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Advanced Strategies for Rhetoric and Research
The Practices of Memory
English 190.9
Spring 2004

Writing Project 2: The Nature of Remembering

Hampl's "Memory and Imagination," Engel's "Then and Now: Creating a Self Through the Past," and Daniel Schacter's "On Remembering: 'A Telescope Pointed at Time'" all discuss the nature of remembering, an activity which you have engaged in with various assignments and journal entries, such as Writing Assignment 1, Writing Assignment 2, Writing Assignment 4, Assigned Journal Entry 1, Assigned Journal Entry 3, Assigned Journal Entry 4, Assigned Journal Entry 5, Simple Homework 2, and Writing Project 1. Drawing from the essays by Hampl, Engel, and Schacter, and using your earlier assignments as examples, I want you to write an informative essay (ch. 8, Brief Penguin Handbook) explaining how remembering works. Your essay should be 3-4 pages in length and follow the General Guidelines for Written Work.

Clearly you can't cover everything Hampl, Engel, and Schacter discuss in their essays. Nor can you include each and every memory you've written about this term. Therefore, you will need to be selective both in the ideas you use from the three essays and in the examples from your own writing which you use. Look back at the three essays and select three or four ideas about remembering. You may decide to choose ideas from the three essays in order to demonstrate the complexity of remembering or you may choose ideas which are closely related and work to support or develop each other. Or you may come up with some other pattern or focus. Your own memories should be used as examples to help illustrate your explanations of the concepts and as material for analysis. You should summarize, paraphrase, and even quote (ch. 19, Brief Penguin Handbook) Hampl, Engel, and Schacter, as well as your own work. The overall essay should have a guiding focus that ties everything together and should be able to teach someone outside of this class about the nature of remembering.

Peer Review Draft Due: 19 February 2004

For your Peer Review Draft, bring an electronic copy of your document saved as either a MS Word document (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rtf). We will upload the documents into Comment.

Final Portfolio Due: 5 March 2004

Based upon your peer-review, revise your essay at least once. Your Project 2 Portfolio should include:

• the final draft of your essay, clearly marked as such,
• a printout of your essay, with comments, from Comment
• all earlier drafts of your essay, clearly marked as draft 1, draft 2, etc.,
• any prewriting you may have,
• and a brief cover letter discussing:
  • what changes you made after the peer review and why you made them,
  • and why you believe your final draft successfully fulfills the assignment.
  • Feel free to also include such information as:
    • resources which you drew upon,
    • what you struggled with,
    • what you think you learned,
    • what writing and rhetorical issues you focused upon, etc.
  • This cover letter should be professional, clearly written, and well organized.

Last Modified: 4 February 2004

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