Personal, academic, and in-between : analyzing college English writing assignments

This thesis begins by surveying the historical place of personal narrative and academic\ud research writing in college composition courses in an effort to foreground student\ud perceptions of these assignments in the college curriculum. The questions guiding this\ud project focus on student perceptions of academic value, genre conventions, audience\ud awareness, and moments of empowerment in college English writing assignments.\ud Student subjects were interviewed one-on-one, the result of which is a sharp contrast\ud between what composition teachers and students recognize as valuable in the process of\ud writing personal narrative and academic research assignments. Most surprisingly,\ud students identified a narrative of mastery which has fallen out of focus in contemporary\ud composition studies. Ultimately, I argue for writing projects which cull the most valued\ud aspects of each genre to encourage greater student agency and a more consequential\ud writing experience