Writing Assignments and Student Essays
Click on an essay type to see sample assignments and student essays.Explaining an Insight
Profiling a Person or a Place
Re-Creating an Experience
Narrating an Event
Summarizing Two Readings
Analyzing a Reading
Arguing a Point
Assignment: Explaining an Insight
When you explain an insight on a topic, you offer readers a fresh or interesting way of looking at it. In other words, you give them a way of understanding something that they may have understood differently before.
You might challenge a conventional view that has not been validated by your own experience: the view, for example, that growing up in a small town is idyllic or that work as a flight attendant is glamorous. You might explain an insight about a group with which you are familiar: Harley-Davidson bikers, farmers, the physically challenged, or people from another culture. You might give readers a new way of looking at some aspect of the media: maybe by satirizing the language of sports announcers, revealing stereotypes in a television series, explaining why Star Trek has had such lasting appeal, or showing that the history of rap music is more complex than most people think. Or you might give readers an insight into one of your special interests, such as photography, mountain climbing, or one of the martial arts.
Your insight should appear in a thesis sentence early in the essay, most likely at the end of the introductory paragraph. For this assignment, your information should come from personal knowledge, interviews, or direct observation. Aim for an essay from 500 to 1,000 words long--from two to four typed pages, double-spaced.
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Assignment: Profiling a Person or a Place
A profile describes a person or a place--not just in general, but with a particular focus. You might focus on a person’s interesting job, hobby, or lifestyle. You might write about someone who has made a major contribution to his or her community, church, place of employment, or organization; someone who has overcome a problem such as anorexia or a learning disability; or someone who played a significant role in your growing up. You could profile someone you do not admire: an abusive parent, for example, or a childhood friend who joined a violent gang.
If you’d rather profile a place, consider taking readers into an unfamiliar or exotic world--a scuba diving expedition, a spelunking adventure, a boat trip through the Everglades. Encourage readers to visit a favorite museum, historic district, or park (or discourage them from visiting a place you found disappointing). Introduce readers to a foreign country or an ethnic neighborhood with which you are familiar.
Unless you have a good reason for omitting it, include a thesis sentence in your introductory paragraph, probably at its end. For this assignment, your information should come from personal knowledge, interviews, or direct observation. Aim for an essay from 500 to 1,000 words long--two to four typed pages, double-spaced.
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Assignment: Re-creating an Experience
A narrative essay re-creates an experience for a central purpose: usually to reveal an insight about the action or people involved. You might write about an experience in which you encountered people from a culture different from your own. You might write about a turning point in your life--perhaps a time when you were forced suddenly to grow up, a time when you faced a difficult challenge, or a time when you reassessed your values. You might describe an experience in which you learned to do something new: coaching a Little League team, designing stage sets for a play, forming a musical group. Or you might recount an adventure that tested you in some way. If you have experienced work in an emergency room, on an ambulance or fire truck, or as a police officer, you might describe in vivid detail one day or evening at work to give readers an inside view of this stressful job.
A narrative should have a central focus, but it is not always necessary to express the focus in a thesis sentence early in the essay; at times you will want to get right to the action. A narrative should of course be based on personal experience. Aim for an essay from 500 to 1,000 words long--two to four typed pages, double-spaced.
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Assignment: Narrating an Event
A narrative essay re-creates an experience for a central purpose: usually to reveal an insight about the action or people involved. You might write about an experience in which you encountered people from a culture different from your own. You might write about a turning point in your life--perhaps a time when you were forced suddenly to grow up, a time when you faced a difficult challenge, or a time when you reassessed your values. You might describe an experience in which you learned to do something new: coaching a Little League team, designing stage sets for a play, forming a musical group. Or you might recount an adventure that tested you in some way. If you have experienced work in an emergency room, on an ambulance or fire truck, or as a police officer, you might describe in vivid detail one day or evening at work to give readers an inside view of this stressful job.
A narrative should have a central focus, but it is not always necessary to express the focus in a thesis sentence early in the essay; at times you will want to get right to the action. A narrative should of course be based on personal experience. Aim for an essay from 500 to 1,000 words long--two to four typed pages, double-spaced.
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Assignment: Summarizing Two Readings
Find two readings that take opposing positions on a debatable issue (or use two readings provided by your instructor). Choose readings that consider the issue in some detail. Also, make sure that your readings have named authors; in other words, avoid unsigned articles or anonymous Web sites.
Summarize each reading in 150 to 200 words using the following guidelines:
- In the first sentence or two, mention the title of the reading, the name of the author (or authors), and the author's thesis or central purpose.
- Use a neutral tone; be objective and fair. The goal of a summary is to report the author's views as accurately as possible.
- Write from the third-person point of view, and use the present tense: Tooley argues that . . . [not I thought that or You will see that or Tooley argued that].
- Put all or most of the summary in your own words; if you borrow a phrase or a sentence from the author, put it in quotation marks.
- Limit yourself to presenting the author's key points.
- Though you must work within a word limit, give enough details to suggest the author's evidence for his or her key points.
- Edit your draft for wordy sentences. A good summary is short but informative; every word should count.
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Assignment: Analyzing a Reading
Find a reading that takes a stand on a debatable issue (or use a reading provided by your instructor). Choose a reading that considers the issue in some detail. Also, make sure that your reading has a named author; in other words, avoid unsigned articles or anonymous Web sites.
Analyze the reading in 500 to 1,000 words using the following guidelines:
- In the opening paragraph, mention the title of the reading and the name of the author (or authors) and describe the author's thesis and overall argumentative strategy. Then state your own thesis. Your thesis should sum up your evaluation of the author's argument.
- If the article is aimed at a particular audience (not just readers in general), show how the author attempts to persuade this audience.
- Show how the author structures the main arguments in support of the thesis.
- Evaluate the evidence the author gives in support of his or her main arguments. If the author makes unproven assumptions or uses logical fallacies, point these out. If the author's reasoning strikes you as largely sound, explain why you find it persuasive.
- Write your analysis from the third-person point of view, and use the present tense: Bennett argues that . . . [not I thought that or You will see that].
- Put most of the analysis in your own words, but include some quotations from the article to illustrate your points. Document these quotations with MLA citations, and include a works cited page.
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Assignment: Arguing a Point
Choose a debatable issue about which you have some knowledge--either through personal experience, televised newscasts, the Internet, or reading. In a paper of 500 to 1,000 words, take a stand on the issue and defend your position to a general audience of intelligent but skeptical readers. If you need more information, track it down in the library or on the Internet; in a paper of this length, however, use secondary sources sparingly.
Here are some general guidelines for an argument paper:
- State your thesis clearly (usually at the end of your introduction). In your introduction, be careful to avoid alienating readers who may be in initial disagreement with your views.
- Strike a reasonable tone.
- Develop your arguments with as much specific and relevant evidence as possible.
- Attempt to refute opposing arguments-or at least to explain why they are less weighty than your own arguments.
- Where possible, build common ground with readers who may not be inclined to agree with you.
- Avoid common mistakes in reasoning.
- If you quote from a source or use information from a source that is not common knowledge, cite it with an MLA in-text citation and include the source in a list of works cited at the end of the paper.
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