An A Cockrell Moment

An A Cockrell MomentA Cockrell Moment is about a student in his first year, the topic for which he had to write an essay. I must admit I was impressed by his passion and commitment. However, I also realized how lucky I was to be involved with a professor who encourages writing and who loves teaching!Mr. B is an English Literature major from Columbia University. He has a broad understanding of college writing, even being taught how to read and understand the basic building blocks of the English language.His essay example is about transubstantiation. He begins by explaining that the word 'transubstantiation' was first used in a doctoral dissertation, and he wants to use it as a subject for an essay. He is given guidelines on how to go about writing the paper. After he has started writing, he notes how easy it is to forget what is coming next.Here is the penultimate sentence. 'The purpose of this essay is to show how essential the Transubstantiation is for Christ's religion to exist and still be practiced throughout the world today.' It does not really follow up on this sentence. Why does he feel this is important?The next two sentences serve as a setup to a main idea that will run through the rest of the essay. What is this idea? Mr. B seems to be asking 'What is the purpose of Christianity?' A similar question can be asked of a religion.This next sentence makes the same point, but clearly paints a picture of it and not just the 'core belief'. The next paragraph seems to question the reader about their experience and thinking process. What are they looking for here?At the end of this final paragraph, the reviewer asks some questions about Mr. B. What is his approach to his religion? How did he come to this belief? The answer to each of these questions is given in this last paragraph.Overall, the essay is a good example of how a good essay should flow. Mr. B clearly demonstrates his passion for writing and the honesty that can be expected from a student at his lev el. That is what is most impressive.