Harvard Medical School Relationship with Writing and Critical Thinking Discussion

Essay #1 – Writer Identity
(1000 words)
People have varying (and often complex) relationships with how they view writing. Some of you may see it as cathartic or freeing. Others might view it with dread. And some of you may simply see it as a means to an end. Whatever your relationship with it, my objective with this assignment is to not only reflect on your relationship with writing, but also how critical thinking has played a role in your life (the two, after all, are often interwined). Unlike your other assignments in this class, this is not a research-intensive assignment. It gives me a way to know what you’re coming into this class with, where you’re striving to improve, but also give you a sense of how I assess writing.
Your essay should be built around the following points:. When constructing this essay, please consider the following points:
Identify and describe any key events, experiences, people, and/or circumstances in your life that have impacted your perception of yourself as a writer, as well as a critical thinker.
Describe how the above how helped or hindered how you approach writing, critical thinking, and argumentation.
Identify the areas of critical thinking that you struggle with, while providing relevant examples.
Describe a plan (either in this class, or beyond this class) to overcome these areas of struggle.
You can cover these points in any order you feel necessary so long as it works with your writing style. I am expecting an essay that has a clear introduction, strong thesis, clear topic sentences, transitions, main points, and conclusion: Therefore, do not merely answer these questions in list format. Instead, create a narrative that elaborates on them.
You can write this paper with me as an audience in mind, or anyone else of your choosing.
Video Overview
The video below is me narrating the guidelines of this essay, which some people might find helpful. Just a few quick points of clarification: First, the rubric of this assignment has changed slightly since I recorded this video, but the overall criteria remains the same. Secondly, since recording this video, I’ve changed the layout of this course, so my reference as to where to find the guidelines (it notes “week 1 modules” has been shifted”).