Potential prompts (These are only suggestions & examples.

Requirement 1:

Students will write and submit a typed, titled, double-spaced essay analyzing any of the narratives or memoirs read in class.

Potential prompts (These are only suggestions & examples. You may come up with your own topics):

1. Discuss the different “Englishes” in Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue.” Also, examine how the “broken English” used by Tan’s mother influences her life and writing.
2. Discuss David Sedaris’s use of exaggeration in his writing for comedic effect. Should he be allowed to label his work “nonfiction” with such exaggeration present?
3. Looking at Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, discuss how we see life influencing the writer’s work, and how the writer’s work in turn influences his/her life.

What to know

 

• This essay must be typed (12-point Times New Roman font), double-spaced, with a correctly formatted MLA Works Cited Page.

 

• The text of the essay (not including the Works Cited Page) should fall between 800 and 1000 words.

 

• The essay should be grammatically correct, free of errors in mechanics, grammar, usage, spelling, and documentation.

 

• This essay must use a minimum of three (2) authoritative sources, including one primary source (the texts discussed) and at least one reputable critical or scholarly secondary sources (books or articles).

 

• Essays must contain at least three quotations, and must be properly documented (utilizing MLA-Style Citations for documentation).