ENGE1000 Personal Narrative

Final Essay (30% of coursework)

Due: 11:59pm, 12th March, 2023

Write an essay of about 800 words (or a max. of 1000 words excluding references).

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION BEFORE YOU START WRITING!!

 For this assignment, you should consult and cite at least TWO pieces of reference
material relevant to your discussion of personal language learning experience.
 For students who are going to make a video, you are still required to provide TWO
pieces of reference in relation to your content. You will submit a doc. file with the link to
your video and a proper reference list.
 One good online database where you can look up academic references is Google
Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/.
 You will also find lists of useful references at the end of each week’s required readings.
 Always explain your examples; Don’t just mention them.
 In addition to content, your essay will be evaluated in terms of spelling/grammatical
accuracy, coherence, organization, clarity, and referencing.

Formatting:
 Write your name (in full), and your student ID.
 Write in essay format (prose/paragraphs), not in bullet points.
 Word limit: 800 or a max. of 1000(excluding references)
 Include a word count at the end of the essay.
 Font: Cambria or Times New Roman, size 12
 Spacing: 1.5 or wider
 Margin: 1 inch on all sides
 Citation and referencing style: APA (see last page).

Submission:
 You should submit your paper or video link (with references) via Veriguide.
  Excellent Good Fair

Narration The narration provides a clear and vivid The narration provides a relatively clear The narration provides a somewhat clear The n
(10 points) picture of what the student is trying to picture of what the student is trying to picture of what the student is trying to pictu
achieve, including adequate descriptions achieve, including clear descriptions of achieve, but clearer descriptions of their achie
of their language experience. their language experience. language experience are needed. exper

Information in Body -The development and support in the
Paragraph paper is presented in an informative,
(10 points) creative, and interesting way.
Grammar (5 points) Paper has excellent control over
sentence formation, sentence variety,
subject-verb agreement, and no spelling
errors.
Paper Requirements -90-100% of the paper requirements
(5 points) (800-1000 words, Times New Roman,
Size 12, 1.5 Spacing, 1 inch on all sides,
APA citation and referencing style).
-There is a good attempt in the paper to -There is a weak attempt in the paper to -Ther
present in an informative, creative, and present in an informative, creative, and to pr
interesting way. interesting way. and i
Paper has good control over sentence Paper has weak control over sentence Pape
formation, sentence variety, subject-verb formation, sentence variety, subject-verb form
agreement, and no spelling errors. agreement, and a few spelling errors. agree
-75-90% of the paper requirements -50-75% of the paper requirements -Less
(800-1000 words, Times New Roman, (800-1000 words, Times New Roman, requi
Size 12, 1.5 Spacing, 1 inch on all sides, Size 12, 1.5 Spacing, 1 inch on all sides, New
APA citation and referencing style). APA citation and referencing style). on al
refer

1
   Excellent
Narration The narration provides a clear and vivid
(10 points) picture of what the student is trying to
achieve, including adequate descriptions
of their language experience.
Information in the -The information in the video is
Video presented in an informative, creative,
(10 points) and interesting way.
Grammar (5 points) Video has excellent control over
sentence formation, sentence variety,
subject-verb agreement, and no spelling
errors. Proper APA citation style.
Video Quality and The video is well edited and moves
Format smoothly from scene to scene. Audio is
(5 points) clear and understandable. The link
provided works perfectly (mp4., mov.,
wmv, avi are preferred).
You may be penalized if the link provided is broken or does not work for whatever reason.
Good
The narration provides a relatively clear
picture of what the student is trying to
achieve, including clear descriptions of
their language experience.
-There is a good attempt in the video to
present in an informative, creative, and
interesting way.
Video has good control over sentence
formation, sentence variety, subject-verb
agreement, and no spelling errors.
Proper APA citation style.
The video is moves smoothly from scene
to scene. Audio is clear and
understandable. The link provided
works perfectly (mp4., mov., wmv,
avi are preferred).
Fair
The narration provides a somewhat clear
picture of what the student is trying to
achieve, but clearer descriptions of their
language experience are needed.
-There is a weak attempt in the video to
present in an informative, creative, and
interesting way.
Video has weak control over sentence
formation, sentence variety, subject-verb
agreement, and a few spelling errors.
Some errors in APA citation style.
-The video is smooth but choppy at
times. Audio is sometimes unclear. The
link provided works perfectly
(mp4., mov., wmv, avi are
preferred).
Poor
The narration does not provide a clear *
picture of what the student is trying to
achieve. Their descriptions of language
experience lack focus.
-There is little to no attempt in the video
to present in an informative, creative,
and interesting way.
Video has no control over sentence
formation, sentence variety, subject-verb
agreement, and many spelling errors.
Some errors in APA citation style.
-The video is poorly produced. Audio is
unclear and difficult to understand. The
link provided does not work (mp4.,
mov., wmv, avi are preferred).
2
 Citing and Referencing in APA Style

In general, applied linguistics follows the style guide set by the American Psychological
Association (APA). This document gives you a snapshot of how to do intext citations and create a
reference list in APA.

A. Inside the essay/assignment:

1. Paraphrasing (i.e. you adopt somebody’s ideas and put them in your own words):
(i) Barton (1994) suggests that literacy is a dynamic concept. OR
(ii) Literacy is a dynamic concept (Barton, 1994).

 Example (i) shows how you may incorporate a citation into your own sentence, while
example (ii) makes the citation at the end of your own sentence. Note the full stop should be
placed at the very end, after the bracket.
 Use “et al.” when there are MORE THAN 3 authors/editors. For example: Gee, Kress,
Wright and Hope (2002) ---> Gee et al. (2002)

2. Direct Quotation (i.e. you quote somebody’s words)

 The quotation must be put in inverted commas.
 When citing the source, in addition to the author’s last name and year of publication, the
page number of the original source should be provided.
 A comma is inserted between the year and the page number, such as Gee (1999, p. 10).

(i) Gee (1999, p. 10) suggests that one of the functions of language is ‘to scaffold the
performance of social activities’.
(ii) There are different views on the function of human language. In discourse analysis, the
primary function of language is ‘to scaffold the performance of social activities’ (Gee,
1999, p. 10).

 Note the punctuation convention, esp. where the commas, full-stops, and inverted commas
are placed.
 Make sure all quotations are ACCURATE!
 The list should be in alphabetical order according to the authors’ surnames.

B. At the end of the essay/paper/assignment…

 A list entitled ‘References’ (note plural) must be provided to detail everything that you have
cited/quoted in your essay/paper. These include your text books and course materials, if you
have cited them in the body of the essay. You must acknowledge ALL and ONLY the
works that you have referred to or quoted in your text! The general format of an entry in
a reference list looks like this:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Title of Article. In A. Editor, B. Editor,
& C. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xx-xx). City of Publication: Name of Publisher.

3
Here is an example reference list including book, articles in journal, newspaper, and websites:

References

Baron, N. S. (2008). Always On. New York: Oxford University Press.

Barton, D. (2001). Directions for literacy research: Analyzing language and social
practices in a textually mediated world. Language and Education 15 (2-3), 92-104.
Castro, M. (2007). The use of microblogging in language education. Proceedings of the
third international wireless ready symposium. Retrieved June 26, 2010, from
http://opinion.nucba.ac.jp/~thomas/castro2009.pdf.
Coiro, J, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear, and D. J. Leu. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of Research
on New Literacies. LEA.
Eynon, R., Fry, J., & Schroeder, R. (2008). The ethics of internet research. In N. Fielding,
R. M. Lee, & G. Blank (Eds.), The Sage handbook of online research methods (pp. 23-
41). London: Sage.
Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The
Country Today, pp. 1A, 2A.

A very useful APA style website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/