ENGLISH 1B: INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
ASSIGNMENTS Fall 2006
Amy Hundley

Reading Journals | Reading Response | Essay Guidelines | Grading Rubrics  
 Literary Terms Questions | Literary Genres | Critical Approaches.

Reading Journal Entries in Order

  Reading Response Journal Questions and Guidelines:

A reading journal is an informal piece of writing in which you explore your own experiences, ideas, 
and feelings related to and stimulated by the selection you have read. They will be used as the basis 
for class discussions, tests, and essays. Journal entries will be date-stamped, collected periodically, 
and graded for being complete, on time, and showing evidence of your engagement with the selection.  
There are no “wrong” entries, merely incomplete, late, and/or off-topic ones.  Spelling, grammar, etc. 
will not be graded.

Although it is important to keep track of what events took place, what ideas were discussed, and what 
characters were mentioned in the reading selection, your reading journals should not just summarize the
 information or sound like you are answering a series of questions. The purpose of a reading journal is to 
enter into a conversation with the text, the author, and yourself. Comment on what puzzles you, what 
attracts you about the reading, and indicate reasons for your response. Sometimes you might find the
 literary terms and critical approaches that we will be incorporating in the course (see Glossary of 
Critical Approaches LTHE pgs. 1131-1139 and Glossary of Literary Terms LTHE pgs. 1199-1210) 
useful for speaking about a selection.

Genre:___________________________________________

(adapted from:  Probst, Robert. Response and Analysis. Portsmouth , NH : Heinemann, 1988.)

1.)  FIRST REACTION:  What is your first reaction or response to the reading?  Describe or explain it.

2.) FEELINGS:  What feelings does the reading awaken in you?  What emotions do you feel as you read?

3.)  PERCEPTIONS:  What do you see happening in the reading?  Briefly retell the main events and points.

4.)  ASSOCIATIONS:  What memory does the reading call to mind—of people, places, events, sights, 
smells or even something more ambiguous, perhaps feelings or attitudes? Does this reading call to mind any other 
selection (poem, play, short story, novel, essay, nonfiction book, textbook, or film)?  If it does, what is the work and 
what is the connection you see between the two?

5.)  THOUGHTS, IDEAS:  What idea or thought is suggested by the reading?  How can this idea or thought work as a
 theme or main point for the reading? Explain.

6.)  FOCUS:  Upon what in the text do you focus most intently as you read—what word, phrase, image, idea or technique? 
What is the most important aspect of the reading? What direct quote (with page number) most defines the “essence” of this selection for you?

7.)  AUTHOR, BACKGROUND:  What are some interesting details provided in your text about this author? What sort 
of person do you imagine the author to be? When was the piece written? How does the historical context/time period 
contribute to your understanding of this selection?

8.)  RESPONSE:  How do you respond to the reading—emotionally or intellectually?  Do you feel involved with the 
reading, or distant from it? Why?

9.)  PROBLEMS:  What is there in the reading that you have the most trouble understanding? To what extent do 
these problem areas hinder your overall response?

10.) EVALUATION:  Do you think this is a good piece of writing? Why or why not? How does this selection 
compare/contrast other selections in this genre and/or theme? 

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Essay Guidelines:

Throughout the semester, you will write three short essays centered on the themes in your text 
Literature: The Human Experience. The purpose of these essays is to analyze readings from different 
genres, to make connections to the theme, and to focus on what the work means to you rather than
to merely summarize the plot, to restate the obvious, or to “borrow” ideas from the Internet or elsewhere. 
Ideally, your reading response journals will serve as the starting point for developing your ideas. You will also complete a longer literary research paper (6-8 pages, 1,500-2,000)

On every essay, be sure to:

v have your own original title
v mention the title and author of the story in your introduction (short selection titles use quote marks and
       longer selection titles are underlined)
v state and support a thesis.
v type your paper using proper MLA format as detailed on syllabus and in your LTHE text.
        correctly use in-text citation and  include a Works Cited page

Essay Topics

Essay #1:  Innocence and Experience (Assigned Week 4 and Due Week 6) 
(2-4 pages, 500-1,000 words, plus a MLA format Works Cited page)

Consider the connection between relationships and the journey from innocence to experience. How do 
parents or other adults in these readings affect the central characters and the journey from innocence to 
experience? These effects may be negative, positive, or some combination of both. You may also wish 
to consider how setting/place/environment affects the journey from innocence to experience. You must compare/contrast and analyze at least two readings from two different genres (poetry and short fiction)
 in order to develop your essay centered on this theme.

“Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon (Handout)
“The House on Mango Street ” by Sandra Cisneros (LTHE pgs. 123-124)
“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne (LTHE pgs. 80-90)
“Advice to My Son” by Peter Meinke (LTHE pgs. 151-152)
“Incident” by Countee Cullen (LTHE pg. 146)
“The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara (LTHE pgs. 116-121)
 “My Wicked Wicked Ways” by Sandra Cisneros (LTHE pgs. 158-159)
“Euphoria” by Major Jackson (LTHE pgs. 159-160)

Essay #2: Conformity and Rebellion (Assigned Week 9 and Due Week 10) 
(2-4 pages, 500-1,000 words, plus a MLA format Works Cited page)

Consider the connection between the individual and the larger group--family and/or society. 
How do the attitudes and actions of the central characters constitute a sense of conformity with 
the status quo? What is the price of this conformity? How do the attitudes and actions of the central 
characters constitute a rebellion against the status quo? What is the price of this rebellion? You must compare/contrast and analyze at least two readings from at least two different genres (poetry, short
 fiction, and drama) in order to develop your essay centered on this theme.

“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin (LTHE pgs. 335-340)
“The market economy” by Marge Piercy (LTHE pg. 395)
“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan (LTHE pgs. 366-374)
“The Unknown Citizen” by W.H. Auden (LTHE pg. 390)
“An Old Man” by Robert Pinsky (LTHE pgs. 402-403)
“She rose to His Requirement” by Emily Dickinson (LTHE pgs. 378-379)
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen (LTHE pgs. 437-495)

Essay #3: Literary Research The Great Gatsby (Assigned Week 11 and Due Week 14) 
(MINIMUM 6-8 pages or 1500-2000 words)

You must use a minimum of 5 sources. Your sources must be varied and not all from websites or 
online sources. Try reference books, encyclopedias, magazines, newspapers, and databases like 
EBSCOhost.

References serve as evidence to support your own thinking on the topic, not as substitutes
 for your own thinking.  You must take notes from your sources.  Highlighted computer printouts
 are sources, not notes.

For your literary research essay, you will choose a research focus that will enable you to answer 
convincingly one of the following questions:

A) Is Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby an important novel because of its accurate portrayal of a particular time period
 (“The Roaring Twenties” or “The Jazz Age”)?
B) Is it an important novel because of its relevance to modern times?
C) Is it an important novel because of its portrayals of love in America ?

Consider various critical approaches to this novel and how one or more might be utilized in answering A, B, or C:

Deconstructionist                Ethical            Feminist                     Formalist                    Marxist                     New Historical               
Psychoanalytic                     Reader-Response

Essay #4: Culture and Identity (Assigned Week 16 and Due Week 17) 
(2-4 pages, 500-1,000 words, plus a MLA format Works Cited page)

What forces go into shaping our identity? What role does environment, particularly our cultural and 
ethnic backgrounds, play in shaping our perspective on our relationships with ourselves and others? 
How do the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of parents and adults affect other characters’ views of
 themselves? You must compare/contrast and analyze at least two readings from at least two different 
genres (poetry, short fiction, and drama) in order to develop your essay centered on this theme.

“Evolution” by Sherman Alexie, Jr. (Handout)
“Lullaby” by Leslie Marmon Silko (Handout)
“Mr. Z” by M. Carl Holman (LTHE pgs. 635-636)
“Latin Women Pray” by Judith Ortiz Cofer (LTHE pg. 646)
“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin (LTHE pgs. 556-579)
“Orbiting” by Bharati Mukherjee (LTHE pgs. 586-598)
“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker (LTHE pgs. 599-605)
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry  (LTHE pgs. 648-722)

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Grading Rubrics:
Rubrics are tools for grading and evaluation.  Your performance on written assignments will be the
 primary source of your semester grade.  In general, your essays will be graded for focus, organization, development, grammar and mechanics, meeting minimum length requirements, and your overall ability to 
engage the assigned readings in a manner appropriate to transfer-level college work. I will use these rubrics 
as my tools for making a more objective assessment on your writing. They can be useful for you as a 
self-evaluation checklist or for peer review.

As you can see from the above section, Essays #1, 2, 4 are similar in their requirements as 
comparison/contrast and literary analysis; the only main difference is thematic focus and 
reading selections. Therefore, the rubrics are identical.

Sample Rubric for Essays #1, 2, 4 Thematic Essays