• Home Page
  • Summary Of Paul Roberts How To Say Nothing In 500 Words

Summary Of Paul Roberts How To Say Nothing In 500 Words

Improved Essays
Show More
In Paul Robert’s “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words”, Roberts begins his essay with a student who procrastinates on a five-hundred-word composition and ends up receiving an upsetting grade. Roberts offers recommendations to help college students avoid this situation and better their writing techniques. One thing that made Roberts essay enjoyable to read was the use of realistic issues college students face every day. Paul Roberts wrote this essay in back in the sixties and it is amazing to see that it still reflects student’s bad habits today. Procrastination is one problem many college students face. I know I have found myself procrastinating on assignments because I have better things to do. “You shouldn’t let English assignments interfere with your religion” (Roberts 378) oh how many times I have told myself exactly that and ended up regretting not making the time in the end. Roberts continues to show the repercussion of the student’s procrastination, which is, an essay that is “weak in content” (Roberts 380). That is sadly the reality of procrastination. You do not have time to go back and make sure the assignment is at its best. …show more content…
This was a great point because many students feel that they should “go with the flow” on essays. I feel that professors do not assume that students should view a subject the same way they view it because that gets boring and repetitive. In Roberts essay the student’s assignment was over college football. The student felt that because the professor was against college football than they should be too. I disagree. I like to be the student that goes against the flow, if you will. “Be against football for some reason or reasons of your own.” (Roberts 381) The main objective for a writer is to keep the audience interested in what you are

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Bob Roberts Essay
    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Bob Roberts Essay

    The film Bob Roberts is a story about a Pennsylvania senatorial race between the democratic senator, Brickley Paiste, and a folk singer, Bob Roberts. In terms of genre, it is a comedic satire criticizing the problems that the American electoral system has and how exploitable it can be by candidates, such as Bob Roberts. It heavy-handedly tackles the drama and deception that a less favorable candidate can utilize to their advantage and spin the election in their favor. To add to this, the film sends a very clear message that charisma can be a more than adequate stand in for ability in regard to an election, but the effectiveness of the satire comes from the procedural attitude that the Bob Roberts campaign takes to their extremely apparent…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Revision Strategies Of Nancy Sommers
    • 1077 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Revision Strategies Of Nancy Sommers

    Well known for her research and publications on student writing, Nancy Sommers—now Harvard’s Expository Writing Program Director—discusses the student’s revision strategies on her journal College Composition and Communication: a compilation of some of her articles. Throughout this essay, I will be focusing on three articles from Nancy 's journal: Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers (1980) with Laura Saltz as cowriter, Between the Drafts (1992), and the Novice as Expert (2004). Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers (1980) juxtaposes through a case study the revision strategies of first-year college students and experienced writers. Between the Drafts (1992) narrates her personal experience with revision strategies. The Novice as Expert: Writing the freshmen (2004) examines how first-year college students—Sommers believes— should approach writing.…

    • 1077 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Why Did I Wait Until The Last Minute
    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Why Did I Wait Until The Last Minute

    On the contrary, active procrastinators deliberately procrastinate as they prefer to work under pressure (Chu and Choi). Studies have revealed three major themes in active procrastinators which include purposeful delays on school work to facilitate greater efficiency even if it means losing sleep to get the work done closer to the due date, systematical procrastination to attain passing grades, and appealing academic social outcomes which leads students to do it again because they conceived a satisfying outcome previously and felt the action of procrastination to be worth the end results (Hensley). Recent statistics have revealed an estimated eighty to ninety-five percent of college and university level students suffer from active procrastination, and thirty to fifty percent of students said they had difficulties with preparing for exams, beginning the written process of papers, and doing class readings (Yerdelen). Statistics revealed ten to twelve percent of those college students to be under extreme stress and one of the main stressors being school related due to procrastination (Peer et…

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Causing Grade Disputes
    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Causing Grade Disputes

    In the article, “Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes,” studies outline a troubling trend in the minds of America’s youth: Students deserve high marks just for fulfilling rudimentary requests. While this concept seems to be present in most teens’ minds, many others hold a different view. In the Patrick Henry AP English Language and Composition Syllabus, this idea is explicated with clarity: “The grade of A is a performance grade, not an effort grade.” In this class, neither attending live seminars nor relying on prior knowledge is enough to obtain an extraordinary score.…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    'Learning To Read' By Malcolm X
    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages

    'Learning To Read' By Malcolm X

    Since the beginning of my first year at school I have been learning to read and write. Throughout these years I have had a lot of experiences with reading and writing. All through high school we would write responses and essays over books we read. Once I entered college everything changed; I began to learn about writers and people who were known because of their great works of literature. In college, you are held to a higher standard and responsibility than you are in high school; this challenge has encouraged me to work hard and because of this I have become better at writing.…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis Of Paul Mchenry Roberts's How To Say Nothing In 500 Words
    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis Of Paul Mchenry Roberts's How To Say Nothing In 500 Words

    In Paul McHenry Roberts “How to say nothing in 500 words”, I was caught up by the colorfully words strategy. As I understand by his explanation using colorful words does not mean using literary colors to pen down words rather to get depth and meaning out of the message that is to be conveyed. Using these words would in turn help the reader formulate better the scene that the writer is trying to convey. This is an effective way of author to audience communication I personally find this one of the most important strategies that any writer should follow because, being a writer the main purpose that we are writing for is to get our thoughts, opinions our visions across to our chosen audience just the way we formed it in our head.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    College Composition Reflection
    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages

    College Composition Reflection

    Throughout the first semester of College Composition, I wrestled with three essays, all differing in format and content. The first was a narrative that reflected our educational experience. After this came an analysis of a visual text, followed by a research paper. The narrative was the easiest to write; however, I acquired important skills for writing the other two, which were in a less familiar format. With the three essays, I learned about my own writing skills and habits concerning development and critical thinking, time management, and organization.…

    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Why English Is Important Essay
    • 1064 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Why English Is Important Essay

    A young freshman in college is anxiously checking her schedule for her first semester. She examines her paper carefully and sees she is taking English 112. She stopped and asked herself why she would take English 112? She ponders for a reason to take this writing class after she already took at least four English classes in her high school years, plus English 111. She felt she already ‘knew’ how to write.…

    • 1064 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    EOF Student Reflection
    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages

    EOF Student Reflection

    He showed me that with every argument comes a counter argument; adding a counter argument reinforced my argument greatly. Another technique I applied to my essays with Professor Castro’s instruction was planning. In high school, planning an essay seemed like a waste of time because the assignments were always just five paragraph, five sentence essays. Since we had to write these essays in such a short amount of time for tests, I was able to produce the work the night before. On the other hand, Professor Castro has shown the divergence between high school and college; planning and editing are two essential steps in writing.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Jackie Robinson Ethos In Middle School
    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Jackie Robinson Ethos In Middle School

    Since our first attempt at writing an essay in elementary to middle school, we are told the main components to writing an essay is the ‘beginning’, ‘middle’, and ‘end.’ All of which holds true today, but as we move from one grade to the next, the standards for a ‘good’ essay changes for the better. Rhetorical strategies, devices, and appeals also known as rhetoric, is what we learn in high school (Stotsky 10). The continuation of the expanding knowledge is what makes us alter our writing strategies, from the material taught to us in our adolescent years of elementary school and every year thereafter. It is in high school that we are taught to analyze and dissect the author, as well as the author’s work ceaselessly.…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Reflection Essay: My First College Writing Class
    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Reflection Essay: My First College Writing Class

    Upon my entry into English 1010-02, my first college writing class, I expected to breeze through the course with an easy-A and minimal effort after my successful completion of AP English 11 this past year. I began the year with the utmost confidence in my writing abilities, and believed that my skills were above par. It wasn’t until I received my score on the essay evaluation for my First-Week Essay- a measly five out of twenty- that I realized that this was not the case. At first, I was astonished that my seemingly exceptional writing skills had not earned me the A that I believed I deserved. However, as time went on I came to the realization that I had not put in nearly enough time or effort into the paper to receive more than a C at most.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    5 Paragraph Misconceptions
    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages

    5 Paragraph Misconceptions

    Five-Paragraph Construct To strengthen my misconception of the five paragraph format, I have researched information from articles and books. These sites have been an incredible way of seeing my construct in different points of views. Although I will be including an article that expresses a good feedback of this construct, I have found various facts and opinions that strongly support my misconception. Nonetheless, just because you were taught this inferior format does not mean you will show up to college and be doomed for your English class. The five paragraph construct can help you to be aware of keeping your essay well organized.…

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Homework Persuasive Essay
    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 7 Works Cited

    Homework Persuasive Essay

    I judge that we can all agree that homework is fairly boring and is not interesting. Students do not want to learn or work on something that doesn’t interest them. Also, they may not understand the concept of the topic, so they find it difficult and confusing. Some students lack time management and may have their priorities mixed up. Both of these flaws can interfere with the organization to do homework.…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 7 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Informative Speech: A Persuasive Speech On Procrastination
    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Informative Speech: A Persuasive Speech On Procrastination

    Oh crap, this is due tomorrow! (Sets papers back down). This is known as procrastination, the Webster dictionary defines procrastination as “put off something”. In fact, it has been proven that 25% of people are chronic procrastinators, that do it constantly while there are others who do it every now and then.(University of Buffalo,1) B. CREDIBILITY: Being the procrastinator I am it finally dawned on me to do some research on it and with hours of research,…

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Effects Of Poor Time Management
    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Effects Of Poor Time Management

    So It 's important to know how to administer your schedule, because if you don’t, it will ultimately stop you from being the best student and person you can be. A main problem that many freshmen face is, procrastinating a lot. Procrastination is postponing a task or job for later. As a student, I have experienced this many times, when i 'm working on an assignment, I get distracted by my phone, television, or anything. And, I’m always doing my homework at the last-minute.…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings