This Time It's Personal: Teaching Academic Writing through Creative Nonfiction

O'Connor offers a diverse range of creative nonfiction writing assignments with authentic audiences—including writer’s autobiography; writing about place; memoirs; op-ed essays; blogs; oral histories—and many vibrant examples of student writing.

Students often see little connection between their school lives and the lives they lead outside of school. Thesis-driven essays often further this disconnection by emphasizing form over content and by depersonalizing the relationship between writer a...