A Paper on the Aphorism: Action Speaks Louder than Words

ENGLISH 101: NARRATIVE APHORISM ESSAY

Purpose: This writing assignment is designed to allow you to practice developing a central idea by using relevant and specific details to explain and illustrate the truth (or untruth) of an aphorism of your choice. A great deal of time will be devoted to practicing writing process, using concrete and specific details to help your reader visualize your ideas, and revising a draft to make it more effective. Finally, this assignment will give you experience in considering both audience and purpose: who could gain from reading this essay and what might they gain? Essay in first person writing.

Task: Write an essay that describes a personal experience that illustrates the truth/untruth or value of the aphorism you select. The bulk of the essay should be devoted to a narrative in which you describe the experience or incident that demonstrates the truth/untruth of the aphorism. The introduction should draw the reader in—get the readers attention or give them a reason to continue reading. The conclusion should remind the reader about what you, the author, want them to come away with after reading the essay
Keep in mind the necessity to allow your audience to visualize the experience and understand the relationship between the experience and the aphorism.

Guidelines:
• The essay must have a clear central point/thesis The central point must be adequately supported with relevant and
specific details
• Organizational strategy must be appropriate to the writing situation (tip:
chronological order of events will most likely work best for this
assignment)
• Minimal errors in grammar punctuation and spelling
• At least 2 typed, double-spaced pages

Steps to Complete Aphorism Essay: You will use the writing process described in the reading assignments posted in Week 1.
Initial Steps:
• Decide on aphorism and the event or experience and its relevance to the aphorism
• Pre-writing/planning: These strategies are discussed in your prior reading assignments for Week 1.
o If you scroll down, you will see a document labeled “Planning for Aphorism Essay. This is a great way for you start gathering the relevant details you want to include your essay.
o It is simply an exercise that allows you to explore and record your ideas to include in the essay.
• Consider what you believe is the purpose of your essay and who might be an appropriate audience


PLANNING FOR APHORISM ESSAY (NARRATIVE)
Reporter’s Questions
Since this is a descriptive narrative in which you must develop a central idea/thesis in a meaningful way (purpose & audience), it may be useful to begin writing down important features relevant to the event that support the aphorism. A simple way to begin accumulating ideas to include in the essay is to use the “reporter’s questions”: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Keep in mind, however, that there could be more than one answer or response to each of these questions. Furthermore, be open to the notion that once you begin asking and answering these questions even more ideas may occur to you. I would recommend that you make note of all ideas that you have as you engage in this prewriting exercise.
Who? (people who were involved or relevant to the experience)
What? (what happened, what did you learn, what caused the incident, of what value is the experience)
When? (when did the experience take place, you age, year, season, time)
Where? (setting, place)
Why? (why is the experience memorable/significant, why should others read about it, why, why does the aphorism relate to the incident)
How? (how did it change you, how does the aphorism fit the experience, how should others behave given a similar experience, how can the readers gain from this narrative)