Collecting Evidence

Almost any writing involves collecting evidence, if you think of evidence as information gathered to develop or communicate an idea.  Different writing tasks require different types of evidence, however.

In Essay I, the evidence will be your memories of a particular experience that somehow casts light on the relationship of the individual to the community.  Implicit in the way you tell the story will be some understanding about the meaning of community and the individual.

In Essay II, the evidence will be the texts of the stories you and your classmates have written in Essay II, plus an other relevant observations of culture or behaviors related to community and the individual.  You will look for patterns among the stories to come up with an idea about community or the relationship between community and the individual.