ESSAY #1
PLANNING PAGE
Memory and Memoir
PURPOSES: (reflect and express)
(Flesh out your specific purposes. For example: My purpose is to reflect on a painful moment in
1995 when my grandmother taught me a valuable lesson about respecting one’s elders.)
My purpose is to reflect on a time when
AUDIENCE (You know this one! Your audience is your English 1301 class, a community of
supportive writers and readers. However, you might consider a wider HCC audience if you were
to publish your memoir in our school newspaper The Egalitarian.)
English 1301 class and instructor (and West Loop Campus)
GENRE: (the type or category of your writing)
Memoir (For our purposes, write a memoir that tells a story
involving a conflict. Out of this conflict comes a valuable
lesson or strong impression.)
TONE (What are some words to express the mood, attitude, or feeling of your personal
experience? Perhaps you will select a single, consistent tone as does Annie Dillard in “The
Chase.” However, you may prefer to express more than one tone. If you switch tones, like
Langston Hughes in “Salvation,” have a good reason for doing so.)
STRATEGY (Learning Web: Notes on Narration and Description):
(Your primary strategy is narration; your secondary or supporting strategy is description.)
primarily narration with some description
English 1301, Jeff Lindemann
1
TENTATIVE THESIS :
(At this early point in your planning, try to articulate a tentative thesis, one that suggests,
through your carefully chosen diction, your purpose and strategy. Think of your thesis as the
main point of your essay. You can always go back and revise and refine this tentative thesis. For
your memoir, try to suggest that a story is about to begin. Take a look at the thesis sentences in
our sample essays (“Salvation,” “The Chase,” “Once More to the Lake,” and “Two Kinds.”)
DEADLINES and LENGTH:
Length: 750 – 1,000 words or up to three full double-spaced pages (No more than three!)
Rough draft due date:
Final draft due date:
DOCUMENT DESIGN:
Times New Roman point 12, double spaced
MANUSCRIPT MECHANICS
Do not tamper with your preset margins.
Include course information in the upper left corner of your first page: your name (first
name first, your instructor’s title and name (Dr., Professor, Mr., Mrs., Ms.),
course, and date of submission.
Create a header in your upper right hand corner by using your pagination feature on your
computer. (I’ll show you how to do this in class.)
OPTIONAL OUTLINE:
(If you are an outliner, identify the main points of action in your essay. Perhaps locate major
actions leading up to the climax. This outline could be an informal listing outline. Feel free,
though, to use Roman numerals and letters to develop your outline. This kind of outline if often
called a working outline, informal outline, rough draft outline, or skeletal outline. You may wish
to use another page to do your optional outline.
English 1301, Jeff Lindemann
2