What experience have you chosen to write about? Use the space below to write brief notes about your choice.

Click Submit after each text box to submit your answers to your instructor’s gradebook. You may review your answers by returning to this activity at any time. (An activity reports to the gradebook only if your instructor has assigned it.)

Question

What point will you make with your story? Draft a working thesis in the following space. The working thesis should offer an insight that shows the importance of the experience that you have chosen to write about.

Question

Figure out the best way to tell your story. A narrative isn’t a list of “this happened” and then “that happened.” It is a focused story with its own logic and order. You don’t need to start chronologically (starting with the earliest event and presenting events in the order in which they occurred). You can experiment: What happens if you start in the middle of the story or work in reverse? Try to come up with a tentative organization.

Use the space below to experiment with organizing your draft.

Question

See a sample literacy narrative written in chronological order.

Now write a first draft of your literacy narrative in your word processing program. Because it is often helpful to get some feedback on an early draft (Is my main point clear? Do I have enough vivid details?), exchange papers with a classmate or two for peer review.