Write a three page personal essay about a question that is meaningful to you and your readers. ENGL 101 Montoya You will write from personal experience while exploring an overall question that is meaningful to you and your readers. For example, Annie Dillard explores what it means to truly see in her essay titled ″Seeing″. Use your pre-writing exercises, experiences (observations and memories), class reading and annotations as material for your essay. I am looking to see that you can use both your life experience and reading to engage readers and deepen your exploration. Your essay must engage the course themes of nature and the environment. How does a sense of place inform your sense of self? In other words, tell me about a place that is significant to you. Perhaps there is a place you go to that brings you a sense of peace, or a place that is so familiar to you that you consider it your home away from home. What do you know about this place? Even more interesting is the question, what don′t you know? Describe this place. Tell me about something that happened to you there. How were you transformed by the experience or what insight did you gain from your experience? Include 1-2 paragraphs in your essay that engage at least one of the class reading assignments we′ve had to date. Use your annotations as a starting point, but the idea is to incorporate your reflection of other texts as you explore the question you put forth in your own essay. Remember to use the model essays we′ve been studying to guide your writing and exploration. The personal essay is not just a story or series of stories; it is meant to be reflective and perceptive. It may include narration, but the main point of the essay is to communicate to your reader your insights. It has been said that a sign of success in a personal essay is making a reader who has never has a similar experience nonetheless resonate with yours; you must universalize both your experience and your understanding. It is important to remember that personal essays are intended to be read by other people. Consider your audience; a personal essay is not a journal entry. The essay may contain a poignant story but it certainly does not have to be earthshaking; it needs to be grounded in real experience but it does not have to be confessional. Often the very best personal essays are written about the tiniest of things and the most mundane of experiences, and their value lies in their reflection on the story, not the story itself.
