BBS水木清华站∶精华区

发信人: cheungche (高校魔影), 信区: AdvancedEdu
标  题: "Ten Do's and Don'ts for Your Personal Statement"
发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Sat Dec 26 20:45:09 1998)

distinctive and interesting. Generalities and platitudes that could apply to every other law school applicant will bore. If you use them, you'll just blur into one of the crowd.
Following "Ten Do's and Don'ts for Your Personal Statement" will help you write a compelling, focused essay -- one that will transform you from a collection of numbers and classes into an interesting human being.

Ten Do's and Don'ts for Your Personal Statement

The Do's
1.Unite your essay and give it direction with a theme or thesis. The thesis is the main point you want to communicate.
2.Before you begin writing choose what you want to discuss and the order in which you want to discuss it.
3.Use concrete examples from your life experience to support your thesis and distinguish yourself from other applicants.
4.Write about what interests you, excites you. That's what the admissions staff wants to read.
5.Start your essay with an attention grabbing lead -- an anecdote, quote, question, or engaging description of a scene.
6.End your essay with a conclusion that refers back to the lead and restates your thesis.
7.Revise your essay at least three times.
8.In addition to your editing, ask someone else to critique your personal statement for you.
9.Proofread your personal statement by reading it out loud or reading it into a tape recorder and playing back the tape.
10.Write clearly, succinctly.

The Don'ts
1.Don't include information that doesn't support your thesis.
2.Don't start your essay with "I was born in.." or "My parents came from..."
3.Don't write an autobiography, itinerary, or résumé in prose.
4.Don't try to be a clown (but gentle humor is OK).
5.Don't be afraid to start over if the essay just isn't working or doesn't answer the essay question.
6.Don't try to impress your reader with your vocabulary.
7.Don't rely exclusively on your computer to check your spelling.
8.Don't provide a collection of generic statements and platitudes.
9.Don't give mealy-mouthed, weak excuses for your GPA or test scores.
10.Don't make things up.

--
你心里明白  我不必多讲
我就是不说  你也猜得到
我做的一切  你全都知道
  我就是想瞒也瞒不了

※ 来源:·BBS 水木清华站 bbs.net.tsinghua.edu.cn·[FROM: 166.111.49.45]