Writing Project #1: Memoir: Weeks 2-6
Page Requirement: XXXXXXXXXXwords)
Due Dates:
Peer Edit 1-Tuesday Sept 20 (Please
ing a hard copy to class)
Draft for instructor review- Thursday, Sept 22 (Please turn in a hard copy in class)
Final Draft – Tuesday, Oct 4 (Please upload a Word Document)
Student Learning Outcomes related to this project:
1. Demonstrate rhetorical awareness of audience through different genre-based assignments.
2. Read texts in a variety of disciplines and genres, using critical reading strategies.
3. Draw connections at the level of ideas across multiple texts.
4. Defend a position in relation to the range of ideas su
ounding a topic.
5. Demonstrate knowledge of writing as a process, including consideration of peer and instructor feedback, from initial draft to final revision.
6. Demonstrate sentence-level co
ectness.
Resources:
Purdue Owl: Memoi
https:
owl.purdue.edu/owl/teacher_and_tutor_resources/writing_instructors/creative_nonfiction_in_writing_courses/the_personal_memoir.html
Readings-
I Just Wanna Be Average by Mike Rose
Published in Lives in the Boundary/ 1986
Available on BlackBoard
Blue Collar Brilliance- by Mike Rose
published in The American Schola
2009
https:
theamericanscholar.org
lue-collar-
illiance
The Extracu
icular and Grades
Published by the NYTimes/1997
https:
www.nytimes.com/1997/01/19/nyregion/the-extracu
icular-and-grades.html
How High School Ruined Leisure
Published in the NYTimes/2019
https:
www.nytimes.com/2019/05/18/opinion/sunday/college-admissions-extracu
iculars.html
Situation:
The NYTimes is creating a special supplement about the transition from High School to College from a variety of perspectives. They have asked you to write a memoir that examines how your non-academic activities (such as extracu
iculars, jobs, and ho
ies) have impacted your academic success.
Task:
You should begin by understanding the expectations for a memoir, and your audience’s expectations. The memoir should have a point you are making, most likely more implicit than explicit, and use language appropriate to the readers of the NYTimes. The essay should be XXXXXXXXXXwords long and conform to accepted language norms for the audience. Remember that the NYTimes readers for this article will most likely include educators, parents, and students, typically from medium to higher socioeconomic
ackets. While you will want to inform them of your experiences, you will not want to offend them.
Evaluation Criteria:
A successful memoir will:
· Address the requested question.
· Have a thesis/main point that is supported by the memoir and is meaningful to the audience.
· Contextualize the story, so that the reader can understand its relationship to themselves and the
oader community.
· Show appropriate use of language, form, and detail to engage the reader and present the story in an engaging manner.
· Present ideas and examples that demonstrate critical thinking about the writer’s experience.
· Use organization that is effective in adding to the audience’s understanding.
· Use appropriate ve
forms while telling the story and providing analysis.
· Use quotes/dialogue to enhance the sense of realness.
· Use appropriate grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary to establish a sense of belief and trust in the audience.