Background and objective:
This first essay offers students a more familiar and perhaps comfortable assignment---a personal essay that addresses your experiences in literacy, ethics, or service. To help you understand the nuances of this genre, review the pages from Richard Johnson-Sheehan's book Writing Today and Thomas Deans' Writing and Community Action (especially the description on p. 27), both posted in the "supplemental readings" folder in eLearning. For another example of a literacy narrative with compelling details, see Belle Boggs' "The Book that Taught Me What I Want to Teach My Daughter" from The New Yorker.
Audience:
The instructor of the course will be the primary audience, but also consider your peers as a broader audience of this piece.
Purpose:
This essay will recount specific details of your experience. Keep in mind that this is not a biography recording your full experience since birth but instead a retelling of a particular set of events surrounding a particular idea. Whether you choose a chronological or emphatic order, be sure to create a clear sense of structure for your reader to follow.
Audience:
The instructor of the course will be the primary audience, but also consider your peers as a broader audience of this piece.
Purpose:
This essay will recount specific details of your experience. Keep in mind that this is not a biography recording your full experience since birth but instead a retelling of a particular set of events surrounding a particular idea. Whether you choose a chronological or emphatic order, be sure to create a clear sense of structure for your reader to follow.
The Process:
As part of this paper cycle, you should employ the following steps in tandem with your prewriting and drafting:
Paper Requirements
As part of this paper cycle, you should employ the following steps in tandem with your prewriting and drafting:
Determine your subject. When reading this topic, you might immediately know of an event you would like to write about. If not, consider doing some freewriting. The important thing is that you get started, even before you think you're ready to do so. As described in Deans, the options for this topic include the following:
- a turning point, key event, or encounter that reveals some aspect of you as a reader or writer (i.e. a more standard literacy narrative),
- a turning point in your ethical development
- a meaningful event that you experienced while engaged in community service
Think about your chosen subject. Johnson-Sheehan urges you to "question your memory about the event(s)" (56). Start approaching your topic from a critical perspective, thinking about what elements of the story you will include and what kinds of details would make the story interesting.
Research your subject. This is not a research essay in the traditional sense. Instead, it encourages you to talk to people and to rely on your own instincts about impactful moments you already know about. Your research might take several forms and might even include an interview of someone who can help jog your memories. If this is the case -- and if you quote the interview in your essay -- be sure to include it on your Works Cited page.
Select or create an accompanying image. Include a visual representation to accompany this narrative. Whether a scanned photograph or a drawing that represents the action of the story, make sure that the image somehow works with the written elements you've produced. All images must be original---no stock images from Google, clip art, or the like. This element, too, will appear on your Works Cited page.Johnson-Sheehan and Deans both provide additional steps that will help you think more fully about your essay as a whole.
Paper Requirements
- at least 1,000 words (please include a word count at end of essay, before Works Cited page)
- a scanned/digital photograph to represent your story (embedded in the word document)
- proper MLA format, including a Works Cited page and a paper title
Grading Criteria (An "A" writer will do all of the following)
- forward a strong, well-stated thesis, delivering the "so what?" element to the story
- provide a clear sense of structure through organized and unified paragraphs
- use documentation appropriately, including in-text citations and a Works Cited page
- meet acceptable “readability” standards for college-level readers (mechanics, style)
- include an image that suitably accompanies the narrative
The 100 points allotted to the paper one sequence will constitute the following component parts. See also our course calendar.
| element | description | points | due date |
| shitty first draft | At least one full page (single-spaced) of an SFD for in-class revision. If you do not bring something written/typed to class, you will be asked to leave and receive an absence for the day. | -- | 9/5 |
| second draft | Complete digital copy of first draft, meeting minimum word count requirements and formatting standards discussed in class. This draft will be used for an in-class peer review session. Failure to bring a complete, digital draft will result in an absence for the day. | -- | in class, 9/10 or 9/12 |
| final draft | Complete final draft with an embedded image. Keep file saved on Google Drive, and upload it to turnitin.com from there. Also complete draft response questions and place them in your essay 1 folder. | 100 | 9/17 |
