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The Place Essay
Purpose: To write a piece of insightful, nonfiction prose, a piece of literature, that highlights the
one overriding characteristic of a place – that place’s ESSENCE. You will use the essence
to help support the thesis. You will need both an essence and a thesis: they are two separate
things, joined through support.
Writing Tenets: Humanity and Vitality
Vitality – an aliveness that keeps the reader reading through specific details doing helpful
work and strong, content-heavy verbs.
Humanity – a connection between the author, the audience, and the subject matter through our
shared humanity.
The Essay: Pick a place you know well, one see vividly in your mind or one that you can
visit—this week—in the first few days of the assignment. Pick a place whose overriding
characteristic (most obvious trait) is very apparent to you. Remember to focus on gathering and
sorting detailed information that will help you explain the place’s overriding characteristic
(the place’s essence—that characteristic without which your place would not be the unique
place it is) and use that explanation to provide your reader with an insight—that deep look into
an abstraction. The essence statement about your place shows your audience how you will
validate your thesis, your assertion of truth about some abstract concept.
Instructions:
* Read pp. 116-131 in Zinsser for class on Monday. Choose three quotations from the reading
and be ready to share with the rest of class. Be prepared to turn in the final draft of your Person
Essay at the beginning of class.
* Read, study, and analyze all of the sample essays before class on Tuesday. Prepare an
etymology sheet using words you choose from the essays and be ready to share what you
discovered. Come to class ready to analyze one of the essays – each group will be doing a
different essay.
* In class on Wednesday, your group will present your analysis of the essay you chose. Your
Draft #1 of the Place Essay is due before 11:30 pm.
* Thursday: Peer Review Day.
* Monday, Feb. 20: Submit Draft #2 before 11:30 pm.
* Thursday, Feb. 23: Final draft of Place Essay due BOC.
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