Endless Essays

Last week I was in the process of writing two papers for two different English classes: English 104 (Advanced Research Writing) and English 119 (Honors Creative Nonfiction).  In ENG104, we write technical essays with a specific audience and vehicle in mind, keeping most of our paper informative.  On the otherhand, in ENG119, we write highly creative and literary pieces of nonfiction based on a "nugget of truth."  It's obvious that there are many genres within English, but I never truly understood how many genres of essays there were.

For ENG104, we had to collect data through surveys, observations, experiments, and interviews.  Our essay would answer a research question, and we could only use data collected by our first-hand research in to answer the question.  Since I had to do all the data gathering myself, I chose something local and potentially interesting for my question: is the library an effective resource for students?  I hypothesized that the answer would be yes, but I was wrong. 

While I was in the process of gathering all of my data, my ENG119 professor assigned our second essay for that class, a biographical profile.  I decided to write my paper on Gustave Flaubert (the best author ever) and focus on a specific trip his family took when he was fourteen years old.  The whole purpose of the paper was to "focus on a kernel of drama," as my professor described it, in one person's life.  This proved to be a challenge.  I obviously wasn't there to experience Flaubert's trip, so I had to approximate a lot of occurrences, which was difficult and much unlike other essays I've written.

Both drafts were due on the same day.  That didn't seem to be a problem until I began mixing the two very different styles.  My introduction for my ENG104 paper was too fluffy and literary, and some passages in my ENG119 paper began to sound factual.  I had never taken two totally different English classes at the same time, and the polar opposite nature of the genres was beginning to take a toll on my essays.  I began to understand that not only was the definition of "English" broad, but also "essay."  There isn't a set-in-stone format for essays, and such papers can cover a broad variety of ideas and topics.

At first, this caused me to stress about all the unknowns in the field I'm pursuing.  But after thinking about it, knowing that there is a never-ending variety of ways to write excites me.  It's impossible to get bored with writing because there are a million ways to write an essay, not to mention another trillion ways to write other genres of English.  These two classes allow me to excercise two very different talents--acedemic and literary writing--and have made me a better technical and creative writer.

If you want to read my essays, here is my ENG104 essay, and here is my ENG119 essay!!