{"id":136,"date":"2015-09-16T23:07:30","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T23:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teaching.lfhanley.net\/eng528f15\/?page_id=136"},"modified":"2015-09-16T23:13:54","modified_gmt":"2015-09-16T23:13:54","slug":"mystery-text-assignment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/teaching.lfhanley.net\/eng528f15\/mystery-text-assignment\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery Text Assignment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your two-page, typed essay will be due on Thursday, September 24, at the beginning of class. \u00a0(Double-check your printer supplies now!)<\/p>\n

Your goal in this assignment is to connect our mystery poem<\/a>\u00a0to the seven writers (Adams, Du Bois, Gilman, Robinson, Masters, Frost, Millay) that we’ve read and discussed in class so far.<\/p>\n

One possible way to approach the assignment:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0Read through your notes and annotations on all of our seven writers. \u00a0As you review, focus on themes (order\/disorder, consciousness, self, form and force, etc.), motifs (“the house,” “the village,” doubling, etc.) and\u00a0tropes (irony, epistemology, agency, etc.). \u00a0Recall that one implicit current in our discussions has been\u00a0a commonality themes, motifs, and tropes shared among the texts we’ve read.<\/li>\n
  2. Read (and annotate) the mystery poem.<\/li>\n
  3. Think about continuities in theme, motif, or trope\u00a0between the mystery poem and our class texts. \u00a0Focus on the theme(s), motif(s), and\/or trope(s) that seem most important in the mystery poem. E.g. you only have two pages, so you may not\u00a0be able to write about all<\/strong> the relevant connections.<\/li>\n
  4. In no more than two, typed pages, explain how the mystery poem “fits” with the writers and texts we’ve looked at so far. \u00a0I.e. how does the mystery poem seem to develop or rework the particular theme(s), motif(s), and\/or trope(s) that you’ve identified as common to the mystery text and our class authors and texts.<\/li>\n
  5. In your final paragraph, suggest a title for the mystery poem and briefly explain why this title seems appropriate.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Some other things to keep in mind:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. One hopeful fruit of all the annotation that you’ve been doing is a greater attention to and appreciation of the words on the page. \u00a0As you draft your essay, try to work inductively – – e.g. from the words\/phrases on the page up to more general meaning and significance. \u00a0Quote examples from the texts to illustrate and develop your ideas. \u00a0There’s no need to use MLA citation for your sources – – instead, “just put the author’s name in parentheses at the close of your quotation” (Hanley). \u00a0(For the mystery text, just use “Mystery Text” as the author.) \u00a0There ‘s more than one way to quote a source, and here’s a quick introduction to various ways to handle quotation within your sentences<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    2. It’s absolutely permissible to discuss the mystery poem and its various possible connections together\u00a0in informal groups. \u00a0(I would encourage it.) \u00a0However, you must write your own essay.<\/li>\n
    3. You don’t need a thesis statement or introduction for this essay<\/strong>. \u00a0These can be useful for other kinds of essays; here, however, you have limited space (two pages) and a pretty circumscribed task. \u00a0Just start connecting the texts and explaining\u00a0the connections right from the start of the essay. \u00a0The only conclusion you need is the last paragraph – – where\u00a0you formulate and explain your title for the mystery poem.<\/li>\n
    4. Be sure to proofread<\/strong>. \u00a0As always, I will borrow the “Three Strikes and You’re Out” rule from baseball. \u00a0After the second typographical, spelling, grammar, or usage error, I will stop reading your essay and evaluate what I’ve read.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      If it helps, here’s another way to think about this assignment: I’m asking you to use the text we’ve already read to make sense of a text we haven’t read. \u00a0In other words, how do our class texts alert you to significant and interesting features of the mystery text. \u00a0How well can you use our class texts to “read” something new? \u00a0This gives you a chance to extend and reflect on what you know. \u00a0It gives me a chance to see how much you’ve learned about the texts we’ve read.<\/p>\n

      I’m available for questions directly related to the assignment\u00a0up until the evening of Tuesday, September 22.<\/p>\n

      Enjoy!<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Your two-page, typed essay will be due on Thursday, September 24, at the beginning of class. \u00a0(Double-check your printer supplies now!) Your goal in this assignment is to connect our mystery poem\u00a0to the seven writers (Adams, Du Bois, Gilman, Robinson, Masters, Frost, Millay) that we’ve read and discussed in class so far. One possible way … Continue reading Mystery Text Assignment<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"class_list":["post-136","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teaching.lfhanley.net\/eng528f15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teaching.lfhanley.net\/eng528f15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teaching.lfhanley.net\/eng528f15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teaching.lfhanley.net\/eng528f15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teaching.lfhanley.net\/eng528f15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/teaching.lfhanley.net\/eng528f15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140,"href":"https:\/\/teaching.lfhanley.net\/eng528f15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136\/revisions\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teaching.lfhanley.net\/eng528f15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}