Response Paper Guidelines
You can use this as the default paper prompt for every response paper in this class. I may sometimes give you another more specific question you can answer, in which case you can choose between that question and this one:
For your response paper, you should find a short passage from the assigned reading for that day and analyze it closely. If it’s a work of fiction, you should pick one page at most. If it’s poetry, you should pick a single poem. Choose a passage that you find compelling—and try to explain what is powerful or interesting about it. You’ll need to explain what the passage is saying—what ideas it is conveying and/or what it events it is depicting. But you’ll also need to focus on the language of the text, the style. Is the phrasing, the syntax, or the vocabulary unusual in any way? What purpose is it serving? Are there any particular words that stand out? Why? Why do you think the author chose those words and not others? Is there anything that doesn’t make sense? Are there any phrases that seem confusing? Why might the language be confusing? Does it serve a purpose, even if you can’t quite figure out what it means? Who is speaking? What does the style of the passage reveal about the narrator? What relationship does the narrator have to the experience being described? Is the narrator a part of the action or observing it from a distance? What is his/her attitude? What relationship is the narrator trying to have with the reader? Is there anything the narrator is not saying? Why not? Why might the narrator be holding something back? Does the narrator contradict him/herself? Why might this be important?
To be clear: you do not need to answer every single question posed above. These are simply designed to give you something to think about as you consider the passage. You should focus only on the questions that help you understand the passage and offer a reading of it.
1-2 pages, double-spaced.