“This I Believe” Narrative Final Exam Essay
(15% of final grade)
English 1302 / Foster
When and Where
You will write this essay in class on your exam date.
How Long?
Minimum of 600 words
What Must I Bring?
 Blue, black, or other dark pen(s). No pencil.
 A “blue book” exam booklet.
What Is Optional To Bring?
 One 5x7 notecard with handwritten (not computer printed) notes to help you write this
essay. An outline is fine. The whole essay written in microscopic print is not fine. There
may not be any notes pertinent to the Identification exam section on your notecard. No
information can be scribbled out on your notecard.
 A printout of this essay prompt. Printed out on paper.
 White-out or correction tape.
What Is Absolutely Not Allowed?
 Hats, any kind of electronic devices, any additional notes or paper. If I see any of these
items out at any point, I will collect your exam and ask you to leave. You will not be allowed
to return or write further on your exam.
 Restroom breaks. Sorry! There’s no way for me to keep you from consulting additional
notes/materials in the bathroom, so be sure to go before the exam. If you have a medical
condition that requires restroom access during the two-hour exam period, you must have
Disabled Student Services contact me with an accommodation request prior to the exam.
What to Do
Write a 600+ word essay in the spirit of the “This I Believe” project. Specifically, the essay should
do all of the following:
 Aim to persuade a neutral audience of the importance or truth of one of your beliefs or
values, one you feel strongly is true and that you want others to adopt.
 Establish that this belief or value is important to the community or world (thus “I believe
Dr. Pepper is more delicious than Mr. Pibb” is not a good choice—too personal, too hard to
establish as relevant to the world—but “I believe the arts are important because they allow
us unique access to the minds and experiences of others” would work well—obviously
relevant to people besides yourself, and the stakes [should we support the arts?] are clear).
 Use the rhetorical mode of narrative (story/stories about yourself or things you have
observed) as support for your claims about the importance or truth of your belief or value.
The stories should illustrate (1) the moment(s) in which you realized the importance or
truth of your belief or value and/or (2) the moment(s) that created conflict for you, conflict
that led you to an epiphany about the importance or truth of your belief or value.
Adapted (11-2012 by E Foster) from This I Believe College Writing Curriculum, ©2007-2012, This I Believe, Inc.
Advice on Writing the “This I Believe” Essay
 On Argument
o Name your belief clearly. If you can’t articulate it in one or two sentences, your
argument will not be clear to your audience.
o Answer the “so what” question. How will adoption of your belief/value make the
world better? How will it affect the reader positively?
o Interpret the story/stories you use as evidence of the importance/truth of your
belief/value. How did the story/stories lead to your discovery of the belief or value?
o Say what you do believe, not what you don’t believe. Attacking beliefs your
audience might hold will alienate them. Likewise, avoid situating your belief in a
particular religious system; doing so will narrow your audience.
 On Narrative
o Include conflict (internal—narrator against him- or herself—or external—narrator
against a person, environment, etc.). Problems, disasters, suspense: these are what
make stories interesting! Holding your reader’s interest will help get you a job, a
scholarship, a school admission someday. For now, it will help you get a good grade
on your exam.
o Craft a unique voice. Decide if you want to be lyrical, funny, ironic, reflective,
wistful, sarcastic, or objective. Use word choices (formal vs. informal, concrete vs.
abstract, scientific vs. figurative) and syntax (simple sentences, complex sentences,
parallel structure, etc). These choices determine tone, and tone tells readers how to
feel about stories and what to understand about a narrator’s identity.
o Use imagery—description that engages the five senses.
o Use connotative language—“barked” or “whispered” instead of “said”; “lunged” or
“strolled” instead of “went” or “walked”; “squinted at” or “gazed fondly” rather than
“looked.” (It’s okay to use “said” and “went” and so on—just sparingly.)
o Use figurative language. “I felt scared” is not as interesting as “I felt like someone
had squeezed the air from my lungs. My blood froze.”
o Use dialogue for important conversations rather than summarizing their content.
It engages the reader.
o Important moments in stories slow down. These are the places where use of
connotative and figurative language, dialogue, and imagery are most important.
 On Preparation
o Pre-write your essay more than once. It will get better each time you do it if you
genuinely try to improve it, and it will take more than one draft to create a likeable
narrator, a persuasive argument, and interesting stories.
o Distill it down to an outline of the main arguments and stories. This is the best
use of the limited space on your notecard.
 On Writing the Exam
o Don’t try to reproduce your pre-written drafts exactly. Worry about what you
can think up now, not what you can’t currently remember.
o Leave space between paragraphs for revisions or additions you think up later.
o Leave time at the end to re-read what you’ve written, edit, and make revisions.
Adapted (11-2012 by E Foster) from This I Believe College Writing Curriculum, ©2007-2012, This I Believe, Inc.
Identification Final Exam Section: Study guide
(5% of final grade)
English 1302 / Foster
This section of the exam will include rhetorical and literary terms and concepts covered this
semester. Be able to identify and define the following:
o
o
o
o
o
o
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The three rhetorical appeals
The rhetorical modes
Kairos
The parts of the argument essay, including optional parts, and their uses
The parts of a body paragraph and their uses
Acceptable vs. unacceptable internet sources
The following literary terms:
o Simile
o Metaphor
o Diction
o Theme
o Symbol
o Irony (dramatic, situational, and verbal)
o Imagery
o Characterization
o Tone
o Rising action
o Climax
o Denouement
o Point of view
Also know what a basic MLA parenthetical citation should look like, and be able to identify major,
obvious errors in an MLA Works Cited page using the kinds of sources you have used this semester.
This section of the exam is closed book, closed notes. You may not use your notecard for the
“This I Believe” essay to record information to aid you in the Identification section. If there is
scribbled-out information on your notecard, I will assume it was information for the Identification
section, and you will receive a zero for the entire final exam, both sections.