RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS:
These are informal responses to the readings or explorations of your ideas, so they do not need to be research-based or make an argument. They should, however, be well thought-out and well-written. Each response should engage with one or more of the assigned readings for the day. Your response paper might attempt to answer one or more of the questions I have posed on the schedule, or it might draw some connection between the day's texts and others that we have looked at. Think of these as focused free-writes.
Responses are a means for you to integrate yourself in conversation with the authors,
texts, and class discussion. While they are scholarly writing insofar as they are graded according to the thoughtfulness of your response and the connections you make to the class texts, they also allow you space to reflect your own opinions, ideas, concerns, revelations about the subject material. There is no right or wrong “answer” for these, and each student is entitled to express her/his opinion on the subject at hand. Make sure, though, to place your opinion in conversation with our class texts, discussion, lecture; in other words, students should avoid blanket statements like “I believe... I think...” and instead try to thoughtfully construct your opinion piece as a scholarly response to the specific topic.
The 2 page responses will be graded according to four main criteria: thoughtfulness of
response content; link to class texts, authors, discussions; and writing grammar,
mechanics, etc.
1) Thoughtfulness of response content (including link to class texts, author, and discussions):
a. All questions/prompts are answered thoroughly, but not overly wordy.
c. Response features comments that demonstrate deeper processing of topic/writing prompt than superficial commentary.
2) Links to Class Content and Writing Mechanics
a. Student clearly links her/his opinion to class authors, films, and discussions by referencing at least one such item throughout response paper.
b. Student demonstrates understanding of topic at-‐hand, and can clearly integrate points from films, authors, and discussions, into her/his own argument.
c. Response contains no grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors, is formatted correctly, and correctly cites material.
* Each section is worth 5 points for a total of 10 points.
5 points = no errors, outstanding work
4 points = no error, good work
3 points = few errors, average work
2 points = multiple errors, average work
1 points = multiple errors, sub-‐par work
