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ENC 1101, Freshman Composition I

Knowing What to Expect Reduces Anxiety Why?

Why are you doing this to

me?!!!

From the Course Description on the Syllabus:

Our

primary focus

will be the

personal essay

, the production of which will allow each student to develop an

authentic interesting

writing “

voice

.” and

Why do

I

need an “interesting” and “authentic” writing voice?

Technology allows more people to be

heard

—in email, on blogs, with “citizen reviews” at Amazon or iTunes. So

you

need to

stand out

, especially in the word-rich digital world of the future.

So what is a

personal essay

,

and how do I develop an

authentic voice

?

Use first-person pronouns in a personal essay.

  First person =

I

,

me

,

my

,

mine

,

myself

[singular] or

we

,

us

,

our

,

ours

,

ourselves

[plural].

Use

personal experience

you say. Write about people to support what

you

know, things

you

’ve experienced, places

you

’ve been.

  No one wants to hear about people or things in general —

really!

Personal essays are mind that

you

work —your are

shared

, so keep in

not reader

is.

the audience for your

Yeah, but some of my high school teachers said

never

to write about myself —never

ever

to use

I

in an essay!

They were wrong!!!

I’m an interesting person, so writing about

me

and

my

experiences should be

fun!

Develop an authentic voice when you write.

   Realize that many paper topics will be and

vague general

. Your job is to

transform

those topics so that you write an

interesting

essay.

Narrow

the topic as much as possible.

Good papers cover

one thing well

instead of many things in a superficial manner.

 Anticipate what your colleagues will write about or what your readers expect,

and then choose a different approach

.

Narrow a topic like this: Topic: A place that minors should avoid malls unsupervised 12-year-olds My nephew Maurice The Florida Mall

An Award-Winning Thesis Statement

The Florida Mall is the wrong place for my twelve year-old nephew Maurice to spend time because he foolishly blows all of his allowance, hangs out with friends who shoplift, and eats too much junk at the food court.

Can you show me some

samples?

Topic: A time in history that you would like to visit A student writes:

I would love to return to November 1980 to stop the conception of my baby sister Tonya.

Topic: A time in history that you would like to visit A student writes:

People should travel to the prehistoric era so that they can see the dinosaurs, learn to make fire, and see an unpolluted environment.

Topic: A time in history that you would like to visit A student writes:

I would love to visit ancient Greece to meet Socrates, the 1770s to see the American Revolution, and the 1960s to hang with the hippies.

Topic: A good place to shop for bargains A student writes:

I have found many free outfits in my brother’s bedroom closet—I just have to make sure that he’s left for work before the “shopping” begins!

Topic: A good place to shop for bargains A student writes:

I save my family money by shopping at the Dollar Store, Kmart, and Wal Mart.

Topic: A good place to shop for bargains A student writes:

The restroom shelves at school are the best place to “purchase” textbooks. The selection is limited, but the prices are a steal!

Topic: A reason to live or not to live to 100 years old A student writes:

Old people smell bad, look like shriveled prunes, and hold up traffic by driving too slowly. No one in their right mind would want to live to be 100.

Topic: A reason to live or not to live to 100 years old A student writes:

Knowing that my spoiled, ungrateful son Kenny will have to change my soiled, stinky diaper is the most important reason I want to last until I am 100 years old.

Topic: A reason to live or not to live to 100 years old A student writes:

If I live past 90, I worry about bad health. I don’t want my bones to break like twigs, my lungs to wheeze when I breathe, or my friends to scream so that my bad ears can hear what they are saying.

So how should

organize

the

I

essay?

Know your organization options.

   To meet the 500-word minimum requirement, many students write a

five-paragraph essay

. Less than 500 words =

F

.

The five-paragraph essays is a

form

, like a sonnet or a haiku, like a Big Mac or an Oreo cookie.

No professional writer

uses the five paragraph format.

 The format is, however, an appropriate pattern of organization for

some college papers

, including essays in Freshman Composition I.

The Five-Paragraph Essay Introduction Body paragraphs, one for each restriction in the thesis statement Conclusion

The most important sentence is the thesis statement:

Because of A, B, and C, X is so.

All about

Point A

from the thesis statement All about

Point B

from the thesis statement All about

Point C

from the thesis statement This paragraph

must do more

than restate the thesis statement.

Whether you have paragraphs—or

five seven

or

four

—every essay has an

introduction

, a

body

, and a

conclusion

—or the beginning, the middle, and the end.

A good introduction does these things:

    Contains

at least

5 to 8 sentences.

Has a

clear

and

correct

[Read

Writing Tip 1

.] thesis statement. Uses an

appropriate strategy

the grader. [Read

Writing Tip 2

.] to interest Makes a good

first impression Writing Tip 5

.] . [Read

Good body paragraphs do these things:

    Address each of the

restrictions

from the thesis statement. [Read

Writing Tip 3

.] Contain plenty of

specific detail

and

concrete language

. [Read

Writing Tip 4

.] Interest the reader with information that is

fresh

and

unique

.

Use

personal experience

rather than vague, boring generalizations.

Follow this formula for a foolproof conclusion:

    Write a sentence that briefly

restates main idea

of your essay.

the Write a sentence that

summarizes first

body paragraph.

the Write a

sentence next

that summarizes the body paragraph —and then the one after it, etc.

Cleverly

,

humorously

, or

thoughtfully

conclude the essay.

So

how

will you

grade

my essay?

Know the scoring method.

   Essays will receive an

objective

calculated with a

score sheet

.

grade Every student will be evaluated

same manner areas

.

and

in the in the same

Always read the score sheet carefully and know what you must do for the

maximum number

of points!

What do you want to

see

in the essay so that it gets the

highest

possible

grade?

Know the four areas that the score sheet will evaluate.

    Organization Coherence Support Sentence Correctness

To evaluate the organization, ask yourself these questions:

   Do I

understand

the topic and know what to write?

Have I kept the topic

singular

?

Does my essay

remain

on topic?

To evaluate the coherence, ask yourself these questions:

    Have I used Have I used

transitions paragraphs

to signal my intentions?

transitions

between between

sentences

Have I used so that my ideas flow?

correct

transitions?

Have I avoided using the same transition over and over in an

annoying

and

redundant

manner?

Transitions are like road signs that tell your reader where to turn.

Ack!!!

Where do I

turn?

Where’s my

exit?

Which way do I

go?

Where

the bejeebus am

I

!?!

To evaluate the support, ask yourself these questions:

   Is my support

appropriate audience

?

for a

general

Is my support

specific

?

of

concrete language pictures

Have I used plenty that puts specific into my grader’s head?

Is my support

personal

?

Have I avoided writing about people and things

general

?

in

To evaluate the sentence correctness, ask yourself these questions:

  Are there any • Fragments • • •

major

Comma splices or fused sentences Subject-verb agreement problems Verb tense errors errors?

How

many often

less serious errors are there? How do they interfere with the points the essay is trying to make?

So

how many

sentence errors are

allowed?

Five? Twenty three?

Fifty?

Having more than

ten

sentence errors in the

first two paragraphs

means the essay starts at a low

C!

Like Olympic judges, the score sheet does not count all four areas equally.

Organization and coherence—easy things to control—are not as impressive as

good support

and

correct sentences

.

Let me make sure that

I

have heard all of this

correctly!

Lecture 1 Review

     Essays in ENC 1101 must demonstrate your unique writing voice.

Narrowing person

Writing a the topic effectively and using

five-paragraph essay first

are the most important steps to success.

will satisfy your reader. More important than the number of paragraphs is that the essay has a strong introduction, body, and conclusion.

Everyone’s essay will be evaluated with the same score sheet.

These are the four areas of evaluation:

organization

,

coherence

,

support

, and

sentence correctness

.

I

can do this,

and

I

can

prove

it!

Evaluation, Part 1: The Quiz

    This quiz will cover all syllabus], all

handouts

[including the

reading assignments

, and all of the on

information

from this lecture.

You must take the quiz in

Blackboard

. Click

Assessments

in the left sidebar, and then choose The

Quiz 1

.

practice

quiz is

optional

.

Quiz 1

, however, is a There are

required

, 100-point assignment.

NEVER

make-up quizzes. If you miss the quiz, you will receive a

zero

. No excuses! No exceptions!

Evaluation, Part 2: The Narrative Essay

   Using what you have learned from the handouts, readings, and PowerPoint presentation in Assignment 02, write your

narrative essay

Consult your

due

[Assignment 03].

syllabus

for the

post

and Your date.

goal

is to demonstrate an authentic writing voice while you

tell a story

from your own life.

Always

,

always

,

always

carefully read and follow

directions

. Your grade will

suffer

if you don’t.

The END.