ENGL 209: Novels and Tales, Spring 2010

M A I N * L I N K S

SUNY Fredonia College of Arts and Humanities ENGL 209: Novels and Tales Powers of Narrative Spring 2010 Sections 11 and 12: TTh 2-3:20, Fenton 166 Office: Fenton 265; MF 9-11, 3-5, TTh 9:30-12, and by appointment; 673-3856 E-mail: simon@fredonia.edu, brucesimon18@yahoo.com Web Page: www.fredonia.edu/department/english/simon/ ANGEL Space: https://fredonia.sln.suny.edu/default.asp

Response Essay, Spring 2010

This page takes on two important questions about the response essay you will write this semester in this course: what and what for; it also includes links to the specific assignment sheet for each set of options. My goal is to make this page as useful to you as possible, so let me know if it can be improved. If anything is badly worded, unclear, or missing, please contact me with constructive criticisms and suggestions. Ditto for any questions you may have about any of the options listed on the assignments sheets. Thanks.

What

As you know, you are required to submit a relatively informal response essay, which is typically a one-to-three-page personal response to a broad prompt, this semester. You will have the opportunity to submit an essay from one or both of the first two units of the course; if you submit two essays, I will count the higher of the two grades toward your final grade and give you extra credit in the preparation/participation portion of your final grade for the other.

What For

At the beginning of each unit, I want students to see how it fits into the course and helps us achieve our goals. So I choose a prompt that sets the course and the tone for the rest of the unit. Since one of the central ideas of the course has to do with the ways in which narratives and storytelling matter, the ways in which they elicit a wide range of responses from readers as they address a variety of themes, issues, and events, I will take the opportunity to make as concrete a connection as I can think of for you to write on.

The other major purpose of the response essay is for me to, in effect, take the temperature of the class at the start of each unit. Reading your response essays will help me get a feel for what you already understand, where we might focus upcoming discussions, and how I might help you all get the most out of the unit to come.

Assignment Sheet: How Narratives Matter

Due: The deadline for submitting a response essay for this unit to the RE Drop Box on the course ANGEL space is 11:30 pm Sunday, 31 January 2010. Late papers will not be accepted or graded.

Format: 1-3 pages (roughly 250-900 words), double spaced, with reasonable fonts, font sizes, and margins; title that indicates main argument of paper; heading that includes your name, the course name or number, and the date; bibliography and citations in MLA style (see the links page for explanations of this style of citation); the basic template is Author. Book Title. City of Publication: Publisher, Date of Publication.); proper MLA format for quotations within a paragraph: "quotation" (12); and blockquote format for quotations five lines or longer. See Appendix 4 in The Story and Its Writer for other useful formatting advice (SIW 1768-1797). [Please be aware that you'll get a better grade if you first develop your ideas fully, without feeling that you have to stop at a certain page or word limit, and then go back and condense, cut, and otherwise revise so as to be as concise, clear, and persuasive as possible. Don't let the page limit limit your exploration of ideas.]

Criteria for Evaluation: Your grade for the response essay will be determined by the quality of your ideas, the effectiveness of the paper's structure in conveying them, and the quality of the paper's prose (including diction, grammar, syntax, punctuation, and formatting).

Audience: In general, think of your immediate audience as fellow Fredonia students not in this class; as you shouldn't assume that your readers have read the texts you're writing on, you will have to figure out how to concisely include certain kinds of background and context.

Draft Policy: I will not be able to offer comments on drafts.

Rewrite Policy: I will not grade rewrites of the response essay, although I will give comments on any rewrite(s) you choose to do (which will improve your preparation/participation grade and better prepare for future writing in the course).

Prompt: Please respond to the following prompt. Extra research is not required, although it is permissible, so long as you keep your perspective at center stage and only bring up other sources/voices--including, of course, relevant and important passages from the text(s) you are analyzing--when they support the goals of your essay.

How did Allende's and Hesse's very different portrayals of responses to a massive natural disaster affect you as you read them? How would you compare your reactions to these fictional accounts with your initial and evolving responses to the news coming out of Haiti since the massive earthquake of January 12th? What implications in your answers would you highlight for fellow Fredonia students?

I've posted some of the first unit's response essays at Citizen of Somewhere Else--check them out when you get a chance!

Assignment Sheet: The Cinderella Scenario

Due: The deadline for submitting a response essay for this unit to the RE Drop Box on the course ANGEL space is 11:30 pm Sunday, 11 April 2010. Late papers will not be accepted or graded. Please see the first assignment sheet for other requirements.

Which fairy tale do you think is most relevant to today's world, and why? How would you go about updating it to make its relevance clearer?

Assignment Sheet: The Scheherazade Situation

Due: The deadline for submitting a response essay for this unit to the RE Drop Box on the course ANGEL space is 11:30 pm Monday, 12 April 2010. Late papers will not be accepted or graded. Please see the first assignment sheet for other requirements.

Do you believe stories and storytelling really have the power to change and even save lives? Why or why not? (If you choose, you can imply your answer to these questions by writing a short fiction of your own in which you put your version of Scheherazade into a present-day situation.)

Assignment Sheet: How Narrative Matters

Due: The deadline for submitting a response essay for this unit to the RE Drop Box on the course ANGEL space is 11:30 pm Monday, 3 May 2010. Late papers will not be accepted or graded. Please see the first assignment sheet for other requirements.

How would you respond to the charge that narrative is subjective, emotional, manipulative, unreliable? That is imposes false closures and simple meanings on the messiness and complexity of life and reality? (If you choose, you can imply your answer to these questions in the form of a narrative.)

M A I N * L I N K S

ENGL 209: Novels and Tales, Spring 2010
Created: 1/26/10 1:18 pm
Last modified: 4/27/10 1:24 pm
Webmaster: Bruce Simon, Associate Professor of English, SUNY Fredonia
Feel free to explore the Fall 2004, Fall 2003, and Fall 2002 versions of this course.