English 101
About Seminar Papers
10 points
Due Dates for Seminar Papers
All essays are in 50 Essays, 3rd Edition, edited by Samuel Cohen. They are organized
alphabetically by the last name of the author.
Fri 9/30: “The Joys of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” by Sherman Alexie
Fri 10/7: “The Fourth of July,” by Audre Lord
Fri 10/14: “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs,” by Stephen Jay Gould
Fri 10/21: “On Dumpster Diving,” by Lars Eighner
Fri 10/28: “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell
Fri 11/4: “Death of a Moth,” by Virginia Woolf
Fri 11/18: “A Modest Proposal,” by Jonathan Swift
Fri 12/22: “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King
Format: Word-processed and double-spaced. Name in upper right corner. Number each question.
Length: Approximately one to two word-processed, double-spaced pages (about 250-500 words)
Purpose:
• Focus and deepen your reading
• Prepare you for class discussion
• Practice writing about literature
• Practice integrating quotations into your own writing
Instructions: Whenever we have a reading assignment, and the schedule says that a Seminar Paper is
due, turn in a word-processed, double-spaced sheet on which you have answered the following
questions. Answer in full sentences, in as much detail as you can. You are expected to look up all
words you don’t know. Include specific examples from the text, using quotation marks when quoting
and using the correct format for introducing quotations and paraphrases (see below). Your seminar
paper must include at least one quotation, so that you get practice integrating them into your writing.
If there are words in the assigned essay that you don’t know, I expect you to investigate them before
our class discussion.
The Seminar Paper Questions
1. After each essay in the book there is a series of four questions. Answer question 1.
2. Answer question 2 (of the questions at the end of the essay, in the book).
3. Discuss a point that you can be ready to raise in our class discussion. Anything you think might
be productive for class discussion qualifies, but here are some suggestions:
a. You could ask a question about something in the text that confuses or perplexes you,
and speculate about what it might mean. You don’t have to be right, you just have to
think of some ideas so we can discuss it in class.
b. You could point out something in the text that seems open to a variety of
interpretations, and discuss what those interpretations are, or think about which one
might be the most likely.
c. If you have an opinion about whether the essay is good writing or not, you could
explain the reasons for your opinion.
d. You could point out your favorite sentence and say why you think it’s a good sentence.
e. You could identify a theme in the essay and discuss how the essay addresses that theme.
f. You could bring your favorite new vocabulary word from the essay to our attention, say
why you like it, and make some suggestions for how we might use it.
4.What do you notice about the writer’s style or the essay structure?
5. Revolution:
a. Think of some way that the essay addresses the theme of revolution. If it isn’t obvious,
brainstorm creatively.
b. In what way might this essay, in content or in writing style, revolutionize your own writing?
Grading, 10 points each: are graded according to the following criteria:
• Does the seminar paper answer each question fully, in detail?
• Does it show an accurate comprehension of the reading?
• Does it demonstrate that you have read the entire text?
• Are the mechanics of quotation correct?
• Is the writing grammatical and proofread?
Late seminar papers are not accepted. You must be present in the class discussion to have a seminar
paper accepted. If you are in the group leading the discussion, you must still turn in a seminar paper.
Integrating quotations and paraphrases
Some of the questions ask you to include quotations from the text. For detailed information about how
to punctuate and integrate quotations, see Trimble, in his chapter about quotations. In general, follow
the four steps below:
1. The lead-in: gives the author’s name and a verb. In the examples below, it’s “Alexie begins.”
2. The explanation: explains why you are referring to the quotation or paraphrase. In the examples
below, it’s “engages the interest and curiosity of the reader.”
3. The quotation itself, in quotation marks. If you are paraphrasing—putting the author’s idea into
your own words—then don’t use quotation marks.
4. The page citation: The page number goes in parentheses after the quotation, and the closing
punctuation moved to after the parentheses. (This is the only case in which periods and commas
ever, ever go outside quotation marks.)
Here are two examples of integrating a quotation into my own writing:
Alexie begins, “I learned to read with a Superman comic book” (15), immediately engaging the
interest and curiosity of the reader.
Notice that there’s a comma after the lead-in, that the page citation goes in parentheses after the
quotation, and that punctuation follows the parentheses.
Alexie begins his essay with a direct and surprising sentence that immediately engages the
interest and curiosity of the reader: “I learned to read with a Superman comic book” (15).
Notice that a colon follows the opening independent clause.
Again, the page citation goes in parentheses after the quotation, and the closing punctuation goes
outside the parentheses.