Reminder:

Writing Workshop on Tuesday

Bring your handbook 

Essay I Instructions

Essay I: Narrative

Choosing a Topic (pg. 103)

• What do you want to look for in a topic that you choose?
• What must you keep in mind when choosing a topic?
• What topics may you want to avoid?

Understanding Constraint (pg. 108)

Choosing your topic to fit the scope of the assignment (2-3 pages)

What does this mean?

The Rhetorical Situation (pg. 105)

Your goal is to shape your writing so that your readers understand your message

In order to do so, you have to take the rhetorical situation into consideration

present your narrative in a way that positions you in a larger conversation--it's personal--it's your story, but it needs a purpose that your audience can grasp

Often, narratives reflect a general theme in a personal way

First, you must understand your audience (Questions on page 105)

Questions about your purpose (pg. 106)

Choose your genre (pg. 106)

Brainstorm Topics/Prompts

general ideas that will work well for narratives

Important

Objects---link to a specific event

Places--link to a specific event

Routine experiences that shed new light on the world around you

Freewrite:

I never realized ___________ until I experienced ________________.

I never realized that (a daily routine or task) revealed so much about _______________.

Invention Exercise 1

Maya Angelou's "Momma's Encounter," published in 1970

Who is the audience?

What is the rhetorical situation? Historical context: 1930s rural Stamps Arkansas/ publication context- 1970

Rhetorical Situation (WOW page 32)

-an appreciation of the social circumstances that call rhetorical events into being and that orchestrate the course of those events

-each act of communication is anything but self-contained

-each communication is a response to other communications and other social practices

-communications, and social practices more generally, are considered to reflect the attitudes and values of the communities that sustain them

Understanding the Structure of the Narrative

I. Introduction: 2 main threads/ideas

II. Background information: follow up with thread 1/ follow up with thread 2

III. The event/ rising action

IV. Climax

V. Falling Action

VI. Conclusion

Why doesn't the narrative immediately begin with the event? Why are the background information paragraphs necessary? How do they lay the foundation for the theme?

Discussion Questions

Repetition/Thematic threads

Sensory Description

Analyze Tone and Style

Language

Artistic Appeals