English Composition

Construct a single, effective paragraph about a personal hero who motivated you to choose your field of study.

Welcome to the beginning of your journey! Throughout the course, you will focus on the concept of the Hero’s Journey. This concept is found both in myth and reality and is based on the idea that a hero becomes a hero through a transformative journey. The Hero’s Journey includes five stages: birth, quest, trials, epiphany, and death (figuratively).

For this course, see yourself as a hero embarking on a journey in which you will not only demonstrate the foundations of academic writing but develop a strong, informed voice: a voice that gives you the ability to engage in reasoned discourse in your career and other important areas of your life. You are also the hero of your educational journey, and you will need to overcome challenges to succeed so that you transform and change upon completion of your degree.

In the Hero’s Journey, birth is the beginning of an endeavor. We are starting with one of the foundational elements of essay writing, the paragraph.

For each assessment, we will introduce a few individuals from your discipline who emerged as leaders in their fields. We will discuss the birth, or beginnings, of a new idea:

Florence Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing.

Clara Barton was the founder of the American Red Cross.

Victor Glushkov was the founding father of information technology in the Soviet Union.

Demonstration of Proficiency

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

Competency 1: Compose text that articulates meaning relevant to its purpose and audience.

Explain why this individual motivated you.

Competency 2: Integrate into text the appropriate use of scholarly sources and evidence.

Describe an individual who motivated you to choose your field of study.

Apply accepted conventions of paragraph composition.

Competency 4: Apply accepted style conventions and written expression skills.

Apply proper formatting, including a title page, correct margins, font, and spacing.

Produce text with minimal grammar, usage, spelling, and mechanical errors.

Instructions

For this assessment, identify a personal hero who motivated you to choose your field of study. This can be someone famous, someone you know personally, or someone of interest in your field.

Write a single, well-structured paragraph in which you explain how and why this individual motivated you. Your paragraph should:

Identify an individual who motivated you to choose your field of study.

Explain why this individual motivated you.

Apply accepted conventions of paragraph composition.

Produce text with minimal grammar, usage, spelling, and mechanical errors.

Additional Requirements

Your assessment should also meet the following requirements:

Written communication: Ensure written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.

Standard formatting: Include one-inch margins, appropriate headers, and a title page.

Length: Submit one-third to one-half of a typed, double-spaced page.

Font and font size: Use Times New Roman, 12-point font.