ENG 100
English Composition
Gunn
 

First Paper
 

Topic.  Write a short essay, addressed to the class, on one of the following topics:

(1) Following the prompt in class, describe some way that you think you have changed to become who you are, now, this week.  Give some attention, in your essay, both to the way you used to be and to the way you are now.  Be specific: a personal narrative like this one will only be successful if you can focus it, give it some kind of edge, and fill it with the evocative details and concrete images that define your experience.

(2) Describe some work that you have done, paid or unpaid, recently, a long time ago, whenever.  Try to communicate, as thoroughly as you can, what it was like to be in this place, doing what you were doing.  Be specific, as above.  In this case, as I’ve suggested in class, you should try to develop your early drafts around concrete images, sensuous particulars: what could you see, hear smell, etc., as you worked?

(3) Write a paper in which you either respond to the substance of Cofer’s “Volar” or interpret and analyze its meaning.  You can write almost anything you want about “Volar”; just be sure to do one thing, and to define the purpose of your essay clearly.  Quote from the text of the essay where appropriate to support your general statements about it.

(4) Write an essay on some other topic of your own choosing--maybe another piece from In Short, or something you’re working on in another class, or an idea you’d like to explain to the class.
 

Audience. Assume that your audience is other students in class.  You’re the expert here, the teacher: you’re trying to show the other students what you see, and explain why you see it that way.
 

Style. Here, as in most college essays, you should aspire to a plain-spoken, natural, and relatively informal prose style.  It is perfectly appropriate to say “I” or “you,” for example, or to use contractions, or to begin a sentence with “And” or “But.”  You should try as hard as you can to write in a version of your own voice, rather than in some artificial English-paper disguise.  But you should remember, too, that this is an essay--a public performance--not a journal entry or a personal letter.  And so you will want to strive, in revision, for lucidity, concision, depth, and exactness.  Don’t confuse informality with superficiality or carelessness.
 

Format.  Papers should be typed, double-spaced, in a standard font, with decent margins all around.  Number each page after the first.  No title pages, plastic report covers, cute folders, etc., please.  Center your title, typed plain, on the first page, and put your name and the date in one of the upper corners.  Cite In Short by page numbers in parentheses, without additional documentation.
 

Suggested length:   700-900 words

Rough draft due: Tuesday, September 14, in class, for A group; Tuesday or Wednesday, in conference, for B group.

Final version due: Friday, September 17, 2 PM, in Roberts 204.
 
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