Memoir Assignment

Write a memoir drawing on a special event or a series of experiences in your life. Use your memoir to create a specific impression and convey a message. To hold your readers' interest, begin with a hook, and then sequence your material to build up to a high point. Use sensory details, vivid images, similes and other figurative devices. Look at model papers for ideas. Refer to memoirs in Call to Write, The Mercury Reader and samples distributed in class. Identify what makes these models successful, and then try to use similar strategies in your writing.

Review the Memoir chapter in Trimbur's Call to Write for detailed instructions. On pages 180 and 181, Trimbur lists assignment topics under the heading "Call to Write: Memoirs¾ "Writing Assignment." See the following sections for additional directions in doing this assignment.

Planning (pp. 186-187)  Arranging Your Material  Selecting Detail

Working Techniques (pp. 187-189)  Paragraph Development: Narrating  Beginnings and Endings: Pointing Out the Wider Significance or Consequence

Revising (pp. 190-191) Connections and Coherence: Temporal Transitions

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 Evaluation Criteria

The following factors will be used to evaluate your final essay:

Organization: Opening lead, sequencing of material, and effective ending

Coherence and Development: Careful attention to developing a unified piece of writing

Narrative Quality: Liveliness, immediacy, and use of literary devices (e.g., similes, metaphors, and analogies)

Descriptive Quality: Use of details and sensory imagery, vividness

Language and Mechanics: Word choices and usage

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Last revised August 23, 2001

J. Arzt