Writing Homework Help

The You as a Writer Paper is meant to provide a snapshot of–what else–you as a writer! The goal of this assignment is twofold: 1) to detail a sampling of your different experiences relating to writing (and sometimes reading), such as writing processes, literacy sponsors, and familiar genres, and 2) to reflect on and explain how your different literacy experiences come together in you as a writer.  

Audience for This Assignment 

Now, obviously, as your instructor, I am an audience for this paper. However, I want you to imagine another audience, too: other first-year composition students.

As we can see from our own class, this can be a pretty diverse group of students, from all different backgrounds and life experiences. But what this audience has in common is that they are all engaging in some study of writing and starting to think about writing in a variety of ways. This audience also isn’t made up of academics or scholars. This audience probably isn’t too concerned with writing sounding overly formal; instead, they are probably more interested in writing that is well-organized and written in an understandable and accessible way. 

Specifics of This Assignment: What to Include in This Paper

In this paper, you’re going to want to balance recounting specific experiences with big-picture reflection. What does that mean, exactly? Well, it means you’re going to include some specific stories about your experiences writing, reading, and learning to write. You are also then going to explain what these stories together show about you as a writer. 

So, for example, you might include a short story about your process for writing an academic paper. You’ll then follow up that story (either right after it or later in your paper) by explaining what that story about writing process shows about you as a writer. So, if you tell a story about a time you wrote an academic paper over the course of a week, you might say that this story demonstrates you do your best work when you’re able to write a little bit over multiple days, instead of cramming everything into a few hours. 

Here is some of the specific content I’ll be looking for in this paper: 

An introduction that gives your reader a sense of what to expect from the rest of your paper. 

Information about at least one sponsor of literacy who has influenced your writing/reading. 

Make sure to include some details about what this sponsor of literacy taught you and how this sponsor of literacy taught you. 

Information about your experiences with at least two written genres that you are familiar with (either as a reader or writer). 

For at least one of the two genres, provide a detailed overview of its features and functions, so that your reader has a rich understanding of the genre. 

Information about your writing processes, both for academic writing and at least one other kind of writing.  

A conclusion that wraps up key points from your paper and offers a final statement about you as a writer. 

Some Ways to Think About This Assignment 

• At this point, you’re probably thinking that a lot of the content in that bullet-point list sounds familiar–and it should! Your write-ups have been building toward this You as a Writer paper, and your write-ups can make up a significant portion of this paper. You are also welcome to draw on discussion board conversations for this paper if you find any of them relevant. (You’re also welcome to add new stories and examples, too, if you think others would work better.)

Here is the important thing, though: You want your You as a Writer Paper to feel like one cohesive text, not three small papers just copy-pasted one after the other. To accomplish that, you may have to revise, rework, and reorganize material from your write-ups. You’ll also want to add some material to make it clear to your reader what these stories and experiences show about you as a writer.

• But how to do that? You can make use of the ideas and advice (which can be used for future papers, too!) that we covered in class about transitions, introductions, and conclusions. You can refer to the resources on Transitions, Introduction Paragraph Tips, and Conclusion Paragraph Tips found in our Week 5 module. 

And here are some broad ideas and questions to help your thinking:  

Consider the role of your introduction. The goal of an introduction is to give your reader a sense of what to expect in your text. What might you say in your intro to give your reader a sense of some of the big-picture takeaways or specific stories that they can expect in your text? 

• Think about the organization of your paper. In what order does your information make the most sense? Do you want to follow a chronological order? What about organizing by theme or concept? Does each story represent a different quality of you as a writer; would you you want to let each story stand on its own and explain each one individually? Do several of your stories demonstrate similar things about you as a writer; would you want to group them together and explain them together? 

As you’re thinking about organization, also think about paragraphing. How can you make sure unique ideas have their own paragraphs? 

In a similar vein, you’ll want to consider how you might revise your write-ups to fit into this new paper’s shape. What might you want to add, cut, or reshape in the writing that you’ve already done to make it more effective at conveying what you want to convey about yourself as a writer? 

• Transitions can also be a useful tool for putting your paper together. What kind of words or sentences might you use to create a smooth progression from one narrative, example, or explanation to the next? 

Finally, consider how you might use your conclusion to create a sense of cohesion in your paper. How might you pull together points and ideas from your paper to give a final statement on who you are as a writer right now and how your experiences have contributed to this current identity? In other words, how might you explain how all of these disparate elements combine to make one whole? Would you want to just leave your conclusion at that, or would you also want to discuss some of your next goals for yourself as a writer? Which would make more sense for you?