Power words for resume and C.V.

Okay, so now it's time to write that key piece of documentation: a resume (rez-uh-may). A CV (curriculum vitae--and yes, "vitae" is Latin) is used for more experienced credentials and achievements.  Here's some hints and key phrases that make a difference when you're ready to get visibility. Remember: job managers use computers to scan your submission for strong significant verbs. 

Action Verb List for Resumes 

and Cover Letters

Use these action verbs to highlight the skills that you've gained and developed through your work history, involvement in activities, leadership positions, and/or volunteer work.

Creative Skills

Acted                                
Began  
Combined           
Composed
Conceived                  
Conceptualized 
Condensed                  
Created
Customized                  
Designed   
Developed                  
Devised
Directed                   
Displayed  
Diversified                  
Drew
Entertained                  
Established  
Fashioned                  
Formulated
Founded                   
Illustrated   
Improvised                 
 Initiated
Innovated                  
Instituted 
Integrated                  
Introduced
Invented                   
Manufactured  
Modeled                   
Modified
Opened                  
Originated  
Performed                 
Photographed
Planned                   
Revised   
Shaped                   
Solved
===================

Communications Skills

Addressed         
Advertised 
Arbitrated 
Arranged                 
Articulated 
Authored  
Clarified                
Collaborated   
Communicated 
Composed         
Condensed 
Conferred
Consulted         
Contacted       
Conveyed  
Convinced               
Corresponded 
Counseled 
Debated          
Defined           
Described 
Developed         
Directed  
Discussed
Drafted          
Edited         
Elicited  
Enlisted                   
Explained 
Expressed 
Formulated         
Furnished        
Greeted  
Incorporated         
Influenced      
Interacted
Interpreted         
Interviewed 
Involved  
Joined                     
Judged         
Justified  
Lectured          
Listened          
Marketed 
Mediated          
Moderated      
Negotiated 
Notified          
Observed         
Outlined
Participated         
Persuaded 
Presented 
Promoted                
Proposed  
Proved  
Publicized         
Published        
Read  
Recalled                 
Reconciled 
Recruited
Referred          
Reinforced 
Related  
Relayed                   
Renewed  
Reported  
Resolved          
Responded      
Served  
Serviced          
Solicited        
Specified
Spoke          
Suggested       
Summarized 
Synthesized            
Translated 
Wrote
=========================
Financial Skills

Administered
Adjusted
Allocated 
Analyzed                
Appraised  
Assessed 
Audited         
Balanced          
Budgeted 
Calculated        
Compared  
Computed
Conserved        
Corrected  
Determined 
Developed              
Estimated  
Figured  
Financed         
Forecasted      
Increased 
Inventoried        
Invoiced   
Listed
Managed         
Marked   
Marketed 
Measured              
Numbered  
Planned  
Prepared         
Priced              
Programmed 
Projected                
Reconciled  
Reduced
Researched      
Retrieved          
Saved
=====================
Management Skills

Accelerated          
Accomplished  
Acquired  
Administered          
Advanced          
Analyzed  
Appointed   
Approved              
Assigned  
Attained         
Attended   
Authorized
Changed           
Chaired           
Commanded  
Considered              
Consolidated   
Contained 
Contracted          
Controlled              
Converted 
Coordinated          
Decoded          
Delegated 
Delivered                  
Developed              
Directed  
Eliminated          
Emphasized          
Employed
Enforced           
Enhanced          
Established 
Executed                
Experimented        
Generated 
Governed                
Handled                  
Headed  
Hired                  
Hosted           
Improved
Incorporated        
Initiated           
Inspected 
Issued                      
Instituted                
Launched 
Managed                  
Merged           
Motivated 
Organized          
Originated              
Overhauled 
Oversaw           
Piloted                  
Presided
Prioritized          
Produced          
Recommended 
Regulated                
Reorganized          
Replaced  
Responsible For  
Restored                
Reviewed 
Scheduled        
Secured           
Selected
Streamlined          
Strengthened          
Supervised 
Terminated
====================
Organizational Skills

Approved 
Arranged  
Catalogued 
Categorized
Charted  
Classified 
Cleaned  
Cleared
Closed  
Coded  
Collected 
Compiled
Corrected 
Corresponded  
Deposited 
Detailed
Dismantled 
Dispensed 
Distributed 
Exchanged
Executed 
Filed  
Finished  
Fitted
Generated 
Implemented  
Incorporated  
Inspected
Logged  
Maintained 
Monitored 
Obtained
Operated  
Ordered  
Packaged 
Packed
Pinpointed 
Placed  
Posted 
Prepared
Processed 
Proficient
Provided  
Purchased
Rearranged 
Received  
Recorded 
Registered
Reserved  
Responded 
Restructured  
Revamped
Reversed  
Reviewed 
Routed 
Scheduled
Screened 
Sent  
Separated 
Set Up
Solidified  
Sorted 
Submitted 
Supplied
Standardized  
Stocked  
Stored 
Straightened
Structured 
Systemized 
Trimmed  
Typed
Updated  
Validated
Verified
===================
Technical Skills

Assembled 
Adapted  
Applies  
Attached
Built  
Calculated 
Computed 
Conserved
Constructed 
Converted 
Debugged 
Designed
Determined 
Developed 
Engineered 
Fabricated
Fixed 
Fortified  
Installed  
Loaded
Maintained 
Operated  
Priced 
Printed
Programmed 
Rebuilt 
Rectified  
Registered
Regulated 
Remodeled 
Repaired  
Replaced
Restored  
Specialized 
Standardized  
Studied
Upgraded 
Utilized
======================
Research Skills

Analyzed
Accumulated
Charted
Collected
Checked
Compared
Conducted
Counted
Critiqued
Detected
Determined
Diagnosed
Discovered
Evaluated
Examined
Experimented
Explored
Extracted
Formulated
Gathered
Graphed
Identified
Indexed
Indicated
Inspected
Interpreted
Interviewed
Invented
Investigated
Located
Measured
Organized
Researched
Searched
Solved
Summarized
Surveyed
Systemized
Tabulated
Tallied
Tested
======================
Teaching skills

Adapted  
Advised 
Clarified  
Coached
Communicated 
Conducted 
Coordinated 
Counseled
Developed 
Enabled  
Encouraged 
Evaluated
Explained 
Facilitated 
Focused  
Guided
Graded 
Improvised 
Individualized  
Informed
Instilled  
Instructed 
Licensed  
Motivated
Persuaded 
Prompted 
Set Goals 
Schooled
Showed  
Simulated 
Stimulated 
Taught
Tested  
Trained  
Transmitted 
Tutored
===========================
Helping Skills

Actively  
Adapted  
Accompanied  
Advocated
Aided  
Allowed  
Answered  
Arranged
Assessed 
Assisted  
Cared For  
Clarified
Coached  
Collaborated 
Contributed  
Cooperated
Counseled 
Demonstrated 
Diagnosed 
Educated
Encouraged 
Ensured  
Expedited  
Facilitated
Familiarized 
Furthered 
Guided   
Helped
Indexed  
Insured  
Intervened  
Learned
Motivated 
Prevented 
Provided   
Referred
Rehabilitated  
Represented 
Resolved  
Simplified
Supported

Volunteered

Your Message Means You Need Help More than You Know

(This is the follow-up--or rather, reinforcement--to explain to students why it DOES matter how they handle themselves when communicating either verbally or in written format when addressing or presenting information about themselves to a superior--ESPECIALLY anyone who makes decisions about that individual's career path. I don't care how the delivery system operates--if it's hand-written, sent via email, or spoken.

And yes, this sure includes college. It's why I've emphasized each semester that (a) a community college is NOT "major league" level, but rather where developmental training is emphasized, and (b) the workplace today has too few job opportunities and too many candidates who are more than willing to prove THEIR superior status over someone who doesn't care, and (c) college, especially the freshman year, is NOT 13th grade. If you're a first-year student, you're back on the bottom of the ladder. And no one cares who you were or what you did in high school.)

First, let me again repeat that I know how much technology has changed the way we communicate today. Regretfully, too many people, young and old, have fallen victim to the simplicity of text messaging styles and believing them to be acceptable beyond personal social connections. That's not just my view: it's one that's been chorused for several years from the corporate world and business and hiring managers. And if that kind of response comes from someone who decides the potential acceptance or rejection of your status as a new member of that company because he or she did not feel you knew how to properly present an effective way of displaying a level of communication to their satisfaction and standards, you've got no one to blame but yourself. They aren't your friends, family, or romantic partner--and blurring those lines of status isn't something that may be of importance to you until that desired promotion, bonus, advancement, or even lucrative job offer has been declined and the damage done.

Let me use this example from a former community college student in New Jersey in 2005. She was an education major with an emphasis on English; 9-12 level, so she could teach in high school. This is her exact email to me one day:

hey i need ur opinion on something. i had to do observations for my intro to teaching class. i wore dress jeans one day and brang coffee with me all the time. they just called to tell me that i cant go back bc of these things.  also i didnt go once and emails the teacher to let her know bc i got into a snow tubing accdient and i had to go to the doctor. What should i say to my professor since obviously hes going to ask.

===================

Wow. Aside from the horrific spelling, punctuation, grammar, and other odds and ends, let's tackle the issues.

First, she didn't realize that her attire--her wardrobe--wasn't appropriate--and she didn't care or know about dressing for the workplace and success.
Second, she was auditioning for a job! She was a student teacher in training! A college had endorsed her as capable, qualified, and educated. She didn't prove that by her LACK of awareness! An observation means just that--being evaluated (or in her case, being an observer) by those people who want to see if she's worth hiring! And she gave herself a higher level of entitlement-status than she had earned or deserved: she thought she could act as if she was a seasoned pro.
Third--and the saddest part of all--she doesn't even understand that she committed a grievous number of errors and that it's her lack of responsibility in these matters that caused it--compounded by the fact that she has no clue about how much damage she's already caused to her status in the field she plans to graduate from and find employment.

This is bad enough, but I assure you that I still have students today who don't understand these issues--and I will admit flat-out that I made huge mistakes (not these!) in my many careers, including teaching. 
But I sure knew better and how to say "Yes, I was wrong" when I was put on the spot by someone who made decisions about my status--and that included my instructors. 

So, yes, it counts. It's your way of presenting an idea. And I expect better.

HOW you write and who receives it--it DOES make a difference

Oh boy. PLEASE do not underestimate the value of this, not only on the campus but in your personal and business endeavors too. You'd be surprised how much people who are in positions of decision-making ABOVE you will consider it--especially in your professional life, unless you find yourself wealthy enough to hire a private secretary. No, you don't email me like you're sending a text message to your BFF or frat buddies.

These gems came from the same student, a young woman who withdrew from her first effort to pass Composition I. She wrote me two emails: 

(1) i havent missed so many english classes! I keep up with my absences and i've missed 5 classes total! u can only drop me if i miss 8 classes, i know i'm close but not there yet! 
(2) well, if i remember correctly.. u suppose to email us when we miss 5 days, so we can keep in touch with ur attendence list too, but i dont think i got an email from u! THanks alot

==============================

Wow. Not only does she need some serious attitude adjustment about her own level of responsibility and maturity, especially when addressing an instructor, she also blew holes in her belief that we function as academic babysitters. Yes, I can oblige with alerts, but I already knew she was a repeat student--and why should I coddle her? 

Second, her spelling and punctuation are hideous--and yes, English is capitalized not only because it's a proper country name, but also because in THIS case, even though it doesn't have a course code following it, the reference is to a specific class. (The word "english" in lower case refers to the spin on a ball--say, in billiards or baseball.)

And third--and there's NO way you want to see the look in my eyes in class about this: I have a high level of tolerance for some things. Ignorance is not high on that list, and neither is stupidity. However, I'm lenient about mistakes--we ALL make them at any age, and they're part of the Learning Process of Life. Don't mix up Ignorance or Stupidity for a Mistake, and don't try to use Ignorance as a Virtue--it's not a quality to endorse. And it SURE doesn't come across well to someone who's smart enough to know the difference and learned it the hard way.

My shoe is my cell phone--excuse me

So--once upon a time, a man DID talk into his shoe when he had to make a phone call. Well...it was a matter of National Security: he was Secret Agent Maxwell Smart!
Hello, Chief?

If I had to write a paper for...a communications class, a business class, a sociology class, a public speaking class, or maybe an English class!...and the assignment was about the pros and cons of cell phones, this is what I'd use:

Cell phones: smart technology or thought-control tool

In the old TV series Get Smart, cell phones are a powerful and vital tool in the war against secret agents—even if the phone is in a shoe. Even a real spy needs a reliable cell phone—and so do many people. Having one can make a world of difference for best sales, navigation, weather, and entertainment—but create challenges and options. There are health risks involved in using them, and most people do not realize that they have lost simple mental and social knowledge by relying on an electronic device.  Access and use of a cell phone have become routine for almost everyone—but with a price that may take away more than the user realizes.
=====================
Okay then: I've found a good working thesis and also made the idea into my title. Then I have several options for topic sentences that I can extract and resubmit in paragraphs to build my paper. And note how I've used a classic role model from society/archetype: the "Secret Agent" image, even if it is a comedy TV show. 

The topic sentence themes are 
(1) best sales opportunities that can be found with a cell phone, 
(2) navigation assistance while driving, 
(3) weather alerts,  
(4) finding out who's where and what's hot for fun with friends, 
(5) health risk alerts: keeping a phone too close to the body (and head), 
(6) people can't do simple math skills without a cell phone/calculator!, 
(7) lack of social etiquette and manners while using a cell phone. 

(And I didn't even include the dangers of texting and driving. Nor did I mention the issue of cell phones in school. For that matter, what do you think of my idea of assigning guilty-in-class-time cell phone users some extra work?)

I would suggest doing BOTH pro/con sides in a paper like this because it shows better research as well. 

Now, for some research material, I would use...and there's certainly more available in other places!

Link #1

Link #2

Link #3

And the paper should pretty much flow on its own. After all, if you've taken up this assignment or given it to a class, EVERYONE has a cell phone these days, it seems!

Works Cited: Author quoted/cited more than once

What about a works cited example of an author who has been cited/quoted more than once in the body of the paper (obviously from different sources)?

Note that each subsequent entry does NOT repeat the author’s name once it has been stated on the works cited page. 
What follows thereafter for EACH of the following entries is three (3) hyphens and a period.  THEN continue with the rest of the citation—but be sure to OMIT the author’s information.

Also: with ANY works cited page format, note that it's a "hanging first line" flush left, and then it moves the rest of the lines with an automatic spacing shift.

Lopate, Mitchell. Fluid Learning: a Style of Teaching. 1st Ed. 1. Lincroft: BCC Press, 2014. 26-293. eBook. 

--- .  "Fluid Learning: a Style of Teaching." 21st Century Alt-Ed. 10 01 2014: 36-37. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

--- . "A New Form of Teaching: Fluid Learning."The Creative Classroom. N.p., 10 01 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

In-text citation formats done the EASY way

(This is also found on the APA/MLA in-text page, but as a back-up reference, here's the main idea): 

How to cite a source in the body of your assignment/research paper

•    When an idea/info is FIRST used or referenced as an example/detail to back up facts or concepts, give full credit to the author (if available; job title if valid; place of employment if it’s a Big One), source (what was it?)
* Use signal words to indicate presentation of ideas; authority of source

In a Time magazine essay, Michael Stone, Director of Alabama Educational Administrative Services advocates that “Today’s college students need more basics in English composition than ever before.”

•    Paraphrasing or rewording 
•    Optional: reword or rephrase an idea, but give credit to the source/author as before.

In a Time magazine essay, Michael Stone, Director of Alabama Educational Administrative Services, validates the importance of a strong background in English composition basics in order for today’s college students to be successful.

–    Same idea, but without quotes. Still shows source.
======================
•    Once an author has been “introduced,” next time, just use last name with action verb

• Additionally, Stone also called for the requirement of more emphasis on research and cross-curriculum projects to develop student awareness of writing in a college environment.

-------------------------------------

• Refer to a website by the article title and source:
• An article from an Odessa College website,  “Chompzilla Eats Grammar Errors,” breaks down the various choices of punctuation.

• Magazine or newspaper: name them!
• A Time magazine article by Janis Tanner, “The Growing Awareness of Indigo Children,” brings up the topic of a new generation of youngsters and parental understanding.

======================

In-text citation/direct quote II

•    No signal phrase or action verb used; author named before elsewhere in the paper?
•    COPY WORDS EXACTLY, and put the author’s name/ “article title” in parenthesis behind it.

• For example, it is noted that “most attorneys are well prepared by our state college programs” (Furman 21).

–    (note that the quotation marks only cover the exact words used and that the citation itself is the end. Number refers to the page if a print source)
====================
 
•    In-text citation; multiple works by one author; no signal/action verb
Need to indicate which source it comes from:

  “Many senior members of law firms have demanded tougher writing standards for new members” (Furman, Judiciary Journal 39). 

-----------------------------

“It appears that newly graduating attorneys will be required to show better English grades and results on their transcripts” (Furman, “Literary Legal Loopholes” 44). 

Happy Halloween

Mr. Lopate and three...darling little...Nightmare-before-Christmas-somethings wish everyone a Happy Halloween, 1998, Brick Middle School, Brick, New Jersey.
Obviously, it was a day for a costume.
B'wahahahahahah.

On a side note: I dressed like this for the first day of Comp I at Brookdale Community College, in Lincroft, NJ, for five years (including summer class). It was my way of meeting the students and gauging their attitude toward meeting their instructor. I had some fun one morning when I convinced a Spanish adjunct to pretend to be "me" for a few minutes before class--just make an appearance but leave without saying anything.
(My students were annoyed when I showed up. My routine was to sit in the back of the class and listen. I never heard anything trashy or ugly from students as they waited.)
(But I had a BETTER response one night from Diedre, a woman who was taking Comp II, and she had taken Comp I several semesters before that. And as I stood in front of the class in "normal clothes," she started telling a classmate next to her about her memories of Comp I with a teacher. She mentioned some of my quirks as well as my attributes--and it was fun to listen in on this front-row conversation.
And then Dierde stopped--and stared up at me.
And she began to wail.
"It's him! It's HIM!" She recognized me--and had been sharing all of these insights without realizing my identity.
Too bad--I should have worn the biker outfit.
That's just a tee-shirt, jeans, and a bandanna. A 25-second change of clothes.
Nothing like the real me. 
This is the look I did for a brief appearance at the Roselle Part, NJ, St. Joseph the Carpenter variety show at the end of 1999, my very first year as a teacher. "Yo, Faddah Gillen: I'm heah for duh job. I parked next to yaw car. I dig yaw hubcaps."

Works Cited, Bibliography, and Reference page samples of sources: MLA, Turabian, & APA

A works cited page is the ending page of a research paper. It does NOT follow in paragraph closure at the end of the paper itself: it is a SEPARATE page that is attached in the back. 

Note the following samples: 
(1) an English class research paper (done in MLA), 
(2) a bibliography for a graduate history class done in Turabian style for history; it has a "bibiography" page), 
and below it, 
(3) an APA format reference page (for a medical paper). Note that each source is double-spaced, and that the follow-up line of each source is indented:

 

Indenting a large quote with citation format

Here's an example of how to "block and indent" an extended quote. But note the following format: it has completely been indented two (2) tab spaces in its entirety. It's also SINGLE-spaced, not double-spaced, the page number or source goes OUTSIDE the quote, AND there are no quotation marks around it--or a set of parenthesis marks.

This book contains over 150 recipes based on wild plants utilized by Indians in the southwestern United States. Fifty desert plants are described and illustrated with line drawings and listed alphabetically with information on habitat, historical significance, and use in tribal cooking. The book is well-researched and detailed, with much useful ethnobotanical information accompanying the recipes. A bibliography and an index are included. (121)

Malcolm X learns to read and write by copying a dictionary

In my junior year of high school in New York in 1972, The Autobiography of Malcolm X was required reading. There was a portion of the book that stood out in my mind for years, and later, when I became a college composition instructor, I found it in several textbooks of essays. In particular, it was used as a sample for a narrative.

What made an impression on me years ago was the way that Malcolm explained his endeavor to be educated. I wasn't interested in his politics and I disagree with his early philosophies, even though he recanted much of it before his death; what stood out to me was the way he described his effort in improving his reading and writing.

Now, I wish for a way that I could bring Malcolm X to life for just one day: to speak to my students and have him critique their work. I want HIM to say, "Is this the best you've learned to do? Is THIS what you have to show with a high school education--AND the ability to enroll in college?!" (For the record, I think Malcolm X wrote better than me when I was in college--at least, until I got to graduate school.)

I want this chance for him to address my students because Malcolm X became an outstanding writer and speaker.

Malcolm X copied the dictionary word-for-word starting with the letter "A" in order to improve his ability to communicate.
I wish I had students with that kind of motivation, not just for my sake as a professor, but for their future.

I look back at Malcolm's words in this essay--and I wonder how his attitude would be toward their effort while knowing how much time he had lost. I wonder how he would tell them how precious it was when he found the courage and conviction in his own life to undertake the effort he did to learn to read and write. My students wouldn't even begin to understand that in the years when Malcolm was a young man, he wasn't allowed to attend a school where fellow students were not the same race.
===============================

  "Coming to an Awareness of Language"

Malcolm X

I've never been one for inaction. Everything I've ever felt strongly about, I've done something about. I guess that's why, unable to do anything else, I soon began writing to people I had known in the hustling world, such as Sammy the Pimp, John Hughes, the gambling house owner, the thief Jumpsteady, and several dope peddlers. I wrote them all about Allah and Islam and Mr. Elijah Muhammad. I had no idea where most of them lived. I addressed their letters in care of the Harlem or Roxbury bars and clubs where I'd known them.

I never got a single reply. The average hustler and criminal was too uneducated to write a letter. I have known many slick, sharp-looking hustlers, who would have you think they had an interest in Wall Street; privately, they would get someone else to read a letter if they received one. Besides, neither would I have replied to anyone writing me something as wild as “the white man is the devil.”

What certainly went on the Harlem and Roxbury wires was that Detroit Red was going crazy in stir, or else he was trying some hype to shake up the warden's office.

During the years that I stayed in the Norfolk Prison Colony, never did any official directly say anything to me about those letters, although, of course, they all passed through the prison censorship. I'm sure, however, they monitored what I wrote to add to the files which every state and federal prison keeps on the conversion of Negro inmates by the teachings of Mr. Elijah Muhammad.

But at that time, I felt that the real reason was that the white man knew that he was the devil.

Later on, I even wrote to the Mayor of Boston, to the Governor of Massachusetts, and to Harry S. Truman. They never answered; they probably never even saw my letters. I handscratched to them how the white man's society was responsible for the black man's condition in this wilderness of North America.

It was because of my letters that I happened to stumble upon starting to acquire some kind of a homemade education.

I became increasingly frustrated at not being able to express what I wanted to convey in letters that I wrote, especially those to Mr. Elijah Muhammad. In the street, I had been the most articulate hustler out there—I had commanded attention when I said something. But now, trying to write simple English, I not only wasn't articulate, I wasn't even functional. How would I sound writing in slang, the way I would say it, something such as, “Look, daddy, let me pull your coat about a cat. Elijah Muhammad—”.

Many who today hear me somewhere in person, or on television, or those who read something I've said, will think I went to school far beyond the eighth grade. This impression is due entirely to my prison studies.

It had really begun back in the Charlestown Prison, when Bimbi first made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge. Bimbi had always taken charge of any conversation he was in, and I had tried to emulate him. But every book I picked up had few sentences which didn't contain anywhere from one to nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese. When I just skipped those words, of course, I really ended up with little idea of what the book said. So I had come to the Norfolk Prison Colony still going through only book-reading motions. Pretty soon, I would have quit even these motions, unless I had received the motivation that I did.

I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary—to study, to learn some words. I was lucky enough to reason also that I should try to improve my penmanship. It was sad. I couldn't even write in a straight line. It was both ideas together that moved me to request a dictionary along with some tablets and pencils from the Norfolk Prison Colony school.

I spent two days just riffling uncertainly through the dictionary's pages. I'd never realized so many words existed! I didn't know which words I needed to learn. Finally, just to start some kind of action, I began copying.

In my slow, painstaking, ragged handwriting, I copied into my tablet everything printed on that first page, down to the punctuation marks.

I believe it took me a day. Then, aloud, I read back, to myself, everything I'd written on the tablet. Over and over, aloud, to myself, I read my own handwriting.

I woke up the next morning, thinking about those words—immensely proud to realize that not only had I written so much at one time, but I'd written words that I never knew were in the world.

Moreover, with a little effort, I also could remember what many of these words meant. I reviewed the words whose meanings I didn't remember. Funny thing, from the dictionary first page right now, that “aardvark” springs to my mind. The dictionary had a picture of it, a long-tailed, long-eared, burrowing African mammal, which lives off termites caught by sticking out its tongue as an anteater does for ants.

I was so fascinated that I went on—I copied the dictionary's next page. And the same experience came when I studied that. With every succeeding page, I also learned of people and places and events from history. Actually the dictionary is like a miniature encyclopedia. Finally the dictionary's A section had filled a whole tablet—and I went on into the B's. That was the way I started copying what eventually became the entire dictionary. It went a lot faster after so much practice helped me to pick up handwriting speed. Between what I wrote in my tablet, and writing letters, during the rest of my time in prison I would guess I wrote a million words.

I suppose it was inevitable that as my word-base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying. Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened. Let me tell you something: from then until I left that prison, in every free moment I had, if I was not reading in the library, I was reading on my bunk. You couldn't have gotten me out of books with a wedge. Between Mr. Muhammad's teachings, my correspondence, my visitors...and my reading of books, months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.