English Eleven
Fall 2013
Mr. Spragins

Portrait of Myself as a Writer

Describe yourself as a writer. Tell me what you will need to do this year to develop into a student capable of writing a college level essay. Answer the following questions in your essay:

• Do you understand basic essay form?
• Do you devise good thesis statements?
• Are your paragraphs organized around strong topic sentences which are directly related to your thesis?
• Do you cite specific evidence from the text to support your argument?
• Do you quote the text often in support of your argument?

Think also about the clarity of your writing, your grammar and usage:

• Do you know how to punctuate properly?
• Do you revise your writing to clarify your expression?
• Do you know how to cite the text using proper MLA format?

Do you enjoy creative writing?

• Have you ever kept a journal?
• What type of creative writing do you enjoy most: poetry, short stories or plays?

Our goal is to have you writing college level essays by the end of the first semester.

• What will you need to do in order to meet this overall goal?
• (Take this question seriously because we will be evaluating you this semester based on these criteria.)