Your first short essay will help your instructor get to know you as a writer and assess your writing skills. Read the attached essay prompt below to get started.
Students will complete a first draft of this essay by Thursday at 11:59pm and will submit that draft to Grammarly in order to generate a pre-revision report to submit (see “Grammarly Diagnostic” under assignments). The final, revised version of this draft is due Saturday at 11:59pm.
Submit your essay through this link.
Prompt:
Week 1: Writing Diagnostic
Length: 500-700 words Due Date: First draft due Thursday, 11:59pm Revised draft due Saturday, 11:59pm
Goal:
To demonstrate your knowledge of writing basics at the beginning of the course.
Task:
The purpose of this mini-essay is to connect the ideas put forth by Chesterton and Adler/Van Doren with your own experience of learning up to this point in your life. According to Adler and Van Doren “active reading” helps us cultivate a kind of humility.
In 500-700 words, write a paragraph essay with a thesis sentence (last sentence of your introduction) that makes a claim on your reading and writing experience. Reflect on your past experiences with learning and how you think about learning, particularly reading and writing. Be specific and avoid generalities.
Some supplementary questions that might help guide your thinking as you pre-write include:
How have you learned in the past? What were the benefits and pitfalls of your previous education?
How would you define your learning style, based on your previous experiences with active and
passive learning?
At what points in your past learning experiences do you remember either being humbled by
something you discovered or humbling yourself in order to learn?
Elements:
Your response to this prompt should include all the basic elements of good writing:
a thesis statement
clear topic sentences
well-developed paragraphs
transitions
specific examples and direct engagement with the passage (with quotations cited correctly)
error-free grammar and spelling
MLA formatting
Note: Because this is about your own learning experiences, you should feel free to use first-person pronouns. Do not use second-person pronouns.
Submission Instructions:
Submit a full draft of this mini-essay to Grammarly by 11:59pm on Thursday.
Download the Grammarly report and submit that report to the assignment called “Grammarly
Diagnostic” in Week 1.
Review the suggested revisions – be aware that Grammarly is an imperfect tool and can make mistakes.
Implement the suggested revisions that seem right to you.
Submit your revised final draft of the mini-essay to the assignment called “Writing Diagnostic.”
Week 1-Writing Diagnostic-Prompt.pdf
