62 For Instructors: Diagnostic Essay

I don’t know if you have heard the term “diagnostic” applied to an essay before– you may have only heard the term used for doctors making a diagnosis by determining what illness a patient may have. Don’t worry! You are not a sick patient, and your writing isn’t either! When it comes to your writing, you are the doctor. You are the one who will reveal your writing process, understand how you feel about writing and why you feel this way, recognize your writing blocks and strengths, and discover ways to improve or “heal” the areas in which you may struggle. This essay is not so much about “diagnosing” any writing “illnesses” or tracing “symptoms” as it is about “taking the temperature” of your writing and how you feel about writing and learning. It is called a “diagnostic” essay because it is graded based on your labor and not on a strict rubric of expectations.

It is a  low-stakes assignment that allows you to write about things that matter to you– your own perspectives and experiences. In that way, this essay is a bit like visiting the doctor and filling out a patient history form, because your history with writing, reading, and the themes and topics of a course matters in your identity as a writer, thinker, and student. In fact, analyzing your past experiences in this essay could help you to see how these experiences have shaped your educational career so far, and allow you to take more control of your future work in your college classes.

How to Get Started

Choose a few educational experiences that have stuck with you over the years. These may be positive or negative, or you may not even know how you feel about these experiences. They could involve being in school or elsewhere, or an interaction between yourself and a sibling, a teacher, a parent, leader, coach, friend, or acquaintance. Jot down some thoughts about these experiences and spend some time thinking about how they have affected you. Consider if these experiences have or have not had a long-term effect on your ability to learn or your current attitudes towards or perspectives on higher education. Questions to ask yourself:

• Are they related to wellness blockers like stress, testing, and negativity from educators? Or learning blockers like lack of support and learning difficulties?
• Are they examples of educational support like great teachers, helpful siblings, and supportive, involved parents?
• Have any of these experiences affected how you see yourself or your identity as a writer or student? Keep in mind, these examples can be “big” events like missing weeks of school due to an illness/injury, or small events, like a few words spoken by a teacher that made a big impact on your life.

Next, look over the descriptions of a narrative essay and the elements of a story: introduction, conflict, climax, and resolution. Think about which experiences you have that could work as a story. Consider which would be relatable to your peers, or which would best help you dig into and understand your identity as a writer. Questions to ask yourself:

• What if you were writing this story in your diary or in a letter to your best friend?
• What if you were writing it for your future self, or future children who may experience some of the same things?

Free-write a rough draft with the goal of writing a 1-2-page essay, let yourself go on describing the event or experiences you have chosen. Describe in great detail the moments you have chosen, without worrying about grammar or punctuation or a grade. Set a timer for 15 minutes and try to write constantly for the entire time, not fixing typos or errors, and not stopping, even if you write “um, um um” over and over until you can get back on track. Then look back over what you have, correct errors, and if you are not ready to keep writing, come back to work on it for another 15-20 minutes later, and repeat until you have a 1-2 page essay.