SHORT PAPER ASSIGNMENTS

Purpose of the Short Paper Assignments

The main purpose of the Short Paper Assignment is to make sure that you have actually read the book in question, and read parts of it carefully enough to write a simple paper on it.

Unless students read the book, there is no basis for fruitful small-group discussions. So, it is vital that everyone read the book completely, and with some degree of care, by the time we begin discussing it.

Therefore, one purpose of this Short Paper Assignment is to convince me that you have read the book. That is, you should demonstrate in your paper that you have read it.

In order to do so, you should pick the passages you discuss from different parts of the book, especially the middle and the last part of the book.

If you pick most of your passages from the first 1/3 or 1/2 of the book, I will assume you have NOT read the whole book, and will return your paper as Unacceptable. Then you will have to do it again.

Please follow these guidelines in doing your short papers on each book. Like the papers themselves, these guidelines are intended to help you read the book carefully and understand what you have read.

CONTENT:

First, read the book carefully. As you are reading it, you should keep a log, or, make careful notes.

Your log should consist of: notes; questions; comments and remarks; etc. Be sure to make notes in the book as well. Underline. Highlight. Write comments.

When you have read the book, think about it. Look over it again. Refer to your log.

Then, write a paper using the following guidelines:

• Discuss ONE IMPORTANT IDEA WHICH YOU SEE IN THE BOOK.

This might be a theme; an event that appears to recur in slightly different ways; a symbol or image which recurs and appears to have special meaning. Almost any PATTERN of recurring ideas, situations, images, etc., might be a good main idea.

The most important thing about the idea that your choose to discuss is that analyzing it should help you -- and whoever reads your paper -- to understand something about the book that they otherwise would not.

• TRACE this important idea through THREE IMPORTANT PASSAGES in the novel.

Be sure NOT TO SUMMARIZE, or retell the incident. Simply ANALYSE it. I have read the novel, and do not need to be reminded what happens.

Identify the passages you are discussing with PAGE NUMBERS in parentheses in your text

• Make sure the passages involve at least ONE MAIN personage. Make sure that, taken together, your three passages involve at least THREE MAIN PERSONAGE between them.

The best indication that a passage is "important" or significant in the novel is the presence of at least one main personage.

• DO NOT WRITE ABOUT ONE PERSONAGE OR "CHARACTER" IN THE BOOK -- instead, write about a theme or main idea.
• DO NOT USE QUOTATIONS. This is not your writing, but the author's writing.
• Write a UNIFIED paper. Do not divide your paper into three parts, discussing the main idea in the first part, three passages in the second part, and three personages in the third part. Rather, you should discuss your three passages -- which are important BECAUSE they involve at least 3 important personages -- in the course of discussing your main idea.

FORMAT:

Each paper should:

• be 800-1000 words in length
  Determine the length of your paper by one of the following methods:
  • Use the 'word count' feature of the word processing program you are using. All today's word processing programs have this feature. OR,
  • Make sure the paper is not fewer than 3 and not more than 4 pages long if double-spaced, typed, and printed out.
• be spell-checked and grammar-checked. All today's word processing programs have these features, too.
• have an unjustified right margin ("rag right");
• begin on the first line of the first page, not half-way down.
• have no 'headers' or 'footers' -- no pages numbers, for example (they make no sense in an electronic paper);
• no name, title, subject, class name -- nothing! --  at the top of your paper (your name is on the subject line of your email message).
• no title page or title is required.
• Plain text only, in the 'message area' of an email message. (NO HTML, fancy fonts, etc.)
  • Instructions on how to send "Plain Text" are in one of the links on our Home Page.
• NO ATTACHMENTS can be read or will be accepted.

NOTE these other important questions of format:

• Be sure to put a BLANK LINE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS. If you don't, the paragraphs "run together", making the essay very hard to read!
• PARAGRAPH LENGTH: no more than FOUR sentences, and usually THREE sentences only. An occasional paragraph with TWO sentences is OK. NEVER only ONE sentence.
• Do NOT put your name, date, name of class, title of paper, subject, or name of professor in the "message area" of your email.
  • The Subject Line gives all the information necessary.
    
• Email your paper to me and to your group by the due date.

Print out a copy and bring it to class the first day.

Even a mechanical and unimaginative paper will receive a good grade if it satisfies these criteria. But these are minimum, skeletal guidelines. You should make sure you fulfil them, but are emphatically not limited to them alone.

Each paper is due in class on the day we will BEGIN discussion of each book (listed on the syllabus).

http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/wl/wlppr.html | furrg@mail.montclair.edu | last modified 14 Nov 09