Reading Check Please clear your desks except for a piece of paper and a writing utensil…

Narrative Essay Reading Check (10 Pts) 1.What are two things this chapter asks that writers should focus on when planning, structuring, and writing a Narrative Essay? 2. What were the two essays you were asked to read? 3. Identify something interesting about each essay.

Narrative/College Essay Thesis Statement: Explicit or Implied: Depends on the nature of your essay. Explicit theses often show up in the introduction. Implicit theses are revealed by the end of the essay (might be simply implied by the effect of the narrative).

Enough Detail! Show, don’t tell! You want to put the reader inside your experience. How? “...through action, words, thoughts, senses, and feelings rather than through the author's exposition, summarization, and description.”

Enough Detail! Let’s try to show these tellers: 1. I woke up around 4 AM. 2. Joseph walked down the hall. 3. I felt angry at her for no reason.

Varying sentence structure. Utilizing the same structure repeatedly is tedious for readers. Get some flow, some rhythm in your words… Let’s try to rewrite the following. “She picked up the baby. She put him in his car seat. She tickled him under his chin. He giggled. She got behind the wheel. She drove to the grocery store. She hummed as she drove.”

Maintain Order Decide upon and maintain a strong order to your narrative. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in straight-up chronological order, but it should have some rhyme or reason to its passage of time.

College Essays In groups of 3, read these 3 essays and the comments from the admission officers. Discuss the positive and negatives of each with your group. Pick a best and worst and explain why using the sheet provided (1 per group).

Tips Consider how to make subject matter original  Even seemingly boring essay topics can sound interesting  How?  Creativity!

Narration Write a story  A story is  Communication  Interesting/entertaining  Creative

More tips… Don’t repeat info found elsewhere in your app Offer vivid supporting paragraphs  Specific examples Story vs. Research Paper  Don’t get too technical

And even more tips… Keep audience in mind  The more creative, the more memorable Bolt of creativity!

Emotional ploy? Gotcha! AVOID the emotional ploy Sorry Promote your phenomenal characteristics Emphasize your response to the adversity, not the adversity itself

No gimmicks! Avoid iambic pentameter Font color all in purple Be careful with humor—some humor is offensive

Controversial topics Be very sensitive on political or religious issues Might be best to avoid them

Remember! Write a STORY Make it interesting Provide specific details/examples Avoid the boring parts  Ex: Don’t chronicle every moment of a school day!

Into the future We will be starting Brave New World by Aldous Huxley on Monday Your First Drafts of the Narrative Essay are Due on Monday, 9/21. “My life is dope, and I do dope shit.”