Additional Writing Assignments

1. To develop your powers of observation, go for a walk through an unfamiliar scene or a familiar scene worth a closer look (such as a supermarket or an open field). Avoid a familiar subject. Record your observations in two or three detailed paragraphs. Sum up your impression of the place, including any opinion you form through close observation.

2. Select an observation site that relates to your career plans. You might choose a medical facility (for nursing or medical school), a school or playground (for education), or an office complex or work site (for business). Observe carefully, noting details that contribute to your main impression of the place and your insight about work done there. Write an essay to convey these points to an audience interested in the same career path.

3. Observe the details of a specific place on campus as if you were seeing it for the first time. Describe it in an essay for campus readers, a letter to a prospective student (who’ll want to know its relevance), or an entry on a travel blog for tourists (who’ll want to know why they should stop there). If you wish, include your own photograph of the scene or a standard campus shot; add a caption that expresses its essence.

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4. Source Assignment. Locate a community tourist Web site, a town history or architectural survey, a campus guidebook, or a similar resource; select one of its attractions or locations to visit. Put aside the guide while you independently observe and record details about the location. Then present your main impression of the character or significance of the place, supplementing your detailed observations with historical, technical, or other information from your source. Clearly and accurately credit your source so that a reader can easily tell what you observed, what you learned, and where you learned it.

   For advice on analyzing an image, refer to Ch. 14, Responding to Visual Representations.

5. Visual Assignment. Use one of the following photographs to explore the importance of the observer’s point of view. After a preliminary look at the scene, select your vantage point as an observer, and identify the audience your essay will address (for example, readers who would or would not share your perspective). Observe the image carefully, and use its details to support your main impression of the scene from your perspective. Direct your specific insight about it to your audience.

   

   Robert van Waarden/Aurora/Getty Images.
   

   Kevin Steele/Aurora Photos.

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   Zoran Milich/Moment Mobile/Getty Images.