Grammar for Writing: Level Blue — Chapter 4

I Lived in Interesting Times Miners in the Sierra, painted in 1851 by Charles Christian Nahl and August Wenderoth, captured the Gold Rush fever. Today, we learn about world and local events as they occur. We owe this to TV, radio, and the Internet. However, long before this technology, news came through eyewitness reports. The reports appeared in newspapers, or were written in journals or diaries by the people who lived the events as they happened. Write an autobiographical narrative about an event. Research a historical event and write a one-page diary entry as if you had witnessed the event yourself. Imagine that your diary entry will be read years later by students trying to learn about history through firsthand accounts. STEP 1: Initial Search Read three or four samples of eyewitness accounts at the following Web sites: History Net Yahoo! Search: History + Eyewitness Accounts Take notes about the autobiographical incidents and the kind of details these witnesses recorded. STEP 2: Brainstorm Brainstorm a list of the historical events that you know about or that you'd like to learn about, such as the California Gold Rush, the San Francisco earthquake, the Battle of Midway, or the coming and going of Y2K. (For tips on brainstorming, see Grammar for Writing, Level Blue, page 10.) STEP 3: Expanded Search Choose an event, and use various search engines to look for eyewitness accounts of that event. Look for specific details such as descriptions of clothing, food, weather, the event itself, other participants, how the writer felt about the event, and so on. If necessary, explore library resources for more information. STEP 4: Draft Your Eyewitness Account Remember that the readers of your eyewitness account have not witnessed the event themselves. So be sure to include details that will help them share the experience. Tell your story from the first-person point of view, limiting your material to only those things you would have experienced. You experience the world around you with all your senses. For example, on Thanksgiving day, aromas from the kitchen and the sounds and sights of football fill the air. Steaming, delicious foods appear, as do frosty glasses of cider. In your eyewitness account, be sure to use words that appeal to all five senses. What are the five senses? They are sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Portrait of Maj. Gen. Jefferson Davis, officer of the Federal Army, and staff, Washington, DC (July, 1865). Use the following strategies to improve your work: Put events in your narrative in chronological order; answer the 5-W and How? questions; include your thoughts and feelings about the event; explain why the event is important; use plenty of sensory details; and invent dialogue. (For more on these strategies, see Grammar for Writing, Level Blue, page 54.) STEP 5: Revise, Edit, and Proofread Make sure your diary entries read like personal accounts and not like paragraphs from a history book. Then eliminate grammatical errors and proofread for spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors. STEP 6: Publish Your Eyewitness Account Be prepared to share your work with the class. Create a class book or an Eyewitness to History display in the classroom. Copyright ©2007 by William H. Sadlier, Inc. All rights reserved.