Dr. Snead's Assignment Guidelines: Instructions and criteria for weekly response papers

What: The weekly response paper assignment is a 2-3 page informal paper, due on the first day the class meets each week (with some exceptions – detailed in your course syllabus). Each paper should focus on a specific passage (or line, or even a word or set of words) in one of the assigned readings for the week, clearly and succinctly arguing how that passage contributes to your understanding of the overall work in which it appears, and/or how it might contribute to your understanding of one of the broader issues we've discussed in class. Good response papers make one coherent point about one (or perhaps two) of the week's readings, rather than attempting to "cover" every assigned text. They have an identifiable introductory paragraph, an argument that follows that introduction, and an identifiable conclusion. Occasionally I will ask you to write a response paper on a specific topic or task, according to specific guidelines – your syllabus will have details should that be the case.

Why: Your weekly response papers are a fabulous opportunity for you to get yourself into the habit of doing three things on a regular basis: 1) close reading; 2) sustained thinking on a specific passage or issue in one or two of the assigned texts for that week; 3) informal but well-reasoned writing about 1) and 2). If you take your response papers seriously and enthusiastically, you will find yourself becoming a better writer and thinker about literature overall; as with any skill, writing and thinking develop with practice. The weekly response paper assignment exists to provide you with that practice. Moreover, any ideas you develop in a weekly response paper are yours to utilize in other, more formal assignments: your final papers, for example, or an essay question on an exam. Engaged, well-written response papers also function as one more layer of communication between us. Are you daunted by the class participation requirement? No fear: your response papers will let me know that youπre reading the assignments carefully, and I may even bring up your ideas (with full acknowledgement of course) during class discussions, which might even make you comfortable enough to elaborate on them in public. I may not be able to read your mind, but I will be able to read your response paper (if it's written and printed clearly and correctly, that is).

How: First, do the week's reading assignment. Pick a passage within one of the assigned texts that interests, piques, or maddens you, and tease out what you think the passage means. This will require you to close read: pay careful attention to the language the writer uses, the form, any allusions he or she may be making to other texts or writers, any imagery or figurative language (like a metaphor, simile, or synechdoche). Then take your deeper understanding of this particular passage back to the work as a whole and conjecture how the meaning of this passage might help you to understand the rest, or the ways in which this writer might be representing a specific problem or issue within the rest. Your response paper should then make a claim about how this passage illuminates (or, perhaps, confuses or contradicts) the work in which it appears, and/or how that illumination might fit in with (or contradict) another text we've read, or one of the larger issues or contexts (print culture and publication, for instance, or the circumstances of women writers) that we've discussed in class. Use direct quotes from the text as evidence to support your claim.

Response paper writing should be relatively informal: by all means use first-person singular, colloquial language, the occasional exclamation point. Informal does not mean irresponsible, however: your response papers must be free of typos and spelling errors, in complete sentences, and correctly formatted and cited. This means putting your name and course information at the top of the first page (no title pages, please) using a clear 12-point font, double-spacing your text, and using one-inch margins. Number your pages and staple or paper-clip them together. You are welcome and encouraged to print your response papers double-sided. Cite the texts you quote from properly, using MLA style (with authors' last names and page or line numbers in parenthesis after each quote, and a correctly formatted "Works Cited" section at the end of the paper. If youπre not familiar with MLA style, Tech's University Writing Center has a page of writing resources with links to many different academic citation styles, including MLA: http://english.ttu.edu/uwc01/Resources/default.asp

In fact, the University Writing Center also offers hands-on writing tutorials and advice, online or in person. See its homepage: http://english.ttu.edu/uwc01/

You might also consider reading your papers out loud to yourself to catch awkward moments, typos, or inconsistencies. Better yet, have a friend or roommate read them out loud to you.

With few exceptions, your response papers will be due on the first day the class meets each week. I do not accept late response papers, and I do not accept response papers via email. No exceptions. If you know youπll be missing class that day, make an arrangement with a classmate to hand in your paper, or have a friend deliver it to my mailbox in the English department. If we're posting response papers to a course website instead of handing in hard copies, have a friend post yours by the due date/time if you cannot do so.

Evaluation: Each of your weekly response papers will receive a check, a check-plus, or a check-minus. If you receive a check, you've done exactly what the response paper assignment asked you to do: focus for 1-2 pages on a specific passage in one of that week's assigned readings, clearly arguing for a specific interpretation of how that passage might be important to your understanding of the text you found it in, and/or how it might contribute to your understanding of one of the broader issues we've discussed in class, by performing a close reading on that passage. Check response papers accomplish the above three goals, exhibit correct spelling and grammar, and use complete sentences. They must also be correctly cited and formatted. A check-minus means that your response paper has failed to come up to the check standard (above). Check-pluses are reserved for response papers that demonstrate significant effort and original thought, within the page limit. At the end of the semester, I will total up and average your combined response paper scores and assign that total a letter grade, between A and F. If you get a check on every response paper, but no check-pluses or check-minuses, your total response paper grade will be a B (above average).

To read sample response papers written by students in my past classes, click here.