1.A Personal Narrative, you are asked to write a personal essay, based solely on your first-hand personal experience(s), told from the first-person point of view (using the pronoun "I"), meeting the length requirement of between 750 and 2500 words. This essay should not require or contain any type of research; it should be told from thoughts and memories.
2. Writing Skills: A Research Project, you are asked to compose an essay responding to one of three prompts (please review pages 2 and 3 in your digital study unit). At its base, this is a personal essay, but you must incorporate research that will support your views and opinions. The core of this essay must be based solely on your first-hand personal experience(s) and should be told from the first-person point of view (using the pronoun "I"). Your finished essay, including research, should be between 500 and 1500 words.
Topics for question 2 pick one of the option 1-3
Option 1: Conducting an Interview Choose a leading figure from the last 100 years (living or deceased) whom you would most like to interview. You won't be performing an actual interview, but will be conducting research and predicting how your subject would answer your interview questions. You'll be required to research your chosen individual and write a short biography that will, in essence, introduce this person to your audience. You'll then pose five interview questions that you would like to ask this particular person. These should be questions that help to demonstrate the person's beliefs and lifestyle; they shouldn't be vague or general questions that won't showcase the unique and special qualities of your chosen subject. Finally, based on what you've found out about this individual from your research, you'll write the answers to those questions as you believe your subject would answer them.
Option 2: Personal Take on Current Issues Choose a current issue in local, national, or international news. Write an editorial piece explaining the issue and offering your opinions and any solutions you can think of that may apply. You'll need to thoroughly research the issue at hand in order to provide a solid explanation of the issue, as well as informed opinions and solutions. You must be sure to provide an appropriate context for the issue you choose; the audience needs to understand why this is a problem that deserves consideration and why you feel your solutions can affect it. Part of your purpose is to convince your audience that your solutions are viable.
Option 3: Planning a Career Choose a career that you would like to pursue. You'll need to thoroughly research your career choice. You should explain the career to your audience. Although an explanation of the career is certainly necessary, you must be sure to keep the focus of the essay on yourself and why you want to enter this particular career field; the focus shouldn't be solely on the career field itself. Be sure to provide as much detail as possible about your career choice, including what a typical day or week would be like, what kind of salary you can expect, what the future looks like for employees in this field, and whether or not geography will affect job opportunities. Part of your purpose is to convince your audience that you're making an informed choice, allowing you a chance at success in the job market.