The essay should be a developed expression of interesting thoughts.
From very early in the essay — perhaps at the very beginning — ground your essay in actual experience; this should help in various ways including to prevent the common problem of floating off into vague generalities or idealizations (which may seem interesting to you, but usually are not to an informed reader, that is, not to your audience).
The essay is an anecdote (story) of an interesting revealing incident and a discussion of the issue raised. Sometimes the issue needs to be discussed separately but at other times, the way that the writer presents the experience reveals her view about the issues raised.
The essay should be unified. It is much better to dig deeply into a tight topic (which is usually the issue raised by the experience) than to superficially treat several topics. Don’t jump from one idea to another.
Your ideas should be as clearly expressed as possible.
The essay may well be like a personal essay, which discusses ideas that rise out of experience. Usually, the essay explores a topic or issue, providing your opinions. It’s possible to use experience to write a persuasive essay in which just about every sentence forwards an argument that supports a major claim (thesis). In any case, the essay should be an extended train of thought on a focused topic.
Try to support any significant claim with some argumentation or evidence.
Don’t beat around the bush. For instance, either jump right into the experience, or after a very short intro paragraph identifying your focused topic (and perhaps main point), then jump right into an experience and your main discussion. Don’t have a long introduction. The essay should be concise and to the point.
It requires you to fully develop and to clearly express interesting ideas on a gender topic, which is not easy to do. You should have begun to develop your ideas in the Proposal on which you should have received my feedback to help you further develop the essay. In the essay, you must avoid vague generalizations and commonplace idealizations. Use actual experience(s) to explore your topic. Tell an anecdote of an interesting experience related to a gender topic — such as relationships, or the oppression of women, or sexuality, or the construction of masculinity or femininity, etc. But these topics are too large and must be focused, which often happens naturally if your topic is the issue raised by your interesting experience.
It’s best to analyze specific experience(s) of your own (or perhaps of people you know, but that’s more difficult). Analyze a revealing experience that sparks interest and sheds light on a gender topic. This project is very similar to what is called a “personal essay”: the use of experience to explore a tightly focused topic. Less often, students write a persuasive essay that argues for one major claim, or “thesis” (about, say, feminism or sexuality). What matters most is that the essay is thoughtful, interesting, grounded in concrete experience, and does not drift off into vague generalities and commonplace idealizations.
This essay is not an exercise but instead it’s a creative project. It is a “think piece” centered on your ideas and experience. It should be interesting to an informed secular audience (represented by me), not merely to a popular audience. The two ways that this essay will be graded are:
(A) Does your essay provided an interesting train of thought (that is, a developed exploration of a focused topic or a developed argument)? The essay must be centered on your own ideas. Anchor your essay in particulars. Use actual experience that not only illustrates your ideas but also stimulates your own and your reader’s thinking. Don’t ignore problems, which often are interesting to discuss. If speaking about masculinity, femininity, or love, think about actual people and relationships. Don’t idealize and don’t float off into vague generalities (e.g., “Love is a beautiful thing…” or “Love hurts…”). A big help in avoiding such problems is that you will tell an anecdote (story) about an actual interesting experience. Do not include unimportant details or obvious ideas in the essay (these damage the essay). Experiences of other cultures might be interesting, but they should be clearly described, analyzed, and evaluated (include your opinions). Research is not required for Essay 1.
(Sample Essay: I have placed in BB’s Course Materials a sample essay: JJ, Bola, “We Need to Redefine Manhood”. This is a non-required text that may stimulate your thinking