SUMMARY

In this short essay, youll answer the question, How has the place you consider home influenced your identity (i.e. your personality, beliefs, actions, thoughts)?

MAIN COMPONENTS

You will need to (1) describe your homeplace so that your readers can form a richly detailed picture in their heads of what it is like (or was like, if it has changed over time), and (2) interpret the significance of what has happened in that place: How has it influenced your identity?  Your values?  Your understanding of home?

You might begin by considering what home means to you.  Does home mean where you are living right this second, or do you think of some previous residence and location?  Does it mean where you grew up?  Is it where generations of your family are rooted?  If not, is it a person, a group of friends, an online community, a mental or spiritual sanctuary, or a combination of these things?

FRAMING QUESTIONS

(Remember, these are to help you think about your topic, not necessarily questions that you need to answer in your paper.)

          What is the identity of your home?  Do you think your home is similar to many others, or unique?  Why?  (Note: your description does not have to be an endorsement.  Maybe you dislike this place and your description will help readers understand why.)

          What physical localesand the stories, rituals, and people you associate with those localesdefine home or homeplace?

          Has this place changed physically?  Have the people in or around it changed?  What about the feel or atmosphere?  How have you changed, and is this related to the ways your home has or hasnt changed?  Has this change affected how you define home?

          Consider writing about coming home, leaving home, the joys and toils of making a home, or the sorrow of abandoning a home.

LOGISTICS

3-4 complete pages; MLA format; Times New Roman 12-point font; 1-inch margins