Premium Essay

Personal Narrative: My Development As A Writer

Submitted By
Words 375
Pages 2
Over the course of the semester I personally feel that I have developed as a writer.
Throughout the essays I wrote, there is a common pattern of errors I made, ranging from poor choice of words to poor sentence structure. Overall I feel my biggest weakness in writing is putting my thoughts into words and being able to clearly express my ideas. I often find myself thinking one thing, but writing it with poor choices of words. After looking through all of the revisions, I do feel I have a better grasp as to tieing to my ideas together and clearly expressing the points I am trying to get across. In the future I need to spend more time in the editing process, making sure that my sentences are structured properly and flow well.
At

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

African Literature

...erian novelJournal of Education and Practice ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol 2, No 4, 2011 www.iiste.org A Study on Gender Consciousness in Nigerian Autobiographical Narratives and Power of the Interview Ogunyemi, Christopher Babatunde Department of English, College of Humanities, Joseph Ayo Babalola University PMB 5006 Ilesa 233001 Osun State, Nigeria. bbcoguns2@yahoo.se Akindutire, Isaac Olusola Department of Physical and Health Education, Faculty of Education University of Ado Ekiti Ado Ekiti. Ekiti State, Nigeria ioakindutire@yahoo.com Adelakun, Ojo Johnson Department of Economics, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, PMB 5006 Ilesa 233001, Osun State, Nigeria joadelakun@yahoo.co.uk Abstract The study explores some self-created metaphors in male autobiographical writings in Nigeria. It visualizes the negation of female gender in art. The paper investigates the dichotomy of language, the use of irony and situational metaphors to displace conventional ones; it blends theories with critical evaluation of discourse. The research uses empirical methods in solving hypothetical questions with the use of extensive and relatively unstructured interviews. It examines the interviews of twenty five people independently, these people include: University lecturers, students, administrative and technical staff. The work analyzes concurrently their interview testimonies to search for congruence. Data analysis begins with a detailed microanalysis in which emergent concepts...

Words: 8721 - Pages: 35

Free Essay

Shards of Memories, Fragments of Sorrows: Mothertongue Transforming Spaces Occupied by Women in South Africa Through Theatre

...Africa through Theatre This paper sets out to explore how processes of theatre making employed by The Mothertongue project, provide spaces for women to remap their personal narratives. Mothertongue works from the premise that the development and subsequent performance of stories in theatrical processes affords women the opportunity to re-write and remap their personal narratives and in so doing insert their voices into the landscape of South African Theatre. In an attempt to redress the gender imbalances and androcentricism prevalent in post-apartheid theatre, this paper speaks to the relationship between theatre, liminality and communitas. I am interested in unpacking how collaborative processes of theatre-making provide spaces for women to remap their personal narratives. Remapping in this instance refers to processes of transforming lived experience through story. I address how, through engaging in ritual activities that are central to the stories performed, actors, audiences and the owners of the source stories are invited to physically participate in remapping and transforming lived experience. Linked to this is the choice of form(s) and how this affects or impacts on the performed stories as well as on the construction of performed rituals and ultimately on the processes of remapping personal narratives. I focus specifically on Mothertongue’s 2004 production, Uhambo: pieces of a dream. The production was an integration of theatre and visual art in the form of performances...

Words: 7672 - Pages: 31

Free Essay

Accomplishment

...achievement and how you were able to add value to your organization. — Johnson The goal in answering this kind of question is to analyze, rather than summarize, an achievement. This advice is particularly true if you're discussing an accomplishment that is listed elsewhere on the application. Your readers want to gain insight into your character, not read a factual summary of what occurred. Here are some guiding principles to use in constructing your answer: (1) Choose something that's meaningful to you. Some applicants feel obligated to choose the most objectively impressive accomplishments. You should write about something that has personal significance, even if you weren't formally recognized for it. What matters is that you write passionately and insightfully about your subject. Unless otherwise specified, you should feel free to draw on academic, personal, or professional successes. (2) Focus on details about the process. Show the reader through concrete details how you achieved what you did. If you want to discuss a grade you earned in a particularly challenging class, show us how you mastered the material. For example, describe creative strategies you used; don't rely on clichés like "I succeeded through hard work."http://www.free-essay-writing-topics.com/index.php?page=mba-application-accomplishment-questions...

Words: 1811 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Slavery Narratives

...Describe the genre of Slave Narrative in his essentials on the basis of an example. What was the role of the genre for the abolitionist movement? Anti-slavery literature was very important for the abolitionists` fight against slavery. The Slave Narratives took a special importance because of the fact that slaves reported from the personal perspective. They described autobiographically how the life in captivity looked like. Consequently, they disputed the description of slave keeper, which were played down and romanticized. Frederick Douglass, one of the former slaves, wrote his story on his own, whereas some who couldn´t write and read (who were illiterate), dictated their stories to abolitionists. Those wrote and published these stories. Moreover, the Slave Narratives always were authenticated in preface and epilogues from whiteness. In the following part, I will quote many a time from the autobiography of the mentioned Frederick Douglass‘ “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass“ “Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder. It required extraordinary barbarity on the part of an overseer to affect him. He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slaveholding. He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers...

Words: 1435 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

The Narrative Art of the Great Gatsby

...The Narrative Art of The Great Gatsby Introduction The Great Gatsby was written in 1925. The author, Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is one of the most outstanding writers in America. As a member of the “lost generation”, Fitzgerald made the short life of Gatsby epitome of the rise, boom and decline of the “American Dream” in “Jazz Age”. This novel shows us unusually rich literary and aesthetic connotation is has by its unique narrative perspective, the ups and downs of plot, superb accurate language, various rhetorical devices and vivid character images. To some extent, the reason why The Great Gatsby can become a famous classic work is that the author uses extraordinary narrative techniques in it. All the techniques are employed skillfully by Fitzgerald. The study of narrative art in this work has been highlighted in the research area in these years. Zhang Jinfeng(2001) analyzes the role of Nick in the novel from the its structure, themes and other aspects. Cheng Xilin(2009) uses the spatial narrative theory to discussed the space narrative art in The Great Gatsby from three aspects: the geography space, social space and the text space. Xiao Dongbo(2009) starts with the analysis on author and characters and expound the connotation of "American dream" and profoundly reveals the historical process of the formation, development and burst of the "American dream". Shang Guanghui(2011) analyzes The Great Gatsby from the narrators of the role and argues that the communication...

Words: 5017 - Pages: 21

Free Essay

African American Literature

...because these factors contribute and influence an author’s point of view as well as each author’s unique voice and message depending on the time period. Harriet A. Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is a slave narrative. The literary conventions of the slave narrative define the work. Slave narratives echo biblical stories that often reflect persecuted groups attempting to escape to freedom. Jacobs’s piece details her struggle to escape her master from sexual abuse. Vivanco (2003), “The process from sin to rebirth in spiritual autobiographies is paralleled by the process from slavery to freedom in slave narratives. Slaves experience a change from chattel, enduring suffering, to man or woman living in the Promised Land, the North,” (para. 5). Further distinction of the slave narrative is how authors shape the story, often chronologically. Slave narratives illustrate an author’s personal experience though many share common themes of extreme violence/abuse and racial prejudice. Slave narratives are essentially autobiography, which offer an author’s own experience for readers to find meaning. Jacobs’s female voice sheds light on issues affecting slave women; sexual abuse and losing children to death or slave trade particularly. Jacobs’s narrative is a prime example of how different slave women were treated as opposed to men. Both...

Words: 1974 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Studies in Professional Life and Work

...STUDIES IN PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND WORK Mike Hayler University of Brighton, UK Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education examines the professional life and work of teacher educators. In adopting an autoethnographic and life-history approach, Mike Hayler develops a theoretically informed discussion of how the professional identity of teacher educators is both formed and represented by narratives of experience. The book draws upon analytic autoethnography and life-history methods to explore the ways in which teacher educators construct and develop their conceptions and practice by engaging with memory through narrative, in order to negotiate some of the ambivalences and uncertainties of their work. The author’s own story of learning, embedded within the text, was shared with other teacher-educators, who following interviews wrote self-narratives around themes which emerged from discussion. The focus for analysis develops from how professional identity and pedagogy are influenced by changing perceptions and self-narratives of life and work experiences, and how this may influence professional culture, content and practice in this area. Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education Autoethnography, Self-Narrative and Teacher Education STUDIES IN PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND WORK The book includes an evaluation of how using this approach has allowed the author to investigate both the subject and method of the research with implications for ...

Words: 18203 - Pages: 73

Premium Essay

O Henry

...English Overseas English zwwx@overseaen.com 2011 8 http://www.overseaen.com Tel:+86-551-5690811 5690812 Narrative Patterns Research in O Henry's Novels · , ( , 332000 ) Abstract:O· Henry is living in the time when novelists are in the great pursuit of narrative pattern research. Hence his works is inevitably Henry's novels in my opinion is also marvelous for his outinfluenced. Beside his humorous language, surprising ends and expressions, O· standing narrative patterns arrangement. In this article, a research will be conducted onto his narrative pattern in the aspects of narrative perspectives, narrative space and narrative time. By this research, more information and references is intended to obtain for the further study on this area. Key words: Narrative Pattern; Narrative Perspective; Narrative Space; Narrative Time : I02 :A :1009-5039(2011)08-0350-03 1 Introduction · O Henry (1862-1910), as one of the most famous writers of short story in American literature history, or even around the whole world. Plus his contribution in narrative patterns research, he is also honored as the one of the founders of American short story history. Great praises, as well as critics are raised from the world onto his short novels which are well known for the humor, vivid spots description, surprising endings. However, in this article we will pay attention to the narrative patterns in O· Henry's novels, the area of which seldom calls focus and research from the American literature...

Words: 3019 - Pages: 13

Free Essay

Minimalist Connotations in 'Fight Club'

...Minimalist contentions: Fight Club Introduction Chuck Palahniuk is one of the most influential American fiction writers who emerged in the 1990s. His debut novel, Fight Club (hereafter: FC) reached cult status after the film adaptation by David Fincher was released in 1999, and widespread and divided critical reception was soon to follow. Much of the current debate about Fight Club focuses on the political implications of the text, but most often recourse to it by way of referencing the film. These arguments usually question or celebrate the transgressive potentials of the book (Giroux; Mendieta), or address issues of masculinity brought into the fore by their literary and cinematic representations emergent in the same decade (Tuss; Friday). However, few, if any, have addressed the literary aspirations of the text and its author. Although none of the approaches to the thematic concerns of Fight Club are unjustified, in the argument that follows I will suggest that conclusions drawn and critical judgments passed have been hasty, and not only failed to take into account the formal aspects of story-telling, but that the narrative features of Palahniuk’s text have largely went unexplored, and constitute a blind spot of the reception. Critics condemning or acclaiming the novel, and, indeed, many a cultic reader of Palahniuk ignored Fight Club as a literary narrative, and have inadvertently been repeating the catchphrases of the text, either reinforcing or trying to undermine what...

Words: 7514 - Pages: 31

Premium Essay

Gay and Lesbian Theme

...University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2009 Peeking Out: A Textual Analysis of Heteronormative Images in Prime-Time Television D. Renee Smith University of Tennessee - Knoxville, drsmith@utk.edu Recommended Citation Smith, D. Renee, "Peeking Out: A Textual Analysis of Heteronormative Images in Prime-Time Television. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2009. http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/10 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact trace@utk.edu. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by D. Renee Smith entitled "Peeking Out: A Textual Analysis of Heteronormative Images in Prime-Time Television." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication and Information. Catherine A. Luther, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Michelle T. Violanti, Suzanne Kurth, Benjamin J. Bates Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice...

Words: 33344 - Pages: 134

Free Essay

Reel Women

...material and great stories for women to work with?” These questions will be answered through a compilation of archive footage and interviews with female students to understand how younger women aspiring in strong career paths feel about it – and also women that are already in the industry who experience the inequality first hand. This leads to my first contributor which will introduce narrative and to give the audience a strong storyline to follow: Carla Lacey is 46. She has recently graduated from Manchester University and wants to excel in her dream of becoming a successful screenwriter. She grew up always wanting to be a singer but suffered with heavy bipolar, restricting her from following her dreams. Carla wrote poems and two novels which are published in books and on the internet – with this not being good enough for her she researched into screenwriting and now aspires to work with many other female screenwriters in the industry. She is passionate about the empowerment of women and wants more material for women to work with in the industry as she feels there isn’t enough. (Carla and her two daughters on her graduation) In my film, Carla will travel to uptown New York to find herself and to involve her skills in the screenwriting lab funded and supported by American actress and three-time academy award winner ‘Meryl Streep.’ Meryl made a significant contribution to a new initiative nurturing female screenwriters over the age of 40. * Run by New...

Words: 1708 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Amitav Ghosh's Glass Palace: a Critical Study

... which colonialism maintained power was by writing its own histories. These histories were conceived within grand narratives of progress, expansion and enlightenment. Inevitably, they both systematically and accidentally recast, ignored and silenced other competing histories from the places and cultures with which they came into contact. Post - colonial studies has consequently set itself the task of examining and challenging those narratives, developing other ways of telling histories, and re – evaluating other ways of remembering. If post- colonial literature means the interrogation of the subaltern to the “center”, no other book is representative of the post-colonial theory and practice as Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace. The novel won the 2001 Frankfurt e – book Award of fifty thousand dollars Grand Prize for Fiction. Abreast of the contemporary academic debates about colonialism and culture, Ghosh is well-equipped in challenging the institutionalized perspectives of the colonial history. He is certain of his human and historical insights. He belongs to a nation that was once conquered and ruled by Imperial Britain. Ghosh in “The Anglophone Empire” (2003) says: “I am Indian and my history has been shaped as much by the institution of this empire as a long tradition of struggle against them”...

Words: 3415 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Awareness

... Between Inner Life and Collective Memory. A Methodological Reflection. François-Xavier Lavenne, Virginie Renard, François Tollet1 Introduction In the writing of their fictional works, novelists often have to reflect on the functioning of memory, for memory lies at the heart both of inner life and of human experience in general. It is indeed in the works of writers such as Marcel Proust or Jorge Luis Borges that the best exemplifications of the subjective experience of memory are to be found. However, from a strictly mnemonic point of view, literature provides more than a means of reflecting on memory: it is also the site of the rebirth and construction of individual and collective memories, which can then serve as a foundation for the writing of fictional works. Creative writing has a meiotic function and is as such a powerful tool capable of rescuing memories from oblivion and bringing them back to life, thus reconciling the past with the present. The present article seeks to bring to bear new perspectives on the relationship between a novelist’s personal memories, collective memory, and the fictional narratives partially inspired by these two types of memory. In the first section we briefly examine the distinction traditionally made between individual memory and collective memory, which we then try to reconcile so as to arrive at an approach to the mnemonic phenomenon that best fits the needs of literary scholars. In the second section we challenge the conventional distinction...

Words: 6551 - Pages: 27

Premium Essay

Lerning Letter

...Learning Letter. Through out the course of the semester, I have distinguished my strengths in writing apart from my areas of improvement. There have been various strategies used to come to this conclusion, the most important of them being able to discuss and revise in depth the context of my own work. Often times, I rush to get assignments completed that I lack the simple yet forgotten tactic of rereading my work. Maneuvering with words and ideas within our circle has become an efficient way of improving the way we elaborate and expand in our writing. College courses are over-all quite the transition from the typical high school setting, I have noticed that here the instructor is a lot more open to our feedback and the essays have less of a structure giving the student the freedom to write in a way they feel comfortable sharing with their classmates. I had never considered myself to be an avid writer, as described in my narrative essay. I was well aware of the struggle a college English course would bring, I noticed that these past couple of weeks haven’t been easy but I like the direction I’m heading. The way my writing has developed in this short amount of time has been tremendous progress as opposed to the previous strategies I was being imposed to. Expanding my ideas has perhaps been what I have battled with the most, in exchange; I believe being in groups has helped enormously. This gives each one of us the opportunity to give our own perspective as well as considering...

Words: 956 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

How Does Jane Eyre Stand The Test Of Time

...Novels are criticized to see if the author creates a book that will stand the test of time. Jane Eyre and The Joy Luck Club both connect the maternal figure and use the narrative language to tell the stories of the women in both novels. Charlotte Brontë has created a novel that is referenced often and allows coming of age novels to spring-board off of her beliefs. Amy Tan’s coming of age novel could stand to be the test of time and can be modeled after Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre not only stands the test of time by showing the importance of women in society through Jane, but also first person to iterate the importance that Charlotte Brontë draws the reader into the narrator’s feelings. The Joy Luck Club uses the narrative language which can stand the test of time for the future similarly to Jane Eyre and develop characters through first person. Often times Brontë does not mention Jane’s mother, however, when she does elaborate on a...

Words: 1506 - Pages: 7