Fall 2001
Dr. R. Nordquist
Victor Hall 1-10
(912) 921 5991
nordquist@mail.com  

ASSIGNMENTS

BULLETIN BOARD

EXAMS

HOME PAGE

HONOR CODE

NEWS

NORDQUIST

NOTES

PROJECTS

REGENTS' TEST

RESEARCH

RESOURCES

STUDENTS' PAGES

SYLLABUS

WRITERLY ADVICE

Advice to Students


American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed.

PROJECTS

Archive:
Project #2
Project #3
Project #4 (below)

NOTE:   If you any problems printing out this project sheet, pick up a hard copy       from the box outside my office. 

PROJECT #4

DUE:  No later than 6:00 p.m. on Monday, December 10.  (Note: This is an absolute deadline: no papers will be accepted after Dec. 10.)  For your own peace of mind, I strongly encourage you to aim to complete Project #4 by Friday, December 7 (i.e., before the start of exam week).  
(Drop your pocket folder in the ENGL 1102 box outside my               office.)
LENGTH: approximately 1,000 to 1,200 words

Your assignment is to compose a thoughtful, well-supported, clearly organized, and grammatically sound essay on one of the six topics below.  You may not use outside sources, though you are encouraged to consult with me and with the tutors in the Writing Center for help in organizing your thoughts and revising your paper.  If you have any questions about what constitutes an "outside source," please check with me; any violation of this policy will be considered a violation of the AASU Honor Code.

Get an early start.   Review your class notes and the notes on our web site, consider the questions that accompany each work, and make sure that you're familiar with the various literary terms introduced in class (definitions appear in links to the NOTES and RESOURCES pages as well as in our textbook).  Keep in mind that a good essay generally builds on points raised in class discussions. Don't ignore those points, but don't limit yourself to them either: go beyond them.  Keep in mind, also, that the purpose of literary analysis is not to reduce a text to a single simplistic interpretation but to consider the rich complexities of   a literary work.  In other words, think about characters and themes--don't shrink them down to stereotypes and cliches. 

You should be prepared to reread, several times, the works you have chosen to write about.  Jot down responses to the questions that accompany the works, and make note of your observations.  Find specific details ("Show me") that support your main ideas ("So what?").   Next, study the sample essays (both in our text and in handouts) for ideas on how to develop, connect, and organize ideas effectively. Then compose your responses and observations in a rough draft, which you may show to me or to one of the tutors.  (Be sure to save your notes and rough drafts: you will include them in your pocket folder when you submit the final version of your essay.)   Keep in mind that you are writing your essay for someone who has already read the works: don't summarize.  Show me a draft as soon as possible--no later than Thursday, December 6.  You may drop a draft off at my office or send me one via e-mail: I'll make every effort to return my comments to you within 24 hours.   If you wish, you may also schedule an appointment to discuss your draft with me in person.  (As always, keep track of the NEWS and NOTES pages on this web site for additional advice regarding all assignments--including this course project and my availability for conferences.)

As you revise your essay, be guided by the format sheet (handed out for Project #1) and the revision checklist.   The final version of your paper must be word processed and must include a self-evaluation, as follows.  At the end of your essay, respond briefly yet specifically to these three questions:

1. What part of your essay do you think is most effective?

2. What part of your essay (or which stage in its composition) gave you the most difficulty?

3. What is your overall evaluation of this essay?

Essays submitted without a self-evaluation will be considered incomplete and will be graded accordingly.

Submit your essay in a pocket folder (make sure that your name is on the outside of the folder) with the final version on top and rough drafts below along with graded copies of your earlier essays.  An essay submitted without any rough drafts will be treated as a draft and will be returned ungraded.   You may drop the folder off in the carton outside my office any time before 6:00 p.m. on Monday, December 10.

__________________TOPICS FOR PROJECT #4_________________

1.     Discuss how setting (i.e., the stage set of the play; the fictional setting of the story) and symbolism in both the play Trifles and the short story "Chrysanthemums" are important to our understanding of the conflicts experienced by the wife (Minnie and Elisa, respectively) in each work. Unify your essay by identifying points of comparison and contrast between the two works.
[Suggestions: Review the textbook and online definitions and discussions of character, characterization, symbolism, and setting.  Consider organizing  your observations point by point.]

2.     A son investigates his feelings for his father (and, in the process, reveals something about himself) in each of these poems: "Photograph of My Father" (1055), "Sign for My Father" (1053), and "Digging" (1080).   Analyze, compare, and contrast these three poems, noting those particular poetic devices (diction, metaphor, simile, and so on) that serve in each case to characterize the relationship (however ambivalent) between a son and his father.
[Suggestion: Deal with the poems one at a time, noting points of similarity and difference as you go along.]

3.      A daughter investigates her feelings for her father (and, in the process, reveals something about herself) in each of these poems: "Poem for My Father's Ghost" (1091), "Steady as Any Ship, My Father" (1059), and "Nikki Rosa" (1073).   Analyze, compare, and contrast these three poems, noting those particular poetic devices (diction, repetition, metaphor, simile, and so on) that serve in each case to characterize the relationship (however ambivalent) between a daughter and her father.
[Suggestion: Deal with the poems one at a time, noting points of similarity and difference as you go along.]

4.     Discuss how different attitudes toward human mortality are dramatized in these three poems: "Do not go gentle into that good night" (1034), "Death, be not proud" (945), and "Because I could not stop for Death" (720).   Focus on the imagery, arguments, and particular kinds of figurative language (i.e., metaphor, simile, personification, repetition, and so on) employed in each poem to evoke a particular mood and convey a particular attitude toward death.
[Suggestion: Don't feel obligated either to agree or to disagree with the philosophical or religious sentiments underlying any or all of these poems.  Instead, attend to the vision dramatized in each work, and focus on the distinctive poetic ways that vision is transmitted.  Deal with the poems one at a time, noting points of similarity and difference as you go along.]

5.    Discuss how details of character, language, setting,   and symbolism in "Everyday Use" (654) and "A Worn Path" (87) serve to characterize the mother (Mrs. Johnson) and the grandmother (Phoenix Jackson) in each story, noting points of similarity and difference between the two women.
[Review the textbook and online definitions and discussions of character, characterization, symbolism, and setting.]

6.     Discuss how different perspectives on the experience of war are conveyed in the poems "Channel Firing" (948), "Dulce et Decorum Est" (1022), and "Facing It" (1027).   Focus on the imagery and particular kinds of figurative language (i.e., metaphor, simile, personification, repetition, and so on) employed in each poem to evoke a particular mood and convey a particular attitude toward war.
[Suggestion: Deal with the poems one at a time, noting points of similarity and difference as you go along.]

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