Week 8: Prepare for Midterm Exam

Prepare for Midterm:

Write the first draft of a three paragraph descriptive essay (at least 200 words) on the topic of choice.

• 1st paragraph = your introduction = paint a picture (in words) of what you are going to describe.
• 2nd paragraph = supporting sentences = a detailed description of the picture
• 3rd paragraph =  conclusion = a restatement of the picture and a suggestion or call to action in relation to what you have described.
• Once you have written the final draft, please upload it to your blog and paste the link onto our class FB page.

For example, if I wanted to describe Shuren road, I would first give it a big adjective that leaves plenty of room for details. Here, I choose "maddness." My title is therefore going to be something like "The Madness of Shuren Lu". Now, in the first paragraph, I'm going to paint an overall picture of the madness of Shuren lu. Here is what I wrote while sitting at the 7-11 on Shu Ren Lu.

The Enjoyable Madness of SuRen Lu

1st paragraph (first draft):

Loud noises, screaming motorcycles and  a range of scents that will make you either want to run for your life or sit and consume, Suren lu has it all.  The first time I drove through Suren lu was on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of summer. I thought to myself, this is a boring town, no way I want to live here. So I lived in the countryside for a whole year and then one day as fate would have it, I did end up moving here. Now, when I look out at ShuRen lu, I think to myself, such a strange, yet enjoyable form of madness.

2nd paragraph (first draft):

Sure it can be quiet on summer Sunday afternoons, but when school starts, so to does the action. The sights, the sounds along with those funky stinky smells of ripe or rotten stinky tofu mixed with the scent of basil from Three Cups Chicken creates like a magic spell over me wherein my mind says run, but my stomach insists that I stay and consume. The street itself is nothing more than a two-lane paved road. However, when you add thousands of motor scooters, cars and people all seemingly heading in different directions, what you end up with is a form of delightful, at times a bit frightening, yet functioning form of madness. 

3rd paragraph: Conclusion

Although, ShuRen lu may not everyone's cup of tea, for me it's just what I desired, a getaway, a place where I could sit by myself in the middle of thousands of people, apart from all the madness, yet at the same time, part of it all.