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I was surprised by this article and by the fact that sometimes, our seemingly boring moments in life has the potential to transform into a great college essay. This article made me change my views of college essays and reexamine what topics I want to write about.

I liked the ideas this essay shared because I realized that if I were to have written my college essay prior to reading this article, my essay would've been similar to the majority of students who submit college essays. This site stresses the importance of being different and that having humility, humor, and personal stories in college essays are attractive. But the article did imply that there are limits and that some things such as torturing animals and showing inconsideration to other people, are inappropriate.

It seems more common now for counselors and advisors to recommend writing about everyday things, but with our own personal "flair." So it was helpful to read in this article about how there are some negative everyday experiences that are important to leave out.

This article discusses the linguistics of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia diagnoses are typically made on one or more of the following 3 symptoms: hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized speech. Traditionally, none of these symptoms are associated with language, but the article suggests linguistic dimensions to each. Another aspect of schizophrenia manifests as Formal Thought Disorder, which is clearly linked to language and speech production. The article goes on to provide a language profile for schizophrenia and discuss the linguistics of psychosis. As someone who has OCD, I've noticed many instances where an obsession or compulsion has strong linguistic elements. I found it interesting that this linguistic influence can be found in schizophrenia and it strongly suggests that what we believe about language's effects on cognition are true!

I think the starting off small (like the questions and fill in the blanks during class) is the best way to find a deep and meaningful topic because it opens your mind to think freely and as you narrow your topic, you'll find a topic that really means something to you. Also, the "Going Beyond Cliché", I think that's going to be hard for me because I'm so used to trying to write the typical 5 paragraph papers that are set up as guidelines during school with topic sentence and 3 supporting details. So, trying to find my own outline might make things a little more difficult for me.

While reading this article, I realized i had already looked past one of the most important factors while choosing my own topic to write about. Before reading the article, I was simply searching for a memory of a time that shaped me into the person I am today, or an instance that would impress a college admissions officer, showing them im the type of student that would fit in perfectly at their school. Then in reading the article, i came across: "What do you think college admissions officers are looking for when they read student essays." Even though this may seem like an obvious task, sometimes, it is easy to get caught up in making yourself look good, and completely forget that you're writing must be interesting enough to stand out to an admissions officer more than others. I don't know if my thought process is easy to understand from an outsider's point of view, but this article showed me that it is important to remember that you're writing to not just impress an audience, but also to show them the real 'you'!

This article is especially helpful because it gives easy to read bullet points to make sure people don't fall into the cliché trap. It's easy to write about something that would be commonly seen in college essays, such as a time someone volunteered at some homeless shelter and they say they're grateful for not being homeless. This article says you should go into more depth other than concluding with a cliché concept.

This article discusses if/how language affects the way we think and the way we see through a scientific perspective.

This article reminded me of the TedTalk we watched with Lindsay Morcom because it talked about how in Russian, they describe different shades of blue in different words just like how in Indigenous language, they do the same. The article talks about how languages can change your perception of the world.

This article is about how our native language affects what we notice in our surroundings. It features the "Russian blues" theory that Russians, since they have two separate words for blue, can define blues quicker and with more accuracy than native english speakers.

This advice is really, really helpful. I agree that it's important to focus on something specific that you're passionate about. At the same time, it's hard to expand on this and be detailed/focused throughout the entire essay. I like the advice of being humble and not showing off because the way you write and your topic can tell a lot about who you are as a person.

I think the best bit of information i took from this article, is showing how the struggle of overcoming some great difficulty. On a general sense, if I were to do an essay on some type of failure, I think the best way to continue the essay would be to show how I was able to push past this downfall, and learn from it. It's important to let the reader understand the hardship you went through and show them how you made the best of a seemingly terrible event.

I think this tip sheet really summed up most of the other articles into a concise, helpful article. Overall, I learned that, in terms of the essay, colleges don't really care about any particular achievements. Instead, the colleges are looking at your voice to see what type of person you are. You should stray from writing about others and focus more about your own feelings and thoughts. Finally, college essay readers have seen all of the generic essays before, so there are more pros than cons in taking a risk by saying something controversial.

A study showing that most users only read headlines without actually reading the article was shown to be accurate. A satirical science news site hosted an article with the headlines "Study: 70% of Facebook users only read the headline of science stories before commenting". Though the story was shared over 50 thousand times, about only 40% of the time the link was clicked. This is interesting because this shows that we tend to rather comment on what we believe about a article from its headline, instead of its content.

I really liked how this site took a more technical approach to writing a good college essay. I found this link to be very useful.

This article was really interesting. It really helped me to think about my college essay and think about the things that I need to change or go back and edit. I really liked the part about your "Hook" and the "Don't Express Yourself" tip. I also really liked how this article gave tips that I have never heard before.

Debunked myths about the college essay and broke down how to make your essay "winning." I thought the most important part about this article how the author explained the college essay is meant for the school to examine your character, so make sure to include a revelation or process of learning.

In the article, Stuart McGurk talks about how in Trump's tweets, the words that be used that is usually used in the empathic way, does not communicate Trump's actual feelings. In the article, it is stated that Trump used the word sorry in 72 tweets, but never actually used in the ways were someone would feel sorrow for something. Instead, for example, he used it in a way were if Obama said sorry, he would have more respect for him. See how he was able to use a sympathetic word but not in the way that he is feeling sorry. Also, in certain circumstances, the wording that Trump uses is not appropriate. For example, in light of the Las Vegas shooting, Trump tweeted, "My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting." No one would use the phrase "Warmest Condolences" in this situation.

Yikes: "warmest condolences"! Our president: Master Malaprop. LOL!

Studies have traced a range of impressive benefits to writing down the things for which we're grateful-benefits including better sleep, fewer symptoms of illness, and more happiness among adults and kids alike. Robert Emmons, a UC Davis professor who studies the science of gratitude, offers the following research-based tips to enhance journaling effectiveness: 1. Don't just go through the motions. Research by psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky and others suggests that journaling is more effective if you first make the conscious decision to become happier and more grateful. "Motivation to become happier plays a role in the efficacy of journaling," says Emmons. 2. Go for depth over breadth. Elaborating in detail about a particular thing for which you're grateful carries more benefits than a superficial list of many things. 3. Get personal. Focusing on people to whom you are grateful has more of an impact than focusing on things for which you are grateful. 4. Try subtraction, not just addition. One effective way of stimulating gratitude is to reflect on what your life would be like without certain blessings, rather than just tallying up all those good things. 5. Savor surprises. Try to record events that were unexpected or surprising, as these tend to elicit stronger levels of gratitude. 6. Don't overdo it. Writing occasionally (once or twice per week) is more beneficial than daily journaling.

Writing down what you're grateful for greatly impacts your social, physical, and physiological health but to some the impacts are unclear. This article page has a link that has created their very own technological gratitude journal that deepens and practices efficient journaling. Included in this article are 6 tips: 1) Have passion behind jotting down your gratitude. It put more motivation and thought in your writings. 2) Be specific with what you're grateful for. 3) Lean towards focusing your gratitude on people rather than things. (You learn to become less materialistic.) 4) Consider mentioning what it would be like with out the blessings. 5) Record events that were surprising & out of the ordinary. 6) Occasional writing over daily writing because it's easy for us to get numb to the good side of life. Writing our thoughts down rather than thinking about them or saying them, deepens our emotional connection and makes us more self aware.

So basically you'll get into college if you write interesting stuff and you establish yourself as an individual. How hard can that be if we're all different people?

This article talked about how UC system used to not read the college essays. However, now that they do, it seems that a strong college essay could be the "edge" needed to make it into some of the more popular and more difficult to get accepted to UC schools. The main point that this article makes is, stand-out essays that represent the applicant's individuality can be much more beneficial than an essay that sounds like everyone else's.

This article promoted writing unique essays that establish you as an individual. This article talked about how they wanted to see more character within these essays rather than reading the same essays over again. I think that the point of this article was to stand out by being yourself and by adding some of your own personality to you essay.

This article is about how being out of school for half a year could change children's relationship with formal expression. Learning online is not nearly as effective as in-school instruction and this article talks about how that may affect young students in the future. It also talks about how children who speak a non-English language at home will become more proficient in that language due to the nation-wide stay at home orders. This article highlights the benefits and drawbacks that will affect young children and their language due to being in quarantine.

This article talks about how people will be affected by the Coronavirus linguistically. It reasons that now people are staying at home, their home languages can be better preserved. The article also mentions that online teaching is not as effective as interpersonal teaching because young students won't be learning kinesthetically and will only be learning passively through a screen. This holds true for me, as certain topics are better explained to me in a classroom setting.

This article talked about the relationship between music and language. For a while, it was believed that language and music used different hemispheres of the brain, but this article looked into various studies that proved otherwise. One example that it explained was that growing up speaking a tonal language, such as Mandarin, can make people more sensitive to pitch changes and interval differences between notes.

This article describes how music and language affect each other in the brain, as well as ways that they can influence other aspects of learning. It also describes their similarity in brain activity.

This article talks about the complexities of language in dementia patients, specifically the fact that they are most likely to revert to their primary language as their condition progresses. The study that was done for this article also expands on the possibility that speaking two or more languages can delay the onset of dementia for an average of five years.

This article defines what self-talk is, how it's important and why it's important. Self-talk is "the endless stream of unspoken thoughts than run through [our] heads". If these thoughts are more positive can offer multiple health benefits, such as increased life span and increased immunity. The article also covers the four categories of self-talk (calming/relaxing, instructional, motivational, focus) , what to say to yourself (instructional self-talk or motivational self-talk), and when to say it.

Swearing expresses many different types of emotions. Kinda like when people use their car horns.

This article explores into depth the reason why and when we swear. One reason we swear is to insert a direct emotional component into the discussion to express frustration, anger or surprise. Swearing frees us of the feelings of anger or frustration we hold inside of us and provides an alternative from physical violence. The second use of swearing is in the form of jokes and humor, sex talk, story telling and social commentary. Our word choice is dependent on the people we are surrounded by, the relationship we have with that group of people and the setting of the situation. For example, people are less likely to use swear words in mixed company or in the work place. We are more likely to swear with people of the same gender or with our sexual partners. This article also describes the amount of swearing in our lives.

Why do people swear? Why does using a swear word make us feel better? How do we choose which word we use? Luckily for you, the Association of Psychological Science's Perspectives on Psychological Science just published an article that answers these important scientific questions in an article by Timothy Jay (2009).

This article helps to explain a couple of reasons why people may swear. It says one of the main uses for a swear word is to offend someone. But, along with a degree of offense, swear words are used to vent some emotion or provide an emotional release. This article also shares how swearing can be a form of bonding between individuals, and that those that swear are perceived as more trustworthy than their non-swearing counterparts. It also states that there is paradoxical component to swearing. Along being taboo-breaking they are taboo-breaking for the sake of being taboo-breaking, and they exist just so that the rules can be broken.

This article explores the ideas behind why people swear. It found that most people swear to express their emotions. The article also found that swearing can provide a sort of cathartic experience when feeling things like pain, anger, etc.

Maori is having a revival across New Zealand. Indigenous people are increasingly embracing their language, rejecting generations of stigma and shame associated with its use. And white New Zealanders are looking to Maori language and culture to help them make sense of their own cultural identity. As of 2013, just 3.7 percent of New Zealanders spoke the language fluently, and many predicted that it would soon die out. But analysts say Maori's status is shifting, and a basic knowledge of the language has come to signify cultural cool in a country that continues to wrestle with its colonial and indigenous roots. Now New Zealand's government, which says it wants more than 20 percent of the country's population to speak basic Maori by 2040, has pledged to provide Maori lessons in all New Zealand schools by 2025, despite a dearth of teachers who can speak the language.

This article talks about how the native Maori language is being revived in New Zealand. New Zealand was colonized by the British in the 19th century. Since that time, Maori language was looked down upon making it the minority language, but now with the recent rise of Maori speakers, it has started to become a common language used. This article talks about how every school is teaching Maori in their classes, and how they want Maori to be one of the dominantly spoken languages in New Zealand by 2040.

This article discusses the history of the Maori language and its progression throughout recent history. The Maori language was threatened like many other native languages in the world due to the aggression from the British. In the article shows how the people of the country are coming to terms with the past in order to build a brighter future for the native Maori culture and language.

This article examines the relationship between borrowed language and bilingual speakers' grasp of their known languages. It highlights the implicit understanding of grammar rules that bilingual speakers naturally develop for their languages and debunks the misconception that loan words damage a speaker's understanding of another language. The article described a study on bilingual speakers in Ottawa-Hull who combined language (code-switching or "mish-mashing") while still following the correct grammatical structures. (i.e. "If a verb was borrowed from English, it was conjugated in strict accordance with the rules for conjugating French verbs..") It also reminded readers that pronunciation is not intrinsically tied to language proficiency.

This article talks about linguistic diversity in China and the many different dialects that exist in China. Before the coronavirus, China promoted Putonghua to eradicate poverty and improve the labor force. This is because, in China, not everyone speaks the standard variety of Chinese Mandarin and have to learn this standard version. However, the coronavirus has changed this fact and China started developing language resources to help those that don't speak standard Chinese Mandarin. Especially, because the outbreak was especially bad in Hubei, where residents speak Hubei Mandarin. Now, it's especially important for healthcare workers that don't live in Hubei but were sent down to help, to understand healthcare workers to be able to converse in Hubei Mandarin. It also touches on English being the global medium for scholarly articles, instead of any other language, such as Mandarin. Read this article to learn more about how the coronavirus is affecting the different dialects in China and how English is regarded in Chinese scholarly articles.

This article addresses many parents' concerns of their kids listening to rap music. Questions that are answered in this article are questions like does rap promote violence or influence sexual behavior amongst teens. The conclusion was that rap is an art form used to express many emotions. Like all art and everything else in life, there is the good and the bad. Rap can promote violence and talk about it or it can condemn violence and propose solutions to them. The article seemed to suggest that what influenced teens actions more than rap lyrics was the social and economic factors of where the teen is growing up.