<p>They ask you to propose a solution to a global issue. How in-depth and original does the solution have to be? I'd imagine that they wouldn't want to read an regurgitation of last week's editorial columns, but how much do they actually expect?</p>
<p>I’m curious about the same thing! When I wrote my essay, my solution was about a pargraph and a half and I think it might have been a little too general. Anyone know anything for sure?</p>
<p>was your solution original? Mine just seems to be a mosaic of newspaper editorials and a few books</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say it was really original; I did the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Pretty much everything that has been tried so far has failed, so I kind of just gave a common answer but tweaked it a little, if that makes any sense (:</p>
<p>I don’t think they’re expecting anything spectacular that could like change the world. I think it’s just more of an opportunity to share our opinions.</p>
<p>I think the important think to remember is that the people reading your SFS essay know what they are talking about and if they don’t they find the professor that does (writing about some obscure topic isn’t going to always work in your favor). They have heard pretty much everything. It’s not as much about what solution or position you take, but how you defend it. A well argued paper on a well known topic is a much more impressive than coming up the perfect solution to bring Hamas and Israel to the negotiating table.</p>
<p>A few things to remember: #1 You’re not going to present an original solution to a significant global problem that’s reasonable and has never been thought of before (if you can do that, skip college fix the world accept your Nobel then retire). #2 Essays mainly exist not to evaluate your knowledge of specific policy problems but rather to show that you can put sentences together well, reason at the college level, and provide a rational argument. Do those things, and you’ll be ok.</p>
<p>Potatoes345 and hec2008, thanks for answering our question. You guys really helped to clear things up (:</p>
<p>I actually did the Arab-Israeli Conflict too. Threw in Pakistan for some flavor. Somehow it worked and now I’m a freshman in the SFS. Just know the subject you’re writing about, and if you dont, research before you write. Mention some recognizable names: people, organizations, regions. My topic seemed a bit cliche I’m not gonna lie, but there are tons of people here who wrote on topics such as: human traficking in Southeast Asia, drug cartels in Latin America, the environment etc.</p>
<p>Hey mad256, quick question (: do you recall the format of your essay? Like was a majority of it about the conflict in general? Or did you focus more on the solution aspect of the prompt? I was curious because as of now, my essay is about 3/4 just talking about the conflict, and then a decent-sized paragraph for a solution. Do you think I should be focusing more on the solution part?</p>
<p>Britty, I apologize for the very late response, I don’t check these boards often. While I realize you may have already finished your essay, I’ll go ahead and answer your question. While my essay was about the Arab Israeli conflict, I did not explicitly go over the conflict itself, but rather what role the United States plays in the conflict and how the 2 wars we are fighting in the Middle East relate to the conflict. If 3/4 of the paper is just explaining the conflict, I’d suggest cutting back on that to about 2-3 paragraphs and focusing the rest of your paper on the solution. (My paper was 2 1/2 pages)</p>
<p>Alright, thanks mad! I’m actually not done yet, so I’ll definitely keep that in mind. (:</p>