Beginnings, Fall 2011
Seminar Preparation Paper #1
Due: Wed., Sept. 28 (Must be keyboarded in 12 pt. standard font)
This is essential preparation for seminar. Late assignments will not be accepted.
Read: Mike Rose, Lives on the Boundary, xi – 9.
Read this short selection twice.
Read Actively. As you read the first time, highlight passages that strike you as interesting,
important, confusing – those you have questions about as well as those you want to share.
Note passages that give you an idea what this book is about, or what the author’s purpose is.
Make notes in the margins, or use a separate notebook for reading notes. Notes will help you
write seminar papers and participate in seminars.
Underline or circle words, terms, or names that are unfamiliar to you. Look up definitions –
especially for terms that seem central to the meaning of the text. Be ready to share those
definitions in seminar.
Try to identify major concepts the author uses and how defines or labels them. What concepts,
ideas, terms seem most important here?
When you begin reading a new book, take a look at the whole book: the title, subtitle,
acknowledgements, table of contents, chapter titles, notes, back cover. What clues about the text
do you find? Your objective is more than just getting through these pages, more than a passive
read to generally familiarize yourself with the topic. Your purpose is to explore this work fully to
see what you can discover. To do this you need to first understand what is the author saying?
What does he mean? Why did he write this book? What are the major questions or problems he
wants to address?
Write:
 Look back over the reading, focusing on those sections you underlined or highlighted as
important or interesting.
 Choose three passages that you think are interesting, strange, or that you want to talk
about. The passages should be about 1-2 sentences long. For each passage, do this:
o Introducing the quotation with a brief phrase such as Rose writes, copy the
quotation exactly as it is written. Include quotation marks and page number
directly after each one, using the MLA format to properly cite the quotation.
Follow this example:
Rose reflects, “Every day in our schools and colleges, young people confront
reading and writing tasks that seem hard or unusual, that confuse them, that
they fail” (8).
 Be ready to share these passages with your classmates. You might have questions about
the passage, or ideas about how they relate to the work as a whole.
 Finally, write down 2 or 3 questions about the text. What do you notice? What strikes you
as interesting, confusing, or surprising? What do you want to discuss in seminar? (The
focus here is on what the text says and what it means – not the author’s life or education
in general.)
 Follow the format guidelines from the syllabus (12-point font, double spacing, etc.)
Your seminar paper will include the following:
 List of words you looked up, with their relevant definitions (up to 10 important ones).
 Quotation #1.
 Quotation #2.
 Quotation #3.
 2 or 3 questions you have about the text, or ideas you want to talk about.
TIPS:
Words for introducing a quotation: writes, says, argues, questions, suggests, implies, asks,
proposes, describes, insists, reflects, considers, remembers, recounts.
Keep an eye on the punctuation, especially at the end of the quotation. Follow the format in the
example above.