Individual Project
Assignment Details
Introduction
In last week’s online discussion, the class shared their backgrounds, motivations, attitudes, and goals (using this document). In that discussion, you created a rough draft of the body paragraphs of your first Individual Project (IP)—a five-paragraph narrative essay. In this assignment, you are completing the main components and refining your essay for submission.
Take a few minutes to read the responses to your Main Post, and then use prewriting strategies, such as brainstorming or clustering, to gather your thoughts for creating the opening and closing paragraphs and for refining the body of your essay.
Apply the concepts and skills presented in the intellipath lessons to help you write this essay. The following lessons will be helpful:
- Introduction to Basic Essay Formatting
- Unity and Paragraph Development
- Correct Sentence Structure
Directions
Follow these steps to complete your five-paragraph essay on the topic My Background, Motivations, and Attitudes. Download this template to your computer or laptop, click Enable Editing if prompted, and begin typing where indicated. Use this template. It is properly formatted.
Paragraph 1. Write an introduction paragraph that provides the reader with a sense of who you are as a person and ends with your thesis statement.
- Include information that is relevant to points you make later in the essay (your family, education, experiences, and so on).
- The introduction paragraph is simply that—a way to introduce your reader to your topic. It should not be more than six or seven sentences.
- The final sentence of the introduction should be a clear thesis statement so that the reader understands the focus of your entire essay. The intellipath lesson, What is a Thesis Statement? provides helpful information for writing a strong thesis statement.
Paragraph 2. The second paragraph is the first body paragraph of the essay. Copy in the first paragraph from your Unit 1 DB post, and refine your work. Explain which of the four backgrounds and motivations is the most closely related to your experience.
- Describe your current situation or your home life when you were younger or your military experience.
- Analyze how those experiences made you into the person you are today and how they motivated you to go to college.
Paragraph 3. Copy in the second paragraph from your Unit 1 DB post, and refine your work. In the next body paragraph, discuss which of the six primary attitudes most closely fits your personality.
- Be sure to provide details and examples to explain why you think that attitude is “you.”
- Show how that attitude helped you come this far in your college career.
Paragraph 4. Copy in the third paragraph from your Unit 1 DB post, and refine your work. For the third body paragraph, look forward in time to when you’ve finished your program at AIU.
- What do you hope you’ve gained by completing your program at AIU?
- What is your overall goal?
Paragraph 5. The fifth and final paragraph is your conclusion. The conclusion paragraph “wraps” up your thoughts and provides the reader with a sense of closure. Again, make sure that your reader leaves with a good sense of who you are and where you are going based on the information that you share in your essay.
Remember:
- Make sure that each of the three body paragraphs have a topic sentence followed by examples and details to develop each one. Make sure that each shows unity, which means each is focused on one main idea.
- Type your essay and double-space the lines.
- Review your completed essay to ensure that you have developed your ideas fully.
- Edit your work to ensure that your sentences are complete with correct punctuation, spelling, and grammar.
- Submit your essay using the video instructions provided above.
