The First Essay

History is something I have recently found that I am interested in. I never thought that I was that interested in History and thought I would always go into a career that had something to do with creating art. Now that I know I am interested in it and it could become a potential career in the future, I can look back and see that I was very passionate when I was younger.

Looking back the first time I can remember being interested in history was my eighth-grade year in middle school. In my social studies class, we were learning about the American Revolution, abolition, and, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. We were to draw a name out of a hat relevant to what we were studying. I hoped that I would get someone interesting like John Wilkes Booth or George Washington. I drew Frederick Douglas. I was disappointed because I had no idea who he even was. After everyone got a name, we were told that we needed to write a three-page, six-paragraph paper on the person we drew and what they did during their life.

I was disappointed I hadn’t gotten someone I wanted but I did want to know who Frederick Douglas was. When I got home, I started doing research straight away. I spent hours over the next few weeks learning about Douglas and his life, how he struggled and persevered. He was a pretty cool person and the more I learned the more I was glad I had drawn him. I learned that he was a very important figure in the abolition of slavery and equal rights movements. I started writing my paper as soon as I could.

I found it incredibly easy to write and soon enough I had met the tree page requirement. I thought I would struggle to write three pages because it was something I had never done before. Even after writing three pages I felt I still had more to say, that I hadn’t done Douglas justice and I needed to tell people more. I ended up writing five pages over multiple paragraphs. I brought my paper in for revision and was told it was too long and I needed to stick to three pages and six paragraphs. I didn’t want to shorten my paper and found it hard to pick and choose what was important enough about someone else’s life, but I needed a good grade. I ended up cutting my paper down before the next revision and my teacher was very happy with what I had written.

For the final paper, I thought I had it in the bag. I thought I was going to turn it in and be done with it for the rest of my life. Be happy with the grade I got. When I turned my paper in, I failed to reread it and make sure everything was fitting the guidelines. I had counted my pages just to make sure there were three, but I hadn’t counted the paragraphs. As I was writing I accidentally split one of my paragraphs into two. When we got our grades back, I was surprised to see I had gotten a 92. It was still a high grade, but my teacher had told me everything was perfect. As I flipped through my paper, I saw where I had messed up. The extra paragraph. I had accidentally written seven paragraphs instead or six. My teacher took off eight points. I felt dumb for not rereading my paper beforehand and catching the mistake before turning the paper
in.

I think that I am so interested in history because I get “to explore and analyze aspects of the human experience” (Bullock et al. 307) and see how others lived during different times and going through different things. I hope to continue to explore history and that I will be able to make a career out of it someday so that I might be able to enjoy my work.

Work Cited

Bullock, Richard et al. Chapter 24: “Reading Across Fields of Study.” The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and Handbook. 5th ed. Norton, 2019. pp. 291-93.