This document provides guidance for writing a short memoir assignment in an ENG 102 class. Students are instructed to write a 4-5 page memoir telling a story from their own experience that explores some aspect of language. The memoir should both narrate the story and reflect on its significance. Key aspects of a memoir are highlighted, including that it aims to entertain through a personal story while also helping readers understand the writer. Students are given suggestions for choosing a narrow topic from their own life that was important or a turning point, and structuring the memoir with an introduction, body, and conclusion similar to a research paper.

1. ENG 102
DiOrio
December 1, 2014
Argumentative Essay (Final and Draft)
Overview
Argumentative essays differ from narrative, expository, or
analytical essays fundamentally in
that you're writing to take a stand, to persuade your audience to
accept a particular position,
to convince your audience of a particular argument. The
emphasis in argumentative essays is
to make and prove an argument with convincing evidence and
sound, logical reasoning. The
purposes and requirements for this essay, therefore, are quite
different from those for the
previous essays.
Objectives
Through this assignment, you will learn to:
· construct an argument using various methods of
argumentation,
· gather, summarize, synthesize, and explain information from
various sources,
· incorporate sources into your argumentation using MLA style,
· produce coherent, organized, readable prose for different
rhetorical situations,
· engage in writing as a process, including invention (such as
brainstorming for ideas),
· developing a thesis statement, drafting, revising, editing, and
proofreading,
· respond to your classmates' writing and provide constructive
feedback,

2. · respond to your classmates' response to your writing and learn
how to incorporate
your classmates' suggestions into your revision,
· use grammatical, stylistic, and mechanical formats and
conventions appropriate for
different audiences and writing situations, and
· reflect on your own writing and writing process and on your
classmates' writing and
writing process.
Topic--Identifying a Controversial Issue
An appropriate topic for the argumentative essay should be one
that
· interests you
· is neither too broad nor too narrow,
· is open to controversy, and
· is not already overly argued by other people.
Make sure your topic interests you:
Whatever topic you choose, it should be something that
interests you, something that you
feel strongly about, something that's close to your heart. If it's
an argument that affects you
and that you have personal experience about, it will be easier
for you to build your ethos
with personal experience. However, keep in mind you do not
want your personal beliefs to
interfere with building a sound, logical argument—this is not an
opinionated paper.
Make sure your topic is neither too broad nor too narrow:
A topic like "presidential campaigns" might be too big for you

3. to handle in a few pages. In
contrast, "the use of scare tactics in presidential campaign ads"
might be easier to handle. In
a similar way, "advertising" sounds vague and broad while
"truth in advertising" is more
focused. On the other hand, too narrow topics are those that
deal with trivial topics that your
readers are not likely to be interested in.
Make sure your topic is controversial:
A controversial topic is one that people have different opinions
about. For example, the
"illegitimacy of thefts" is not a controversial topic while "the
appropriate punishment for
first-time theft offenders" is a more controversial one.
Similarly, "the harmful effects of
smoking" is not really a topic of controversy, but "heavy
taxation on cigarettes" might be.
Make sure your topic is not already overly argued by other
people:
Topics such as "abortion" or "the death penalty" might yield
easy arguments, but they have
been argued so much that it's very hard to come up with
anything new to say about them.
Unless you have something really unique and original to
contribute to such topics, I'd
strongly recommend that you avoid such topics.
Choosing a good topic is not easy, and it's critical for a good
argumentative essay.
Constructing Your Argument/Writing the Essay

4. This essay should be quite different from your previous essay in
several ways:
Content:
An argument essentially contains a central claim (your thesis)
backed up by several
supporting claims, which are further supported by concrete
evidence--examples, other
people's opinions, etc. This argumentative essay not only will
involve sound, logical
reasoning but may also include some of the other techniques
you've learned and used in the
previous essays: narration, description, and analysis. One thing
to keep in mind is that since
you're making an argument on a controversial issue, there's
always the other side. It's vitally
important that you address the other side if you want to present
a fair and convincing
argument.
Organization:
While there are always multiple ways to organize any kind of
essay, Toulmin’s Argument
(discussed in class) provides an easy option: Claims; Qualifers;
Warrants; Reasons; Evidence.
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos:
A good argumentative essay requires a somewhat balanced use
of ethos, pathos, and logos.
Without ethos, your essay will not carry credibility; without
pathos, it won't have effective
emotional affect; and without logos, don't expect that your
audience will buy into your

5. argument.
Sources:
Using other people's arguments, especially those from reputable
sources, to support your
own argument is often an effective and necessary means of
argumentation. Therefore, for
this essay, you're expected to include at least five sources, at
least two of which must be
scholarly and two of which must be non-internet based.
Audience:
Your audience for the argumentative essay will be people who
are relatively familiar with
the issue in question. They may or may not have a preconceived
idea or argument on the
issue, but most likely they do.
Components of the Assignment
Here're the components and their due dates:
1. First Draft and Peer Review - Monday, December 8
2. Final Draft—Monday, December 15
Please follow the following guidelines carefully:
· Length--4-5 pages double spaced
· Format--12-point Times New Roman)
· Name block--On the first page, in the top left corner, single
spaced:
ENG 102

6. Your Name
Date
Argumentative Essay
Title (centered)
Text of argument . . .
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7. ENG 102
DiOrio
November 1, 2014
Profile Assignment
Assignment:
Write an essay of 3-4 pages about a classmate, introducing
readers to specific beliefs and values that shape and influence
their sbuject. Observe your subject closely, and then present
what you have learned in a way that both informs and engages
readers.
Due: Monday, November 17, 2014
Basic Information:
Magazines and newspapers are filled with profiles. Unlike
conventional news stories, which report current events, profiles
tell about people, places, and activities. Some profiles take us
behind the scenes of familiar places, giving us a glimpse of
their inner workings. Others introduce us to the exotic—
peculiar hobbies, unusual professions, bizarre personalities.
Still others probe the social, political, and moral significance of
our institutions.
Profiles share many features with autobiography, such as
narrative, anecdote, description, and dialogue. Yet profiles
differ significantly from autobiography. Whereas an
autobiographer reflects on a remembered personal experience, a
profile writer synthesizes and presents newly acquired
observations. In writing a profile, you practice the field
research methods of interviewing and notetaking, commonly
used by investigative reporters, social scientists, and naturalists.
You also learn to analyze and synthesize the information you
have collected.
A profile is a special kind of research project. Profiles always

8. involve visits: meeting with a person or going to a place.
Profile writers take notes from observations and interviews.
.
Profile Essays:
· Are based on a writer’s newly acquired observations through
interviews and notetaking.
· Introduce readers to specific insight to people.
· Provide information while at the same time arousing readers’
curiosity.
· Present scenes and people vividly and concretely through
description, action, and dialogue.
· Reveal an attitude toward their subjects and offer—implicitly
or explicitly—an interpretation of them.
· Create a dominant impression of the subject.
Purpose and Audience Considerations:
A profile writer’s primary purpose is to inform readers.
Readers expect profiles to present information in an engaging
way, however. Whether profiling people, places, or activities,
the writer must meet these expectations. Although a reader
might learn as much about a subject from an encyclopedia entry,
reading the profile is sure to be more enjoyable.
Readers of profiles expect to be surprised by unusual subjects.
If the subject is familiar, they expect it to be presented from an
unusual perspective. When writing a profile, you will have an
immediate advantage if your subject is a place, an activity, or a
person that is likely to surprise and intrigue your readers. Even
if your subject is very familiar, however, you can still engage
your readers by presenting it in a way they had never before
considered.
A profile writer has one further concern: to be sensitive to
readers’ knowledge of a subject. Since readers must imagine
the subject profiled and understand the new information offered
about it, the writer must carefully assess what readers are likely

9. to have seen and to know.
Summary of Basic Features:
1. An Intriguing, Well-Focused Subject:
The subject of a profile is typically a specific person, place, or
activity. And, although profiles focus on a person, a place, or
an activity, they usually contain all three elements—certain
people performing a certain activity at a particular place.
Skilled profile writers make even the most mundane subjects
interesting by presenting them in a new light. They many
simply take a close look at a subject usually taken for granted,
or they surprise readers with a subject they had never thought
of. Whatever they examine, they bring attention to the
uniqueness of the subject, showing what is remarkable about it.
2. A Vivid Presentation:
Profiles particularize their subjects rather than generalize about
them. Because profile writers are interested more in presenting
individual cases than in making generalizations, they present
their subjects vividly and in detail.
Successful profile writers master the writing strategies of
description, often using sensory imagery and figurative
language—the senses of sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing,
and figures of speech such as simile and metaphor.
Profile writers often describe people in graphic detail. They
reveal personal habits and characteristic poses. They also use
dialogue to reveal character.
3. A Dominant Impression:
Readers expect profile writers to convey a particular impression
or interpretation of the subject. They want to know the writer’s
insights into the subject after having spent time observing the
scene and talking to people. Indeed, this interpretation is what
separates profiles from mere exercises in description and
narration.
To convey a dominant impression, writers carefully select
details of scene and people and put these details together in a
particular way. They also express an attitude toward the

10. subject, an attitude that can be implied through details or stated
explicitly. For example, a writer may express admiration,
concern, detachment, fascination, skepticism, amusement—
perhaps even two or three different feelings that complement or
contradict one another.
Writers also offer interpretations of their subjects. An
interpretation may be implied or stated directly. It can be
announced at the beginning, woven into the ongoing
observations, or presented as a conclusion. In combination with
carefully orchestrated details and a clearly expressed attitude,
these interpretations give readers a dominant impression of the
subject being profiled. The effort to create a dominant
impression guides all the writer’s decisions about how to select
materials and how to organize and present them.
4. An Engaging and Informative Plan:
Successful profile writers know that if they are to keep their
readers’ attention, they must engage as well as inform. For this
reason, they tell their stories dramatically and describe people
and places vividly. They also control the flow of unfamiliar
information carefully. Whether the overall plan is topical or
chronological, writers give much thought to where unfamiliar
information is introduced and how it is introduced.
Profiles present a great deal of factual detail about their subject.
However, the information can be woven into the essay in bits
and pieces—conveyed in dialogue, interspersed throughout the
narrative, given in description—rather than presented in one
large chunk.
Parceling out information in this way makes it easier to
comprehend: Readers can master one part of the information
before going on to the next. Perhaps even more important, such
control injects a degree of surprise and thus makes readers
curious to know what will come next. Controlling the
information flow may, in fact, help to keep readers reading,
especially when the essay is organized around topics or aspects
of the information.
Narration may be even more important, for it is used by many

11. profile writers to organize their essays. Some profiles even
read like stories, with suspense building to a dramatic climax.
Writers can organize their narratives to develop and sustain
suspense and drama.
ENG 102
DiOrio
October 27, 2014
What: Memoir
When: Due Monday, Nov. 1
Length: 4-5 pages
Definition of a Memoir:
Writers look to the past to make sense of it, figure out who they
were and who they have become, and what it means to them and
the lives of others. A memoir puts the events of a life in
perspective for the writer and for those who read it. It is a way
to explain to others the events of our lives - our choices,
perspectives, decisions, and responses.
Please write an essay in which you tell a story drawn from
experience, where language plays some part in the story. Your
paper should include both narration and reflection – the story
itself and your thoughts exploring the significance of the story.
Your genre of your essay will be a short memoir. The main
purpose of a memoir is to entertain: in other words, your first
priority is to find a good story. But the memoir has other
purposes too. The fact that they entertain does not mean
memoirs can’t be very serious. Some memoirs make us laugh
out loud, but some of the best also tell us about experiences like
living through war, the Holocaust, or slavery. What makes them
“entertainment” is that they are personal stories, not academic
studies. Their main purpose is to help us understand one single
other person, not to explain history, economics, sociology – or
even language. Some aspect of language will be explored in
your memoir, but you are not responsible to support your ideas

12. about language the way you would in a research paper. We can
learn a lot from memoirs, but before we learn about “big
subjects” from them, we learn about the person speaking.
Memoirs also do more than just tell the story. They reflect on
the story. You need to include your thoughts about the story.
Why did it come to mind? What interest does your audience
have in your story? Talk about the reasons this story is
interesting, relevant, entertaining, profound, or whatever it is
that makes it worth telling.
Writing about yourself sounds simple. It may also be the
hardest essay I will assign. Unlike more formal genres of the
essay where the format is already given, in a memoir you must
develop your own structure. Unlike academic essays where a
formal voice is appropriate, here you must find a voice that
suits your personality and your story. Here are some guidelines
for those who aren’t sure what topic to choose, or what
structure to give their essay:
Choosing a topic:
· This is a short essay, so you need a narrow focus. Write about
one, specific thing that has been important to you: a person,
place, idea, belief, experience, event, day, moment, action,
relationship, work of art, or another specific thing. Explore a
conflict between people. Show a moment in which you have to
make a choice. Show how you change or don’t change.
· After finding a focal point that interests you, find a use of
language – either written or spoken or both – that in involved in
the story. Include it somewhere in the story, and if you can
make it a major theme.
· In fiction, the main character is usually more interesting if
s/he changes during the story. The same is true in a personal
narrative. Choose a focal point which was also a turning point:
how did this thing help make you who you are now? What were
you like before, and after this thing entered your life? Make it
clear that someone in the story wants to take the reader on a
journey that arrives at success or failure.
· Personal topics are stories you feel comfortable telling in

13. public. Private topics are stories you do not want to share in
public. Do not write a story for this class that leaves you feeling
highly embarrassed, panicked, scared, or so on. You may need
or want to write about that topic, but not in public.
Structuring your Memoir:
· Just as a research paper has an introduction, body, and
conclusion, you might find it easiest to have a “before” section
(introduction), a detailed story, and an “after” section that
reflects on the story and concludes.
· You are free, however, to jump right into the story and explain
the background later; to use flashbacks and flashforwards; to
use other techniques of fiction.
· Make sure you include both narration (the story itself), and
reflection (your thoughts and feelings about the story).
Reflection helps readers find personal connections to your story
– you can use this section to answer the eternal question that
haunts writing: “so what?”
· You can organize by time: what happened in chronological
order.
· You can organize by space: a story about each different room
in a house, for instance.
You can organize other ways: a list of the meanings a thing had
for me, with a story about each one, for instance.
Details in your Memoir:
· All writing needs details. The kinds of details you need are
determined by the type of writing, which is in turn determined
by your purpose, audience, self-presentation, and topic.
Research tries to inform and argue based on evidence; the
details it needs are authoritative pieces of evidence and your
logical interpretation. Memoir, on the other hand, is meant to
bring a story alive in the reader’s mind; the details memoir
needs are the same as you will find in fiction.
· Characters come more alive when we see them do things, not
just hear that they did something; when you quote dialogue
instead of just telling us what the conversation was about; when

14. we see images of them instead of just hearing their names.
· Setting can be made more real for the reader by using imagery
(appealing to any of the five senses), by describing the physical
location, the social world, the time of your life that is involved,
the time in history that is involved. Show us objects, sights,
sounds, aromas, textures, and flavors that are part of this world.
How to tell your story:
First, write as much as you can without letting the Inner Editor
(Inner Critic) speak. WHen you are finished, ask yourself what
you think the story is trying to say. How is the narrator (you)
different at the end of the story than at the beginning? What are
the most important moments? What moments should be shown
in scenes? What should be deleted, tightened, or summarized?
Would the story be enriched with dialogue? Is the setting clear?
Have you woven in necessary background information? Are the
characters’ personalities made clear by how they speak, what
they are doing, what they are wearing, or how they move? Does
the story the begin and end in the most effective place?
Checklist:
_____Name
_____Interesting Title
_____Typed (Times New Roman; 12 font; double spaced)
_____Uses specific details (“three-month old black lab chewing
on my grandfather's fishing pole”
instead of “destructive dog”
_____Uses sensory detail where it enriches the story:
_____smell
_____taste
_____texture
_____sounds
_____how the body feels
_____quality of the light
_____Uses active/interesting verbs (“reprimanded” instead of
“said”)
_____Uses scenes

15. _____Slows down the most important moment
_____Character changes (or has the potential to change but
doesn’t)
_____Story has some tension or conflict
_____Begins at an engaging place
_____Ends in a satisfying way
_____Audience has learned from your memoir
_____Weaves in setting and context
_____Paragraphs used effectively
_____Grammar checked
_____Spelling checked
_____Read out loud for rhythm and clarity
ENG 102
DiOrio
8/25/14
Assignment #1: Critical Response Paper
Due Date: Monday, Novemeber 3, 2014
Page Requirement: 3-5 pages
Materials: New York Times or any newspaper (online, print, e-
reader, etc).
Many of us think we are informed because we watch television
news or listen to radio shows.
There is a problem with this assumption. All news media are in
business—their goal is to raise
advertising revenue by attracting an audience. As a result, no
matter how much the media claims
to be in the business of "informing" the public, they are often
more interested in entertaining

16. and sensationalizing. This practice applies to all media -
television, radio, and even newspapers.
However, the newspaper reader, especially the reader of a
national newspaper, is often someone
who is looking for more depth.
Your task for this essay is to observe and analyze coverage of a
recent headline story in the New York Times or other
newspaper. You will then write an essay (3-5 pages) that
describes and analyzes your observations.
Select one situation to follow closely during the next few days.
Scan the "International"
and "National" links on the homepage of the website (or section
"A" of the print version) of
the Times to see what is currently going on in the news. You
will need to define the situation
narrowly to make your job manageable. For example:
Too broad/not manageable:
•Ferguson
Narrowly defined/manageable
* Character Assassination of Michael Brown
* Militarization of Police
Every day, read as many news articles in the "International" and
"National" links on the
homepage of the website (or section "A" of the print version) as
you can about the situation.
Also check the opinion-editorial section (the "Editorials/Op-Ed"
link on the homepage of the website OR the final two
pages in the "A" section of the print version) to see what
opinions are being expressed about the
situation being reported.

17. Your job is to observe. In the same way that you observe a cell
under a microscope in a biology
class, observe what the newspaper is doing. Just as you don't
judge what the cell is doing,
avoid coming to judgments about what the newspaper is doing.
For now, just watch how the
newspaper reports the situation.
Your essay should answer some--but not necessarily all--of
these questions:
* What is the situation and why did you choose to follow it in
the news?
* What has the newspaper been reporting about this situation?
Summarize two or three
of the most informative articles.
* What have you learned about the situation from following it
in the news that you did
not know before?
* What is one aspect of the situation that seemed most
surprising to you?
* What photographs or other graphics have been accompanying
coverage of the
situation? Have these pictures been appropriate? What kind of
pictures would
have been more appropriate?
* Have any of the reporters seemed to show any signs of bias?
If so, explain what words,
phrases, or content suggests bias.
* What kinds of headlines have the editors been giving stories
covering this situation?
What positions have these articles appeared in (front page vs.
later page, top vs. bottom of the page)?
As the story has continued, have the articles appeared in
different positions? What does the

18. newspaper seem to be communicating about the importance of
the story?
To conclude your essay, reflect on your experience of observing
news coverage. What have you
learned about the newspaper and the act of covering the news?
Be sure to use the articles in a variety of ways-summarizing,
paraphrasing, and quoting-and integrate them smoothly into
your writing by introducing authors and providing signal
phrases. Avoid plagiarism and cite all articles correctly in the
works cited page and every time you summarize, paraphrase, or
quote from an article.