reading + 700 words

FYW 1000C – Writing the Self Through the City…Keepin’ it Real… Tuesdays Assignment: Essay #1 Narration/“My NY Story” Essay: Drafts: 2-3 pages; final: 3-4 pages *VISIT WITH WRITING CENTER REQUIRED FOR all essays (you also get extra credit). STAPLE PROOF of the email the center sends you TO YOUR FINAL ESSAY. Two letter grades are lost for a missing visit.**

• Brainstorm / outlining: first class • First draft due:– Sept 5 - Must be 2-3 full rough pages minimum (aim for 3) • Second draft due:–Sept 26 – Must be 3 full completed pages. • Final draft due:– Oct 10 - MUST BE 3 full pages up to 4 pages. Keep it at 4 pages max.

Narrative essay and our theme of New York, place/home, neighborhoods: Topic suggestions and guidance for picking your own topic: --When we work in groups and individually, I will check on everyone’s progress. If you are stumped:

--You can visit the writing center; I RECOMMEND THIS OPTION! (And it’s also required, anyway.) --Look at the Writer’s Block section on Owl (the “Online Writing Lab @ Purdue” – link on our Blackboard) -You can email me and chat with me in our conferences.

*IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have severe writer’s block or other issues and are still having trouble getting the first draft started, you MUST email Prof several days before draft is due so we can figure a way for you to have material to submit. IT IS BETTER TO CONTACT PROF FOR HELP INSTEAD OF SHOWING UP TO CLASS WITH NOTHING, WHICH WILL DETRACT FROM GRADE & ACTIVITY. You must email prof with ample time for response INSTEAD of LAST MINUTE. Contacting the writing center early on is another way to get help. You don’t have to have “writing” to visit the writing center; you can talk about ideas for a visit too. Overall topic: With inspiration from My First New York stories, describe your “First New York”, whether you are new here or from here. Here are ideas to get you started on focusing on a topic. Brainstorm some topics down on paper: If you are new to NY, think about your arrival and the chain of events that occurred, especially ones that are unique, interesting and caused you to have strong emotion. Consider a narrative essay where you follow a certain part of your arrival to New York, something that is cohesive and related. Since you might have many different “mini-experiences”, try to focus on one that the reader can follow. Was there a moment when you moved into a new space that was a defining moment? Was there a clear series of events that defined your time as soon as you stepped off the plane, bus, car, train? Were any new part time jobs involved or new people you met who made a mark on you or influenced your first couple of days or months? If you are from New York, whether it’s Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx or Manhattan, think about a pivotal experience that defines “your New York.” Did you have something new happen, like a new apartment or house that defined something like a first New York for you? Did you have a specific experience as an adolescent or teenager in junior high or high school, say at a new school or neighborhood that defined something that was a “first” for you in New York, and therefore really defined what it meant to be a New Yorker / here in NY? Was there a first time you realized you were a true New Yorker, a certain series of events that make it clear you are a “real” New Yorker, and you had a moment when you realized that? Other ideas with the theme: Did you use to live in a different city and you moved/started a new school in a totally different place than New York? Maybe you temporarily lived in a Midwest state, but adopted it as your own, temporarily, as a New Yorker. The overall idea of this topic is defining/telling a story of a first moment and how it affected you in a specific place, whether it’s NY, a home, an apartment, a neighborhood, another state, etc.

Notes on the Narration Essay • Narration is a way of organizing ideas so as to present them logically to your intended reader. • Narration tells a story by presenting events in an orderly logical sequence. It is important to note that

rhetorical narration is really more about organizing a logical sequence of events than it is about writing stories. Rhetorical narration is not writing fiction.

• Narration is a dominant mode of many kinds of writing: history, biography, autobiography, memoir, diary, personal letters, and, yes, poetry and fiction.

• Actually, any time that you tell what happened you use narration. • With narrative, it is good to keep in mind that listing series of events may lead to very similar types of

sentences. For the sake of interest, vary your sentence structure. • Narrative demands some sort of chronological order which means you must pay particular

attention to your use of verb tenses. Your reader will rely on accurate verb tenses to be able to follow your narrative.

• Narrative requires that you also pay attention to transitions. Your story must flow smoothly from beginning to end. Transitions indicate the flow of the narrative but also signal shifts in time.

Structuring the Narration/Essay: I. Arriving at a the main idea/story: What are the details? In what order should the details appear so they support your thesis and narration/story/ main idea? Should you move from a specific to a general description of the subject? Should you move from the least important to the most important feature? What is your thesis? Your purpose? Your audience? II. Selecting and arranging the details: As you move through the narrative you must keep aware of your use of descriptive words and work at maintaining the flow of your story/narration. Keep in mind the overall movement of your narrative and tailor your storytelling to work with the narrative flow by not focusing description on a subject that will distract the reader from the narration. III. Formulating the thesis statement Your thesis statement should convey your main idea while it also points in the direction your narrative will take. The sequence of events is an essential consideration in formulating your thesis. IV. Formatting the Essay Introduction – here, you orient your reader by stating your thesis and by using your storytelling/main idea details to create a mood in which you will narrate the essay. Body – here, you rely upon the logical sequencing for events and the use of chronology or transitions to keep your reader connected to the purpose of your narration. Some consideration of figures of speech should be made in your early drafts of the body of the essay. Conclusion – here, you should restate the thesis or review key points or events and the specifically important details of the event.