The last essay
for the semester is an analytical review of yourself as as writer.
You have done an
incredible amount of writing this semester--numerous drafts of essays and a
web site, responses to your peers, reflective letters to me, etc.
To help you reflect
on this large body of work, I've divided this assignment into parts. Part One,
described here, will be initial notes & brainstorming, Part Two will will
be an essay, describing yourself as as writer this semester. The final part
will be a 30-minute conference with me where you talk with me about your writing
and about your plans for writing in the future.
Part
One, Initial Notes
These will be typed
notes. Due at start of class December 5. Bring a paper copy to class in case
the Internet is down, and upload a copy to Blackboard yourlastname_reflect_notes.
I would like you
to reread all of the writing you have completed in this course. As
you reread take notes (in prose format) about some of the following areas:
This first questions
is more general but I think if you examine your answer to it, you will be
able to see through which lens/which bias you view writing, and that is what
is the purpose of writing? How would you define the different types of writing
that you've done and their purposes? How would you define yourself as a writer?
What strikes
you most about your writing? That is, what specific places in what specific
assignments made you think, "Wow, this was good," or "I'm really
proud of this"? In brief, try to explain why.
If you absolutely
had to choose three favorite passages from these various texts (they can be
three from three different texts), what are they and why?
If you had to
choose three least favorite passages, what are they and why?
Do you notice
any common threads across your writing (either in style or content)? Using
specific examples to support your speculations, ponder on what these threads
reveal about your writing and/or your approach to writing and/or about yourself
as a writer?
Reflect on your
writing processes in composing these different texts. How was writing to the
IEDP different than, say, writing your rhetorical analysis essay?
Has your writing
process changed? Were there things that were hard at the start of the semester
that seem easier now? Do you have different writing strategies now than you
did before?
Have your views
of writing changed at all in the semester? If so, why? If not, why?
What have you
learned about writing this semester?
You've written
about a number of different issues including an autoethnography of an aspect
of your life, analyses of how writers use language, and an argument about
a public issue. In the course of researching and writing about these various
issues, how has your thinking been influenced? That is, do you see an issue
differently now than you used to?
Are there some
types of writing you prefer more than others? Why?
How do you feel
about yourself as a writer? What would you say your strengths are? What areas
of writing do you hope to develop more in the future?
And, of course,
comment on anything else you would like to address
Part
Two: Essay
(Very) Rough Draft
due Thursday, December 7. Finished draft due at conference.
For this Part,
you will write an essay focusing on a few aspects of yourself as a writer. As
you will discover as you work on Parts I and II there are a lot of aspects you
could discuss, but I ask you to choose only a few to focus on so that you can
develop those points in detail. (You can even focus on just one!) Because each
person will be taking a slightly different approach to this essay, I can only
offer some general guidelines.
Use your notes
from Part One to help you figure out what you want to write about. This is
your chance for self-reflection so be sure the issues you focus on about yourself
and your writing really interest you.
Be sure that
you support whatever claims you make about yourself with specific evidence/examples
drawn from your texts. When you quote, use shortened titles of the text and
page numbers.
Just as when
quoting other sources, do not "overquote" yourself. That is, don't
write something like, "This passage shows how I weave my personal experience
into my argument" and then quote an entire paragraph from a previous
essay expecting me--the reader--to figure out how exactly that quote proves
what you say it does. Be sure to explain things in detail and don't use too
many long block quotes.
Please include
at least one image in your essay.
You will need
a Works Cited or References page for your own work. The format is as follows
for MLA:
Your last name, your first name. "Title of work." Date completed.
When citing this in your paper, you will use your last name and a shortened
title (Your last name, "first words of title")
If you are citing my comments or a peers' comments, you will do the following:
Last name of peer, first name of peer. Comments on X essay. Date completed.
Not counting
the Works Cited or References page, this essay should be 4-5 double-spaced
pages.
Conference
This conference
is considered the final exam for this class. If you miss the conference,
you cannot pass the class, so be sure to triple-check the time you have
signed up for and put reminder notes all over the place.
During this half
hour conference, you will talk to be about yourself as a writer--where you've
been, where you are, and where you're going. To illustrate the various points
you make, you will want to read outloud specific passages of your writing to
me during the conference. I suggest you use stickie notes or paper clips as
a way to mark the passages that you wish to share. Besides being an attentive
listner, I will also ask you questions. Towards the end of the conference we
will focus on your plans for writing in your future.
Bring
to the conference a folder containing the following:
Double-spaced
"final" copy of your Writer's Reflection Essay (Also upload this
essay to Blackboard yourlastname_reflect_final)
"Clean"
copies of the writing you reference in your essay and/or photocopies of papers
with comments etc.