Please list 10 ways you can improve your essay scores

1. Make an effective point.                      
2. Come up with a good quote.                       
3. Explain that quote thoroughly.                       
4. Make an effective thesis statement.                       
5. Restate the thesis effectively.                       
6. Write with my own style.
7. Use a good word choice.
8. Use correct punctuation.
9. Write with proper mechanics.
10. Come up with a good ending statement that makes the reader think about the paper.

Please write any 15 thoughts about the book Slaughterhouse-5.  For each thought, please refer to a specific part of the book that generated this thought (for instance, “It was funny” receives no credit; “It was funny when he described the Tralfamadorians” receives full credit).

1. Death is insignificant. "So it goes."

2. Tralfamadorians are intelligent.  When they describe their views of life to Billy.

3. War is pointless.  When the Tralfamadorians are talking to Billy about it.

4. Time is not linear. The Tralfamadorians explaining their fourth dimension.

5. Reproducing needs a lot of different people.  The Tralfamadorians analysis of how many "sexes" the humans have.

6. No moment is more important than another.  The Tralfamadorians view of death.

7. Humans are stupid.  The Tralfamadorians analysis of their wars and reactions to death.

8. Pain is worse than death.  Billy crying at the horses in pain.

9. It was action filled.  The scenes of the Dresden bombing.

10.  It was interesting when Montana Wildhack first came to Tralfamador.

11. The concept of being unstuck in time is interesting when he goes back and forth in his life.

12. It was intriguing when Billy was about to die but didn't care.

13. It was very interesting when Billy saw the books by Kilgore Trout that were basically about his experiences with the Tralfamadorians.

14. It was neat how it was a war book, but the "hero" didn't have any heroic qualities.

15. It was unique how the main character's death was in the middle of the novel.


State 5 possible themes for the book Slaughterhouse-5.
1. I think that from this book, I have learned that pain is much worse than death.

2. Death is insignificant in the large scheme of the world, it is simply another moment in time.

3. War is pointless, and accomplishes little since it relies so heavily on death, which is also insignificant.

4. Time is not as linear as most of us percieve it to be, if we think it can be much less linear than we believe.

5. It is not as important to fear one moment when you can be living in the current moment.


Write a conversation between yourself and Billy Pilgrim in which he tries to teach you a lesson based on his own experiences.  You must explain IN DEPTH at least 3 specific events and details from the book in order to receive full credit.  This conversation should go on as long as it takes to demonstrate YOUR UNDERSTANDING of Billy’s experiences.

Billy: Hello, Scott!
Scott: What's going on Billy?
Billy: Well, I'm going to tell you about the Tralfamadorians.
Scott: The Tralfamadorians sound crazy, who are they?
Billy: They're aliens that live on the planet of Tralfamadore.  One night, they abducted me and took me to their home planet.  They introduced me to their way of life, and explained to me their views on war.
Scott: I don't believe you.  Tell me more.
Billy: Well, they taught me that time isn't really linear, and I became unstuck in time.  I kept on flying back and forth to different moments in my life.  One time I even traveled to the time of my death, but I didn't even care because it was just another moment in time.
Scott: Wow, sounds neat.  Did you have any other interesting times with time traveling or the Tralfamama-bobbers or whatever they're called?
Billy: Well, after I got in a plane crash, I decided to tell everyone about my experiences with the Tralfamadorians.  I went to New York and went on the radio and everything.  But one of the most interesting things about it was that I discovered that there were books written by a man named Kilgore Trout, and the plots of his books matched my experiences exactly!  It was pretty strange.
Scott: That is amazing!  Well I have to go now, bye Billy!
Billy: Bye Scott!