Due Session 7:
These short presentations (15 min.) will be done in pairs and focus on issues in essay writing. Our goal in these presentations is to help you improve your skills in developing, organizing and presenting material orally to audiences. Often writers find that they make significant progress on a challenging writing issue if they do an oral presentation and teach other students about the issue.
Students should submit a short (1 pg.) proposal, listing TWO possible topics and your reasons for choosing them, and TWO possible dates. Open dates: any date on the calendar that is not a workshop date. If you have a partner, you can both submit the same proposal. If you do not have a partner, I will choose one for you. The topic list below aims to inspire you, not limit you.
A week after your presentation, you should submit a self-evaluation.
Possible Topics:
Confronting “Writer’s Block”/Procrastination
Dealing with the Inner Critic
The Assets and Challenges of Writing as a Bi/Multilingual Writer
Neurodiversity and Writing
The Challenges of Writing with or About a Disability
Writing as an “Undercover” Journalist
Choosing to Write Pseudonymously/The Art of Writerly Masking
Including Backstory/Moving Through Time
Using experimental essay forms- e.g., letter, hybrid form
Truth and Memory- addressing the question of being a partly reliable narrator
Writing about Trauma
Writing out of One’s Personal Comfort Zone
Engaging with Controversial Social Issues
Legal Challenges for Social Issue Writers
Writing Meaningful Dialogue and Internal Monologue
Describing Settings
Using Epigraphs
Crafting Introductions Crafting Conclusions
Avoiding Clichés
Choosing Similes and Metaphors (simple and extended)
Voice: How we define it, how it relates to style or point of view
Narrative point of view (and changing point of view)
Using sources in the personal essay
Using stream-of-consciousness style in a narrative
