Essay 1 Assignment:

Due Date: Saturday, February 11th at 9:00 am

Submission: Canvas file attachment

Length: 4 pages minimum typed

Margins: Traditional margins (1)

Spacing: Double-Spaced

Font: Times New Roman, 12-point font

Point Value: 100 points

Assignment:

Describe a life-changing moment that taught you a valuable lesson. Describe the moment in detail. Use
sensory details of sights, sounds, taste, touch, and smell in order to bring the moment to life for readers.
Choose one particular moment in time and not a long duration (for example, the last 30 seconds of a
high school football championship game is more appropriate than describing an entire football season).
After detailing the life-changing moment, describe how the moment changed, improved, or impacted
life afterwards. Note that the life-changing moment should be described in much more detail than how
it affected ones life. In fact, the impact on a students life should only cover about 1 paragraph at the
end of the essay.

Students should employ a writing process in order to achieve their best, most polished work. Be sure
to utilize sound planning, drafting, and editing skills for this essay.
Essay 1 Checklist:

____No Slang: stuff, thing, gonna, wanna, hey

____No Overused or General Words: big, small, good, bad, very, pretty

____No Contractions: dontdo not, cantcannot

____No you/your

____High Quality Paragraphs:

-Length: page to page

-Descriptive

-Plentiful Details

-Fully Developed Ideas

-Sentences Follow a Logical Order

____Sentences:

-Varied Length

-Strong Structure

-Ideas are Clear

-No Awkward Constructions

-No Confusing Sentences

____Transitions (Words or Phrases):

-Start of Each Paragraph

-Throughout Each Paragraph

____Capital Letters:

-Proper Nouns are Capitalized (names of cities, states, team names, people, places, stores)

____Verb Tense:

-Use Uniform Verb Tense (Same Tense Throughout Entire Essay as Much as Possible)

____High-Level Word Choice:

-Word Choice is Sophisticated and Appropriate for an Academic Essay

____No semi-colons, exclamation points, slashes, abbreviations, or use of etc.

Essay 1 Suggested Structure:

____Introduction
Attention Getter (5 sentences)
Preview of Essay Topic (1 sentence)
____Body Paragraphs (The Life-Changing Moment)
Rich Descriptions
Plentiful Detail
Transitions
page to page each
____Impact on Life
____Conclusion
Link to Attention Getter (3 sentences)
Restate Preview of Essay Topic (1 sentence)
Powerful Final Statement (1 sentence)
Essay 1 Scoring Rubric:

Criteria Description Points Comments

Details and The students life- 30
Description changing moment is
(Life-Changing detailed, descriptive,
Moment) and fully developed in
multiple paragraphs.
Student uses sensory
details to bring the
moment to life.
Impact on Life The life-changing 10
moments impact is
described at the end
of the essay in 1 full
paragraph.
Organization The essay contains an 15
overall organization,
follows a logical order,
and is readable.
Paragraphs are also
organized and follow
a logical order.
Sentence Quality Essay sentences are 25
and Word Choice sound, solid, and
contain high-quality
word choices.
Student avoids
awkward sentence
construction.
Grammar, Grammar and 20
Punctuation, mechanics are
Spelling, Essay correct. Writing is
Format, Essay Length error-free, contains
proper format, and
meets the essay
length requirement.
TOTAL 100