Personal Essay
An element of a strong personal essay
Some options:
•Have a powerful opening that makes the reader want to keep reading.
•It will not be too short or too long and will flow from one idea to the next.
•Its structure will be clear and easy to follow.
•Your own writing voice and personality will be evident in the writing.
•The essay will include fresh, lucid, and varied or thoughtful word choices.
•It will include sensory details that paint a vivid picture/ experience, without overwhelming the reader.
•The final sentences will satisfactorily conclude the essay (this does not mean that the ending has to be 'good' or 'positive', but means that the reader should feel like the essay has been wrapped up).
One of the reflective essays from the course
Fastest wins
The strongest form of argumentative essay
A polemical essay
The aim is to state and take up a strong view for or against a particular idea or position. Usually, these types of essays are reserved for subjects which evoke both passion and emotion, and which, critically, could be agreed with or disagreed with.
Often seen in political speeches/ but also in various op-eds and other forms, too
The first author (in English) to call his writing "essays"
Michel de Montaigne
"Let them drown"
Naomi Klein
One of Jane Allison's different narrative forms
Meander, spiral, explode, cellular, etc.
One thing you learned about reflective essays
What is [fastest wins]?
An essay designed to garner support from readers regarding a specific belief or cause
An advocacy essay (a call to action, raising awareness)
Something Bonnie has said about AI and writing
'Wolf Man'
Ashleigh Young?
A way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century.
A commonplace book
The presence of the "I" in a reflective essay
On a spectrum: sometimes extremely present, sometimes less so. Bonus if they give examples.
One thing Bonnie has said about citation and essays
So many things
The golden rule for workshop
What is "what happens in workshop stays in workshop"?
'Crying in H-Mart'
Michelle Zauner?
A narrative style that tries to capture a character’s thought process in a realistic, often very impressionistic way.
"stream of consciousness"
In a reflective essay, evidence needs to...
Support the author's reflections. Bonus: what kind of evidence?
Methods of putting yourself in conversation in your writing
"Yes/ No/ Okay, but/ And yet..."?
Define a HOC in a peer review
content/ argument
'Firefly'
Aimee Nezhukumatathil?
"I wrote it because I wanted to show the strangers who shared those experiences that they were not alone. I didn’t write a memoir in order to free myself, though in the process I did.”
(Melissa) Febos. Or: 'In Praise of Navel-Gazing'
Offer a definition of a reflective essay
Something along these lines: Writing a reflective narrative enables writers to not only recount experiences but also analyze or explain how they’ve changed, learned lessons, formed opinions, and so on.
A reflective essay is a type of writing in which the essay writer describes an experience or event that they observe or examine. The word “reflective” means that you look back to the past and analyze them from the present. This essay is about the personal writer’s opinions (or reflections) concerning certain subjects.
A convincing polemical/ advocacy essay must have a....
An audience/ main claim/ evidence that supports its claim/ etc?
Bonnie's office
vz 909
"That shiver of self recognition"
Lopate