Texas College Bridge

Writing Assignment

Write a multi-paragraph narrative essay about The Moment that Changed Everything. Your narrative essay should clearly explain: your moment and how you changed as a result of it. The first paragraph will introduce the topic by grabbing the reader’s attention in an interesting way. Remember that your goal is to show your moment with vivid details rather than just telling the reader what happened. This means the first paragraph could set the scene for your moment, or it could introduce the ideas behind the change you experienced. There are several ways to introduce a personal narrative. Remember, the end result is an exploration of an important moment and its effects on you. The first paragraph then becomes a tool to open the story and hook your reader.

You will need a thesis statement for your narrative. The thesis should clearly state what you have learned or how you have changed as a result of your moment, which is the focus of your narrative. Because this will be an implied thesis statement, it will not be included in the final essay. It is important, however, that you write it down now to ensure this central thought guides your narrative writing throughout the process.

The two body paragraphs that follow the introduction need to include main points that develop your moment and response to it. Make sure each paragraph advances the story you are telling, or rather showing. Each paragraph should have a topic sentence that introduces your ideas for that paragraph and offers details to support/prove this point. Each of your paragraphs should offer a separate point and be independent of each other but work together coherently.

As you wrap up your narrative with a concluding paragraph, you should include a sentence at the end of your last paragraph that gives a final, interesting thought on your topic.

The grading rubric below will help you further develop your paper. **If required, your instructor will provide you with the specific style guide formatting for your essay (eg. MLA, APA, etc.).

Rubric

Your narrative essay will be graded using five separate categories: Narrative Element, Implied Thesis Statement, Supporting Ideas, Paragraph Development, and Grammar & Punctuation. Each of these five items will be rated as Proficient, Developing, or Needs Improvement.

Proficient means that you have met the standards of an effective response. Developing means you have partially met the standards of a response, but it needs some revision. Needs Improvement means you did not meet the standards of a response.

You must earn a grade of C or better on this essay, combined with a score of 90 on both Stages in your EdReady study path, to be eligible for an exemption from developmental education courses in accordance with Texas Education Code §51.338(e)(f) for freshman-level reading/writing courses at Texas Institutions of Higher Education that partnered with the school district or an Institution of Higher Education that signed the Texas College Bridge memorandum of understanding.

NARRATIVE ESSAY

	Proficient	Developing	Needs Improvement
Narrative Element	Clearly includes a personal significant event with interesting conflict, vivid details, and resolution.	Includes some key components but is missing some aspects of narration.	Does not include aspects of narration.
Implied Thesis Statement	Includes an implied main idea about an important moment and your response to it; works to bind all paragraphs together.	Introduces a general idea about an important moment but the overall message is unclear; the paragraphs are not consistently united by this idea.	Does not include an implied main idea and the paragraphs are disconnected without a clear focus.
Supporting Ideas (use of Major and Minor Details)	Uses vivid examples to support the main idea and illustrate important details.	Partially uses examples as support; details require more vivid description.	Does not develop or provide examples to support or illustrate a main idea.
Paragraph Development (strength of introduction, conclusion, and coherency)	Smoothly connects ideas between/ within paragraphs in a purposeful manner; introduction and conclusion make interesting, effective statements about the topic. Includes a minimum of 5 sentences per paragraph.	Ideas between/ within paragraphs are partially connected or moderately purposeful; introduction and conclusion are present but not effective. Includes fewer than 5 sentences per paragraph.	Missing connection between ideas; purpose of content is unclear; incomplete introduction and conclusion. Includes fewer than 5 sentences per paragraph.
Grammar & Punctuation	Response contains sentences with correct subject-verb agreement and verb tense usage.	Paragraph needs further editing and/or contains some subject-verb agreement and verb tense usage problems.	Displays little attention to editing or correct usage of subject-verb agreement and verb tenses.