文书写作指南大全（一）准备工作
Nine years ago, I was inducted into the Order of the Arrow (OA), a selective Scout organization designed to encourage leadership and community service. My seventy-member induction class included twenty black Scouts, but I never saw more than one or two of them at OA events. I became concerned that the OA was not developing leaders from one-third of our state's population, and wondered why blacks returned so rarely. I remembered the pervasiveness of the Confederate flag on induction weekend-decorating mugs and T-shirts, hanging from flagpoles and in the dining hall. While I knew the flag was not the root cause of the problem, I decided that its removal would help keep black Scouts in the OA.Therefore, as editor of the regional OA newsletter, I published an article critical of the flag. Several black Scouts quietly confirmed my suspicions. One Scout recalled that his mother, seeing the flags in the camp dining hall, pulled him aside and whispered, "I don't think we're welcome here." More typical was the response of a prominent Scout leader, who angrily demanded to know why any debate was even necessary since "we only have two blacks in the lodge anyway." I could not believe how thoroughly he had missed my point.
Though my local efforts were thwarted, I still believed that Scouting should abandon the flag. One year later, my letter to the National Office prompted the new policy and ignited a storm of public debate. Critics blasted my disrespect for Southern tradition, misinterpreting my desire to help the South as an apology for the Civil War. I am proud of my relatives who fought and died for the Confederacy, but it is not their image that the flag represents when it is used at twentieth century Scout meetings, football games, and NASCAR races. Scouts began using the flag in the 1950s, about the time Georgia and South Carolina raised it over their State Houses. The flag is a response to unpopular Supreme Court justices, not invading armies.
Ironically, [school's] student newspaper has charged that I lack compassion and only represent white male fraternity members on a fraternity-dominated campus. The newspaper did not endorse me for student body president because I refused to give unconditional support to every cause, including de-emphasis of Western curricula and mandatory hiring quotas for black faculty. The editors downplayed my leading role in establishing the first main campus housing for a black fraternity, a woman's selective group, and a multicultural organization, because they believed that the fraternities should have been kicked off campus instead. Nonetheless, I was the first person to be elected without their endorsement in twenty years because students recognized my commitment to the entire community.The battle flag has slowly disappeared from Scouting, and [school's] campus better reflects the school's diversity. While integration is still a distant goal, these changes are small steps in the right direction. I sought practical improvements through independent thinking, perseverance, and tenacity in the face of fierce criticism. A legal education would give me tools to better use these abilities. I am not headed to law school on a mission, but I see law as an opportunity to contribute as we build our future. *
（在18岁时，我从未想到自己会受到如此的关注。我花了两年时间力图说服当地童子军联合会禁止广泛使用南部联邦战旗，之后我写给国家事务部的信才有了结果。全国性的报纸报道说我的信激励了美国的童子军颁布一项限制使用旗帜的政策。作为一个其家庭于1635年移居到这儿的保守的南方白人，我只能解释说该项政策不只是政治上正确，而且很有意义。
九年前，我正式成为OA的成员，这是个选择童子军的组织，意在鼓励培养领导才能和社区服务精神。在我那个七十个正式成员的班里有二十名黑人童子军，但我从未见过他们中有一两个以上参加OA的活动。我对此开始关心起来，因为OA并没从占全国人口三分之一的人中培养领导者，我还不清楚为什么黑人很少回来。我记得在征招成员的周末到处可见的联邦旗帜?旗杆上和餐厅里挂满了绘彩的啤酒杯和短袖衫。当我知道问题的根源不在于旗帜时，我决定要根除其原因才能有助于使黑人留在OA组织内。
因此，作为地区OA时事通讯的编辑，我发表了一篇批评旗帜的文章。有几位黑人童子军证实了我的怀疑，虽然他们没说什么。有一个童子军成员回忆说，当他的母亲看到营地餐厅内挂着旗帜，就把他来到一旁，小声对他说，“我想我们在这儿不受欢迎。”更典型的是一位重要的童子军领袖的反映，他气愤地要求说他要知道：“既然在地方分会我们黑人只有两个”，那为什么还有必要进行辩论。我无法相信他怎么完全不理解我的意思。
尽管我的局部努力受到挫折，但我仍相信童子军活动应该禁止使用联邦旗帜。一年后，我给国家事务部的信促进了该项新政策，并引发了公开辩论的风暴。批评家攻击我不尊重南方的传统，把我帮助南方的愿望误解为是向南北战争道歉。但我为自己那些为联邦而奋斗并牺牲的亲戚感到自豪。但是当联邦旗帜在二十世纪的童子军会议上、足球赛上、全国汽车比赛协会赛车时被使用时，该旗帜所代表的就不是我的亲戚们的形象了。童子军是在二十世纪五十年代开始使用该旗帜的，也就是该旗帜在乔治亚州与南卡罗来纳州的州议会大厦上空升起的同一年代。那面旗帜是对最高法院公正（尽管它不得人心）的回应，而不是对侵略军。
具有讽刺意味的是，（学校的）学生报纸指责我缺少同情心，说我只代表慈善校园内白人男性慈善机构的成员。该报纸没有支持我当学生会主席，因为我拒绝无条件支持任何事情，包括削减西方课程和雇用黑人职员的强制性配额。编辑们对我在建立第一个黑人组织的主要校园住宅，成立妇女选举小组和跨文化组织等方面所起的领导作用轻描淡写，因为他们认为早就该把这些组织踢出校园。然而，我是二十年内第一个没得到他们支持而当选的人，因为我对整个社区的承诺得到学生们的认同。
战旗已经从童子军活动中漫漫地消失。而校园则更好地反映了学校的多样性。种族平等仍是个长远的目标，而这些变化则是朝正确方向前进的几个小小的步骤。我准备面对激烈的批评，通过独立思考、坚持不懈地追寻可行的改变。而法律教育会给我以更好发挥这些能力的工具。我进入法学院并不是因为什么使命，而是我把学习法律看作是为建设我们自己未来做贡献的机会。）
三、 常见的错误
与其他任何评估方法不同，个人的作文不是多项选择，也没时间限制，而且不要求面试或预演。你可重写几百次，可请任何你认识的人读一读。与你的考试分数、成绩、推荐材料不同，你对自己的申请入学的作文有绝对控制权。一定要利用它使之对自己有利，不要成为这些文章中常见的错误的牺牲品。
校对不周
拼写检查并不能查出一切问题。一定要细读文章，以发现那些不是自己的或荒唐的意思。