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English 101 - Fall 2015
Essay #1: Narrative
Tenenbaum
Due Dates for the Essay
Mon 10/5 and Tue 10/20: The “Generating Material” writing—Instructions are at the end of this
sheet. On 10/5, you will work with it in class, but it will not be turned
in. On 10/20, it will be turned in as part of your Essay #1 portfolio.
Thu 10/15: Due: Essay #1 in Workshop groups. Bring 3 copies. This must be typed and doublespaced, and it is as close to finished as you can possibly get it. At this point, you
should have made it as good as you know how; only then will you be ready for the
feedback that will help you to make it better than you currently know how, and
thus to improve as a writer.
Tue 10/20: Due: Essay #1. Paper submission. Due in class at the beginning of class. Remember
that late essays earn only half credit, and even a few minutes late counts as late.
Your essay folder must include all of the following, in this order, from top to
bottom:
1. The revised, finished essay.
2. The version you brought to class on 10/15. The exact copy! There should
be written notes all over it from the class discussion on that day.
3. The “Generating Material” writing that was due in class on 10/5 and
which is described at the end of this sheet.
Length: The finished, revised essay will be 750-1000 words, or approximately 3-4 pages wordprocessed and double-spaced.
Format of the Essay: All essays must use Modern Language Association formatting. The link to
the details are on our course website in the “General Information about the Class” module.
Here are some of the highlights:
 Double-space.
 Center the title above the text, and capitalize all words except prepositions (such as of,
between, through), articles (such as a, the, and an), and conjunctions (such as but, and,
or; however, capitalize them if they begin the title or the subtitle).
 Title: Do not underline or italicize your title or put it in a bold font.
 To start a new paragraph, indent 5 spaces (or one tap of the “Tab” key).
 Except for the title, which is centered, align your text with the left margin. Do not justify
the margins. Justified margins make the text in to a straight light on both the right and
left sides. Do not do this. The right margin should be ragged.
The Assignment
Topic: Write a narrative essay about an experience you had that changed you. Choose an
experience that led to a significant change in your perspective(s), belief(s), attitudes(s) about
yourself, about others, about the world around you, or about life. Include the ramifications or
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effects of this significant change. The change might be intellectual, cultural, spiritual,
psychological, physical, or several of these at once.
Audience: Write to this class, a group of interested and diverse readers who don’t know you
well. Think of this essay as a way to share something important about yourself with this group
of people—who will be taking some risks in sharing their experiences with you. Pick an
experience you don’t mind sharing with all of us.
Thesis and style: This essay uses the structures and elements of storytelling and those of
academic essay-writing to present and support a thesis. This essay must state your thesis
explicitly at the end of your first paragraph. This essay goes beyond storytelling to support a
larger idea; it’s as if your story is the example that illustrates your thesis.
The thesis can use a template such as the following:
Once I was ___________________; now I am ________________________.
Going through the experience of ________________ taught me that ______________.
Because of _________________, I now believe that _____________________.
______________________ was the best/worst/funniest/scariest/most important thing that
ever happened to me because afterwards ________________________________.
Academic Essay Structure: Although this essay contains the elements of your story—the who,
where, what, when, and how of what happened—it is a story told in service of a thesis, and so
you will organize carefully to foreground this thesis. Your opening, while also being engaging
and interesting, will introduce the thesis. The paragraphs will begin with topic sentences (also
called point sentences) and will contain key words to remind us how each piece of the story
relates to the thesis. Use the beginnings and endings of paragraphs to remind us of this larger
purpose. Your ending will reflect on the thesis and leave the reader with an idea about why this
thesis and this story are important.
Elements of Storytelling: Your essay will include a lot of detail to make the story clear to us.
You’ll be telling us about events that happened, developing the characters involved, describing
the setting, including action and dialogue, building tension as you tell about this change in your
perspective.
Suggestions for success:
 Choose a very specific experience, one that occurred over a limited amount of time, not
one that developed over a long time span.
 Don’t pick an experience you are in the middle of. It will be hard to get the perspective
this essay requires.
 Less is more: Use words and images economically, allowing a few words to do a lot of
work for you. Choice and vivid details can convey more clarity and energy than a
catalogue of details. Use vivid verbs, and make every word count.
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Grade of the Finished Essay: 100 points
Portfolio is complete and in order (5 points): It contains the final revision, the “Generating
Material” assignment, and the version you brought to the writing group, as well as any other
notes and drafts.
Basic MLA format (5 points): The essay follows the required MLA format for header, title,
spacing, paragraphing, etc.
Opening and ending (10 points): The opening (including the title) is vivid and engaging, and
helps a reader focus on the topic and idea. The ending helps a reader know what to make of the
idea and provides a satisfying sense of closure, a feeling that the significance of the idea has
been explored.
Main idea (15 points): The essay has a clear, meaningful, and explicitly stated thesis at the end
of your first paragraph. This thesis is developed as the essay proceeds, and is clearly connected
to all parts of the essay.
Example and evidence (20 points): The main idea is illustrated with vivid and plentiful example
and evidence--description, specific details, dialogue, action, and explanation of all the whowhat-where-when necessary for readers to understand how the event illustrates the thesis.
Terms are defined, assumptions questioned and explored.
Organization (15 points): The thesis is stated, the paragraphs begin with topic sentences that
contain key words connecting to the thesis, the sentences within the paragraphs are organized
to support the paragraph’s main point, the paragraphs within the essay all relate to the whole,
and follow logically from one to another, and all the parts as a whole fit together and are easy
for an attentive reader to follow.
Style and voice (10 points): The writing is efficient, so that every word counts. Verbs are vivid
and active, clichés are avoided, the thinking is original, and the writing conveys the sense that
there’s a writer behind the work, an actual person with unique and worthwhile perspectives.
Grammar and proofreading (20 points): The essay is free of distracting errors in grammar, and
it has been carefully proofread.
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Generating Material for Your Narrative Essay
Due: Monday 10/5
Format: On paper, either typed or handwritten.
Length: Aim for at least three pages of typed writing, or approximately 750 words. If it is
handwritten, it will be longer than three pages, since handwriting is usually bigger than typing.
Grading (15 points): The content of this writing is not graded. Rather, it will be evaluated
according to the following criteria:
 Length: The more the better. It’s ok if some parts seem not to fit, or if they don’t directly
answer the questions. The questions are prompts—your answers might stray away from
them into your memories and ideas.
 Experimentation and freedom of writing: Did you really let yourself go, and think of
every possible detail that might be included? Did you follow each question as far as your
memories would possibly lead?
 Evidence of use: Your pages show that you have examined what you’ve written and
have decided what from it to use or not use for your essay. Your highlights and notes to
yourself are all over the pages. Some portions might be circled, others might be crossed
out, according to whether you thought they would be good to use in your essay.
Instructions: Write as much as you can about each of the following questions. You may type or
handwrite. If something seems particularly interesting and fruitful, write more about it. The
purpose of this is to loosen up your brain and get writing on the page. Some of this writing
might be included or developed in your essay later. Some might not be. Don’t worry about
whether what you write here is important enough to be in your essay. Your goal is to generate
ideas and material.
1. Setting: Where does your experience take place? Take your mind there, and write down
all the details you remember of this location. Think of details that relate to all the
senses: Sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch.
2. Character: Who was involved in this experience? What are these people like? How do
they speak, how do they look, what is their relationship to you?
3. Dialogue: What are some of the specific things that were said during this experience? Or
if there were no people around speaking, maybe you’ve written the sounds you heard in
#1 above?
4. Background: What led up to this experience? Were there many steps leading up to the
main event, the specific experience? What was your state or attitude before this
experience?
5. Conflict: What conflicts did you experience during this experience? Was it a conflict with
another person, with a group, with an idea, or within yourself?
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6. Climax: Was there a single moment during this experience when your attitude shifted,
or when the conflict reached its height, or when there was a turning point?
7. Resolution: What happened afterward? How has this experience influenced your life?
8. Extending: Why is it important to you to tell about this experience? Why should others
outside you care about it?
9. Theme/thesis: What underlying idea does this experience illustrate? Another way to
word this might be to use the template below:
Although this experience seems to be about ______________, it’s really about
_______________________.
Also, you could experiment with some of the thesis templates provided above in the
assignment sheet.
Next Step: (We will do this in class on 10/5) Read over what you’ve written. Circle the parts that
seem most important or interesting. Perhaps these might go in your finished essay. Find the
parts that seem less interesting: Perhaps these will not be included in your finished essay, or
maybe they could be included but need to be developed further. Consider what overall main
idea (see “thesis” on the assignment sheet for this essay) this writing might lead to. In other
words, use this material to begin building your essay from. Or, if you don’t like any of it, toss it
and repeat this exercise with a different topic.