When given the assignment to write an identity narrative, the first thing I had to focus on was coming up with a thesis and a specific moment. So, I wrote down many different topics I might want to write about and underneath each topic I made bullet points for details and what I remember. I chose the topic that meant the most to me and started making an outline of what I should include in each paragraph. For example, in the introduction I wrote about my parents’ separation, and the reason why. I was mentioning a broken family, and in the third paragraph was where it all went wrong. I started going off topic and writing about how the volleyball team had changed me. I believe I had a bad start, I should have started with how volleyball had helped me overcome many challenges I faced when I was younger instead of explaining in full detail of how the family was broken up. That ruined my whole essay because I realized that the transition was wrong since it made me include three different topics which was my parent’s separation, a broken family, and volleyball. Throughout this essay I tried to explain too much of what happened from the beginning to the end instead of focusing on one moment. 

My overall goal was to write a story that covers a specific part of my life that had impacted me and made me become who I am today. The target audience are adults who are struggling, so they could understand how a phenomenon could change their children’s lives whether it is in a positive or negative way. I want the readers to be cautious of their actions because it has a big impact on the loved ones around them. Also, I want to show that my identity was built up through experiences and hardships. To develop and relay my message, I must try to make the readers empathize with me to a certain level. The genre of this assignment was an identity narrative essay. Other than the genre and audience, there are many other rhetorical situations that were applied in this essay, like the purpose, exigence, and context. The purpose is to help the readers understand how life experiences allowed us to become who we are today. My purpose was to explain how one event like a parent’s separation can lead to many challenges, but participating a team friendly sport, volleyball allowed me to grow as an individual. The exigence is a specific moment or memory that changed us, and the experiences we had to face that shaped us. The context helps us identify ourselves and show who we are or who we have become using age, setting, and everything that goes on around us.  

The fiction and nonfiction stories that were part of our required reading helped me prepare to write an identity narrative because I was exposed to many situations. Reading the stories made me understand how experiences should have an impact on who you have become today while focusing on one moment of your life. I clearly did not do that though as I included three topics, but those topics have shaped me into the individual I am today. There were also articles that helped me work on certain parts of the paper, like writing a thesis, editing and revising my paper etc. Some of the articles were found on blackboard, and the titles were “Revising Strategies” by Ellen Carillo and “Revision Strategies” by Harwick. With the information I obtained, I revised my essay multiple times with the help of some friends who helped me peer edit. It allowed me to recognize the irrelevant parts in my essay and what I need to include. The grammar and vocabulary in this essay were very poor, but it had been looked over many times and has been edited. I think my weakness in this essay was not getting to the point, the thesis. Instead, I included a lot of details regarding my parents when it should focus on volleyball as well. While I was putting this narrative together, I was able to express my feelings and lesson learned.

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