A literacy narrative is non-fiction essay that makes its point through narrative (a story or sequence of related events in time). It presents some aspects of a writer’s life and development as a literate person. It might focus on influences on the writer’s development, the process of growing as a reader and writer, and/or the impact of becoming literate on one’s life.
In this assignment, recount your personal literacy history as it pertains to the internet, digital communication, electronic discourse, etc. (broadly defined). Note: you may have already written a general literacy narrative for ENG 100; I’m looking for a very specific narrative that addresses your relationship to the internet (inside and outside the academic context), technology (we all live with it and it impact our thinking), online communities, what have you. You may write about how the internet has given you external literacies (e.g., using the internet facilitated your literacy process in some other domain) or you may discuss platform literacies (e.g., how have you become a skillful user of a particular kind of internet text(s).)
To address this question you will write a 5 page essay in which you look at your interaction with the internet as text over time. Rather than trying to tell your entire history, try to focus on a small number of specific events that you view as integral, in order to demonstrate your larger point (whatever that may end up being).
An important part of producing any narrative is to reflect on why you have chosen the particular events or items that you do. Just listing important interactions you’ve had with electronic communication is not enough. An effective narrative is one in which you reflect on why these events are important enough for you to include in your essay. Think about the question “So what?” for each event you include in your essay. If you cannot answer it, then that event probably wasn’t that important anyway. Consider your readers as well (your classmates and myself). What can readers take away from these events that makes them memorable?
Another important aspect of any essay is a thesis statement. Your thesis statement is essentially the controlling idea of your paper. It is the focus of your essay. For this paper, all of the events need to relate back to the thesis in some way. For this essay your thesis will be answering the question, “in what way(s) have the internet, digital communication, and/or electronic discourse influenced my life?” Be specific and concrete!
Since this is a reflective piece of writing, and because you are writing about yourself, you can and should use the first person pronoun “I.”

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