Write a personal narrative about something you’ve witnessed or experienced while growing up in your New York City neighborhood. If you moved to NYC more recently, create a narrative about an experience you have had since being here.
1). Set the scene for the reader. What neighborhood does this take place in? What was it like when this story occurred? What is it like now?
2). Have a clear thesis as the last sentence of your introduction–your claim is that this event changed you in some way.
3). Work on creating a strong rhetorical structure, i.e. writing that is clear, concise, and focuses on what you want the reader to understand and feel (tone). Edit out any extraneous language!
4). Incorporate one in-text citation from a book or song that you find meaningful, and that fits into your story. Make sure the quote is brief, pertains to the topic, is cited properly, that the quote is supported with intro and outro sentences!
5). Put an MLA citation at the end of the paper for the source you quote—this does not count as part of the paper word count!
700-900 words/2-3 pages. 15% of overall grade.
