Autobiographical Reflection (Page 2 of 2) in pdf

Autobiographical Reflection Page 2

Example prompt

A Personal Writing History: Transforming Experience into Words (from EDU 170, Spring 2005)

Overview: Who are you as a writer today and how did you get to be this way? In this essay, focus

on transforming your formative experiences as a writer into words: orienting your readers;

creating a common world of feeling between yourself and your readers; leading your readers

through that world; and moving carefully with words, sentences and paragraphs to create your

own personal writing history. Suggested length: 3-4 pages

Preparing to Write:

1. What are your earliest recollections of writing?

2. Have any members of your family or teachers encouraged you to write?

3. What do you find easy, frustrating, difficult, and/or challenging about writing?

4. What special habits do you have as you write?

Writing the Essay:

1. Draw on memory. (Who you have been and what you have experienced helps define who

you are as a writer.)

2. Tell a story.

3. Establish a site or sites. (Locate your readers in a place where they can understand what

you have to tell them.)

4. Use details.

5. Use ordinary language.

6. Draw analogies as needed. (The central power of metaphor is its ability to express

something that is complex, elusive, or abstract in terms of something that is concrete,

immediate, and familiar.)

Autobiographical Reflection Page 2