The Personal Essay: A "Try"
A first-person essay in language alone. Its real job is to help students find the question they'd want to research later in the course.
Personal
Process: Directed draftingFirst draft
- Length
- 1,000–1,250 words
- Modes
- Language only
- Done
- Individually
- Citation
- None required, but writers make clear whose claim is whose
“Essay” comes from the French essai, a try. I open with the personal essay because it lets students try out an idea before they have to defend one. The sheet tells them the goal directly: start figuring out what you’d be motivated to research.
What students write
- First person, titled, double-spaced.
- Language mode only. The other four modes come in the next project.
- No citations required. The sheet says citations can work against an essay’s audience and purpose. Writers still have to make clear whose claim is whose.
How it runs
In a 15-week course, the draft is due in Week 5 and the revision in Week 6, both posted to a discussion board so classmates can read them. Fridays are workshop days.
In an 8-week session, students draft in class and post the revision a few days later.
Why it comes first
Everything after it in the course is research of some kind. The essay is where students find something they care about enough to research, so the course’s later projects can grow out of it instead of starting cold.
Readings
- Phillip Lopate, ed., The Art of the Personal Essay, including Joan Didion, "In Bed"; Edward Hoagland, "The Courage of Turtles"; Addison and Steele, "Nicolini and the Lions"; Ou-yang Hsiu, "Pleasure Boat Studio"; and Sei Shōnagon, "Hateful Things"
- Peter Elbow, "How to Improve Your Writing through Freewriting Exercises"
- Vivian Zamel, "Writing One's Way into Reading"
- Denise Landrum-Geyer, "On Essaying"
Part of
Where I've used it
- First-year writing II · 15 weeks, in person · Spring 2026
- College writing workshop II · 8 weeks · Fall 2025