Writing Samples

SAMPLE #1

This sample should give you a general idea of our writing style. This sample was based upon a 1st year College Level English assignment utilizing one source; MLA style.
 

Ironies of Life in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”

            Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” which takes only a few minutes to read, turns out to have an ironic ending.  On rereading it, however, one sees that the irony is not concentrated only in the outcome of the plot.  Rather, the story’s irony is present in the plot’s smallest details and so creates a picture of reality as something that is constantly surprising to us. 
            First, once we know how the story turns out—Mrs. Mallard dies just when she is beginning to live—we can reread it to find irony at the very start. Because Mrs. Mallard’s friends and her sister assume, mistakenly, that she is deeply in love with her husband, Brently Mallard, they take great care to tell her gently of his death.  They mean well, and in fact they do well, bringing her an hour of life, an hour of joyous freedom, but it is ironic that they think their news is sad.  True, Mrs. Mallard at first expresses grief when she hears the news, but soon (unknown to her friends) she finds joy in it. So Richards’s “sad message” (Chopin 26), though sad in Richards’s eyes, is in fact a happy message to Mrs. Mallard.  This is one instance of irony in a tiny detail that works to surprise readers early on.
            Additionally, readers are also surprised by the ironic details later in the story as well. Among the small but significant details is the statement near the end of the story that when Mallard entered the house, Richards tried to conceal him from Mrs. Mallard, but “Richards was too late” (Chopin 28).  This situation is ironic because almost at the start of the story, in the second paragraph, Richards “hastened” (Chopin 26) to bring his sad message; if he had at the start been “too late” (Chopin 28), Brently Mallard would have arrived at home first, and Mrs. Mallard’s life would not have ended an hour later but would simply have gone on as it has been.
            Another irony at the end of the story is the diagnosis of the doctors.  They say she died of “Heart disease—of joy that kills” (Chopin 28).  In one sense they are right:  Mrs. Mallard has for the last hour experienced a great joy.  But of course the doctors totally misunderstand the joy that kills her.  It is not joy at seeing her husband alive, but her realization that the great joy she experienced during the last hour of thinking him gone is now over.  Such irony shows us the surprising turns that life can take at any time.

            In conclusion, all of these ironic details add richness to “The Story of an Hour,” which shows readers glimpses of the tiny, unexpected ways in which humans’ lives can be impacted by a kind of chance or fate.  Such details are not only important for their own sake (they work together to create a hugely interesting story) but also for the greater truth of what they suggest about the presence of irony in our daily reality.  Chopin hints that the reality of the world is that surprise is ever-present, always working to stymie our “best laid plans” and sense of order.  To Chopin, what’s real (and really significant) to our lives is not the huge events like Mallard’s death, but rather the small, unexpected twists and turns, like Mallard’s non-death, that invade our day and that shock our lives with surprise powerful enough turn the path of—or even extinguish—our own existence.  

                                                        Work Cited

Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.”  Literature and the Writing Process (7th ed.).

         Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, Robert Funk, Eds. New Jersey:  Prentice Hall,

         2005.
 

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SAMPLE #2

This sample was based upon a math problem given in an Algebra Course. The problem is explained in a simple manner in order for the client to understand the basic concepts.   
 

Question given: Explain using your own words why we cannot use the FOIL method to multiply a problem such as (x + y)(a + b + c). Multiply this problem out correctly. How many terms do you actually end up with? Do you get more or less terms than when you use the FOIL method (on a problem which you can use FOIL, that is)?
 

Answer provided: FOIL stands for First Outer Inner Last. We can only use the FOIL method on problems that look like this (x + y)(a + b); thus 2 terms by 2 terms. Thus, in the problem given above, there was (a + b + c) or 2 terms by 3 terms. This extra c does not allow us to use the FOIL method. In the problem above you will get more terms (6 terms) that doing a FOIL problem (4 terms).  Using the problem (x + y)(a + b + c), when you factor it out, you will get the following: xa + xb + xc + ya + yb + yc. Thus, you get 6 terms. Now let us see the difference by using the FOIL method. Using the problem (x + y)(a + b), you will get the following: xa + xb + ya + yb. Thus, you get 4 terms.
 

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SAMPLE #3

This is an actual newspaper article that was published in over 100 community newspapers and educational trade journals across the country in the month of September.

What You Did Not Know About the SAT Exam

By Professor Abe Korn
 

            Once again it is time for students to begin preparing for the SAT exam. The test itself is an important indicator of a student’s chances for success in most colleges and universities. A poor score on the SAT will limit a student’s chances of being accepted into a good university / college. Many universities use the SAT as one major factor of determining whether or not to accept a student into their collegiate program. These colleges already know from years of experience that a low SAT score probably means that a student will not be able to meet or exceed the school’s requirements and this is why universities so heavily rely upon the SAT.
            Universities and colleges throughout the country know about grade inflation and course substitutions and the SAT puts everyone on the same playing field no matter what high school you attend. It is the SAT score that will tell a university more about a student than his or her high school grade average will. What do I mean? If a student has a grade point average of a 92 and scores poorly on the SAT, universities know that his / her grade average was inflated or the classes they took were not so hard. For example, student #1 in high school #1 takes a Consumer Math class in 11th grade and gets a 97 on his / her report card. Student #2 from high school #2 takes an AP Calculus class in 11th grade and gets a 88 on his / her report card. Just based upon this information alone, most will think that student #1 from high school #1 is brighter because he / she has a higher high school average. Now both students take the SAT; student #1 scores a 480 on the math section and student #2 scores a 720 on the math section. Universities would rather accept student #2 into their program even though he / she has a much lower high school average.
            Your SAT score does make a difference? Do well on it. What can you do right now to improve your score? Study and review everyday a little of your algebra, geometry, English vocabulary, grammar rules, and writing skills, just to name a few things. Do not try to cram everything into a few days but study for an hour each day for the next several weeks. This small piece of advice may improve your score.
 
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These are just a few samples of the work we can do. We can handle work on all levels including high school, undergraduate college courses, graduate level, masters level, and so forth. The examples provided were done on a basic level in order to give you an idea of how we write and how we explain things. We can write on a more advanced level if required.