Pretest B: Writing an Academic Essay

Length: 2-4 pages
Due: September 3, 2002

Your first assignment for this unit is to write a short essay describing and analyzing your relation to this writing class. For this paper, you’ll need to make a claim about your preconceptions about this course, what you have heard this class might be, what you have experienced this class to be, and how you respond to those preconceptions. Then, you'll support that claim with details about your observations, experiences, things you’ve read and heard. Although this is the least formal paper you'll be writing for this class, be sure to take enough time to impress me with your writing and thinking skills. (And I'm much more impressed with thinking skills. . .)

Purpose This paper will serve several purposes:

• it gives me a chance to look at your writing and begin to assess how this class can best serve you.
• it gives you a chance to understand the things I will be considering when I respond to your writing.
• it provides you with an opportunity to begin thinking about the ways writing instruction has or has not worked for you, why it has worked or not worked, and how you can use that information to redesign a composition program.

Audience Some things you should know about me (I’m your audience for this assignment) are:

• I am truly interested in your experiences as a writer/writing student.
• Although I believe most people need basic writing skills (literacy) to be successful in their lives, I also believe most students can develop those skills writing in their courses—I don't have any personal investment in teaching composition. (You won't offend me by being truthful.)
• I do care about things that show you think logically—like focus your paper and develop your points with concrete examples.

Planning and Drafting As you begin working on your paper, you will want to:

1. Do a quick pre-writing focusing on what you like/dislike about writing. Then think about what you like/dislike about writing instruction. How are these connected? Or not? You may find that you actually like writing, but hate being forced to do it. Or the opposite.
2. List responses: What are your concerns about this class? How are these concerns connected to other experiences you've had with writing? With writing teachers? (Be specific—jot down a few examples.)
3. Once you have notes, focus your short paper on a single, arguable point:

• English textbooks are so boring they encourage reader passivity rather than critical thinking.
• Because English classes focus on grammar and not writing, I've never had practice expressing myself.
• I've been told I have terrible grammar and now I can't write quickly because I'm always worried about my grammar.
• I work hard writing a paper and then get a C. I don't work hard and I still get a C. I think English teachers should care about the work I put in to a project.

4. Develop your argument with specific examples and support: from your own experience, your past reading, your observations of other students struggling with the same issues.

Evaluation Criteria Paper:

• engages your reader with an interesting, focused discussion of some aspect of the topic.
• demonstrates a knowledge of basic organizational techniques: forecasts, topic sentences, transitions. (Should we talk a little about this?)
• employs specific examples to elaborate on assertions. (From the prewriting you've done.)
• attempts to use language in ways that are interesting (show your personality).
• shows concern for proofreading: spell check, careful editing, interest in grammatical correctness.

Back to 110 index