<p>what is everyone's recommendation for whether or not to use "I". When writing about a personal anecdote, what can you do?</p>
<p>When you write about yourself, use the word "I." All great writers do. Only doofus school English teachers tell you not to.</p>
<p>ooh ok thanks. Also, another question about the essay; how many points do we really need. Is it better to write about 2 points more thoroughly, or 3 points with less detail and analysis. And of the 2 or 3 points, does variety matter? If I write about 2 literary examples, would it be worse that writing about one literary example and one personal anecdote? Thanks</p>
<p>25 minutes is plenty of time to go indepth with 3 examples. But if you find that you can't, do 2 really well.</p>
<p>they're looking for a basic 5 paragraph essay, with a variety of examples, so i'd say go for 3--but make sure they are concrete. i did that livegrader thing and the reason i got points off was that my supports were not "concrete" enough. they really didn't expand on what they meant though.</p>
<p>I think 2 is fine, especially if you do them well. For me, I usually don't have enough space to do 3. Also, the Official Study Guide has quite a few examples of essays that got a 6 with only one example used.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses...but does anyone know if variety in your points matter? (literature, history, personal anecdotes"</p>
<p>bump? anyone? is it better to have your points come from a variety of sources, or is it ok to have all of them, say, from differnet books</p>
<p>sigh..i know this is the second time I bumped this thread but I REALLY need to know (by this saturday), if using a variety of points (1 literary, 1 anecdote, 1 historical fact) has any significant advantage over using say..all literary examples.</p>
<p>The prep book I read, Rocket Review, by founder of Princeton Review, recommends 2 literary and one history. It lists subjects in terms of desirability, and put personal anecdotes last, and even mathematics higher than that.
Basic list from the book, ordered:
Literature
History
Social Sciences
Hard Sciences
Math
Personal Stories.
The ranking of personal stories is debatable, but I personally think exclusively limiting your examples to the first 2-3 provides enough source material and lends a professional air to your writing, assuming that you do not use "I".</p>
<p>i read 2 examples from the college board book with only 2 examples. they both got 6's</p>
<p>they normally say dont use personal anecdotes</p>