Writing Assignment 1: Remembering Events
First Draft Due: September 14
Final Due Date: September 18
"Remembering events" is another name given to the genre of autobiographical narrative. Writing autobiographical narrative allows practice in narrating a story, setting up cause and effect relationships, and using various narrative and descriptive strategies to create an essay with autobiographical significance: an essay that gives insight into the author's life.
You may choose any of the following three options as a prompt for this essay.
Option 1: "Write an essay about a significant event in your life. Choose an event that will be engaging for readers and will at the same time tell them something about you. Tell your story dramatically and vividly, giving a clear indication of its autobiographical significance." (Saint Martin's Guide to Writing, Chapter 2).
Option 2: Choose a photograph that is important to you and tell the story of the events which surround it. This should not be as much a story about taking a picture as it is about an event where a picture is taken. Focus on explaining why this event was important to capture on film, as this will give your essay the autobiographical significance it needs to be successful. Was this an event that people normally capture on film (a wedding, birthday, or a vacation)? Was it a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence? Who is in the picture? Who is left out? In other words, focus on what is missing from the picture as well as what the picture contains. Write this essay as if your audience does not have the photograph in front of him or her, and is not familiar with the event(s) you are describing. This means that you will have to provide adequate details in describing both the photograph and the events surrounding it.
Option 3: Write about a time where you identified yourself strongly as a member of a particular ethnic, cultural, religious, political, educational, or other group. Describe and reflect on the experience that caused you to make this identification. Was it a positive or negative experience? What consequences did it have for you then, and what consequences does it have for you now?
Specifics:
Essays must be 800-1000 words (approximately 4 typewritten pages) and must be word-processed or typed.
As you write and revise your essay, check to see that you are meeting all of the expectations stated in the prompt. Also pay close attention to the development of events in your essay: are you providing enough detail so that a reader who is unfamiliar with the events will be able to understand them?
In grading your essay, I will be considering the following criteria as the most important:
1) Story: Does this essay have a minimal story which contains conflict(s) and resolution(s)? Is this minimal story developed and sustained throughout the essay by the use of various narrative and descriptive strategies? In other words, I will be looking at what is being told as well as how it's being told.
2) Reflection and Insight: All essays have to measure up to the question of "So what?" Good essays will explain why the event was significant to them and make this significance apparent to others, so that the reader can take these insights away with them after reading the essay. This autobiographical significance is one of the features which distinguishes an autobiographical narrative from a simple chronology, and is therefore crucial.
3) Descriptive Detail: I will be looking for essays with well- developed paragraphs that provide concrete details about the events which are being remembered. Good essays will make the remembered events "come alive" for the reader by providing specific details as well as providing the reader with the context he or she needs to understand the events and glean insight from them.
Writing any essay is a process. As part of this process, you will be
reading and responding to
drafts of your classmates' writing. The day for groupwork and in-class
revision is
September 16th. You must therefore bring a first draft of
your essay
along with 3 copies of it to class on September 14th.
This revision is
a crucial part of the writing process and will count on both your class
participation grade as well
as the grade you receive on this assignment. The due date for the
final draft of the
paper is September 18th.