Eng 1010 Essay 1: Remembering an Event

Assignment: Write an essay of min. 1000 words that focuses on one event in your life for the purpose of telling a story and reflecting on its meaning. For a thorough description of writing that remembers an event, read St. Martin's Guide, chapter 2, which includes sample essays by professional writers and students. For a sample essay by an MTSU student, see Portfolio Guide, page 17. For specific page numbers in St. Martin's, refer to the Schedule.

Topic: To arrive at a topic, follow instructions in St. Martin's on "Considering Topics for Your Own Essay" (32, 37, 42, 46) and "Listing Remembered Events." The experience you write about and the feelings you express must be real sincere and should capture your audience's interest.

Purpose: Your general purpose will be to inform. More specifically, you are "to present yourself to readers by telling a story that discloses something significant about life."

Audience: Essentially you will be writing a human interest piece; people will want to read your essay to learn about you, about human nature. Before you write draft 1 of the essay, choose an audience for your essay and think specifically about what you want to communicate to that audience. Targeting a publication will help narrow your audience. If you are writing to a general audience of adults across age, class, race lines, you may want to target a publication like Readers' Digest, but if you are aiming at a more specific audience (white female teenagers, e.g.), you will need to target a publication with a more narrow readership (Seventeen, e.g.).

Invention and Writing Draft 1: You are required to follow through on the "Guide to Writing." Be sure to follow instructions completely, writing all lists, descriptions, dialogue, and sketches as instructed. You are expected to generate several pages of invention--at least five handwritten. Also follow instructions for writing and revising draft 1 carefully and completely. 

Due Dates and Submission Requirements: See schedule.

Traps to Avoid: You will want to avoid the following problems especially:

Choosing a topic that is too broad ("my childhood," "our championship season")
Failing to create suspense and to build to a climax
Failing to reflect on the significance of the experience
Oversimplifying or sentimentalizing the significance of the experience

Reminder: Re-read the assignment instructions after you have written a draft of the essay. Make your own checklist of requirements and apply them to your essay.