Word: essay
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...reasons he suggests--that the assumption is so cosmic that it might be accepted. It is rarely "accepted;" we aren't here to accept or reject--we're here to be amused. The more dazzling, personal, unorthodox, paradoxic your assumptions (paradoxes are not equivocations), the more interesting an essay is likely to be. (If you have a chance to confer with the assistant in advance, of course--and we all like to be called "assistants," not "graders"--you may be able to ferret out one or two cosmic assumptions of his own; seeing them in your bluebook, he can only...
...discussion of the various methods whereby the crafty student attempts to show the grader that he knows a lot more than he actually does, the vague generality is the key device. A generality is a vague statement that means nothing by itself, but when placed in an essay on a specific subject might very well mean something to a grader. The true master of a generality is the man who can write a 10-page essay, which means nothing at all to him, and have it mean a great deal to anyone who reads it. The generality writer banks...
...check the operation of a vague generality under fire, take the typical example, "Hume brought empiricism to its logical extreme." The question is asked, "Did the philosophical beliefs of Hume represent the spirit of the age in which he lived?" Our hero replies by opening his essay with "David Hume, the great Scottish philosopher, brought empiricism to its logical extreme. If these be the spirit of the age in which he lived, then he was representative of it." This generality expert has already taken his position for the essay. Actually he has not the vaguest idea of what Hume really...
...dark suit, the narrow tie, the eyes of a man who's been up three nights straight doing things that would excite anyone but him. These art films won international success because of his effortless allure. La Notte, with its blank walls and arid stares, was withal an essay in star quality. We could happily watch Marcello being unhappy, doing anything or nothing. He was charisma in lethargy...
Charles Krauthammer's commentary on the California Civil Rights Initiative [ESSAY, Dec. 9], which makes affirmative action illegal in the state, was notable for what it failed to mention, namely that white males hold 95% of management positions; that affirmative action already existing in the form of preferences benefiting whites, veterans and women is not being questioned; and that those who want differences treated with equality are pursuing what should be the American ideal. Krauthammer's most glaring omission, however, is his failure to propose any alternative to eliminating racial discrimination in the workplace. Declaring that such discrimination is illegal...