Assignment 9: College Essay

 

Assignment 9: Writing a College Essay


TO: Technical Writing Students
FROM: Helen Haberman, Instructor
SUBJECT: Observing a Process in Nature

DUE DATE:  January 4, 2012 

Background

One of the most daunting requirements for applying to college (besides paying the application fee) is writing the college admission essay.  Students often wonder how important it is in evaluating their application and often dread writing it.  This assignment offers you a chance to research what colleges are looking for, to browse topic choices and draft an essay that you could use on your college application.  You will have the chance to review solid essays and to see others that have been critiqued constructively so yours is the best it can be.

Please follow the directions below to complete this week’s assignment.

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Assignment (40 points)

Procedure and Resources

You will write a 250 word minimum essay on one of the six topics below.  These are actual essay prompts.

The following description is taken from The Common Application, a college application used by many private, small colleges throughout the U.S.  It has been chosen because it is typical of the types of essay requirements for many colleges and universities.

Common Application Personal Essay Requirement

“Please write an essay (250 words minimum) on a topic of your choice or on one of the options listed below, and attach it to your application before submission. Please indicate your topic in your essay title. This personal essay helps us become acquainted with you as a person and student, apart from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data. It will also demonstrate your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself.”



Topic Choices Choose one of the following for your essay topic.


1.  Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.


2.  Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.


3.  Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.


4.  Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.


5.  A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.


6.  Topic of your choice.


Step 1: Choose your topic (from those above).  For some guidance on choosing, use the resource Choosing Your Topic to guide your choice and pre-writing activities.  Don’t skip this step! Organization is key to a successful essay.

Step 2:  Pre-writing.  Once you’ve chosen your topic, pre-writing is key.  This is the process of collecting and organizing potential ideas for your essay.  Check out this link to learn more by reading the Prewriting section.  Three Steps to a Great College Essay.

Step 3: Drafting.  Scroll down an review the drafting advice on the Three Steps to a Great College Essay link in step 2.  Complete the steps for your essay using this format.

Step 4: Editing.  Scroll down and review the editing advice on the Three Steps to a Great College Essay link in Step 2.  Complete the steps suggested here for your essay.


Resources

Example 1: Read samples of essays with critiques embedded.

Example 2: Another example like the first.

Essays That Work.  Tips for writing college essays by evaluators.  More advice and examples.

An essay example Helen really likes! Just in case you wonder what I think is good writing...

Evaluation

Your College Essay will be evaluated on the following criteria:

- Required content (topic choice, evidence of pre-writing, thorough response) (50%)

  1. -Essay is well-organized/crafted; good flow (20%)

  2. -Essay demonstrates creativity and originality (20%)

- Absence of any punctuation, grammar, or spelling errors (10%)

 

Help

If you have questions about this assignment, send them to haberman@4j.lane.edu.