In order to minimize the dread which students and teachers alike often feel toward freshman composition courses, it is important to involve students in reading and writing assignments which are of interest and importance to them. Autobiography, as a subject for study and a focus for writing, can be a great motivator and an expediter of the learning process in English composition. The form is easy to read and interesting for the students; at the same time, it is instructive about writing style. Writing autobiography has many of the same advantages and also instills confidence and incentive in students who may have little of either. It prompts them to consider philosophic values and historical process as well as experiment with basic patterns of writing. In the classroom, the student begins with simple patterns, such as using the narrative style to describe an event. Later when the student addresses discoveries and relationships, more complex patterns, such as illustration, definition, analysis, and comparison/contrast, are used. Other forms of exposition, and other modes of autobiography can then be explored; the genre of autobiography is an effective vehicle for expression of history, social values, aesthetic form and linguistic skills. (MB)