Personal Essay 2

Garret-Brown’s essay is a discovery essay because she wants to know why people go to tanning beds feeling it is “completely asinine on the surface to waste money and time on a prepaid tan.” Holmquist’s essay is also a discovery essay because he wants to discover why people take drugs even if “they will kill you.” Traditional research papers just present the facts and I never feel the reader’s voice in the paper. The reader’s voice was clearly evident in both pieces of writing. In my essay, I want to mirror both pieces in my discovery essay by having my voice present in it. I can do that by sharing my thoughts and feelings and personal experiences with the reader.
Holmquist’s controlling idea is he does not want to “end up as another statistic or have one of” his friends write a paper like the one he wrote because of him. The reader can tell that he takes this subject to heart attributed to the fact that he almost lost one of his friends due to an overdose of drugs. “I was pretty much scared into (giving up drugs) after I had to call an ambulance for Eric.” That one instance was a life changing moment for him. He would go onto write because of that instance he has not taken drugs in “a year and a half.” In his extensive research about the drugs MDMA, LSD and GHB he was able to voice why he has stopped taking drugs along with giving clear factual information such as stating that LSD is a “hallucinogen by nature” or that MDMA could leave you with an “ecstasy hangover.”. Personally I have not tried any of these drugs and I will continue to stand by my belief against these drugs. This academic research was driven by the question he had of why people do these drugs and then he was able to analyses each of these three drugs. It has also been said by people that drugs are bad. Holmquist on the other hand looked deeper into what has already been said and researched that question giving evidence of the harmful dangers in doing drugs. As a result of his extensive research I was able to see the effects and disadvantages as well as what could be advantages to some people of taking these three drugs. Feeling “completely at ease with your surroundings” when taking MDMA to some people could be seen as an advantage to taking drugs but it could lead to death. The author was a onetime user of these drugs and he was able to add insight and he would admittingly “like my drugs.” The power of scientific research and one life changing event did however change his stance on drugs.
It was clear to me what Holmquist was trying to discover. What Garrett-Brown was discovering on the other hand was not clear. Through her voice it was clear that she was not in favor of tanning beds. At the beginning of her essay she stated “who made it cool for white people to be tan?” Then later she expresses the fact that she got tan over the summer but it was “the old fashioned way” by just playing in the sun and not artificially baking. What she might be discovering is not about the affects of tanning whether there is a right or a wrong way to do it, but she is trying to discover herself. She is not sure whether she likes a tan or not. She feels self cautious about herself and feels more comfortable when she is “putting on a bathing suit if I’m not so starkly white.” She does not mind being tan and is in favor of the tan but not the craze and obsession people have in being tan. The great lengths and money people spend on tanning beds is not what she likes when the end result is “a battle with cancer at worst and saggy skin at best.” A traditional research paper would not have her voice present along with her unfavorable opinion. Therefore the essay is a discovery essay. Along with adding voice, she was still able to incorporate research by using quotes from Seventeen Magazine like “2/3 of teens say they look better with a tan” and quotes from E.B. White to lead her to her discovery.
Through reading both of these discovery essays, I now have an idea on how a discovery essay should be. I am going to use a topic that has affected me just like Holmquist did in his essay. The dialogue and the real life anecdote and firsthand knowledge of the topic drew me in. As a result, it will be more interesting to me and I will get more out of it. The more interested someone is on the topic the deeper the writer goes. Ballenger’s suggestions helped me with the statement that “academic research is driven by questions” meaning that I will come up with a topic of interest that I wonder about and I will explore it deeper. In the end I will discover something about myself. I will for sure use the steps laid out in “The Curious Writer” as a blue print on how to write my discovery research paper.

1. Why does our culture brace athletic achievement more than other cultures? Do we brace it more than others?
2. Does the name of the college that someone graduates from matter? Example: Will someone that graduates with an electrical engineering degree from a small school like Lyndon State in Vermont get the same opportunity as someone that graduated from the University of Texas.
3. Out of Gatorade, PowerAde, Vitamin Water or Propel which is better for you?