Research Paper (The Bell Jar) - CM1135

Writing my final paper for this course was difficult but proved to be interesting at the same time . In my research i discovered a lot about Sylvia Plath and her literary work. I have to say she is my favourite writer. I've now read a variety for works by Plath however, my favourite of Plath's works is The Bell Jar.

I loved this book because in conducting my research I discovered that this novel is based off of Sylvia Plath's life. Esther Greenwood is Sylvia Plath. So in reading the novel without realising it you are basically reading a biography of Sylvia Plath through the fictional character of Esther Greenwood. It is amazing how similar Esther Greenwood and Sylvia Plath are. First of all they were both straight A student in college and both went to college on a scholarship provided by a wealthy older woman.  Both of them had also lost their father, had unsatisfactory relationships with men and spent the summer of 1953 doing an internship for a magazine in New York. After they had finished their internship both had learned that they did not make their summer course that they had been hoping to get into which was one of the factors that lead them into depression. Sylvia and Esther both attempted suicide with pills but were unsuccessful and were hospitalised afterwards where they were treated with EST. Esther was later released into society where her future was uncertain however Plath took her own life about a decade after the release of the novel. In conducting my research this is what I discovered about the similarities between Esther Greenwood and Sylvia Plath.

Doing research for my final paper - CM1135

Research Paper

          Finding useful information for my final paper has been one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. One would think that writing the research paper would be the most difficult part of finishing a research paper I don’t find that to be true. It took me at least two hours to find my three academic journals for my paper. Finding academic journals that you can extract at least a little useful information from is often times a nightmare. Most are extremely complicated and hard to understand. After you’ve read through them then you have to try and figure out what parts will be useful to include in your paper.

          After I had found three academic journals I then had to find three other sources that would provide me with useful information. This took about another hour. After picking through all six of my sources I had to begin writing my paper and this involved jumping back and forth from source to source. One thing I’ve learned is that the one perfect source that you’re hoping to find that will include all the information, or at least most of the information that you need is never there.

          My paper is due today and I’ve finally finished after three long days of writing and editing. Next time I write a paper I will not leave finding my sources to the last minute. It took me a day to write the paper and twice as long just to find my information. I would recommend anyone who writing a research paper to start the research process at least two weeks prior to the due date.

The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)

            One reason why The Bell Jar is so interesting is because it is based almostentirely off the life of Sylvia Plath. Sylvia was born to Otto and Auriela Plath. Plath was more advanced than most children her age. She learned to speak much Earlier than most children and by the time Plath was five years old she was already writing complete poems. Plath’s father passed away on November 5^th, 1940. After shelearned of her father’s death eight year old Plath said that she would never speak to God again. Sylvia was sad, angry and grieving at the same time. It seemed that Plath never truly got over the death of her father and was angry at him for leaving her. Plath was an amazing writer and wrote many works while she was alive. Two of herworks that I am most familiar with are her poem Daddy and her novel The Bell Jar. Once you are familiar with Sylvia Plath’s biography you can easily link these works to her own life. Sylvia is no longer alive today as she took her own life by sealing herself in the kitchen, turning on the gas in the oven and keeling in front of it where she was later found by a nurse and a construction worker.

The Bell Jar

My favourite novel this semester was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I did enjoy a couple of the others but this one surpassed all of the other novels in the course for a variety of reasons. First of all you can't help but become interested in the character of Esther Greenwood. Whether you love or hate her you will always want to know what is going to happen next. The novel is also extremely easy to read. Unlike Mrs.Dalloway for example, the novel is not hard to understand. Anyone can simply pick up The Bell Jar and understand it as soon as they begin reading. After reading through most of the novel the reader quickly becomes used to Esther's strange behaviour. I find it interesting how Plath was able to write the novel in such a way that Esther's strange behaviour eventually seemed normal to the readers. I loved this novel, it was not only my favourite novel this semester but, the my favourite novel of all time.

Last blog for CM1145

Final Blog

            So this will be my final blog of the semester for CM1145. I can’t believe my second semester here at CNA is coming to a close already it seems like Christmas break was just last week and now it’s nearing the end of march. Next month marks the beginning of our exams. At the beginning of the semester when I was told my writing skills would definitely improve by the end of the semester I honestly didn’t believe it. Mainly because my writing skills have been extremely weak for a long as I can remember. My grammar and punctuation were terrible as well. Even though I am certainly not a top English student I feel like I’ve improved at least a little because of the endless line of writing assignment’s we’ve had to do this semester. I enjoyed doing the blog for this course because there we’re no specific guidelines as to what we had to do our blog entry’s on. We were allowed to write on whatever we chose as long as it pertained to the course. The only issue with this course was coming up with topics for my blog entries. One would think that deciding what to write on for your blog entries would come easily. Trust me it’s not. For this last entry alone I spent fifteen minutes racking my brain trying to think of what else I could write about without sounding repetitive because I’ve written about pretty much everything else in the course. If there was something that we covered that I didn’t write about I certainly don’t remember. I’ve written about so many random things in my blog that I’m sure some outside readers who are not in the course are going to think I’m insane. It doesn’t matter now though. As I write these last few words I finish all of the blog entry’s I had to do this semester. In a way it’s kind of sad this this course/ semester is coming to a close. My year at CAN went by way too fast I know I’ll miss being here next  year.

To Lie or Not to Lie?- CM1145

To Lie or Not To Lie

            Ok so yesterday in English class we were assigned to read two essay’s from out book and do the questions that followed. After skimming over the different essays I finally chose one titles to lie or not to lie. In this essay Bok discussed and argument that many people have stood on opposite sides of for quite some time.  Should doctors be allowed to lie to their patients? Whether it is for health reasons and so on. Some doctors argue that doctors should have the freedom to decide whether or not they should have to be truthful to the patient because it may cause them to lose hope or deteriorate faster. Take for example if a man tested positive for cancer and he only had a limited time to live, but he was due to leave for a family vacation soon . Should the doctor wait until after the vacation or tell the man right away? This was the example presented in the essay. Regardless of the situation the doctor should have to tell the patient the reality of their situation no matter how severe the outcomes. In the essay it is clearly stated that being truthful to patients often helps them recover more quickly and choose the appropriate treatments to better benefit their health. Doctors should have to be truthful to their patients

Put yourself in the position of a terminally ill patient who had just a couple of months to live. The doctor is aware that the patient is going to die but chooses not to tell the patient right away because he thinks that it would benefit the patient to live their last few months without worrying about death. Is this fair to the patient? The answer is no regardless of the situation. Without knowing the reality of their situation the patient is left unable to make decisions about their health, and about ending their life. If they are unaware that they are dying they will not be able to choose who they want to spend the remaining time of their life with, or do things they wanted to do before they die. Doctors must keep in mind that the patients have a right to know about what is going on with their body. If the roles were reversed and the doctor was in the position of the patient one would think that the doctor would like to know any information that the doctor holds concerning their health.

Overall I think it should be illegal for a doctor to hold information from a patient at any cost. If I were terminally ill or I was suffering from a major health condition that could put my life at risk I would want to know immediately so I could choose what to do about it. It frightens me to think that doctors think that withholding information regarding one’s health is appropriate or beneficial to the patient. All doctors should have to provide their patients with any information relevant to their own personal health.

Preparing an Outline -CM1145

Preparing an Outline

          Preparing an outline is an essential part of preparing any piece of writing. If you attempt to write without being prepared the outcome will not be as good as it would have been if you had taken the time to prepare. There are multiple steps that you need to take when getting ready to write an essay, research paper and so on. Many people feel that they can simply write off the top of their heads, but I can assure you that an outline will result in you achieving a better grade in the long run.

Before you prepare your outline you must decide what exactly you will be writing about so you don’t go off topic and lose you train of thought. If you allow yourself to get off topic your outline will become unorganized and you are more likely to waste your time doing extra research that is unnecessary for your paper. Second you must write out your introduction as this will save you time when you are actually in the writing process and allow you to make any changes you wish to your introduction before you begin writing.

Next you should split the body of your outline into three different sections. This will allow for a more detailed body and allow you to decide exactly what you will include in your writing and in what order. Therefore you will produce and more organized paper. In the three sections of the body you can present the information in any order you wish but try to ensure that you will keep you reader interested throughout the body of the paper. Ensure that you include quotes and use valid sources to prove that the information presented in your paper is valid.

Finally you must write your conclusion. Here is the only section of your paper in which you are allowed to include personal pronouns (remember this throughout the course of your paper). Here you should restate your thesis statement and include your personal opinion. Ending with a question might also help to make your paper more interesting to the reader as it will give them something to think about. Hopefully this helps you with preparing an outline