English and Literature
Assignments
Content
Writing Prompt One
Plagiarism Paper
In your own words, write at least one page answering these two questions:
What is plagiarism?
How can it be avoided?
Before attempting this paper, be sure to have read the What is Plagiarism.doc and read through the website:
http://www.plagiarism.org/
Writing Prompt Two
50 Word Bio
For this assignment, you will need to compose a 50 word biography about yourself. You only have 50 words, no more and no less, and yes I mean exactly 50 words.
See my example in Unit Two
Narrative About Self
Write a two page narrative about yourself.
Who are you?
Feel free to share anything you are comfortable sharing. I would like to get to know you as you take my class.
What are your likes and dislikes? Hobbies?
8 Sentence Paragraph
You will need to write an eight sentence paragraph on a topic of your choosing. See 8_sentence_paragraph_format.pdf
This shows an example using literature, which you can do with the story from this week, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, or you can write about anything you like as long as you follow the 8 paragraph format.
Short Response Questions for A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Short Response Questions to A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
1. Existentialist is a term used to identify a person who believes the following: (a) life is absurd, (b) God does not exist, and (c) it is up to the individual to give meaning to his or her life. Is the older waiter an existentialist? Explain your answer.
2. The author does not identify anyone in the story by name. Does he do so to emphasize the older waiter’s view that man is nothing? Explain your answer.
Writing Prompt Three
Compare and Contrast Paper 1
After reading The Yellow Wallpaper and The Garden Party, write a compare and contrast essay looking at the main characters. How are they similar? How are they different? This paper should be at least two pages in length.
If you are in need of help, here is a website explaining the compare and contrast essay:
http://www.eslbee.com/compcont.htm
Thesis Statements
Focus your Topic
What is it?
Focusing a research topic is narrowing (orsometimes broadening) a topic so that you can demonstrate a good understandingof it, including enough examples and important details, within the size limitsof the project you are required to produce. You need to satisfy bothyourself and your teacher that you know what you are talking about. Ifyour teacher gives you no limits, make them for yourself. You don’t want tospend your life on this, at least not right now.
Why should I do it?
This is the #1 biggest pitfall in theresearch process. If you pick a topic that is too big, you will not only havetrouble selecting what to include from a huge selection of material available,you will probably leave out some critical information that will make itapparent (especially to your teacher) that you don’t really know what you aretalking about.
If, on the other hand, you pick a topicthat is too narrow, you won’t find enough to write about and end up repeatingyourself to fill 6 pages (which doesn’t go over very well with teacherseither, by the way).
The process of focusing a topic takespractice, so be patient with yourself. It is challenging when you don’t knowtoo much about a topic. It will get easier as your knowledge base increases. Rememberthat the research process is a recursive onewhich means that you may need to revisit your topic choice more than once ifyou find it doesn’t work out. Luckily there are some strategiesand methods to help you through this critically important part of theprocess. Read on!
How do I do it?
There are different ways to focus yourtopic. In the Related Links at the bottom of the page you can clickon some different methods. Whichever method you choose (and you maydo a combination of them) try to pick something that interests you in some way.Even if the overall subject doesn’t seem interesting, you can pick aninteresting angle on it.
Choose five prompts from the listbelow and write a sample thesis statement:
Say you have to do a research project about World War II, and youdon’t know a thing about it, nor are you at all interested in it. Try to find asubtopic that connects to your interests.
Ifyou like cars, try comparing the land vehicles used by the Germans and theAmericans.
If you likefashion, look at women’s fashions during the war and how they were influencedby military uniforms and the shortage of certain materials.
If you likeanimals, look at the use of dogs by the US Armed Forces.
If you likepuzzles and brain teasers, look at the fascinating topic of decoding secretmessages.
If you like music,find out what types of music American teenagers were listening to during thewar years.
If you are apacifist, find out what the anti-war movement was like during the war in anycountry.
Find out whatwas happening during the war on your birth date.
Find out if anyof your relatives fought in the war and research that time and place.
Poetry – Diction
Poetry Exercise: Diction
Look at the art below. Pick one of the twopictures and write for fifteen minutes about what you see, trying to capture asmany actual details and nuances as you can.
Use this free-write as the basis forwriting a poem of 10-15 lines that allows the reader to share some aspect of thisscene. Throughout, your goal is to pay close attention to interesting andfresh diction and to avoid clichés. Remember that your poem should concentrateon nouns and verbs and omit as many of the little “cluttering”prose words as possible without sounding telegraphic. Also try to presentthe reader with a description that uses a unique angle of vision inorder to remove automatic, initial perception. And don’t forget to include unexpecteddetails!
Night,by Norm Soule
Alysand Stanley, by Judy Hood
Writing Prompt Four
Poetry – Imagery
Poetry Exercise: Imagery
Carolyn Forche describes an affair on a train,Plath a room where her life changed. Now it’s your turn: Recall some place thatyou visit often, or a place where you occasionally spend time, but one thatallows your imagination to soar. In a fifteen-minute free-writing session,describe both that place and one or two of the mental journeys you’ve takenfrom there. (Don’t limit yourself: This could be a special spot by a stream, achair where you read good books, or even a movie theater or an art gallery.) Whenyou’re through, go back and circle those words and phrases that do the best jobof capturing the concrete, sensory detail of both the place and the experiencesyou wrote about.
Use these, and other, key words and phrasesto write a poem of 10-15 lines. Remember how virtually every line of TedKoozer’s poem about the salesman included concrete imagery? That’s your goal: Everyline of your poem should contain at least one of the following: description,simile, metaphor, or metonymy.
Short Response Questions for Sir Gawain
Short Response questions for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
1. In planning their trick, did Morgan le Fay and theGreen Knight foresee that Gawain would accept the challenge? (In other talesabout the Knights of the Roundtable, Gawain frequently appears as headstrongand reckless in his willingness to accept challenges and prove his mettle.)
2.When the lady tells Gawain that the sash is a talisman that will protect him,he does not doubt her. Does his belief in its power reveal him as naive andgullible?
Personal Narrative
Write a personal narrative about one event from your life.
Ok, you need to choose an event, could be a trip, a sports game, or a day in your life, and then write at least a three (3) page essay.
Use this resource for your narrative:
PersonalNarrativeTeachingStrategies.pdf
Writing an Introduction
Pick one of the five thesis statements you wrote for the thesis statement assignment and write an introduction paragraph.
An introduction has an attention getter, information on what the paper is about, and holds the thesis.
Check out this website with tips on writing an introduction:
http://libguides.astate.edu/content.php?pid=54191&sid=398866
Writing Prompt Five
Poetry – Lines
Poetry Exercise: Line
Write about “leaving” – whetherit’s divorce, leaving the house this morning, finishing a really good book, ora friend dying – you decide! Free write about this topic for fifteen minutes,and then go back and circle significant words and phrases. Next, draft outseveral short test lines in which you end the line on one of these significantwords – even if the word leads right into the next line.
Use this free-write as the basis forwriting a poem of 12-15 lines that pays close attention to line endings, and thepoem should use syllabics – i.e.,each line should contain the same number of syllables.
Be sure that your final draft poem:
ends each line on a “significant” word you want to emphasize,
includes a combination of run-over and end-stopped lines,
contains the same number of syllables for each line, and
remembers to pay close attention to fresh, crisp diction, compressed language, and a variety of imagery (description, metaphor, simile, and metonymy).
Poetry – Sounds
Poetry exercise: Sound Complements
Make four lists of words down a page – including five each for a column of
adjectives
adverbs
nouns
verbs
But make sure each word describes a characteristic or behavior you would NOT normally associate with yourself.
Circle those that most interest or intrigue you.
Now, look for other words that have similar vowels or consonants to the key words you circled. (Don’t worry about whether you think these words “fit” those of you original list for now.)
Next, test out a few lines that use these words to envision yourself acting, wearing or doing something that is not normally how you envision yourself. (Remember that you don’t have to even be the same gender!)
Write a poem of 10-15 lines that pays attention to sound that describes this new “Not-You.”
Body Paragraphs
We are now going to build upon the introduction that you wrote, I would like to see two (2) body paragraphs. You will need a topic sentence, details to support that topic sentence, and a closing / transition sentence.
Response Paper to A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
Write a two page response paper to A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. A response paper is just your thoughts. What did you think of this story? Does it remind you of anything? Etc.
Creative Writing Assignment
This is a creative writing assignment. Write a short story about anything you want to write about. Have fun with this. Entertain me. If you are having problems coming up with something to write, let me know and I’ll send you a couple prompts.
Writing Prompt Six
Poetry – Meter
Poetryassignment for Rhythms of Speech
Option One: Forthis poem, select one of the previous poems you’ve written for this class andrework the words and the lines so that each line can be parsed into combinationsof two- or three-syllable feet. Such an arrangement will create a poem thatuses the “ghost of meter.”
Option Two: Alternately,if you wish, you may rework a poem that uses consistent metrical lengths in allof your lines (in other words, a poem with all trimeter lines, all tetrameterlines, etc.)
Writing Conclusions
Now you have written an introduction, and a couple body paragraphs. Now it’s time to write a conclusion. Again build upon your introductions and body paragraphs. A conclusion summarizes your main points and then restates your thesis.
Analysis Paper 1 Draft
Choose one of the four poems from Poem Group 1 in Unit 6. Create a detailed thesis and write a 1000 word analysis paper. I would like to set up a peer edit, but unsure if that will work in the Open Enrollment class as everyone will be on your own schedules, so I look over every draft, comment on it, and send it back for you to work on for your final.
Writing Prompt Seven
Analysis Paper 1 Final
Submit your final draft for Analysis Paper 1 after having corrected, revised your draft through my comments
Young Goodman Brown Essay Question
Write an essay answering this question:
Why does Goodman Brown become “a stern, a sad, a sarkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man” after his experience in the forest?
This should be at least two pages, if not more.
Writing Prompt Eight
Young Goodman Brown Essay Final
After revision your draft, complete the final draft and submit it.
Response paper to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Write a three (3) page response paper to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Again a response paper is responding to the text. What are your thoughts? What stood out? Your likes? Dislikes? What does this story tell you? Etc.
Writing Prompt Nine
Analysis Paper 2 Draft
Choose one of the poems from Poem Group 2, create a strong thesis and then write another 1000 word analysis paper.
Feel free to send any questions to me to help you.
Writing Prompt Ten
Analysis Paper 2 Final
After getting your draft back, revise and then submit your final draft.
Send any questions you have my way.
The Things They Carried Essay
This story was about the things soldiers carried during the Vietnam War. Write a 2 page (500 word) essay on some things you carry everyday.
Writing Prompt Eleven
Compare and Contrast Paper 2
After reading the three texts for this unit, pick two of the three stories and write a compare and contrast essay on the main characters. This assignment should be 3 pages (750 words).
Writing Prompt Twelve
Sonnet
You have been reading poetry, you wrote a little bit, now it is time to work on a sonnet. Hilbert has a book out called, “Sixty Sonnets,” these are two out of it. Yezzi’s poem you read is also made up of sonnets. Now it is your turn, I would recommend writing a Shakespearean Sonnet, but you can choose another type if you like, i.e. Italian or Spenserean.
Website explaining each sonnet:
http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm
Writing Prompt Thirteen
Writing Prompt Fourteen
Analysis Paper 3 Draft
The last two have been on poetry, while we worked on your writing. Now it’s time to move on to analysing prose. Write a 1000 word analysis paper on one of the short stories we have read this class. Again this is for the draft and you will have a chance to revise.
Writing Prompt Fifteen
Analysis Paper 3 Final
Revise your draft after you receive it back and submit a final draft of your analysis paper 3.
Response Paper to Dover Beach and Dover Bitch
After reading these two poems, write a 2 page response paper. Tell me what is on your mind, relating to these poems of course.
