Quote Analysis Assignment:
the short response paper
1-2 pages in length informal and UNGRADED
Use MLA Citations
Your formal paper has to be an argument, based firmly in some small part of the text, which gives the intelligent reader of the book a new understanding of how the book works and what it is trying to do. So, when preparing to write your paper, you need to explore lots of small parts of the book that you find interesting. There are two parts to that exploration: selecting a passage, and exploring its relevance.
Your short response paper should contain:
the quote
The short paper should start with the quote or quotes from the text you find interesting, important or confusing. These should be presented with parenthetical citations as follows:
"This morning a splendid dawn passed over our house on its way to Kansas. This morning Kansas rolled out of its sleep into a sunlight grandly announced, proclaimed throughout heaven--one more of the very finite number of days that this old prairie has been called Kansas, or Iowa. But it has all been one day, that first day. Light is constant, we just turn over in it. So every day is in fact the selfsame evening and morning" (Robinson 210).
the context
After the quote, you should make a simple statement about where the quote comes from in the novel, who said it, what comes after it. Just to situate the material. Especially note if you think context is important.
your response
Finally, and this is the hardest part, you need to informally explore why this quote matters. You need to ask questions or make a brief argument (or both). How does this quote fit in with the claims you established in your summary assignment? How does this quote interact with any of the definitions you have explored in the text? Does this quote confirm, contradict, or complicate what you think the book is about? Why else might this quote be interesting?
The goal of the short response paper:
The short-term goal of this paper is to spark relevant conversation in class. Discussion is an intrinsic part of the writing process. Your main goal in your paper is to say something relevant that others haven’t fully considered or realized. One of the only ways to know what others don’t know is to talk to them. So, if we come every day with a short paper done, then there are eighteen specific passages and eighteen specific ideas that we can potentially discuss. In doing that, we can quickly establish what is obvious in the book, and what is non-obvious.
The long-term goal is to allow you to “test-drive” paper ideas in class. Lots and lots of paper ideas. If you take this assignment seriously, you should have developed at least six paper ideas before we even start discussing first drafts. And if you actively participate in discussion, you will be able to see how your ideas need to evolve, expand, or narrow in order to remain relevant in the overall conversation.
In order for this to work you need specific quotes with page numbers (so that we can all look at them together in our books), a good sense of the summary of the book so that you can situate the quote in the book’s story or argument, and some general ideas about why the quote matters.
Take this opportunity to really explore. Take risks. Explore areas of the book that are confusing, troubling or especially strange. Concern yourself not just with the obvious points of plot or overt argument, but also with subtler moments of grammar, imagery, juxtaposition or cadence. Try to link the very small (a single sentence) with the very large (a major theme of the book).
How will the instructor respond to this paper?
Because this paper is informal and ungraded, my main response will be during discussion in class. The paper will be due each day at the end of discussion, and on occasion I may respond to them in writing, but this will only happen rarely, and when a specific written response would be relevant.
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