| ENGLISH 2235 |
| ENGLISH 2235 |
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HOMEWORK, 45 of 100 X's |
Click here to go to these sections in this page, below, or scroll down:
| Weekly Papers (Types & Directions) |
Late Papers and Make Up |
Worksheet: How To Start a Lit Thesis |
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| GO
TO Homework Schedule |
GO
TO List of Weekly Papers (in Records) |
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TO Textbooks & Online Resources |
GO
TO General Grading |
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The homework for our course, worth 45 of 100 X's or
points, consists primarily
of reading and writing. There are three main kinds of homework:
Reading the textbook readings and/or outside readings
Writing "Comments" about the readings
Completing "Practice Activities"--writing on outside readings
There are other miscellaneous homework assignments, as well. Simply check the "FOL Schedule" every week. You also can print out a copy of the "FOL Weekly Papers Records" if you want a brief summary of what is due each week, or even copy and paste--to an MS Word file--just the list of assignments, itself.
How many assignments are there? A lot. However, they are not tough to do, just time consuming. There are two or three chapters of textbooks and literature to read each week, and one paper to write. However, most of the weekly homework papers are short and relatively easy, once you get used to writing them. These weekly papers include a number of short, rough-draft, quickly and even sloppily written papers done either by pen, computer printout, or email: just neat enough for me to read them, not revised, and written as quickly as you can. You'll get a check mark for doing them and receive a grade at the end of the term for how many check marks you've received. These papers are like lab practice in a biology course: they will show me you've done the readings, help you practice writing about literature, and think about your readings more. I am doing these kinds of assignments instead of having several objective tests or several graded papers because I believe that in the long run, you'll learn more from writing on a weekly basis about what you've read.
NOTE ABOUT HERO: Please be aware that one of the course textbooks, The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, is both a very famous book and, for some students, a difficult one to read. By the end of each spring 2235 class, a big majority of students have recommended that the next class read it. However, at the beginning of reading it, a majority of students starting the class find it difficult. If this happens to you, you will likely need to develop a study strategy for understanding it. This study strategy should include three steps:
Practicing the above steps may take some extra time at first, but they actually save time in the long run for a majority of people who try them, while significantly increasing their comprehension of the contents.
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| Due Dates & Delivery Methods |
The
dates and delivery of your homework depends to some extent on whether you are taking the
course in the face-to-face (regular) on-campus section, or in the online-only
section:
FULLY ONLINE-ONLY SECTION Homework is due Wed. by leaving physical papers in my office. Or, as most people do, you can send it by Thursday by email: (Reminder: Homework is different from online class attendance on the bulletin board.)
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ON-CAMPUS PHYSICAL-CLASSROOM SECTION Homework is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday. Let me remind you to please not do homework during class. You need to have the homework done before class so that our discussions can proceed from the assumption that you already have read the materials and thought about them. One of the reasons I want homework to be done by Wed. is that I'm usually not on campus Thurs.-Fri. I also like you to have it done before coming to class, so you know better what is going on in class. ----- Email Messages Should Use the word "Question": If you send me an email message (other than homework), please write "Question" in the subject line so I'll open it right away. Be sure your full name is somewhere in the email, too. And in the first several weeks, please remind me which course you're in.
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LATE PAPERS and MAKE UP: "See "Late Papers and Make Up" below.
Submitting weekly papers by email?
SAVING ONLINE MESSAGES: Are you ending homework by email? Always keep a copy in case your email is lost. Keep it until the end of the term. If your email system has a "sent mail" folder, you may want to not delete items from the folder until after you have received your final grade. Are you using a bulletin board (BB)? Be careful to wait until you see your message appear on the bulletin board, like other messages, before doing anything else on your computer. If you still have trouble losing BB messages, write and save them in MS Word first; then copy them to the BB and send them.
ALSO:
(1) Please make them in-text--in the text of your email itself--not attached. That means you should simply write them as an email message or, if you already have them on a word processing file, you should use your mouse and your "Edit" function to mark, then "Copy," and then "Paste" them into a regular email message.
(2) To help me keep your paper separate from my regular email, use this subject title: Course # & section #, the Week Due, Assignment Type, and Name+Initial: e.g., "1111-99 Wk. 5 Comments Sue J.,"
(3) Always keep a copy until after the end of the course when you've received your course grade.
(4) If you send me an email message (other than homework), please write "Question" in the subject line so I'll open it right away. Be sure your full name is somewhere in the email, too. And in the first several weeks, please remind me which course and section you're in. I ask this because I receive several dozen homework assignments each week by email, and I only open homework once or twice per week. (5-05)
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REQUIRED BOOKS YOU MUST PURCHASE (least expensive options chosen; available from the IHCC bookstore approximately one month before the course begins):
NOTE: Please read the weekly "Schedule" and the different options available in some weeks before you choose what to buy! (You may not have to buy all of these books.)
OTHER REQUIRED RESOURCES (purchase not required):
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How many assignments are there? A lot. However, most of them are short and relatively easy. I'm asking for just one graded paper--at the end of the semester. Almost all the other assignments are weekly, and they include a number of short, rough-draft, quickly and even sloppily written papers done either by pen or by computer printout: just neat enough for me to read them, not revised, and written as quickly as you can. You'll get a check mark for doing them and receive a grade at the end of the term for how many check marks you've received. These papers are lab practice in a biology course: they will show me you've done the readings and help you practice the humanities and think about them more. I am doing these kinds of assignments instead of having several objective tests or several graded papers because I believe that in the long run, you'll learn more from writing on a weekly basis about what you've read.
All papers must be on time. Late papers are not accepted because most of them help you prepare for class discussions and activities. Most assigned papers for any given week always will be due on Wednesday of that week, online or on campus (for night classes, papers will be due at the time you show up for class). However, there are some exceptions: see ""Homework" for more.
Please remember to consider the weekly writings as "lab" papers--written in very rough-draft form--without worrying about grammatical usage, spelling, or punctuation:
COMMENTS
Directions: The main purpose of your writing "Comments" is to think about the assigned reading on paper: i.e., using a different part of your brain than is used in reading and in marking the text. A second purpose is to prove that you did the reading. There are two main ways you may write comments.
The simplest way to write your comments is to write a brief summary every screen (or every few screens) of the information on the screens. For any given screen or two, you can summarize all the information very briefly, or you can summarize or restate an interesting or important idea. Write the word count suggested for your particular assignment. Be sure to spread out your comments so they summarize something from most of the screens--both to better remember what you read and to prove that you read the whole assignment.
A second way to write your comments is, instead of summarizing, to respond: describe what the contents make you think of; state what connections you can make to previous experience, reading, or classes; make connections between different parts of this and/or other chapters or readings in the course; explain why you agree or disagree with some points; further develop of explain some points; etc. In other words, your opinions and memories can be used. Once again, write the assigned word count, and be sure to spread out your comments so they rspond to something from most of the screens--both to better remember what you read and to prove that you read the whole assignment.
A third way to write your comments is to use any combination you want of the first and second way.
Directions: Simply write a rough-draft journal of the requested length offering your thoughts, impressions, feelings, and/or ideas about the requested subject. If the assignment does not suggest a subject, then simply write about how the course is working for you, what you are experiencing in it, etc. If this journal is the first of the semester, a "Hello Richard" Journal, then please give the information requested; otherwise, simply describe your previous experience with the course subject matter, how you feel about it, and something about yourself. If this journal is the last of the semester, a "Goodbye Richard" Journal, please describe what worked for you in the course, what didn't, what you learned, how you felt about the course, etc.
Directions: Make an Underlined Subtitle of the name of each reading. Then, under each Underlined Subtitle, provide an analysis using the list below. As you do so, repeat the CAPITALIZED SUB-SUBTITLES below. For example,
THEME/SUBJECT/ISSUE: Young lovers meet, fall in love, die. It's about young, tragic love.
CHARACTERS: Romeo & Juliet. His friends. Her nurse. Their families. The priest.
SETTING: City of Verona, Italy, summer, late 1500s.
PROBLEM & SOLUTION (PLOT): Romeo & Juliet come from feuding families; they run away in order to be together (but end up dead).
MYTHIC MEANING/MYTHIC SYMBOL: One possible mythic meaning of Romeo and Juliet, also echoed in other myths from around the world, is the eternal repetition of young, passionate love and lovers. The ball/party at which Romeo & Juliet fall in love can be a mythic symbol for the dance of life and how it is half-blind (because there are dancers dancing, wearing masks as they dance).
Here
are the items to analyze. You may do so in
sentences or by listing; however, remember to write each Name of Reading and each
SUB-SUBTITLE as below in bold. Respond to all
numbered questions below for every single reading.
Be brief and quick, but respond to everything.
What is the main THEME, SUBJECT, or ISSUE?
Who are/is the main CHARACTERS (if the reading is a poem or story, true or fictional, then who are the main one to four characters) or AUDIENCE (if the reading is an essay without characters, then who do you think the essay is written for)?
What is the SETTING (where, when)?
What is the PROBLEM & SOLUTION (the plot of a fiction or nonfiction story), ARGUMENT (the main opinion a nonstory essay is trying to convey), or FINAL POINT (the ending idea or purpose a poem seems to be implying by or in its ending)?
MYTHIC MEANING/MYTHIC SYMBOL: What is a possible mythic meaning or repetition of a typical subject or theme from another myth you know, or what is a possible major symbol that seems possibly typical throughout the world or throughout one civilization?
Directions: Do the same
thing as for the “Reading Analysis” above, using each of the
categories with the same subtitles as above--Theme/subject/issue, characters,
audience, setting, plot, and symbol. However, do so with--choose--just one reading from
those for the week, and write 300+ words. Develop your explanation for
each of the elements for at least 30-40 words.
Directions: You may be asked to write this kind of paper occasionally, as a replacement for others. Do write it, offer your own personal response to one (or more) of the readings—what did you like the most and/or least, why, what characters grabbed you, what did one or more readings remind you of, what are some comparisons and contrasts between two or more of the readings, etc. In short, this is a kind of “journal entry” in which you may write anything you’d like about what you read, responding, reacting, thinking, feeling. It only needs to contain 300+ words and to show that you actually read the piece and thought about it. (You can choose to do this OR a “Creative Writing.”)
Directions: The thesis paper should be an interpretive opinion and three reasons why it is true. It should have a very brief intro describing your reading and the basic interpretation you are going to make; then there should be three separate body sections. Each body section should have (a) an underlined Subtitle (name all three what you want or just call them Reason 1, 2, & 3), (b) a topic sentence that states the section's new "reason why" your interpretation is true, and then (c) some discussion of that reason for at least 100 words--quotations are allowed but not required. Write on a new subject (a new reading) each week. Total length: 300+ words divided into 100+ word segments. So, please set it up as follows, below.
Please do not write an analysis of a theme. The majority of writers first trying out an interpretive thesis often end up wirting an analysis of a theme, instead. However, a theme is a type of fact, not a thesis argument. A theme is something that most careful readers of a story would agree is true about the story, in part or in whole. But a thesis is an argument--something debatable.
Moreover, the idea of writing an interpretive thesis is to bring an outside theory, idea, or belief to a piece of literature. As Chapter J4 in www.CollegeWriting.info suggests, to write an interpretive thesis, you generally need to go entirely outside of the story--perhaps even forgetting about it--then choosing a separate, abstract theory, idea, belief, or perhaps a type of person.
You can choose something from Campbell's Hero, if you like--after all, one of the reasons we're reading it is to apply what he's saying to some of these myths. Or you can choose smething else, like a type or part of a psychological theory, philosophical belief, political position, or even something a bit off the wall like an economic or physics theory. Or you can choose, if you like, a type of person: e.g., a plumber, an average housewife, a radical liberal, a conservation Christian, an astronaut, etc. You also can use one myth to interpret another (e.g., the story of the Prodigal Son in the Christina Bible to interpret the Greek story of Prometheus; the story of Little Red Riding Hood to interpret Oedipus Rex, etc.). Again, a very fruitful method for some people is to use something Campbell says--an idea, a thought, a step or stage--to interpret some part of the week's reading.
It's okay to stretch your wings, try something unusual, explore, be creative, etc.--but find an Outside Theory or Belief in some way, of some kind. And THEN come back to your story/myth. And try to apply it. You only need to do so for 300+ w. If it doesn't work, you've not wasted much time (unless you can't even get enough words--then you'll need another theory). If it does work, even if it seems silly or strange, you've stretched your mind a bit, provided something new and possibly interesting, and learned a little bit better how to apply an abstract theory or idea to a specific story.
That is literary criticism. And that is an interpretive thesis.
Here is the organizational pattern to follow:
Introduction Reason #1 Reason #2 Reason #3 Conclusion |
Here is some additional commentary I have made to people trying to figure out the difference between "theme" and "interpretation":
A theme in a literary piece is something that is obvious to all discerning readers of that piece. The way to test for it is to decide how most intelligent readers would answer if you were to ask them, "Can you see that _____ is a subject in this literary piece?" So, for example, if you were to ask most intelligent readers of "Oedipus," "Is the idea of incest being morally wrong one of the subjects in this play?" the answer would be most likely "yes."
In other words, a theme is pretty obvious. It is an obvious idea just like a mountain or a house is an obvious part of the scenery, or something is an obvious part of the plot.
An interpretation, on the other hand, is something much more unique, not very obvious, usually, and much more individual to the person making the interpretation. So, for example, if you were to ask people, "Is the idea that capitalism is a preferred economic system a subject in 'Oedipus'?" most people's first reaction would be, "Huh??"
Thus, while a theme is pretty obvious, an interpretation has to be explained to people.
So, if you just try to tell me what the play itself is arguing, then you're probably going to be talking about themes.
However, if you pick up a few main ideas from Campbell (or any other theory) that might be applied to a number of literary works, and then show how you could apply those ideas to "Oedipus," then you would have an interpretation.
LITERARY REVIEW
Directions: The literary review should be a logical, step-by-step review of a reading using summary, arguments/opinions, and evaluation. It should start with a brief intro describing your reading and the basic, overall evaluation of it that you have reached; then there should be three separate body sections. The first body section should be 50+ w. in length and start with the underlined subtitle Summary; it should very logically simply summarize the reading by summarizing each of the literary elements in it, with none of your opinion or analysis. The second body section should be 100+ w. in length and start with an underlined subtitle saying Arguments, Interpretation, or Analysis; in this section, offer your own arguments about or interpretations of the reading, with or without comparisons/contrasts to other readings. The third body section should be 150+ w. in length and start with the underlined subtitle Evaluations; it should contain your evaluations of the quality of the reading, of the author's work, and/or of how the elements of the reading are accomplished or not accomplished. Write on a new subject (a new reading) each week. Total length: 300+ words divided into 100+ word segments.
Important Note: The middle section--Arguments/Interpretations/Analysis--is
not supposed to be the author's arguments/interpretations. It also should not
be themes that are in the reading. Instead, it should be more like several different
ideas for a literary thesis paper: try to develop the middle section with readers' or your
own arguments or interpretations that are debatable--that some people might
disagree with. For example, you could apply the Oedipus complex, Marxist theory, or
laissez-faire capitalist theory to the reading or, perhaps, demonstrate how three or more
of Joseph Campbell's theories apply--or how one of his theories applies in at least three
different ways.
CREATIVE WRITING OF A MYTH
Submitting weekly papers by email?
(1) Please make them in-text--in the text of your email itself--not attached. That means you should simply write them as an email message or, if you already have them on a word processing file, you should use your mouse and your "Edit" function to mark, then "Copy," and then "Paste" them into a regular email message.
(2) To help me keep your paper separate from my regular email, use this subject title: Course # & section #, the Week Due, Assignment Type, and Name+Initial: e.g., "2235-99 Wk. 5 Comments on Hero, Sue J.,"
(3) Always keep a copy until after the end of the course when you've received your course grade.
(4) If you send me an email message (other than homework), please write "Question" in the subject line so I'll open it right away. Be sure your full name is somewhere in the email, too. And in the first several weeks, please remind me which course and section you're in. I ask this because I receive several dozen homework assignments each week by email, and I only open homework once or twice per week. (5-04)
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There is no make up or
extra credit for the homework activities. If you miss doing them, then you cannot
get credit for them. If you are interested in doing make up/extra credit for
attendance, please go to "Attendance/Makeup
and Extra Credit."
Why don't I allow make up of missed homework? There are four reasons. They all boil down to the fact that we can't accomplish as much, have as much fun, or develop your writing abilities as well if make ups are regularly allowed. If you're interested in the four reasons individually, here they are.
(1) First and most important, much of the value of doing homework is gone when you do it late--after we have discussed it in class/on the bulletin board. If a lot of people didn't read the assignment on time (which is what happens when a teacher doesn't require it), I would have to review and explain the assignment step by step before we, as a whole class, could practice it or talk about it in some way. And if I did this, even fewer people would want to read the assignment, which would result in my needing to review the assignment in class even longer. As a result, there would be no point in giving the assignment, and all I would be doing is spending each class reviewing. Instead, if most of you have read the assignment ahead of time, not only will you know the material much better, but also--and more important--we can do something with the material in class. We can do group work, class games, discussion and sharing, etc., etc.
(2) In addition, you won't be able to talk very well on the online discussion boards if you haven't read the assignment. You might say things that don't even apply, and/or other people in the class might have to take the time to tell you what is in the reading assignment.
(3) Another reason why I don't allow make up of missed homework is that I then would have way too many papers to process in the last few weeks of the class.
(4) And the final reason is that with all the writing of your drafts of your term paper near the end, you wouldn't do as well on these final drafts if you were taking a lot of time out to do make ups of a bunch of weekly papers.
There are, however, exceptions. They are as follows:
- In the first several weeks, if you have made an honest mistake about when something is due, talk with me, and I can make an exception. This is good only for a few weeks, until everyone understands the rules.
- (3) In the FOL (fully-online) section of the course, weekly homework may be up to one week late, but no later, and will be automatically accepted.
If you miss some of your homework, you cannot make it up. However, there is a way to do make up/extra credit for attendance. Doing so can affect your overall grade so much that it can help bring up a poor homework grade. Extra credit is added at the rate of 1 X for every 50 minutes (though some forms of extra credit only count for 1/2 or 1/3 as much). For example, if you were to spend 2 hrs. on reading and writing about additional fairy tales, you would receive extra credit for 120 minutes of extra work - which is worth about 2 & 1/2 X's. Extra credit X's are added to the "Attendance" records, but they count just like any other X's or points in the course: they all go toward the total of X's you build up during the term in working toward the grade you want (with 90-100 X's = to an "A," 80-89 = to a "B," etc.).
Again, if you are interested in doing make up/extra credit for attendance, please go to "Attendance/Makeup and Extra Credit."
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Most recent update of this page: 24 Dec. 2008
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