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Americanism, more than just a word, it’s a way of life. In my seventeen years of living in the U.S., I have learned what it means to be an American. To me being an American is living in a country where freedom and liberty aren’t just a dream. Americanism is freedom, family, comfort, shelter, and equality.

Being an American is something to be proud of. Americanism is full of rights and privileges.We, as Americans, have the right to vote, to go to school, to practice religion their own way, to say what they need to say, and to not be subject to cruel and unusual punishments. We also have many privileges such as welfare and other forms of financial and physical aides. Many Americans take advantage of their rights and privileges and use them to an extreme. This isn’t what being an American is all about.

Another vital point of Americanism is tradition. Pastimes play a big part in the American way of life. Baseball games, family picnics, and just enjoying the company of people we care about are many common pastimes; yet, many Americans have their own pastimes. There are plenty of other traditions that show Americanism, such as celebrating our Independence Day, saluting our lost veterans with a 21-gun salute, proper care and display of our flag, and proudly showing symbols of our country.

Being an American also means the strength to ban together in times of need and war. True Americanism comes from the heart. It takes pride and strength to stick together and to love one another. It takes a true American to say that you actually care about your neighbors and your fellow countrymen.

All the parents that urged their children to eat because it was healthy were right. Broccoli contains the mustard oil, sulforaphane, that can also be found in kale and Brussels sprouts. Sulforaphane causes the body to make an enzyme that attack cancer-causing carcinogens, this enzyme also speeds up the work of the kidneys so they can flush the harmful chemicals out of the body; other vegetables have similar benefits, but not like broccoli or other leafy vegetables. Thus wise people eat broccoli, it could save their lives.

1. Disburse- to pay out (money), esp. for expenses; expend.

2. Cadre- the key group of officers and enlisted personnel necessary to establish and train a new military unit.

3. Indigenous- innate; inherent; natural.

4. Penultimate- next to the last.

5.Filibuster- the use of irregular or obstructive tactics by a member of a legislative assembly to prevent the adoption of a measure generally favored or to force a decision against the will of the majority.

6. Finesse- extreme delicacy or subtlety in action, performance, skill, discrimination, taste, etc.

7.  Caucus- a meeting of party leaders to select candidates, elect convention delegates, etc.

8. Referendum- the principle or practice of referring measures proposed or passed by a legislative body to the vote of the electorate for approval or rejection.

9. Marginalizing- to place in a position of marginal importance, influence, or power: the government’s attempts to marginalize criticism and restore public confidence.

10. Morass- a tract of low, soft, wet ground.

Klein, Joe. “When Bad Missions Happen to Good Generals.” Time 22 Jan. 2007: 25.

Allen, Mike. “Looking For The Restart Button.” Time 22 Jan. 2007: 26-27.

Tumulty, Karen. “Inside Man.” Time 22 Jan. 2007: 28-29.

Isaacson, Walter. “The Women’s Channel.” Time 22 Jan. 2007: 31.

    In the modern world, many people consider themselves individualistic nonconformists; however, they are really some of the biggest conformists society has ever known. Being “different” has spawned into a growing trend. People have tendencies to act out and dress in strange ways to show that they are not conforming. This is now becoming a fad and is really becoming the most conformist thing to do.

   In this trend, people (usually teenage children) are becoming something other than what they normally would be. They tend to be outlandish and loud. In some cases, the people revert into themselves and stay away from the other “popular” people. However; in any case, the person is not being everything they want because they are trying to hard to avoid anything that other people like.

    People who are joining this trend are dressing as unusually as they act. These people are wearing dark colors matched with unbelievably bright colors. They wear anything that will set them apart from everyone else in the crowd. They crave the attention it brings but just claim to be “themselves.”

   There are many trends around already, but these people refuse to follow them. Instead they are creating their own trends. They are getting back into old trends and “making them their own.” Like previously stated, they dress to stand out and get attention, therefore they refuse to wear what is commonly seen in large groups of people. Sometimes, but not commonly, you’ll see a few similarly dressed “nonconformists” grouped together. If you see a group of these teenagers, they are at a mall or out somewhere doing something strange or destructive. Normally though, you will see one of them and they will simply be minding their own business or shopping in different stores buying the things they think no one in their area has.

    Most of these teens, tend to not be themselves truly. They strive so hard for the attention and crave to be different that they forget who they are and what they really like.  They hide their real likes and dislikes from people in fear that they will be labeled according  to what they like. They are truly die hard about what they think will make them different. They don’t want to blend in with the crowd, but with the growing amount of teenagers joining this popular trend they are becoming part of a whole new mass of “individualists.”

    It’s a terribly confusing human conditions. If they chose to be different, they should live their lives enjoying all the things that make them happy. They would truly we different if they like what they liked and didn’t care what everyone else thought about them. Being different is what a person makes it, not following some trend and being a “nonconformist.” Trying that hard to be different is something that really sets you in with the crowd. Everyone is going to like something that someone else likes, not everyone is the same though. It’s impossible to be completely different.  Every one conforms to a certain level, but the nonconformist way of life is a trend.

Thesis: In the modern world, many people consider themselves individualistic nonconformists; however, they are really some of the biggest conformists society has ever known.

I. The growing trend of being different

     A. Acting out

     B. Dressing strangely

 II. Starting “new” trends

        A. Dressing “differently”

        B. Developing old trends

        C. Refusing to wear things other people are wearing

        D. Doing unusual things

        E. Being Outstandish

III. Changing themselves

     A.  Trying not to blend in

     B. Not conforming

     C. Not being themselves in order to become popular while still being “different”

Conclusion: Every one conforms to a certain level, but the nonconformist way of life is a trend.

In the modern world, many people consider themselves individualistic nonconformists, however, in turn they are really being some of the biggest conformists society has ever known.

An example is a single item drawn from a larger group to which it belongs. An example is also often viewed as one of a number of specific cases in which a generalization turns out to be true. Smog is one of many possible examples of pollution. Chicken pox is an example of a childhood disease. The egg yolk on Bill’s necktie is an example of sloppy eating habits. The bald eagle is an example that backs up the generalization that endangered species can sometimes be preserved. The French Reign of Terror is an example that supports the idea that violent revolutions often bring about further violence. (The preceding five sentences are a good paper of examples.)

It’s hard to write a good paper of any kind without using at least some examples. Examples clarify a writer’s thought by bringing remote abstractions down to earth:

The American Civil War was not all the romantic valor we read about in storybooks. It was the horrors of trench warfare, the medical nightmare of wholesale amputations, and for the south, at least, the agony of slow starvation.

Examples also add interest: The most humdrum generalization can take on new life if supported by effective examples. Specific details described in specific language are at the heart of almost all good writing, and examples by their very nature are specific:

Professor Smathers’ course in Shakespeare was the worst I have ever taken. Once We spent a whole week listening to students recite -or mumble- sonnets they had been forced to memorize. Another time Professor Smathers devoted an entire period to attacking one of the footnotes in our edition of Hamlet. And I never understood the true meaning of boredom until the great day that I heard him discourse on Shakespeare’s preference for daisies over roses.

Examples help persuade. Without the help of examples, many perfectly valid statements can be percieved as dismal echoes of ideas the author has heard somewhere but has never though about seriously. If the writer of the following paragraph had omittied the example, there would be no way to evaluate the merits of the complaint:

Routine city service are in a terrible state. The freeway from West 50th Street to the Downtown exit has been filled with gaping chuckholes since early spring. Rat-infested, condemned, and abandoned buildings still line Water Street despite the three-year-old promises to tear them down. Last week the papers reported the story of a man who called the police about a burglar entering his home-and got a busy signal.

An example essay is one that relies on examples to support its thesis. The ordinary pattern for an example essay is elementary, though bear in mind that no pattern should be followed blindly. A first paragraph presents the thesis. A varying number of paragraphs-depending on the subject, complexity of thesis, and material available to the writer- then establishes through examples the validity of the thesis. A concluding paragraph reinforces or advances the thesis. The pattern seems simple, and it is.

What isn’t quite so simple is seeing to it that all the examples are relevant and persuasive.

Are There Enough Examples to Support Your Thesis?

Three examples may sometimes be enough. A hundred may be too few (an in that case you’ve made a poor choice of thesis for an example essay). Common sense is your best guide. Three in-depth examples of overly sentimental deathbed scenes from Dickens’ novels may be enough to establish that Dickens had trouble with deathbed scenes. A hundred examples of middle-aged men with protruding stomachs will not even begin to establish that most middle-aged men have potbellies. As a general rule for a paper of five hundred words or so, choose a thesis that can be supported adequately with no more than fifteen examples, unless your instructor tells you otherwise. Don’t use fewer than three examples unless you’re extremely confident about the virtues of your paper. Remember, too, that the fewer the examples, the more fully each needs to be developed.

Are the Examples Fairly Chosen?

Your reader must be convinced that the examples represent a reasonable cross-section of the group you’re dealing with. Choose typical example. Anyone can load the dice. You may have an imposing number of dramatic examples showing that the downtown business area of a city is deserted and dying, but if you drew all the examples from only one street or from visiting the area on a Sunday afternoon, you would not have played fair. Plan your paper with the notion of a cross-section constantly in mind. If you’re generalizing about teachers in your school, try to pick examples from different departments, age groups, sexes, and so on. If you’re attacking television commercials, make sure your examples include significantly different products; otherwise, you might wind up convincing your reader that only ads for soaps and detergents are bad.

Have You Stuck to Your Thesis?

One way of losing sight of your thesis has just been described. Poorly selected examples, besides creating an impression of unfairness, may support only part of the thesis; on writer demonstrates that only a single block is deserted and dying, not the whole downtown area; another shows that commercials about laundry products are offensive, not commercials in general.

A second, but equally common way of drifitng off is to forget you are writing an example paper. A writer starts out well by providing examples establishing the idea that “routine city services are in a terrible state.” Halfway through the paper, the writer gets sidetracked into a discussion of the causes for this condition and the steps the average citizen can take to remedy it. The writer thus manages to produce a paper that’s 50 percent irrelevant to the declared thesis.

Have You Arranged Your Examples to Produce the Greatest Impact?

In planning your paper, you’ve limited your subject, developed a thesis, and jotted down many examples. You’ve eliminated irrelevant and illogical examples. Now how do you handle those that are left? Which comes first? Which comes last?

Unless you’re superhuman, some of the examples you’re going to use will be clearly superior to others. As a general principle, try to start off with a bang. Grab the attention of your reader as soon as possible with your most dramatic or shocking or amusing or disturbing example. If you have tow unusually effective examples, so much the better. Save one for last: Try to end with a bang too.

A large number of exceptionally strong examples can also lead to a common variation on the orthodox pattern of devoting the first paragraph to a presentation of the thesis. Use the first paragraph instead to present one of the strongest examples. (Humorous anecdotes often work particularly well.) Stimulate curiosity. Arouse interest. The present the thesis in the second paragraph before going on to the other examples.

Paragraphing itself is important throughout the essay to help the reader understand the nature of your material and the logic of your argument. With a few well-developed examples, there’s no problem. Each should get a paragraph to itself. With a great number of examples, however, there’s some potential for difficulties. Each example will probably be short-one or two sentences, let’s say- because you’re writing an essay of only a few hundred words, not a term paper. If each of these short examples gets a separate paragraph, the paper is likely to be extremely awkward and choppy to read. But even without burden, the physical appearance alone of the page can bother most readers: Before getting to the actual reading, they will have thought of the paper as a collection of separate sentences and thoughts rather than as a unified composition.

The solution to this paragraphing problem is to gather the many examples together into a few logical groups and write a paragraph for each group, not for each example. Suppose you have fifteen good examples of declining city services. Instead of writing fifteen one-sentence paragraphs, you observe that four examples involve transportation; five, safety; three, housing; and the rest, pollution and sanitation. Your paragraphing problems are over.

 1. Thesis: Routine city services are in a terrible state.

2. Transportation

    Ex. 1-Higher fares for same ore worse service

    Ex. 2-No parking facilities

    Ex. 3- Poor snow removal

    Ex. 4-Refusal to synchronize traffic lights downtown

3. Safety 

    Ex. 1-Unrepaired chuckholes

    Ex. 2-Unrepaired  traffic lights

    Ex. 3-Busy signals at police station

    Ex. 4-Slow response when police do come

    Ex. 5-Releasing of  dangerous criminals because of overcrowding at city jail

4. Housing 

    Ex. 1-Decaying public projects

    Ex. 2-Abandoned buildings not torn down

    Ex. 3-Housing codes not enforced in some neighborhoods

5. Pollution and Sanitation

    Ex. 1-Flooded basements

    Ex. 2-Litter in public parks

    Ex. 3-Increase in rats

6. Conclusion

Writing Suggestions For Example Essays.

    Write an example essay supporting one of the following statements or a related statement of your own.

1. Life in [your town] is not as bad as it’s cracked up to be.
2. Some teachers try too hard to identify with their students.
3. Junk-food has many virtues.
4.  Corruption is part of the American way of life.
5. Teenage marriages are likely to end unhappily.
6. People express their personalities through clothes they wear.
7. The generation gap is a myth.
8. Children’s television programs display too much violence.
9. A student’s life is not a happy one.
10. Nuns and/or priests are complex human beings, not plaster saints.
11. You can tell a lot about people from their table manners.
12. Student government is a farce.
13. Apparent nonconformists are sometimes the worst conformists.
14. Everyone loves to gossip.
15. Many people never learn from their mistakes.
16. The effort to succeed in more satisfying than success itself.
17. Even at their best, most people are basically selfish.
18. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
19. Taking care of a pet can be a great educational experience for children.
20. Newspapers rarely bother to report good news.

Dan’s New Minivan.

Britt Teller (student)

Thesis: My Husband, Dan, chose the new family minivan because of its great number of                   gadgets.

              I. Technological wonders

                 A. CD player

                 B. Compass and thermometer

                 C. Power everything

                 D. Remote control

                 E. Burglar Alarm

            II. Nonhigh-tech wonders

                 A. Storage compartments

                 B. Holder for garage door opener

                 C. Sun visors

           III. Deluxe cupholders

Conclusion: To be honest, I really like the car, too.

    My husband, Dan, just bought a new minivan. He spent months poring over shiny brochures from car companies, checking out safety features and mileage statistics, reading and rereading critical reviews in Consumer Reports and Car and Driver, and talking with friends, neighbors, and perfect strangers, about their own minivans. He talked to me and the kids about out preferences in size, color, seating, and a host of other details. He paid for the computerized services itemizing dealer costs and sticker prices. He spent ages visiting dealers and practicing his negotiating skills. (I swore off accompanying him on those trips to dealers fifteen years and three care ago.) Finally the big day came. My husband went out to buy the minivan he had scientifically determined to be the best for our family. He came home with the van with the most gadgets.

    Our new van has scores of technological wonders. It has a CD player that my eleven-year-old daughter had to show her father how to use and for which we own no CDs. It has separate heating and air conditioning controls for the driver’s seat, the passenger’s seat, and the bench seats in the back. In case Dan gets lost while driving around the corner to pick up a carton of milk, the new van has a digital compass that constantly flashes the direction he’s heading, and as a bonus also shows the current outside temperature in the Celsius and Fahrenheit, plus the total trip distance in miles and kilometers. So no one in the family gets wrist strain, the van has power locks, power windows, and power seats with memories. So no one gets finger strain, it has a key chain gizmo that locks and unlocks the doors through remote control. It has a built-in burglar alarm-that I hate and which was accidentally set off three times in the first week that we had it.

    Other gadgets in the minivan are not as high tech, but they are just as mush fun for my husband to play with. The new van has a secret locking storage compartment beneath the passenger seat. And if anyone should need to store anything else, there are at least six more storage areas tucked in convenient and inconvenient  places all around the van. To allay panic when one is trying to open the garage door, the new van even has a special holder for the garage door opener that lets Dan press the magic button without any fumbling. Even the sun visors are miracles. They have built-in extenders to block the sun at the trickiest angles. They have vanity mirrors with built-in lights. And the lights themselves are adjustable. (I’m not making this up.)

    But the very best thing about the van, Dan’s favorite thing about his brand new car, the thing he shows off to all the neighbors-is the cupholders! There are fourteen cup holders. Fourteen! In a minivan that seats only seven, that’s quite an accomplishment. They are in the armrests and under the dashboard. They are attached to doors. They are on the backs of seats. They pull out from under other seats. Two of them are adjustable, for heaven’s sake. They fit the cups better than my clothes fit me.

     To be honest, I really am pleased with Dan’s choice of minivan. I’m grateful that we can somehow afford the darned thing, of course, It gets surprisingly good mileage. It’s easy to park and fun to drive, and now that I’ve got the hang of the burglar alarm, even that isn’t too bad. I know my husband only bought it for the gadgets, and I know it’s not the most practical thin he’s ever done, but he’s very happy, and I always have some place to put my coffee.

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