Essay #3: Writing to Inform

ENGL 101-RDTN, Fall '97--University of South Dakota

For this essay, you are to inform your readers about something that has changed. As preparation for this paper, you are expected to interview someone. Select one of the two options listed below.

Option A:

Interview someone about a fashion, food, or social custom that has changed since this person was young. You could focus on clothing styles, types of restaurants, food fads, the roles men and women assume in marriage, or the relationship between males and females in the workplace. Then write an essay in which you compare the experiences of the person you interview to your own. Option B:

Interview someone who attended your school in the past or a teacher who has taught at your school for a long time. Then write an essay explaining one or more ways in which the school has changed, why it has changed, and whether the changes have resulted in positive or negative effects. When you wrote to reconstruct your own experiences (Essay #1), you focused primarily on yourself. Now that you are writing to inform, you should focus primarily on your subject; although you may include your own experiences, your purpose is to help readers understand not you but your subject.

Recommended Patterns of Development in Writing to Inform:

Narration
Comparison/contrast
Cause and effect
Exemplification

In selecting someone to interview, make certain that this person fits one or more of these criteria:

Is knowledgeable about your subject
Has first-hand experience with your subject
Has a perspective different from your own
Is easily accessible and willing to grant you an interview

DEADLINES:

Draft 1 due: Monday, October 27 (peer revision).

Draft 2 due: Monday, November 3 (peer revision). Include grammar exercises #3.

Final draft due: Monday, November 10. Your final draft and your two earlier workshop drafts should be placed in a folder, along with the peer revision sheets. The final draft should be placed in the left-hand pocket; the earlier drafts and the peer revision sheets should be placed in the right-hand pocket.

Format: Your paper should be 1000-1250 words. All three drafts should be typed, double-spaced, with 1" margins. All pages but the first should be numbered in the top right-hand corner. The following information should appear on the first page of each draft:

Your name
Essay #, Draft #
Title of paper (centered)

An Example:

Chris Wilson

Essay #3, Draft #1

                         Independence Christmas

     Christmas at our house always began with a bang. Early on Christmas 

morning--much to the chagrin of our neighbors--Dad brought out of hiding the

fireworks he had been saving ever since the Fourth of July and lit them

outside in the front yard. We awoke to the sound of firecrackers and

whistling bottle rockets and knew that it was time to get up and discover what

Santa Claus had left for us underneath the Christmas tree. . . .

For more information about doing this assignment, refer to your text, Chapter 5.

Go to the English 101 page.