signing up
Directions for Essay #1: Fall 2014
Primary mode of writing: Exposition supported with Process, Definition, Narrative, or Comparison/Contrast. Each paragraph must be supported with at least one brief narrative, but the essay as a whole may not be one long narrative. If you find your topic sentences beginning with terms that suggest time or chronological order (“Then,” “Next,” “Afterwards,” “Finally”) then you need to restructure your essay to arrange your material logically, not chronologically.
Topic Description: In this essay, I want you to think through and write about what you believe is a value/an activity/ a belief/ a life-view/a principle by which life may be directed (choose just one!) that you hope to pass down to your posterity, to future generations.
Arrange material logically, not chronologically. In each body paragraph, you must use at least one narrative to support the topic sentence, but you may not turn your essay into one long narrative. The thesis must be clearly stated, and then each topic sentence should make a point supporting the thesis. You may choose a process to write about, but the actual process should only be described in one paragraph and only if necessary. In other words, a process is form of narrative writing, so the whole essay can’t be focused on how to do the process, but the essay CAN focus on the importance of that process to you and to your family.
Write in First or Third Person only (no Second Person).
Write 650 to 850 words.
Audience and Purpose: The audience for this essay is someone who is interested in finding out more about you: your teacher, your classmates, your own family, or even your current or future children. Your purpose is to explain something you already know and understand to someone who doesn’t. Assume anything you write this semester—whether in an essay or in a journal entry—may be read to anyone or by anyone at any time during class or outside of class throughout the semester. If you do
Primary mode of writing: Exposition supported with Process, Definition, Narrative, or Comparison/Contrast. Each paragraph must be supported with at least one brief narrative, but the essay as a whole may not be one long narrative. If you find your topic sentences beginning with terms that suggest time or chronological order (“Then,” “Next,” “Afterwards,” “Finally”) then you need to restructure your essay to arrange your material logically, not chronologically.
Topic Description: In this essay, I want you to think through and write about what you believe is a value/an activity/ a belief/ a life-view/a principle by which life may be directed (choose just one!) that you hope to pass down to your posterity, to future generations.
Arrange material logically, not chronologically. In each body paragraph, you must use at least one narrative to support the topic sentence, but you may not turn your essay into one long narrative. The thesis must be clearly stated, and then each topic sentence should make a point supporting the thesis. You may choose a process to write about, but the actual process should only be described in one paragraph and only if necessary. In other words, a process is form of narrative writing, so the whole essay can’t be focused on how to do the process, but the essay CAN focus on the importance of that process to you and to your family.
Write in First or Third Person only (no Second Person).
Write 650 to 850 words.
Audience and Purpose: The audience for this essay is someone who is interested in finding out more about you: your teacher, your classmates, your own family, or even your current or future children. Your purpose is to explain something you already know and understand to someone who doesn’t. Assume anything you write this semester—whether in an essay or in a journal entry—may be read to anyone or by anyone at any time during class or outside of class throughout the semester. If you do