essay

For this assignment, you will explore the choices you've made regarding your education and professional goals--and their outcomes.  To do this, you will compose a three-four paragraph mini-essay.  Let me be clear: I do not want less than three paragraphs--and I do not want more than 4 paragraphs.  Here, less is not more, and more is not more.  Give me precisely what I've requested. Paragraphs should be roughly 7-12 sentences in length.

At the the top of the page, just below your heading (Name, date, course, my name) on the left-hand side, you will identify your major and the profession you seek to acquire.  It should look like this:

MAJOR: Criminal Justice

PROFESSION: FBI Analyst

Then, centered on the page, you will provide a title.  Be creative here.  Don't give me "Assignment 1" or "My Major."  You should hold off on composing a title until you see what the paragraphs look like.

The  first 1-2 paragraphs  will discuss your experiences as a student. Obviously these experiences were born of (and directly relate to) your reasons for enrolling in school, but I do not want this to be an "I'm going to school to better myself" response; such responses are OK in some contexts, but they're not what I'm looking for. Most people go to college for this reason--or because their parents and/or teachers tell them to--or because they feel it's what they have to do to get a decent job--or to get a more rewarding job/position than the one they have already.  So unless you have some extraordinary motive for seeking a college degree, leave the "Why I'm going to college" bit out.  Instead, I want you to put a good deal of thought into what you've learned about yourself, your major, and college in general. Here are some guiding questions to consider:

· What were your expectations upon entering college and how well do those expectations match up with your experiences so far?

· Why did you choose your major? Have you ever had second thoughts about it? What were they? Did you get over them?  Did you change it at some point? Why?

·  How, if at all, has college made you a happier, more fulfilled, or just plain better person than you were before?  Or how, if at all, has it had a negative impact on you?

You need not explore these questions in this or any particular order.  But whatever order you choose, you must strive for both unity and a logical flow of ideas.  In other words, in any given paragraph, the individual sentences must be connected in a coherent fashion.  So, if you attempt to fit everything into one paragraph, you must find a way to logically position the ideas above to work towards establishing a  main idea.  It might be easier to break it up into two paragraphs--speaking about academics in one and you (on a personal level) in another. See the following web pages for more paragraph unity: 

http://www.cameron.edu/~carolynk/par_coherence.html

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/transitions.htm

The next 1-2 paragraphs will discuss your hopes for the future. Consider the following:

· The job or type of job you want to attain.

· Your level of confidence in your ability to achieve this goal.

· How such a job might change you personally--or your personal life (family, friendships, social status, general outlook, etc.).

The key here is to be  HONEST .  Make your reader care about what you're sharing.  Make him/her relate to the work.  Here's what I mean: A reader may not have had the same experiences as you; she may not have chosen the same major, had the same professors, earned the same grades, or endeavored to achieve the same career.  But everyone faces challenges, fears, and moments of defeat. We've all dreamed big. We've all gone into a situation with certain expectations only to have them blow up in our faces.  And we've all grown/changed/evolved from our successes and failures.  This is what Lopate is getting at when he discusses the "unity" to human experience--and it's what you need to keep at the forefront of your approach to this assignment--and, of course, the Personal Essay due at mid-term.