(1000-word minimum)

Rough Draft Due: Monday, 9/22/24

Final Draft Due: Wednesday, 9/25/24 on our OpenLab site (specific instructions to follow)

Assignment 

So far this semester, we have read texts in which the writers discuss experiences that have shaped their understanding of themselves and/or the world around them and therefore their paths in life. 

You have read these mentor texts as a reader, to understand them and learn from them, and also as a writer, as Mike Bunn describes in ā€œHow to read like a Writer,ā€ looking at not only what they have to say but also how they do so, for what purpose, and for what audience, and in what style or with what tone.

For this assignment, you will write an education narrative of your own that illustrates a significant experience that shaped your professional goalsā€”those you will be pursing now that you are starting college. To do so, you will use your personal experience.

Include the following in your narrative and use them to make a point about why and how you have arrived at your future goals: 

  • First reflect on where you hope to be in five years. Think big. Who do you want to be? Where do you want to be? What do you want to be doing? In other words, what do you want your professional life to look like?  
  • Next, tell about a meaningful experience that shaped your professional goals. Tell about when, why, and how the experience was significant for you. 

Throughout, use specific examples, and include details that help you make your goals and plan on how to achieve them clear, as well as convincingly tell your story of how you arrived at these goals.

Things to think about: In addition to your topic, for your education narrative, you will need to choose

  • what the purpose of your narrative isā€“other than completing Unit 1, what else can it do? If you shared your finished narrative with people, what would you want them to take away from reading it?
  • who is your intended audience? Are you writing for people who have similar professional goals and/or experiences? People who canā€™t imagine what your experiences were? People who donā€™t understand what you need to do to achieve your professional goals? Potential employers?
  • what style or tone do you want for your essay? This will be connected to its purpose and intended audience. Do you want it to be funny? intense? emotional? controlled?

Here are the grading criteria for this project, which you can use as a checklist:

  • development of an overall point/significance for your narrative
  • use of concrete, significant details rather than generalizations
  • focus on one event or a connected series of events for the experience youā€™re writing about
  • integration of one or two ideas from our course texts into your narrative
  • organization of ideas into paragraphs and paragraphs into a coherent order
  • use of tone, language, grammar, and sentence structure as appropriate for your genre, audience, and purpose
  • appropriate choice of language: you can write with whatever diction (style of language) you choose, but it must be the best language for the jobā€“ as you see itā€“ for your audience and purpose
  • construction of a narrative that serves a purpose for a particular audience
  • meet the scope of the project: aim for 1000 words, without padding or unnecessary repetition.
  • attention to finishing touches, in terms of proofreading, formatting, submitting, etc.
  • timely submission of the assignment

If you have any concerns about this project, its subject, your ability to complete it or to submit it, please communicate with meā€“we can start with email or scheduling a meeting or meet during office hours