Mosser ENGL 1106

Essay 3

For Essay 3, choose one of the following options:

  1. Return to the place in nature you wrote about for Essay 1 and compare the place now to your memory of it as articulated in that essay. What has changed (about it? you?)? Why? How would you evaluate the change that has occurred?

  2. Choose a place in your local environment that you would like to see changed or preserved in a particular way. In this essay, you will function as the advocate for this place. What are the arguments for effecting the change(s)? What tools can you think of to bring this about? Why should this place be deserving of "special" treatment? What tools would you like to see made available that are not? An example I am thinking of is the development at Rte. 114 and 460 (NRV Mall, WallMart, Market Place, etc.), that once upon a time was the Virginia Tech Horticultural Farm and provided a very pastoral gateway into Blacksburg. One result of this development is the need for new roads with interchanges of Los Angelean magnitude (click here for a tour of this work in progress.). Had certain landuse tools, zoning regulations, and public will been available and brought to bear, perhaps the landscape hereabouts would look markedly different. Make use of the Persuasive Appeals most appropriate and effective for your task.

  3. It is Spring. If you planned to compare contrast the place you wrote about in Essay 1 based on seasonal change, this is your opportunity. As an alternative, spend some time observing the advent of the season by observing very closely what happens in a particular place. What migratory birds arrive or pass through (it may be a bit early for many of these)? What flowers, shrubs, trees bloom and leaf? Butterflies? Other insects? What else changes, over what period of time, and how do you notice the change?

The paper should be 4-5 pages (1000-1250 words) in length.

Please turn your final drafts in to me (at: dmosser@vt.edu) via Eudora (preferably as a Word attachment). Please be sure to title the file (i.e., the Word file itself) with your last name and "essay3": e.g., "smith.essay3."


Return