PAPER 1: EDUCATION DEFINES US (PERSONAL NARRATIVE)

As horrifying as it might be, our experiences in school define us in lots of ways. Our teachers are paid to make judgments about our potential, our academic skills, and what types of career paths we might pursue. Our peers, in turn, often define our sense of self-worth through peer pressure, popularity, teasing, and all the other social status issues that makes school such a definitive force in shaping how we see ourselves.

For our first paper, I want you to write a 4-page paper about a specific experience that happened in school that shaped you into the person you are right now. It can be a positive experience or a negative experience: what is important, though, is that you show how that experience can be directly linked to something specific about you: the choices that you have made, the fears you have about yourself, you perceptions of what your strengths are, options you feel are opened (or closed) to you, and the like.

A successful paper will do the following:

• Establish the necessary background for readers (me, the class, etc.) to understand your situation just prior to the event.
• Explain what actually happened.
• Demonstrate the specific, lasting effects of that moment on you today.
• Use a traditional organizational structure that does the following:
  • Offers a clear introduction with a strong thesis statement, avoids generic platitudes about the topic, previews the key points in the narrative, and ends with a strong springboard statement that guides the rest of the paper. Each key point should represent the central idea of a body paragraph.
  • Provides three to five body paragraphs with strong introductory sentences and sufficient details to justify the central point of each paragraph. Each paragraph should have a single central point. There should be strong transitions between each paragraph and a logical order to the paragraphs. More than three body paragraphs is strongly encouraged.
  • Ends with a strong conclusion that does more than simply repeat the thesis statement and the main points. Instead, it should attempt to broaden the thesis statement to a larger idea.
• The paper should follow the MLA style guidelines on pages 487-492 of the Hacker manual. All margins should be 1" and the font should be 12pt Times New Roman.
• The paper will use a comma after an introductory phrase correctly throughout the paper. (-2 points for each error after the first two mistakes).
• The paper will use a comma correctly before a coordinating conjunction that connects two independent clauses (complete sentences). (-2 points for each error after the first two mistakes).
• Use the MS Word Assignment word processor formatting tools.

An ineffective paper will only do the following:

• Tell a story from you school experience.
• End with a conclusion that simply says, "I will never forget what happened," "I will be forever changed by this experience" (without detailing the actual change), or other empty cliches that signify "it was important" while not actually saying what specifically made it important.
• Avoid editing or taking the audience into consideration.
• Make repeated errors with commas and coordinating conjunctions and/or introductory clauses.
• Fail to follow the format instructions.
• Fail to fall within 1/4 of a page of the total page count target.

Special Note: I would recommend avoiding the following topics: the death of a friend, confessions of illegal activity, or your role in the big game. I have found that students often have difficulty pushing these topics beyond a mere story without a clear impact statement. If you wish to write on these subjects, please discuss it with me first to obtain my permission.