ENGL 308 • Spring 2018 • 1

ENGLISH 308
Spring 2018
MWF 1-1:50 / MH 312
The Artof Writing
Nonfiction

Dr. Sheila Liming Office hours:
sheila.liming@und.edu MWF 2 – 4 p.m.,
701-777-2782 and by appointment
Office: Merrifield 1B

Course Description

“There is no such thing as truth,” the writer Jeanette Winterson observes. “There is only
art and lies.” The term nonfiction encompasses a variety of writing styles and genres, but it is
defined by its connection to a single concept: the truth. In this course, we’ll survey the ways that
writers go about getting at “the truth.” We’ll read examples of nonfiction writing, which can
include everything from journalism and investigative reporting to memoirs and personal essays.
But the vast majority of our time will be spent exercising and experimenting with modes of true,
or truthful, storytelling. At heart, our goal will be to gauge and understand the moves that writers
make when they want to convince their audience that something is true. We’ll practice
researching and gathering evidence, constructing well-reasoned arguments, reflecting on true
stories about the world that we live in, and representing the truth of our own lives via personal
essays and creative nonfiction writing.

Our studies throughout the semester will be underscored by critical investigations of

“truth” and “lies,” which will form the thematic bedrock of this class. We’ll begin by reading
authors who rose to fame in connection with the movement known as New Journalism, including
the notorious Hunter S. Thompson and also Truman Capote. Capote’s landmark “nonfiction
novel,” In Cold Blood (1966), offers a narrative account of a true event, but it has been criticized
for its stylized approach to the telling of real facts. We will expand upon these studies by reading
more contemporary works of creative nonfiction in preparation for the 2018 UND Writers
Conference, the theme of which is, appropriately enough, “Truth & Lies.”

This class is discussion-oriented and will require active participation in addition to

regular reading, writing assignments, and in-class workshops.

Course Objectives

• To provide students with an introduction to nonfiction writing – meaning both the process of
creating such writing, and the wider fields / genres of creative nonfiction.

• To allow students to practice reading and writing closely, processes that necessitate paying
attention to detail, critical reflection, and creative interpretation.

• To professionalize and train students for advanced work in literary arts curricula.
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• To impart processes of close reading, close writing, and attentive research as preparation for
advanced coursework in literary studies, or in preparation for professional work in fields like
writing, editing, and publishing (among others).

• To encourage students’ development of multimodal thinking in both the consumption and

construction of texts through written assignments and digital projects.

• To establish standards for academic discourse and participation through in-class discussion, peer
evaluation, peer review / workshopping, and collaborative assignments.

• To model processes of critical thinking and reasoned argumentation.

• To communicate the stakes of critical thinking and reasoned argumentation, both with regards
to literary studies and with regards to civic responsibility, social engagement, and cultural
appreciation.

Required Texts
[to be purchased]

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. Vintage, (1966) 1993

Grann, David. Killers of the Flower Moon. Doubleday, 2017.

Gutkind, Lee. You Can’t Make This Stuff Up. DaCapo, 2012.

Additional Texts
[provided by the instructor / available on Blackboard]

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “Hope and the Artist.” The Atlantic, 23 November 2015. Atlantic.com, 30
December 2017.

Cole, Teju. “Blind Spot.” Known and Strange Things. Random House, 2016: pp. 234-250.

Coviello, Peter. “Our Noise.” Avidly, 18 April 2016. Avidly.lareviewofbooks.com, 30 December

2017.

Didion, Joan. “On Keeping a Notebook.” Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Farrar, Straus, &
Giroux, (1968) 2008: pp. 131 – 140.

---. “Why I Write.” New York Times, 5 December 1976. NYTimes.com, 30 December 2017.

Dillard, Annie. “Total Eclipse.” Teaching a Stone to Talk. Harper and Row, 1982: pp. 84 – 104.

Greenstone, Dan. “My Little Free Library War.” Salon, 26 December 2012. Salon.com, 30
December 2017.

James, Marlon. “From Jamaica to Minnesota to Myself.” New York Times Magazine, 15 March
 ENGL 308 • Spring 2018 • 3

2015. NYTimes.com, 20 December 2017.

Jamison, Leslie. “The Empathy Exams.” The Empathy Exams. Graywolf, 2014: pp. 1 – 26.

O’Gieblyn, Meghan. “Dispatch from Flyover Country.” Threepenny Review, Summer 2016.
Threepennyreview.com, 30 December 2017.

Roiland, Josh. “It Was Like Nothing Else in My Life Up to Now.” Longreads, 15 May 2017.
Longreads.com, 30 December 2017.

Thompson, Hunter S. Selections from The Great Shark Hunt. Simon and Schuster, (1979) 2003.

Wallace, David Foster. “A Ticket to the Fair.” Harper’s, 24 July 1994, pp. 35 – 54. Harpers.org,
30 December 2017.

Assignments and Grading

3 Question Quizzes [3 pts. each]

Class Notes [3 pts.]
UND Writers Conference Wiki Response [3 pts.]

Assignment I: Setting the Scene (essay) [25 pts.]

Assignment II: Investigative Essay

Pitch [10 points]
Draft [25 pts.]
Final Essay

Assignment III: Personal Essay

Pitch [10 points]
Draft [25 pts.]
Final Essay

Course Participation
Midsemester [15 pts.]
Final [15 pts.]

ALL DRAFTS OF ALL MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS (I-III) must be submitted in order for a
student to receive a passing grade in this course.

[See Assignment Sheets, included at the end of this syllabus, for additional instructions.]
 ENGL 308 • Spring 2018 • 4

3 Question Quizzes
On most days where reading is assigned or due, we will begin class with a quick “3 Question
Quiz.” These quizzes are designed to get you thinking about a particular aspect of the reading
and so may be comprised of short answer, multiple choice, or true / false questions. They are
worth a maximum of 3 points (1 point / question) and will be made available on Blackboard.

If you are absent from class, that does not mean that you are excused from completing that day’s
3 Question Quiz, which will become available on Blackboard at the same time that class begins
each day. You will instead be expected to complete the quiz on your own and will have until the
end of the day on which it was assigned to do so. After that, you will not be able to access the
quiz on Blackboard.

The 3 - 2 - 1 Grading Scale

Most daily assignments (in-class exercises and responses, “3 Question Quizzes”) will be graded
on a 3-2-1 grading scale.

Here’s what that means:

3 Excellent Work
The student appears to have a firm understanding of both concepts and keywords,
and the writing is polished, clear, and comprehensible.

2 Good Work, But Could Be Improved

The student demonstrates a general, if perhaps not nuanced or detailed,
understanding of both the concepts and keywords and the writing is satisfactory.
The student may need to offer more detailed explanations of concepts / keywords,
or to hone aspects of grammar and syntax in their writing.

1 Needs Improvement
The student completed the assignment but has not demonstrated understanding of
the keywords or concepts, or else the writing is poor.

NOTE: I am always happy to talk to you and to offer additional explanation about the scores that
you receive on assignments. Please feel free to visit my office during my regularly scheduled
office hours if you would like to know more about a score that you received.

Course Policies and Procedures

Attendance
Since this is a small discussion class, attendance is mandatory. You are allowed four absences
without penalty— following your fifth absence, your grade in the class will begin to drop by a
half-a-letter grade per absence (5% of your total grade). Plan ahead if you think you might miss
class for religious holidays or for other scheduled events. I do not distinguish between excused
and unexcused absences. You are allowed four absences – be they excused or unexcused –
 ENGL 308 • Spring 2018 • 5

before your grade begins to decrease, unless other special arrangements have been made with
me ahead of time.

If you have extenuating circumstances significantly affecting your attendance throughout the
semester (such as an illness or a family emergency), it is your responsibility to notify me about
your situation and obtain authoritative documentation to excuse your absences (either from a
Dean or from your advisor). If you miss more than the allotted days due to your situation, we
will discuss whether it’s prudent for you to continue in the course.

If you miss class, you are responsible to contact your peers for materials and information you’ve
missed. Do not email me asking whether or not there was a daily assignment. Missing a class is
no excuse for not completing the homework. Likewise, I expect you to have read the assigned
readings and to be ready to discuss them, even if you were absent from class the day before.

Finally, you are responsible for keeping track of your own absences. A sign-in sheet will be used
to record and verify daily attendance. You may check in with me at any time to confirm the
numbers of absences you have accrued in the course.

Late Arrival
Arrive on time. You will not receive an A in this class if you do not arrive on time. Lateness not
only disrupts the class but also demonstrates disrespect for your peers and for your instructor.
For every two days you are late to class, you will be marked for one absence. If you are more
than 15 minutes late to class, you will be marked absent for that day.

Class Participation
Since this is a discussion course, it’s important that you participate in class. Participation, which
includes both classroom involvement and physically being in class, makes up roughly 15% of
your total grade. While your class participation grade falls to my discretion, there are several
steps you can take to ensure you achieve a satisfactory grade:

• Come to class prepared, with a hard (physical) copy of the required reading.
Since laptop use is prohibited in class, it is essential that you print out and bring a
copy of the required reading to class every day (or, in the case of the NIL,
bring that to class). Failure to do so will result in the loss participation
points; additionally, failure to do so may affect any in-class writing assignments,
quizzes, or exercises that require the text in question.

• Be prepared to participate; plan to participate. You should anticipate contributing

to course discussions on a regular basis. This means that you must both be
prepared (having done the required assignment or reading) and must formulate
and offer contributions to the discussion on a regular basis (at least once a
week).

• Be courteous toward your peers. When you raise disagreement in class – either
with the instructor or with your peers – try to do so respectfully. Articulate your
 ENGL 308 • Spring 2018 • 6

reasons and grounds for disagreement and direct them towards an idea, rather
than a person. Failure to show adequate respect towards your peers or towards
your instructor may result in your being asked to leave the classroom. Such a
request will, in turn, affect my assessment of your class participation, and
possibly your attendance record as well.

Scholastic Honesty, Plagiarism, and Cheating

At the University of North Dakota, we believe in the excellence of our students and in the
integrity of our academic programs. We also believe that your good ideas become better when
you test them against the ideas of others. So for this course, feel free to discuss your ideas about
the major writing assignments with other students. Collaborating on question/answer homework
assignments or open-book quizzes, however, is not acceptable; these types of assignments are
designed for me, your instructor, to monitor how you are handling specific parts of the course
material. Blatantly taking someone else’s words, ideas or concepts, and using them without
citing your source is plagiarism. So is using another student’s essay, or part of his or her essay,
as your own. In the world of writing (academic writing especially), this is a serious crime, and is
treated as such. Anyone who uses non-documented material from another source, including
online sources, will receive a failing grade for the entire course and will be referred to university
administrators for possible further disciplinary action.

These policies are concurrent with the University of North Dakota’s policies regarding scholastic
honesty. For more information about these policies, please refer to the “Scholastic Honesty”
section of the Undergraduate Academic Information materials available online at und.edu.

All final versions of essay assignments will be submitted to Blackboard, which runs digital
comparisons of submitted assignments in order to identify possible cases of plagiarism. For this
reason, you must submit final versions of papers to Blackboard. You may additionally submit
versions of your assignment through other electronic means (via email, for instance), but if you
fail to submit your paper to Blackboard, it will be treated as late, and lateness penalties will
apply.

In this course, we will talk about the differences between plagiarism and the misuse of sources. If
you have any questions regarding the appropriate use of source material (readings, critical
opinions, or supplemental research), please feel free to ask me. In my experience, those students
who plagiarize are also those who feel overwhelmed by the assignment and thus compelled to
use someone else’s work as their own. If you get so frustrated with an assignment that you feel
like your only option is to plagiarize, come see me. My role as a teacher is to help students, not
to punish them— please use me as a resource to help you write, brainstorm, or work out
assignments and essays.

General Guidelines for Submitting Assignments

All papers submitted in this class – including short, type-written homework responses (“Position
Papers”) – must comply with Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines and citation
rules. This means that you must provide MLA compliant documentation for the use of additional
sources, including:
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• a Works Cited page, providing correct bibliographic information for each source
cited, quoted, or consulted in your paper

• correct in-text citations for each source cited, quoted, or consulted in your paper

If you are unsure of MLA guidelines, I suggest you either consult or purchase a current
MLA Style Guide, or consult the following online source:

The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University

website à http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

In addition to proper citation,

• All papers, including short response assignments, must be typed, double-spaced, with 1”
margins.

• All papers and assignment that are completed as homework must be

digitally submitted via Blackboard, unless otherwise specified. If a paper is not
submitted to Blackboard on time – regardless of whether or not the student has submitted
the paper in another form – it will be treated as late and lateness penalties will apply.

• Include appropriate headings (author, course, instructor, date) and page numbers.

• Carefully edit and proofread all texts to eliminate problems in grammar, spelling, and
punctuation.

• Digital copies of all final papers must be cleanly edited and readable. This means that
you must remove all digital comments/suggestions, including highlighted or underlined
text, and including all comment balloons.

Assignments that do no meet this criteria will be returned and treated as late submissions.

Deadlines
All written assignments must be submitted on the due date, and missing the class when the
assignment is due doesn’t mean your assignment isn’t late. Turning in an assignment on time is
part of doing the assignment, and late work will be penalized, regardless of how well it’s
executed.

Lateness penalties are as follows:

• Papers and assignments. For every day – that is, every day of the week, and not every
class period – that a paper or homework assignment is due, your final draft will lose two
points.

• Midterm and final papers/projects. For every day that a midterm or final paper/project is
late, you will lose five points.
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• Daily assignments. All late assignments may receive a maximum of half-credit (50%),
regardless of how late they are.

Cell Phones, Laptops, etc.

You are welcome to use your cell phones and laptops in class whenever they prove helpful to
your education. However, if your personal devices become distracting – to either you or to your
peers – you may be asked to leave the classroom. If you are asked to leave the classroom due to
inappropriate use of digital devices, you will be marked absent for the day.

Campus Resources

Learning Disabilities
If you have a learning disability that could impair your progress in this course, please contact
Disability Services. Students are encouraged to register through Disability Services in order to
receive recommendations for learning accommodations.

Disability Services
http://und.edu/disability-services/
McCannel Hall Room 190

We can arrange to accommodate your learning style based on DS recommendations. Please

notify me at the start of the semester if you have specific needs, or if Disability Services has
provided you with a Verification of Needs for Disability Accommodations.

Writing Help
All students are encouraged to take advantage of UND’s Writing Center to receive help in
preparing writing assignments.

To make an appointment or speak with a tutor, visit their website, or the visit the Writing Center
itself.

UND Writing Center

http://und.edu/academics/writing-center/
Merrifield Hall Room 12

Communications

You can reach me via email, office phone, or a note in my mailbox in Merrifield Hall. The best
way to reach me, of course, is through email – I check it frequently and, while I cannot guarantee
an immediate reply, it is certainly the fastest way to get in touch.

If you have questions about the policies of this class, review the syllabus first, and then make
an appointment to speak with me.
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Course Schedule
Wednesday, January 10 Course introduction; review syllabus; assign Class Notes
dates; intake surveys.

Friday, January 12 DUE: Gutkind, “Truth and Fact” (pp. 14-31)

Monday, January 15 NO CLASS: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

UNIT I: Investigative Writing

Wednesday, January 17 Assignment I: Setting the Scene Essay
(see assignment sheet for details)
Submit the electronic version of your essay to Blackboard
as a .doc or .docx (Microsoft Word) file

Discuss / share essays in class (bring one hard copy of

your essay with you to class)

In class: assign CN dates

Friday, January 19 DUE: Capote, Part I (pp. 1-74)

In class: 3 Question Quiz on Capote / Part I

Monday, January 22 CN DUE: Capote, Part II (pp. 75-154)

In class: 3 Question Quiz on Capote / Part II

Wednesday, January 24 CN DUE: Capote, Part III (pp. 159 – 248)

In class: 3 Question Quiz on Capote / Part III

Friday, January 26 CN
DUE: Capote, Part IV (pp. 161 – end)
Finish discussing Capote / journalistic style;
introduce Assignment II: Investigative Essay

Monday, January 29 DUE: Assignment II Pitch

Gutkind, pp. 61 – 82 (sections on “public” writing)
Bring a hard copy of your “pitch” to class and prepare to
share / workshop it

Wednesday, January 31 DUE: Thompson, “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and

CN
Depraved” [BB]
In class: 3 Question Quiz on Thompson

Friday, February 2 DUE: Thompson, “Those Daring Young Men …” [BB]

CN
Discuss Thompson’s writing style / use of detail in class

Monday, February 5 DUE: Assignment II Revised Pitch

 ENGL 308 • Spring 2018 • 10

Gutkind, “How to Read,” etc. sections (pp. 101 – 125)

Bring a hard copy of your revised pitch to class and prepare
to workshop it; talk about strategies for gathering
information and providing description

Wednesday, February 7 CN DUE: Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook” [BB]

Discuss Didion’s writing with reference to New
Journalism, use of “intimate details,” etc.

Friday, February 9 DUE: Dillard, “Total Eclipse” [BB]

CN
Discuss Coates’ use of allusion; compare to Didion, New
Journalism

Monday, February 12 DUE: Assignment II: Investigative Essay

Bring 4 copies of your essay with you to class in addition
to submitting the electronic version to Blackboard.

Wednesday, February 14 Continue to workshop Assignment II essays in class

(bring same hard copies to class again!)

Friday, February 16 CN DUE: Gutkind, “Intimate Details” (pp. 124-134)

Finish workshopping Assignment II essay drafts in class;
talk about how writers use “intimate details”
(bring same hard copies to class again!)

Monday, February 19 NO CLASS: President’s Day

Wednesday, February 21 CN DUE: Assignment II: Investigative Essay (final draft)

Grann, Chapters 1 – 4 (pp. 1-56)
In class: 3 Question Quiz on Grann

Friday, February 23 CN DUE: Grann, Chapters 5 and 6 (pp. 56 – 99)

In class: 3 Question Quiz on Grann

Monday, February 26 CN DUE: Grann, Chapters 8 – 16 (pp. 100 – 170)

In class: 3 Question Quiz on Grann

Wednesday, February 28 DUE: Grann, Chapters 17 – 19 (pp. 171 – 212)

CN
In class: 3 Question Quiz on Grann

Friday, March 2 CN DUE: Grann, Chapters 20 and 21 (pp. 213-239)

In class: 3 Question Quiz on Grann

Monday, March 5 CN
DUE: Grann, Chapters 22 – 26 (finish)
In class: 3 Question Quiz on Grann
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Wednesday, March 7 DUE: Gutkind, “Recreation or Reconstruction?” (pp. 186 –

CN
203)
Discuss Grann’s work with regards to “Reconstruction”

Friday, March 9 CN DUE: Gutkind, “Inner Point of View” (pp. 135 – 185)
à Follow Gutkind’s directions and complete the
highlighting exercise that begins on p. 151 (Exercise 12)

Compare results of highlighting exercise in class

March 10 – 18 NO CLASS: Enjoy your Spring Break!

UNIT II: Personal Writing

Monday, March 19 CN DUE: Jamison, “The Empathy Exams” [BB]
In class: 3 Question Quiz on Jamison

Wednesday, March 21 CN DUE: James, “From Jamaica to Minnesota to Myself” [BB]

Friday, March 23 NO CLASS: UND Writer’s Conference

Monday, March 26 DUE: UND Writer’s Conference Wiki Response

Choose any session of the UND Writer’s Conference that

features a reading by a featured author (i.e. not a workshop
or community event), attend it, and post a 500-word Wiki
response to the conversation / presentation that you
witnessed.

What did the speaker(s) primarily talk about?

What were the main issues, arguments, or points of
contention? What was interesting about this discussion?
What was confusing? etc.

Practice paying attention to “intimate detail”

in your response; describe the scene, the crowd, the
interactions between author and audience in addition to
simply the “content.”

Wednesday, March 28 DUE: Gutkind, “From Personal to Public” (pp. 55 – 60)

Introduce Assignment III: Personal Essay

Friday, March 30 – April 2 NO CLASS

Wednesday, April 4 DUE: Roiland, “It Was Like Nothing Else in my Life …”
CN
[BB]
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Friday, April 6 DUE: Assignment III Pitch

Bring a hard copy of your pitch to class and prepare to
share / workshop it
CN
Monday, April 9 DUE: Coviello, “Our Noise” [BB]
In class: 3 Question Quiz on Coviello

Wednesday, April 11 CN DUE: O’Gieblyn, “Dispatch from Flyover Country” [BB]

Discuss O’Gieblyn’s style in this essay and compare it to
Coviello’s and Roiland’s

Friday, April 13 DUE: Assignment III Revised Pitch

Bring a hard copy of your revised pitch to class; in-class
work on building “scenes” for personal essay writing

Monday, April 16 DUE: Wallace, “A Ticket to the Fair” [BB]

CN In class: 3 Question Quiz on Wallace

Wednesday, April 18 DUE: Greenstone, “My Little Free Library” [BB]

Discuss the use of humor in personal essays

Friday, April 20 In-class time to work on Assignment III drafts

Monday, April 23 DUE: Assignment III: Personal Essay

Bring 4 copies of your essay with you to class in addition
to submitting the electronic version to Blackboard.

Wednesday, April 25 Continue to workshop Assignment III essays in class

(bring same hard copies to class again!)

Friday, April 27 Continue to workshop Assignment III essays in class

(bring same hard copies to class again!)

Monday, April 30 DUE: Didion, “Why I Write” [BB]

In-class time for completing course evals; check in on
revision process for final essays

Wednesday, May 2 DUE: Assignment III: Personal Essay (final)

Course overview and wrap-up

CN = CLASS NOTES
On days that are marked with this symbol, one member of the class will be assigned to take notes on
behalf of the entire class. The class notes should cover the topics we discussed in class and they should be detailed
(i.e. listing specific dates, names, titles of texts mentioned, etc.) Class notes should then be uploaded to Blackboard
as either .pdf or .doc documents under the section labeled “Class Notes.” Each student will be responsible for one
“Class Notes” upload and submitted notes will be graded on the 3-2-1 scale (as per usual).
 ENGL 308 • Spring 2018 • 13

Assignment I: “Setting the Scene” (essay) [25 pts.]

Truman Capote’s “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood, which we’ll be reading for class next week,
was published serially in The New Yorker beginning in 1965. In each segment of it, Capote goes
to great lengths to capture the “scene” and to convey information about it to his readers. For
instance, in the early sections of In Cold Blood, he describes the physical surroundings and the
landscape of Holcomb, KS; he talks about the weather; and, most importantly, he recreates the
conversations he had with local residents in Holcomb. All of this detail combines to create a
“portrait” of the town in miniature.

For this essay, you are assigned to do something very similar. Create a true (i.e. nonfiction)
“portrait” of a place that you know very well. This might be your home town or the city
where you were born, it might be a place you’ve visited on vacation several times, or it might be
a specific part of Grand Forks or of the UND campus, or a place where you work.

For your “portrait,” write a 4-6 page essay that sets the scene and, like Capote, describes not
just the physical surroundings and features but also the people, the culture, and the way this
particular place works. But keep in mind that setting the scene still requires both narrative (i.e.
storytelling) and “action.” Refer to the opening pages of Capote’s In Cold Blood to see how he
establishes “action”; describe people doing real things and having real conversations.

Things to Keep in Mind:

Verb Tense If this place still exists, you’ll need to use present tense
verbs in your description of it. But, if you’re telling a story
about events or actions that took place there in the past, you’ll need to
switch to past tense verbs. (Capote does this: refer to his text for
ideas about how to do it yourself.)

Narrator / Will you be using

Point of View
first person second person or third person
(I drive into town …) (You drive into town …) (Lucy drives into town …)

narration in your essay?

Dialogue If you plan to incorporate dialogue, it needs to be true (i.e.

conversations you have witnessed or heard about) and it needs to be
appropriately formatted.

“Truth” Because you are writing nonfiction, what you say about this place
must be “true” to the best of your knowledge. That means that, in
some cases, you may need to supply evidence.
- talk to people (call up friends and family and ask them questions)
- do research (facts like population statistics and history can be
gleaned from an internet search, but they must be cited properly in
the essay via in-text citations and a table of contents)
 ENGL 308 • Spring 2018 • 14

Assignment II: Investigative Essay

Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood is a work of investigative reporting: in order to write it, he had
to travel to a place, conduct interviews with people, gather evidence, and piece together an
overall “story.” In a similar way, writers like Hunter S. Thompson and Annie Dillard had to
“investigate” a particular situation or event (like the Kentucky Derby, or a lunar eclipse) in order
to write the essays that they wrote.

For this assignment, you are tasked with writing an investigative work of nonfiction (5-8
pages) that combines research, immersion, evidence-gathering, interviews and, perhaps, your
own personal experience. Your essay should focus on describing a particular event, issue, or
situation and it should seek to explain that event or issue to your readers.

Sample topics might include:

- a profile of an interesting person at UND or within the Grand Forks community (a
professor, researcher, administrator, city council member, etc.)

- a report on campus or community event (a sporting event, a festival, a concert, etc.)

- a profile of a campus organization or a community group

- a report on a recent occurrence in the community or a news item (a controversial

occurrence, a problem, an event, a crime)
Step 1: Pitch [10 pts] Step 2: Essay [25 pts]

Prepare a 250-300 word “pitch” that
introduces and sells your topic.
Your pitch should be structured as follows:
Paragraph 1
Opening line that clearly states the subject of the
essay / article (i.e. “I propose to write an
investigative essay about ________”)
Paragraph 2
Overview of the essay itself, including a discussion
of methods, evidence, resources, and major
arguments.
Paragraph 3
Discussion of timeliness and “fit”; why write about
this subject now? Why is it important? Who else has
written on the subject, and where and when?
Paragraph 4
Credentials and experience. Why are you interested
in this subject? Are you qualified to write about it?
What experience do you have with the topic /
people / groups in question?
Prepare a 5-8 page (typed, double-spaced)
essay based on the topic you proposed in
your pitch.
Consider the Following in Advance
How will you gather your evidence?
What is the “story” associated with this person /
group / issue / event, and how will you tell it?
What will you need to do to convince your reader
that what you are saying is true?
What kind of a narrative point of view will you
employ in your writing (first, second, or third
person)?
Will you use the word “I” / include personal
experience in this essay? Is it appropriate to do so?
If so, how will you structure the essay so that it
doesn’t become about you, but remains about the
person / group / issue / event you are describing?
DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE A WORKS
CITED AND IN-TEXT CITATIONS.
 ENGL 308 • Spring 2018 • 15

Assignment III: Personal Essay

We started out the semester focusing on investigative writing, studying writers like Truman
Capote, Hunter S. Thompson, Annie Dillard, and David Grann.

Now we’ve switched gears and have been focusing, during the second half of the semester, on
personal essay writing. We’ve read writers like Leslie Jamison, Marlon James and David Foster
Wallace, all of whom write strategically about true, personal experience. Now it’s your turn to do
the same.

Write a 6-10 page personal essay that narrates a true experience, issue, or event. That event
might be tragic (like the death of a family member, or a traumatizing experience), or else it might
be comedic (a funny story, a coincidence, or a satirical take on a particular issue). The important
thing is to select an event that your reader can relate to, or else become interested in. Refer to
Gutkind’s chapters on “public writing” for tips about how to do this; even though this essay is
about you, you need to find ways to forge connections with your reader. Relating your own
experiences to others’ (through citation / quotation, allusion, etc.) is a good way to do that. For
this reason, your finished essay should refer to two additional textual sources (other writers,
essays, stories, literature) in addition to drawing from your own experience.

Step 1: Pitch [10 pts] Step 2: Essay [25 pts]

Prepare a 250-300 word “pitch” that
introduces and sells your topic.
Your pitch should be structured as follows:
Paragraph 1
Opening line that clearly states the subject of the
essay / article (i.e. “I propose to write an
investigative essay about ________”)
Paragraph 2
Overview of the essay itself, including a discussion
of methods, evidence, resources, and major
arguments.
Paragraph 3
Discussion of timeliness and “fit”; why write about
this subject now? Why is it important? Who else has
written on the subject, and where and when?
Paragraph 4
Credentials and experience. Why are you interested
in this subject? Are you qualified to write about it?
What experience do you have with the topic /
people / groups in question?
Prepare a 5-8 page (typed, double-spaced)
essay based on the topic you proposed in
your pitch.
Consider the Following in Advance
How will you gather your evidence?
What is the “story” associated with this person /
group / issue / event, and how will you tell it?
What will you need to do to convince your reader
that what you are saying is true?
What kind of a narrative point of view will you
employ in your writing (first, second, or third
person)?
Will you use the word “I” / include personal
experience in this essay? Is it appropriate to do so?
If so, how will you structure the essay so that it
doesn’t become about you, but remains about the
person / group / issue / event you are describing?
DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE A WORKS
CITED AND IN-TEXT CITATIONS.