Cal Newport's How To Become A Straight A Student

Do you ever wonder how good your writing skills are? Or what it takes to become a good writer? In Cal Newport’s book “How to Become a Straight A Student’’ he discusses in Part 3, Essays and Papers, how to become a college level writer. In this paper I will be comparing the common themes from the movie “Dead Poets Society” and Cal Newport’s Part 3 on what makes a good writer. In order to become a good writer you must be able to find your own voice, craft a powerful story, and get good feedback.

In the movie “Dead Poets Society,” the character John keating played by Robin Williams proclaimed, “Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, 'Most men

To quote Keating from Dead Poets Society, “To quote from Whitman, 'O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?' Answer. That you are here — that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?” (Dead Poets Society). As Newport states in his book, this step (Crafting a Powerful Story) “Is where the magic happens. It’s the fun part of paper writing-the moment of intellectual eureka” (pg. 174). Furthermore, Anna, a Dartmouth student, also states, “In order to write a great paper, you really need to make connections that other people haven’t made, and the only way to do that is to think” (pg. 174). Newports states that the first step is to formulate your argument. Formulating a good argument can turn a so-so paper into a great one. As Frank, a straight-A student from Brown explains, “Organization of thought can make a decently researched essay into a fine piece of academic work’’(pg.175). Newport also offers some tips such as getting ideas from national magazines such as the New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and also bouncing ideas from friends and taking breaks to allow ideas to come from you. The quotes and evidence from Dead Poets Society and Cal

As Newport states on 182, “The more input you receive, the better your paper will turn out.” Seeking a second opinion on your work contrasts, however, with the overall theme from the movie Dead Poets Society, which preaches “non-conformity,” or in other words, doing things differently from the norm. Instead of seeking a second opinion, Keating might not tell his students to seek out second opinions; instead, he would tell them something like this, “Now we all have a great need for acceptance, but you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go (imitating a goat) “that’s baaaaad.” Robert Frost said, "Two roads diverged in the wood and I, I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost had two roads in front of him, the road that had been traveled by the most and the road that no one would really travel by. He decided to take the road that no one would really travel by, it is almost as if you were to choose your who could review your paper. You would choose a teacher who is more professional in reviewing papers rather than choosing your friends who will say that there is nothing wrong with it. He want some that know more about essay to look at your essay to get a good