<p>As I was editing someones essay at CC, I noticed he adhered to the standard rule of "Show don't tell." That is okay.</p>
<p>But I sent him a critique saying that I emphasize on showing, but telling is also important. I mean instead of simply describing an incident and letting the reader do all the work of understanding what it meant.....I insist that we tell the reader straight what we want them to know and then back it up with an incident or an example........
so whats better to you....</p>
<p>A. Describe an incident and leave the reader to do all the work
B. Tell the reader straight what you want em to hear and then back it up with an incident or an example.......</p>
<p>THanks to all those who respond to this.....thanks for yur opinions</p>
<p>I strictly prefer the first. All my essays and especially stories are subject to mass interpretations.. I like hazy stories that make the user imagine..</p>
<p>Altho thats fine. if ur adcom has no sense of imagination and humor.. then usually I would be dead :)</p>
<p>Describe an incident in such a way that your adcom reader will come to the conclusions you wish him/her to come to . Structure your description to produce the desired effect--but you don't have to hit them over the head "with the moral of the story." Your job is to show how your imagination and perception work and communicate a point of view-either directly or indirectly.</p>
<p>I think you should in the end give the reader a push in the right way..
because you dont want the adcom think after he read it: what was that all about?</p>
<p>From what I've read, the essays are used to give the colleges a picture of you. Fulfill that goal, and a moralistic armchair philosopher end statement is unnecessary.</p>