Engl. 097-8

Speaking of Success First Paper—Personal Narrative

DUE DATES:

Complete Draft DUE on Thursday, Jan.21st—Bring three copies for your group work on Wed. January 20th

Final Paper DUE on Thursday, Jan. 28th + attach one draft, two peer reviews

Assignment: Your first longer paper for our class will be a 2-4 page personal narrative written from experience. Your assignment is to write an interesting personal narrative from your knowledge and experience. The readings in Chapter 1 and 2 of Guidelines are all examples of this kind of paper. Your experience should have meaning for you, for your reader, and contain descriptions using details that help the readers to see, hear, feel or taste the examples. The form and structure of your paper should be clear, so you will have a strong thesis or idea and paragraphs that include information and details that support the idea. You should write about an experience that you have NOT written about for another class or for another assignment in school.

NOTE: You could write about the same “idea” for this paper as you may be preparing for your Informative Speech #1, but they don’t have to be the same topic.

Format: The paper must have a title, be typed, using 12 point font, and one inch margins.

Process Steps: [Follow each of the Guidelines in Ch. 2 pages 52-61.]

· Read Chapter 2 of Guidelines and pages 274-284 in the purple section of the text.

· Make a List or Freewrite to begin

· Try Looping or Cubing to describe or discover more about your topic

· Do a Cluster (Mind-Map) to begin Focusing on Ideas

· Structure your Essay

· Use the Checklist on page 64.

SHOW US THE EXPERIENCE WITH STRONG DETAILS—DESCRIBE WITH EXAMPLES!

TO BEGIN, PICK ONE BELOW or DEVELOP YOUR OWN IDEA—Begin with these questions, but expand, add details to write your paper, and make the beginning topic interesting for your audience (our class), and full of details so we can learn something about you and your experiences—just like the Readings in Ch. 1 & 2 of Guidelines.

1. What barriers have you had in gaining an education? What difficulties do you still face? How can you tell your story and give interesting description and examples for your reader and audience that would inform us about your own unique experiences in life.

2. What is your favorite way to learn and why? What are you an “expert” at doing? Have you felt “overstuffed” with information and unable to remember what you learned? Give vivid examples and details about something you are an expert at doing and how that “process of learning” worked for you?

3. Can you think of an important time or several events in your earlier “schooling journey” that would be interesting to describe and show your readers? Where were you living? Did you have to travel or go through some difficulties to go to school? Are you aware of how you changed and grew as a person from these challenges? BE Very Specific as you think of how to tell this story about your education.

4. Do you have an experience of “learning English” and how that was built into your family or educational experience? What memories do you have of learning another language and then learning English? Why did you decide to learn English and how can you show your reader examples of your awareness and understanding of learning this language? Where are you now in this process?

5. Another Topic of your choice that would inform your audience about you, and give your audience insight and knowledge about you and your experiences.

The Following criteria will be used to evaluate your Final Essay #1—Try to write this as the “best” paper that you have written for an English class.

A or A-/4.0-3.5—90-100 points    This writer wrote an excellent story or gave information that engaged the reader’s interest in reading to the end.  The writer used concrete details and description (sight, smell, sound, touch, taste, and smell) to engage our senses and put us in the “story” or made the idea clear.  Throughout the paper, we could follow the ideas and understand its emotional or meaning impact on the writer.  These papers have a sense of organization that begins with an intriguing introduction, has transitions between paragraphs, and an effective conclusion.  The mechanics of this paper include excellent syntax, use of vocabulary, and good choices in sentence construction and punctuation.

B or B-/3.4-2.5 –80-90 points    This writer told a story that kept a readers interest and focused on the meaning or information about the writer’s experience. The writer used some details to show where, how, when, or what happened in this event.  The essay followed a clear structure and had an ending that left a feeling of completion with the reader.  The sentences were mostly correct, and opportunities to combine ideas into more complex sentences were in evidence.  The paper had a used some peer feedback or tutoring to improve sentences which shows work on proofreading and revision.  The mechanics of the paper included some editing of grammar, word usage, punctuation, and clarity of purpose.

C or C-/2.4-1.5 70-80 points   This writer told a story that was about an experience but the idea or purpose of the essay was not clear. The writer used general sentences to tell the story without much attention to description or concrete details.  The sentences were basic in form and more common (rather than concrete) in language and word usage.  There was a structure to the essay, but the reader is left with some questions about the idea. Paragraphs weren’t used to make a point nor were clear transitions made between paragraphs as the paper moved to an end. The conclusion was sometimes weak and left a reader with a feeling that the essay wasn’t finished.  The paper had many mechanical weaknesses in grammar, word usage, punctuation, and sentence complexity. 

D or D-/1.4-.07 Less than 70 points This paper would not be a passing response for this writing assignment, and would have to be re-written.