In-Class Essay Assignment: Writing Process, Writing Product or Grading Criteria

for

English 377: Peer Tutoring & Composition Theory
Instructor: Karen D. Austin kaustin@shepherd.edu
Shepherd College, Shepherdstown, WV 25443

Brief Description. Write a 300-500 word personal essay (1 and 1/2 to 2 pages) on one of these topics:  a) your writing process b) the strengths and weaknesses of your final writing products or c) your reaction to the criteria your past teachers have used for grading papers.

Detailed Description. Writing is in part an art, and in part a science.  Writing is also a very personal act.  Writers improve their craft over time and through various experiences.  This assignment gives you the opportunity to reflect about your history as a writer and student of writing.  Choose one of the following topics (or find a way to combine two of them without losing focus) and write an essay exploring your ideas and experiences as a writer.  Be sure to use both principles and examples to explore the topic.  In other words, be both insightful and vivid.

Here are some brainstorming questions for each topic. Don't answer them in order or your essay will be too choppy. Find a focus, but consider some of these avenues for exploring the topic.

Topic A: Describe Your Writing Process

What stages do you employ?  Do you spend more time in one stage or another? Who taught you your writing process? Has it changed over time? Does it change for for various genres?  What elements are necessary for the physical dimension of writing? (setting, tools, etc.) Do you require feedback?  Which stages do you enjoy/hate? Which stages demonstrate your strengths/weaknesses?

Topic B: Describe Your Writing Product

What is your writing style like?  What kind of writing do you produce most often? What genres exhibit your strengths?  Who taught you how to write?  What authors have been your role models?  What aspects of your writing demonstrate your strengths? your weaknesses?  How have you learned how to write?  How do you perceive your own writing from a technical or stylistic point of view?

Topic C: Describe the Grading Criteria Your Teachers Have Used

How did your K-12 teachers grade?  How do some of your college teachers grade?  Do you remember the grading criteria of a specific teacher?  Did his/her grading system change the way you wrote? How did the grading affect you?   How much weight did each criteria count?  What was fair or unfair about the grading system?  Does the grading criteria highlight your writing strengths or not?  If you could establish your own grading criteria, what principles would underpin your specific grading practices?

Hints for Revising In-class Essay #1 into an Out-of-Class Essay:

1.  FOCUS!  Most people did what I warned (but not too strongly, I guess) them not to do. Most people took a quick tour through several aspects of their writing.  What you need to do is focus, focus, focus, focus.  You can try this trick in your revision: use a key word or phrase in every paragraph to demonstrate focus. That word should be specific and memorable (not "writing" or "process" but something more distinctive and original or insightful).  For example, you can write an entire paper on your obsession with controlling your physical dimension of the writing process OR you can write about the way the planning stage greedily takes the bulk of your time in the writing process.

2. BE MORE CONCRETE.  You all need to use more vivid examples to paint a picture.  If you are writing about some technical aspect of your writing process, narrate your analysis by using one paper as an example. (When I was arguing that Hamlet is actually clinically manic-depressive. . . .)

3. CREATE AN ORGANIZATION THAT ACTUALLY MATCHES YOUR ARGUMENT.  Most people used a chrono-logic for organizing their papers. This is a limited form of organization. Try to use a form that highlights your analysis.  For example, if you are arguing cause and effect, then use that organizational pattern instead of chronologic.

4.  CREATE A UNIQUE TITLE. Most people didn't title their papers at all. Use a title that will help distinguish your paper from among the 16 papers submitted.  It should reflect your thesis but not be too blase.

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