Description
Purpose:
The reading response assignment will give you the opportunity to practice reading like a writer, and to apply your skills and knowledge in writing craft to a story or poem of your choice from our reading list.
What to Do:
Step 1
If you haven’t already, choose one story, OR one poem, OR 2-3 related poems from the list on the Midterm Exam Reading List page that youd like to write about.
- If you choose work that weve already discussed in this class, be sure you dont simply repeat ideas and insights from those previous discussions. Come up with something new.
Step 2
Carefully craft a thoughtful, detailed, insightful 3-4 page response to the items listed below. Use the knowledge youve developed about writing craft to practice reading like a writer, and teaching yourself about the literary craft through your reading and response-writing.
Your response is a formal essay, not a freewriting exercise or a simple Q&A. Pay attention to things like organization, focus, coherency, spelling/grammar, etc.
Exploring Personal Connections: One Brief Paragraph
- Whats the specific subject matter of the work? (What specific idea, experience, topic, etc., does it explore?)
- How do you connect to it, personally? (What specific reasons explain why you chose this work to write about? Are you interested in how it uses specific craft elements? Does it resonate with you on a personal level for some specific reason? Explain.)
Exploring Craft: 2-3 Pages
- What do you notice about the craft of the workhow the author has constructed the story/poetry? Make observations about elements of situation, plot, characterization, point of view, structure, imagery, etc., and ask yourself how the author is using these craft elements in the work youre exploring. You dont need to address every craft element weve explored in this course; focus on the ones that seem most interesting to you or most important to the work, and explain why theyre the most interesting/important.
- What questions about how story/poetry craft do your observations raise for you? For example, does the story make you wonder about how plot situations can/should be introduced in a story, or about effective plot resolutions? Does the poem make you wonder about how/why to use specific types of rhyme, or what makes for effective imagery?
Drawing Conclusions: 1-2 Detailed Paragraphs
- What does the work teach or show you about how fiction/poetry is written? How does it help answer the questions you raised above?
- How might you apply what youve learned from reading this work and writing this response to the story/poetry youre writing for this class?
