Writing Creative Nonfiction

Creative nonfiction tells a story using facts, but uses many of the techniques of fiction for its compelling qualities and emotional vibrancy," according to Theodore A. Rees Cheney in his book "Writing Creative Nonfiction: Fiction Techniques for Crafting Great "Nonfiction (Ten Speed Press, 2001, p. 1). "Creative nonfiction doesn't just report facts, it delivers facts in ways that move the reader toward a deeper understanding of a topic. What interested me was not simply the discovery that it was possible to write accurate nonfiction with techniques usually associated with novels (and) short stories. It was that plus. Writing in the dramatic method (in scenes) is appropriate in creative nonfiction. As fiction writers know, scenes give vitality, movement, action-life-to a story. For the nonfiction writer, advice to show rather than tell means put more drama into your nonfiction writing. Show the reader what's happening. We believe what we see; we distrust what we're told. This post has been done with the help of https://essayfreelancewriters.com.

That's the secret to writing, whether fiction or nonfiction. They feel the whole truth has not been told unless the emotional context is there. Both traditional and creative nonfiction writers aim for the same thing-truth-or the accurate portrayal of life. The scene is the dramatic element in fiction and creative nonfiction. A story usually has a number of scenes, and the method best used in creative nonfiction is to develop the story scene by scene. I'm 45-years-old. My husband just asked me for a divorce. My kids have long ago flown the coop. And when I last checked, I had $100 to my name. I thought I'd done everything right. How did it all go so wrong? The creative nonfiction writer does not 'create' characters; rather, he or she reveals them to the reader as honestly and accurately as possible. I first thought that he was like my cousin-very reserved. If you can develop a robust list of historical details, establish meaningful set pieces, and construct accurate points-of-view, you will end up with a narrative that does more than simply relate historic information," according to Todd James Pierce in his article, "Preparing to Write: Research and the Art of Narrative Nonfiction, (The Writer, April 2017, p.

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Your resume, when listed chronologically, will then show how you eventually narrowed down your interests to a specific field. Call it maturing of interests, if you wish. The reason this is point number three is because the two points above aid in doing this. One of the main criterion for selecting a candidate is focus. In fact, you shouldn't even be applying for an MS or PhD if you don't have a specific field of interest in mind. The whole concept of further studies is to cover a specialized field in more detail to an extent that your undergraduate education couldn't fulfill. If you didn't have a specialization in mind before joining engineering, that is no problem. Your courses, projects, research, papers and industrial training would have exposed you to a plethora of fields. Which one was the most intriguing to you? Which ones did you despise? You can either narrow it down in one go or by the process of elimination. Even if you did have something in mind a long time ago, don't be surprised or apprehensive about your interests 'maturing' over the course of your BE. This was created with the help of https://essayfreelancewriters.com.

The reason for this is obvious. Since the grading system of American Universities is based on the 'Grade Point Average' system and ours is based on a percentage system, a method for the selecting committee to bridge the gap would be through rank. You can either keep your rank high, or if you happen to be in a very competitive class with similar abilities, try to keep your average close to that of the topper. Do not try to convert your average to the GPA system. The university to which you are applying will do it themselves in whatever method they see fit once they receive your transcripts. If you wish to get a great recommendation, you're going to have to interact with your professors on a more personal level. If they are doing their own research (as rare as that may be) ask them about it, and if you are interested, offer to help. This content has been generated by https://essayfreelancewriters.com!

Involve them with your own projects or paper presentations. This is where the actual preparation for the applying process begins. Depending on how well prepared how to write an autobiographical essay for college admissions wish to be, this can start anywhere from 3-12 months before your GRE. As you are allowed to select up to 4 universities to which to send your test scores for free right after the exam, you should also have a rough idea of which universities are out there to cater to your educational needs. In case you have any doubts about the GRE, there is an excellent list of frequently asked questions and their answers created and maintained by Nitin Madnani. This is what everyone first thinks of when they consider applying to the US for their post graduate studies. And it is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome in your path to the United States. Those who aren't flustered at first, aren't exactly the same after looking at the mammoth 3500 word list in the GRE prep book by Baron's. Data has been generated with Essay Freelance Writers!

Essay Outline Explained: 7 Things You Should Do Before Writing An Essay

Creating an essay outline is by all means the most effective and motivating way of learning the writing assignment, organising your ideas on the essay topic, and positioning your own point of view. Creating an essay outline is by all means the most effective and motivating way of learning the writing assignment, organising your ideas on the essay topic, and positioning your own point of view. The importance of essay outline in writing process is hard to underestimate. It is the solid foundation of a well-structured and considered essay with enchanting essay topic, logically organised paragraphs, strong thesis statements, and unforgettable conclusions. The essay outline helps you put your thoughts together, and have a clear idea of what the essay should be all about. I could go on, but the point is: when you write your essay outline first, the process of essay writing becomes a piece of cake! The first and most important step you should take before writing an essay is to understand what your professor wants to see in your essay wanted from you, thus to decode the writing assignment.

The solution to this riddle can be found in your essay question, which asks you either to discuss, compare, contrast, or summarise certain issues. When you know what is expected from you, you know which way of writing an essay to choose. consider means to describe a certain subject and say how effective it is. Once you know what you ought to do, you can get down to creating the essay outline. But before you do so, you need to verify the requirements for your essay. In the departments guidelines you shall find the deadlines, the requirements for the essay length and presentation. If some points are not clear to you, do not hesitate to verify them with your teacher. The more you know the better chances your have to write an outstanding essay. You must know that a thesis statement is a single declarative sentence that contains the focus of your essay and tells the readers what it will be all about.

But except for helping your readers with understanding your essay, it is of great help to you as well. A thesis statement helps you think through your ideas and their overall presentation to the readers. Moreover, it is the wishful salvation each time you get sidetracked from the main idea of your essay, and want to come back to the initial point. Your should not skip the process of writing a thesis statement at the top of your paper, right after your essay outline. Thus, be sure you compose a strong thesis statement for your essay outline. Once a thesis statement is ready, you should start brainstorming your ideas that relate to your thesis statement. Write down all ideas that come to your mind and are related to your topic, even if they are seemingly bizarre or outlandish. You should let your ideas flow as rapidly and spontaneously as possible.

When you have collected all your ideas, be sure to revisit them and discard the ones that seem useless. It goes without saying that all ideas in your essay must be supported with some evidence that should consist of specific examples or opinions of others. The supporting evidence should prove your thesis statement. Thus, more… must be relevant, reliable and presentable. So, you need to sweat a bit and gather relevant information on your essay topic and select the materials that will come in handy. It is advised not to neglect the basic sources you use every day. Thus, start examining your lecture notes, core texts and handouts. They usually include a sufficient amount of useful information that will supply you with great ideas for the essay outline. If you want to deepen into the essay topic, you can pick some other sources with detailed information on your essay topic.

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For instance, articles in journals, or texts referred to by your teacher can provide you with extremely valuable information. But be selective, and do not fall on the first source that you come across. Make a thorough and painstaking search. Once you have collected the information, you need to think through the structure of your essay and create the first draft. Your essay must be planned in the way that it has a coherent and logical structure. So far there are no universal standards for organising ideas in essays. However, all your ideas must be arranged in the logical way. For instance, the logical sequence of your facts could be presented in a simple to complex form, be specific or general, etc. Either way, choose which is most appropriate in your case. When structuring your ideas, do not be too wordy; write down your points in brief one-line sentences that are arranged in a series of headings and subheadings. Use bullet points to describe what each paragraph will contain. In the process of gathering information and brainstorming you must remember to write down everything you have consulted as you go along in order to be able to create a bibliography or list of references. Have a notebook where you can put down the information you will need later. Such trick will help you avoid the needless headache when you will be writing an essay. This is your seven-point plan that you should carry out before writing an essay. The outline with your properly organised ideas, notes, a thesis statement and references will be indispensable when the direct writing process will take place. This action plan will help you prepare your essay outline and save you from many hurdles of essay writing.

America's Greatest Orator: Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899)

I had the honor to introduce this great American at the 2010 National Wellness Conference. Not in person, unfortunately - Robert Green Ingersoll died over a century ago. But he is as important today as when he lived, for his words apply so well to current events and controversies. At last year's conference and in other forums, I have played Ingersoll by dressing the part and reciting a few of his speeches, then describing his passions. The following introduction is from Joseph Lewis' dedication of the Robert G. Ingersoll Museum, located in Dresden, NY. Robert G. Ingersoll was a Colonel in the United States Army who fought in the fought in the Civil War, the war of liberation and freedom and the preservation of the Union-a war to restore the integrity of the original draft of the Declaration of Independence. When Robert G. Ingersoll fought as a Colonel in the Civil War, his conduct was that of gallantry. When he fought the combined opposition of religious hatred, antagonism and ignorant fanaticism, he was magnificent.

When the bloody Civil War was over, Robert G. Ingersoll entered the political arena. He became Attorney General of the State of Illinois. His fame as an orator, his integrity, his reputation as an astute lawyer, made him the most logical candidate for the nomination for the Governorship of his state. His views on the question of religion, by this time, were well known. He never lost an opportunity to speak the praises of Thomas Paine. A delegation of political leaders came to see him. They stated their business, and named the conditions upon which he was to receive the nomination for the Governorship of the State of Illinois. National Honor Society Essays was that he would receive the nomination provided he concealed his religious opinions. Robert G. Ingersoll refused to accept their proposition. They begged, they implored him to change his mind. They told him that they did not want him to change his convictions, but merely to keep them to himself. What intellectual prestige Robert G. Ingersoll would have brought to the Executive Mansion as President of the United States of America!

World admiration would have been showered upon us. What wonders he would have accomplished! Religion has many blots upon her blood-stained garments, but no "damned spot" is more ineradicable, than that of having deprived the people of this great Republic of the genius of Robert G. Ingersoll. And yet, I had rather that the name Ingersoll be omitted from the list of governors and the list of the presidents than that the world should have been deprived of only one of his matchless orations. When you realize the grip of tyranny that religion has had over the minds and bodies of men for thousands of years, it seems almost incredible that any progress, whatever, was made towards liberty. As the breaking of the chains from the bodies of men was a slow and painful process, so it will be in emancipating the mind of man from the invisible shackles of mental slavery. Data was generated with Essay Freelance Writers.

We owe an everlasting debt to the brave men and women of the past who, one by one, faced the brutal power of the church in the best of causes. And yet, after all, what would this world be without death? It may be from the fact that we are all victims, from the fact that we are all bound by common fate: it may be that friendship and love are born of that fact; but whatever the fact is, I am perfectly satisfied that the highest possible philosophy is to enjoy today, not regretting yesterday and not fearing tomorrow. So, let us suck this orange of life dry, so that when death does come, we can politely say to him, 'You are welcome to the peelings. Gentlemen, a tramp has curled himself up on the rear platform of your car; shall I stop the train and put him off?

Certainly," replied the leader of the party, a man many times a millionaire, "put him off, and do it without ceremony." "You will do no such thing," quickly interrupted Colonel Ingersoll; "Let him alone, he is doing no harm." "But he's an intruder, stealing a ride, and how do you know he isn't a 'road-agent,' with accomplices further on? No matter, let him be; I will go and speak to him." Accompanied by the writer, he went to the rear platform. The man at once begged pardon for his intrusion, said that necessity alone impelled him, that he was out of work and out of money, that he was a good mechanic and wanted to go, to Denver, where he hoped to get employment. "Don't apologize or explain any further; I understand;" said the Colonel. "I have been hard up myself.

Classicism And Romanticism - Art & Entertainment

Nature has the replacing power and it weakens the dominance of one thing by giving birth to other favorable things or conditions. It happens with the history and the literature of all ages. The age of Shakespeare is called the first Romantic period. This period is rich with dramas of Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare, Spenser and aphoristic prose style of Sir Francis Bacon. This period was not supposed suitable for prose and that's why it was attacked and replaced by the Classical period in the eighteenth centaury with the work of Dryden, Pope, Addison, Swift and Dr. Johnson. This classicism in literature is called Neo-classicism or pseudo classicism. This classical Age starts from 1660 to 1789. In this era, literary men began to imitate the French writers. It was a blind imitation that led them copy the worst work instead of using their wit and feelings except the few. So it was only copy, and they compared it to the Augustan Age because the writers of neo-classical age considered their age as glorious as the age of the King Augustus Caesar of Rome. That age produced brilliant literary figures as Horace, Virgil, Longinus and Quintilian. For help with essay, please contact https://essayfreelancewriters.com.

Where as, in this pseudo-classical age, John Dryden was a dominant figure that's why it is called the Age of Dryden. Simultaneously, this classicism was also dominated by Romanticism in the early part of 19th centuary.Such replacement depends on the taste of the literary persons and the tendency of the public, because man likes change for adorning his thoughts and life with loftiness. This movement was against fiery work of Alexander pope and Dryden. It brought revolution against monopoly of rules and regulations for the sake of common people. https://essayfreelancewriters.com/blog/narrative-essay-outline/ preferred touch to imagination and heart, and it was just as return to nature according to William Wordsworth. The energetic poets of this movement were William Words Worth, S. T. Coleridge, John Keats, Byron, P. B. Shelly and Scott. This tendency continued its dominancy in the Victorian age, but the 20th centaury forgoes the classical spirit. The both periods possess the different but eminent characteristics.

Such entries increase enthusiasm among the readers and enable them to view about customs and habits of the concerned society. In case of difference, the classical poets dealt with the life of the court and the fashionable upper classes of the city of London. Pope's work, 'The Rape of Lock' is an outstanding example. This movement showed no love for the humble humanity and for the lower creatures or lower class; where as the poets of Romantic Movement gave priority to the topics of lower class, common people and country side unlike the neo-classical poets, focusing on difficult and abstract topics. The poets composed poems on Lucy Gray, the Solitary Reaper, the World is Too Much with Us, the Daffodils, Sonnet Composed on the West minster Bridge, Ode on the Grecian Urn, Ode to the Nightingale,Endymion, Kubla khan, Music when soft Voices Die and Indolence. They all belong to rustic life with beauty and freshness. This content has been generated with https://essayfreelancewriters.com!

All the topics have no importance in this materialistic society but they are having a great reputation amid the common people. The classical poetry showed lack of emotion and imagination. It was also prosaic because it was used for narrative, satiric or didactic purposes. So, it was for the purpose of persuasion but not for inspiration. It was the favourable style of narrating the controversies that caused the growth of satire. The best poetry of this eon is satirical. Dryden's 'Absalom and Achitophel' is a best known political satire. Actually romantic poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility. They follow imagination and passion because in this poetry, the poet expresses his emotions clothed with the creativity of imagination; otherwise, the poetry becomes prosaic. The poets gave more importance to substance than form. One thing must be noted that the Romantic poets have defined the poetry in real manner. Data has been created with the help of Essay Freelance Writers!

Learning To Embrace The Different

personal narrative ideas middle school and Brannon might suggest I pry loose the grip that ancient rhetorical tradition has on my modern classroom, but I'm not convinced I can so easily abandon the ancient rhetoricians. Learning to embrace the different, more creative, and less frequently acknowledged elements of this tradition may be the way for me to go instead. The ancient art of rhetoric recognizes and celebrates the ambiguity of language; rhetoric speculates about the world and invites others to make their own speculations. The essays we assign our students to write, such as the narrative essay, however, discourage ambiguity and speculation. They force students to write about what they already know about their lives or the world around them. Composition instructors should turn, instead, to the personal essay via the father of the form, Michel de Montaigne. Montaigne's example encourages students to explore their lives and only attempt to make sense of them. Unlike the stiff narrative essay encouraged by modes-based readers, the personal essay is invigorated by creativity, spontaneity, and personal discovery. If we yearn for our students to experience writing in this light, we need to create a space in our classrooms that allows for Aristotle's art of wondering and encourages Plato's motley of ideas. We need to promote students' ruminations about life, rather than privilege their explaining of it, in a space that allows for vulnerability and contradictions along their paths to discovery.

This essay should demonstrate your awareness of the world outside your own ethnic or cultural identity. INSEAD is a highly international program and seeks candidates that both demonstrate and value diversity. This could be an opportunity to highlight any international or cross culture exposure you have had such as traveling outside your home country, or when experiencing diversity within your home country. When you describe the experience and judge it to be either positive or negative it will be important to provide some individual context. Every applicant from INSEAD is coming from a unique background and from many different countries. Your perception of positive or negative cultural diversity will be a view into how you interact with the world. For example, you could view the lack of diversity in a workplace or school environment as a significant negative, or perhaps you had an experience of being the only "diverse" person in a work or personal situation.

On the positive side perhaps you learned more about others through a new cultural experience or through team building with a group of people different from yourself. Where you are coming from will be the deciding factor in terms of what experiences are ultimately positive or negative. At all times consider the environment at INSEAD and what your essay is saying about your ability to fit in among a highly diverse group of people. Essay 4. Describe all types of extra-professional activities in which you have been or are still involved for a significant amount of time (clubs, sports, music, arts, politics, etc). How are you enriched by these activities? Nothing is more personal than what you choose to do outside of school or work. What are the most meaningful pursuits you have spent your time on? You should both describe the main interests you have outside of your professional pursuits and explain why they are meaningful to you and why you spend time on them. Content has been generated by Essay Freelance Writers!

Ideally you can also explain how you will continue your involvement while at INSEAD and cite some specific clubs or groups where you see your interests contributing to the community. Optional Essay: Is there anything else that was not covered in your application that you would like to share with the admissions committee? This essay is 350 words you can use for anything you would like to showcase and that you were unable to work into the rest of your application. Because INSEAD's questions are quite thorough you may have covered all aspects of your candidacy and personal qualities in the other five essay questions, in which case you can feel comfortable skipping this question (it IS optional). If you did not have a place for an interesting hobby, new aspect of your background to describe, or key accomplishment, it may be appropriate to use this space to tell that story. It is far better to fully explain any issues in your application than to leave the admissions committee to guess what happened. If you have any challenging aspects to your candidacy like a low GPA or a failing grade in college, this is the correct place to address those concerns. Explain your issue clearly and focus most of the essay on the correction for the issue. For example, if you had a disciplinary issue in college, spend most of the essay demonstrating that you learned from the experience and have been an ideal citizen ever since rather than focusing on the negative. Avoid blaming anyone else for your issue, and relentlessly show why this one incident is in your past and will stay there.

A Series Of Articles On Autobiography

Nearly seven years ago I wrote my first essay on the nature of autobiography. It was some two years after completing my initial draft, the first edition of my own autobiography. I am now working on the 5th edition of that autobiography some twenty years after the inception of this project. I trust this 5th edition will be the final one. I am overwhelmed with a sense of complexity, with feelings of indifference and with a vision of the magnitude of the task at hand. I think I could find the motivation to pursue this 5th edition if I could get a clear sense that the work I am doing in the field of autobiography. I certainly hope that this work will be of quite practical use to my fellow-man in the decades and even centuries ahead. This very notion seems presumptuous and this presumptuousness militates against the pursuit of the goals I began with when I set out to write this autobiography twenty years ago. Post has been created with https://essayfreelancewriters.com!

Since I find the study of autobiography more interesting that the writing of my own I continue writing these essays. Today I read an article on autobiography and what follows is based on that article. My intention is simply to write a summary of the relevant parts of that article with the long range aim of drawing these ideas together into some meaningful whole. Even as homepage retired person with far less on my plate than during my thirty years of employment, life still takes me into corners of activity that keep me away from the kind of academic pursuits that this brief essay involves. My wife's illness, my class in creative writing at the Seniors School, family duties and obligations of home and hearth however minimal, a necessary amount of physical activity to keep a sound mind in a sound body, fatigue after ten or eleven in the evening and an endless assortment of odds and ends have kept me from continuing this simple task. So it is, a day later I approach this essay with continuing enthusiasm. Errors, omissions, even lies, are part of the fiction or imposture that is autobiography.

The creative writer turns to autobiography out of some creative longing that can not be satisfied through fiction. Such a writer finds some peculiar closeness and intensity of effect. It is difficult, in writing autobiography, to keep history and fiction distinct. Nabokov says that the tracing of images into intricate harmonies is what autobiography does. Writers also try to repossess the realities of the past from what appears to be a sterile and fictive world to which he has sacrificed himself. The historiographical transaction that is autobiography does not contain the total freedom or imaginative response of, say, poetry or fiction. Unreliability is an inescapable condition of autobiography. The reader can watch the writer wrestle with truth. It is important for the critic to understand the organizing principle or purpose behind the work. For the conscious shaping of a life, an informing purpose, exists behind the work. A voyage of genuine self-discovery is an essential component of such a work. This voyage takes place in a narrative past juxtaposed with a dramatic present. Confession, apology and memoir exist side by side as various contradictory and often unstable selves battle it out.

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Dunbar’s poetry, in comparison to the previous forms mentioned, is quite powerful. Arguably, Dunbar’s poetry contains the passion of Douglass’ speeches, the genuineness of Washington’s autobiography, the imagination of Chesnutt’s folktales, the observational qualities of Wells-Barnett’s journalism, and the intensely inquisitive nature of W.E.B. In fact, Dunbar sets forth a major contention that poetry could be the ultimately form of self-expression for the African American individual because of the depth and breadth of his poetry’s aesthetic and pragmatic qualities as well as the enormous creative and critical reflections they contain in regard to a plethora of other subthemes of African American experience. Perhaps no other form could accomplish so much with such little spatial and temporal resources. One line of poetry could mean a million different thoughts. Cromartie, V., (2013). Revisiting the sociology in ‘A red record’: Idea wells-barnett and empirical research. In NAAAS Conference Proceedings. Davis, S., (1995). The ‘Weak race’ and the winchester: Political voices in the pamphlets of ida b. In a Journal of American Women Writers (vol. Sign in or sign up and post using a HubPages Network account. 0 of 8192 characters usedPost CommentNo HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites. Thank you for your response, Rodric29! I am glad I have inspired you to read Booker T. Washington's great American classic slave narrative. It's a touching book. Thanks to you I am reading Booker T. Washington's book now.

Dissertation Help: Preparing For Defense Of Proposal

One of the areas that many doctoral students need dissertation help with is regarding their defense of proposal. Going into any interview process is scary, and a Defense of Proposal amounts to the same thing. As you face your committee looking seriously at the work on which you have spent so much time, the whole process seems mysterious and fraught with danger. Students have told me it is helpful to prepare by understanding how their committee may be looking at their proposal, what it is that they are looking for, and standards they may hold. This article addresses this and continues the series of articles on doctoral dissertation help by offering insights into the "defense of proposal" process. send message need to have built your proposal on a solid foundation. Your committee and readers must be able to glance at your table of contents and a solid set of headings that add up naturally to the logic of the proposal. Data was generated with Essay Freelance Writers.

Therefore, there is a strong suggestion that you look carefully at many published dissertations and review their table of contents as compared to yours. If you are missing any of the commonly used sections or subsections then you should add them. The way your document is laid out, the logic of your headings and subheadings, are like a foundation to a building. Without a solid structure it will collapse under the pressure of your defense of proposal process. Most committee members will read a proposal in one of two ways: either from beginning to end, in a linear pattern, or the methodology section first and proceed backwards reading Chapter 2 second and Chapter 1 last. Let's look closely at the results of these two patterns. If your committee reads your proposal from beginning to end, Chapter 1, the Introduction, usually reads very well. After all, they probably don't know much about the research at hand, and will likely find the chapter is short and informative. Chapter 2 may be a different matter.

The reader still is not completely sure what the research is, and so they read the literature review trying to gain more insight into what is being researched. Instead, all too often, they find a long treatise on a subject, and, even after reading it completely, may remain unsure as to what these ideas have to do with the research. Approximately halfway through the chapter, attention lags and the reader begins wondering what all this has to do with anything. Continuing on to Chapter 3 some, if not all of those questions may be answered, but there is also a likelihood that the reader instead gets caught up in the methodology issues. Unless the three chapters are very tight, if your committee reads your proposal from start to finish, there will be places where attention will lag and questions and judgment begin to come in. As a doctoral student you want to avoid this to the fullest extent that you can because at this point your committee members are likely to be filled with ideas for revisions, ready to scatter them across your document in their attempt to help you make it stronger.

The second way to read a dissertation proposal is to start with Chapter 3, get a good handle on what the person's methodology is and how they intend to apply it to a certain subject. Then to read the review of literature with a critical eye of whether and to what extent it backs up the need for, and illuminates the ideas behind, the methodology. Finally, Chapter 1 should back up everything the reader thinks they understand from having perused the other chapters. At this point, your proposal either makes complete sense for it does not. To the extent that your committee members are logically minded individuals, they should be well prepared at this point to offer succinct and targeted comments. Since you have no control over which way your proposal will be read, it makes logical sense to prepare for both. Very few students, if any, make it through defense of proposal with no comments on how to improve it and revision requirements.

Nevertheless, if you prepare by critically reading your document in the second manner described above, making revisions as come to light because of that approach, you stand a much better chance of making it past the first type of reader with fewer changes required. Let's discuss in detail how that can be done. Since Chapter 3, your methodology, is the linchpin around which the other two chapters rely, it needs to be well written, clear, with direct language and no extra detail. This chapter is also usually the chapter doctoral students find the most intimidating, as is natural because you have not done research before. Two suggestions seem to help: first, find model dissertations with easy-to-read methodology chapters and use them as guides throughout your writing, second, write this chapter early and rewrite it often until you know what it says so well that you can tell a friend about it without stumbling around. At that point, rewrite it again, and you will have taken out much of the language, citations of noted authors, etc. that get in the way of a reader understanding what it is you're doing.