CC BY
13
Гуськова Н.В.
Кандидат исторических наук, доцент кафедры английского языка Факультета экономики
НИУ «Высшая школа экономики»
œMPOSITION. EXPOSITION Planning and Writing the Longer Composition
Writing a good expository composition entails many of the same procedures as writing a good paragraph. Like the paragraph, the composition has a central, controlling idea that must be developed by means of smaller, more specific ideas. These specific ideas must be carefully chosen and organized in a logical way, and their relation to each other and to the central idea made clear. Since the idea for a composition is necessarily broader than the main idea of a paragraph, a composition calls for more thought, more planning, and more writing. (A composition is also likely to require reading in books or magazines.)
The main steps in writing a composition are listed below in the order in which they are performed. Each of them is important in successful expository writing. The letters designating the steps correspond to the rules in this chapter.
a. Choosing a subject
b. Limiting a subject
c. Planning the composition
d. Outlining
e. Writing the first draft
f. Revising
g. Writing the final draft
1a. CHOOSING AND LIMITING A SUBJECT Choose a subject that interests you.
Good writing is possible only when you really know your subject. In addition to what you have learned in school, you have a great deal of knowledge that comes from other sources. Your own special interests have already taught you many things. Your interest in places has acquainted you with the people, the sights, and the experiences associated with another town, city, or country. Your hobbies - collecting stamps, coins, stones, or seashells; practicing a musical instrument, singing, or dancing - all these have developed your interests and increased your knowledge. When the time comes to make a choice, such a familiar subject often makes an ideal place to begin.
You should not, of course, limit yourself to subjects you know well already. In addition to familiar material from your own experience, there may be topics that interest you and arouse your curiosity even though you do not know much about them. Such topics may make excellent material for compositions, providing that you are willing to acquire the information necessary to write about them. Writing is an intense and stimulating activity; new ideas that you have mastered sufficiently to write about are likely to become a permanent part of your stock of knowledge and can extend your interests. In other words, writing a composition is not just a way to show what you know already; it can be a way for you to learn new things.
Some compositions that you write will derive completely from your own experience; others will come mainly from reading and investigation. For your first composition, you will probably wish to choose a familiar topic. But give some thought to the other kind of topic as you read books in English and your other classes. Before long, you should have several interesting possibilities for use in later, more ambitious compositions.
EXERCISE 1. Make a list of ten familiar subjects which you could develop into compositions. Submit your list to your teacher for suggestions and comments. Then keep it in your notebook for future use.
EXERCISE 2. Study the following list of subjects. Select five possibilities that you think you would enjoy studying and writing about. You need not limit your selections to this list. For each subject you choose, phrase several questions you think a composition on the subject should answer. Then submit your list to your teacher for suggestions and comments. When you get it back, keep it in your notebook for future use.
EXAMPLE . c . ,, ,
1. Science fiction writers
1. a. Who are the most popular science fiction writers ?
b. Are these writers scientists?
c. Are they hopeful about the future of humanity?
d. What were the earliest science fiction stories about? Have science fiction themes changed?
1. The moon's resources 11 . Collecting records
2. Skin diving 12. Talking to chimps and dolphins
3. Two authors with different 13. The importance of physical fitness
attitudes toward youth 14. Wildlife conservation
4. Nobel Prize winners in literature 15. Computers for use in the home
since 1980 16. Characteristics of science fiction
5. Modern sculpture 17. Popular novels and the movies made
6. The electric car from them
7. Financing your own college 18. New steps in dancing
education 19. Training for the Olympics
8. High school spirit 20. New horizons in science
9. The tragic side of a comic 21. The future of the UN
character in a novel or play 22. How advertisers attract
10. Origins of place names in customers
your area
Limit your subject.
Most of your composition assignments will call for a paper of from 300-500 words, four or five paragraphs. You can see that if you choose a subject like "Skin diving" (about which whole books have been written), you must severely limit your treatment of it to some specific aspect of the sport to avoid uttering meaningless generalities. Even one aspect - how Jacques Cousteau and Emil Gagnan invented scuba diving equipment for the French Navy during World War II -offers more to write about than can be covered by a short composition.
In fact, whenever possible, choose only a part of the subject. Better still, choose part of that part; then treat the matter thoroughly, refusing to be content with merely repeating what everybody knows about the subject already.
(1) Limit your topic to one part of the subject
Notice how the following general topics may be subdivided into more limited topics. Any of these might be covered fully in a short composition, whereas the general topic, before being cut down, would demand several more pages of development. Think of the general topic as the title of a book and each of the subtopics as the chapters. Your composition then would make a very short chapter or even a part of a chapter.
GENERAL TOPIC Skin diving
SPECIFIC TOPICS
1. Nitrogen poisoning: what it is and how to avoid it
2. Are sharks really dangerous?
3. The advantages of the wet suit
4. Scuba diving in nearby Marion Pond
GENERAL TOPIC Movie stars
SPECIFIC TOPICS
1. Have the top movie stars attended drama school?
2. How do movie stars prepare for each movie?
3. How do movie stars feel about their fans?
4. What happens to young movie stars when they grow up?
GENERAL TOPIC Walking
SPECIFIC TOPICS
1. Walking for exercise
2. What to look for when walking through the woods
3. Last summer's disastrous hike to Elk Creek
4. Walking in the city
EXERCISE 3. For five of the following general topics, write three specific subtopics that are suitably limited for a short composition.
1. Cars
2. s 6. Popularity and unpopularity
. p 7. Things I wish were different
3Family life 8. World leaders
4O^r ,town 9. Women athletes
5. Clothes 10. Technology
(2) State the purpose of your composition.
You can see from the examples above that it is hard to limit your subject without at the same time indicating what you are going to say about it. Now is the time to make your purpose even clearer and more definite. Since almost every subject can be treated in a number of ways, a clear statement of how you intend to treat it helps you choose the ideas to use in your composition. Notice how the following topic admits four different purposes.
GENERAL TOPIC Jogging
SPECIFIC TOPICS The popularity of jogging
To amuse My purpose is to show the ridiculous side of jogging
enthusiasts, such as the funny outfits these people wear, the expensive prices they pay for sneakers, and the pain they endure in a "healthful" sport. To inform My purpose is to show the difference in the quality and price of
running shoes.
To persuade My purpose is to persuade people that jogging is an easy way to
lose weight and get into shape. To impress My purpose is to convey the feeling of triumph achieved after
jogging farther than expected. EXERCISE 4. Select five of the following general topics, and list, for each, three limited topics suitable for a short composition. Each of the limited topics should lend itself to a
EdiAeMPLEne of the ffighpadpaxsles [generahtopse] (2) to inform, (3) to persuade, (4) to impress. After each topic, wni&WetpurpmmyouithiaMt drying in writingoaboufc it.
The intramural program to inform
More privileges for students to persuade
1. Money 6. Travel
2. Television 7. Jewelry
3. Books 8. Food
4. Hobbies 9. Movies
5. Politics 10. Pets
(3) Choose a title that reflects your purpose.
Once you have limited your subject to suitable length and drafted your statement of purpose, the title may suggest itself as a matter of course. A good title gives both subject and purpose in one phrase. It excites the reader's interest and suggests what to expect. Take, for example, the sample topic given above, "The Popularity of Jogging." Some possible titles are
1. "Jogging - Flashy Outfits and Sore Feet" [to amuse]
2. "Dollars and Sense About Running Shoes" [to inform]
3. "Run Today for a Healthful Tomorrow" [to persuade]
4. "The Happiness of Long-distance Jogging" [to impress]
If you cannot immediately think of the right tide, it is no great matter. You will probably think of a suitable one later. The next step is far more important, for now you are asked to do most of the thinking that will go into your composition.
1b. PLANNING THE COMPOSITION Plan your composition before writing it.
Planning a composition involves four steps: listing your ideas, grouping them under a few main headings, putting your ideas in proper order, and preparing an outline.
(1) List all the ideas you can think of that bear upon the subject and purpose of the composition.
The first step in planning a composition is to list on paper all the ideas you have on the subject. Write down these ideas as rapidly as they come to you without any regard for their order or importance. Later there will be plenty of time to rephrase and organize them. The important thing at present is to tap the reservoir of the mind for its freshest and most vivid impressions, notions, and memories on the subject and to get these down on paper. At first, the flow of ideas is likely to be strong, but before long - unless you happen to be very well acquainted with the subject - the flow will dwindle and then stop altogether. When this happens, you need not be content with what you have. If the subject is not entirely personal, you can replenish the flow by referring to a good encyclopedia or by reading a magazine article or by talking with your parents or friends or by interviewing a local authority about the subject.
Suppose, for example, you were assigned the topic "My Favorite Outdoor Activity" and asked to write a paper of 300-500 words. With this topic in mind, how would you limit it? What would your purpose be in writing it? Suppose your favorite outdoor activity is exploring caves. Try the title "Exploring Caves Is an Interesting Outdoor Activity." Unfortunately, this title sounds rather commonplace and would probably lead you to list why cave exploration is fun and
good exercise - topics that make cave exploring sound like any other outdoor activity. Think more deeply about the uniqueness of cave exploring. What makes it different from other sports and hobbies? Suppose that you are struck suddenly with the fact that the most fascinating aspects of exploring caves are the discomforts and even dangers people risk in order to crawl around in a cave's cramped passageways. Almost immediately you realize that caves hold some sort of unusual attraction for many people, and that writing about this attraction would make an interesting composition topic. Having made this decision, you draft your statement of purpose.
My purpose is to explain why people risk danger to explore the dark, mysterious world of caves.
A title then comes to mind:
Cave Exploring - A Trip into Darkness and Danger
Next you open your notebook and settle yourself to recording every idea, impression, and recollection about exploring caves that bears upon the subject and purpose. This list, which will constitute the raw material of your composition, is not solely the product of one session of silent thought but also grows out of reading, talks with fellow cave explorers, and other investigations (in this case, a trip to the library or a call or letter to an organization of cave explorers). For the sample topic the following list might be jotted down.
PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS
1. The darkness of caves
2. The sense of timelessness in a cave
3. The preservation of footsteps in a cave's protected atmosphere
4. The beauty of cave formations
5. Appeal to the senses - crisp sounds, pure air
6. Animal life in caves- insects and bats
7. Temperature of caves- coldness and dampness
8. Cracks in ceilings - water seeping through
9. Equipment needed for cave exploration
10. Graffiti in caves and my anger at it
INVESTIGATION
1. Formation of caves - geology
2. Limestone mountains in the South
3. The growing popularity of cave exploring and the effect of more people on a cave's ecology
4. Appeal of darkness in caves
5. Stalactites and stalagmites-magnificent formations
6. Dangers - flash floods and unmarked passages
7. Age of caves in the United States
8. Experienced explorers descent in groups
9. Rock-climbing experience a requirement?
10. Physical requirements - strength for climbing and crawling
11. Caving community - national society of cave explorers
12. Common cave accidents
EXERCISE 5. For one of the topics chosen, draft a statement of purpose and select a suitable title. List as many items (facts, details, examples, incidents, impressions, reasons, recollections, etc.) as you can think of to develop the topic into a composition of from 300-500 words. Try to avoid repetition.
(2) Organize your list of ideas under a few main headings.
The second step is to scrutinize your list in order to sort out the three or four major ideas under which everything else may be included. Call these the main headings. These headings will be the major steps in the unfolding of your explanation. Under each of these headings, you will group whatever examples, incidents, facts, or observations are necessary to develop the main heading clearly.
For the sample list on the topic "My Favorite Outdoor Activity," sorting out the main headings is easy because the writer has decided to record every aspect about cave exploration that may appeal to someone. The writer's purpose and sense of what is most appealing and what is least appealing about cave exploration suggest an order of headings.
I. Dangers of caving
II. Cave's beauty and appeal to senses
III. Record of earth's history inside a cave
IV. Appeal of caves to human need for adventure
EXERCISE 6. Examine the list of materials you prepared for Exercise 5. Look for relationships between the items. What general heading is suggested by several specific details? Formulate three or four main headings. If you have difficulty finding or phrasing these, it may be that you do not have enough material to develop your composition. If that is the case, give your initial list of materials more thought.
(3)Place your ideas in their proper order.
The third step is to arrange the main headings into the order in which you will discuss them in your composition. Usually this order will suggest itself merely from an examination of the main ideas in the light of your purpose. An argument, for example, proceeds logically - usually from least important argument to most important or vice versa. An explanation goes from simple to complex, and a description from small to large or from near to far, etc. The idea for the sample topic, an explanation of the appeal of cave exploration, should proceed from the simplest or least important appeal to the most complex or most important appeal. Any composition is clearest when its elements are arranged in the right order; it is your task as the writer to determine what that order is.
Experiment with the raw material of your own list. Rearrange the items under your main topic until each has found its proper place and appears to belong nowhere else. Some will have to be rephrased, others combined, and still others - that cannot be fitted in anywhere or are too long and complicated to be treated adequately - will have to be eliminated entirely. EXERCISE 7. With the various orders in mind - order of time, order of position, order of simple to complex, and order of importance - examine the main ideas you formulated for Exercise 6, and place them in the most effective order. Be able to explain or to defend the position of each topic.
(4)Make a topic outline.
What you have so far produced is an outline. A formal topic outline differs from this only in form. The various items in a topic outline (main topics and subtopics) are single words or phrases, not complete sentences, and are arranged so that the main ideas stand out. Observe the rules for form in making a topic outline.
(1) Place the title and the statement of purpose above the outline.
(2) Use Roman numerals for the main topics. Subtopics are given capital letters, then Arabic numerals, then small letters, then Arabic numerals in parentheses, then small letters in parentheses.
I. main topic A } subtopics of I
Correct Outline Form
B.
1. } subtopics of B.
2.
a. } subtopics of 2.
b.
(1) } subtopics of b.
(2)
(a) } subtopics of 2.
(b)
II. main topic
(3) Indent subtopics. Indentions should be made so that all letters or numbers of the same kind will come directly under one another in a vertical line.
(4) There must always be more than one subtopic because subtopics are divisions of the topic above them. When you subdivide, after all, you must have at least two parts.
If you find yourself wanting to use a single subtopic, rewrite the topic above it so that this "sub-idea" is included in the main topic.
NONSTANDARD D Th . d f F h 1t,
D. The study of French culture
STANDARD 1. The study of the French language
D. The study of French culture and language
(5)For each number or letter in an outline, there must be a topic.
Never place an A, for instance, next to I or 1 like this: IA or A1.
(6) A subtopic must belong under the main topic beneath which it is placed. It must be closely related to the topic above it.
(7) Begin each topic and subtopic with a capital letter. You should not place a period after a topic because it is not a complete sentence.
(8) The terms introduction, body, and conclusion should never be included in the outline.
Of course, you may have an introduction and a conclusion in your composition, but these terms themselves are not topics you intend to discuss.
EXERCISE 8. Copy carefully the skeleton outline given at the right below and place each of the items in the list at the left in its proper position in the outline.
Bike Riding I. Equipment
A.
B.
C.
Greater endurance Races
No wasted energy Safety helmet Long tours
Stronger knees and legs Short errands Ten-kilometer races Five-kilometer races
Greater lung capacity No traffic jams Locks
Ten-speed bike No auto pollution
II. Types of bicycle trips
A.
B.
C.
1. 2.
III. Advantages of bicycles over cars
A.
B.
C.
IV. Healthful benefits of bicycling
A.
B.
C.
EXERCISE 9. Prepare a detailed topic outline for the materials you developed in Exercises 5, 6, and 7. If this topic has been unsatisfactory, select a new one from the list in your notebook.
Sample Topic Outline
CAVE EXPLORING - A TRIP INTO DARKNESS AND DANGER
Statement of purpose:
To explain why people risk danger to explore the dark, mysterious world of caves
I. Dangers for cave explorers
A. Unmarked passages
B. Flash floods
C. Exploring alone
D. Being out of condition
II. Cave's appeal to senses
A. Cool, clean air
B. Crispness of sounds
C. Beautiful formations
1. Stalactities
2. Stalagmites
III. Geology of caves
A. Southern caves in limestone mountains
B. Water tables over centuries
C. Markings etched onto cave walls by water
IV. Caves as frontiers of exploration
A. Similarity to astronauts' mission
B. Similarity to pioneers' adventure
1c. WRITING THE COMPOSITION
With your outline before you, write the first draft of your composition.
If you have been conscientious about the preceding steps, you will find that many of the problems of writing have bean solved in advance. You know your topic and your purpose in writing about it. You have assembled the necessary material and have arranged it in the correct order for presentation. Now you can concentrate on the matter of how to say it: paragraphing, word choice, sentence structure, and transitions. These problems can best be understood in relation to the three parts of a composition - introduction, body, and conclusion.
The Introduction
Neither the introduction nor the conclusion of a composition appears as a heading in a topic outline. The outline is concerned only with the body of a composition. It is important, nevertheless, to make the right kind of beginning and ending.
The introduction should give the reader a preview of what the composition is about. It should clearly indicate the topic and your purpose in writing about it. In a short composition, the introduction may consist of only a sentence in the first paragraph. In longer compositions it is a good idea to allow a short paragraph for this purpose.
The Body
The body is the heart of the composition. It fulfills the promise of the introduction and consists of as many good paragraphs as may be needed to develop the topic. The nature of your subject and your purpose will determine the exact length of the body of your composition. As a general guide, however, you may think of the body as occupying about three fourths of your space and consisting of from two or three paragraphs for a short composition of 250 words to six or eight paragraphs for a longer one of 1,000 words.
Usually you consider the paragraph as a single unit of thought. Except for practice assignments in school, most pieces of writing consist of a number of paragraphs. So it is with the whole composition.
As you write your first draft, you must decide at which points new paragraphs must be started. The way you paragraph should show your reader the successive stages of your thinking. It may be that you can devote one paragraph in your composition to each of the main headings in
your topic outline. This simple solution works out well in shorter compositions. In longer compositions, however, you will often find that you need to devote a paragraph to certain important subheadings in your outline. In any case, each of your paragraphs should be built around a single idea or aspect of your main topic. Every time you take up a new idea, begin a new paragraph. Do not start a new paragraph without a good reason for doing so.
The Conclusion
One way to end a composition is simply to stop writing. Although this method is an easy one, it has the disadvantage of suggesting that you have given up. A better way to end a composition is by recalling the purpose of the composition as expressed in the introduction and by summing up the information you have set forth in developing your topic. The conclusion may be only a few sentences or it may be a whole paragraph. In either case, it should tell your reader that you have completed your composition, not abandoned it.
Transitions Between Paragraphs
In a good composition the current of thought flows smoothly from introduction to conclusion. It is not interrupted by the divisions between paragraphs but is helped easily over these divisions by certain transitional devices. By their use, the writer informs the reader how the idea of the paragraph just ended connects to the idea of the paragraph just beginning.
Linking expressions as transitional devices
therefore on the contrary
in spite of this on the other hand
consequently after all
accordingly such
as a result of this likewise
similarly furthermore
besides in the next place
nevertheless however
as might be expected meanwhile
an example of this soon
finally in other words
lastly in addition
also then again
... And so day after day the drought continued.
On the thirtieth day, however, the wind changed. It blew cool against the face and carried a faint breath of something new . . . . . . scientists found that dolphins were intelligent.
An example of this intelligence is the way in which dolphins once avenged themselves upon fishermen. A fishing boat in the Pacific had killed several dolphins. The next day about two hundred dolphins surrounded the fishing boat, stranding the fishermen aboard. ... it was the hottest day of the year.
The mayor, accordingly, declared a heat emergency.
Pronouns as transitional devices
EXAMPLE
. . . The child was overly nervous too. He started violently at unexpected noises and cried piteously when left alone.
This was not the worst burden on his mother, however . . .
Repetition of key words
EXAMPLES ... What is more, the car will accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in only five seconds.
This blistering acceleration, however, is not its best feature... ... A further advantage of using the play by Lorraine Hansberry is that it would require only a small cast of talented actors.
Having a small cast would allow us to increase our profits by at least 10 percent, a major goal since we are donating the proceeds to charity. Since our overhead costs . . .
1d. REVISING THE COMPOSITION
Revise your first draft
Shakespeare is supposed to have written whole plays and changed only a few lines. Unfortunately, that is not the way it goes for most of us. Most of the time, our second thoughts are better than our first ones; a thoughtful and critical reading of our first drafts produces a clearer and stronger final draft.
If possible, lay your first draft aside for a while before you begin the process of revision. Revising is different from writing; it requires a little detachment, which the passage of time helps you to achieve. The object in revision is to see the composition as much as possible through the eyes of a reader. Look for trouble: sentences that are awkwardly constructed; ideas that are not clearly expressed; errors in capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Make whatever changes seem necessary. Do not hesitate to rewrite or add whole paragraphs. The checklist that follows will serve as a guide for revision. The important matter of writing the final draft is discussed immediately following the checklist for revision.
COMPOSITION CHECKLIST
1. Does your introduction contain a clear statement of purpose?
2. Does each paragraph have only one main idea?
3. Are the main ideas developed by a variety of methods factual details, concrete details, examples, reasons, and so forth?
4. Do you use transitions to bridge gaps between paragraphs?
5. Is each main idea in the composition related to the topic as a whole?
6. Does your composition follow a logical order of development?
7. Is your final draft free from errors in capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure, spelling, word choice, and grammar?
8. Is your title interesting and suggestive of the main idea in your composition?
Write the final draft.
A composition requires a considerable amount of effort. By the time you come to the preparation of the final draft, most of this work is behind you. Your main concern now is to put your composition in a neat and attractive form that reflects the thought and care you have devoted to the whole undertaking. Follow the instructions for manuscript preparation in Chapter 23 or the specific instructions that your teacher gives you.
The final draft of the composition you have seen taking lhape throughout this chapter is on pages 308-10. Read it through, noting the general organization, the adherence to the outline (page 302), the paragraphing, the use of transitional expressions, and the divisions into introduction, body, and conclusion.
EXERCISE 10. Read the following high school composition and discuss in class the following points:
1. The statement of purpose in the introduction
2. The topic sentence of each paragraph
3. The paragraph divisions. Is each paragraph the development of a main heading in the topic outline, or is the composition differently arranged?
4. The transitional devices that link one paragraph to another
5. The conclusion. What does it accomplish?
CAVE EXPLORING - A TRIP INTO DARKNESS AND DANGER
Caves are dark, cold tunnels inhabited by bats, lizards, insects, and eyeless fish - weird, colorless creatures that have never seen sunlight. Little from the world above can penetrate the black space of caves, except for water that oozes through cracks, occasional threads of light that sneak between rocks -and human beings who descend bravely into the dark. Every year, more and more people become interested in the unique hobby of cave exploring.
What lures them into the murky depths? What pleasure do they get from crawling along narrow, jagged passages? As this paper will explain, they are searching for adventure
- introduction
statement of purpose
and for a strange beauty unknown in the "upper" world of light.
For would-be adventurers, cave exploring offers unusual dangers. Cave passages are seldom marked; therefore, it is quite easy to lose all sense of direction. Water often fills caves during flash floods, drowning anyone inside. Because of these dangers, explorers must never risk entering a cave alone. They also must be in good physical condition because maneuvering inside a cave requires the strength for climbing and crawling.
Once the explorer enters a cave's deep vaults, however, all the difficulties seem worthwhile. Cave air is cool and clean. Sounds echo crisply through the vast emptiness. Magnificent rock creations, shaped over centuries by drops of water seeping through the earth, dominate the interior. Like exotic sculptures in a secret museum, formations called stalactites droop ominously from a cave's ceiling, while stalagmites rise in massive pointed shapes from the floor. For the cave explorer, the underground is a hidden realm of beauty.
Many explorers know another secret hidden inside caves: a sense of intimacy with earth's geologic past. The caves of the Carolinas and Georgia, for example, were originally formed out of limestone mountains. They were created by water tables - levels of water in the ground - that rose and fell over centuries, slowly dissolving the limestone bases of the mountains. The high, dry spaces left when, the waters receded are the caves we know today. The explorer sees these water markings etched into the cave's floors and walls. They are vivid reminders of earth's transformation and development
Even more impressive than a cave's beauty or its record of the past is its pull on the human imagination. A cave is a frontier of adventure, a last unexplored wilderness. Like an astronaut, a cave explorer is a wanderer into an alien world. Every "caver" has the pioneer dreams of being the first to find a new passageway, and to take a fresh step into an undiscovered cavern. It is this call of the unknown that lures an explorer into the earth's depths - to enter a world conclusion where space, darkness, and the human imagination join together.
body
main topic I dangers
transition main topic II appeal to senses
transition
main topic III geology
transition
main topic IV frontier of exploration
conclusion
Topics for Compositions
The topics listed below are intended as suggestions. If you find one that you could use if it were changed slightly, change the topic to suit your wishes. Word your own title.
The Arts Personal Opinions and Experiences
1. The secret of taking fine photographs
1. Favorite rock groups
2. A good (bad) movie
3. Ceramics
2. How to refinish antique furniture
4. Understanding modern art
3. A musical instrument anyone can learn to play
5. Ballet vs. gymnastics
4.The training of an actor (actress) 10. Designing and building a stage set
10. Lighting principles
11. The dress rehearsal
11. Qualities of a good magazine writer
12. How to listen to music
12. What's great about great painting?
13. The origins of jazz
17. Interior decoration
18. Careers in fashion design
19. The use of watercolor
20. Modern film making
21. The art of sculpture
Literature
1. A great American playwright
2.Antigone and Ismene - sisters but opposites
3.The importance of the minor characters in a Shakespearean play
4.Some differences between Shakespeare's language and today's English
5. Shakespeare's sources
6.Some special features of the Elizabethan stage
7.Two very different poems on the same theme
8. A great American poet 8.Conflicting views of life as represented by
two fictional characters
10. The novel as a force for social reform
11. The case against (or for) censorship
12. The qualities of a good short story
10. From book to movie
11. How to read a poem
1. Moods that I can't help
2. On following the crowd
3. My chief ambition
4. My favorite meal
5. A look at my personality
6. On sophistication
7. Embarrassing experiences
1.The season that best suits my temperament
2. First impressions are rarely the best. 10.What I want to be
11. Sports bore me.
12. I would like to redesign myself.
13. The uses and misuses of make-up
14. What is it to be mature?
15. My finest hour
16. What the UN means to me
17. What does it mean to be true to yourself?
18.Three ways to overcome anxiety
19. Do manners make a difference?
20. The uses of adversity
21. "The world is too much with us..."
22. Why I hate winter (etc.)
23. Status-seeking among high school students
24. Three quick and easy routes to unpopularity
25. What is a really great person?
26. My bank account problems
27. A pleasant journey
28. My prejudices
29. Some people simply amaze me!
30. My happiest surprise
31. How to endure a terrifying exam
32. On being a big sister (brother)
33. A look into the future
34. The friends around me
35. Dealing with the weather
36. On being a nuisance
37. My greatest triumph
38. Daydreaming and the troubles it has caused me
39. The person I admire most
Right Around Home
1. Our family customs
2.Why my parents annoy (or criticize) me
3. Sunday dinner
4. Our favorite family holiday
5. Wait till I have my own family!
6. The family car
7. Trials and tribulations of moving
8.Discipline and what it does to (or for) me
9. Two relatives too many
10. Ancestors as only I could know them
11. Chores that bore me
12. Guests who I wish would stay longer
13. Street games
14. "To Grandmother's house we go. . ."
15. My dream house
16. Waiting for the doctor 17.Our worst accident
18.Our furniture
19. Backyard pests
20. Our family album
21. Landlords .are often human
22. A room of my own
19. Our block is a tight little world.
23. Educational television
20. Things that get lost around the house
24. Network television
25. Neighborhood sounds
School
1.Fighting your way up the ladder
2.How to make grades and lose friends
3. Teachers' problems
4. My favorite seat
5. A trip to the infirmary
6.Waiting in line
7."Miles to go before I sleep..."
8. On spelling
9. Suggested changes in the curriculum
10. Winning an election
11. Schools I have attended
12. My favorite subject
10. Arguments for (or against) studying foreign languages
11. Advantages of the honor system
13. Once I tried to bluff...
12. Trying out for the class play
14. Teachers' odd habits
15. A system for homework
16. My locker
13. High schools in the U.S. and in another country
14. Students come in three varieties. 17. Appropriate school dress
15. Who can determine what is proper?
16. My happiest (unhappiest) school experience
1. Raising hamsters
2.Collections and how to arrange things
3. Just loafing around the house
4. An educational hobby
5.Small repairs that become big headaches
6. Bicycling
7. My favorite animal
8. Church work
9. How to spend a rainy Sunday
10. Friendship by mail
11. On learning to play chess
12. The game I play best
13. The do-it-yourself craze
14. What I do in my spare time
15. Training a dog
16. Low-cost cameras
13. The fascination of bird watching
17. Fun on water-skis
18. Ham radio
19. Teaching karate
14. Horror movies, or why is it fun to be scared?
15. The discriminating window- shopper
20. Television commercials
21. The unobserved observer
16. Organize your own rock group.
17. Quick and easy ways to spoil a child
18. A lexicon of high school slang
19. On collecting a library of classical music
22. Profitable activities
23. On tour with the family
24. Wind surfing
Far and Wide
1. The country fair
2. On the boardwalk
3.Customs I have observed in other people
4. Our strange neighbors
5. Virtue is rewarded.
6. How to enjoy an illness
7. To the moon and beyond
8. On borrowing and lending
9. On being lost
Hobbies and Leisure Time Activities
10. The art of fishing
11. On mountain climbing
12. Outdoor decorations 13.On looking up at the stars
Science
1. Pollution control
2. The Ice Age in North America
3. To Mars and beyond 4.Oceanography - an exciting new science
5. Why birds migrate
6.Rocks - the record of the earth's history
7. The exploding universe
8. The possibility of life in outer space
9. The uses of the laser beam
10. The dangers of insecticides
11. Easy experiments for the home workshop
12. Hybridization - a way to bigger crops
13. A conservation project
14. The great sequoias of California
15. Landing on the moon
16. An endangered species
Social Problems
1. The threat of war
2. The Peace Corps
3. The balance of trade
4. Why vote?
5. The move to small cars
6. Air pollution
7. Stream pollution
8. How to improve our schools
9. What is inflation?
10. Fewer and fewer farm jobs
11. The blessing (curse) of presidential primaries
12. Discrimination
13. The need for more city parks
14. How Congress passes a law
15. Teen-agers and cars
16. The age of anxiety
17. Overcrowded schools
18. The continuing fight for civil rights
19. The nonmedical and scientific uses of drugs
20. The promise of urban renewal
21. Our plundered natural resources
22. The future of Africa
23. Are demonstrations effective?
24. Juvenile delinquency
25. The chief problem of my home town
26. Population control
27. A bigger defense budget
28. Problems of welfare
29. Family size
30. Freedom of the individual
31. A cure for unemployment
32. Our changing cities
33. Why we have strikes
