Writing Quick Start: Recounting Events

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Narration:

Recounting Events

IN THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL LEARN TO

  • understand the purpose and function of narrative essays,
  • use graphic organizers to visualize narrative essays,
  • integrate narration into an essay,
  • read and think critically about narration, and
  • plan, organize, draft, revise, and edit essays using narration.

WRITING QUICK START

T

he photograph here shows an event in Tokyo in which 300 Japanese women donned identical blonde wigs. Working alone or with a classmate, imagine the series of events that led up to the gathering. What happened, who was involved, and what did the participants do to get them to the scene shown in the photograph? Then write a brief summary of the events you imagined.

image
© Yuriko Nakao/Reuters/Corbis

As you imagined the events that led up to the scene in the photograph, you probably described a series of events or turning points in the order in which they occurred. In short, you constructed a narrative: a chronological series of events, real or imaginary, that tell a story to make a point.

Narratives provide human interest and entertainment, spark our curiosity, and draw us close to the storyteller. They can also create a sense of shared history or provide instruction in proper behavior or conduct.

In this chapter, you will read narratives; you will also write narrative essays or use narrative in essays that rely on one or more of the other patterns of development.

USING NARRATION IN COLLEGE AND THE WORKPLACE

  • Each student in your business law course must attend a court trial and complete the following written assignment: “Describe what happened and how the proceedings illustrate the judicial process.”
  • Your sociology instructor announces that the class session will focus on the nature and types of authority figures in U.S. society. She begins by asking class members to describe situations in which they found themselves in conflict with an authority figure.
  • Your job in sales involves frequent business travel, and your company requires you to submit a report for each trip. You are expected to recount the meetings you attended, your contacts with current clients, and the new sales leads you developed.