Speaking as Ourselves:
An Autobiography Exercise

"There is nothing more personal than the stories we compose about ourselves. Autobiographical texts focus on experiences important to the author and are generally characterized by a strong personal voice. Such texts communicate who we are and who we want to be; they convey something about the significance we see in our own lives and actions." - From Picturing Texts by Lester Faigley, Diana George, Anna Palchik, and Cynthia Selfe

As we discussed previously, I would like to get to know each of you and working with MS Word provides a great opportunity for an autobiographical activity. Therefore, write a short autobiography—providing a photograph or two as well as text, if you wish—that will let me know a bit about you.

You have control over what you include. Decide what I need to know in order to understand you as an individual. You can write about your goals, your likes and dislikes, your favorite past-times, your family or other close people in your life, hobbies, career interests, how you feel about life - anything is fair game. Don’t just list facts—where you were born probably tells us nothing exceptional about you, nor does the date you graduated from high school. Tell me a story with "you" as the central character. Be creative and have fun with this.

Here are the qualities I’m looking for in your writing and this assignment:

• 3-5 typed pages, 1.5 spacing, font size 12 or smaller.

• Include a title page if you wish.

• Insert a photograph if you wish.

• Use proper spelling and grammar. (Use Words spelling and grammar tools)

• Proper sentence structure. (Read your paper out loud to yourself.)
  

Due Date: Tuesday, May 23rd — beginning of class. Bring a printout to class.