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Instructions

1.
Chooseonetopic
fromthe list of personal essay topics (A)

2.
by Supreme Savings Plugin”>Write an essayof approximately 1000 to 1200 words (about four
double-spaced typed pages) on your chosen topic. Expect that if your essay goes
over the length requirement, your essay could be returned to you for revision.

3.
Begin your research. You
might start with a general Google search and then a Google Scholar search, but
you will also need to visit the AU library databases to find sound academic
articles. Note: When you’re first learning about a topic, Wikipedia might be an
appropriate place to start, butalwaysmove on from Wikipedia.
As an open source, it is not sufficiently trustworthy for academic purposes.
Therefore, do not use quotes or paraphrases from Wikipedia. This is not a
source yourtutor will want to see on your citation list. Be equally
careful of other questionable websites since they are in abundance.

4.
Find two to four
reputable secondary sources and review them carefully.At least onesource
should be from a peer-reviewed journal article accessed through the AU library
databases. Please go toActing on Wordsand read the segment
called “Primary and Secondary Sources” in the chapter called “Finding
Information: Types of Sources” or go tohttp://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/008-3010-e.htmlfor a sound explanation of primary and secondary sources.

5.
Based on the research you
found as well as your own brainstorming, develop a straightforward thesis that
is sufficiently limited in scope (meaning something you can do justice to in a
short essay).

6.
Create an outline.

7.
Consider speaking with
yourtutorto review your thesis and outline if necessary .

8.
Begin the first draft of
your essay.

9.
Make use of at least two
(and no more than four) secondary sources within your essay by adding
quotations and paraphrases. Then, every time you paraphrase or quote, follow
these four steps:

·
Introduce each source

·
Present the research

·
Credit the source
parenthetically

·
Discuss

In other words, include quotation (and paraphrase) sandwiches in
your essay. Don’t just drop in quotations or paraphrases from sources into your
essay. (Some experts call these hit and run quotations).

10.Create a Works Cited or References page, and make sure to take
this seriously. Do not guess, and do not use a software program. Doing this
correctly is not difficult, but it does require you to pay very close attention
to detail. We expect you to do so.

11.Revise and edit your draft. You should have produced and edited
at least one preliminary draft before you hand in the final copy.

12.Consider using the Write Site’s coaching services

13.Study the assignment checklist and answer the questions
honestly.

14.When you’re ready, upload your assignment through the
assignment.

15.
In English 255, we prefer
MLA citation and format style.

A. Personal Essay Topics

No matter which topic you choose, be certain that you consider
your audiencebeforeyou begin writing. There is little worse for readers than
slogging through a personal essay that has no apparent purpose or relevance.
Readers should be motivated in some capacity by your personal essay. In other
words, we all have stories, but if we share them, we have to have a reason (as
far as readers are concerned) for doing so. We tell personal stories so others
can be encouraged, motivated, comforted, informed, and the like. So, ask yourself
the all-important “so what” and “who cares” questions, and answer honestly. Ask
yourself what, beyond sharing your own story, you want readers to know or feel
or learn when they read your essay.

1.
Write a personal narrative essay. Be sure
to focus on a single, well defined incident with an explicit beginning, middle,
and end from which you learned something about yourself, another person, or
life itself. “My life with my alcoholic father,” for example, is too big a
subject for a short narrative essay, but “The time my father hit rock bottom”
is very likely to be sufficiently limited. Good subjects for personal narrative
essays include the following: a move, a birth (if it’s exceptional in some way)
or a death, a birthday or an anniversary, the loss of a prized possession, a
moment of triumph or defeat. Your thesis should make a point about what this
experience taught you. You may state this thesis explicitly or you may prefer
to imply it.

2.Write a personal
descriptive essay about a person, place, or thing. Be sure to establish a clear
dominant impression that conveys the point you want to make about your subject.
All the details in your description should fit with this dominant impression.
Try to include a broad range of sensory impressions: not just how your subject
looks but also how it sounds, feels, smells, moves.

It’s often easier to
establish this dominant impression through contrast: the changes in a place or
a person or the difference between what you thought something would be and what
it actually was. (Locate the essay “Two Ways of Viewing the River” by Mark Twain
for a good example.) It’s also often easier to write an effective description
of a person by describing a room or a location that you associate with him or
her. (See if you can locate the short story “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod for
a good example.)

You will probably include some narration in a descriptive essay
and some description in a narrative essay. Remember, however, that the
descriptive detail in a narrative essay should help you to tell your story,
whereas a chronological narrative sequence in a descriptive essay should help
your reader to get a picture of what you are describing.

You may question the idea of using sources in personal writing,
since the personal essay is commonly understood to be informal whereas research
methods and documentation techniques are associated with more formal, scholarly
styles. Despite this general truth, many personal essays use quotations or
paraphrases (or both) from a variety of sources. Some personal essays begin
with a reference to another writer’s reported experience – a natural way to
incorporate a source. Others incorporate small bits of information from
reputable sources that add credibility in the form of background, context, or
detail.

NOTE

If you are writing a personal essay, you can use first-person point
of view.

Checklist for Research
Essay (personal or expository)

After you have completed your analysis, use the checklist below
to evaluate how well you have done.

·
Did you use MLA or APA
guidelines to format your essay? Did you check your formatting against examples
in the textbook or on the Purdue Online Writing Lab site?

·
Is your thesis the last
sentence of the first paragraph, or do you have a good reason it is not (such
as you’ve written a personal essay so your thesis is implicit, or you used your
first paragraph to explain or justify)?

·
Did you consider
including an essay map/preview statement with your thesis sentence?

·
Did you follow the
assignment parameters by integrating at least two reputable sources in your
essay?

·
Did youintroduceyour sources properly? Did youpresentyour sources according to MLA or APA formatting requirements?
Did youcredityour sources parenthetically? Did youdiscussthe quote or paraphrase?

·
Does your in-text
citation properly match the corresponding Works Cited or References entry?
Check thisverycarefully – remember that the first word of the citation has to
match the first word of the corresponding entry.

·
Did you make sure to do
your in-text and Works Cited or References entries correctly?Did you check
each citation word for word and punctuation for punctuationagainst an example from the textbook, the Purdue Online Writing
Lab . Did you create a suggestive, emphatic conclusion rather than one in which
you unnecessarily repeat the main supporting points?

·
Did you revise very
carefully for grammar and mechanics?

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t your detailed question here…