English 2202

Summer 2004

Short Papers Assignment

Due Dates: Papers are due at the beginning of class each Tuesday -- 7/13, 7/20, 7/27, 8/3, and 8/10 (these due dates are also listed on the course schedule).

Late Work: The grade for late papers will be lowered one letter; if the paper is not received by the next class period, the grade will be an “F.”  However, all six short papers must be completed to pass the course, and no late work will be accepted on the final evening of class.

Length: Each paper should be 350-400 words, which should be about 1.0 page.  Please include the word count at the bottom of each of your papers.

Format: The papers should be word-processed and double-spaced with 1.0” margins on all four sides.  The font type should be Arial or Times New Roman, and the font size should be 10, 11, or 12 point.  Instead of a title page, simply include your name, the course ID, and the date in the upper left-hand corner of the first page.  A title is optional.

Style: Each paper should be written in complete sentences and fully developed paragraphs.  You should strive to be as correct as possible in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics.  After writing a first draft, be sure to revise, edit, and proofread carefully so that your final draft is as polished as possible.

Accuracy: Be sure to spell authors’ names and titles of their works correctly.  Put titles of poems and short stories in “quotation marks” and underline titles of plays and novels.  If you quote from the texts, do so sparingly and carefully, use correct quotation marks before and after anything you copy directly from the text, and put line or page numbers in parentheses at the end of the quotation(s).

Evaluation: I will read each paper to determine how well you continue or extend (or contradict or refute) the ideas and discussions we began in class the previous week.  Be original, be creative, play the devil’s advocate, take some risks.  Be sure each paragraph is focused, and be sure your ideas are stated clearly and fully explained.  You can assume your reader has read the texts, but do not assume your reader understands your ideas the way you do or the connections you make between your ideas.  Do not err on the side of under-development (and adequate development is different from repeating what you’ve already said).  Finally, follow the directions above, and ask if you have any questions.

• High Pass (Plus): Definitely above average or superior work; main ideas are original and/or creative; shows careful and thoughtful insight into the texts (analysis, interpretation, evaluation); ideas are clearly stated and then fully developed and clearly explained.
   
• Pass (Check): Acceptable work; ideas are good and show some interesting thinking about the texts; there might be some ambiguity in stating the main ideas; there might also be some lack of development or explanation of the ideas.
   
• Low Pass (Minus): Below-average work; ideas might be repeated within the paper or from class discussions; ideas might not be fully explained; there may be some misinformation in the paper; there may be evidence of lack of understanding of the texts.
   
• No Pass (“F”): Paper not submitted on time (see late work policy); does not follow directions; plagiarized.

Content of the Papers

The topic for each paper is up to you, but follow the topic guidelines listed below.  Most importantly, do not summarize a text or part of a class discussion.  For example, you could (1) continue to analyze, interpret, or evaluate a text -- perhaps to elaborate on or develop ideas not mentioned in class; (2) contradict or refute an idea raised in class discussion about an author or text; or (3) establish new or different connections between authors and/or texts.  Put another way, you should reflect on the readings and class discussions from the previous week and try to extend them – i.e. continue the conversations we started in class.

In other words, get your hands dirty!  “Wrestle” with a “problem” presented in the text(s) you’ve chosen to write about.  Pick something in a text you don’t understand, something seemingly inexplicable, a paradox, something unusual, something that bothers you, etc.  Then, try to “solve” the problem in one or more ways: analyze, theorize, speculate, hypothesize, reconsider the author’s approach, suggest a new or different view or approach, etc.  Try to discover how and/or why the author did what she or he did.

Since the papers are so short, get right to the point in each paragraph, and do not ramble on or “pad” your writing.  Develop an idea fully and clearly, and then move on to the next idea -- do not take up space with anything nonessential.  Be both precise and concise -- use the “ABC method”: accuracy, brevity, and clarity.

And, do not try to cover too much; stay focused by picking only one or two major elements or ideas to respond to, analyze, interpret, or critique.  Also, don’t simply repeat ideas covered in class discussions; instead, go beyond the class discussions by exploring other things that occurred to you in class but that you didn’t get to say, or things that have occurred to you since class.  I’m looking for deep, critical, coherent thinking on one or two main points rather than scattered thoughts on three or four main points.

In terms of structure or organization, a paper should not be a “jumble” of unrelated thoughts, scattered bits and pieces of reaction to many different items, or one long rambling paragraph.  As I said, you should choose to develop only one or two (or possibly three) main ideas, devoting one or more paragraphs to each major idea.  Do not worry about introductory or conclusion paragraphs; instead, just make sure the focus of each paragraph is clearly stated at the beginning of the paragraph.

Due Dates and Topics

Paper #1 – due Tuesday, July 13:

• Respond to, analyze, interpret, and/or critique one (1) poem, or compare and contrast two (2) poems, from July 6 or July 8.

Paper #2 – due Tuesday, July 20:

• Respond to, analyze, interpret, and/or critique one (1) poem, or compare and contrast two (2) poems, from July 13 or July 15.

Paper #3 – due Tuesday, July 27:

• Respond to, analyze, interpret, and/or critique one (1) short story, or compare and contrast two (2) short stories, from July 20 or July 22.

Paper #4 – due Tuesday, August 3:

• Respond to, analyze, interpret, and/or critique one (1) short story, or compare and contrast two (2) short stories, from July 27 or July 29.

Paper #5 – due Tuesday, August 10:

• Respond to, analyze, interpret, and/or critique one (1) aspect of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie.  Perhaps pick one character, one scene, one passage of dialogue, one theme, one conflict, etc., and examine how the “part” relates to the “whole.”  Or, perhaps compare and contrast one (1) part of the written text of the play and the same aspect in the film version (or in the short story version).

Paper #6 – written in class on Thursday, August 12 (Final Exam):

• There will probably be two (2) parts to this paper.  One part will focus on Jon Hassler’s Staggerford, and one part will be “cumulative” over all the literature we studied this summer session.

Samples

Poetry Sample #1 -- single poem (Lorde)

Poetry Sample #2 -- single poem (Lorde)

Poetry Sample #3 -- single poem (Lorde)

Poetry Sample #4 -- single poem (Hughes)

Poetry Sample #5 -- two poems (Brooks and Lorde)

Short Fiction Sample #1 -- two stories (Hemingway and Hempel)

Novel Sample #1 -- one novel (Bronte)