I find non-fictional writing most appealing to read when it discusses a topic with passion and offers a fresh perspective, all this in a clear and concise format. Integrating these characteristics into a strong and cohesive essay is far from trivial and, to this end, having a strong passion or even a personal infatuation for the topic helps tremendously. I chose to analyze the increasing prevalence of sustainable processes around the world, as this is a subject very relevant to today’s changing times. Additionally, the issue is particularly relevant to my Economics coursework, and it posed a personal interest to me as an international student. Most importantly, the topic could be condensed to a set of questions, making the scope narrow enough to allow a focused analysis, yet broad enough to stimulate individual research and leave room for further questions.
Although I often find deciding upon a facet of the topic the most difficult step in writing a research paper, synthesizing various sources of information and weaving my own voice into coherent prose also poses a considerable challenge. For this, I found going through several write-revise-rewrite cycles inevitable, and the final draft differed considerably in structure to my initial outline. This editing process also underlined the importance of writing in a dense, non-redundant style at both the sentence and paragraph levels in order to express complex ideas while bound by the prescribed word limit.
In this vein, I feel that I could have improved upon increasing the readability of my essay somewhat, particularly by outlining its structure in a concise and straightforward manner before diving into the main arguments or providing definitions. The challenge, then, would have been to write a more comprehensive introduction while not repeating ideas in different sections. Additionally, quoting material from outside the three principal sources may have allowed for a broader scope. In particular, the political context of environmental and social sustainability may have contributed to the discussion.
GEORGE BROVA was born in Galati, Romania but soon moved with his family to Tokyo, Japan, where he attended primary school in Japanese and subsequently transferred to an international school. He is now a Trustee Scholar at Boston University, where he is pursuing a double major in Computer Science and Economics while juggling the exciting new privileges and responsibilities that student life presents. A trilingual, George enjoys traveling the world and has visited over twenty countries but he enjoys exploring new parts of Boston on his evening runs just as much! This essay was written for Masse Ndiaye’s WR 100: Global Transformations and Local Cultures.