Do a 500 word memoir on a past experience that had significance for you.  You may write on an experience that had an impact of some kind on you, on a trip you took, or on an experience from which you learned something.  Proofread carefully and submit to dropbox.

WRITING LESSON

Have something to say.

Say it clearly.

Be grammatical.

Avoid spelling errors.

Don’t be awkward.

These five guidelines show what I look for in a paper. I want good content and organization, but I also want good spelling and grammar. If you follow all the above guidelines, you should get “A” and “B” on all your papers in here.

I subscribe to the five- step process for writing papers.

Once you have selected a topic:

Think about the topic or do research on it.

Make out an outline, to establish the order in which you are going to put the ideas and pieces of information in the paper. The outline does not have to be formal. Its purpose is to establish sequence.

Write the paper.

Rewrite the paper, as many times as are necessary to get it right.

Proofread the paper. This last step is essential, but it is the step many people never get to. A good job of proofreading a paper in college can mean the difference between a grade of “C” and a grade of “A.”

Organization of The Paper

The following guidelines apply to longer papers.

Your paper should start out with an introduction, that engages the reader’s attention and establishes the importance of your topic. The development section of your paper should provide specific information on your topic. A typical paragraph in your development section should start with a topic sentence, that summarizes the essential content of your paragraph. The topic sentence should be followed by supporting details, that support, explain, and develop the topic sentence. Often the topic sentence of a paragraph will contain a transition, because often when you are going from one paragraph to another you are shifting to a different aspect of your topic. So the topic sentence for a paragraph could read something like this: “On the other hand, there are arguments that can be made in favor of abortion.” The phrase “on the other hand” enables the writer to effect a transition.

The conclusion need do no more than summarize the most important ideas in the paper. A conclusion can be a summary. Sometimes a conclusion can draw a general lesson from the paper.

One more point: good writing is specific. Always give concrete, specific details when you write. 

THE NARRATIVE PAPER

A narrative tells a story. Its mode of organization is sequential, or chronological. You must limit the amount of time covered when you do a narrative. Include descriptive details in your narrative. Descriptive details bring a narrative to life. You may want to employ dialogue in your narrative. You may want to build your narrative to a climax. You must relate your narrative from one point of view. Try not to change verb tenses unnecessarily in your narrative. Avoid the temptation to jump from the past tense to the present tense and back again.