English Composition II Faculty Handbook

For Pearson/Prentice Hall’s guide to Literature and the Writing Process, contact Donna

Chapman [Donna.Chapman@Pearson.com]

English Composition II

Faculty Handbook

Compiled by Eme Gay & Jim Ventola (1993)

Revised by Liz Marconi (2004)

Revised by Peg Norris (2008)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface, 1993, 2004, 2008 Editions ............................................................. 4

Department Policies on Composition II

Course Description ....................................................................................... 5

Content & Exit Criteria for English Composition II .......................................... 5

Outcomes-Based Learning Matrix .................................................................. 6

Rubric for Grading: English Composition II (sample #1) ................................. 11

Rubric for Grading: English Composition II (sample #2) ................................. 12

Web CT and e-Learning ................................................................................ 13

The English Composition II Student ( What can an instructor expect…) ................ 14

The Departmental Standards for English Comp I Qualifying Essay ................... 15

The Qualifying Essay Rubric .......................................................................... 16

Minimal Basic Skills for English Composition II ............................................... 17

Important Concepts ..................................................................................... 18

Sample Syllabus ........................................................................................... 19

Sample Classroom Activities

First Week of Semester Activities .................................................................. 23

Writing-to-Learn Journal ............................................................................... 24

Literature Review Outline ............................................................................. 25

Sample Outline ............................................................................................ 26

Teaching the Short Story

Questions to Guide Analysis of a Short Story ................................................. 27

Helping Students Understand the Difference between Summary and Analysis ................................................................................................ 28

Teaching Poetry

Understanding and Appreciating Poetry through Visualization ......................... 30

Introduction to Poetry .................................................................................. 31

Question and Answer Reaction Study Guide ................................................... 32

Imitating a Poem ......................................................................................... 34

Collage Assignment ...................................................................................... 35

Teaching Drama

A Unit about Othello ..................................................................................... 36

Topics for Five-Minute Talk on Othello ........................................................... 37

A Guide to Analyzing the Play A Doll’s House ................................................. 38

A Guide to Writing a Comparison of A Doll’s House and Trifles ........................ 39

Sample Essay Assignments

Essay # 1: Diagnostic Essay .......................................................................... 40

Essay # 2: Character Analysis ........................................................................ 41

Sample Assignments ................................................................................ 41

English Composition II Guidebook – Page 2

Sample Student Essay on Character .......................................................... 43

Essay # 3: Compare and Contrast .................................................................. 45

Sample Student Essays Using Comparison and Contrast ............................. 47

Essay # 4: Analysis of Symbolism, Setting, or Point of View ............................ 48

Sample Student Essay on Symbolism ....................................................... 49

Essay # 5: Thematic Analysis ........................................................................ 51

Essay # 6: Explication of a Poem or Poems .................................................... 52

Sample Student Essay of a Poem .............................................................. 53

Essay # 7: Researched and Documented Essay ............................................. 54

Research Activities ........................................................................................ 54

Sample Research Assignments ...................................................................... 55

Examples of Note Cards ................................................................................ 66

Sample Web Sites ......................................................................................... 61

Sample Grading Rubrics for a Researched Essay ............................................. 62

Sample Researched Essay ........................................................................ 64

How NOT to do a Research Paper ............................................................. 67

Assessment & Grading .................................................................................... 69

Peer Response ......................................................................................... 70

Revision and Self Assessment ................................................................... 72

Guide to Revision ................................................................................................ 73

Classroom Research ............................................................................................ 74

Advice to Future Students ................................................................................... 75

Grading .............................................................................................................. 78

Graded Student Essays ........................................................................................ 79

Comparison of Grades ........................................................................................ 85

Plagiarism and Turnitin.com ................................................................................ 86

Student Registration for Turnitin.com ................................................................... 88

Final Examinations .............................................................................................. 89

Support Services

The ARC (Academic Resource Center) and the Writing Center ............................. 91

The Library ....................................................................................................... 92

Library Instruction Request Form ................................................................... 93

Frequently Asked Questions ........................................................................... 94

Ordering Videos & DVDs through the Massasoit Web Page .............................. 96

CONNECT First Year Writing Project .................................................................... 97

CONNECT Writing Outcomes (revised 2/26/09) .................................................... 98


PREFACE, 1993 EDITION

Produced with support from a Title III grant, this document was initially intended to assist new members of the English faculty, but it has become clear that information of this sort might be of interest to all. We hope this material will serve as an aid for the department’s on-going discussion about improving English

Composition II. It is our hope to upgrade this publication as needed.

We want to thank all those who submitted materials and took the time to discuss their contributions. Unfortunately, only some of the submissions could be included here.

Note: All the included course materials can be made available for use as handouts, that is, without borders or page numbers. See one of the authors with your requests.

Eme Gay

Jim Ventola

May, 1993


There are very few changes in the 2004 edition of The English Composition II

Handbook. The changes that you will encounter reflect the changes in the

English Department over the years. The first and most significant change is the

Outcomes Based Learning Matrix, a series of learning outcomes for English

Composition II, which the English Department unanimously adopted in the Fall semester of 2002. Other changes include updated syllabi, updated support services, added student assignments, guided learning activities, sample student assignments, directions to pipeline, and a guide to search the library for current audio-visual materials.

Elizabeth Marconi

August, 2004


In addition to keeping current with the year-to-year updates of department material, this edition increases the number of sample student essays, classroom research material, first day of class activities, web sites, added classroom activities, and sample grading sheets .

I am grateful to the many department members who responded to the call for submissions and who gave their suggestions for additions to the 2008 edition. As ever, I am especially grateful to the formatting expertise of Tina Lowe and Vickie

Pritchard.

Peg Norris

July 2008


DEPARTMENTAL POLICIES ABOUT COMPOSITION II

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The catalog description of English Composition II is as follows:

English Composition II is a course designed to strengthen students' skills as writers and to focus on analysis and argument. Assignments include critical examination of literature and an essay using research and documentation utilizing the MLA style sheet. Emphasis is on writing as part of the processes of thinking and learning. Prerequisite: English Composition I (ENGL101) or waiver by placement testing results.

3.00 Credit Hours 3.00 Lecture Hours

Course Attribute: Humanities Requirement, Liberal Arts Requirement

We note that while most teachers approach the course partially as an introduction to literature, that focus is not necessarily required by the description itself. Still, the course is most often taught as a preparation for the literature sequences. Recently, the department passed the following guidelines that should aid in the design of the course:

CONTENT AND EXIT CRITERIA FOR ENGLISH COMPOSITION II

 Major Topics: Students should be able to identify and apply the following concepts: genre, plot, summary, setting, character, theme, point of view, symbolism (imagery), figurative language, and structure.

 Readings: Course readings should include poetry, fiction, and drama.

(Note: audio-visual media may be used to supplement and enrich rather than to replace reading.)

 Essays: Students should write analytical essays which make specific references to texts. In addition to in-class writing, there should be a minimum of four short papers or three long ones written outside of class.

 Research Paper: The course should require a persuasive essay about a humanistic topic, preferably literature, which cites and documents primary and secondary sources in a minimum of three typewritten pages following the MLA parenthetical format.

 Exit Criteria: By the end of the semester, students should compose an in-class (one hour) essay which effectively comments on a reading by applying one or more of the major concepts of the course. (For example: “Show how imagery is used to reinforce the theme in ‘Short

Story X’”)


OUTCOMES BASED LEARNING MATRIX

Course: __ENGLISH COMPOSITION ENGL102_ Department: __ENGLISH_

Course Description: English Composition II is a course designed to strengthen students’ skills as writers and to focus on analysis and argument. Assignments include critical examination of literature and an essay using research and documentation utilizing the MLA style sheet.

Emphasis is on writing as part of the processes of thinking and learning. 3 credits

*COURSE OUTCOMES

1. Read intellectually challenging text with increased comprehension and enriched aesthetic response.

2. Incorporate the vocabulary of literary analysis into class discussion and writing in order to facilitate thinking about texts from various literary genres.

OUTCOMES ACTIVITIES

1.

Read passages and poems aloud. (R, OC)

2.

Locate and define in context challenging vocabulary found in assigned readings. (R, CT)

3.

Practice reading strategies for literature (e.g. predicting theme from title; reading first stanza or paragraph twice before reading whole piece; listing characters and their qualities as they are revealed; highlighting important passages; marking texts with marginal notes; accessing biographical and historical context; reading all assignments twice. (R, CT)

4.

Listen to recording of authors’ voices as they read their writings and talk about the creative process.

(OC)

5.

Watch videos that provide context and interpret themes contained in the readings. (OC)

6.

Make verbal comparisons between literature and other aesthetic expressions (visual arts, music, etc). (R, CT)

7.

Create original material (poetry, short story, drama) in response to the assigned literature. (W, CT)

8.

Write “reader response” logs. (W) Compose thoughtful questions about the texts and work in groups to answer them. (CT, OC) Verbalize immediate aesthetic response (explaining what is meant by personal relevance and audience appeal). (W, OC)

1.

Define various genres and identify pieces of writing as belong to a particular genre. (R, OC, CT)

2.

Identify different forms of figurative language, such as image, symbol, simile, metaphor, alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, oxymoron, allegory,

ASSESSMENT TOOLS

 Reading comprehension quizzes (R, W,

CT)

 Listening comprehension quizzes (W, OC,

CT)

 Reading logs (W, R, CT)

 Journals (W, R, CT)

 Oral feedback on group response to student questions (OC, CT)

 Written self-reflection on reading process



(CT, W)

Written self-reflection on aesthetic response (CT, W)

 Oral and written feedback on creative student material (CT, OC)

 Student generated study questions (OC,



CT)

Study question responses to readings (W,



R, OC)

Presentations on authors and texts (OC,

CT, R, W, TS)

 Researched essay that exhibits comprehension of primary and secondary texts R, W, CT, TS)

 Essays which analyze the use of figurative language in works from various genres

(R, W, CT)

 In-class quizzes and examinations (CT,

W)


3. Express in discussion and in writing an awareness of diverse voices found in literature.

3.

irony, and hyperbole. (OC, CT)

Discuss works rich in figurative language, analyzing the depth of meaning engendered by particular figures of speech. (R, OC, CT)

4.

Define various critical approaches such as formalist, historical, Marxist, feminist, psychological, readerresponse, mythological. (R, OC, CT)

5.

Apply appropriate critical approaches to specific works in various genres. (R, OC, CT)

6.

Read passages and poems aloud to facilitate thinking about meaning. (OC, CT)

7.

Summarize group and/or class discussion. (OC, W,

CT)

1.

Discuss identity formation with the whole class or in small groups. (CT, OC)

2.

Brainstorm characteristics of our individual and collective identities. (CT, OC)

3.

Discuss assigned readings in terms of characteristics of our individual and collective identities. (CT, OC, R)

4.

Respond to study questions on readings in small groups. (CT, OC, R, W)

5.

Compare/contrast assigned readings to personal experience or other readings. (CT, OC, R, W)

6.

Create in writing and/or discussion a cross-reference of readings according to theme, issue, identity,

7.

character. (CT, OC, R, W)

Research cultural and historical issues surrounding writing and publication of works. (CT, TS, R, W)

8.

Analyze in discussion and writing characters or speakers including goals, motivations, and perspectives. (CT, OC, R, W)

9.

Playact characters, narrators, or speakers/personae.

(CT, OC, R)

 Commentaries written out of class, reading logs, postings to electronic bulletin boards, etc. (CT, W, R)

 Researched essays (CT, R, W)

 Individual and/or group presentations

(CT, R, OC)

 Essays which compare and contrast various critical approaches to the same work (CT, W, R)

 Original student soliloquies based on interpretation or research of characters or writers (CT, TS, OC, R, W)

 Response journals (CT, R, W)

 Reading logs (CT, R, W)

 Responses to study questions (CT, R, W,

OC)

 Oral presentation on research (CT, R, W,

TS, OC)

 Annotated research lists (CT, R, W, TS)





Character analysis papers (CT, R, W)

Biographical research papers (CT, R, W,

TS)

 Comparison/contrast analytical papers

(CT, R, W)

 Outline of cross-reference of readings

(CT, R, W)

 Creative writing in appropriate genre to depict setting, issue, perspective (CT, W,

R)

 Oral and written assessments of oncampus performances connected to readings (CT, W, R, OC)


4. Build a context for understanding literature by linking class readings to other academic disciplines and to universal human experience.

5. Write essays that go beyond summary to the analysis and interpretation of texts.

1.

Research and discuss historical allusions in readings.

(CT, TS, R, W, OC)

2.

Discuss experiences analogous to current or historical events. (CT, R, W, OC)

3.

Discuss and locate settings of readings. (CT, R, W,

OC)

4.

Compare/contrast personal experiences with assigned readings. (CT, R, W, OC)

5.

Respond independently and in small group to study questions highlighting connections to other disciplines.

6.

(CT, R, W, OC)

Create a cross-reference of readings to other

7.

disciplines. (CT, R, W, OC)

Identify and analyze independently or in group texts that express universal human experiences. (CT, R, W,

OC)

8.

Participate in panel discussions. (CT, R, W, OC)

9.

Develop webpage. (CT, TS, R, W, OC)

1.

Define terms such as plot, summary, theme, interpretation, analysis, and literal vs. figurative. (OC,

CT)

2.

Distinguish between summary and critical commentary in class discussion of the works being studied. (CT, OC, R)

3.

Write a summary of a passage and then an analysis and interpretation. (CT, R, W)

4.

Construct thoughtful discussion and hypothetical exam questions. (R, W, CT)

5.

Compose essays which use plot details to support analysis and interpretation. (CT, R, W)

 Response journals (CT, R, W)

 Research logs (CT, TS, R, W)

 Response to student generated study questions (CT, R, W)

 Group or individual oral presentations

 with multidisciplinary connections (CT, R,

W, OC)

 Annotated resource lists (CT, TS, R, W)

 Web page (CT, TS, R, W)

Research papers (CT, TS, R, W)

 Multidisciplinary research projects (CT,

TS, R, W, OC)

 Multidisciplinary panel discussions (CT, R,

W, OC)

 Essays written at home or in class which interpret setting, symbolism, figurative language, and/or mood in texts (CT, R,

W)

 Essays written at home or in class which interpret the characters’ points of view

(CT, R, W)

 Essays written at home or in class which

 analyze the effect of plot/structure upon meaning (CT, R, W)

Essays written at home or in class which compare/contrast themes in literary works to reach new understandings of nature, society, and/or self (CT, R, W)

 Researched essays written at home which focus upon critical analysis of texts and the social, moral, and/or intellectual issues they raise (CT, R, W, TS)


6. Apply the grammatical and rhetorical skills of Composition I to a variety of complex writing tasks in preparation for writing across the curriculum.

7. Conduct research and assess information from a variety of sources in order to understand the research topic.

1.

2.

Use the rhetorical patterns to brainstorm about the readings. (R, W, CT)

Create in-class drafts of paragraphs to practice gathering literary evidence and incorporating secondary sources. (R, W, CT)

3.

Write essays that analyze themes, that compare and contrast works of literature, that use sources, and that

4.

incorporate concepts from other disciplines. (W, CT,

TS)

Use a handbook as a resource in identifying and correcting grammatical and mechanical essays in student essays. (R, CT)

5.

Use peer editing to increase self-awareness of the writing process. (R, CT)

6.

Edit drafts of one’s own and peers’ essays according to the rules of Standard American English. (CT, R)

7.

Develop in class a rubric and apply it in evaluating

8.

student essays. (CT, OC)

Revise essays in response to self-assessment, peer assessment, and teacher assessment. (CT, W)

1.

Complete a scavenger hunt among the library’s printed resources. (CT, OC, TS)

2.

Complete a scavenger hunt among the library’s electronic resources. (CT, OC, TS)

3.

Complete faculty-designed web quests related to the course content. (CT, TS, W)

4.

Develop research questions. (CT, W)

Develop keywords for researching a topic. (CT) 5.

6.

Using the inter-library loan process, order and receive material related to a research question. (CT, TS)

7.

Locate Internet sites related to a research question.

(CT, R, TS)

8.

Assess web sites for relevance to the research topic, authority, and currency. (CT, R, TS, W)

9.

Create a working bibliography. (CT, R, W)

10.

11.

Create an annotated bibliography. (CT, R, W)

Practice paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting.





Thesis/topic sentence outlines (CT, W)

Peer and professor evaluation of essays according to a rubric (W, R, OC, CT)

 Lists of repeated mechanical and grammatical errors made by students in their writings (CT)

 Oral feedback for group and individual activities (OC, CT)

 Peer and professor feedback on essay drafts (OC, W, R)

 Essays that meet and typically exceed the minimum standards of rhetorical and grammatical correctness of Composition I

(W, R, CT, TS)

 Exercises that use documentation techniques (CT, R)

 Quizzes on documentation (CT, R)

 Scavenger hunt information sheets/checklists. (R, CT)

Written paraphrases and/or summaries 

(R, CT, W)

 Web quest information sheets (R, TS, W)

 Web site evaluation forms (R, CT)

 Mock Works Cited page (W, R, CT)

 Annotated bibliography (R, W, CT)

 Record of the research process (W, CT)


8. Compose essays that incorporate research and documentation in preparation for the assignments of other courses.

12.

(CT, W, R)

Practice developing the lead-ins and explanations that create contexts for paraphrased and quoted material.

(R, W, CT)

13.

Study a system of documentation, such as MLA and

APA. (CT, R)

14.

Develop a mock Works Cited page including materials

15.

from books, anthologies, periodicals, web sites, databases, and other sources.(R, W, TS)

Differentiate among primary, secondary, and general reference sources. (CT, R)

1.

Discuss the rationale for documentation. (CT)

2.

Develop lead-ins and explanations that create contexts for paraphrased and quoted material. (R, W,

CT)

3.

Employ--as appropriate-- paraphrasing, summarizing, and/or quoting to support the main idea of a paragraph. (R W, CT)

Apply a system of documentation. (R, W, CT) 4.

5.

Submit drafts for peer and professor review. (W, CT,

R, OC)

6.

Use the revision and formatting potential of wordprocessors to write increasingly polished essays. (TS,

R, CT, W)

7.

Discuss and critique model student essays. (R, CT,

8.

OC)

Develop a rubric for assessing essays that incorporate research and documentation. (CT)

9.

Submit copies of cited material. (TS)

Referenced above

 Drafts of essays. (W, CT, R)

 Word-processed essays that incorporate

 research and are evaluated by self, peers, and professor according to a rubric. (CT,

R, TS, W)

Evidence of validity of cited material. (CT)

9. To strengthen Core Competencies** in order to increase success in this and other courses and in the workplace.

Referenced above.

**Indicate the Core Competencies that apply to the outcomes activities and assessment tools: Critical Thinking (CT); technology skills (TS); oral communications (OC); quantitative skills (QS); reading (R); writing (w).


RUBRIC FOR GRADING – ENGLISH COMPOSITION II- SAMPLE # 1

Ideas & Content Organization Voice Word Choice Documentation

Topic narrow and manageable; relevant, quality details; fresh and original; insight for picking out what is significant; good analysis and interpretation of text

Inviting introduction; satisfying conclusion; sequencing is logical and effective; pacing is well controlled; thoughtful transitions; structure matches the purpose and audience

Tone appropriate for the purpose and audience; a strong interaction with the reader; honest, personal, engaging and makes reader think about and react to the author’s ideas and point of view

Words are specific and accurate; language is natural; words and phrases are effective and striking; verbs are lively; nouns and modifiers are precise

Primary and secondary (when required) sources are smoothly integrated and correctly cited.

Relevant details and examples but not original, insightful, or significant; fair analysis and interpretation of text

Organization is effective; order makes sense and is easy to follow, but details don’t always go together or lead to a bigger idea

Writing reflects a commitment to the topic; some interaction between the reader and writer.

Words are general but accurate; language is sometimes immature; verbs are appropriate but dull

Sources sometimes lack integration and acknowledgement

Topic too broad; no clear purpose or point; does not stick to the main idea; leaves out details

Organization is ineffective; choice of structure does not match the purpose and audience.

The tone of the writing is dull and the message is inappropriate for the purpose and the audience.

Words are general and inaccurate, making it difficult to understand just what the writer means.

Sources are missing, are not integrated, or are unacknowledged


A

B

C

D

F

Thesis

Response to assignment; assertion about topic; audience awareness

The thesis is a creative and compelling response to the literature; it engages the audience

The thesis responds to the literature with an interesting assertion; the essay shows audience awareness

The thesis makes an obvious assertion and does not express its significance to the audience

RUBRIC FOR GRADING – ENGLISH COMPOSITION II- SAMPLE # 2

Organization

Essay structure; paragraph unity; coherence; transitions

Support

Development of thesis; examples; quotations

Language

Voice; diction; tone

Correctness Documentation

Grammar; usage; punctuation; spelling

Format of Works

Cited; integration of intext references

Creative introduction, logical order to body, and compelling conclusion; seamless flow

Useful introduction, logical order to body, and insightful conclusion; sequence of ideas supported by transitions

Organization shows a purpose, but control of sequence of ideas is somewhat mechanical or uneven

Imaginative and thorough support for thesis using close readings of text, critical responses, and secondary sources when appropriate

Support for thesis is sufficient; use of examples, quotations, secondary sources

(when required) and commentary are appropriate

Connection between thesis and evidence is not obvious; evidence and commentary are insufficient

Voice is distinctive; vocabulary is sophisticated and appealing to a college audience

Voice is appropriate to audience and assignment

Standard

American English used throughout essay

A few errors, but they do not distract reader

Errors are persistent, but meaning is clear

Primary and secondary sources

(when required) are smoothly integrated and correctly cited

Sources are adequate but the principles of documentation may be applied inconsistently

Sources sometimes lack integration and acknowledgement

The thesis is oversimplified; it does not unify the essay; it mostly ignores audience

The thesis is missing; essay does not show any audience awareness

Essay has mechanical sense of introduction, body, and conclusion, but paragraphs do not present a clear sense of purpose

Essay structure is confusing and inconsistent

Support is misleading or minimal; critical commentary is mechanical, repetitious, or inappropriate

No support for thesis; reliance on plot summary instead of critical commentary

Voice is mechanical; vocabulary

is sometimes inappropriate

Little sense of writing for an academic audience; vocabulary is simplistic;

No sense of writing for a college audience; vocabulary is inadequate to express ideas

Errors interfere with reading

Standard

American English is consistently ignored

Sources are inappropriate, awkwardly integrated, or incorrectly cited

Sources are missing, are not integrated, or are unacknowledged


Web CT and e-Learning:

Web enhanced course spaces: All faculty have access to a web-enhanced and password protected course environment to post assignments, course materials and information. Faculty can also use the web-enhanced course space to provide online discussions, chat, and lecture materials.

Password protected course spaces are available via the College’s Learning

Management System, Campus Edition 6. If you would like to use Campus

Edition 6 for your class(es), please contact the Coordinator of Instructional

Technology for further assistance. The coordinator will be happy to provide individual and small group sessions reviewing Campus Edition 6 and the available tools.

Instructional materials for traditional, web-enhanced, and e-

Learning courses: The Coordinator of Instructional Technology, Linda

McAlpine, is available to provide workshops and individual sessions for faculty. Her extension is 1613. The current workshop schedule is available via the e-Learning and Non-Traditional Programs Public Folder and the e-

Learning website.


THE ENGLISH COMPOSITION II STUDENT

What can an instructor expect from an English Composition II student?

Theoretically , every Composition II student will have passed the Massasoit Qualifying

Essay.

This performance indicates a minimum level for every student: the student will have written an essay of about 400 words unified by a thesis, with a strong sense of beginning, middle, and end, with logical supporting details, and a minimal number of errors

(see QE standards on the next page).

Theoretically , Composition II should start from this level.

Realistically , passing the QE means that a student exhibited this skill once. Students can forget what they have learned in the month or months between semesters. Also, students can lose the focus on writing that they managed to apply to one writing experience.

Realistically , some students sneak through. Teachers may pass a student marginally because of the student’s efforts, the teacher’s pity, or sheer exhaustion. Sometimes students pass marginally because of special difficulties—learning problems or foreign language backgrounds.

Realistically , not all students will have taken the QE or have achieved its standards.

Some students will come from classes at Massasoit or from other colleges where the QE and its standards are not specifically addressed.

To summarize, students should have the QE skills, but for the reasons detailed above, some will not.

There is more to English Composition I than the QE . Most students should know the rhetorical modes such as example, comparison, classification, cause and effect. In some classes, most writing will have been based on students’ experiences, using professional essays as springboards or models. In other classes, students may do more academic writing, using professional essays as the subject of the writing. All students should have read essays for one purpose or another.

Most students will have practiced a method or methods for the process of writing. Some will have a full bag of pre-writing, revising, and editing tricks. Others will not. Some students, whether individually or with their class, will compose on a computer. Some teachers emphasize at-home essays; some require word-processing; others have most writing done in class, with outlines and rewriting done at home. In short, students will have

“taken” Composition I in a variety of ways.

Teachers should remember that for most students, Composition II writing is harder than that of Composition I, and different. Composition II students are usually more capable, more battle-hardened, than Composition I students, but they are still beginners, needing help and encouragement as they write -- perhaps for the first time -- analytically and critically about matters outside their immediate experience.


The departmental standards for Composition I Qualifying Essay follow:

Recommendations for the Qualifying Essay

Adopted by the English Department on February 4, 2008; revised May 28, 2008

1.

The department suggests model prompts for the QE that are related to professional essays assigned in the syllabus. An example of this type of prompt is found in

Patterns for College Writing on p. 474 in response to William Zinsser’s essay,

“College Pressures”: “Zinsser describes problems students face in an elite private college in the late 1970s. Are the pressures you experience as a college student similar or different from the ones Zinsser identifies? Classify your own college pressures, and write an essay with a thesis statement that takes a strong stand against the forces responsible for these pressures.”

2.

In order to encourage the writing process, students will be given the prompts in advance and will be expected to include evidence of prewriting (typically written before class) with their in-class essay. The prewriting is limited to thesis and subtopics, and it may have a key quote from a professional essay.

The inclusion of documentation is at the professor’s discretion.

3.

4.

Whether any or all QEs will be revised for a letter grade is at the professor’s discretion.

5.

The department strongly recommends that all QEs be handwritten, except for students with documented learning disabilities. The department also recognizes that

6.

ESL students often need to practice the QE at home or in the Writing Center before the class in which it is given.

Composition I faculty are encouraged to find other readers to help discern whether a borderline essay shows the ability of a student to succeed in Comp. II. In addition, the department will create a list of composition teachers who are willing to read these borderline essays.

7.

Students will be routinely given two in-class opportunities to pass the QE. If a student needs a third opportunity, a retake can be scheduled at the professor’s discretion.

8.

The attached rubric has been revised with the addition of points for each section of the QE.

Students need a score of 70% to pass the QE and to qualify for a passing grade in Comp I, assuming their other work is satisfactory.


THE QUALIFYING ESSAY RUBRIC

Name: _________________________________ Date:____________________

Class___________________________ Score__________

The Qualifying Exam is an opportunity to fulfill Outcome 9 in ENGL101: Compose a satisfactorily correct in-class essay that demonstrates the ability to write independently and to focus expression within the time constraints of classroom writing across the disciplines.

*QE Standards: Comments:

The student…

Score:

____Out of 5 Prewriting

Introduction  Creates an explicit thesis that supports purpose of

 essay

Shows awareness of

Body  audience/captures reader’s attention

Has appropriate body paragraphs that provide detailed support

Body

 Demonstrates a prewriting strategy (brainstorming, mapping, outlining, etc.)

Body

 Reasons logically and uses connections/transitions among the parts of the essay

 Employs rhetorical mode and/or integrates ideas from reading

____Out of 15

____Out of 10

____Out of 10

____Out of 10

Language

Conclusion

Editing

 Uses vocabulary and voice appropriate to college writing

 Uses conclusion to satisfy purpose

 Run-ons

Fragments 

 Sentence Structure

 Apostrophe errors

 Subject-verb agreement

Pronoun agreement  and reference

 Verb agreement

 Spelling, homonyms

 Proofreading errors

 Punctuation

 __________________

Few or no errors: 24-

30 points

Errors are present but do not interfere with meaning: 18-23 points

Errors interfere with reading of the essay:

12-17 points

Little attention to the rules of Standard

American English: 0-11 points

____Out of 10

____Out of 10

____Out of 30

*An essay is unacceptable if it is substantially fewer than 400 words. Passing score: 70%


MINIMAL BASIC SKILLS FOR ENGLISH COMPOSITION II (ENGL 102)

The student should demonstrate the ability to read critically and to write a research paper using standard research techniques such as those listed below:

1.

The paraphrase

2.

The critical article and/or book review

3.

Mechanics of using source materials

 Using double and single quotation marks

 Indenting and in-text citing of long quotations

 Using ellipsis, brackets, and (sic)

 Correctly quoting poetry

 Creating transitions for and commenting on quotations

4.

Mechanics of citing sources:

 Internal citations

 Works Cited format

 Use and knowledge of the MLA style

5.

Note taking on research

6.

The ability to discover an article on X

7.

The ability to discover X article

8.

Knowledge of basic references about literature

9. Ability to use computer and databases

10. Ability to use the outline form intelligently

Note: All of the above skills are sequential and cumulative.

Naturally, English Composition II has the pre-requisite of successful completion of English Composition I. Knowing our students’ English Composition I grade helps to alert us to students who struggled in Composition I; in addition, those who might have inflated expectations of a high grade might be warned about the new standards. Faculty can access the grades of their students through

Banner: to bring up student transcripts, go to “Advisor Menu” after you access the “Secure Area” for faculty.


IMPORTANT CONCEPTS

Some members of the department compiled the following list of terms a student should know by the end of English Composition II.

antagonist character comedy conflict connotation denotation drama fiction figurative language imagery irony line (of poetry) lyric poem metaphor nonfiction narrative poem narrator novel paraphrase personification plot

 exposition

 complication (rising action)

 climax

 falling action

 denouement (resolution) poetry point of view

 first person

 second person

 third person prose protagonist rhythm rhyme setting short story simile sonnet speaker (vs. author) stanza style symbol theme thesis tragedy


SAMPLE SYLLABUS

The following standardized syllabus is provided to adjunct faculty. We hope that it is a reasonable approximation of the current practices in the department and that it will prove useful. We understand that individual teachers will necessarily make adjustments to the syllabus as they get to know the needs of their students and become more familiar with the department’s culture.

MASSASOIT COMMUNITY COLLEGE

ENGLISH COMPOSITION II

FALL 2009

Professor: ______________________ Phone: 508-588-9100, Ext.: _____________

Office: _________________________ E-mail address: _______________________

Office Hours: see office door

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

ENGL102 English Composition II 3 credits

English Composition II is a course designed to strengthen students' skills as writers and to focus on analysis and argument. Assignments include critical examination of literature and an essay using research and documentation utilizing the MLA style sheet. Emphasis is on writing as part of the processes of thinking and learning. Prerequisite: English Composition I

TEXTS:

 McMahan, Elizabeth et al. Literature and the Writing Process, 8 th Edition .

Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice, 2007.

 Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers, 6th E dition. (2009 MLA Update) Boston: Bedford Books,

2009.

If you have already purchased the following textbook, you may use it for English Composition II :

 Wysocki, Anne Francis and Dennis A. Lynch. The DK Handbook. Boston: Pearson, 2009.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course students will be able to

1.

Read intellectually challenging texts with increased comprehension and enriched aesthetic response.

2.

Incorporate the vocabulary of literary analysis into class discussion and writing in order to facilitate thinking about texts from various literary genres.

3.

Express in discussion and in writing an awareness of diverse voices found in literature.

4.

Build a context for understanding literature by linking class readings to other academic disciplines and to universal human experiences.

Write essays that go beyond summary to the analysis and interpretation of texts. 5.

6.

Apply the grammatical and rhetorical skills of Composition I to a variety of complex writing tasks in preparation for writing across the curriculum.

7.

Conduct research and assess information from a variety of sources in order to understand the research topic.

8.

Compose essays that incorporate research and documentation in preparation for the assignments of other college courses.

9.

Strengthen Core Competencies * in order to increase success in this and other courses and in the workplace.

*Critical thinking, technology skills, oral communication, quantitative skills, reading, and writing.


ATTENDANCE: College policy allows 5 hours of unexcused absence per class per semester.

Beyond this limit, absences will result in a lower grade and/or failure. You are responsible for what happens in this class, whether you are here or not. Please try to avoid missing any class time.

NOTE: When you are here, be alert, attentive, prepared, and eager to participate and learn.

Arrive on time. Please direct your behavior to support the learning of others and yourself.

ESSAYS AND ASSIGNMENTS: Please submit themes and assignments written outside of class on the date indicated on the syllabus. As a general rule, late assignments are not acceptable.

However, when I do accept them (with a valid reason), they will be discounted one letter grade for each late day. In no case may work be submitted for evaluation more than two weeks after the due date.

GRADING:

Please refer to the College Bulletin for an explanation of the Massasoit Community College grading system. Your grade will be calculated as follows:

Essays

Research Paper

Response paragraphs, Homework, Participation

50%

25%

25%

According to Massasoit’s grading: A 93-100, A- 90-92, B+ 88-89, B 83-87, B- 80-82, C+ 78-79, C

73-77, C- 70-72, D+ 68-69, D 63-67, D- 60-62, F 59 and below. Note: Students have six months from the final day of class to question their final grades. Students who receive an Incomplete must complete the required work by the end of the next semester or the Incomplete automatically becomes an F.

STANDARDS FOR WRITING: Essays written outside of class should be double-spaced, typed, with one-inch margins on all sides. The use of word processing will facilitate the process of revision . For in-class assignments, please write legibly with blue or black ink in a blue book or on white theme paper. Write on one side of the paper only.

NOTE: IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO HOLD ALL PAPERS, QUIZZES, ETC., UNTIL YOU

RECEIVE A FINAL GRADE.

PLAGIARISM: Plagiarism means using another person’s words or ideas without giving that person credit. It is a form of cheating and theft, but it can easily be avoided by using the documentation we will practice this semester. Plagiarism means an F for the paper and may mean an F for the course.

CLASS METHODOLOGY: Reading, writing, revision, lecture, discussion, small group work, exercises, quizzes, peer-assessment, self-assessment, and conference.

ACCOMMODATIONS STATEMENT: In order to ensure that accommodations are implemented in a timely manner, students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in the classroom are encouraged to contact a disability counselor on campus as soon as possible.

At the Brockton Campus, students with learning disabilities should contact Andrea Henry,

Disability Counselor for Learning Disability Services, at extension 1805. Students with physical disabilities at the Brockton Campus should contact Mary Berg, Specialized Populations Counselor, at extension 1425. At the Canton Campus, students should contact Stan Oliver, Disability

Counselor, at extension 2468.


TENTATIVE SYLLABUS OF ASSIGNMENTS

(NOTE: Reading and writing assignments may be added to and changed.)

Week of:

Tuesday

September 8, 2009

Classes Begin

Topic -

Reading –

Writing -

September 14 Topics -

Reading -

September 21

September 28

October 5

October 12

October 19

October 26

November 2

Course Topics & Assignments

Introduction to course

McMahan: 3-17 (includes “Eveline”)

Essay #1: Writing sample (ungraded)

Writing about literature; character analysis

McMahan: 18-32, 91-96; “Story of an Hour,” 227-229;

“I Stand Here Ironing,” 342-347; “The Red

Convertible,” 436-442

Topic -

Reading -

Writing -

Topics –

Reading -

Character analysis

McMahan: 33-54; “What We Talk About When We Talk

About Love,” 388-397; “Love in L.A.,” 432-434;

“Geraldo No Last Name,” 434-435

Essay #2: Analysis of a character

The structure of a story

McMahan: 97-114 (includes “The Things They

Carried”); “A Rose for Emily,” 314-321; “Desiree’s

Baby,” 222-227

Topics - Point of view

Reading - McMahan: 138-150 (includes “Everyday Use,”); “The

Lesson,” 397-402;

Writing - Essay #3: A comparison and/or contrast of two characters

Topics - Imagery and symbolism; setting and atmosphere

Reading - McMahan: 115-137 (includes “The Lottery”);

McMahon:151-152, “Hills Like White Elephants,” 321-

325

Topics -

Reading -

Writing -

Topics –

Reading -

Topic -

Reading -

Writing -

The research essay: identifying sources and gathering information;

McMahan, 55-88

McMahan: “The Birthmark,” 206-217; “The Cask of

Amontillado,” 217-222

Essay #4: Analysis of symbolism, setting, or point of view in a short story

Conducting research; theme

McMahan: 168-187 (includes “Good Country People”);

“Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been?” 188-

205 (includes the casebook articles about the story)

Rules : 346-371 or DK Handbook : 307-325

Persona and tone; evaluating sources; plagiarism

McMahan: 495-516; other poems that will be assigned


Essay #5: Thematic analysis of a short story


November 9

November 16

November 23

Topic -

Reading -

Topics -

Reading –

Writing

Topics -

Reading -

Poetic language; integrating sources

McMahan: 517-534


Poetic form

McMahan: 535-554; other poems that will be assigned

Essay # 6: Explication of a poem or poems

Drama; supporting a thesis; documenting sources

McMahan: reading drama: 731-735; writing about drama: 736-785 (includes Antigone)


November 26-29, 2009 - THANKSGIVING BREAK

November 30

December 7

Topic -

Reading -

Writing -

Topic -

Reading -

Drama

McMahan, “Trifles,” 1089-1100

Essay #7: Researched and documented essay

Dramatic character

McMahan: Fences, 786-844 (includes the casebook articles about the play)

December 14 Review

September 8, 2009

September 14, 2009

September 18, 2009

October 12, 2009

November 10, 2009

November 11, 2009

November 14, 2009

November 17, 2009

December 21-24, 2009 – FINAL EXAMINATIONS

Fall 2009 Academic Calendar - Classes Begin Tuesday, September 8, 2009

November 26-28, 2009

December 18, 2009

December 21-24, 2009

Classes Begin

Last Day To Drop/Add Without A Grade

Convocation Day 12:00-4:00pm

Columbus Day (No Classes)

Scheduling For Spring 2010: Canton (No Day Classes)

Veteran's Day (No Classes)

Last Day To Withdraw From A Class

Scheduling For Spring 2010: Brockton (No Day Classes)

Thanksgiving Recess (No Classes): Starting At 5:00pm On Wednesday November

25

Last Day Of Classes

Final Examinations (Day)


SAMPLE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

In this section, we present some of the sample lessons that faculty have provided.

One approach to teaching Composition II can be taken from Robert Scholes’

Textual Power: Literary Theory and the Teaching of English, (Yale, 1985) where, to put it simply, he discusses three “levels” of discourse about literature: summary, interpretation, and criticism.

 Summary (often neglected as “too easy”) is an important skill, and it may be that we should spend some time helping students develop accuracy and coherence in writing accounts at this level.

 Interpretation involves noticing patterns: elements that repeat or contrast within the text and in the cultural context of the text.

 Criticism involves bringing one’s own values “against” the text, as when a workerstudent disagrees with essentially middle class values in a text or a feminist notices sexism in a text.

First week of semester activities

These exercises may be used during the first week of class to help students know you and each other better:

1. Human Scavenger Hunt

Find and write down the names of classmates who fit the categories below:

Someone who …

Is more than five years out of high school

Has the same sun sign as you

Works for Massasoit

Plays a musical instrument

Speaks two languages fluently

Has traveled outside the U.S.

Went to a Red Sox game this summer

Went to another college last year

Drinks coke for breakfast

Writes poetry

Has seen “Blue Man Group”

Commutes more than 25 miles to school

Has three or more brothers/sisters

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

Time allotted: 10 minutes

Number of names collected: _______

2.

Write on an index card (without your name) the thing you fear most about the course: Teacher reads the cards quickly to the class, reassuring everyone that the fears are shared.


Writing-to-Learn Journal

Many teachers ask their students to keep a reading journal where they can engage in pre-writing activities (free flows, brainstorms, questions, etc.) in response to their reading. These journal entries can be helpful as sources of ideas for more formal essays. They can help in overcoming writer’s block. Here is how one teacher uses journals:

I ask my students to keep a journal where they respond in an informal way to the readings or ideas that come up in the course. I explain the purpose of a journal in aiding good writing. As further motivation, I add that the journal can also help them get a better final grade because sometimes a student who is not particularly strong in formal writing situations can show in the journal a level of involvement with the readings that would not otherwise be apparent, thus justifying at least a “benefit of the doubt” raise in grade in borderline situations.

Because it is difficult to manage the sheer bulk of so many journals, I have evolved the following procedure. I ask students to date each entry and to write for about ten minutes a session, six times a week. I collect journals only twice; during the mid-term and during the final. While the students are taking the exam, I evaluate the journals holistically, I find that I can tell quickly if a journal shows a high, average, or below average level of commitment and involvement in the course work, and I assign a grade of A, B, or C in most cases.

Thus, the journals are evaluated summatively (for a grade only) rather than formatively (for improvement), although on the mid-term reading I might make brief written suggestions such as, “Try to write more about the actual readings” or “See if you can keep to the subject more.” Obviously, in this case I am not using the journal as a way of communicating with students about their ideas.

Some teachers do use the journal that way; they collect them often and read them in detail, making comments about ideas that could be developed or questions that could be raised. That is an excellent practice. Here, I am instead trying to encourage students to work more on their own. The goal is for them to keep a journal the same way any serious writer might. As X.J. Kennedy puts it in giving advice to the would-be journal keeper, it’s the “aim to store information without delay, to wrap words around…reactions and observations.”

As for journal activities in Composition II, I suggest that as much as possible they be related to the readings but with a freedom to relate the readings to issues in students’ own lives. The journal, then, might be a place to discuss a poet’s use of a metaphor or it might be a place to discuss how a poem reminds one of some important personal experience. Sometimes a journal session might consist of carefully copying a part of the text. Sometimes I will make specific journal assignments such as “Please write in your journal about why you agree or disagree with X’s idea.” (Making such assignments fairly frequently makes the final evaluations a bit easier too; students who ignore the assigned topics cannot expect to get honor grades for their journals.) If no suggestion has been made, students select from the following possible activities: free flows, brainstorms, copying sessions, raising questions, analysis of short texts.


Of course, this is only one way of managing a journal. Along with

“Portfolio Assessment,” “journaling” (yes, even some English teachers use that word) have become popular in teaching all sorts of classes since journals allow the teacher some insight into the thinking process of the student. So some students report that they have been asked to keep journals since elementary school days and may resist having to do yet another one. Still, keeping a journal remains an excellent way for a writer to express ideas that might not fit in a formal essay and to explore ideas that will.

Literature Review Outline

Students cite the basic facts of the story in a prescribed order, which facilitates class discussion. Subsequently, analysis is much easier. Most of one’s teaching focuses on the author’s purpose and style, but the instrument also provides practice in writing brief summaries. This outline format works well with an entire class. Certain areas are designated to a particular group, and at the end of the hour a spokesperson shares the group’s findings. The review outline is also effective when applied to drama and the novel because it helps to organize and control extended information.

1.

Title

2.

Author

3.

Characters

4.

Summary of Plot

5.

Purpose

6.

Style


Here is an example ( Literature & The Writing Process , p. 376):

1.

Title : “A&P”

2.

Author : John Updike

3.

Characters

A.

Sammy, 19 year-old checkout clerk

1. lives with parents

2.

fantasizes

3.

doesn’t conform

B. Queenie, one of the girl customers

1.

walks barefoot

2.

holds her head high

3.

is bold (bathing suit)

C. Stokesie, foil to Sammy

1. is married at twenty-two

2. has two children

D. Lengel, manager

1. is middle-class

2. is family friend

4. Summary of Plot

A. Setting: Small town, 1960’s, near beach

B. Theme: Initiation of young man from innocence to experience

1. quits job to protest treatment of the three girls

2. faces “hard” world ahead

5. Purpose

A. Reveals human costliness of an everyday situation (“sheep” p. 379)

B. Drawn from memories of teen years

6. Style

A. First person point of view (narrator)

B. Realistic: teenage language (clichés)

C. Humor

1.

older customer (Salem witch)

2.

houseslaves in pin curlers

3.

cash register song; punching in “No Sale” tab


Teaching the Short Story

Questions to Guide Analysis of a Short Story

To write an analysis of a short story, focus on the story’s theme (main idea). Include the various elements of a short story: plot, character, setting, tone, and thematic patterns. Tell how these elements help develop the story.

1.

What is the subject?

2.

List the events in order.

3.

What is the climax? Who is involved?

4.

Is there foreshadowing of the final outcome? When, where, and who?

5.

How are the characters related to one another? Whose actions, which actions are most important? Why? Do they change or develop during the story? Why?

6.

Is there a narrator? Is he or she involved in the plot or just an observer?

7.

Is there any symbolic or metaphorical language? What effect does it have on the story or reader?

8.

Has the story or author anything special to say about society and/or its values?

Exercise: Details of Character

Title: Author:

1.

In two sentences, describe the physical characteristics of the protagonist.

2.

Directly quote the lines of the story, which give you those characteristics.

3.

Describe the character’s goals, conflicts, and background (in complete sentences).

4.

Quote the lines from the story that support your answers to the previous question.

5.

Describe the character’s environment—that is, what kind of place he or she lives in, what kind of objects he or she owns or values, what he or she wears. (Use complete sentences.)

6.

Quote lines that support your previous answer.

7.

Look closely at what the protagonist says. Select three significant statements.

For each, first quote the lines; then explain their context (What is happening? To whom are they addressed?), and explain what they reveal about the character.

Focus on the most significant lines you can find.

8.

Comment on how the protagonist talks and what this reveals about him or her.

9.

Select one significant statement that another character makes to the protagonist.

Quote the statement, explain its context, and give its significance.

10.

Find something interesting that another character says about the protagonist.

Quote the statement, and, if necessary, explain what it tells us about the protagonist.

11.

Consider the actions of the protagonist. Briefly list three significant actions and explain what they reveal about the protagonist.

12.

Consider the same three actions. Give some reason (given within the story) why the protagonist performed them. In other words, explore motivation.

13.

Quote a significant passage in which the protagonist’s thoughts are revealed.


Helping Students Understand the Difference between Summary and Analysis

A Familiar Story

Your writing course begins business as usual. As a class, you enthusiastically discuss the literature, giving students your interpretations and soliciting interpretations from them. They work individually or in collaborative groups honing their newfound analytical skills. You then explain to them how to articulate their analysis in essay form with effective models.

Confident that they “get it,” you sit down to grade their essays only to find that half of them wrote a book report. How do we fix this? Here’s one possible approach… Before I begin, I tell my students that the most common mistake I see in students’ analytical writing is that they summarize when they think they are analyzing. I then explain my goal for the lesson: I will be teaching them how to distinguish between summary and analysis.

The Process

Students have already read James Joyce’s “Eveline” before class. I ask them to take out a piece of paper and fold it in half, width-wise, and then open the paper up again, creating two halves. At the top of their paper (in the white space above the beginning lines), I instruct them to copy down a predetermined thesis statement.

“Eveline” Thesis Statement : “Eveline’s Catholic upbringing as a dutiful daughter makes impossible her hopes for a happier life.”

Tell them to summarize…

After they have written the thesis, I instruct them to choose an event from the story that they think illustrates the point of the thesis. On the top half of their folded paper, they are to summarize that event in one paragraph of 8-10 sentences. They may not include quotes.

Beware: Allowing them to merely write a quote for the summary portion of this lesson in the beginning of this exercise misses the whole point. It is through the act of writing that they make mistakes.

Now tell them to explain/analyze…

Next, I instruct students to write another paragraph on the bottom half of their paper where they analyze how the summary they wrote on the top half of the paper supports the predetermined thesis. I emphasize that they cannot provide any factual information as they did in the summary paragraph on the top half. It must be only analysis. (They will accidentally do it anyway, but this is ok). This goes against what they have been taught, because they naturally want to refer specifically to their summary by writing parts of the summary in their analysis.

Discuss their paragraphs…

After they have finished, I solicit participation from students and I choose students at random to read their paragraphs as well. I try to call upon as many students as time allows.

I ask the student that I have called upon to read his/her summary paragraph first. If the student has written only a summary of the event chosen, consider yourself lucky. Most students inevitably include a little analysis in there. Point out the specific parts of the paragraph that are summary and point out the parts that are analysis. Most importantly, tell them why the analysis sections of the summary are, in fact, not summary. The most obvious way is to explain to them that the summary is a fact, and a fact is not debatable.

This sounds simplistic, but the students need constant reminders. As you move on with the


sections of the summary that are not summary, ask the student how the information they have provided is not debatable. After doing it with them first, they usually can tell you why.

Next, go over their analysis…

After the students have read their summaries, do the same thing with the analysis paragraph. Point out which parts they successfully analyze and which parts are summary.

Peer Observation

One thing that always happens when I do this exercise is that after a couple of students, sometimes even after the first one, a student that I call upon will say: “Mine isn’t right.”

This is the “a-ha!” moment—and they don’t even know it!

Although they may feel discouraged that they did it “wrong,” I point out to them that the mere fact that they can now recognize that they did it wrong is the point of the whole lesson. They “got it.”

However, it is important that you do not let them off the hook. They must still read their paragraphs out loud and go through the process. The difference is that you have them identify the parts they think are incorrect. This reinforces the concepts of the lesson and it will allow you to correct any errors. The lesson begins slowly, but after this point, you can zip right through, from student to student, having them dissect their own writing.

Wrapping up the lesson in class

I go on to say, “Guess what? Join these two paragraphs together into one and this is your first body paragraph to a potential essay.” I then explain to students that now they can go back to their paragraphs from this exercise and either leave the summary as it is or substitute it with a quote (or, ideally, integrate the quote into their summary).

Follow up part 1

After I collect their paragraphs, I circle the parts of the paragraphs that are pertinent to the task in their respective sections and cross out those elements that do not apply. This provides reinforcement of the concept and a concrete visual of the delineation between the successful and unsuccessful aspects of their work, which further reinforces the methodology of the lesson.

Follow up part 2

Students write an in-class essay based on the predetermined thesis. They may use the paragraph they created in class as one of their paragraphs.

Using their errors to instruct…

One aspect of this lesson that, ironically, benefits the students and the professor towards the successful attainment of the objective of this lesson, is the fact that they will make mistakes right from the beginning. In a perfect world, they would all do it correctly.

However, the reality is that they will make mistakes, and, in order to facilitate the lesson more effectively, this is what you want. When they make a mistake, you can correct it and the rest of the class will see what, how, and why the error is present, and, more importantly, how to fix it. So, errors become your friend. You turn a negative into a positive.

The Final Result

The majority of students immediately learn the difference between summary and analysis after this lesson. As with any new skill, students need subsequent reinforcement with summary vs. analysis. I do this in various ways that you are probably already familiar with, but now they have a base from which to start, making my future lessons more accessible.


Teaching Poetry

Understanding and Appreciating Poetry through Visualization

We continually search for ways to make our subject matter important to our students. Visualization helps students understand and appreciate poetry. Through visualization, a poem comes alive. As participants explore another method to understand and appreciate poetry, those who may have previously dreaded or disliked poetry learn that studying poetry can be fun. The visualization or sketching becomes a small group project that encourages individual expression as well as group discussion of a poem. While one participant might focus on figurative language or symbolism in the sketch, another might illustrate persona while still another might prefer to paraphrase the poem and sketch what happens. At the end of the sketching, one participant acts as the spokesperson for the group and explains the sketch to the entire group.

Visualization helps students “to see.” It improves critical thinking, comprehension, and focus, creates a classroom community, and utilizes background knowledge. As

Frank McCourt says to his poetry students in his book Teacher Man, “What do you see?” McCourt notes what we ask students to do when they visualize a poem:

I’d like you to talk about whatever you’d like to talk about in the

general neighborhood of this poem. Bring in your grandmother if

you’d like. Don’t worry about the “real” meaning of the poem.

Even the poet won’t know. When you read the poem something

happened or nothing happened. Would you raise your hand if

nothing happened? All right, no hands. So, something happened

in your head or your heart or your bowels. You’re a writer. What

happens when you hear music? Chamber music? Rock? You see

a couple arguing on the street. You look at a child rebelling against

his mother. You see a homeless man begging. You see a politician

giving a speech. You ask someone to go out with you. You

observe the response of the other person. Because you’re a writer,

you ask yourself always, always, What’s happening, baby? (221)

On the day we use the visualizing technique, we first ask students to consider the words of Macaulay: “By poetry we mean the art of employing words in such a manner as to produce an illusion of the imagination, the art of doing by means of words what the painter does by means of color.” We ask them to consider being the painter or visualizer for this exercise.


Then we assign groups and roles within the groups. The group roles are artist/sketcher, facilitator/traffic cop, presenter, and note taker. The following poems from Literature and the Writing Process have worked well:

“In the Long Hall” (522), “A Noiseless Patient Spider” (520), “My Papa’s Waltz” (501),

“Mother to Son” (558), and “The Unknown Citizen” (503). In addition, students enjoy

“Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins.

Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to water ski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.


Questions and Answer Reaction Study Guide

Winter Night by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Pile high in the hickory and the light

Log of chestnut struck by the blight.

Welcome-in the winter night.

The day has gone in hewing and felling,

Sawing and drawing wood to the dwelling

For the night of talk and story-telling.

These are the hours that give the edge

To the blunted axe and the bent wedge,

Straighten the saw and lighten the sedge.

Here are the questions and reply,

And the fire reflected in the thinking eye.

So peace, and let the bob-cat cry.

QUESTION

PREREADING STAGE

SURVEY THE POEM

1.

Write at least three ideas that the poem’s title calls to mind.

2.

Look at the poem.





How many stanzas (groups or lines) does it have?

How many lines per stanza?

READING STAGE

NOW READ

Literal

1.

2.

3.

4.

List the things in the poem that can be seen in the mind’s eye.

List the things that can be heard.

Name the time of year and times of day involved.

List the words that tell what the people were doing earlier and/0r are doing now.

NOW READ AND TRY TO SEE THE SCENES IN YOUR MIND’S

EYE—VISUALIZE. ADD TO ABOVE LISTS. (You may want to stop at times and shut your eyes to visualize)

Inferential

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

How does Millay involve the reader right from the start?

How is the scene outside the house different from the scene inside? Be specific.

List as many other contrasts as you can infer from the poem.

Look at stanza 3. How easy is it to cut wood using a blunt axe and a bent wedge?

 How easy is it to pull a heavy sled?

 What made the work easier?

 Can hours really give an edge?

What did Millay mean by the contrasts in the poem? or In a sentence, state the theme of the poem.

ANSWER


POSTREADING STAGE

ELABORATION

1.

2.

How would the poem be different if the time were summer?

How is a winter night different for people in our town?

 What may have been lost?

 What may have been gained?

EVALUATION

1.

2.

3.

What makes the poem successful?

What makes it less successful?

What criteria did you use to judge the poem?

APPRECIATIVE

1.

What did you like about the poem? Why?

2.

What didn’t you like? Why ?

REREAD THE POEM AND YOUR NOTES. NOW WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT THE

POEM’S MEANING? WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT STUDYING A POEM? DO THE

CONTENT OF THE POEM AND THE PROCESS OF READING IT GET MIXED UP? I

HOPE THEY DO!

STRUCTURE

 4 stanzas

 3 lines each stanza

IMAGES

Hear

 Sawing, etc

 Talk, stories, Q&A

 Bob-cat cry

See

 piling, hewing, sawing drawing wood

 blighted logs

 people by fire

Winter Nights

Edna St. Vincent Millay

CONTRASTS

 unsafe/safe

 cold/warm

 blighted/unblighted

 day/night

 outside/inside

 manual work/stories

 harsh nature/gentle people

 wildness/peacefulness

THEME




Imitating a Poem

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, (useless)

And look upon myself, and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee—and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

William Shakespeare

Try writing an imitation of the first twelve lines of “When in disgrace…” but without worrying about rhyme or metrical regularity. Try, that is, to imitate the sentence structure of lines 1-12 by writing your own sentence that imitates the form of Shakespeare’s sentence. Use the following pattern, and fill in your own words to replace the dots.

1.

When…

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

I…

And…

And…

9.

Yet in these thoughts…

10.

11.

12.

Wishing me like…

I think of…and then

Like…

Featured like…

Desiring…and…

With that I most enjoy…

…sings hymns at heaven’s gate.


Collage Assignment

One teacher submitted an assignment for a creative writing project. It could be adapted to any specific genr e.

Make a collage on any subject of your choice. Do not decide on a subject before you start.

 Cut pictures that you find interesting from magazines, journals, newspapers, etc.

 Let your mind scan all possibilities.

 Let the pictures suggest the selection and arrangement for your finished project.

 Keep a journal with notes about how you feel about the project while going through the process. Make notes on how you made decisions about what to keep and what to eliminate.

 Attempt to say in words what the pictures say collectively: write a poem, story, play, or whatever allows you to parallel your collage as closely as possible.

 Prepare an oral presentation.

Student Sample from the Collage Assignment

Losing What I’ve Never Had

I waded through the shallow shore

Not knowing where to head.

An endless sight bearing so much more.

In the glowing dusk of red.

Heading east, toward a shade of blue

And darkened-purple night.

Without regard of what I knew,

About the fire that must ignite.

Carelessly gathering a stack of wood,

I piled them one-by-one.

Then just staring from where I stood,

Questioning what must be done.

I never felt a flame in my hand,

I’d never felt the heat.

Never felt anything so grand

That leaves me in defeat.

Moments later, I struck the ground,

In attempts to light a match.

A flicker, a snap, that familiar sound,

The friction, a perfect catch.

The flame, a glowing tear of light

Trickled along the stick,

As it leapt with fiery flight

Across from wick to wick.

As the blaze grew wilder, more intense,

I moved away and back.

I thought I’d felt a little sense

Of the burning warmth I lack.

In the end I’m sitting all alone,

But it’s really not so bad.

I’ve only lost what I’ve never known,

Lost what I’ve never had.


Teaching Drama

A unit about

Othello

:

Taught over a period of approximately three weeks, this play was selected because of its contemporary interest: universality of human emotion, prejudice, etc. Also, this play is seldom studied at the high school level.

Introduction: Lecture on background for Othello (Shakespeare, his tragedies, the philosophy and history of the times, Elizabethan theater, Venice and the Moors)

Assignment: Read Act I and note names of characters: how they are introduced and what we learn about them.

Classwork: Discuss action and characters: how they are introduced and what we learn about them.

Assignment: Read Act II and consider function of clown.

Cast students in parts to be read in class (Sc 1)

Classwork: Student-readers perform Sc 1

Discuss rest of Act II

Assignment: Read Act III, focusing on dramatic irony

Cast students for Sc 3, Act III

Classwork: Discuss and analyze Act III, scenes one and two

Student-readers perform Sc 3

Assignment: Act IV, assign parts of Sc 2.

Classwork: Quiz on characters and plot incidents in Acts I, II, III

Discussion of Act IV; student-readers perform Sc 2 (Act IV)

Assignment: Read Act V.

Issue topics for short research paper on some aspect of the play, due in two weeks

Classwork

Classwork:

Discuss Act V, particularly student assessment of change in characters since the first act (surprise, disappointment, etc.)

Watch film

Othello

(available in Library)


Topics for Five-Minute Talk on Othello

(You may work on this project singly or in pairs.) a.

Discuss the language in

Othello :

Which characters use poetry and which use prose? When and for what purpose does a particular character use each kind of language? b.

Imagine you are the costume designer for a stage production of this play.

Tell what colors, materials, and stage props each of the main characters would wear. Give reasons for your choice. c.

How do the men in this play (Othello, Iago, Cassio, and Desdemona’s father, Brabantio) talk about and treat women? Is each one’s attitude consistent, or, if it changes, when and why? Are they realistic or idealistic about women? d.

How do Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca talk about and seem to act toward men? Are they consistent? If not, why not? Idealistic or realistic? Which ones are which? e.

Discuss the importance and symbolism of the handkerchief that Othello gives Desdemona. What kind of embroidery does it have? What is the significance of this? Who steals it and why? What is the result? f.

Compare Venice and the Island of Cyprus. What are the respective religions, politics, and attitudes found in each place? g.

Discuss Othello’s love for Desdemona. How does his attitude toward himself as a man, Christian convert, and a foreigner influence his behavior toward her? h.

Discuss Othello as a killer. Does he view his killing of Desdemona as justifiable? How? What effect does his being a military man have on his attitude? Is his transformation from loving husband to murderer convincing? Why or not? i.

Compare Iago and Othello. Which man is more believable and acceptable in his behavior? Why? j.

Discuss Othello as a tragedy as described for Greek classical theater by

Aristotle in his

Poetica

. Is Othello the true tragic hero? What is the flaw in his noble character? Has he only one? Could a case be made for Iago as a tragic hero, or Cassio? Why? Why not?


A

Guide to Analyzing the Play

A Doll’s House:

Questions to Guide Your Viewing and Reading

A.

Why is each of the following things important in the play:

 lark, squirrel, songbird

 macaroons

 knitting, crocheting, embroidery, sewing

 the tarantella

 “doll babies” ? b. Keep track of all the references you hear/read to playacting; performing; and wearing costumes, cloaks, and shawls. Think about the possible significance of these images. c. What does Nora think about each of the following:

 borrowing money

 the importance of one’s motives

 playing a part

 Dr. Rank

 a husband’s role

 a wife’s role? d.

What does Torvald think of each of the things in the last question? e. Briefly describe Nora’s relationship with each of the men in her life---

Torvald, her father, Dr. Rank, and Krogstad. f. Why is Kristine important in the plot? In the characterization of Nora? g. What are the causes of the following:

 Nora’s attitude toward Helmer

 Helmer’s attitude toward Nora

 Nora’s expectation that something wonderful is going to happen

 Nora’s final action in the play? h. What are the effects of the following:

 Nora’s illegal action

 Kristine’s arrival

 Helmer’s promotion

 Krogstad’s decision to return Nora’s note

 Nora’s attitude toward Helmer

 Helmer’s attitude toward Nora?


A Guide to Writing a Comparison of A Doll’s House and Trifles

Possible topics: a.

The differing views of justice among men and women. b.

The shared personality characteristics of Nora and Mrs. Wright. c.

Conformity of individuals to roles assigned by society results in lack of individual freedom. d.

Moral corruption is inherited by children from parents. e.

How self-importance prevents Helmer’s understanding of Nora’s actions and the men’s understanding the evidence of the murders.

These questions will help you to think about the characters and conflicts in the two plays.

A Doll’s House Trifles

1. Find three examples of Nora’s childish behavior at the beginning of the play.

1. Why did Mrs. Wright kill Mr.

Wright?

2. Explain the irony of Helmer’s thinking of Nora as a spendthrift.

3. How many characters are trapped by social conventions?

2. What is the significance of the dead bird?

3. Why don’t Mrs. Hale and Mrs.

Peters reveal the evidence they have discovered? Would you?

4. What is Torvald’s opinion?

5. Of what crime are both Nora and

Krogstad guilty?

6. Find three examples of inherited corruption, moral or physical.

7. Characterize Nora at the beginning of the play, and show how she changes at the end.

8. Does Helmer change in any way?

4. Describe Minnie Foster before her marriage.

5. What “crime” does Mrs. Hale accuse herself of?

6. What thing did Mrs. Wright ask to have brought to the jail?

7. Describe Mr. Wright


SAMPLE ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS

Essay # 1: Diagnostic Essay

This essay is written during the first week of class as a diagnostic tool and as an introduction to the kind of writing usually required in Composition II. Some teachers use the prompts provided in the text after “Eveline”: the prewriting exercise asks that students write a letter to Eveline, persuading her to stay in Dublin or to leave with

Frank. This informal exercise is a non-threatening introduction to the use of argument and evidence with literature as the topic. The letters encourage the use of text-based evidence to illustrate to students a variety of opinions about Eveline’s motivations.

A second approach builds around the topic of risk taking ... why do some people take risks and some don't? Thus, the first prompt is: "What keeps Eveline from taking that risk?" Some students write about moral commitments/religious duty; some write about treatment of women in patriarchal societies; some write about lack of personal courage - obviously, they are often writing about why they did/did not take risks in their own lives, so it gives us somewhere to go when "analyzing" characters’ personalities, thought processes and resultant choices when going on to the other stories. Often, first-time expository writers have trouble with analysis - they don't know what to write about. In the real world reasons for risk-taking give them somewhere to start by analyzing a character's choices and actions.

Another teacher gives students the handout “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and asks them to write a similar letter of advice to the person they were at fifteen. They usually have great ideas about choices they wish they had made.

Students can also find interesting points of comparison between the story and the

Cathie Ryan song which comments on “Eveline.”

Cathie Ryan – “Eveline” Lyrics

It's early Sunday morning, her father's fast asleep.

She's staring out the window at the dark and lonely street.

Put the kettle on the fire, wake the children up for mass.

His drunken cursing last night means another week has passed.

The next will be the same.

It's all right, Eveline, let the ship sail away.

Hold onto the railing and cry.

It won't be the last one, I promise you that.

He's only telling you lies,

He's only telling you lies.

Where is you sailor, Evy? Are you killed with regret?

Didn't he know your heart then? Did he make you forget

That you have always seen yourself in your father's bitter eyes?

Your mother willed her life to you long before she died.


Her madness calls your name.

It's all right, Eveline, let the ship sail away.

Hold onto the railing and cry.

It won't be the last one, I promise you that.

They're only telling you lies,

They're only telling you lies.

Deravaun seraun, deravaun seraun.

Take her hand, take her life,

Take her hand, take her life.

Deravaun seraun, deravaun seraun Eveline.

Essay #2: Character Analysis

Sample Assignments

Sample # 1: Choose one of the following characters and write an essay of at least

400 words. Your purpose is to analyze your character as thoroughly as possible. Use adjectives to describe his or her personality, and be sure to include information from the story to support your interpretation.

Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of An Hour”

The narrator or Emily in “I Stand Here Ironing”

Lyman or Henry in “The Red Convertible”

Nick or Laura in “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”

Suggestions: Re-read the story once…twice...several times, making special note of any information which will help you to understand your character more thoroughly.

Pay careful attention to what he or she does, or does not do; what he or she says or does not say; what he or she thinks, if that is revealed in the story; and how he or she interacts with the other characters in the story.

 Notice carefully the character’s name. Does it suggest any important personality traits?

 Does the character change as the story progresses? What is revealed by that change?

Sample # 2 : In the following assignment gives more precise directions for each paragraph. Please note that the five paragraph format is often too restrictive and not an appropriate model for Composition II.

Ist paragraph: Introduction

 Background of the story

 Title and author

 Thesis: description of the dominant characteristic of one character and why it is important to the story

2 nd paragraph: Body

 Biographical details on the character you have chosen


3 rd paragraph: Body

 Topic sentence explaining how dominant characteristic is first presented

 Direct quote as evidence.

 Significance of quote to dominant characteristic.

4 th paragraph: Body

 Topic sentence explaining how dominant characteristic affects conflicts in the story

 Direct quote as evidence.

 Significance of quote to dominant characteristic.

5 th paragraph: Conclusion

 Topic sentence explaining how dominant characteristic affects the resolution of the story

 Quotations as evidence.

Sample # 3: Character Analysis Essay

Choose one of the following characters and write an essay of at least 400 words.

Your purpose is to analyze the character as thoroughly as possible. Use adjectives to describe his or her personality, and be sure to include information from the text to support your interpretation.

Rachel in “Eleven”

Eveline in “Eveline”

Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour”

The narrator in “I Stand Here Ironing”

Sammy in “A & P”

Begin with a brainstorm. You may use a cluster, web, free-write, outline, or notes, but you MUST submit some form of prewriting along with your final draft.

You may choose to make the chart we started in class. You should strive to answer as many of the following questions as possible.

 Analyze the character’s actions. How does what the character does or does not do affect who he or she is? What motivates the character?

 Analyze what the character says or does not say. How do speech acts help define a character?

 What does the character think about?

 How does the character interact with others?

 How does the character view himself? Herself?

 Does the character undergo a significant change throughout the story?


Once you have completed your pre-writing assignment you are ready to tackle the rough draft. Below is an overview of how you should structure your essay.

Your essay must be at least five paragraphs long.

Introductory Paragraph

Thesis statement – generalized interpretation of protagonist

Concise overview of the story (the title and author)

Body Paragraph #1

Begin w/ topic sentence presenting one dominating characteristic

Supported with at least one quotation properly imbedded and cited

Balance of critical commentary and concrete details to support claim


Begin w/ topic sentence presenting another dominating characteristic




Begin w/ topic sentence presenting another dominating characteristic



Concluding Paragraph

Remind reader of your key points

Explain the theme of the story and how this character relates to the story as a whole (The author uses this character to say what?)

Be sure to refer to Rules for Writers or the DK Handbook as you revise and edit your essay.

Sample Essay on Character: This student author was not given the preceding outline as a guideline for her essay, nor has it been edited for correctness .

Jane Doe

English 102

Professor Smith

August 14, 2007

Mel, In and Out of Love

In the story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” by Raymond Carver,

Mel, a divorced and then happily remarried man, examines his wife and friends’ personal experiences in their relationships as well as his own. He tries to understand how love that once could seem so destined might fade away, and even develop into hate. Mel struggles to understand any love but his own, only to later realize that he cannot even justify his own love trials, concluding that love is a very complicated subject and cannot be predicted.

Mel brings up a lot of questions about love throughout the story. He questions if true love can physically bring pain to someone. Can true love fade away? How can you love


someone to death at one moment and hate them the next? With so many questions about love, Mel seems very ignorant in the beginning. He denies that Terri's previous husband,

Ed, was in love with her because he feels that if you really love someone, you wouldn't hurt and threaten to kill them. Even though he has no idea of what love is, he still dares to deny other people’s feelings of love. But, despite his ignorance, he has potent points to back up his statements, putting him in control of the conversation. Terri is sure that it was love that

Ed had for her, and that he even went as far as to say that his love for her is what drove him to commit suicide. Though Ed very well could have loved Terri, Mel brings up a noteworthy point as to why she shouldn't define it as what killed Ed. He says "no one knows what he did it for. I've seen a lot of suicides, and I couldn't say anyone ever knew what they did it for"(35). Mel implies that there are so many supporting factors in a suicide that she will never be able to look into his brain to see exactly why Ed committed suicide.

She has a theory, but no real facts that suggest that he died because he could not have her love.

When Nick and Laura describe their everlasting love for each other and give testimonial about how they know they are in love, Mel begins to joke with them about how their love is too newly developed to answer any of his questions about love. He laughingly says, “You’re still on the honeymoon for God’s sake. You’re still gaga for crying out loud.

Just wait…How long has it been? A year?”(45). Mel, having been married to his current wife for 5 years, does not consider Laura and Nick's marriage deep enough to understand his situation. He views their marriage as still being in the infatuation stage. Their love will not begun to change, or possibly disintegrate, until much more time has passed. By using the term "gaga," Mel is associating Nick and Laura's relationship with baby talk—immature. He says that they are "still on the honeymoon," as in, the new infatuation of being married and in love and that everything is still happy to them because it is new. Mel feels that when their “love” begins to fade, the true feelings of reality will begin to take over. Mel does not deny that his friends are in love. Instead, he questions whether that love, or any love, will stand the test of time.

The test of time seems to be Mel’s major concern throughout the story. He is frustrated by his audience, Terri, Laura and Nick, who all are contributing to the conversation as if they have all of the answers. Aggravated, Mel escalates the conversation by giving his personal stories about his troubles with love to prove to them that questions of love don't have definite answers. He does this to point out the his tragic stories of love could affect any of their marriages without warning. He is madly in love with his current wife, Terri, and wants their love to last forever. But he generally questions if their love, or any love, will last forever or if it will disintegrate like both of their previous marriages. Mel brings up a strong point when he talks of his previous marriage. He tells them, “There was a time when I thought I loved my wife more than life itself. But now I hate her guts”(55).

He proves his point that even when love feels true and everlasting, just as he felt he could die for this woman, it still has the ability to change. Not only has Mel fallen out of love with his ex-wife, but now he hates her guts. If the “love birds,” Laura and Nick, and even his know-it-all wife, were so confident in their knowledge of love, then how do they answer his dilemma? Just as he suspected, no one at the table has anything to say about the discussion Mel brings up concerning his love that has dwindled to hate. Instead, they insist that he is drunk and just talking nonsense.

Unsure about the destinations of the roads of love, Mel chooses to try and further understand the repetitions of love patterns that are found all too often, and encourages his wife and friends to open their minds to the many possibilities of love. He still searches to find reasoning for why love can be so strong at one moment, and lost the next, only to be later found again in someone new. This being a question he may never answer, he encourages his loved ones to open their minds to the shocking reality that just because it is


true love, doesn’t mean it will last forever, and love may possibly never be defined, so you must not give it a solid definition and take love for what it is, or was.

Essay #3: Compare & Contrast

Sample Assignments

Sample # 1: Comparison and Contrast of Two Stories or Poems

1. Choose the two works you want to compare. You may not use a story or play you have already written about. The two works should have themes that are somehow related to each other. They do not have to make the same point, but they need to have some common ground. (See “Body” below).

2. Make a scratch outline using the point-by-point method of organization (We will create some sample outlines in class.)

3. Your paper should take into consideration the following points:

 Introduction : Be sure that you include both titles and authors and the specific ideas that you are comparing, i.e. the general similarities and differences that will constitute the body of the paper. You might also tell the reader which work seems to be more closely aligned with your sense of the world.

 Body : Find between two and four points of comparison/contrast. Each paragraph should include both stories or poems and should compare/contrast some particular point in each. The point should be based on common ground: e.g. similar or opposite character traits, common symbols, points of view, conflicts, roles (e.g. daughters, young men, elderly people) etc. Be sure to make frequent references to ideas, actions, and language in the two works and try to balance the amount of evidence you choose from each work.

 Conclusion : What have you learned about human nature on the basis of your comparison? Is one way of dealing with the theme preferable to the other? Does one attitude or theme seem to conflict with the other? Which way is more closely aligned with your values and why?

Some possible comparisons to use in your paper: these are suggestions only; you are free to use other stories or poems, or other themes:

 Eveline (“Eveline”) and Connie (“Where Are You Going…”): rebellion of girls

 Sammy (“A&P) and Dave (“Man Who Was Almost…): rebellion of boys

 Comparison/contrast a boy and a girl (e.g. Connie and Sammy)

 Granny (“Jilting…”) and Henry (“Red Convertible”): despair and death

 Mother (“I Stand Here…) and Desiree(“Desiree’s Baby”): isolation/motherhood

 Mrs. Mallard (“Story of an Hour”) and Calixta (“The Storm”): freedom

 “Go, Lovely Rose” and “One Perfect Rose”: romance

 “My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays”: fatherhood/memories

 “Hanging Fire” and “Barbie Doll”: self-image

 “AIDS” and “On Tidy Endings”: Supportive relationships


Sample # 2: Comparison and Contrast Essay

For this assignment you will compare and contrast two characters from two different stories or two characters from the same story. You may use any of the stories we have read thus far.

 Choose two characters you wish to compare/contrast.

 Create a character chart for each character. Make sure that you have enough to write about. Exhaust all aspects of each character. Be sure to include specific references and quotations from the text to help support your claims. This is your brainstorm and must be turned in with your final draft.

 Place your two character charts side by side.

 Determine how the characters are alike . Do they have similar roles, face similar conflicts, share similar values, and/or perform similar actions?

 Determine how the characters are different. Do they carry out different roles within the story? Do they respond to conflicts differently? Do they resolve their problems differently?

 As you begin to think about your rough draft, you must first plot out what you plan on accomplishing in each paragraph of your essay. All essays must have an introductory paragraph, four body paragraphs (minimum), and a concluding paragraph. You should strive to have paragraphs of seven to ten sentences.

Your introduction must state what texts, authors, characters, and ideas are under consideration. Your thesis will be a brief statement of what can be learned from your paper: the similarities and differences that you have observed from your careful analysis. This should be a general overview of things to come.

Details belong in the body.

Your body paragraphs will need to be carefully organized so that each paragraph is supporting your thesis. For example, when doing the contrast part of your paper, show how the two characters differ with regards to two or three issues, devoting a separate paragraph to each issue.

Your conclusion should be a summation of the major points of the comparison/contrast you have demonstrated. At this point, it is appropriate to suggest which character seems to reflect the point of view or value system of the author, or with which character you sympathize. Before this point, try to be objective and non-judgmental in your discussion of the characters. A Works Cited page is required.


Sample # 3: Here is another approach to a comparison/contrast essay:

Your paper should be organized as a comparison and/or contrast of two poems, two stories, or a poem and a story. You may also compare/contrast two characters within one story. Review the information given on pp. 47-48 in

Rules for Writers

: recall the direction given to you in Composition I, especially with regard to point-by-point comparisons. In this kind of assignment, it is essential to work from an outline. Come to class on Monday/Tuesday with your topic chosen, so as we discuss outlining techniques, you will be able to apply the techniques to your topic. On Wednesday/Thursday, we will have a working draft workshop for purposes of peer review, receiving feedback, and asking questions.

Topics:

1.

Compare images of entrapment and liberation in two poems or stories

2.

Compare/contrast two attitudes about men or women.

3.

Compare/contrast two attitudes about love.

4.

Compare how social class affects the relations between men and women in two works.

5.

Compare the original Cinderella fairy tale to Broumas’ “Cinderella.”

Sample comparison/contrast essay with a different organizational model:

The Literary Odyssey

A formal initiation is defined as an induction into membership. But, an informal initiation is literary, symbolic, sequential, and serves as an instruction in the first principles of adulthood occurring throughout adolescence. Extreme isolation, a symbolic journey, a guide, a quest, new knowledge, apprehensive disillusion, and finally a break away from the past are the series of initiation steps. Sammy, from John Updike’s “A&P”, the boy, from James Joyce’s “Araby”, and Sylvia, from Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson”, undergo literary initiations through their personal isolation, journey, disillusion, and experience, which lead them to gain new awareness about themselves and the world.

Sammy, from John Updike’s “A&P”, accomplishes literary initiation when he quits his job to defend his principles. Because he is a cashier, he is physically trapped at the checkout. Sammy also lacks responsibility in comparison to his other workers, which leaves him in isolation. Finally, he is alienated by his principles to defend the girls when Lengel humiliates them. Mentally following the girls’ course makes Sammy affectionate towards them, which makes it easier for him to defend them. His journey is walking into the parking lot, and this is

Sammy’s symbolic entrance into the cold world. Sammy’s test is to stand up for the girls’ rights and to follow through on his defiance towards Lengel. “Once you begin a gesture it is fatal not to go through with it” (380). He wants to impress ‘everyone’ because he thinks they are watching his heroic effort. The girls are Sammy’s guide to impulse, and Lengel is acting as his conscience. His new knowledge is that principles cost a great deal and are not popular; the world will not reward him for heroism. Sammy also gains the awareness that the world is going to be hard on him as the result of quitting his job. Disillusion occurs with his realization that he has no audience and the world does not care.


The girls do not notice Sammy’s attempt to save their dignity. Sammy’s break away from the past is having no job.

The boy from James Joyce’s “Araby”, encounters information initiation, through his infatuation with Mangan’s sister. His isolation occurs spatially and mentally. The location of this house is a dead end, which was occupied by a priest who had died there. Every morning he lays on the floor of his front parlor, watching her door through the window. “I had never spoken to her, except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood” (291). He is a romantic in a common, dirty environment that has alienated him. The boy’s journey is the train ride in a third class carriage to

Araby. His test is to find a special gift at the bazaar for Mangan’s sister, who also serves as his guide and catalyst. The boy realizes that adult life is not great; he finds it to be filthy, decaying, and inane in contrast to his romantic ideals. He feels foolish that he thought he could deliver to this older girl and discovers he is a “creative driven and derived by vanity.” His disillusion occurs at Araby where it was dark and the weary looking man symbolizes the bleakness of adulthood. Magic turns to dirt when the boy tries to remember why he came to one of the stalls, so the quest has gone unfulfilled. The boy gives up in response to the challenge of adult life when he replies to the young woman “no thank you”. His break away from the past begins when he gazes up into the darkness and discovers how his romantic ideals make him foolish and stupid.

Sylvia from “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, is confronted with literary initiation after her discovery at FAO Schwartz. Sylvia’s isolation is her own ignorance about the world; she thinks that she is “Queen of the Slums.” Her journey is the taxi ride to the toy store. Sylvia’s test is to strive for more than she has by breaking away from poverty, with Miss Moore as her guide. She gains the new knowledge that she is inferior and trapped in the slums. But, by her own complicity, her life is limited to poverty and ugliness. Sylvia recognizes that the American economic system is limiting, but she does not have to let it limit her. “Where you are is who you are” shapes her life. Her disillusion occurs when she sees the price of the toys that could feed an entire family. She feels threatened when Sugar realizes ‘the lesson’. Sylvia’s anger acts as her life in poverty, she would be the sole cause and blame. From then on, no one is going to beat her at anything.

Sammy from John Updike’s “A&P”, the boy from James Joyce’s “Araby”, and

Sylvia and Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson”, experience literary initiation through their personal isolation, journey, disillusion, and struggles, which brings them new knowledge about themselves and the world. “You only learn from your own experiences.” Information initiation is a symbolic and sequential way that adolescent characters in literature develop into adults.

Essay # 4: Analysis of symbolism, setting, or point of view

Sample assignment

1. Analysis of symbolism in one story. How do symbols communicate a story's theme?


2. Stories to use:

 “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

 “The Red Convertible”

 “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”

 one of Kate Chopin’s stories

3.

Writing process:

 Review "symbol" information on pp.115-117 in Literature and the Writing

Process.

 Review sample essay on 128-135

 List all recurrent images (sights, sounds, tastes, touches, motions, etc.) in the work under consideration.

 Determine the theme.

 Create a thesis by showing how certain related images gather symbolic meaning in support of the theme

 Use emphatic or chronological order to organize your paper.

 Clearly relate each symbol or groups of symbols to theme/thesis in your topic sentences.

4. Follow the guidelines given in your text with regard to writing about short stories. Review instructions given in the first essay with regard to title and title page, introduction (title and author of story, theme, thesis, plan of development

[optional]), body paragraphs (topic sentences, quotes, evidence), and conclusion (return to theme).

5. I do not require that you hand in a rough draft for this essay, but I strongly encourage you to do so. Also, I encourage you to come to my office during office hours, make an appointment to see me outside of class, or go to the

Writing Center.

Sample student essay

Calixta, the Storm

Fierce and all consuming, a storm has the ability to renew or destroy. In the short story "The Storm" Kate Chopin uses the symbol of the storm to represent

Calixta's unexplored feelings toward marriage and motherhood, the true nature of passion, and the duality of life itself. The storm offers various ways to signify Chopin's belief that only through self-actualization and the maintenance of personal identity and desires are we able to fully appreciate our role in the family unit.

For five years Calixta has been a devoted wife and mother. Her commitment to her family is symbolized by her attention to the monotonous tasks of daily life.

Always dutiful, she is "sewing furiously on a sewing machine" (405) as the storm approaches. So consumed by her familial responsibilities, she is unaware of the impending tempest. Upon realizing that a storm is brewing, her first concerns are to

"hurriedly... [close] windows and doors" (405) in an attempt to protect the family home and to collect "Bobinot's Sunday clothes [which she hung out] to air" (405). As she attends to her tasks she is confronted by M'sieur Alcee, her former beau, who is seeking shelter from the rain. "She had not seen him very often since her marriage, and never alone" (405) as this would have been improper. Alcee symbolizes the lack of passion and spontaneity in Calixta's life and his arrival stirs


feelings in her that had long been dormant. In their prior relationship Calixta and

Alcee where bound by the mores of the time. Although Alcee had a burning "desire for her flesh" (406) "his honor forbade him to prevail" (407). Calixta was "an immaculate dove...inviolate...[her] very defenselessness had made her defense"

(407) and she was never allowed to experience her womanhood to its fullest extent.

Conflict is brewing inside Calixta, much like the storm is brewing outside. As the storm begins slowly and builds to a volatile climax, so do Calixta's feelings of longing.

She longs to be more than a wife, more than a mother. She longs to be strong and sensual and to be appreciated as more than her husband's helpmate and mother to her child. In order to become a fully actualized individual Calixta needs to be appreciated in all of her womanly capacities. As she succumbs to Alcee's advances and her own previously unexplored desires her "flesh [knows] for the first time its birthright" (407) and she is able to "contribute [her] breath and perfume to the undying life of the world" (407). For the first time Calixta is able to experience life as a complete and powerful woman.

Chopin also uses the symbol of the storm to represent the intense power of unadulterated passion. Much like the fury of the storm, the overwhelming desire both

Calixta and Alcee feel "seemed to invade the very boards they stood upon" (406).

Reason is abandoned and their interaction becomes instinctual. Calixta's eyes

"unconsciously betrayed a sensuous desire" (407), and "disturbed [Alcee] powerfully"

(407). "There was nothing for him to do but gather her lips in a kiss." (407) Passion consumes them in "crashing torrents" (407) and they are besieged by the "roar of the elements" (407) and the roar of their own primal urges. As lovers Calixta and Alcee are the embodiment of the storm. Their sexuality is raw and unrestrained much like the wind and rain outside. As the storm has the potential to renew the earth or bring destruction so to does their passion have the potential to rejuvenate their respective marriages or bring devastation to their families.

The storm is also a representation of the duality of life itself. At first glance the affair between Calixta and Alcee appears to be an invitation to disaster. Calixta has forsaken her vows to her partner for personal gratification, risking her marriage and her family, but instead of destruction, the affair brings Calixta a renewed appreciation for her loved ones. Upon the homecoming of Bobinot and Bibi, Calixta "seemed to express nothing but satisfaction at their safe return." (408) The "over-scrupulous housewife" (407) they feared returning to is replaced by a happy, carefree woman who

"sprang up as they came in" (407) overjoyed at the reunion of her family. For the first time in a long time the family is able to "relax and enjoy themselves" (408) and "they laughed much and so loud" (408).

In "The Storm" Kate Chopin suggests that while love and family are a vital part of life, they can only be fully appreciated when one remains true to oneself and one's own desires. The symbol of the storm in this story is a reflection of that concept. Like the storm, Calixta's conflicting feelings about her role in life and her passion for Alcee are overpowering and all consuming. Like the storm has potential to wreak havoc, so to does her decision to act on her desires. And like the storm the danger eventually dissipates and everything is left renewed. Her affair and conflicting emotions "passed and everyone was happy." (408)

Work Cited

Chopin, Kate. "The Storm". Reading Literature and Writing Argument, Third

Edition. Missy James and Alan Merickle. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice

Hall, 2008. 405-408

Essay # 5: Thematic analysis


Sample Assignment:

Procedure:

First, be certain that you understand what is meant by the term “theme.” See

Literature and the Writing Process

, Chapter 10, “

Writing about Theme

,” p168.

Next, choose one of the following stories and use it as a basis for an essay that examines themes. Naturally, you should choose a story that deals with issues you feel you understand well and whose underlying meanings (themes) you can analyze clearly.

“The Birthmark”

“Hunters in the Snow”

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

“Good Country People”

“The Lottery”

Then, re-read the story you have chosen once…twice…several times, looking carefully for evidence, which will support your ideas about themes in the story.

Finally, begin the writing. In your introduction, you should state clearly the theme or themes which you feel are present in the story. Then use the body of your essay to show how the theme or themes are developed.

Points to remember…

1.

Your essay should be at least 500 words in length.

2.

Follow the paper format instructions listed in your syllabus.

3.

Follow the conventions for writing about literature which are explained in


, Chapters 2, 3, and 5.

4.

You may choose to limit your essay to an extended discussion of one theme, or you may identify and analyze several themes in the story.

Essay # 6: Explication of a poem or poems

Sample assignment #1

Expository Essay on a Poem of Your Choice

1.

Choose a poem from the text that has not been covered in class and that appears in


, “

The Anthology of Poetry

, ” 576-727.

2.

Read the poem carefully, looking up all unfamiliar words.

3.

Ask 5-10 thoughtful questions about the poem (to be passed in on the day of the assignment).

4.

Determine the subject and theme of the poem. A discussion of the subject and theme will constitute the first paragraph of your essay.

5.

Choose three or more ways to explain how the poem specifically develops the subject/theme. In this section, give attention to the speaker and tone, connotative language, imagery, simile and metaphor, and/or symbolism. Use these terms appropriately and integrate them into your analysis.


6.

Use your conclusion to explain what personal significance the poem has for you.

Did you have a similar experience, feeling or mood? Did the imaginative world the poem depicted help you to create a vicarious experience?

Sample assignment # 2

Write a 750-word essay on a poem of your choice found in our textbook. You will find some help in Literature and the Writing Process , Chapters 12 (“Writing

About Persona and Tone”) & 13 (“Writing About Poetic Language”), pp. 499-534, which should guide you in explicating the poem you choose. You may want to say a few words about the author in your introduction (you know where to find that information in the library), but your thesis and subsequent developmental paragraphs should relate directly to the poem you are working with. Remember that successful writing uses details, quotations, and specifics for support.

1.

The Subject of the poem (what the poem is about)

 Literal (Surface)

 Figurative (Inner)

2.

The Tone of the poem (what the poet wants us to feel about the subject, attitude toward subject)

Is the general tone affectionate, playful, hostile, earnest, sarcastic, satiric, detached, amusement, withering contempt, implied superiority, condescending, belligerent? If mingled, what combination? Playfully serious, seriously playful?

Using specific elements from the list below, give detailed evidence (examples) that makes the tone clear:

 Diction

 Imagery

 Situations

 Details

 Syntax

3.

The Theme of the Poem

 General

 Explain how the tone (what you said above in A and B) helps to develop the theme.

Sample Student Explication of a Poem:

Love Devoid of Time

In William Shakespeare’s lyric poem “Shall I Compare Thee to a

Summer’s Day?” the joyous tone of the speaker reveals the timeless everlasting love that he feels towards his muse, as compared to the ephemeral beauty of the season of summer. Written in 1609, the essence of the poem is that his love eludes the sands of time and lives on forever, unchanging in the “eternal lines” (12) of the poem. Shakespeare has succeeded in giving long life to his love through the poem since it remains one of his most widely read works.


Reiteration plays an important role in defining the tone in the poem. The title and the first line of the poem are identical, and it is through the reiteration of the question “Shall I Compare Thee to a

Summer’s Day?” that Shakespeare sets in stone the essence of the poem, that even though the seasons will change, his love for his muse will remain unchanged and eternal. The tone of the poem now embodies the deep, sincere, unchanging love that he feels towards his muse, and that dwarfs summer in its comparison.

Shakespeare uses imagery of the elements such as summer’s temperature and the fact that the season comes to an end, unlike the eternal love he feels, to offer a glimpse into the depth of the love that the speaker feels towards his muse. Thus, his love becomes much “more temperate” (2) and perfect than summer can offer. Just as the lines “Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, /And often is his gold complexion dimmed” (5-6) portray that the sun in the summer is often too hot and that sometimes during summer there are cloudy days in which the rays of the sun are dimmed, the love he has for his muse shines bright and is never-fading.

Comparing summer to his love in this manner portrays the imperfections of the season as opposed to the perfection he finds in his love. Thus, emphasizing and concluding that the comparison of the love that the speaker feels towards his muse is of no contest to the comparison of a summer’s day.

Equally important is the imagery that is used in the poem to convey a deeper meaning of the pure joy that the speaker feels towards his subject.

The lines “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, /And summer’s lease hath all too short a date” (3-4) define the perfection that he finds within his love as his love is now regarded as more perfect and ethereal than mother nature herself. The use of symbolism in the poem coupled with tone serves to further define the poem. The epitome of symbolism lies in the final lines of the poem “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, /So long lives this, and gives life to thee” (13-14). It is in these lines that the love that the speaker feels towards his love is projected into eternity. The speaker is saying that as long as there is life on earth and eyes that can read, the poem will live on, and within the poem the love and the essence of his muse will live on indefinitely no matter the time or the season.

Without the elements of tone and imagery working in unison, the hidden meaning of the poem would remain unnoticed. One would be unable to fully grasp the overflowing love, joy, and delight that the speaker holds within his heart. It is through the comparison of his love to the season of summer that a universal message is born. Although the seasons will change, and with them summer will either come or go, love is given eternal life through the lines on the page and through the souls that recapture and relate to the season of summer that is enveloped by the emotion of love.

Essay # 7 : Researched and Documented Essay


One of the standards of the Department for English Composition II is that the course “should require a persuasive essay about a humanistic topic, preferably literature, which cites and documents primary and secondary sources in a minimum of three typewritten pages following the MLA parenthetical form.” In this section, we present materials that may assist you in designing the research section of the course.

Research Activities

Many English Composition II classes spend time in the library learning about print sources and databases to use in their research. One teacher asks students to complete the following assignment during and after the library visit.

Scavenger Hunt: Looking for August and Antigone

Name_____________________________

___________ Last 5 digits of the bar code from either your Massasoit library card or your town library card (needed if you want to access Massasoit’s databases from computers away from the library).

Use the Massasoit Library to answer the following questions:

1.

On the library home page, look for the “Find Articles” section, which brings you to the Reference Database. In the database, find “Expanded Academic

ASAP.” Enter August Wilson “Fences”. Find an article printed in The

Explicator in 1999 and print it out. Create a Works Cited entry.

2.

In the reference section of the library, find the series called Contemporary

Authors. Find an article on August Wilson in Vol. 50. Xerox the first page and do a Works Cited entry. (Don’t forget to copy down the publication information in the front of Contemporary Authors.)

3.

Use Contemporary Authors Cumulative Index to find what articles in

Contemporary Literary Criticism (CLC) relate to August Wilson. Decide which volume has the most complete articles on Fences. Xerox the first and last pages of one article and do a Works Cited entry. (Don’t forget to copy down the publication information in the front of CLC)

4.

In the reference section of the library locate the reference series called

Drama Criticism. Find and copy the first and last pages of any essay on

Antigone. Do a Works Cited entry for the essay. (Don’t forget to copy down the publication information in the front of Drama Criticism.)

5.

Return to the library’s Reference Data Base. Under Literature locate

“Academic Search Premier.” Limiting your search to “full text” and “peer reviewed,” find the essays on Sophocles’ “Antigone”. Find an essay by

Bernard Frank and in a short paragraph agree or disagree with his argument.

Create a Works Cited entry for this article

Pass in an alphabetized Works Cited page and attach to it the xeroxed or printed material requested above.


Use Rules for Writers or the DK Handbook and the library handout provided to you as your guide for the Works Cited entries.

Sample Research Assignments

Sample #1

THE RESEARCH PAPER

Research Papers are required of all students taking English Composition II. All research papers must be at least 1,000 words long and be completed on a word processor, with double spacing and 12 point print size.

All students should consult Rules for Writers, the DK Handbook, or whatever English

Composition I handbook you used. If you own no such handbook, you ought to purchase the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.

All sources must be documented. Whether you paraphrase, summarize, or quote, you must give credit to your sources or run the risk of plagiarism. You must use at least three different secondary sources for your paper apart from the sources in

Literature and the Writing Process.

Choose a suitable topic for your paper. Narrow it sufficiently. Try to select a topic that interests you. Go to the Massasoit library or your local library and find some information about the author or story you have chosen. Use magazines, books

(including biographies and criticism), reference books, databases, and the Internet.

Take notes from these sources and try to put the notes in some sort of order. In addition, make full use of the Internet, beginning with the data bases on the

Massasoit Library Homepage:

Literature Criticism Online

Academic Search Premier

Contemporary Literary Criticism Select

Expanded Academic ASAP

Literary Reference Center

All sources must be documented. For this paper, you must use the parenthetical reference system. When you want to refer to your source, simply state the name of the author and the page in parentheses after the sentence. For example, use (Morris

131).

At the end of your paper, you must offer a list of works cited, formerly known as a bibliography. Items in the list of works cited are arranged alphabetically according to the author's last name. List author, title (underlined), place of publication, publisher, and year of publication.

For this paper, you may write on a topic associated with one of the following stories:

 Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”

 William Faulkner, “A Rose For Emily”

 D.H. Lawrence, “The Rocking Horse Winner”

Suggested reference materials that might serve as a source for your paper include

Short Story Criticism, Masterplots, and Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Revised. All are


available at the Massasoit library. Consult a reference librarian. In addition, use as many Internet resources as you wish.

Here are some themes you may wish to consider:

"Young Goodman Brown"

1.

the religious themes

2.

the religious symbolism

3.

the nature of evil

4.

the stages of disillusionment in Brown

5.

why Brown could not accept the evil within others and himself

6.

civilization versus the forest

7.

the story as a criticism of the village's hypocrisy.

8.

the story as an inward, psychological journey in which Young Goodman Brown discovers the power of blackness in himself but refuses to acknowledge that dimension of his personality.

9.

the theme of initiation

"A Rose For Emily"

1.

the story as Gothic fiction

2.

method of narration

3.

"A Rose For Emily" as a southern story

4.

the character of Emily

5.

Emily as tragic heroine

6.

Emily as psychological freak

7.

the major theme of this story: Is it insanity, necrophilia, a woman's attempt to cope with the relentless movement of fame, the intrusion of modern life into the traditional world of the past, the madness and destruction visited upon those who maintain their comforting illusions in the face of reality, or a woman driven to fantasy and madness by a repressive father and faithless lover?

“The Rocking Horse Winner”

1.

the moral drawn by Uncle Oscar in the last line of “The Rocking Horse Winner”:

Should we understand that something was wrong with this family in particular, that this was a perversion of family structure in a single family, or that something has gone wrong on a much larger scale in the entire society? Do we perhaps place too much emphasis on “luck”--that is gambling, or does it represent the corrupt essence of a capitalist economy? Is the mother uniquely wicked, or is she just an extreme example of what everyone is really like?

2.

the character of Paul’s mother. Why is she so incapable of loving her son? Is her problem her own fault or society’s?

3.

luck, will, and faith in this story.

4.

the religious theme of this story.

5.

the handling of the supernatural in this story.

6.

the connection between the supernatural and realistic in this story.

Sample #2


The Research Paper

Using any works by Munroe, Joyce, or Hemingway, write an essay of one thousand words explaining a dominant theme. Consider issues of initiation, relationship, personal responsibility, compassion, ethics and values, or any theme we have previously discussed. Your first draft is due ___________________________. You may connect the works to other poems plays, or short stories on the syllabus, or those of your own choosing. Please present your thesis to me by _____________________ of this week. Sign below for a conference time.

Date_______________

12:00 ______________________ 1:15______________________

12:15 ______________________

12:30 ______________________

12:45 ______________________

1:30______________________

1:45______________________

2:00______________________

1:00 ______________________ 2:15______________________

Checklist for Research Paper

1.

What is your thesis?

2.

What are your reasons for stating your thesis (at least three)?

3.

Have you included at least one quotation in each paragraph?

4.

Have you used correct citation methods for parenthetical documentation?

5.

Have you used the words: thing, you, a lot, or any “weasel words”?

6.

Are your sentences clearly written? Do they convey your meaning? Are they varied or do they all begin the same way?

7.

Have you checked your use of apostrophes?

8.

Have you looked up any words you are likely to misspell?

9.

Do you have at least three outside sources?

10.

Have you documented your three sources (in addition to the stories) on a page entitled Works Cited?

Sample #3


Suggested Topics for the Research Paper

Short Story:

Chopin, “The Storm,” “The Story of an Hour”  Characterization; theme

Faulkner, “A Rose For Emily”  Symbolism


Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado”

K. A. Porter, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”  Religious imagery; the meaning of duty

Welty, “A Worn Path”

 Whether or not Montresor is mad; the use of irony

 Phoenix & other birds in the story; why readers want to think the grandson is dead; techniques for building suspense; usefulness of stereotypes.

Poetry

Rich

Shelley

Tennyson

 Realism in “Living in Sin” or another of her poems (or as relevant to her own life)

 Historical significance of “Ozymandias”

 Interpretation of symbolism, mood, or theme in poem(s) other than those assigned.

Sample # 4

Three Options:

You will be required to write a paper built upon a thesis that emerges from the primary source under consideration and that uses critical secondary sources to support the thesis:

1.

Literary analysis and critical research on a novel or a collection of short stories by one of the authors studied this term:

Your essay should develop a thesis that emerges from the primary source under consideration and that uses critical secondary sources to support the thesis.

Example: Symbolism in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

2.

Research on the life of one author studied this term:

Your essay should explore and describe critical stages in the author’s life, using several sources to show how he or she developed an interest in the theme of a story you have read.

Example: Ralph Ellison’s development as a novelist of the African American experience in America.

3.

Research on a historical period or a social issue raised in one of the stories studied this term:

Your essay should use research to describe the historical or social context from which the story emerged, using several sources to provide the background information necessary to explore that context.

Example: Narrow down one of the following topics:

 Social services in the Depression (“I Stand Here Ironing”)


 Women and madness (“The Yellow Wallpaper”)

 Black power and African consciousness (“Everyday Use”)

Sample # 5


Read and Think

Read the author’s works and think about them.

Decide on a Topic

Determine the aspect of the author’s writing you will focus on:

Example:





Death symbols and imagery in three poems by Emily Dickinson

Setting in two of Poe’s Stories



Nature imagery in Frost

Usually it’s good to have more than one topic in mind in case the first one doesn’t work out.

Formulate A Thesis

Phrase your topic in a working thesis. (You will want to “class up” your working thesis later.)

Example:

1.

A major aspect of Emily Dickinson’s poems “Because I could not stop for Death.”

“[your choice],” and “[your choice]” is her use of death symbols and imagery.

2.

The setting in Poe’s “[your choice]” and “[your choice]” creates a feeling of horror.

Think and Question

Do at least as much thinking about your research paper as you do reading and writing. Ask yourself questions based on the works and topic you are considering.

Write your questions out and any answers you can think of. These questions and answers may become part of your outline.

Example:





Is there a pattern to the death symbols?

What exactly do you picture in your mind’s eye as you read them? (e.g., death driving a buggy, a grave, etc.)



What overall sense do the symbols give?

Use the Library

Bring your questions and answers to the library. Now you are ready to use sources to confirm, extend, or negate your own ideas about the author’s work. Keeping your own questions in mind, choose appropriate critical articles and books, and search for information this way:

Completing the Research Paper


a.

If using a book of criticism, look for pages in the index that refer to stories, poems, or authors you are wiring about and skim those pages for information.

When you come to what you are interested in, read carefully. If you use articles, skim until you find what you want, and then read carefully. Remember when skimming, that titles of poems and stories are enclosed in quotation marks and longer works are in italics. b.

Before taking notes, write the full bibliographical reference on a card or at the top of the page on which you will write your notes. If you use cards, include the source and author’s last name on each card. c.

As you take notes, write the page or pages where you found each bit of information. Paraphrase (write in your own words) most of the information you found. For information that is expressed in a unique or powerful way, short

(exact) quotations can be effective.

Both paraphrases and direct quotations MUST be cited.


Examples of Note Cards

Here is a passage from A Reader’s Guide to James Joyce by William York

Tindall. The book was published in 1959 by Farrar, Strauss & Giroux of New

York. This quotation is from p. 21:

The inane conversation of a young lady with two young gentlemen, a typical epiphany, shows forth emptiness and provides the sinking sensation. To her question the boy replies: “No thank you.” The promise of enchantment has been followed by disenchantment: “The light was out. The upper part of the hall was now completely dark.” The final sentence, like that of “An Encounter,” records the moment of realization? of Church and self alike? the moment of truth: “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity.”

Below is a bibliography card for that book:

Tindall, William York. A Reader’s Guide to James Joyce. New York: Farrar, Strauss &

Giroux, 1959.

Here is a note card with a paraphrase from the above material:

A sense of emptiness is created by the salesclerk’s mindless conversation with the young men. After listening to the group of adults, the boy sees the lights go out and feels let down (Tindall 21).

Here is a note card with a direct quotation from the above material:

“The inane conversation of a young lady with two young gentlemen, a typical epiphany, shows forth emptiness and provides the sinking sensation” (Tindall 21).

Hold your notes/note cards.

They must be turned in with your completed paper.

Web Sites

English faculty have found the following websites helpful:

 EasyBib.com.

 http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ (Purdue University Online Writing Lab)

 www.LOC.gov (Library of Congress)

 www.libreVox.org (free audio books)

 www.Respondus.com (Assessment, survey, and game applications for elearning)

 www.connectsemass.org/writing/ (Southeastern Mass. higher education consortium on writing)

English Department member Bill AuCoin has made available some of the tools that he has developed to teach writing. These are available to all who wish to use them. He will also provide instruction and demonstration for anyone interested

The first link is to the main site where he will post all his writing tools including:

 Grammar Lectures

 Grammar Exercises software


 Outlining and Brainstorming software

 MLA Documentation Software

 Literature Vocabulary software

 Electronic Annotation software for student papers

Writing Tools Site : http://faculty.massasoit.mass.edu/waucoin/writingtools/writingtools.htm

The second link is a link to those resources specific to but not exclusive to

English Composition II:

http://faculty.massasoit.mass.edu/waucoin/writingtools/ec2writingtools.htm

Many of us caution students that sites such as Wikipedia are not appropriate as sources in college papers. However, students find them useful as they begin their research as long as such cites point them to other more academic sources.

Grading Rubrics for a Research Essay

Sample # 1: Research Essay Grading Guidelines

The first fifteen points will be earned through various assignments required in the process of writing a good research essay. The rest of the points result from a breakdown of the paper into the elements of effective research writing, which of course includes many of the elements of good writing in any context.

_____ (5) Researched essay thesis and bibliography

_____ (10) Rough draft/outline

_____ (15) Interesting, coherent, and complete introduction, including a thesis that makes a demonstrable assertion about the topic

_____ (10) Paragraphs that connect to the claim and have clear transitions from the previous paragraph.

_____ (20) Strong evidence from primary source(s) to show that writer has focused his/her attention on the theme suggested in the thesis

_____ (15) Secondary source material coherently integrated into the writer’s own ideas in the essay and with correct application of parenthetical documentation.(You need at least five secondary sources and one primary source.)

_____ (10) Sentences that observe the boundaries of correct usage

_____ (5) Accurate spelling and conventional grammar

_____ (10) Works Cited page that follows MLA standards.


Sample # 2: Research Essay Grading Standards for “Stopping by Woods on a

Snowy Evening”

Title

______ Satisfactory ______ Unsatisfactory ________Missing

Introduction

________ accurately stated

Body

________ includes topic sentence or topic idea

________ uses examples, specific details

________ cites sources

________ poem

________ Ciardi, directly

________ Ciardi, indirectly

________ DiYanni, directly or indirectly (optional)

________ quotations smoothly integrated

Conclusion

______ Satisfactory ______ Unsatisfactory ________Missing

Research Form

________ correct use of quotation marks

________ correct citations in text

________ correct Works Cited page

Style

________ smooth sentences

________ correct sentences

________ satisfactory word choice including vocabulary referring to

poetry

Overall

________ author and title named

________ present tense used

________ transitions used

________ manuscript conventions followed

________ carefully PROOFREAD

Comments

On the next page, suitable for reproduction, is an example of a research essay.


The Source of Humor in Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter

Mitty”

Walter Mitty escapes a dull hen pecked reality for an outrageous world of fantasy, and it is this that provides the basis of humor in the “Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” It is this same outrageous sense of humor that prompted Punch Magazine to invite Thurber to a Wednesday luncheon and allow him to carve his initials on the table, being the first American so honored since Mark Twain.

James Thurber seems to have been a master at this form of comedy-fantasy. Humor is handicapped by the fact that it soon becomes dated as it reflects the time in which it was written. Thurber seems to reflect and laugh at the condition and reality of the twentieth century and the laughter of its predicaments and perplexities. In this way perhaps Walter Mitty will escape this classic handicap.

Most people identify with Walter Mitty in faint discomfort. As they seek to cope with modern marriage and technology in an increasingly complex world, Walter’s daydreams too closely parallel many of their own. Few have not fantasized of being at the top, whether as a doctor repairing the new anaesthetizer going “pocketa pocketa-que eppocketaqueep” (Thurber 235) or taking off on the Dawn -

Patrol to the sound of flamethrowers going “pocketa pocketa poceta”

(235). “He is an obscure person trying to cope with a world that is sometimes overwhelming yet who yearns to be a fearless hero”

(Morseberger 1717). Thurber himself maintained that “The closest thing to humor is tragedy.” At about the same time that he wrote about Walter Mitty, he stated, “In mo ving into the alien and complicated sphere of Thought and Imagination Man has become the least well-adjusted of all creatures on the earth, and, hence, the most bewildered” (Thurber 235).

Thurber has such a clear, easy style that it’s easy to follow

Walter on his shopping trip with his wife. He slips into and out of his daydreams so easily that the reader follows and is back to reality almost before he’s aware that he’s gone from the mundane to the absurd. “It is this sense that his people imagine thems elves to be moving steadily and reasonably under their own motivations when they are really being as near lunatic as you can be that makes Mr. Thurber an exceptionally interesting writer” (McGill, 483). Thurber’s humor is such that the reader always has the feeling that throughout Walter

Mitty’s zany tale, James Thurber is telling the literal truth.

Mrs. Mitty is Walter’s perfect foil. In Walter Mitty, Thurber creates the perfect protagonist. If ever a daydreamer had an opposite in mind and spirit, Mrs . Mitty is her husband’s. As his mind flies into fantasy, she has both feet flat on the ground. She worries about gloves and overshoes as he prepares to operate ammunition dump.

Always she pulls him back and always he continues with even greater flights of imagination. Mrs. Mitty talks at him but does not listen.

When he asks if it ever occurs to her that he is sometimes thinking, she replies “I'm going to take your temperature when I get home”

(Thurber 235).


Walter Mitty’s daydreams are full of clic hés. The heroics are definitely Hollywood style. All his dreams are larger than life — full of daring. They contrast sharply with his normal human sense of inadequacy with those frustrating, trivial details of daily life that can drive one to distraction. These are the things he strives to escape. Throughout the story Walter swings back and forth like a cuckoo clock. Thurber consciously distorts reality and “strews hilarious pages with characters who take their subconscious out on a bender…There’s a beautiful method to his madness” (Nyren 483). His humor stems from this distortion. Realty is exaggerated so that the reader can easily recognize himself and relate to the characters. We all share a sense of importance in controlling our individual worlds and we can laugh and hurt about Walter’s predicament and at the same time, laugh and hurt for ourselves. If anything, Thurber’s humor relates to today’s world much more than it did when written fifty years ago. Thurber’s humor is full of laughter and pat hos; like the sad faced clown you can laugh at but sometimes it hurts.


Works Cited

McGill, Frank N. “James Thurber.” Survey of Contemporary

Literature , New York:Salem. 1971.

Morshberger, Robert. “The Short Fiction of Thurber.” Survey of

Modern Fantasy Literature.

Eaglewood Cliffs:Salem, 1983.

Nyren, Dorothy. The Library of Literary Critism.

New

York:Scribner & Sons, 1961.

Thurber, James. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty .” An

Introduction to Literature.

Boston:Scott, Foresman, 1989.


How

NOT

to do a Research Paper

What follows is an example of how NOT to do a research paper. At about the time in the semester when students should have read the handbook sections on doing a research essay and have made some progress in their own research, one teacher passes it out to students, telling them only that it is an example essay and suggesting that it would be a good idea for them all to get some agreement about how the upcoming research essays should be graded. The students are asked to read the essay with an eye towards establishing a fair grade for it. After they have had a chance to read a few pages, the students are asked for rough ideas about the grade that was given. The locution employed is, “What do you think I gave that paper?” A variety of grades is usually offered, generally in the A to B range. The teacher then informs the students that the paper received an F because it is technically plagiarized. Students are then asked to find the internal evidence for that claim. It is generally not hard for them to find statements made in the student writer’s voice that are really authored by the secondary sources. For example, the writer speaks of “the most moving character in Wordsworth’s poetry” as if he or she had read all of that poetry. Other examples are found and discussed.

In addition, students are asked to find all ways that the documentation format does not conform to the MLA parenthetical style.

Some students are shocked to discover just how much must be documented. Some are even angry at the idea that they can’t claim ideas as their own! But the teacher reports that the “object lesson” decreases major errors of this sort virtually to nil.

Again, the essay follows on this page so you can reproduce it should you choose.

Simplicity in Wordsworth’s Poems

William Wordsworth was a talented English poet who lived about 150 years ago. He is best remembered for his poems about nature and rural life. Wordsworth believed that poetry should be written in simple language, about things in everyday life. (1)

William Wordsworth’s relationship with nature, simple incidents and humble people are his subjects for his poetry as shown in “The Ruined Cottage,” Intimations of Immortality,”

“Michael” and “Resolution and Independence.”

The relationship between Wordsworth and nature is a very personal one. His poems reflect his intimate communion with nature, the inspiration he finds in nature for his emotional well being, the solace he derives from nature and the strength he draws form the natural world.

(2)

In the “Ruined Cottage” he emphasizes the parallel between nature and life in times of sorrow. The tale is told by a traveler who stops by the cottage at intervals. When tragedy and sorrow come to Margaret, the well kept landscape around her cottage suffers just as she suffers.

As she is emotionally devastate, so too is the world around her. Little by little, each time the traveler turns the natural world reflects her progression of sadness. “I turned toward the garden gate, and saw / more plainly still that poverty and grief were now come nearer to her . . . on the earth.” (3)

The poem “Intimation of Immortality” reflects the poet’s own spiritual relationship with nature. With beautiful imagery he tells us of the joy and solace he finds in the natural world and the sadness he experiences when this joy does not come as spontaneously as it once did. “By night or day, / the things which I have seen I now can see no more.,” He tells us that the rainbow, the rose, the sun, moon, and stars are still there and still beautiful, they have not changed and he has. He is ashamed to be the only sad creature In the world, and tries to be


happy. “No more shall grief of mine the season wrong.” Despite all his best intentions, sadness creeps back as he regretfully says, “Whither is fled the visionary gleam / where is it now, the glory and the dream?” Nature is so important to him and his peace of mind that he feels guilty when he fails to find the joy and happiness in nature to help him transcend his sadness. (3)

Two of the most moving characters in poems by Wordsworth are the shepherd in

“Michael” and the leech gatherer in “Resolution and Independence.” As Wordsworth presents them, in his straight-forward, plain speaking style, we can sympathize with their struggles and sorrow. These are both simple men, insignificant in the eyes of the world, who bear their pain and hardship with dignity. With beautiful restraint of language, Wordsworth allows the reader to understand the depths of endurance in their souls. (3)

The poet, in the role of the observer, shows us Michael, the hardworking, conscientious shepherd, who was “Stout of heart, strong of limb” (line 41). The focus of his life was the “son of his old age,” (Line 143) who was “His heart and his hearts joy” (Line 152) and “his comfort and his daily hoe” (Line 206). The loss of his son to the evil ways of the city was probably the deepest pain he would ever be subjected to in his entire life. The agony was two-fold because in addition to the loss of this, he was tormented by the fact that it was he who had encouraged the boy to go to the city. Michael’s strength of character, as he carries on despite his anguish, is shown in the lines “among the rock / he went . . . and for the land, his small inheritance” (Lines

455-466). We are presented with a portrait of Michael’s forbearance in the face of tribulation with considerable emotional impact in the lines “the pity which was then in very heart / for the old man. . . lifted up a single stone” (Lines 462-466). The poem is a gentle, compassionate vignette of a good and humble man who endures the assault of grief and sorrow with quiet resignation. (3)

In “Resolution and Independence” the poem is less distant from the central character.

He meets the leech gatherer on the moors at a time when the poet is experiencing a premonition of dangers that might threaten his present happiness. The sight of the leech gatherer impresses him with the suddenness of his mysterious appearance and he feels that the old man is a portent who must have some message of deep meaning. Wordsworth lifts us with a striking image of the leech gatherer in the lines “As a huge stone. . .upon his frame has case”

(Lines 57-70). The poet seems to drift off into a dream instead of listening when the old man answers his questions “But now his voice to me was like a stream. . . met with in a dream (Lines

107-110). However, deep inside his mind the poet seems to hear and understand the leech gatherer’s tale of uncomplaining hardship “being old man,” both real and symbolic, and the story he has to tell reaches into the depths of the poets soul giving him the hope that he may bear whatever comes to him with the same dignity and honor as the old man. He engraves the moment in memory and gives tribute to the old man’s virtues of survival and forbearance with the lines “In the decrepit man so firm of mind . . . on the lonely moor!” (Lines 138-140). The poet recalls this experience as a divine vision which was capable of influencing and inspiring him then and in future times of personal depression (3)

Works Cited

Tribute to Wordsworth, Herbert Read, Muriel Spark * Derek Standford. Kennikat Press. Fort

Washington, N.Y./London, 1950.

Elinor Parker. Poems of William Wordsworth. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. New York, 1964.

J.C. Smith. A Study of Wordsworth, Kennikat Press, 1969


ASSESSMENT AND GRADING

From what we can find in the literature, the accurate and objective assessment of student writing is, simply, impossible. There is no known instrument or method which will produce assessments that can be generally agreed upon. Nonetheless, classroom teachers must assign grades to individual essays for the course as a whole. But grading and assessment are not quite the same. By “assessment” we mean the attempt to find out what students are actually learning as a way to alter our teaching in the direction of greater effectiveness. It is similar to what is called “formative evaluation.” By “grading” we mean the assigning of a symbol to show the relative worth of a performance. It is similar to what is called “summative evaluation.” English

Composition II teachers need to be concerned about both.

Recently there has arisen a great interest in “portfolio assessment.” The basic idea seems to be that students keep ALL their work, including drafts, and have their final grade based upon that. One argument commonly put forward is that there is not a good mix between our teaching and our evaluation when we try to encourage careful revision, consultation with peers, etc. as part of the composition process and then use on-the-spot writing as the means of assessment. We hope that at some point the English Department as a whole might discuss some of the options.


Peer Response

Some faculty believe that the assessment process should include peer assessment, as the exercise both reinforces to the reader of the paper and to the author of the paper the principles of the course.

Peer Response Sheet

Reader:________________________________ Writer:___________________________

Note: This sheet will stay with the writer of the paper. Each final draft must be submitted with this sheet. Be as honest and tactful as possible. The aim of this exercise is to help your classmate improve the overall quality of his or her essay.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

What has the writer done well? Cite three things that worked in this essay.

 _________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________

 _________________________________________________

What is the writer’s thesis?

__________________________________________________________________

Does the introduction contain the title of the story and the author’s name?

__________Yes __________No

Does the introduction to the essay contain a concise overview of these two characters?

__________Yes __________No

What is the function of body paragraph one? Is it devoted to one issue?

__________________________________________________________________

6.

7.

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Does body paragraph one have one quotation properly integrated ?

__________Yes __________No

If no, tell the writer what he/she may need to rework.

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

What is the function of body paragraph two? Is it devoted to one issue?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________


8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

Does body paragraph two have one quotation properly integrated ?

__________Yes __________No


__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

What is the function of body paragraph three? Is it devoted to one issue?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Does body paragraph three have one quotation properly integrated ?

__________Yes __________No


__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

What is the function of body paragraph four? Is it devoted to one issue?

__________Yes __________No


__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Does body paragraph four have one quotation properly integrated ?

__________Yes __________No


__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Review the conclusion. Has the writer reminded the reader of the thesis without repeating it exactly?

__________Yes __________No

Is there a balance between the introduction and conclusion?

__________Yes __________No


15.

16.

17.

18.

Can you tell which character the writer sympathizes with? If so, which one? Do you agree?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Has the writer used smooth transitions between and within paragraphs? Was the essay easy to follow?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Has the writer included a Works Cited page?

__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Offer the writer some constructive criticism. Cite three things that the writer could work on to improve the overall quality of the essay.

1.__________________________________________________

2.__________________________________________________

3.__________________________________________________

Revision and Self-Assessment

Finally, many teachers like to provide students with a checklist so they can see their essays are ready. The following is adapted from

Creative Writers: Linking Assessment and

Writing Instruction

by Vickie Spandel and Richard Stiggins (Longman. 1990). Note that this checklist is not specifically aimed at Composition II students; it describes actions any writer needs to take in order to be effective. Note also that the headings can be used for analytic scoring; that is, one can assign a grade for each heading in order to help the student focus on areas of improvement.


Guide to Revision

Ideas and Content

( ) My paper has a clear purpose or makes a point.

( ) I use clear, relevant details and examples to help the reader understand my point.

( ) I stick to the main idea (or ideas) and leave out details that do not matter.

( ) I have thought about my topic carefully and feel as if I know what I am talking about.

Organization

( ) The way I’ve started my paper is effective; it would make the reader want to keep reading.

( ) I’ve told things in an order that makes sense and makes it easy to follow what I’m saying.

( ) The details in my paper lead up to some bigger idea, main point, or conclusion.

( ) I have used transitional devices to lead the reader from one area to the next.

( ) My paper ends well; it doesn’t just stop suddenly, but it doesn’t drag on too long either.

Voice

( ) I have written in a way that shows how I really think and feel about this topic.

( ) I like what I’ve written; it’s fun to read.

( ) I’ve put something of myself into this paper, and it sounds like me, not like someone else.

( ) I’ve given some thought to what the reader will think and feel while reading this.

Word Choice

( ) It’s easy to picture what I’m talking about; the words paint a picture in the reader’s mind.

( ) I wasn’t satisfied with words and phrases I’ve heard many times before; I’ve tried to find my own way to say things.

( ) My writing sounds natural; it sounds like me.

( ) Sometimes I’ve tried saying things in a new or different way; I’ve had fun with the language.

Sentence Fluency

( ) My sentences make sense: the meaning of each one is clear, and there are no words left out.

( ) My sentences are varied; some are longer than others, and they do not all begin the same way.

( ) I’ve read my paper out loud, and I like the way it sounds; it’s smooth and easy to read.

Conventions

( ) I’ve proofread my paper and corrected any errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar.

( ) My paragraphs begin in the right spots.

( ) I’ve used capital letters to begin sentences and for all proper nouns.

( ) Correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, capitalization, and paragraphing would make this paper easy for anyone to pick up and read out loud.


Classroom Research

Another assessment technique is “Classroom Research.” The basic idea here is that teachers can conduct meaningful research in their classrooms without all the apparatus traditionally associated with academic research: statistical norms, regression analysis, etc. Instead, the classroom researcher employs any of the growing number of relatively simple-to-administer techniques in order to find out how the class is doing. Unlike traditional tests, the purpose is not so much to evaluate students as it is to find out what, if any, “mid-course corrections” need to be made to increase the learning that actually takes place.

Here is an example of a simple classroom research technique. Patricia Cross calls it

“the one minute paper.” Ask each student to write brief anonymous answers to the following:

1.

Is there anything about the material in today’s class that you are still unsure about? Is there a question that you would like to have answered?

2.

What is the most important thing you learned from today’s class?

Have the students drop their answers on a chair near the door as they leave. This technique offers a great payoff for a tiny investment. Especially if done regularly, it provides valuable feedback to the teacher while encouraging the student to be thinking during the class about what the main point is. And students tend to appreciate the opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings and to give immediate feedback to the professor, especially when a class doesn’t go well.

The following ideas are taken from a publication of the National Council for Staff,

Program, and Organizational Development, and from a lecture by Steven Brookfield on reflective practice.

What Worries Me About This Course

Please do not put your name on this, unless you want to talk with me about your personal concerns (which I'm very interested in helping you with, incidentally, so do come in to see me!). With this form I'm trying to gather information that will help me deal with concerns that many students have at the beginning of this course. Thanks for your help!

Please list and explain up to five concerns you have about this course, or your ability to do well in the course.

Background Knowledge Probe

Please take a few minutes and explain any experience or knowledge you have about what you believe we will be discussing in this course. Have you ever taken any course where you think some subject matter will overlap with this course? Do you have any work experience that you think may be relevant? Have you ever read something, or taken a training program, or studied on your own some subject(s) that you think we will be covering?

I need this information so that I can take full advantage of the knowledge that different members of the class have (and, also so I don't bore everyone with information you all already know!).


Advice to Future Students

My best three pieces of advice to future students about how to succeed in this course are . . .

How Is That Graded? Course Term Paper

Do you know how I am going to determine the grade you earn on your term paper? Let's work on developing a rubric (I'll explain what that term means in a minute) for grading the course term paper. Right now, I need you to identify how you think an instructor should grade a student's term paper. Be as clear as you can be, and please do not put your name on this sheet. After you have all completed this sheet, we will discuss what you wrote down and determine how I will actually do the grading.

Advice To The Newcomers

One thing that can be helpful to students entering a course is to have some advice from students who have just completed the course. Please take a few minutes to give your best three pieces of advice to students in my next class. Please do not put your name on this -- it is not a quiz!

Best Friend, Worst Enemy

One of the most important skills college students need to develop is the ability to maximize the impact of their study time. In fact, the ability to learn new material on your own will be a key life skill for the 21' century. Therefore, we need to see how you are doing. If you want my feedback to you, then please put your name on this paper. Otherwise, please do not put your name on it, as I am going to use general class responses to see what I need to discuss in future classes.

Assume I ask your "best friend" about your strengths as a student. She/he wants to say only good things about you. On this side of the paper, write a couple of paragraphs about what he/she will say. On the reverse side of this paper, assume I ask your "worst enemy" about your weaknesses as a student. Again, write a couple of paragraphs about what she/he will say.

Linking Ideas - Class

Please do not put your name on this paper. This is feedback for me. I need to see what you understand of the material we have discussed, and how you believe different ideas relate to each other. Please draw a diagram showing how you believe the key ideas we have discussed today relate to each other. Feel free to refer to your notes. Put It In Your

Own Words.

OR

Please do not put your name on your paper. This is not a quiz! I am interested in how you understand what we have discussed in class. In your own words, and in no more than a paragraph, please explain the concept I am about to describe to you. Thanks you for your help.

What's Exciting To Me?

At this point in the semester, I need some feedback from you. I know what I feel are the most exciting parts of this subject, but am I showing you? Please list and briefly explain you believe I think are the most exciting subjects we've studied so far. Do not put your name on this form. what

Role Play Feedback

You know that we use role playing in this course to reinforce certain skills and knowledge.

Since all students experience role play exercises differently, I need feedback from you on


how we handle role play exercises in this course. I need to know how much you think they contribute to your learning. This is not a test; this is feedback to me.

Please identify what you believe are the three main reasons why you think I use role playing in this course. After each main reason, please use the following scale to rate how effective the role playing exercises have been for you.

5 = The role playing exercises were very effective at doing this for you.

4 = The role playing exercises were fairly effective at doing this for you.

3 = The role playing exercises were okay at doing this for you.

2 = The role playing exercises were fairly ineffective at doing this for you.

1 = The role playing exercises were very ineffective at doing this for you.

1.

One main reason why we use role playing exercises is . . . (instructor supplies reason).

Rating of how well the role playing exercises did this for you (1 2 3 4 5)

2.

A second main reason why we use role playing exercises is . . . (instructor supplies reason).


3.

A third main reason why we use role playing exercises is . . (instructor supplies reason)



Group Work

This semester I am working on improving the way I assign projects to groups in class, and how I work with groups in class. To do this, I need your help. Please be as clear and specific as you can, and do not put your name on this paper. I am interested in general responses from the class. Thanks for your input.

The best thing you do when assigning projects to groups in class is .. .

The most ineffective thing you do when assigning projects to groups in class is .. .

When we are working in groups in class, I am happiest when .. .

When we are working in groups in class, I am unhappiest when .. .

One thing I wish you would change about group work in class is ..


Grading

Beyond new approaches to assessment, however, Composition II teachers must confront serious challenges with traditional grading. Foremost among these seems to be the amount to which issues “covered” in Composition I (correctness and the like) should remain the focus of Composition II. Because English Composition II essays so often require students to write analytically in a way that is new to them, grading can be problematic. In Composition I, we were concerned with an over-all form and matters of correctness; the content did not have to be particularly insightful. Here, we are placing new demands on the students, and it may be that some of the lessons learned in the previous course are forgotten as new issues are engaged. One essay may be more technically correct than another and yet not seem as fully responsive to the literary text. The tension between content and form is often more pronounced in the Composition II essay. One issue for the Department might be: should we insist that no essay written for any English class beyond the Composition I level can receive a passing grade if it would not pass the Composition I QE standards regardless of its merit on other grounds?

We present here several in-class essays written in response to the same question about Luigi Pirandello’s “The Soft Touch of Grass.” Below, we give the grades assigned to them by six senior department members. Naturally, there is nothing sacrosanct about these grades; still, you may find it interesting to compare them with your own grading responses.

As an advanced-preparation final exam to be written in class, this assignment was presented to the students.

Using direct evidence from “The Soft Touch of Grass,” explain the art of Pirandello; that is, explain how he uses various literary devices to develop his theme. Be sure your essay has a meaningful title, an introduction, a non-trivial thesis sentence, supporting paragraphs, and a coherent conclusion.

Spelling, punctuation, and the rest will count.


ESSAY 1

Adaptations in the Struggle of Life

Pirandello’s short story entitled “The Soft Touch of Grass” is a sad story that portrays Signor

Pardi’s feelings of loneliness, fear, and insecurity. He was grieving the death of his wife and was now expected to step aside and let his son become head of the house. This demand of giving up his identity, which was placed upon him by society, added to his fears of isolation and emptiness. Signor Pardi’s attempt at adapting to these difficult situations in life is evidenced throughout the story. Also, Pirandello’s style and descriptive manner of writing is very interesting.

Being lonely is emphasized by signor Pardi several times during the story. He keeps referring to the bed that he will now sleep in as being “small” and “little.” Signor Pardi also states, “He felt torpid, perplexed, with a sensation of emptiness inside and all around him. Another factor which I feel contributed to the father’s loneliness was that he and his son did not have a close relationship. They were not able to communicate their feelings. This was displayed when the father was emotionally distraught and was procrastinating about going to the church. The son was telling his father “Come on,

Papa. Be reasonable.” The son does not seem to feel any compassion toward his father. Although the son does not have a personal closeness with his father, he gives me the impression that he respects him.

In the story it mentions, “They (the son and his wife) refurbished it (the little room) with all the best pieces so it would not occur to anyone that it has once been a servant’s room.” However, he did not communicate with his father to see how he felt about this situation.

Signor Pardi seems to be living in a world of fear now that his wife has died. He does not know what to do with his life. He seems to be experiencing a conflict between reality and illusion. This is evidenced in the story when he states, “Ah, he knew that he could change in a flash from being a child to becoming a man again, if he must.”

Insecurity is another characteristic that Signor Pardi possesses. He does not feel comfortable with the older people since he no longer is head of his house. This is brought to our attention when Signor

Pardi says, “His chill became more intense when he understood clearly for the first time that they were not calling him but his son. “Signor Pardi felt he was too old to associate with the younger people, and when the little girl at the park ridiculed him, he felt devastated and rejected.” At the end of the story, it states that “He threw himself on the bed and turned his face to the wall.” Signor Pardi was having a difficult time adjusting to his new life.

Imagery plays a vital part in “The Soft Touch of Grass” because it helps set the different moods.

Pirandello frequently used words such as “dark,” :overcadst,” and “dim” especially when he was describing the day of the funeral. His use of descriptive adjectives give a vivid picture of the tone that he wants to project, which was mainly sadness and confusion. “Always dark, even in the daytime he “Signor

Pardi” wanted to say, but it made no sense. “As we continue to read, we come across another projected imagery where the mood changes and Signor Pardi seems somewhat happy. “What an exhilarating scent the grass had, and so fresh where it grew thick and high.” He no longer felt insecure and afraid, he thought he was beginning a new life.

Metaphors and similes were cleverly used by Pirandello throughout the story. They helped to present an insight as to how Signor Pardi was feeling. A simile that is used to describe Signor Pardi is,

“but sleep had weighted his body like lead.”

Irony is another literary device that is noted in this story. Pirandello states, “He (Signor Pardi) had the eyes of a child—lively and open wide on a world which was still new.” By using the various techniques mentioned above, the author displayed a special talent in keeping the reader’s interest and desire to continue reading.

Even though Pirandello wrote “The Soft Touch of Grass” in the 1900’s, we can still relate to this story today. Loneliness, fear, and insecurity are as prevalent in our society as it was back then. The manner in which the son took care of his father by providing him with a place to live can be compared to people today placing their parents in nursing homes. The son does not seem to realize how his father feels especially now that he has lost his wife.

The father feels that he has no purpose in life. Making an elderly person feel wanted and loved is essential to their well-being. It gives them a reason to keep on living, and from them we can also learn a great deal. Without this love, adaptions in the struggle of life can be insurmountable.


ESSAY 2

Transformation

In Luigi Pirandello’s “A Soft Touch of Grass” he uses the quality of responsibility in categorizing man as man, or man as a child. Pirandello reveals the outcome through the old man.

Pirandello starts the story off by using a dark morning in representing the death of the old man’s wife. The old man is angered at his son’s remark telling him to “be reasonable” and stop crying. The old man replies, “It is almost timely to be left an orphan” because his son was getting married soon. The old man shows how the boy is no longer dependant on his mother and he has his own responsibilities.

The old man moves in with his son after the death. Pirandello shows us how now, the son becomes the important figure in the household because he says, “From now on their surname would belong to the son than to him.” Now the old man is living under his sons roof wondering where he’s going to sleep. Pirandello’s art of writing is shown in the way he describes the sleeping arrangements from the old man’s point of view. He says, “Now he would have the small bed, and his son would have the big bed, his wife beside him within arms reach. He, alone, in his little bed, would stretch out his arms into the air,” (as if he was reaching for heaven) (to his wife).

Now the old many has nothing he is living under his sons roof and his wife has died. The old man is only paying a little big of money out of his pension but he has everything he wants and he doesn’t have to do anything. This causes the old man to wan to start over but he has forgotten how to talk to the old, and the people of his son’s age thing he is too old. The old man is led to go to the only people he thinks he can communicate with, the ones with no responsibilities such as taking care of a wife and a child, paying bills for a house, or working for a living. He is led to the children playing in the meadow. The title “A Soft Touch of Grass” is ironic in the way the story said the grass was fresh where it grew thick and high suggesting as it got older it became fresher. As the man became older he became younger in a sense.


ESSAY 3

Death Changes Everything

In the short story “The Soft Touch of Grass” the father felt the son was trying to replace him. The generations were moving on and leaving him behind. Signor Pardi

(the father) was lonely, confused, and feeling empty. Signor Pardi was very lonely “And his son would be lying in a big bed, his wife beside him within arm reach. He, alone, in his bed, would stretch out his arms into the air.” The father had lost his wife, but the son was getting a wife. When the father was loosing everything he had, the son, was gaining all knew things. The son didn’t even realize that he was leaving his own father behind.

The father was trying to accept, the death of his wife, but he had to start all over again. The change had confused him. He couldn’t figure out where he belonged and what age group would accept him.

“Must one immediately think evil because he was old. Ah, he knew that he could change I n a flash from becoming a child to becoming a man again, if he must.”

This statement proves he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be an adult or a child. When he got accused of being a pervert he felt like a dirty old man. He though be a child, he thought they would accept his age.

After Signor Pardi wife died he felt empty inside. “If he tried now to get up he felt sure that he would rise light as a feather (from) all the emptiness, now that his wife was reduced to nothing.” The death of his wife made him feel he didn’t fit in his own family or society. This made him feel so empty because of everything being taking away from him.

Signor Pardi felt lonely, confused, and empty inside because of all the changes that happened to him. He felt his son was taking over the family know that his wife was gone. He couldn’t fit into an age group that he had wanted to get into. Pardi needed help accepting himself as a person.


ESSAY 4

The Writing Style of Pirandello in “The Soft Touch of Grass”

In order to develop his theme Pirandello writes a narrative short story which is very descriptive. He also repeats a few lines in order to get the reader thinking about what is happening during the story.

In “The Soft Touch of Grass” the narrator, Luigi Pirandello, is very descriptive. The story is about a man who has just lost his wife. Pirandello is telling the story from the old man’s point of view, Signor Pardi.

Pirandello tells us every little detail of what is going on, even what the old man is thinking. For example, he writes, “Always dark, even in the daytime, he wanted to say, but it made no sense.” Pirandello tells us everything that the man thinks about. He makes the reader fell as though it were the old man telling us the story.

Pirandello also repeats some sentences to make us focus on what is happening to the many. Earlier in the story the man is thinking about how he would have to sleep in a small bed by himself. Then, later on in the story after a different paragraph, Pirandello makes u think by writing the line, The single bed…”

“The Soft Touch of Grass” is a very sad but interesting story. The story is also well written. Pirandello makes us feel sympathetic towards the man, because he makes the reader fell as though it is the man telling the sad story of his loss.


ESSAY 5

It’s Not That Bad

In the story “The Soft Touch of Grass” Pirandello has a deep way of the structure he has built for the story. The man seems to be very depressed in the beginning, then takes an attitude of beggars can’t be chooses finally in the end he seems to have the attitude that he thinks he’s walking on top of the world no matter what.

First of all, the man’s depression the beginning seems to form the character of him but we are seemingly mislead. The thought of his wife being dead and his son being the head of everything and him just a nothing has a strong pressure on the mans views.

The son is soon to have what he used to call his life and this did not sit well with the man. As Pirandello says “Always dark, even in the daytime” the man wanted to say but to the man it made no sense. Because the mans life was empty now that his wife was gone. Now that his son is going to be the so called person in charge, the man takes a different attitude one of that this is all he’s going to have now so why complain.

The man now has a room off the side of the house with a little bed but he says to himself that this is as good as it is going to get. He feels that he really doesn’t know what there is for him. Pirandello says “No deposed like this all of a sudden, not old and yet no longer young.” The man’s life is bouncing around like a ball not knowing what direction will take next. He doesn’t feel right with the older people, the other way is the young children maybe they would have a life beyond this for him.

The many life does go on after being with the children. The feeling of I can do whatever I want is brought about even though he is alone with no one but himself and his son who seems to be his father now. The man realizes when he is taken in the wrong way that there is life beyond what he was experiencing no maybe one he might even enjoy.

The man’s depression, then life doesn’t get better and finally the attitude of there is more for him and he can have it if he really wanted to constructs the whole meaning of the story to me. It seems Pirandello is trying to say that no matter how bad things seem to get there is always something better out there for everyone.


ESSAY 6

No Where To Turn

In “The Soft Touch of Grass’ Pirandello was very clever in developing the art of the short story.

Many writers have a tough time trying to develop the point they are trying to get across. Form and content usually will not fall together to give a short story what it needs to be “good.” But Luigi Pirandello puts all this together, making it seem easy to write a good short story.

Luigis projections of what the man in the poem was going through were very vivid and descriptive.

While reading the poem I could almost physically feel how the man felt “but sleep had weighted his body like lead, and although there was tingling in his toes urging him to rise, it quickly went away.” (85)

You can mentally picture that tired feeling when you are unable to move. Going on to read the story I began to feel that the life that used to exist while his wife would not be considered in the past, “let the casket be closed and carried away with all it held of his past life.” (85) The thrill of life had been taken away when the man had realized that his son had passed him by in importance as an established person in society.

Pirandello shows this by bringing the thrill of the mans life to an all time low as Luigi states: His chill became more intense when he understood clearly for the first time they were not call him but his son.

From now on their surname would belong more to his son than to him. (86)

Another symbol of this occurring was when they would return back to their house the man would no longer have a king size bed. He would have to sleep in a small bed now, while his son would sleep in a large bed with his wife to have his arms to put around. The table was turned around and the man in the poem did not like it. “He felt turpid, perplexed. With a sensation of emptiness inside and all around him.”

Pirandello used the symbols of eyes a lot in this short story to get how the characters were feeling and their projections across to the reader. Because when the man began to have new hope, his eyes were used as “the eyes of a child” (87) and during the mans depression Luigi described the eyes “He closed his eyes, for they burned from all the crying he had done.” (87) Also further along in the story he used the little girls eyes to describe how she felt “she cried, her eyes flashing.” (87) The plot of the poem was now going in a upward direction after the devastating death and the helpless feeling from his son. The man felt releaved in a way that made him “feel lighter than air.” Luigi described this feeling in a way that there was “a promise of another life, all shining and colorful, which was erasing the memory of the old one.” (86)

Trying to project a new life the m an avoided people his own age and wanted to hang around with people his sons age but they considered him to old. Luigi slowing and peacefully started the man admiring children: that was how he started his new life – in the meadow among the children in the grass. What an exhilarating scent the grass had, so fresh where it grew thick and high. (87)

While watching the children run around in the “soft new grass” (87), he got caught up in a kind of staring gaze that people sometimes find themselves in. this is where the author throws something twisted and totally unexpected at the reader. Pirandello says: a young girl appeared before him, her face flaming, “You Pig” she cried, her eyes flashing. (87) After getting pulled into that peaceful scene Luigi stuns the reader because the girl thought the man was trying to look up the girl’s dress when she got it caught in a bush. The mood of the story has dropped below zero, the man had been totally slapped in the face. A question was brought up which would determine the outcome of his life, “was he too old to share a childs delight in going barefoot in the grass?”

The title of the poem “the soft touch of grass: is almost ironic because a person would think that the title would be peaceful and mellow, but instead it signifies one hard angry meaning that, in a way, ends a mans life.

In the end of the story the man jumped on his bed and turned his face to the wall. This is just another symbol Pirandello uses to say how the man felt without using words. The man had no o ne left in the world that’s why he turned his head. Pirandello used very detailed and specific literary devices to describe the mans life. The man was caught in the trap of time and would have to face old age all alone.


As is often the case, the professors involved in this exercise could not be comfortable with their grading because they had not made the assignment and were not sure what was being asked for; they did not know the conditions under which the essays were produced; they did not know the students, etc. (Indeed, it was found that in general the teacher who actually taught the students tended to grade higher than the others.) The teachers were not asked to make careful analyses but to grade holistically. The grades were as follows:

ESSAY

Professor 1

Professor 2

Professor 3

Professor 4

Professor 5

Professor 6

Results

1

A

2 3 4 5 6

B- C+ B C- B+

B+ D

B- D

D

D

D

D

C-

D

C

C

A-

A

C

C-

B-

B-

C-

D

D

F

B+

C-

B+ C+ C+ D B- B+


Plagiarism

Massasoit has purchased access to turnitin.com, a site that helps teachers to detect plagiarism. Faculty register their classes on the site (see instructions) and their students submit their papers. (These instructions are available as well in the resource room and on line at turnitin.com.)

Faculty Registration for Turnitin.com

Introduction

This quickstart will help you get started with Turnitin. To begin, you need to register with Turnitin and create a user profile.

! If you have received an e-mail from Turnitin with a temporary password, a user profile has already been created for you. To get started, log in to Turnitin with your e-mail address and password and proceed to Step 2 in this quickstart.

Step 1

To register and create a user profile, go to www.turnitin.com and click on the New Users link at the top of the homepage 1 .

The new user wizard will open and walk you through the profile creation process. In order to create a profile, you must have an account ID and an account join password . You can get this information from your institution’s account administrator.

Once you have created your profile, click the start class setup wizard link to use our class setup wizard to create your first class and assignment 2 .

When you are finished creating your profile, you will be logged in to Turnitin.

1 Click to register and create your user profile

2 Starts the class setup wizard Turnitin Instructor Quickstart

Step 2

On your homepage, you will see the class you created using the class setup wizard. If you want to create another class or if you did not use the class setup wizard, click the add a class link 3 .

!

If you do not want to create a new class at this time, skip ahead to the next step.

On the class creation page, enter a class name and an enrollment password 5 .

The enrollment password is the password your students will use to enroll in your class. Pick a password that is easy for your students to remember and that contains all lowercase letters.

The end date is the date your class expires. When a class expires students can no longer submit papers or enroll in the class. The default duration for all classes is 6 months. If you want your class to last longer or shorter, you can change the end date.

If you want to let students enrolled in your class view their own Originality Reports, select yes using the pulldown. By default, students do not have access to their own reports.

Click submit to add the class to your homepage.

3 Adds a new class to your account

5 Enter a class name and enrollment password Turnitin Instructor Quickstart

Step 3

The class will now appear in your class list beneath your account. The number to the left of your class name is the class ID . Students will use this ID along with the class enrollment password to enroll in your class. You can view your class enrollment password at any time by clicking the update button next to your class 6 .

You should distribute your class ID and enrollment password to your students so that they can enroll in your class and submit their papers. Be sure to include this link to our student quickstart: http://www.turnitin.com/static/pdf/tii_student_qs.pdf

With this information, your students will have everything they need to get started with Turnitin.

Click on the name of your class to open your class homepage 7 .


Step 4

You have now opened the homepage for your new class and you will see the assignment you created using the class setup wizard. If you did not create an assignment using the class setup wizard or if you want to create another assignment, click the create a new assignment link 8 .

!

If you do not want to create a new assignment at this time, you can skip ahead to the next step.

To create an assignment, enter an assignment title and choose a start and due date for the assignment.

Students will be able to submit their papers to the assignment starting on the start date and until the due date

6 The class ID is to the left of your class; to view your class enrollment password, click update

7 Enter a class by clicking its name

8 Click to create a new assignment Turnitin Instructor Quickstart passes. Click submit to add the assignment to your class homepage.

Step 5

If you want to submit papers yourself, click the icon in the submit column next to your assignment 9 .

On the paper submission page, enter the paper’s title and its author’s first and last names

1 .

To select a paper for submission, click the browse button and locate the paper on your computer. We accept submissions in these formats:

• MS Word, WordPerfect, RTF, PDF, PostScript, HTML, plain text (.txt)

When you are done, click the submit button to upload the paper.

Step 6

The paper you chose to submit will be shown on the next page. Look over all the information and make sure that it is correct. To confirm the submission, click the yes, submit button 2 .

9 Click the icon in the submit column to upload a paper

1 Enter the paper’s title and its author’s first and last names

2 Make sure you selected the correct paper; click “yes, submit” to finalize your submission Turnitin Instructor

Quickstart

Step 7

After you submit a paper, our system will begin processing the paper and will generate an Originality

Report within minutes. To view the report, click the inbox button on submission confirmation page. Your assignment inbox will open 3 .

Please note that you can also open your assignment inbox from your class homepage by clicking the icon in the inbox column 4 .

Step 8

Your assignment inbox shows submitted papers with their Originality Reports. To open the Originality

Report for the paper you just submitted, click the report icon 5 . Note: A grayed out report icon indicates that the report has not yet been generated. Please wait a few moments and click your browser’s refresh button.

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3 Opens your assignment inbox containing submissions and their Originality Reports

4 Click to open your assignment inbox

5 Opens your assignment inbox containing submissions and their Originality Reports


Student Registration for Turnitin.com

Introduction

This quickstart will help you get started with Turnitin and will walk you through the steps for submitting your first paper. To begin, you need to first register with Turnitin and create a user profile.

!

If you have received an e-mail from Turnitin with a temporary password, a user profile has already been created for you. To get started, log in to Turnitin with your e-mail address and password and proceed to Step 2 in this quickstart.

Step 1

To register and create a user profile, go to www.turnitin.com and click on the New Users at the top of the homepage 1 .

The new user wizard will open and walk you through the profile creation process. To create a profile, you must have a class ID and an enrollment password . You can get this information from your instructor.

Once you finish creating your profile, you will be logged in to Turnitin.

Step 2

Your class will show up on your homepage. Click on the name of your class to open your class portfolio 2 .

1 Click to register and create your user profile

2 Click on the name of your class to open your portfolio Turnitin Student Quickstart

Step 3

Your class portfolio shows the assignments your instructor has created and your submissions to the class.

To submit a paper, click the submit button next to the paper’s assignment

3 .

Step 4

The paper submission page will open. Enter a title for your paper. To select a paper for submission, click the browse button and locate the paper on your computer. We accept submissions in these formats:

• MS Word, WordPerfect, RTF, PDF, PostScript, HTML, and plain text (.txt)

After entering a title for your paper and selecting a file, click submit to upload your paper 4 .

If your paper is in a format that we do not accept, you can submit it by cut and paste. To submit a paper this way, select cut & paste using the pulldown at the top of the form 5 .

To submit a paper by cut and paste, copy the text of your paper from a word processing program and then paste it into the text box in the submission form. If you submit your paper using the cut and paste method

3 Click the submit icon to upload your paper

4 Once you have located your paper and entered a title, click submit

5 Select cut & paste with the pulldown to submit a paper in a file format we do not accept


Final Examinations

Here are two final examinations that might assess some of the skills taught in the course.

Sample # 1: English Composition II: Advanced Preparation Final

Examination

You may bring an outline to class.

An outline includes:

 Thesis statement – ONE sentence

 Topic Sentence for each paragraph – ONE sentence which states the main point for that paragraph

 A LIST of supporting points of each Topic Sentence.

 Quotations from the poems to support your points.

Read the following poems that show the speaker moving from innocence to experience and decide which ones to use to develop your thesis:

“My Papa’s Waltz”

“The Ruined Maid”

“Sadie and Maud”

“Those Winter Sundays”

“Incident”

“The Leap”

“Ex-Basketball Player”

What kinds of lessons are being learned? What do the speakers gain or lose through their new knowledge? How do they react? After thinking about these questions, write a paper either defending or attacking the following statement: “Most of the lessons we learn from experience are harsh and embittering. We would be better off if we never had to face such situations.”


Sample # 2: English Composition II – Final Examination

Note Well.

In all of your answers you will need to use the essay format that you learned in English Composition I. As you know from that course, the essay has an introductory paragraph that contains a statement (thesis), three or more paragraphs in the body containing concrete details that explain the statement of the first paragraph, and a concluding paragraph that clarifies the original statement.

30 minutes: Using one of the tools of analysis for literature that you learned in the course, pick one of the short stories that we studied this semester other than the ones you did for your assigned class paper, and use the tool of analysis you pick to completely analyze the short story that you have chosen. (25 points)

30 minutes: Discuss fully and completely the meaning of the title of the novel,

The

Red Badge of Courage

, the novel that you did your research paper on for the course.

(25 points)

30 minutes: Using the tools of analysis that you learned in class for poetry, explicate the following poem: (25 points)

Dust of Snow

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

1

2

3

4

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day, I had rued

.

R. Frost

5

6

7

8

30 minutes: Choose a character from Fences and argue that he or she is the hero. Be sure to define what you mean by the word “hero” within the context of the play.

Note Well. This examination must be returned with your exam book(s). Fold it horizontally, and place it, with your name on it, in the middle of your exam book(s).

Do all of your finished work in the exam book(s), and all of your rough draft work on the scrap paper provided.


SUPPORT SERVICES

The Academic Resource Center

The Academic Resource Center offers a full range of tutoring and academic support services. Individual and small group tutoring is available in most subject areas by appointment, and walk-in tutoring is available in several subject areas such as mathematics, and biological sciences. Appointments are strongly recommended.

Within the Academic Resource Center are the Writing Center and World Language

Center which provide tutoring for reading and writing across the curriculum and for ESL students. Faculty, professional, special needs, paraprofessional, and student tutors work together to help students become more effective, more independent learners. Students are encouraged to use the ARC, Writing Center and World Language Center as places to study, either individually or with classmates. These centers also assist students in forming study groups. In addition to tutorial services, students have access to computers for word processing, internet access, and tutorial software in certain subject areas. The ARC,

Writing Center , and World Language Center in Brockton are located in the Student

Center, lower level, (508) 588-9100 x 1801.

The Writing Center

Helping Students Help Themselves

The Writing Center at Massasoit Community College offers support for anyone in the college who wishes to discuss issues related to the processes of reading, writing, and study skills. Working with the World Language Center, the

Writing Center also assists students for whom English is a foreign language. The

Center provides course-specific tutoring for reading and writing courses and support for all reading and writing across the curriculum. Tutors focus on helping students to become more effective readers and writers; rather than "fixing" writing, tutors use strategies by which students can learn to revise and edit their writing themselves, and thus become effective, independent learners.

Writing Center tutors include professors, professional tutors, and peer tutors. In addition, a small number of computers are available for use in the reading and writing process, including writing of drafts, computer-assisted instruction, and internet research. Tutors are available by appointment and on a walk-in basis.

Throughout the fall and spring semesters, the Writing Center offers workshops, discussion groups and conversation groups in addition to tutoring hours.

The Writing Center and World Language Center are part of The Academic Resource

Center and located in the Student Center lower level (below the Library).

The Coordinator for The Writing Center and World Language Center is

Nicole Clark Ramirez (x1975).


The Academic Resource Center - Canton

The Academic Resource Center on the Canton campus provides support services for the liberal arts, career and technical programs offered at the Canton

Campus. The ARC promotes student success by offering tutoring in many subject areas as well as providing students with assistance in becoming more effective learners. Trained tutors will work with students individually or in a group setting.

Tutoring appointments can be made in advance, or services are available on a walk-in basis. Small study groups are also encouraged in the ARC, and students with learning difficulties can work with a learning disabilities specialist. Students may also be referred to other student support services if necessary.

The Canton Campus ARC is located on the first floor, Room 126, near the cafeteria. The telephone is 781-821-2222, ext. 2515 or 2516.

Please stop in or call for current tutoring schedules, as they change from semester to semester.

The Library

The Libraries on both campuses have materials carefully selected to support the academic programs of the College. In Brockton there is a strong collection of resources for English courses, and in Canton the collection is growing. Both Libraries have copies of the current departmental handbook and the MLA Style Manual on the general reserve shelves. Reference and circulating materials are available, including bibliographies, collections of biographical summaries or critical excerpts, collections of critical essays, dictionaries of literary terms, and biographical or critical monographs.

Among the collections of critical essays that circulate are many volumes of the Modern

Critical Interpretation series and the Modern Critical Views series from Chelsea House.

There are resources for exploring non-literary topics as well, including such works as general and specialized encyclopedias and dictionaries, periodicals and periodical indexes, the Congressional Quarterly Researcher (formerly Editorial Research Reports), and the Opposing Viewpoints series. The Libraries also provide several services useful to writers and researchers. Students and staff may request materials from other libraries on interlibrary loan or travel to other libraries in the area to utilize the privilege of walk-in interlibrary loan. While it is Library policy not to acquire textbooks, professors are encouraged to put a copy of the course text on reserve if they think it would be helpful to their students. Within the limits of copyright law, single copies of photocopied materials may be placed on reserve also. Bibliographic instruction sessions geared to specific courses or assignments may be scheduled by stopping by the Library or calling Ext. 1941 in Brockton, Ext. 2942 in Canton.


Library Instruction Request Form

An electronic version of this form is available under “Library Instruction

Services” on the Library homepage

Please submit a separate form for each class you wish to schedule

To request an orientation for your class, please fill out the following form. Submitting this form does not guarantee your request. A librarian will contact you usually with in

24 hours. We request that instructor be present during the orientation. Due to preparation time and instruction area availability, we request a minimum of one week's notice.

*Instructor: _______________________________

*Telephone: ______________________________

Email: ___________________________________

Time Desired: From: ______To: ________

Date Desired: 1st Choice: __________2nd Choice: ________mm/dd/yy

*Campus: Brockton Canton ( required )

Course Name: ___________________________________________________

*Number of Students________

What topics would you want covered?

Select one or more topics from the list of instruction topics:

Finding books using the online catalog (MCat)

Finding Reference Books (subject encyclopedia, directories, literary criticism)

Selecting and researching a topic

How to search databases for articles

How to access databases from off-campus

Other: (Please describe)

*If you have an assignment for your students, please send through inter-office mail to Jennifer

Rudolph, Library.

What sources, research techniques, and/or subject areas do you want covered?

For more information about instructional support at the Massasoit Community College

Library. Brockton Campus - contact the Reference Department at (508) 588-9100 ext.

1946, or e-mail jrudolph@massasoit.mass.edu or visit us in the Student Union, second floor. Canton Campus - contact Pat Naughton at (781) 821-2222 ext. 2945, or e-mail pnaughton@massasoit.mass.edu or visit the Library, room 302.

Note: Articles on the teaching of English which are not present in our libraries can be ordered through the inter-library loan.


Frequently Asked Questions

What resources and services does the Massasoit Library provide?

The College Libraries provide reference materials and circulating books as well as newspapers and

periodicals in current (paper), microfilm, and electronic formats.

Reference materials, periodicals and reserve books may be used only in the

Libraries; circulating books may be borrowed for three weeks. Professional reference assistance, reserve materials, and access to other libraries' materials through interlibrary loan are available.

How can I tell if Massasoit has a particular book?

Checking our online catalog will tell you if Massasoit or the OCLN system owns a book. From the home page, click on one of the "MCAT" links. MCat - Brockton or

MCat - Canton . You can adjust the search criteria to fit your needs. For example, you can just search "Massasoit - all locations" or you can use the drop down menu to select "All" to check if the book is in the OCLN System.

How can I get a library card?

To get a library card, bring your student ID or some other form of picture identification to the library. At the desk you'll be asked to fill out a short form and will have a barcode applied to the back of your ID or you'll be issued a library card with the barcode.

How can I borrow books or other library material such as videos?

After choosing the items you wish to borrow, bring the items and your library card or barcoded student ID to the desk and a library assistant will charge the items out to you?

For how long can I borrow books or other materials

Most books are loaned for a 28 day period. The library assistant at the desk will place a "date due" card in the book as a reminder. Some books have special borrowing rules and most videos are borrowed only overnight.

What is a "hold?"

When students want to request a book from one of the OCLN libraries, they can have the book sent to the Massasoit libraries or their Town Public Library by clicking on the "hold" link. They then enter their barcode number and the pin: OCLN. The book will be sent to the library selected. A phone call will notify them when the book is waiting for them at the desk.

What is a "database?"

In the library, "Database" indicates the way magazines and periodicals are accessed.

Citations can be full text or abstracts. MCC Databases

How can I access databases from home?

From the library home page, click on "Off Campus Access." On the Library - Off

Campus Access page, click on "Databases" The next screen organizes the databases for you. Some can be accessed from home by using your 14 digit barcode number. Those databases are marked with an asterisk (*). For others, you will need to contact the library (508) 588-9100 EXT. 1941. You will be supplied passwords to access the databases marked with two asterisks (**).


Does Massasoit participate in Inter-library Loan?

Yes, it does. If you are unable to locate information to satisfy your research, you can request materials from other libraries outside of Massasoit or the OCLN system. At the desk, you can complete a form with as much information about a book or subject as you can and the Interlibrary loan Librarian will try to fill your request. You will be notified by a phone call if material is available for you.

What are "Reserves"

"Reserves" are books or other materials that Instructors have provided for students.

These materials provide supplemental information and data. The library provides a place where all students in a given class can access the material.

Where are "Reserves" Located?

"Reserves" are kept behind the charge desk at both libraries.

For how long are "Reserves" checked out?

The instructor sets the borrowing period. Most are for two hour room use only, but a few can be checked out for longer periods

Are there photocopiers and where are they located?

There are two copiers in the Brockton Library. They are located at the extreme right and left sides at the front of the library. In Canton, there is a copier under the windows at the back of the library.


Ordering Videos & DVDs Through the Massasoit Web Page

The Massasoit Library has a videorecording collection of about 1000 items. Most titles have two copies: one in-library viewing copy and one 7-day borrow copy for faculty. Faculty may borrow either copy when the faculty copy is in use. The in-library copy is meant primarily for students who miss a class. Recall of videos in-use is possible. Holds cannot be placed on videos that are used in the classroom.

Faculty members will save time if they have a Massasoit Library Card before they need to borrow a video. By searching the online catalog, faculty can check the status of a particular video—available or checked out.

The video collection is constantly changing and quite heavily used. The very best way to find out what is available is to search the library catalog online. Very few videos are at the Canton campus.

To search the catalog:

1.

Go to the Massasoit Web Page ( www.massasoit.mass.edu

)

2.

Click on Massasoit Library

3.

Click on M-Cat – Brockton

8.

Follow the prompts listed above, below or Catalog Searches (Advanced_Search

Call_Number)

Items in your library are described in many ways. Make this selection to find all library materials described using particular words or phrases in a specific combination. You may

*Sample words searches produced:



 videorecording – ( or M-Cat – Canton

4.

You are now on Massasoit Brockton or Canton Campus Old Colony Library Network

5.

Type in videorecording alone or add some of the sample words* as listed below when searching, (this will shorten your search to a more specific area - videorecording is a one word search (not video recording) and will find all VHS (videocassette) and DVD

(videodisc) titles--important for equipment requests)

6.

Listed Below under Recommended Reading or Best Sellers are options for finding relevant literature.

7.

Click on advanced search .









 or enter words or phrases in one, some or all of the GENERAL, AUTHOR, TITLE, SUBJECT or

SERIES fields. After typing in any one of these fields, press to move to the next area. When you press RETURN or ENTER in the last field, you will then see the location of every item in the library that includes each word or phrase you entered in the specified position. By selecting the OPTIONS button, you may limit the items found by author, title, subject, or general combination to a particular publication year, general or specific material type, library shelving location, language, or category. videorecording and short and stor? -

“stories”) videorecording and wom?n - videorecording and american and literature - irrelevant) better) produced 802 hits in no particular sort order produced 59 hits (the “?” is the wildcard) videorecording and literature - videorecording and William - produced 28 titles (finding both “story” and produced 7 hits (upper and lower case are produced 10 hits (the more specific the search, the produced 79 titles (the more unusual the words, the better) videorecording and william and carlos - produced 1 hit for William Carlos Williams


CONNECT First Year Writing Project

The Connect Writing Group

Please visit the Connect Online Resource Guide at http://www.connectsemass.org/writing/

Members of the English Department have been part of the CONNECT Writing Group since 2005. During this time we have

 Established Common Outcome Goals for first-year English at six colleges—

Bridgewater State College, Bristol Community College, Cape Cod Community

College, Massasoit Community College, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, and

UMass Dartmouth

 Held annual Connect Composition Conferences for the past five years

 Presented our program at three of the Conferences on College Composition and

Communication in Chicago and the NEASC/NEAAN Assessment Conference at

Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, ME

 Led workshops at the 9 th Annual Community College Conference on Teaching and

Learning and Student Development in Worcester and NECIT Conferences at UMass

Boston

 Presented our work at Bridgewater State College’s CART Celebration

 Compiled information for an instructors’ resource handbook that is now available on

CD

 Received a $40,000 grant from the Calderwood Foundation and used it to fund web development and support co-editors for the Online Resource Guide

 Reached out to selected high school English Department chairs

 Initiated campus discussions, including writing in other disciplines (across curriculum)

 Addressed assessment of the Connect Writing Project

 Traveled to regional colleges to present our program.

Adapted from a report by

.

Patricia White

Campus Coordinator for the Connect Writing Group

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth


What follows are the Common Outcome Goals the six colleges have created for our students. Because our students have the same outcomes for their writing classes, when they transfer to another college in the southeast area they should recognize these standards and be able to discuss their writing with faculty and peers in their new institution

Common Writing Outcomes for Connect Institutions

Writing:

Students will move through the processes of writing: inventing, composing, and revising, culminating in editing according to the conventions of Standard

Written English.

Expert Writing is polished and insightful, demonstrating a synthesis of the writing process. Text contains few or if any errors in

Standard Written

English.

Practitioner Though competent, writing could improve from better application of one or two steps of the writing process. Text contains some errors in

Standard Written

English.

Critical reading:

Students will critically read and respond to a variety of texts by summarizing, paraphrasing, analyzing, synthesizing, and critiquing,

Writing engages fully with the text, demonstrating developed inferential and evaluative skills.

Writing shows adequate comprehension and some inferential ability; writing shows an ability to engage with the text.

Audience, purpose, voice:

Students will compose a rhetorically effective text in a voice appropriate to the audience and the purpose of the writing.

Writing demonstrates a clear sense of audience and effectively fulfills the writer’s purpose. Voice is distinctive; vocabulary is aptly chosen, lively, and sophisticated.

Writing demonstrates a basic awareness of audience and generally fulfills writer’s purpose; tone, diction, and vocabulary are functional and appropriate

Thesis development:

Students will formulate an effective thesis and support it with evidence.

Thesis is clear, thoughtprovoking, and well focused, supported by vivid and concrete evidence.

Thesis is clear and substantially supported by evidence in a straightforward though perhaps mechanical way.

Organization: Students will compose coherent and cohesive essays and other texts.

Writing demonstrates a logical and clear structure, incorporating graceful transitions and unified paragraphs.

Writing shows a basic sense of beginning, middle, and end; a functional introduction, body, and conclusion; and, for the most part, focused and orderly paragraphs.

Research and information literacy:

Students will locate, evaluate, synthesize, and document primary and/or secondary source materials to support a position.

Primary and/or secondary sources are skillfully interwoven into the text to support the thesis. Research is thorough, and sources are correctly cited.

Most sources are appropriate and correctly documented.

Research is sufficient to the assignment and adequately integrated.

Novice Writing shows little change from invention to final draft, despite consistent problems with content and/or Standard

Written English.

Writing demonstrates little comprehension of relevant texts, limited inferential skills, and a lack of awareness of authorial bias.

Writing demonstrates lack of awareness of audience and does not fulfill writer’s purpose; voice is inappropriate as demonstrated by tone, diction, and vocabulary.

Writing exhibits no central thesis or exhibits a discontinuity between thesis and supporting evidence, or insufficient supporting evidence.

Introduction, body, and/or conclusion are unfocused or absent; ideas may be arranged illogically.

Writing demonstrates inappropriate use or lack of sources, faulty integration of researched materials, and/or incorrect or absent documentation.


English Composition II Faculty Handbook

For Pearson/Prentice Hall’s guide to Literature and the Writing Process, contact Donna

Chapman [Donna.Chapman@Pearson.com]

English Composition II

Faculty Handbook

Compiled by Eme Gay & Jim Ventola (1993)

Revised by Liz Marconi (2004)

Revised by Peg Norris (2008)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE, 1993 EDITION

PREFACE, 2004 EDITION

PREFACE, 2008 EDITION

The catalog description of English Composition II is as follows:

Some members of the department compiled the following list of terms a student should know by the end of English Composition II.

November 26-29, 2009 - THANKSGIVING BREAK

December 21-24, 2009 – FINAL EXAMINATIONS

SAMPLE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Teaching the Short Story

Teaching Poetry

Teaching Drama

Othello

Guide to Analyzing the Play

A Doll’s House:

SAMPLE ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS

Rules for Writers

Literature and the Writing Process

Writing about Theme

“The Birthmark”

“Hunters in the Snow”

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

“Good Country People”

“The Lottery”

Points to remember…

Literature and the Writing Process

Essay # 6: Explication of a poem or poems

Literature and the Writing Process

The Anthology of Poetry

Short Story:

Poetry

Title

Introduction

Body

Conclusion

Research Form

Style

Overall

Comments

NOT

ASSESSMENT AND GRADING

Guide to Revision

Classroom Research

Grading

Spelling, punctuation, and the rest will count.

ESSAY 1

ESSAY 2

ESSAY 3

ESSAY 4

ESSAY 5

ESSAY 6

Results

Student Registration for Turnitin.com

The

Red Badge of Courage

Dust of Snow

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day, I had rued

SUPPORT SERVICES

The Library

Frequently Asked Questions

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