Length: 6 pages (double-spaced), first version; 8 pages, revised version
Due Dates
Prewrite: Intro/Proposal: Due before session 24. Write two paragraphs: a one-paragraph plan/proposal for your essay (describing theme/topic) and one paragraph from the essay (this paragraph can be the introduction, but need not be). Email to your peer review group. Review for discussion during session 24. (No written review needed.)
Version 1: Due before session 25 (at least 6 pages) with cover letter.
Version 1 Workshop: Session 25. Bring 4 copies to class for in-class reading.
Revision: Due session 26 (approx. 8 pages).
ASSIGNMENT: The fourth essay assignment is open topic. You may decide to write a piece that stems from your previous pieces or choose a completely different topic/theme. As a writer, you may choose to (a) craft a narrative based in your own experience or (b) address a social or psychological issue in the MIT community, your home community, or another country in which you have grown up or lived for some time. If you choose (b), consider the ways in which the styles of the authors we are reading in the last section of the course influence your writing.
As you craft the essay, consider various options in narration discussed in class and in oral presentations, such as using the letter/epistolary format (public or personal), writing in stream of consciousness style, or including hybrid material such as drawings, excerpts from text messages, journals/diaries, etc. There are many options in addressing a specific theme. For example, you might write about performance anxiety through the lens of a personal narrative, a public letter addressing a specific community (such as the MIT community), or a public advice column responding to an actual or fictive individual.
