Autobiographical Essay

For this first assignment, you will need to pick an event in your past life which you think was important to you when it happened and which you still consider important. Once you decide on the event, you will need to write an essay narrating this story with vivid descriptions of people and places involved. Choose a subject that you feel comfortable sharing with others in class. Your subject should be one that leads you to think in terms of what it means to you as a grown-up. In making a final choice of subject, it may help to think about your readers (audience) and what you would want them to learn about you from reading your essay (purpose).

Grading Criteria

The most important criteria for grading are the organization of your essay and how effectively you achieve conveying your story to the reader. Do not forget that you need to incorporate the three important components of an autobiographical essay into your writing: narration, description and reflection. These three components are respectively the what, how and why of your essay. The reader should be able to get a clear idea of not only what happened, but also how it happened, and why it was/is important to you.

You also should make sure that your essay is interesting to the reader. To achieve this, you will need to create a vivid impression of not only what happened but how you felt at the time so that the reader could identify and empathize with you.

The language/style of your essay should be appropriate for your audience and purpose. Also, the final draft of your essay should be free of major mechanical errors (grammar and spelling).

Format

Your essay should be at least 1000 words long and double spaced. It should have your name at the top of the first page, before the title. All the pages should be numbered and stapled together before submission.

Due dates

You will need to bring an electronic copy of the first draft of your essay to class on Wednesday, Sep. 6 for peer-review. You will also need to have a copy of your draft with you on Friday, Sep. 8. You will submit the final version of your essay for grading on Monday, Sep. 11.

* Please feel free to contact the Writing Lab if you need extra help at any stage of your writing.*