Personal Declaration of Independence: Writing Assignment Junior English 1/25/13
Due Dates:

Draft due on Tuesday January 29, 2013 (10 points just for having it)

Final Draft to be graded due on Wednesday February 6, 2013 (100 points)
Description of assignment:
You are to write your own Declaration of Independence using the 1776 American
Declaration of Independence as your model. An example of such a piece is the
Declaration of Sentiments from the Women’s Rights Convention of 1848, of which you
have a copy.
You are to declare your independence from something that is problem for you, something
that makes your life difficult, stressful, or unhappy. The best pieces of writing come
from those who take this piece seriously.
Your declaration must include the same four parts as the American Declaration does:
 Preamble: the reason for the document
 Your truths or beliefs and your relationship to the thing you are breaking away
from
 Complaints against the thing you are breaking with
 Formal declaration of independence from the thing you are breaking with
Final length: determined by the content of your declaration (usually about one to one and
a half double spaced, one inch margined, Times New Roman 12 point font pages or two
to three handwritten pages.)
Your draft for Tuesday need not be typed. Please, attempt some writing of all four parts.
The more complete your draft, the more help I can offer to you for improvement in your
final draft.
I will be the only reader of your declaration.
See the rubric on the flip side for how your final draft will be graded.
Rubric for Personal Declaration of Independence
Contains all four parts
10
Follows formatting
5
 Typed: double spaced, one inch margins, Times New Roman 12 point font
 Handwritten: one side of paper only, no skipped lines, black or dark blue ink
Neat and legible
5
Preamble
15
 Declares reason for the document that shows thought concerning the writer’s
relationship to the topic and on whom the changes suggested in this document
might have an affect.
 Is clear and understandable by an outside reader.
 Is specific.
 Phrasing alludes to model document.
Truths and relationships
15
 Expresses what writer believes to be true about life and living it well
 Explains what a positive relationship should be
 Is clear and specific.
 Phrasing alludes to model document.
Complaints
15
 Shows how relationship is not achieving its positive aims
 Makes specific claims concerning problems
 Makes use of parallelism.
 Phrasing alludes to model document.
Formal declaration
15
 States for the record what the new relationship will be.
 Gives a new name to the author in reference to being free from the negative
 Phrasing alludes to model document
Style
10
 Word choice shows age/grade appropriate level of vocabulary use
 Sentence structures show age/grade appropriate level of variety and art
 Uses figurative language to communicate complex ideas
Writing Conventions
10
 Correct spelling, grammar, punctuation