The purpose of this essay is for you to explore your relationship with writing and how it fits into
the larger picture of your life.
What are your expectations of English 111x? What do you expect to learn and do this
semester? What are your goals for this course and for this semester? What are your
expectations of your time at UAF? What do you want to accomplish while you are here? How
does writing fit in to your goals for your time at university? What are your goals for the larger
picture of your life? How does writing relate to these goals? What are your beliefs and hopes
about writing? What are your doubts and fears about writing? What are your strengths when
it comes to writing? What are the things that you want to develop?
These are not questions to answer one-by-one, but questions to get you started thinking about
how writing relates to you and fits into your life outside of the university setting.
This is a personal essay, so you can use first person. Write 300-500 words and double space
your paper. Use a legible, 12-point font and one-inch margins. Bring a hard copy of your essay
to class.
Next week, we will have one-on-one conferences to discuss these papers and the direction
of the course. The conference and this paper together will be worth 10 percent of your final
grade. The paper will be worth 5 percent and the conference will be worth 5 percent, so it is
very important that you both complete this paper and attend the conference.
Contributed by Jaclyn Bergamino, 2014
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