Q Essay #1. Personal Narrative. Personal narrative is a story of your memorable experience. Choose one event that is still vivid in your memory. Use descriptions, imagery, sensory details, narration, and a dialog to portray the characters and the setting. Convey the significance of this event. Your story should not only contain the list of actions but explain to the reader how this particular event/experience impacted you. Maybe it was transformative and changed your outlook. The essay must be five pages long. Topics Choose one of the topics below: I. A memorable personal life experience Here are some examples: John Updike’s narrator concludes his story “A&P,” “I felt how hard the world is going to be for me hereafter.” Tell the story of your rebellion against certain societal conventions. What was the conflict? How was it resolved? Do you believe the episode has a long-term impact on your life? II. Describe your encounter with dishonesty or injustice. What was your response? Do you regret or feel proud about your behavior? III. Describe your experience of feeling abandoned or conflicted but being saved thanks to someone’s powerful kindness and love. IV. Describe a memorable witnessed life experience such as a family member fight with a disease or grieve. It is important to focus on the impact this experience had on you. V. Describe an important life experience that taught you a valuable lesson such as witnessing a divorce. VI. Describe a life goal and experience that helped you determine what you want to accomplish in life. Purpose and audience Your purpose is to explore a memorable personal experience which may also be significant for the reader. Your audience is the UMBC community, including students, faculty, and staff. You will need to post your paper in the blog for peer review. Keep in mind that other students will read it. Format Essays must follow MLA format: 1) Use Times New Roman font, size 12. 2) Use one-inch margins on all sides. Double-space. 3) List your name, instructor’s name, course, and the date at the upper left-hand corner of the first page. 4) List your last name and page number in the right header of each page. 5) Do not staple your paper. 6) A work-cited page is not necessary unless you refer to any source, including the first-year book in your paper. Due Dates 1) Bring five copies of your introduction (workshop with peers and an instructor). 09/16 2) Bring five copies of your conclusion (workshop with peers and an instructor). 09/21 3) Bring the rough draft for my review and post it in your group blog Essay 1 for your peer’s reviews. Write a Dear-Reader letter in class. 09/23. Your rough draft will be graded and will make up 25% of your grade. 4) Comment on your peers’ drafts (15 marginal comments and about 300 words review of the draft). Due date is 10/05. This assignment will be graded as one of the minor assignments. You may get 12 points for this assignment. 5) Read all the comments and write a revision plan before revising the paper. Post it in the blog. 10/07 6) Submit an electronic copy to SafeAssign (save your draft in MSWord to upload it on SafeAssign) before the class starts. Along with the final paper, all prewriting, a revision plan, and rough drafts should be posted in the blog. 10/12.