Project #1: WHERE ARE YOU FROM? DISCOURSE COMMUNITIES AND IDENTITY
A Literacy Narrative
Project Details:
Length: 3 pages, double-spaced; 12 point Times New Roman Font; 1″ margins on all sides-MLA format; and Stapled
Points: 50
Due: October 2, 2014
Introduction:
As we walk around town or campus, there are a number of external features that can mark us as other: the clothes we wear; the bags we carry; the color of our hair, eyes, skin; the language we speak. But, what about where we are from? What about the story of our lives or the events that have impacted our identity? How do we begin to write about these occurences?
Task:
To begin this essay, you must first consider the work that you previously performed in Part A of this project. Now consider your exploration of campus and the many different types of writing that you explored in each location or discourse you examined and selected for your essay. Keeping this in mind, how has your identity been impacted by this new environment-UCCS?
Using personal experiences-memories, stories, and a variety of other textual artifacts, you will first investigate how your identity has been represented, i.e. who you are and where you are from? Most importanty however, you will then examine changes in your identy and how these are a direct result of your time here at UCCS-what has impacted who you are; you will also analyze how these representations and changes in identity support and/or contradict your observations and experiences of the larger discourse community-UCCS.
Learning Outcomes
• Demonstrate your ability to connect personal experience within a larger discourse community
• Reflect on your experiences and demonstrate development as critical reader and writer
• Recognize and produce familiar argumentative genres-narrative type arguments
• Produce a literacy narrative with a situation-appropriate focus or controlling idea
• Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation, including being able to move beyond formulaic structures (e.g. not a five-paragraph essay)
• Use conceptual terminology in analyzing a rhetorical situation
Expectations/Evaluation Criteria
• Essay analyzes the way that a specific situation or event impacted the identy of the writer and estalishes a literacy narrative type argument as discussed in class
• Essay develops an argument that analyzes the connections between identity and discoure communities AND considers how identity is affected by others’ perceptions
• Essay makes use of PRIOS analytical tool and also of Aristotelian Argument Structure: Claims, Reasons, and Evidence
Theoretical Readings
Douglas, Fredrick. “How I learned to Read and Write.” Language Acts. Eds. UCCS Rhetoric and Writing Program. Southlake, Texas: Fountainhead Press, 2014. 102.
Outlining Your Narrative
Try applying this structure to your own writing: write sentences for the corresponding elements of your introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion in the space provided below.
Introduction:
Begin your paper with a“hook” that catches the reader’s attention and set the scene. Where is the event set? What time of year? How old were you when this happened?
State your thesis: what you learned, or how the event is significant to you ***This is the argument section of the assignmet prompt, i.e. how UCCS has impacted your identity.
Body paragraphs: write three significant moments from the beginning, middle, and end of the event.
Para. 1:
Beginning Action Topic sentence:
Detail 1.
Detail 2.
Detail 3. Note:
Don’t forget to “Show, Don’t Tell”:List sounds, smells, sights, tastes, and textures that you remember.
Y our experience is your “evidence”. Usetransition words to mark thepassage of time.
Para. 2:
Middle Action Topic sentence:
Detail 1.
Detail 2.
Detail 3.
Para 3:
**End Action Where you are at now, UCCS Topic sentence:
Detail 1.
Detail 2.
Detail 3.
Conclusion:
Writing Strategies to Consider
First Person vs. Third Person Narratives are a mode of writing in which writers often use first person perspective (“I saw”, “I did”) “I” when telling your story.
*Verb Tense: Reporting vs. Reflecting The events of most narratives are told in past tense: “As I hiked, I felt the warm sun on my back.” Use present tense when reflecting on the events: “Now I know how unprepared I was”.
Notice the change in tense in this sentence as the writer reflects on the past event, from the present
Writing a Literacy Narrative
A literacy narrative is telling a story. To be exact, it is giving an account of an experience, most
likely a personal one, which tells about a time when reading and/or writing helped you to learn
something significant. The main idea of a literacy narrative is to speak about a time you were
able to learn and grow from a specific experience.
When writing any sort of essay or paper, it is always necessary to do the following:
Pick a topic that you feel very strongly about but are willing to share.
Title your paper (something suitable to your topic)
Engage the reader (“Show” the reader rather than “telling” the reader.)
Give vivid descriptions throughout the essay. Use
sensory details, such as what you see, smell, touch, etc.
Include dialogue, but use it sparingly.
Dialogue is most effective when it is only used for key moments. Remember to punctuate dialogue correctly. For example:
“I don’t know what happened, but I’m not going to give up,” Jasmine said.
Know that an important tool in narratives is imagery, which can be defined as visually
descriptive language. These details are important because recalling a day such as this shows
it’s importance to you, allowing the reader somewhat of an emotional connection to the event.
This method is called reflecting. Whenever you’re writing an essay that involves something
from you past, it is vital that you ask yourself these following questions:
1. What do I want to do?
2. What made me want to start doing this?
3. What were the important details of this event?
4. How do I fill in the missing blanks?
5. What can I say to have a solid finishing point?
Here’s a Brief Example: When I was seven years old, my father’s car got a flat tire during a
snowstorm. Luckily the heat was working so we didn’t freeze to death as we waited for my
Uncle Denny to come and help us out. I remember hating that red 1997 Hyundai for one simple
fact; the radio didn’t work. My dad began to hum the lyrics to one of my favorite songs,
Ribbon in the Sky, by Stevie Wonder. Instantly I began to sing the words, just as I did to myself
whenever I took a shower, thinking nothing of it of course. But as the words freely flowed out, I
saw my father’s jaw drop in awe of my voice. That was the moment
was destined to be a singer.
Follow these rules and you will certainly write a successful paper.
Has to be 5 paragraphs
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