Who are we? What is our essential identity? What if we, as human beings, exist in the form of something as seemingly ephemeral and changeable as a story? While it might seem strange to consider at first, there is truth in this: as social creatures, we don’t exist separately from the stories we tell about ourselves. Each day, we live, perform, and revise the unfolding narrative of our lives.
Despite our natural inclination to share our story, the professional narrative–often referred to as a “personal essay” or “personal statement”–can seem tedious. We are constantly coaxed into offering some one or two page version of ourselves. What’s the point? Why must we narrate ourselves?
The point is this: if you are unable to tell convincing and lively stories about yourself, you appear to others as mere assemblages of boring facts and abstract values. Furthermore, research has shown that self-authorship rooted in reflection is crucial for both emotional and academic growth. It’s time to realize and relate your English story.
This assignment can be viewed as an extension of the reflective work you have done so far in your previous 3 blog posts–an opportunity to expand, combine, and synthesize the additional materials we have read. For this assignment, you will compose a 800-1000 word narrative in response to the following prompt:
You have spent your college years deeply engaged in the humanities. You have also explored other fields, and developed a range of personal, political, and professional interests. Most remarkably: you have done this amidst a global pandemic that made the past two years especially challenging.
Compose a narrative giving the reader a sense of your English story. The essay will combine a reflection on particularly meaningful coursework or projects–as well as professional, personal, and community-based engagements–with questions of both the value and viability of literary study. In this sense, it will be both concrete (skills and qualifications exemplified in specific context, stuff you’ve done and learned) and more abstract (examples of growth and development, your values, ideas you’re wrestling with and how you’ve navigated them.).
Finally, as you look toward your own English futures, the essay should conclude with a reflection on how you can project all that you’ve written here towards a sustainable future.
Here are some things to remember:
Make sure you situate the main character–you!–in time and space. Relevant details include: where you go to school, where you live, etc. You shouldn’t begin your essay with a line like “My name is X and I go to school at Y.” That’s boring. But try folding in key details along the way (for example, before you introduce an academic project, you might say “in my junior year at the College of Charleston, worked on a project that reflects these broader interests…”
Please incorporate 3-5 quotes from our reading--quotes that you should not just “pull,” but incorporate mindfully and fully. Imagine an outside audience who is not familiar with these works: you will need to introduce the authors and texts and ideas surrounding the quotes.
Because this essay will also introduce you and your eventual ePortfolio to your audience(s), please also include at least two paragraphs that describe a specific and significant project that you’re worked on (similar to what you did in blog 2).
Do your best to make sure the essay is coherent: that is, the paragraphs focusing on individual projects, or engagements with key ideas from the reading, academic projects, or key experiences should be elegantly lined through dynamic transitions that connect this story together. This is what makes writing so remarkable: we can take this bundle of stuff–all these paragraphs–and begin to create a story from them.
As you work on this, you might take a look at the statement guides on narratives of promotional self-narration that I put together for the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards. These will give you some ideas for how your narrative–which will fall in the third “hybrid” category–will combine “experience paragraphs” keyed to key skills and qualifications related to coursework, projects, etc; paragraphs that draw the reader into a dynamic thought or action; paragraphs that reflect on our course reading on the viability and values of the English degree, and so on.
For Peer Review:
You and a partner will be assigned two narratives (that are not your own). Read the narratives carefully in relation to the rubric, and develop a series of feedback-paragraphs keyed to each of the criteria. Offer detailed feedback on what works well and what works less well. Offer advice for improvement. Describe elements that seem missing or under-stated and provide advice on how to fill in those gaps. Submit this feedback as your reflective engagement for today, and also email this feedback to your peer.
When you submit the feedback, make sure you address is to the recipient (both in the email, of course, but also for the reflective engagement. I would advise you to compose your feedback in a google doc and then paste it into both the email and the OAKS area later.