Final Cover Letter 2

For the overall content of this research, I chose the topic due to the very fact that it IS in all aspects related to my Major and Career of choice. Emerson had a very elegant way of writing, and with it a great new and revolutionary idea that took to the hearts of many. I have used many of his ideas and writing formats – and in a few cases, I even did my best to imitate to the very best of my ability his exact style of writing to form an essay very much like one he would have wrote (for my own practice) – in much of my writing to use as a tool and guide. I am a firm believer that for your writing to become known and interested in by the public, you must have an original and refreshing writing style that people will enjoy and take part in – whether it’s an imitation off of how you speak (For those with great public speaking skills), or simply something no one has seen before – in order for it to become any sort of success. Nowadays, reading is become less and less popular by the new generations, and to get them to read, they must be able to understand, relate to, and even “hear” what they are reading – TV and the media have had a significant effect on the present day individual’s attention span – hearing is easier then looking.

Given this, throughout my research my opinions maintained a truth to them, and this made it much easier for me to continue with my work – drafting a thesis and abstract took little time once I found the information I needed which, in turn, did not take long at all. While my first drafts of these were vastly different, I did this for my own benefit – to find where the greater strength of my arguments would be, or if none, how they should be put together – basically, finding a synergy between the ideas of Transcendentalism and literary form. Needless to say, it worked out great once I segmented the ideas and read them in separation.

Final Cover Letter 1

To be quite honest I did not believe, at first, that this would be how University research projects would be put together and organized. Throughout my schooling, I had always been taught to organize papers through graphs and bubble-brainstorm charts in which you think of your main ideas you will use for your essay and then draw lines from those and put down other details and information. I had realized that this, of course, gives you a very limited amount of room to create true, original essay formats, but I figured this was simply a cookie-cutter essay creator that all American schools and colleges forced their students to abide by – I.E. 5 paragraph essays for FCAT. I never liked it much, I hate to use this format as I believe that writing must always be original and can and should, for the most part, be flexible in how they are constructed so long as they maintain the fundamentals such as thesis statements and a well though-out, interesting introduction paragraphs. I was glad to find out through this class that later, more difficult writing classes will urge the students to use other methods to create their work, such as through this online-based research blog to construct and jot down one’s progress.

There is a major possibility that later on in my college career I would adopt this method, if not alter it just slightly, for some of the work I will do – however I must confess that this type of research and organization appears to me as a method for those much harder, complicated, and longer essays that require much more thought and information than most basic essays – it would be a waste of time to use this method for mere 5-page essays (generally double spaced in this case). It has its merits though, for all of your work and thought is put down day by day as your research goes on, it would be difficult to forget, and an easy reminder, should you have to come back to it after a few days, to get right back on track when necessary.

Revised Bibliography

1. Dictionary of American philosophy, by St. Elmo Nauman, Jr.

1. Published: New York, Philosophical Library [1972, c1973]

2. Emerson: a modern anthology. Edited by Alfred Kazin and Daniel Aaron.

1. Published: Boston, Houghton Mifflin [c1958]

3. Transcendentalism : a reader / [edited by] Joel Myerson.

1. Published: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2000.

4. The Encyclopedia of philosophy. Paul Edwards, editor in chief.

1. Published: New York, Macmillan [1967]

5. Toward the “Titmouse Dimension”: The Development of Emerson’s Poetic Style. R. A. Yoder

a. PMLA, Vol. 87, No. 2. (Mar., 1972), pp. 255-270.

6. Education for the gleam of light: Emerson’s transcendentalism and its implications for contemporary moral education.

1. Personal Author: Saito, Naoko
2. Journal Name: Philosophy of Education Yearbook

7. Emerson’s United States Magazine (1857-1857); New York, Jul 1857; Vol.VOLUME V.

1. Iss. No. 37

8. Emerson’s United States Magazine (1857-1857); New York, Aug 1857; Vol.VOL. V.

1. Iss. No. 38.

9. Emerson’s United States Magazine (1857-1857); New York, Sep 1857; Vol.VOL.V.

a. Iss. No. 39

Revised Abstract

“Ralph Waldo Emerson, the father of Transcendentalism, inspired a multitude of individuals with his wise words on the human spirit and Nature’s charismatic and friendly personality – his literary form was revolutionary, adding poetic justice to the arbitrary political essay, catching one’s attention through his excited, ever flowing, voice – thus it is not surprising that one such as myself would aspire to rise to his level, as a writer with Nature as a main theme – learning what I can of Emerson and his literary form would bring about, perhaps, a new revolution in modern day literature – I could revive the dull and ever dying creativity, drawing the readers’ attentions once more to the Transcendentalist motives through a new and refreshing, yet slightly nostalgic, manner.”

The author, as evidenced by this quote, holds Emerson in a rather high respect when it comes to his literary form and magnificent ideas. Throughout the beginning of his essay, the author explains just what the Transcendentalists strove for, quoting from Emerson’s many volumes from the Emerson’s United States Magazine and other texts, creating a rather grand picture of the ideals these people had and their respect for Nature. In a few examples to show some acts that the Transcendentalists took to prevent a mundane, scheduled, and urbanized lifestyle, the author speaks of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, in which Thoreau escaped to the lakeside and did what he could to live as nature had intended, without the city life and its continuous, repetitive, routines to distract one’s self from the greater glories of life – the sheer simplicity that one should strive for.

However, these new ideas – however original and rather stunning, were not the only thing that made Emerson so revolutionary, but rather the addition of his literary form. The author continues on this note, applying the ’sciences’ of his form, giving yet more quotes that prove his originality – his way of creating a poetic non-fictional essay, or a non-fiction poem, putting in many colorful and refreshing similes and properly structured sentences and paragraphs yet never losing focus of his ultimate goal – such as his first popular and published essay entitled “Nature.” The author points out that it was this very method, along with Emerson’s way of public speech that enthralled his audience and gathered a never seen before following of fans and devotees, allowing them to listen and understand his points and values with ease, all the while being lulled by his vernacular.

The author then continues to write on more personal matters, explaining his love for writing and similar values to those that Emerson has put forth. The many poems and novels the author has written and/or currently writing base largely on Emerson’s ideas and literary form – basing a primary writing structure on his, though with some improvements and personal quirks that add to originality. The author continues to explain that his novels and ideas may not fully gain the interests of the common day readers had he not develop for himself a new, interesting, and poetic writing style that would please the eyes and, in a sense, the ears, of his readers. Using Emerson as a tutor of a sort, he strives to create a somewhat musical writing style that shall gain the focused attention of the crowd and bring forth a new wave of creativity – a breath of fresh air.

Revised Thesis

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the father of Transcendentalism, inspired a multitude of individuals with his wise words on the human spirit and Nature’s charismatic and friendly personality – his literary form was revolutionary, adding poetic justice to the arbitrary political essay, catching one’s attention through his excited, ever flowing, voice – thus it is not surprising that one such as myself would aspire to rise to his level, as a writer with Nature as a main theme – learning what I can of Emerson and his literary form would bring about, perhaps, a new revolution in modern day literature – I could revive the dull and ever dying creativity, drawing the readers’ attentions once more to the Transcendentalist motives through a new and refreshing, yet slightly nostalgic, manner.

Draft Bibliography

1. Dictionary of American philosophy, by St. Elmo Nauman, Jr.

1. Published: New York, Philosophical Library [1972, c1973]

2. Emerson: a modern anthology. Edited by Alfred Kazin and Daniel Aaron.

1. Published: Boston, Houghton Mifflin [c1958]

3. Emerson: a collection of critical essays. Edited by Milton R. Konvitz and Stephen E. Whicher.

1. Published: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall [1962]

4. Transcendentalism : a reader / [edited by] Joel Myerson.

1. Published: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2000.

5. American transcendentalism : a history / Philip F. Gura. Edition: 1st ed.

1. Published: New York : Hill and Wang, c2007.

6. The Encyclopedia of philosophy. Paul Edwards, editor in chief.

1. Published: New York, Macmillan [1967]

7.

7. Toward the “Titmouse Dimension”: The Development of Emerson’s Poetic Style. R. A. Yoder

a.

PMLA, Vol. 87, No. 2. (Mar., 1972), pp. 255-270.
8. Education for the gleam of light: Emerson’s transcendentalism and its implications for contemporary moral education.

1. Personal Author: Saito, Naoko
2. Journal Name: Philosophy of Education Yearbook

9. Emerson’s United States Magazine (1857-1857); New York, Jul 1857; Vol.VOLUME V.

1. Iss. No. 37

10. Emerson’s United States Magazine (1857-1857); New York, Aug 1857; Vol.VOL. V.

1. Iss. No. 38.

11. Emerson’s United States Magazine (1857-1857); New York, Sep 1857; Vol.VOL.V.

a. Iss. No. 39

My Most Common Writing Mistakes

For me, when writing, I commonly mix up the words “Take” and “Bring” in sentences, without – sometimes – noticing that I have done it. Instead of writing “I’ll take you to the store tomorrow,” I may instead jot down “I’ll bring you to the store tomorrow.” While I do understand the rule for these two words, I continuously forget and absent-mindedly make that error.
The other mistake I tend to make quite often relates to parenthetical documentation – I tend to put the period both after the quote, and again after the parentheses, or simply just after the quote. Again, I tend to do this without noticing, as I am generally very tied up in my thought processes during this time.

The Library

I forgot to mention that last Friday I visited the library. I found the librarians there to be quite helpful and finding the books I needed was a breeze. A few of the books are in the in other campuses, however they stated that it certainly would be no trouble, if I desired, to have them shipped to the Boca Campus.

Draft Abstract

The author of this essay writes of Emerson and his rather unique literary form that shook the ages. He praises much of Emerson’s work, stating that because of his original form and sense of poetic justice – which he finely weaves into his political and philosophical ideas – he managed to gain the crowd’s attention and allow them to truly grasp his beliefs – reworking them into something substantial. The author’s overall statement, then, uses this example to amplify the idea that they words you use and how you use them – woven together to create a poetic, beautiful canvass painting -can often times lead to extraordinary results – drawing in the crowd’s generally short and one minded attention to your work, manifesting your complicated, yet revolutionary, beliefs for them to soak into their minds and cherish.

ILL Account

I set up my ILL account earlier today and tomorrow I will visit the library.