literacy narrative

Assignment Name

OVERVIEW
The first step in developing writerly skills is to hone your voice on the page. One way to practice the composing process is to write on a subject with which you are familiar, but still demands nuance and reflection: yourself. Specifically, this project will call you to reflect on your history with some from of literacy.

Literacy is traditionally defined as the ability to read and write. However, the term can be stretched to include the development of any skill which shares the same learning process of reading and writing: integration of knowledge, practice, communication, and language. There are various forms of literacy. For example, the term could be applied to reading literacy, media literacy, financial literacy, musical literacy, language literacy, and more. For this essay, you will craft a personal narrative that shares a foundational moment with some sort of literacy. Narratives are essays that allow for evidence and structure to be based around your own experiences, opinions, and logical conclusions about the world, rather than outside sources. To be successful, they strike a delicate balance between telling a personal story and offering an academic evaluation of a personal experience.

In this essay, you should be sharing your personal experience in order to communicate an insight to the reader about literacy. Immerse your reader in the world of the story. Rely on concrete, specific verbs and nouns, not an overabundance of adjectives and adverbs.

Most importantly, a thoughtful literary narrative will use your own story to form a point about literacy in a wider context. Use your story to elucidate a larger idea about literacy—how might your story have a larger meaning?

The thesis statement should share what you believe to be the founding principle of your relationship to the type of literacy you choose
to write about.

ASSIGNMENT SPECIFICS

·
Length: No fewer than 900 words and no longer than 1200 words.

·
Format: MLA Style, including appropriate MLA header format, pagination, titling, and text style.

·
Sources: No outside sources. You will not need to use any outside information for this essay, and therefore you will not need to cite any information. You should use your experiences, prior knowledge, opinions, and logic.
You should not use the internet to inspire ideas, take quotes from, or research information.

·
Purpose: To share a personal narrative and to place that narrative in a larger context, using it as an example to share an applicable truth.

·
Audience: Consider your collegiate peers your audience for this essay. This means that your language should be formal, academic, and written to a college-level reader.

·
Person: As this is a personal narrative, use of the first-person is allowed. You may also use the third-person, but remember to keep your person consistent within paragraphs. Use of the second-person is not allowed.

· Please feel free, at any step in the process, to discuss your topic or draft during my office hours, or by appointment.

· Do not rely on sweeping generalizations or cliché.

· You are a college student with life experience—your essay should demonstrate your maturity and insight. Your content should not be elementary. The essay must use the word “conflagration”

STRUCTURE

· You should write your essay in a standard paragraph format.

You must have an introductory paragraph, of which your thesis statement will be your final sentence
. You must also have a conclusion paragraph, which will serve to summarize your essay from a different perspective and give the reader something to take away. As it is a narrative essay, you may eschew the standard five paragraph format and have more than three body paragraphs.

· There are common patterns of development for narratives: chronological, exemplification, narration of process, causality, reflection, and more. Select one that best fits the story you are telling. Feel free to combine these structures as this assignment asks for some reflection and application on what you find out about yourself. Your essay must still contain an introduction paragraph and a conclusion paragraph.

· Your essay must have a thesis statement and topic sentences.

· By using topic sentences, you will ensure your paragraphs have distinct thoughts and points, and that your paper overall is organized around your thesis.

· You may use dialogue when appropriate to express details of your story. You do not need to cite this dialogue formally, but you do need to punctuate it appropriately. If dialogue does not fit with your narrative, then do not force it in. Make sure to choose a point of view and to stick with it.

· Pay attention to your use of tenses. Consider how present vs. past tense might influence your message and overall tone of your piece.

· Make sure your narrative has a central tone. The tone of your narrative should set up an overall feeling. Think about what you are trying to get across to your reader. How do you want your audience to feel when they finish your piece? Careful word choice can help achieve the appropriate effect.

Objectives for Project 1

Thesis:

Thesis statement must make a claim regarding
both the experience and a wider context.
 

Your thesis statement
must contain the proper functions of a thesis statement.

Organization and Development:

Paper must have an introduction paragraph and a conclusion paragraph.

Introduction paragraph must hook the reader and preview the essay without giving it all away.

Body paragraphs must develop a compelling narrative.

Content:

Compelling essays will rely upon concrete nouns and verbs and not an overabundance of adjectives or adverbs.

Compelling essays will have a narrowed topic and will reflect maturity and insight
.

Grammar/ Mechanics:

Paper is free from major grammatical errors, including, but not limited to comma splices, run-on sentences, sentence fragments, agreement errors, vague language, and spelling errors.

There should be no second person (you, your) used in this essay.

First person pronouns are permissible for this essay (I, me, mine).

MLA Formatting:

Proper MLA format is applied to the paper including formatting, font size, and line spacing.

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