ENGL 461: Senior Seminar
Spring 2018
Professor E. Derek Taylor
Instructions for Response Papers (Due 2-5, 2-21, and 3-23)
Read the work assigned on the syllabus. Then, choose one (possibly two) of the literary critics we've encountered thus far (i.e., beginning with critics encountered after the previous response paper was due) and imagine how he or she would respond to the work in question.
Feel free to experiment with how you choose to frame your essay. You might allow two of these critics to exchange letters, and thus to argue about the work as they understand it. You might have one (or two) of the critics pen a letter to the author celebrating, or criticizing, his / her work. Or perhaps the critics could be present at an open-mic event at which the author is reading. The possibilities, if not endless, are certainly legion.
This is indeed an open book, open note assignment, and you are encouraged to begin by making a thorough outline of your essay and by devising a clear and pointed thesis. Please note that the critics in question should be quick to provide quotations from their own texts and from the literary work on which they are commenting. Finally, however you elect to proceed, remember: be creative, but don’t lose sight of your primary responsibility--namely, to provide cogent literary analysis.
Grading Rubric:
A: Cleanly written, logically argued, thoroughly supported, carefully organized
B: Falls short on one or more points.
C: Falls short on two or more points.
D: Falls short on three or more points.
F: Falls short on all points.
Spring 2018
Professor E. Derek Taylor
Instructions for Response Papers (Due 2-5, 2-21, and 3-23)
Read the work assigned on the syllabus. Then, choose one (possibly two) of the literary critics we've encountered thus far (i.e., beginning with critics encountered after the previous response paper was due) and imagine how he or she would respond to the work in question.
Feel free to experiment with how you choose to frame your essay. You might allow two of these critics to exchange letters, and thus to argue about the work as they understand it. You might have one (or two) of the critics pen a letter to the author celebrating, or criticizing, his / her work. Or perhaps the critics could be present at an open-mic event at which the author is reading. The possibilities, if not endless, are certainly legion.
This is indeed an open book, open note assignment, and you are encouraged to begin by making a thorough outline of your essay and by devising a clear and pointed thesis. Please note that the critics in question should be quick to provide quotations from their own texts and from the literary work on which they are commenting. Finally, however you elect to proceed, remember: be creative, but don’t lose sight of your primary responsibility--namely, to provide cogent literary analysis.
Grading Rubric:
A: Cleanly written, logically argued, thoroughly supported, carefully organized
B: Falls short on one or more points.
C: Falls short on two or more points.
D: Falls short on three or more points.
F: Falls short on all points.