Immersion Essay: 4-5 pages (at least 2 sources)
Your assignment is to write a 4-5 page immersion essay into a place or destination you know well. The place could be as big or small as you like (a beach, for instance, or a hotel or sports arena). The essay could be framed as a journey (with you arriving and departing). It should be written in first person to a broad audience and include a strong sense of place, vivid description and imagery, dialogue, and discovery.
Here are some questions to consider: What makes this place and its people unique? What do you like most about it? What does it have to offer? What doesnt it have, or what do you wish it had? Why might someone who has never experienced this place want to go there? If you listen and observe closely enough, what might this place teach you about yourself and others?
Relevant Readings
Why Colombia May Become the Next Great Adventure Destination by Stephanie Pearson
Outside Magazine
No country on earth is more geographically blessed than Colombia, with its high-altitude peaks, lush jungles, pristine beaches, wildlife-rich rainforest, and strong coffee.
Maximum Mumbai by Gary Shteyngart
Travel & Leisure Magazine
An epic journey to the heart of the vast, teeming, seething, and electrifying Indian meglopolis of Mumbai, with many stops along the way for rich curries and otherworldly delicacies.
A Note on Sources
Including sources can help the credibility (ethos) and also offer a broader context that can reach beyond the personal. That said, one approach might be to write a draft without the use of sources and then go back to see what parts (of that time and place youre writing about) could be enhanced by a reference to an interesting fact, statistic, happening, insight, etc. The possibilities for incorporating relevant and insightful support are vast. Please use sources from credible websites, articles, books, etc. Also, feel free to use primary sources: interviews, photographs, surveys, etc.
Also, please note that you do not need to use all of the sources that you list on the Works Cited page as in-text citations. I’ll assume the other sources informed your essay in a more general way.
Please use MLA format and style. For easy reference, here are links from Purdue OWL to:
The MLA Formatting and Style Guide
The Works Cited Page
In-Text Citation
Points to consider:
I will grade your essay on how well-written and coherent it is, how it employs pathos, logos, and ethos, and how well it connects with a broad audience and reaches beyond the personal.
I will also be factoring in the flexible rubric in the modules section, which details the following: audience awareness, purpose, genre, evidence, structure, exigency, and quality of writing.
Please pay particular attention to issues of clarity, grammar, structure, coherence, syntax, timing, tone, honesty, discovery, creativity and completeness.
You should try to avoid, eliminate, or minimize typographical errors, misspellings, incorrect or missing punctuation, and sentences that are too long, redundant, or misplaced.
