1
ENG 2D Independent Study
Overview
This independent study is also the culminating activity for the course, worth 10% of your
final grade. To complete the ISU you will read a novel of your choice and complete a
reading journal, following a prescribed format. You will then prepare a photo essay,
which you will present to the class.
Novel Selection
You may choose a novel from the list
with which you will be provided, or
you may choose a novel (subject to my
approval) which is not on the list.
All books used for the ISU should be
literary fiction written for an adult
audience, and should possess
significant literary merit. Young Adult
fiction will not be approved. Most
genre fiction – detective novels, crime
thrillers, romances, historical fiction,
fantasy, vampire, zombie, etc. – is not
suitable for the ISU.
You are strongly encouraged to
choose “classic” fiction, and this
makes up most of the material on the list. If you are interested in a novel on a particular
theme you should consult “NovelList Plus” on EBSCO, on the school’s Learning
Commons.
Reading Journal
You will divide your novel into three roughly equal parts and submit one segment of
your journal for each part. In each segment of the journal you will complete a prescribed
set of tasks. For all of the questions which you answer, and tasks which you carry out,
you should provide page references and short quotations to support your
conclusions.
2
NOTE: Students will have difficulty achieving a LEVEL 4 if an assignment is not
submitted by the due date. A Level 4 requires timely attention to process and final
submission of work. Missed conferences will be re-scheduled only for reasons of serious
illness or bereavement.
IN ADDITION: Plagiarism is a very serious academic offence. To plagiarize is to give
the impression that you have written or created something that you have in fact
borrowed from someone else. A mark of zero will be given to any aspect of the ISU that
uses unacknowledged sources. If you are uncertain, consult with your teacher for
clarification.
Journal One (Section One of the Novel)
1. What is the setting of the novel?
Describe both the time and the place. Do not simply give a date and a geographic
location; describe the conditions prevailing in this time and place, particularly
those which seem relevant to the story.
2. Who are the main characters, and what are they
like?
As you do this, identify the protagonist, and the
antagonist, if possible.
3. What conflict or conflicts are developed in this
section of the novel?
4. Select and describe two objects or images which
seem to be of importance.
5. Make at least three comparisons between your
novel and either To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and
Juliet, or the short stories which we studied
earlier in the semester.
3
Journal Two (Section Two of the Novel)
1. Select the event from this section of the novel which you consider to be of greatest
importance to the development of the plot, or of character, or theme. Describe the
event, and explain why you think it is important.
2. Identify two themes which you think are being developed in the novel. Explain
how the author is developing these themes. Suggest how you might represent
these themes in your photo essay.
3. Identify a character who enters the novel in this segment, or describe something
which you learn about a character, or a way in which a character changes in this
segment.
4. Discuss anything of significance that has
happened in connection with the two
objects or images which you identified in
journal one.
5. Make three more comparisons between
either To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet,
or the short stories which we studied
earlier in the semester.
Journal Three (Section Three of the Novel)
1. What conflicts are occurring in this section of the novel? Are they the same ones
which were occurring in section one? Are conflicts resolved in this last section of
the book? How?
4
2. Discuss anything of significance that has happened in connection with the two
objects or images which you identified in journal one.
3. Who is the most important character in this section of the novel, and why?
4. Try to identify the theme which you consider to be the most important, or the
most interesting, and explain why you consider it so.
5. Make three more comparisons between either To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet,
or the short stories which we studied earlier in the semester.
Photo Essay
Your essay should do the following:
1. Describe the setting.
2. Describe the characters.
3. Suggest the main plot developments,
particularly by describing the main conflicts in
which the principal characters are involved.
4. Do not give a detailed plot summary. Do not
give away the ending of the book.
5. Discuss significant images in the book, and
their symbolic meanings, if they have them.
6. Discuss the theme of the book.
5
7. Compare the novel to To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, and the short stories
which we studied earlier in the semester. This need not be done with a formal
thesis statement. Note significant similarities in the works, in their settings,
characters, imagery, and themes, and also discuss how these similar elements were
treated in each work.
Format:
As the title implies, this presentation is to be based on slides that have visual
images on them. This does not mean that you ought not to have any text on the slides,
but visual images must predominate.
Below is a list of the format requirements:
1. Do not put the script of your
presentation on slides.
2. A presentation not less than five,
or more than eight minutes long.
3. A minimum of thirty slides, which
should suggest the setting,
characters, plot, imagery and
symbolism, and theme of your
novel, and suggest comparisons to
the other major works we have
studied in the course.
4. These may have brief captions. You may have a caption which identifies the setting
and time period under a photo suggestive of the time and place, or which identifies
a character, under a photo of a person who reminds you of your character, or
suggests one of the character’s more important traits.
6
5. A voice-over narration.
6. Appropriate background music.
7. A title page, and a concluding page.
Deadlines:
Assignment date:
Book selection date:
Book in class by:
Journal One due:
Journal Two due:
Journal Three due:
Library/Lab days:
Presentation days:
7
ENG 2D Independent Study Journal Evaluation
Name:______________________________________________
Criteria
Knowledge/
Understanding
Demonstrates
understanding of
literary terms and
concepts
Thinking/Inquiry
Analysis and
interpretation of
text
Integration of
evidence
Communication
Style (word
choice, sentence
variety,
appropriate
language)
Mechanics
(spelling and
grammar)
Application
Drawing
conclusions and
connections to
other works from
course
Level 1 (5059%)
Level 2 (6069%)
/100
Level 3 (7079%)
Level 4 (80100%)
Mark note
Answers show Answers show Answers show Answers show
limited
some
considerable
thorough
understanding understanding understanding understanding
/10
Analysis and
interpretation
is weak
No quotations
from the text
Analysis and
interpretation
is satisfactory
One
quotation.
Analysis and
interpretation
is sound
Two
quotations
Analysis and
interpretation
is excellent
More than
two
quotations,
properly cited
/40
Information
has been
communicated
with limited
effectiveness.
Information
has been
communicated
with some
effectiveness.
Information
has been
communicated
with
considerable
effectiveness.
Information
has been
communicated
with a high
degree of
effectiveness.
Draws
conclusions
and makes
connections
with limited
effectiveness.
Draws
conclusions
and makes
connections
with some
effectiveness.
Draws
conclusions
and makes
connections
with
considerable
effectiveness.
Draws
conclusions
and makes
connections
with a high
degree of
effectiveness.
/30
/20
Mark total
/100
8
ENG 2D: ISU Photo Essay Presentation
Categories
Knowledge/
Understanding
Level 1
Demonstrates
a limited
understanding
of literary
terms and
concepts
Pictures,
captions and
commentary
provide
limited insight
into setting,
character,
imagery, and
theme, and
connections to
other works
studied in the
course
Communication Uses images,
language, and
voice with
limited
effectiveness
Application
Mark Total
Meaning is
not
communicated
clearly.
Presentation
is difficult to
understand.
Shows limited
command of
the media and
technology
used
Level 2
Demonstrates
some
understanding
of literary
terms and
concepts
Pictures,
captions and
commentary
provide some
insight into
setting,
character,
imagery, and
theme, and
connections
to other
works studied
in the course
Level 3
Demonstrates
considerable
understanding
of literary
terms and
concepts
Pictures,
captions and
commentary
provide
significant
insight into
setting,
character,
imagery, and
theme, and
connections
to other
works studied
in the course
Level 4
Mark
Demonstrates
a thorough
understanding
/20
of literary
terms and
concepts
Pictures,
captions and
commentary
provide a very
high level of
insight into
setting,
/40
character,
imagery, and
theme, and
connections
to other
works studied
in the course
Uses images,
language, and
voice with
some
effectiveness
Uses images,
language, and
voice with
considerable
effectiveness
Uses images,
language, and
voice with a
high degree of
effectiveness
Meaning is
occasionally
unclear.
Presentation
is sometimes
difficult to
understand.
Shows some
command of
the media and
technology
used
Photo essay is
mostly clear
and fluent
Photo essay is
clear, easily
understood,
and fluent
Shows
considerable
command of
the media and
technology
used
Shows strong
command of
the media and
technology
used
/20
/20
/100
9
ENG 2D ISU Recommended Novels
Please select as a novel for your ISU a book which you have not read before. Each person
in the class will need to select a different novel.
Richard Adams, Watership Down
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
John Buchan, The Thirty Nine Steps
Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte
Cristo
Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers
E.M. Forster, A Room With a View
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man
Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca
Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind
L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
Baroness Orczy, The Scarlett Pimpernel
George Orwell, 1984
Chaim Potok, The Chosen
Chaim Potok, My Name is Asher Lev
J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Evelyn Waugh, Decline and Fall
H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds