Each year I receive essays that I discount because
they are not written on the topic.
The American Beekeepers Federation sponsors the
essay on the National level. I use their
topic for the State Essay also. This is rarely
a general essay about bees or beekeeping, so when
I receive a nice essay just about the honey bee,
it has no chance to win. That is okay for the teachers
and leaders who are happy with an essay about
something that interests the 4-H'ers. Not all of
essay topics are "age appropriate" for all 4-H'ers
and I understand that.
I regret that there is no age division at this time and I may consider it in the near future.
What I like to see is:
1) a short biographical sketch of the
author - This can be just a few sentences. Address, phone and
date-of-birth are required,
but I like to see things such as hobbies, family activities, favorite things,
or a little about the person.
2) end notes - End notes means that
a little number be placed next to each fact cited from an outside
source. Then the matching
number is placed next to the coinciding source in a list at the END OF
THE ESSAY.
This is not a footnote at
the foot (bottom) of the page.
3) bibliography - The bibliography
would be better named "List of References" because not all references
may be books. I like
to see more than two or three and I like diversity. I also like to see
4-H'ers who
have spoken with or written
to a live person who can contribute information to the topic.
S. Bambara