essay #1

This rubric has been ever so slightly revised in order to clear up the few typos I mentioned in class. So please read over it thoroughly. And, as always, email me with questions and/or concerns regarding this assignment.


• Due Date: 9/23/09
• Length: three to six typed and stapled pages
• Formatting: one-inch margins; 12pt. font, Times New Roman; MLA citation
• Grade: a standard letter grade will be given

For this assignment I ask that you choose one of the two following options; you may choose only one: (1) write a memoir/autobiography of your own life, or the life of an immediate family member or close relative; (2) write a formal essay which compares and/or contrasts at least two of the readings from segment one, these include Du Bois, Obama, and Washington.

Tips for Option 1:
• Choose to focus on one specific event, or series of inter-related events that illustrate or discuss a similar theme, issue, problem, or challenge that you and/or your family has encountered
• Tell a story of emigration, travel, quest, pilgrimage, or journey
• Share your religious beliefs and how they have affected your life
• Discuss a hobby, passion, ritual, or habit that has helped shape you as an individual
• Celebrate a family member or close friend of yours that has either passed or is alive
• Discuss a moment of particular strife or challenge; that is, offer details concerning a life-lesson, if you will

Tips for Option 2:
• Theme(s) or issue(s) that you have discovered to be common between the authors and/or texts you have chosen is a good place to begin your comparison
• To contrast, offer the ways in which the authors are different; focus on their overall argument, goals, desires, etcetera…
• Use class notes to supplement your evidence and support, if need be
• It would behoove you to read the following post, regarding formal essay/paper descriptions. I posted this early in the term. It describes how your essays and papers will be graded, based on their qualities, aspects, and characteristics.


General tips:
In your introductory paragraph:
-- Be sure to introduce the overall point(s) or purpose of the memoir or essay; that is, what is it that you are trying to share with your audience, what are you trying to argue, and why?
-- You may wish to identify who your possible audience may be in this introduction, and how this memoir or essay will affect them should they read it.
-- Remember, you are not writing this essay for me, your professor. Imagine that you will “publish” it via one form or another to an imagined audience outside of this classroom.

In your body:
-- Be sure that each paragraph is following the “course” or “path” set by the introduction; that is, ask yourself: how does each body paragraph highlight and expand upon the main idea or thesis offered by the essay’s beginning? How does each body paragraph provide further evidence in support of your argument or purpose?

In your conclusion:
-- Be sure to summarize your paper’s main point(s)
-- Also, you may wish to offer “what’s next”; that is, ask yourself, what are the implications of the memoir or essay that you have written? How can/will the things you discuss be implemented in the future? What is the next step you will take? How will this writing affect the larger, greater world?

VIP! Should you quote any reading or text we have read thus far, be sure to properly cite each source using parenthetical citation. Use the handout on citation for assistance. You may also use the MLA section within Hacker’s Writer’s Reference for further assistance with this necessary requirement. A “Works Cited” page or bibliography is not needed for this paper.

Note: You will have the option to revise this first essay, due at the time of Essay #2. The revised grade with be averaged with the first grade to obtain a mean score which will be recorded as your final grade for this paper. This revision option remain for each paper submitted for this course!