The Learning Experience
Modes of Rhetoric:
Primary: Process analysis
Secondary: Narration; description; exemplification
Purpose:
Explain to your audience how you learned something about yourself by showing the process and the circumstances that lead to the lesson. Create a memoir with a clear thesis.
Examples (Two Types of Learning Experience Essays: A and B)
(A)Three or more steps/body elements:
(See sample essay below for an example.)
(B)One Major Lesson/Event:
A possible thesis on the same topic as my sample essay: "In the summer of nineteen eighty-five, I attended a Rush concert that made me realize I needed to be a musician. As the concert progressed, my went from vague ideas about my interest in music to a real conviction to pursuing it as a career."
(For a sample essay, see "All Over But The Shoutin'," p 153 in your text.)
(Note: The thesis comes first, but the “forecasting sentence,” instead of being a sectioned presentation of steps, sets up the progress of the essay to come: it will be a narrative demonstration of my thought process that night.)
Structure:
Essay type A: a chronological structure usually works – first, second, third event leading to the lesson (See Sedaris).
Essay type B: a little more freedom here; describe the event with constant attention to your thought process throughout (See Tillman).
For Depth:
Ø Always be sure, throughout, to explain the significance of the event(s) to your reader -- comment.
Ø Your “thesis+” in the conclusion could contain a speculation on what this all says about you as a person.
Ø How your perspective changed is your focus – stick to it; show, don’t tell.
Ø Be descriptive, clear and analytical. Get to the bottom of your own mind!
Ø Remember: no one can understand you until you can understand yourself.
Example:
Primary: Process analysis
Secondary: Narration; description; exemplification
Purpose:
Explain to your audience how you learned something about yourself by showing the process and the circumstances that lead to the lesson. Create a memoir with a clear thesis.
Examples (Two Types of Learning Experience Essays: A and B)
(A)Three or more steps/body elements:
(See sample essay below for an example.)
(B)One Major Lesson/Event:
A possible thesis on the same topic as my sample essay: "In the summer of nineteen eighty-five, I attended a Rush concert that made me realize I needed to be a musician. As the concert progressed, my went from vague ideas about my interest in music to a real conviction to pursuing it as a career."
(For a sample essay, see "All Over But The Shoutin'," p 153 in your text.)
(Note: The thesis comes first, but the “forecasting sentence,” instead of being a sectioned presentation of steps, sets up the progress of the essay to come: it will be a narrative demonstration of my thought process that night.)
Structure:
Essay type A: a chronological structure usually works – first, second, third event leading to the lesson (See Sedaris).
Essay type B: a little more freedom here; describe the event with constant attention to your thought process throughout (See Tillman).
For Depth:
Ø Always be sure, throughout, to explain the significance of the event(s) to your reader -- comment.
Ø Your “thesis+” in the conclusion could contain a speculation on what this all says about you as a person.
Ø How your perspective changed is your focus – stick to it; show, don’t tell.
Ø Be descriptive, clear and analytical. Get to the bottom of your own mind!
Ø Remember: no one can understand you until you can understand yourself.
Example: