The story begins with the trial of a young banker, Andy Dufrense, victimized by circumstantial evidence, resulting in a conviction for the murder of his wife and her lover. After a quick conviction, Andy finds himself serving a life sentence at Shawshank prison, with no hope of parole. He exists in this prison only in appearance, keeping his mind free from the drab walls around him. His ability to do this results in the gaining of respect from his fellow inmates, but most of all from Ellis Redding. Ellis, commonly referred to as Red, finds gainful use of his entrepreneurial spirit within the drab walls of Shawshank by dealing in contraband and commodities rare to the confines of prison. Andy's demeanor and undeniable sense of hope causes Red to take a deeper look at himself, and the world around him. Andy proves to Red and the other inmates that in the conventional walls of Shawshank prison convention will find no home in his lifestyle.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/reviews
Paraphrase of Previous Paragraph
This tale focuses on the experiences of Andy Dufrense a victim of unconfirmed evidence. The young banker is convicted of murdering his wife and her courtesan. Andy is charged with these crimes expeditiously and just as quickly, he realizes that with a life sentence and no chance of parole his life has been imbibed by the judicial system. Andy serves his sentence at the Shawshank prison. Ellis Redding, another prisoner at Shawshank takes notice of Andy. Red himself is notable in the prison for exercising his entrepreneurial skills by dealing various types of merchandise and forbidden goods. Red notes that although Andy is physically present his mind wanders beyond the dreary confines of the prison. This quality of Andy wins not only the respect and attention of Red but of many other inmates in the prison. Andy's behavior in the prison projects a sense of hope that inspires Red and the other prisoners. He proves himself to relentless in resisting the depressing effects of the prison's environment.
Synonymized paragraph (text laundering)
The plot initiates in the hearing of a youthful financier, Andy Dufrense, maltreated by contingent substantiation, resultant in a sentence for the murder of his wife and her lover. After a swift verdict, Andy discovers himself serving a life sentence at Shawshank prison, with no anticipation of parole. He subsists in this penitentiary only in look, keeping his concentration free from the monotonous bulwarks around him. His aptitude to do this results in the acquisition of admiration from his fellow convicts, but furthermost of all from Ellis Redding. Ellis, ordinarily referred to as Red, finds gainful use of his business spirit within the dowdy walls of Shawshank by distributing in illegal imports and merchandises uncommon to the boundaries of prison. Andy's behavior and irrefutable sense of optimism causes Red to take a deeper look at himself, and the world around him. Andy demonstrates to Red and the other inmates that in the conformist walls of Shawshank prison convention will find no home in his regime.
Personal Paragraphs in Original words
Learning is an activity that plays an important part in my life. The books I've read, films I've watched and life in general have provided me opportunities to learn and grow. Learning from the lessons I'm provided with daily is a very valuable activity to me. My main personal goal is self-actualization. I want to live up to my full potential and live a life with no regrets. I want to do my best to achieve all that I can. This is my main goal not only because it helps me tremendously but also because it will help those around me including my family. I like spending time with my family very much.
I'm not sure if I have developed any special skills yet. If I had to identify a skill or some skills I've acquired they'd be: time management, self-motivation, problem solving skills. I am working on developing stronger leadership skills because leadership seems to be an invaluable skill no matter your circumstances. I also want to improve my goal setting skills.
My experience at the college is something I can call a milestone in my life. I would call it that because I feel that in my years here I have grown a lot. I have become a more responsible individual and I have gained a better understanding of what I want out of life. My experiences at the college have also given me a very clear understanding of the expectations and standards I want to hold for myself.
A hobby of mine is reading. As of late I've started to invest more time into this hobby and I spend a little less time watching television. I'm starting to find books more convenient and enjoyable in ways I didn't when I was younger. A pet peeve of mine is when people blatantly disrespect my time. I think blatant is a key word in that description because I don't get upset about someone being ten or twenty minutes late. There have been instances where people have set appointments with me and haven't bothered to show up. Experiences like those are ones that I find annoying.
Paragraph obtained from news website describing a recent event
Ikaria got its name from the Greek myth of Icarus who, legend has it, plunged into the sea close to the island when his wax and feather wings melted. For centuries it was known as a health destination because of natural hot springs on the island. More recently it has been identified as one of a small number of so-called "blue zones" by the author Dan Buettner and National Geographic, where residents enjoy great longevity. Other places include Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, and Loma Linda in California. The most comprehensive work on Ikaria has been done by the University of Athens, whose researchers studied islanders aged over 65. On average, the 8,000 residents live 10 years longer than most Europeans and in much better health to the end.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20898379
Paragraph obtained from a book
The phytoecdysteroids (20HE specifically) in spinach increase human muscle tissue growth rates 20% when applied in a culture (think petri dish). Even if you're not interested in growth, it also increases glucose metabolism. Phytoecdysteroids are structurally similar to insect molting hormones-finally, an affordable way to eat insect molting hormones!-and both increase protein synthesis and muscular performance. Even little rats build stronger paw grips. In good news for women, the 20HE ecdysteroid tested demonstrates no androgenic properties. In other words, it won't give you a hairy chest or an Adam's apple. The Rutgers University researchers responsible for the principal study emphasize, almost as a deterrent, that one would need to eat 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of spinach per day to mimic the administration used. In testing, I've found that it's not hard at all to see a visible effect with smaller amounts. I routinely eat two to three cups of spinach per day, which is less than you think, and each cup is 81 grams. Two cups, at 162 grams, is about 16% of 1 kilogram. Three cups is almost 25% of 1 kilogram. If the results of the study are dose-dependent, one might expect an increase in muscle fiber synthesis of 3% from 2 cups and 5% from 3 cups, not to mention the effect of increased carbohydrate metabolism. Compounded over time, this is significant. If the effect is not dose-dependent but rather triggered at a dose less than 1 kilogram per day, it is possible that the 20% increase could be achieved with far less than 1 kilogram. I also believe that spinach increases cAMP, but that's for the geeks to explore. Lentils, last but not least, are a rich and cheap source of protein (amino acids), isoleucine and lysine in particular. Both lysine and isoleucine, a branched-chain amino acid (BCAA), are noted for their roles in muscular repair, and the latter for its effect on glucose metabolism.
Ferriss, T. (2010). The 4-hour body: An uncommon guide to rapid fat-loss, and becoming superhuman. (1st ed. ed.).
Paragraph obtained from a Journal
The example Hugh gives is how to memorize the Psalms. There are one hundred and fifty in all, and to learn them one first constructs a series of mental compartments, numbered consecutively from 1 to 150 - in other words, a rigid system of backgrounds with a definite starting-point. To each number is attached the first few words (the incipit) of each psalm, so that as one visualizes the number 'one', one simultaneously visualizes 'Beatus vir qui non abiit'; upon seeing 'xxii' one also sees the text 'Dominus regit me'; and so forth. In Hugh's scheme the images are the written words as they actually appear in a manuscript and the locus is simply a number, but the incidental difference of this scheme from the architectural one described famously in the Rhetorica ad Herennium (III. 16. 29-III. 19. 32) is less important than its fundamental psychological similarity; they both employ a system of consciously constructed, rigidly ordered backgrounds as a grid which is then filled with imagines (mnemonically efficacious cues).
Carruthers, M. J. (2002). The Art of Memory and the Art of Page Layout in the Middle Ages. Diogenes, 49(4), 20.
Paragraph from Brock Home Page news Article
Elder points to a recent online article posted on the Forbes website titled How your social media profile could make or break your next job opportunity when talking about the importance of social media as a professional reference tool. The article refers to a worldwide 2012 technology market survey that found almost one in five tech industry executives say that a candidate's social media profile has caused them not to hire that person. "Too many people aren't paying enough attention to how their social media activities are creating a personal brand - from the information posted on Facebook walls to the tweets they send out and the blogs they write," says Elder. "You have to step back and think about what those activities say about who you are and how that translates to a prospective employer.
http://www.brocku.ca/brock-news/?p=20207
Paragraph from test document
No system is perfect, and Ontario's Health Care System is no exception. There are most definitely some problems with it, and the risks involved are very much so real and possible, but they are certainly not big enough to prevent any significant portion of the population from seeking out medical care from a certified doctor. This to me suggests that while Ontario as a whole and in general, may take note of the e-Health problems of Ontario's Health System, they trust in it enough to keep coming back.
Several Paragraphs from a free paper
Orwell's fear that political language was becoming vague, generalised positivity (or negativity) pandering to an anticipated but inchoate emotional response is well exemplified in political slogans. The four campaign slogans I introduced at the beginning of this essay are prime examples of political communication at it's most vacuous. They range from the absurd - "real plans for real people" (from George W. Bush's 2000 Presidential campaign) - to trite "country first". (from John McCain's 2008 run). Taken as a whole, there is strange mixture of the vague haziness which Orwell bemoaned, but also of the strangling specificity of Newspeak. Orwell identifies Newspeak as a vocabulary "constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings…This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by striping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings". It is this mixture that gives rise to a class of slogans which mean nothing, but a very specific nothing. While these campaigns slogans mean almost nothing in and of themselves (how many candidates resolve not to put "country first"?), the language used is aiming to appeal to a specific portion of the electorate for whom a nod and a wink coming from the candidate with the right credentials (i.e. conservative, liberal etc.) is enough. A good example of this is George W. Bush. He rooted much of his political image in the notion of a 'real America' - removed from big-city intellectual snobbery and leftism; someone understood traditional family values. "Real plans for real people" is supposed to demonstrate that Bush's plans are designed with this real American in mind reflecting his or her values and supporting his or her interests, and that they were aimed at the ordinary, everyday American - the real American. This captures George W. Bush's basic ideology in five words, which is the purpose of a political slogan, but the slogan itself is an absurdity. While one may stretch an argument about 'real plans' as opposed to those invented for the campaign, the notion of 'real people' is extremely difficult to define. Ultimately those who would constitute 'real people' are people who share George W. Bush political beliefs. The phrasing and choice of words is an attempt to reach out to fundamental beliefs - Richard Nixon may have begun the notion of a 'silent majority' but Ronald Reagan perfected it with his market research into the 'values' of voters. As one Reagan media advisor stated, the research "provides image-makers with the best possibly guide to the effective presentation of policy, by creating a clear understanding of how voters make their choice of party. It also supplied them with a rich and subtle vocabulary of persuasive language and motivating symbols" (McNair, 2003 p105). George W. Bush's "real plans for real people" was an attempt to attract people by applying this "rich and subtle" vocabulary and "persuasive language" - phrases that technically mean very little, but whose underlying significance 'felt' defines a candidate and draws in voters. Political slogans have been around for centuries, and it could be argued that, by their nature, they are all more or less inane. But Orwell points to a broader infection of politics. Orwell's concerns inform political communication more generally - the language of government and policy communication. There is much discussion about how politics has been changed by the media - this will be addressed with reference to Orwell later in the essay - but there is also the notion of politics being the "defence of the indefensible" (Street, 2005). It was with this disturbing development that Orwell was most concerned. Politics and the English Language was written in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, a time when language was used in a propaganda battle waged by all sides. David Runciman has written about Orwell, with regard to political hypocrisy, that he believed "obscurantist language is most dangerous when it attempts to conceal the truth about political power" (Runciman, 2008, 175). Orwell himself notes that "many political words are similarly abused. The word fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not desirable". "The words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice, have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another". These words are used liberally by politicians. George W. Bush, in his 2005 inaugural address used the word "freedom" twenty seven times, and the word "justice" six times. This included the phrase "there is no justice without freedom". (For the purposes of comparison, the most frequently used word in Barack Obama's inaugural speech was 'nation', appearing seventeen times) The use of such words by George W. Bush is particularly important because he was a president justifying two wars, and it was under such circumstances that Orwell expected vague phrases and ill-defined words to be used by politicians. To this end, phrases such as 'Islamo-fascism' and 'war on terror' are particularly pertinent, because the purpose of this language is to subsume all authority, and appropriate an unquestionable moral right, thereby enabling oneself to dispense approval or disapproval on persons or states, with implied or actual consequence.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/104553848/Do-George-Orwell's-essay-'Politics-and-the-English-language'-and-his-novel-'Nineteen-Eighty-Four'-which-features-Newspeak-inform-present-day-concer
