narrative essays on February 11th, 2010. A personal experience would be better suited for that style of essay, according to Mrs. Malouf.
I selected a popular historical figure for my paper for European History, as I felt there would be several sources to reference. My first research attempt was unsuccessful, as my then boyfriend's '85 Pontiac Firebird broke down on the way to the public library. My next attempt, in my mother's Chevy, got me downtown to the library, albeit, not as stylishly as the Firebird would have. However, even though there were many sources listed in the card catalog, only one book was available for me to reference and borrow. Marie Antoinette was certainly popular, not only among the French, but also the several thousand high school students residing in Springfield. My final attempt at obtaining research materials was again, unsuccessful, as I contacted several video stores to find the 1938 movie, “Marie Antoinette". Of course, this movie was not available to rent anywhere in Springfield, but 600 copies of “Weekend at Bernie's” were certainly at my disposal.
Now, flash forward 20 years to my research attempts for my English Comp essay. I drove my dependable '05 Scion xb, not to the public library, but home, where my computer is. My first research attempt was to google "college essay topics". This yielded 2,390,000 results. I checked several websites over several days, obtained some good ideas, and then paranoia set in. Mrs. Malouf advised us on our first day that all electronic papers are screened for plagiarism. I then thought writing an essay about my experience writing essays would certainly avoid plagiarism accusations. I am correct in my thinking, as again, I googled "essays on writing essays", and google could not locate anything. Now, I’m finally ready to write about my topic.
I have never repeatedly hit the delete button on my computer so much in my entire life. I'm concerned about wearing it out. Of course, I remember burning through several erasers writing my Marie Antoinette paper. After all, erasable ink was a modern invention for the time. It has taken a solid day of writing, checking, deleting, and rewriting to just get out a rough draft. I'm a completely different person from who I was in high school, yet my writing style is still the very same, just digital. I'm glad I started crafting this paper early. I had learned from my past experience as Marie Antoinette, that waiting until the night before is not the way to handle a major writing and presentation assignment. I guess I shouldn't have stayed up late watching "Weekend at Bernie's".
My grade result was a "B" for Marie. Although, my essay writing was fine, my presentation was not so good. I was visibly nervous, and ignorantly mispronounced "Versailles" several times. "It's Ver-SIGH, not Ver-SAILS, Sarah.” said Ms. Best. Thanks. Perhaps if I had been able to obtain my movie, I would have picked up on that, as I had never heard the pronunciation before. I took Spanish, not French, for my foreign language credit. (Vive la Espanol!)
This paper is nearly finished now. I'm not sure of my grade on this essay. However, I am certainly more confident with this paper than I was with my Marie Antoinette project. After all, I don't have to present in front of this class.
Essays are still a challenge to compose, no matter what decade you grow up in, or what generation you are from. They will still consume a week of your time, whether you go to a library, or sit down in front of your computer. You may face delays from outside sources whether you have a solid mode of transportation, or a cracked distributor cap. Challenge is still there if you have too little material, or too much, to reference.