Soccer basic rules

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ENG 201: Intermediate Composition-- Assignment #1: Writing to Inform

DUE DATES: Listed on your course schedule

Your text reminds us how prevalent informative writing is within a variety of arenas. You read information in textbooks, magazines, websites, and newspapers. As a college student, you might also be asked to produce informative writing on an essay exam; in your future career, you might be asked to produce a field-specific informative text. Your first major assignment in ENG 201 asks you create an informative text based on a subject you have personal experience with.

The Assignment

After you have completed the reading and considered our class discussion, write a 4-6 page paper informing a specific audience about a hobby you participate in. You will need to select a target audience and decide on a purpose for your content. Your audience should not be “the general public” (not everyone, in every age group, cares about your hobby—or needs to know about it) and your purpose should not be “to inform”—instead, you need to think about articulating WHAT your chosen audience needs to know about your hobby and WHY. The content of this paper will be built from relevant personal experiences and information from 4-6 sources about your topic. You will need to cite these sources within your paper, and also on a Works Cited page. We will discuss how to incorporate source content and how to cite it properly throughout our process of doing this paper, and we will have a class period devoted to MLA-formatting and citation.

In your introductory paragraph:

-Open using one of the strategies presented in the samples in your text: a relevant question, an interesting observation or fact, or a description.

-Identify your hobby/topic.

-Identify your chosen audience. Your reader should be able to tell from content and details who you’re addressing. DON’T announce your audience: “I am writing this paper for My Little Pony fans everywhere.”

-Introduce your purpose. What’s your reason for sharing this information with your chosen audience? WHAT do you want them to understand and WHY?

In your body paragraphs:

-Incorporate relevant personal experiences.

-Incorporate information from 4-6 sources. Use direct quotation and paraphrase. Cite your sources properly within your paper.

-Organize the body of your paper using one of the strategies presented on p. 181 in your text. Don’t choose an organizational strategy randomly: think carefully about how you want your informative content to unfold.

In your conclusion:

-Follow the concluding strategy for the organizational method you chose from p. 181 in your text.

Throughout the paper:

-You may use “you” to address your chosen audience.

-Use “I” when incorporating your personal experiences.

-Adhere to your Grammar Goal: at least FOUR times in your paper, use the semicolon and colon correctly. I will cover these in class, but you should also refer to the links and documents provided during your writing process.