Example 1A:

One of the essays we read this semester was Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham City Jail.” It was very interesting. It’s hard to imagine what people had to go through in those days. I’m glad we live in a time when people are no longer discriminated against and we’re no longer in danger of making unfair laws based on prejudices.

Example 1B:

One of the most challenging things we read this term was Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham City Jail.” When we began discussing it, I wasn’t very interested in the topic. I had heard all about the Civil Rights movement and didn’t need to go over all that again. But at one point in the discussion, we began to talk about how King’s ideas might apply to current issues such as a ban on gay marriage. Now, I’ve always been a staunch opponent of gay marriage because I believe homosexuality is wrong. (explanation and exploration) But as we kept talking, I realized that King’s definition of an unjust law, a law where the majority imposes a restriction on the minority that it does not apply to itself, is exactly what we’re proposing when we argue for a ban on gay marriage. (conjecture) A ban on gay marriage would mean that heterosexual couples would be allowed to marry but that privilege would be denied to gay couples. That really got me thinking. (analysis) Later, I realized that it’s not good to be too hasty about your opinions. You have to look at things logically and really think them through, which is what college does the best. It gives you the tools you need to really understand things at a deeper level. (synthesis)

Example 2A:

For my service learning requirement, I volunteered at the Bridgewater Nursing home. My job was to follow the staff around and do errands for them when they needed me to. I met several of the residents there and got to know some of the staff pretty well. The experience was very interesting. I hope that if I ever need to go into a nursing home, I can find one as good as Bridgewater’s. My grandmother was in a nursing home before she died, but it wasn’t as clean or as well run as this one. Hers was pretty depressing. I might try to do my hours over there again next semester, since it wasn’t too bad.

Example 2B:

One of the first things that bothered me about Bridgewater was the whole idea of service learning. I can tell you honestly, I was not enthusiastic about that requirement. My main objection was how can they force me to do volunteer service? But I ended up helping build a Habitat for Humanity house and my whole thinking about service learning changed. (explanation and exploration) The first thing that happened was that I met the family the house was being built for. The mother, Sarah, is a single mother of three children named Bobby, Jill, and Randy. Not only did we meet her, but she actually came and helped work on the house with us, which I didn’t expect. She called it “sweat equity,” which means that she has to put in so many hours of labor on the house she gets from Habitat. We ended up talking a lot over the time I was there. I found out that the houses aren’t free. The people who get them have to pay for them, but the mortgage is more affordable than it would be from a regular bank. I also found out that Sarah was a hard working person with a very strong religious background. I didn’t expect that. (analysis) I guess I had assumed that people who get government handouts are all deadbeats and lazy. (exploration again) Sarah was definitely not like that! In fact, as I talked to her, I began to realize that she and her kids were just like anybody else. (conjecture) Her background was not much different than people I knew back home. (analysis) That was what got me the most, how she and her kids were like regular people. I actually enjoyed working on the house. I even worked twice as many hours than I needed before I even realized it. I feel very differently about programs like Habitat for Humanity than I did before coming to college.(synthesis)