Personal Essay Review
This week, you continue writing your journal entries. This journal is designed to give you practice in academic writing, which is very different from the personal essay writing that you have been practicing. Academic writing entails making a point and supporting that point with information from a reputable source. There are three ways to support a point with information from a source: quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing. This week, you will practice summarizing a source and citing that source in your journal entry. Please be sure to read and review the “Example Journal Entry – Summarizing” document, which describes how to integrate quotations.
Please note that the journal assignment should not be confused with a personal journal. This activity requires organization, effective stylistics and grammar, and proper source incorporation. It is not a free-writing or reflective writing exercise.
Both of the personal essays we have read this week, “Fish Cheeks” and “Consider the Lobster,” use narrative and/or descriptive elements (refer to sections 6.3 and 6.4 in the text), and each has a clear purpose. Choose one of the essays assigned this week to write about. In 250 to 500 words:
- State the purpose of the essay.
- Describe one literary element being used in the essay (refer to sections 6.3 and 6.4).
- Explain why you think that literary element is used well by the writer.
- Incorporate a summary of the essay. Cite the essay.
- Explain how you plan to use the literary element in your personal essay.
As you are writing this journal entry, please pay attention to the areas that you struggled with in your “Grammar Assessment” quiz and “Practice Essay” assignment.
When submitting your journal entry, make sure to:
- Proofread your work for errors in grammar, mechanics, and style.
- Format the journal according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Refer to the Ashford Writing Center’s Sample APA Title Page for guidelines on formatting a title page in APA style.
- Provide an in text citation for the section of the essay you summarize. Refer to the Ashford Writing Center’s Comprehensive APA Reference List Models for guidelines on in text citations in APA style.
- Provide a reference for the essay you summarize. Refer to the Ashford Writing Center’s Citation and Reference Guide for guidelines on citing sources in APA style.
- Perform a word count check to make sure the journal is 250 to 500 words in length.
- Save the document as a Microsoft Word or compatible .doc or .docx file.
- Use a naming convention that includes your last name, week number, and the assignment number (e.g., smith_w2_a1.doc).
Purpose of the essay
Personal writing is just as important as any other form of writing. Just as other forms of essays are written to pass a message to the audience, personal essays do the same only that there is usually an aspect of the use of the first person pronoun in personal essays. In the essay, “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan, the aim of the essay can be seen as passing the message that one can never run away from their culture…………………..