Article: Ginseng root can help make you feel more awake, focused, and alert during the day. To get these benefits, consume an energy drink, tea, or juice with ginseng root in it.  You can have ginseng drinks in the morning as an alternative to caffeine to help give you energy throughout the day. Taking ginseng root at night may interfere with sleeping. It is better to take ginseng earlier in the day. If you are feeling nervous, anxious, jittery, or hyper, you may have taken too much. This is typically not dangerous, although you should see a doctor if you are not feeling well. While ginseng alone cannot treat cancer, it may be able to relieve some symptoms and slightly reduce the frequency of tumors. Talk to your doctor before you start taking ginseng root to make sure that it will not interfere with your medications.  Ginseng may also be able to treat fatigue in cancer patients.  Take daily supplements of ground ginseng root pills.  Ginseng should always be used in combination with professional treatment. Do not start taking it without talking to your doctor first. Taking a ginseng supplement twice a day during cold and flu season may be able to boost your immune system and prevent sickness. If you do get sick, the ginseng root may reduce your symptoms and make you feel better faster. If you are over 65, your best chance to avoid the flu is to get a flu shot. Ginseng root is considered fairly safe for use, and it is not known to interact with many medications. That said, for people with certain conditions or prescriptions, ginseng root may cause problems.  Ginseng root may interact with insulin, anti-psychotic drugs, and blood thinners, such as Warfarin. Ginseng root is a stimulant. If you use other stimulants, such as caffeine, or if you have a heart condition, you may want to avoid using it. Ginseng root’s safety during pregnancy is not known. It may be best to avoid if you are pregnant.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Drink ginseng to improve alertness and energy. Take ginseng with cancer drugs. Consume ginseng root during cold and flu season. Avoid it if you have certain health conditions.
Article: Start chronologically from the subject’s birth to their death or later life. Use the timeline of the person’s life to structure the biography. Start with birth and childhood. Then, go into young adulthood and adulthood. If the person is still alive, include information on their later life. If they are no longer alive, include information on their death. You may end up focusing on particular areas of the person’s life. If you do this, work through a particular period in the person’s life chronologically. It may be helpful to create a thesis statement or a sentence with your main idea for the biography. Use the thesis to help you organize the rest of the biography. Make sure all of your content refers back in some way to your thesis. For example, you may have a thesis statement about focusing on how the person impacted the civil rights movement in America in the 1970s. You can then make sure all your content relates back to this thesis. Flashbacks are when where you move from the present to the past. You may start with a present moment and then include a scene of the person’s past. Or you may have one chapter that focuses on the present and one chapter that focuses on the past, alternating as you go.  Flashbacks should feel as detailed and real as present day scenes. Use your research notes and interviews with the subject to get a good sense of their past for the flashbacks. For example, you may jump from the person’s death in the present to a flashback to their favorite childhood memory. Major events could include marriages, births, or deaths in the person’s life. They may also have milestones like their first successful business venture or their first civil rights march. Highlight key moments in the person’s life so the reader gets a good sense of what mattered to the person and how they affected the world around them. For example, you may focus on the person’s accomplishments in the civil rights movement. You may write a whole section about their contributions and participation in major civil rights marches in their hometown. Look over your research for any similarities between events or moments in the person’s life. Check for any recurring phrases or situations in the person’s life. For example, you may notice that the person’s life is patterned with moments of adversity, where the person worked hard and fought against larger forces. You can then use the theme of overcoming adversity in the biography. As the biographer, you play a role in the person’s life story. Do not be afraid to put your own thoughts about the person in the text. Reflect on your research and comment on how you view the person. For example, you may note how you see parallels in the person’s life during the civil rights movement with your own interests in social justice. You may also commend the person for their hard work and positive impact on society.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Go for a chronological structure. Create a thesis for the biography. Use flashbacks. Focus on major events and milestones. Identify a major theme or pattern in the person’s life. Include your own opinions and thoughts about the person.
Article: Ryan Leaf was going to be the next big thing. A great football quarterback, finalist for the Heisman, second-overall pick in the NFL draft. Fast forward a few years, and Leaf is considered one of the biggest busts of all time, having failed to achieve at a high level. Natural talent for playing football doesn't mean anything if you don't commit to building it into a skill. When you find your talent, think of it like a seed that you're planting. You're off to a good start, but you've still got to water it, mulch it, and weed around the edges to make sure your seed grows into a big plant. It takes work. As iron sharpens iron, so one talented person sharpens another. If you've got a talent for something, or even if you just hope to develop talent in some field, surround yourself with other talented people and model yourself after their behaviors, practice routines, and attitudes about their talent. Learn everything you can from talented people.  Find a mentor who's willing to show you the ropes and coach you in developing your new skills. Blossoming guitar players need good teachers beyond YouTube. Blossoming singers need other people to play music with. Developing your talent into a skill and your skill into an ability is going to be hard. The more you learn about a subject, a task, or an ability, the more complicated it becomes. Commit to learning everything you can about your field and challenging yourself to become a master. Turn your talent into something special. Make your talent real. Playing chess might not get easier for Magnus Carlsen, just because he’s a phenomenal player. Now he knows just how complicated the game can be. The more you learn about a game, a skill, or a field, the more there will be to learn. It never gets easy. Even if you've got no talent for the guitar, practicing two hours a day guarantees that you'll get a lot better. Someone who practices, whether it be sport, art, or any other field, will always end up more talented than someone who never picks up their instrument, picks up their paintbrush, someone who never practices. Hard work outruns ability every time.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Commit to building your talent into a skill. Find other talented people. Respect the complexity of your talent. Practice.