Topics for the First Essay - Part II

Select one of the following topics for your first essay. The first three topics suggest a narrative; the last three suggest description, though these two essays easily overlap. That is, to make a story more vivid, you could easily use description; to explain the relevance of a description, you might tell a story.

Length: maintain MLA format (12 pt. font, double spaced) for TWO good pages. If your essay runs over, that's not a problem as long as you stay focus and all of your essay is relevant and deliberate (purposeful). If your essay is barely one page, or one page and three or four lines, you need to work on development.

Have your first draft our next day of class, in MLA format--that will be part of the peer review.

• A Trip Into Unfamiliar Territory
• A Problem Diagnosed and Solved (by you)
• A Lesson Learned the Hard Way
• Describe the reality of a present place vs. the memory you have of it
• Describe a place you find "clarifying" to visit
• Describe how a famillar sight, sound, aroma or taste triggers your rembrance of things past
• Write a description of a painting that has captured your imagination. Describe the painting in detail, and also describe your reaction to the image  in such a way that the reader understands why it affects you as it does.