Everybody has some sort of curiosity whether it was when they were younger, or as an adult. Edmund Burke said it best: “the first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind is curiosity”(burke). Curiosity can come from anywere and anybody, whenever a person wants to know how or why someone does something. According to Francois de La Rochefoucauld, “There are various sorts of curiosity; one is from interest, which makes us desire to know that which may be useful to us; and the other, from pride which comes from the wish to know what others are ignorant of”(rochefoucauld).
Since curiosity isn’t new and so common, it would only be right to ask how does curiosity work? To some people this would be a trick question, to others no. That’s even if there is an answer. Curiosity is something that evolves around us daily. For example, we may wonder how many people are up in the world at seven a.m. everyday or are tigers a great pet to have in the house. We humans have the tendency to go above and beyond in doing whatever we put our mind to, and it is our curiosity drives us to go so beyond. An example of that would be a man’s car breaking down on the side of the road, but he doesn’t know why. He will work under his hood for hours until he finds the problem. That’s his curiosity driving him to find out what caused his car to break down. He will go beyond to find out.
This is how our mind works when it comes to curiosity. Curiosity can go a long way when it comes to us humans it can drive us to a happier life and open up possibilities that we could have never seen coming. Curious people are seekers. They not only enjoy new experiences, but mostly look for challenges that will stretch them, whether that involves making new friendships, learning new skills, or pushing themselves to do their best work. Everyone knows or at least has an idea of what curiosity feels like.
Curiosity is our motivation that drives us, Curiosity is more than just having an open mind. As e. e. cummings would say, “once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit”(Cummings). I think when curiosity comes within the mind, it’s almost like a baby bee: as bees grow and become free, they start to do and find new things that either they must know, or want to know. That only leads us to ask this question “what is a curious person like”? to me, Bradford E Beckwith answered it perfect by saying
Someone who is on a mission. There is a sense of purpose, especially when they’re pursuing whatever it is that they are curious about.They are obsessed, almost. Possessed may be a little bit exaggerated, but they have a sense of purpose in their life and they need to find out why. What’s going on? Why is this happening? And I’m going to find out the solution to that.(Beckwith)
Although there are millions of curious people In the world, Did anyone teach them? My classmate Cal started being curious after his journey visiting the other side of the world as a child, “Without that child piquing my interest and kindling my curiosity in traveling and learning about the world, it is conceivable that I would not be the same person I am today”(Cal). That statement let’s you know what makes a person curious along with letting you know curiosity comes at any age.
My other class mate Jill is into movies as she says “watching a movie is not about the twists and turns of the plot, but instead about the way the film was made. The way the director chooses to shoot a scene”(Tucker). She states her curiosity about movies and what she is interested in like the reviews, actors and etc.
Some things we will never know the facts to, It all comes down to that one question that keeps coming back:why are people so curious about different things?I think we can all agree that curiosity comes in all sort of forms and can be discussed on a lot of different topics. I think its safe to say that, Curiosity works within your mind and drive and wanting to do or learn what ever it is you are interested in.
This was an interesting essay, Jamar, and I could immediately tell the main point as I started reading. Even if there wasn’t a title, I could easily identify the question of “How Curiosity works?”. I think your method of quickly introducing the source quotes was one that worked very well because it backed up statements and opinions stated. Also, the method of introducing the quotes was also done very well: It was stated that ‘dropped in’ quotations were to be avoided, and that we must implement quotes in a smooth way that transitions in a connected, cohesive manner. By using signal phrases such as “according to”, and “so and so said it best”, you both introduced the quote and affixed it where it was relevant enough to make sense. You didn’t, at least initially, place any dropped in quotations, so that’s good.
You do explain how curiosity works, which is the main topic of the essay, but in the final draft, if there’s any part you want to expand on, I believe the essay would be best served if you could go into more specific details as to how it works. For instance, you can explain(like you did with the refrigerator example), another example of how curiosity is triggered in other situations. You may be able to find some examples through the personal accounts in the student blogs. Which brings up another point: your essay did not include two quotes from two different student blogs. You can use any of them, but I would recommend using one from students who also wrote memoirs on curiosity. They may provide an example that helps your point, and you can simply quote it and explain it by tying it in to what you’re saying.
There are a fair share of grammatical errors, but on a rough draft, you shouldn’t worry too much about them. More time should be spent on the bulk of the essay, because if you spend a little too much time correcting grammatical errors, and then later cut the sentence from the essay out anyway, that would be time wasted when it could have been avoided. However on the final draft you should make sure to double check all grammar problems.
In some instances, I could understand the main idea of certain paragraphs/ sentences, but not initially due to the wording. This could be an issue on my part, however, maybe due to how I read the sections in question. A little trick I like to do is to not look at my essay for a day or two, and then read it out loud to yourself. If you stumble, stutter, or sound weird, you may have wording issues and may want to switch some words around or change some sentences entirely. Remember to pretend the people reading your essay don’t already know anything about what you’re taking about, and that you’re trying to teach them something new.
Overall, as I mentioned, this was a really good, really interesting essay that I enjoyed reading, especially for just a first draft. Just a little more refinement and I’m sure others will agree as well. Good job!
Nice job of peer review!
I agree with peer reviewer that you do have some interesting quotes here, which they work well to get your reader thinking, and some interesting points. I’m not sure, though, how completely you address the question in your title. I’m not sure exactly what you mean by how does curiosity work–I like the example about the refrigerator though. If that came from a source, you would need to cite ti though.
I’d suggest starting by clarifying your question. What else could you say about how curiosity works? You”ll need to develop this into several more paragraphs, so you’ll need more points and examples. (You could also change your question, esp. since you mention various types of curiosity and later in the essay some indication of the advantages of curiosity.
As reviewer says, you do need to quote two student blogs as well as the web site. Remember to include a Works Cited page. Also, in-text citation needs work. Burke, etc. won’t be listed in your Works Cited page, so they shouldn’t be the in-text citation.