ILA Autobiographical Paper Requirements 

For this assignment you are to write a thesis-driven autobiography examining your life through whatever perspective you feel best suits you. In this autobiography you should be looking for important events that shaped you and played a role in who you are today. Look for turning points or critical moments in your life.  There will be lots of information you could include in this paper, but some events are going to be more significant in forming who you are today.

The challenge in this assignment will be filtering out the significant events from the not so significant events regardless of how meaningful some of them may have been. This is what writing a thesis driven paper is all about--finding materials that support a thesis and filtering out the information that does not relate.

Remember that this paper is to be long enough to give a sense of your eighteen (or so) years--so three pages won't do it. 

The paper must include more than three different types of sources--with proper citations, as we discussed in class. (See below for some examples.)  One of your sources must be an interview of someone who knew you when you were much younger. That interview might include the questions below, however, your essay does not have to include the answers to every question.  Use what is useful to you as you consider your thesis and the larger points you are making.

• Other possible sources that you could use include photographs, programs, awards/trophies, newspaper articles, yearbooks/notes, diaries, college entrance essays, high school papers, and anything else that gives examples of who you were or are now.

After you have written how you came to be who you are today, you must do a second section (a section, not a paragraph) entitled Epilogue. Here you should make a prediction as to where you are going and who you will become in the future based on what you know of yourself thus far. Try to look beyond just your future profession and also think about who you will be as a person. What events might shape you between now and then? What sort of questions interest you now and might guide your future? 

This essay requires in-depth reflection and should be written thoughtfully and well.  Think about the ways the authors we have read thus far chose evidence and used it to make a point that illuminated their subject. 

The essay is worth 75 points, and will be due in class on Monday, 27 October.  Please remember your three sources of help:  the Mellinger Center, each other, and me. 

Interview Questions you might ask: 

1. What are the biggest changes you've seen in me since I was little?
2. What turning points do you see, looking back, that had a profound effect on me? What was the effect?
3. What did you imagine that I'd grow up to be or do when I was little?
4. What surprises you most about who I am today?
5. Can you please describe the sort of future you think awaits me?
 

Examples of how to cite in your bibliography:

Billings, Sandy.  "Home-town Girl Makes Good." Athens News.  20 May 2011: 14.
Sherrard High School Yearbook. Chicago:  Unique Printing, 2013.
Photograph Album of 2013 Spring Break Trip. Author's personal collection.
Most Valuable Player Trophy. Illinois High School Western Region Golf  Tournament.  March 2013.  Author's personal collection.
Stevens, Moira.  Interview by author. Cairo, Illinois. 24 November 2013.