English 52: StrengthsQuest Essay

Strength = Talent + Knowledge + Skills

You have talents within you. Your greatest talents hold the key to high achievement, success, and progress to levels of personal excellence. By becoming aware of your talents, you build confidence, which is the basis for achievement. You can learn how to develop and apply your strength, which will improve your levels of achievement. Each of your talents can be applied in many areas of your life, including relationship, learning, academics, leadership, service, and your career. As you develop and apply your strengths, your achievements will increase, and you will experience greater and more frequent successes (Anderson, 2004).

For this essay assignment, you will explain the research behind the concept of StrengthsQuest and how you will use this information about yourself to accomplish your short-term academic goals.

You have already done considerable work reading and collecting data and information that will help you write this essay. You have completed the StrengthsFinder Assessment, carefully read the description of each of your five signature themes, contacted and interviewed three people who know you well to assess how well they see the strengths in you, and completed a variety of worksheets and participated in several activities in class. Use the insight you gained through these experiences to help you write your essay.

Your essay will need to be a MINIMUM of FOUR FULL pages. When you turn in your final draft you will need to include the following items:

The final draft of the essay. Your essay must follow the format outlined in class. Essays that are not typed in the format discussed in class will be returned unread and ungraded. Formatting errors will cause you to lose two points for each error.
A LETTER to me in which you discuss what interested you about this topic. Describe any difficulties you had with the assignment and how you attempted to overcome those difficulties. And finally, what do you think the strengths of your essay are, and what would you still like to work on? Keep in mind that this last question is not simply an opportunity for you to “sell” your work. I want your honest assessment. Your letter should be one page hand-written. Don’t try to write the letter in the five minutes before class. I want to see that you have put some thought into these questions.
All rough drafts, prewriting, peer reviews, and any other activities we do in class related to this assignment.

BE SURE TO EDIT AND PROOFREAD YOUR ESSAY CAREFULLY!

When you come to class the day your essay is due, your packet should be ready to go. I will not have a stapler or paper clips with me. You need to take care of all of this before you come to class.

Remember that essays submitted late will not be eligible for any revision opportunities that might be offered. Be sure you submit your work on time.