Argumentative Essay: Video Games

    Take a look at today's generation. A student comes home from school at around three or four o'clock in the afternoon, sets his bag aside, debates whether he should take a shower, definitely eats his lunch, and begins his after school program: playing video games, playing video games, and playing more video games. Video games, unfortunately, have become an imperative part of the average teenager's life. Whether it's hours, day, or maybe even weeks, teenagers spend an excessive amount of time slaying monsters, killing zombies, or just shooting at each other's avatars for all time's sake. They lose track of time, deprive themselves of sleep, miss out on their homework, and deteriorate their health, all for the sake of the phenomenal world of 'Call of Duty' and fellow video games. A vast majority of the global population believes that playing video games can positively influence the lives of those who favor them, while others strongly disagree. Although playing video games may help stimulate and relax the brain, it is still considered detrimental because of the tendency to reward violence and create the ultimate aggressive player.

     To begin with, playing video games often leads gamers to accept what is conventionally and ethically dismissed. Violent video games offer a profoundly aggressive and bloody atmosphere. They are simply based on the notion that killing others is a reward. Furthermore, they teach the players how to disrespect life by picking up a gun and shooting at people, and thus integrating into their lives the fact that violence is a social norm everybody praises. Moreover, certain games, such as GTA, school players about how crucial it is to disrespect authority by simply adding points for those who manage to escape the cops, or even shoot some. Such games brainwash teenagers to think that authority figures are the bad guys, when in the truth they're not. Thus, they no longer feel a sense of reverence for law enforces, or the law itself for that matter. David Greenfield, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut and founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction argues that: "It (violent video games) conveys two things -- a lack of respect for human life and a desensitization to violent acts," "And it teaches them the skill set to enact the violent act with increased precision. And we call that entertainment.

     Apart from the ethics, overexposure to violent video leads to the development of bad conflict resolution skills. Playing these games allows players to express their feelings, whether anger, pain, or pleasure, through hostility and aggression. Gamers only grow familiar to the violent approach of sorting out problems and lose the art of communication. Thus, they resort to physical abuse to show their friends or siblings that they are bothered or irked by them. Brad Bushman, a psychologist at Ohio State University, was co-author of a study that examined 380 studies on video games; he stated, "The results show that playing violent video games increases angry thoughts, aggressive behavior, and decreases helping behavior, empathy and compassion for others." In another study, 161 college students were randomly assigned to play one of several violent games, neutral games, or pro-social games (in which helpful behavior was required). After playing, the students completed a task in which they could either help or hurt another student. Those who had played the violent games were more hurtful to other students, whereas those who had played the pro-social games were more helpful.

     It is claimed that video games are mental stimulators that help sharpen the mind and relieve it of anxiety and stress. This is an absolute truth; however, playing video games has also proven to reduce certain cognitive brain functions. Certain studies have focused on how specific brain regions of players of violent games respond under varying circumstances. For instance, Rene Weber and his colleagues asked 13 experienced gamers to play a violent game while undergoing FMRI brain scan (functional magnetic resonance imaging). By imaging players' brain activity before, during and after each violent encounter, the investigators found that immediately before firing a weapon, players displayed greater activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. This area involves cognitive control and planning, among other functions. While firing a weapon and shortly afterward, players showed less activity in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (RACC) and amygdala. Because interaction between those brain areas is associated with resolving emotional conflict, their decreased functioning could indicate a suppression of the emotional response to witnessing the results of taking violent actions. Thus, the greater the experience with violent media, the lower was the activation of brain areas for thinking, learning, reasoning and emotional control.

     In conclusion, video games have become an indispensable part of this modern technological era, yet they persist to be deleterious to whoever latches onto them. Unfortunately adolescents do not perceive that they have been caught up in a current of false entertainment, and it might just be too late to get out ... or is it?

How to live to be a hundred

     For adults who remain vivaciously childlike in old age, there has to be a sustained enthusiasm for some aspect of life. If they are forcibly retired they should immerse themselves in some new, absorbing activity.

     Some people are naturally more physically active than others, and are at a considerable advantage providing their activities are not the result of stress. The more earnest aging exercisers display a conscious or unconscious anxiety about their health. If they take exercise too seriously it will work against them. Older individuals who take up intensive athletic activity are usually people who fear declining health. Yet it is crucial that physical exercise, as we grow past the young sportsman stage, should be extensive rather than intensive and, above all, fun. 

     A calm temperament favors longevity. Those who are sharply aggressive, emotionally explosive or naggingly anxious are at a grave disadvantage. Relaxation does not contradict the ides of passionate interest. Indeed, zest for living, eagerness to pursue chosen subjects are vital in long life. 

     Thinking about 'the good old days', complaining about how the world is deteriorating, criticizing the younger generations, are sure signs of an early funeral.

     Being successful is a great life-stretcher, and can even override such life-shorteners as obesity and fondness for drink. And success must always be measured in personal terms. A hill-shephered may feel just as successful in his own way as a Nobel Laureate. 

     Long-lived individuals seem to be more concerned with what they do than who they are. They live outside themselves rather than dwelling on their own personalities. 

     In personal habits, the long-lived are generally moderate. Extremes of diet are not common. A mixed diet seems to favor longevity. Many long-lived individuals enjoy nicotine and alcohol-in moderation. 

     Most long-lived people have a sense of self-discipline. The man who lives long because he walks a mile a day does so because he does it every day, as part of an organized existence.    

     Over and over, during my researches, it emerged that long life goes with a 'twinkle in the eye'. The sour-faced puritan and the solemn bore soon begin to lose ground, leaving their more amused contemporaries to enjoy the last laugh. 

     Finally, nothing is to be gained by a head-in-the-sand avoidance of the facts of life and death. The healthiest solution is to accept that one's span on Earth is limited and then to live every day, in the present, and to the full.

Cause & Effect Essay: Soil Pollution

     Although some environmental pollution is a result of natural causes, most is due to human activities. Soil pollution is one of the environmental problems which Lebanon has been suffering from and trying to figure out a way to lessen its effects on plant and animal life.

     Unhealthy soil management methods have seriously degraded soil quality, caused soil pollution and enhanced erosion. Treating the soil with chemical fertilizers and pesticides interferes with the natural processes accruing within the soil and destroys useful organisms such as bacteria. House hold hazardous wastes such as paints, cleaning chemicals, and batteries also contribute to crop failure because of the damage they cause to the soil when they aren’t dumped or sorted out in their proper places.

     It is always best to use organic substances when dealing with soil and proper disposal of hazardous materials reduces the damage pesticides and poisons can come into play as the final perhaps necessary elements in our anti-pest strategy. To reduce our own contribution to hazardous wastes, we should sort out and dispose them safely in separate pins. Put your leftover pesticides, solvent-based paints, and other dangerous items in special green points in your area to be safely disposed or recycled in special hazardous waste facilities.

     In brief, it’s the people’s responsibility the first place and the authorities the second place to eliminate the damage caused in our soil. Healthy and toxic free lands mean healthy animals, crops, and healthy people.

Expository Essay: Family Circles

     Well-knit families are closely connected to their wider family circles. By one way or another, parents and grandparents benefit from close ties with their children and grandchildren even if they cannot exchange visits very often. They usually get deep satisfaction when they make sure that love and care flow from one generation to another.

     Nowadays, an increasing number of grandparents care for their grandchildren and may even substitute parents. For example, when David Steel’s father died, his grandfather played an active role in his upbringing. He cared for him while his mother, a single parent, worked hard to build a successful business.

     On the other hand, children find special love in their relationships with their grandparents, and this helps them emotionally and mentally. Grandparents can become a major support when children face family problems. They can be both playmates and teachers for the younger generations as they teach values and pass on family traditions.

   In fact, wise parents foster loving relationships between grandparents and grandchildren. Exchanging letters and phone calls, sharing school work, and making personal contact-when possible-all of these build bonds of love and care between the two generations. Such bonds are very important because they strengthen the family unity. However, a loving relationship in a family requires much more than the feeling of love. It involves loving actions.

    A story is told of an old widow named Helen Reeves, who adored her children and grandchildren, all living some distance from her. She always longed to receive letters from them and made daily walks down a long pathway to her mailbox, anxiously anticipating a letter, but she was repeatedly disappointed. In contrast, Helen’s neighbors showed more concern than her own children and grandchildren did. 

     Only occasionally did Helen receive a phone call from one of her children, but she was hard of hearing and often asked, “What? What did you say?” during the calls. She pleaded with her children and grandchildren to write her letters. Yet, she didn’t receive any.

     Finally one day, when Helen checked her mailbox, there she found a letter. She got so excited that she rushed back home to get her glasses and read it. The moment she read the letter, she had a heart attack and died. It turned out that the letter was from Helen’s daughter, who wanted to take her to a nursing home for old people.

Persuasive Essay: Cruel Tests on Animals

      Do humans feel and animals don’t? Is it immensely immoral to kill humans but ordinary to kill animals? Is the suffering of millions of innocent animals worthy to save one human? Almost 40% of all animals are used in animal testing and more than 50% of these animals die. Animal testing is a controversial issue that some people find extremely normal while others find it extremely eccentric. Animal testing must be completely stopped due to the cruel behavior being applied to animals and due to the inaccuracy of these tests. 

First of all, animal testing should be banned because of the immoral cruelty people treat animals with. Animals in laboratories spend their life in cages, never feeling the warmth of the sun or the breeze on their skin. They are either locked up in over crowded cages or kept in isolation. They are never provided with pain relief after being subjected to painful tests, and are killed once the testing has been completed. It is simply cruel to abuse innocent souls like that even if it is for the sake of medical development. For example, writer Jane Goodall said in one of her books “ I Acknowledge Mine” where she talks about her visit to one of the labs that apply animal testing, “I am still hunted by the memory of her eyes, and the eyes of other chimpanzees I saw that day. They were dull and blank, like the eyes of people who have lost all hope...”

   Animal testing is not only inhumane, but also it is inherently inaccurate. Millions of animals suffer and die everyday testing medical drugs in the name of “cosmetic safety.” These tests are not even accurate. It is known from the pharmaceutical sector that 9 out of every 10 new drugs which appear to be safe and effective in animal tests turn out to be the opposite in human clinical studies. This is simply because the human body system is different from that of an animal, so what seems to be harmless in humans is harmful in animals and vice versa.  For instance, researchers working with monkey models of HIV tested a vaccine on the monkeys and subsequently gave the vaccine to humans who were harmed as a result. Also, a drug named TGN1412 was tested on animals and humans. All the human patients suffered life-threatening side-effects which didn’t appear in animals. 

In brief, cruelty towards animals and inaccurate test results are proof enough that animal testing must be ceased. We as people must show mercy to animals and value their lives as we value ours. They deserve to live as much as we do... 

Narrative Essay: The Battle of Old Age

      I have recently read about an area of the former Soviet Union where many people live to be well over a hundred years. Being 115 or even 125 isn’t considered unusual there, and these old people continue to do productive work right until they die. The United States, however, isn’t such a healthy place for older people. Since I retired from my job, I’ve had to contend with the physical and mental stresses of being “old.” 

For one thing, I’ve had to adjust to physical changes. Now that I’m over sixty, the trusty body that carried me around for years has turned traitor. Apart from the deepening wrinkles on my face and neck and the wiry gray hairs that have replaced my brown hair, I face more frightening changes. I don’t have the energy I used to. My eyes get tired. Occasionally, I miss something that was said to me. My once faithful feet seem to have lost their comfortable soles, and I sometimes feel I’m walking on marbles. To fight against this slow decay, I exercise whenever I can. I walk, stretch and climb stairs. I battle constantly to keep as fit as possible. 

Moreover, I’m trying to cope with mental changes. My mind was once as quick and sure as a champion gymnast. I never found it difficult to memorize answers in school or to remember the names of people I met. Now, occasionally have to search my mind for the name of a close neighbor or favorite television show. Because my mind needs exercise, too, I challenge it as much as I can. Taking a college course like this English class, for example, forces me to concentrate. This mental gymnast maybe a little slow and out of shape, but he can still do a back flip or turn a somersault when he has to. 

Surviving with the changes of old age has become my latest full-time job. Even though it is a job I never applied for and one for which I had no experience, I am trying to do the best I can. 

Narrative Essay: The Power of a Shoulder

Man has been showered with blessings; he has been given a heart to live, a brain to think, and most importantly a shoulder to rely on. The shoulder holds the head of a beloved one during hardships. It is the source of solace, comfort and relief. However, life turns into a battlefield when he has no shoulder to cry on. 

Hope Daniel, a fifty-year-old cancer warrior, suffered far beyond breast cancer. She was first diagnosed with stage two cancer during her early forties. Her husband passed away after being drafted for compulsory service in Iraq. Hope and her two twin daughters had a hard time moving on with their life. Eventually, the two girls traveled to London to pursue their education. Hope was left alone except for her girls’ once-in-a month visit. However, Hope was a fighter. She went through chemotherapy and had her tumor removed. Despite her recovery Hope felt as an outcast. So she befriended the pen. She wrote poems expressing the torture she was living through due to the lack of family relations. Her life, feelings and emotions were a wreck.

After Hope’s monthly scan, it turned out that her cancer was back. Her condition worsened to an extent that she had to be hospitalized. She had no one to confide to except for the regular attending nurse. Hope opened up to her; she told her about her life-long struggle with cancer and her battle for life. Nurse Angela was the only individual Hope had talked to for quite a while. Tears of torture, loneliness and grief filled Hope’s violet eyes. Angela also saw how reluctantly distant Hope was from her daughters. She realized that hope never had the guts to call her daughters, afraid that they might find out about her deteriorating condition. Instead, Nurse Angela made the call that changed Hope’s life for the best. Hope’s daughters came back to live with her and made their mother live the five most joyful years of her life. 

Everyone reaches rock bottom some time in his/her life; only the wise finds the means to get up and move on with the help of others who care. After all, everyone needs a shoulder to cry on, not only in times of distress but also during times of joy. 

Argumentative Essay: Parenting Battles

  Parents are the essence of our lives. They are the light that makes the dark tunnel of life glow. They lead us through that tunnel, teaching us how to distinguish between good and bad values, right and wrong behavior. Both, the mother and the father work hard to provide the best living for their children and to encourage the ultimate self-confidence dwelling within them. They both leave a deep mark in their kids lives, but whose mark is deeper? Who makes the better parent? Many people believe that the mother, with her love and tenderness is superior to the father, while others believe that the father, with his firmness and stoicism is the one superior to the mother. Although the father is the breadwinner of the family, the mothers love and responsibility certifies her to be the better parent. 

  First of all, mothers are soul feeders who enrich their children with love, kindness and care. The word mother is a synonym to someone who feeds, cares, nurtures, and protects. From the first day of conception, the mother frets about how to keep her soon-to-be child safe, happy, and healthy. She develops a sacred relationship with her little angel where she would basically go to the ends of the world to provide him/her with what he/she needs. It is simply her nature to love and care for her children. Also, a mother is always there to mend the physical and emotional pain of her children whether they are hurting from a bicycle accident or a bad break-up or a friend disappointment. Technically, a mother puts her children’s happiness on the top of her priority list where she is ready to shower them with unconditional love all her life until they reach that point of happiness. Sigmund Freud, who had a predominant influence in shaping the twentieth century’s cultural views of parenting, believed that since mothers usually fed and cared for their babies, they were biologically better suited to be parents.

  Apart from providing infinite love and pampering their children, mothers are also sensible and responsible parents. Girls are raised on the basis of having to be diligent mothers. They are taught, from a young age, how to clean, cook, and take responsibility of several duties. They are also trusted to babysit their younger siblings as a process of being involved in child responsibility for the future. Girls bear a prodigious amount of pressure in their teenage years which makes them grow into practical and responsible mothers. They become aware of the right methods of raising their kids and guiding them in the right direction, in addition to ruling their empire flawlessly. For example, if a child were to disobey his mom, she would definitely not stand there and just take it. She would ground him for his actions, not as a result of hate, but to teach him what wrong he did.

  Some people claim that it is in the fathers favors to be a better parent. It is true that the father is the breadwinner and the shelterer  of the family. It is his job to take care of the financial matters and provide his family with the money they need. However, in these modern days, mothers are also taking part regarding financial decision making. In fact, it is nearly, if not completely, an equally shared process between the mother and the father, not to mention that the mother is more qualified to handle finance in some cases. Facts state that 84% of women feel that they are equally or better qualified to handle financial decisions considering that they are more responsible. 

  In brief, the mother wins the battle of “better parent” for her irrevocable love and responsibility towards her offsprings. A mother is the exact definition of tenderness, dedication, and hard work. She is the anchor of our ships, and without her, we would just sink.  

How To Write an Outline, Paraphrase & Summary

Outline

   An outline is a plan to follow when writing a composition, a speech, or a report. It organizes material in a logical way into main ideas, supporting ideas, and supporting details.

   When you are ready to turn your ideas into an outline, remember that each main idea or topic becomes a main topic of the outline. All main topics will be indicated by roman numerals. Subtopics will noted by letters, and supporting details will be indicated by Arabic Numerals. 

    Decide whether to write a sentence outline or a topic outline. A sentence outline is written in full sentences. A topic outline is in words or phrases. 

Follow the guidelines below for writing an outline.

1.  Center the title above the outline.
2.  Every level of the outline must have at least two items (I and II, A and B, 1 and 2).
3.  Put a period after each numeral and letter.
4. Indent each new level of the outline.
5. All items of one kind (Roman numerals, capital letters, Arabic numerals) should line up with each other. 
6. Capitalize the first word of each item.
7. The terms Introduction, Body, and Conclusion do not have to be included in the outline. They are not topics; they are merely organizational units in the writer's mind. 

    Study the sample topic outline below. Notice how it conforms to the rules in the chart above. All topic or sentence outlines have exactly the same structure. They follow the same pattern for lettering, numbering, and indenting. Here is a model topic outline. 

Benjamin Franklin - Scientist and Inventor

 I.   Experiments with electricity 

      A. Studied nature of electricity 

      B. Discovered lightning equals electricity 

      C. Invented lightning rod 

 II.  Other scientific work 

      A. Inventions 

           1.  Bifocal glasses 

           2.  Franklin stove 

           3.  Daylight saving time

      B. Scientific studies

           1. Charted Gulf Stream

           2. Worked on soil improvement

 III. Importance as a scientist

      A. Scientific honors

      B. Writings translated into other languages

      C. Experts' comments

Refer to the same topic outline above to write the answers to the following questions. 

1. How many main topics are there?
2. How many subtopics does the last main topic have? 
3. Which main topic has both subtopics and details? 
4. How many details are included under the subtopic "Inventions"?
5. Which is the title of the report?

Paraphrase

    To paraphrase is to state the written material you have read in your own words and in your style of writing. A paraphrase is more likely to be longer in length the the original text. 

When attempting a paraphrase, the following strategies might be of some help. 

• Read the original text as many times as you need to understand all the ideas included.
• Write these ideas in your own language. 
• Mention the source from which you have taken these ideas.
• Compare your paraphrase with the original text. 
• Modify and edit to make sure your paraphrase is similar to the original text. 

   Native Americans were applying advanced planting techniques to corn long before Europeans traveled to the Americas. It was Squanto, a native American, who managed to increase corn production by 200 percent by using fish as fertilizer.   

Notice how the following paraphrase compares with the original above. 

    The writer of the above text believes that advanced planting techniques were known to native Americans long before the Europeans settled in the Americas. A well-known native American, Squanto, thought of using fish as fertilizer to multiply corn production. 

Summary

     A summary is a short statement that gives the most important information about a topic. To write a good summary, you need to consider all the information and decide what the main ideas are. You write only the most important ideas in as few words as possible. 

When attempting a summary, the following strategies might be of some help. 

• Read the original text as many times as you need to understand all the ideas included. 
• Identify the main idea as it indicates the most important information. 
• Write the main idea in your own language.
• Begin your summary by mentioning the source of the original text. 
• Compare your summary with the original text. 

     Howard Carter did not enter the tomb right away. First, he sent a telegram to Lord Carnarvon, asking his friend to come quickly. If it really turned out to be the tomb of Tutankhamen, he did not want Carnarvon to miss the moment of opening it. 

One possible summary could be the following:

   The writer of the above text stated that Carter telegraphed Carnarvon to come for the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamen, and then he waited for his friend's arrival. 

   When you state the main idea of a paragraph, you are really summarizing the paragraph. Sometimes you may be asked to summarize something longer than a paragraph - say a text. You can go about it in the same way that you go about summarizing a paragraph. 

Read the following paragraph, and then choose the best summary.

   Some authorities say that the only true pyramids are the ons built in Egypt. These solid structures have a square or a rectangular base, smooth sloping sides, and a pointed top. The Egyptian pyramids were designed as burial places for the pharaohs. However, elsewhere in the world, pyramid like structures were built. These pyramids were often as temples or building for astronomical studies. Notable examples are the ziggurats of Mesopotamia and many others scattered around the world. 

1. The most famous true pyramids are the ones in Egypt.
2. Pyramids were built in many parts of the ancient world. 
3. Although some authorities say the only true are Egyptian, pyramid like structures were built in other places.