Personal NarrativeLength: Approximately 1000 words (4 double-spaced pages)
I like how the first big writing assignment is a personal narrative. This is a great way of getting us students to open up slowly and what is the easiest topic to write about when you're new to writing? Yourself!
All assignments for this course must be written and submitted directly in Google Docs.
A very interesting take is displayed here. I use Google Docs religiously so that makes me very happy to hear but having an actual assignment be submitted through the platform is new to me. I personally hope that other students can get comfortable with this method quickly.
As long as work has been submitted that fulfills all of the requirements of the assignment, work will receive at least a B grade. Work which demonstrates higher quality and/or demonstrates risk-taking in considering or implementing new ideas will be awarded an A.
A very generous rule and statement from our professor here. I wish more writing classes considered this point of view more. Many people taking English classes in college are either newer to the language or are not as comfortable with writing. I hope more professors follow in your footsteps.
In this course I need you to be brave. You will read things that may make you uncomfortable. You will discuss difficult topics. This will stretch the boundaries of what you may think you are capable of to new levels.
Thank you for being transparent with us and setting the tone for this class clear from the start. I hope that my fellows peers and I can work on opening up our personal lives at a professional and comfortable level in this class.
hat’s the essay about? What do you know about the writer’s background and reputation? Where was the essay first published? Who was the intended audience for the essay? How much do you already know about the subject of the reading selection?
This is extremely important when considering what you are going to write about and how you are going to write it. I definitely need to work on understanding contexts more before diving into an essay or article. Thank you for this information.
With the first reading, you want to get an overall sense of what the writer is saying, keeping in mind the essay’s title and the facts that you know about the writer from the essay’s head-note
Personally, I don't necessarily agree with this take--I think your first read-through of any article or essay should be a full analysis and your second read-through should focus on the nuances you missed... the reason for this is because a 'lazy read-through' is not as efficient.
Similarly, most of us do not ask our-selves why one piece of writing is more convincing than another.
I think this is a very interesting topic because as a writer you definitely are comparing your work to others but as a reader--the comparison dilemma does not happen as frequently.