PartTwoAssignment

PART II of the Summer Assignment

Four Short Reading Assignments

INTRODUCTION – Please Read: (link to required pieces of reading at bottom)

The pieces you choose to complete this summer are your introduction to the world of different ideas and questions. It is a perfect foundation to begin a school year filled with great pieces of writing and engaging ideas.

Please read through all the required questions BEFORE reading your chosen piece. This will make it easier for you to pick-out the ideas about which you are required to think. Annotate each piece in the margins (yes, you will be best served to print your chosen pieces) as you read. Have discussions with your future classmates who are reading the same pieces to help distill your thinking.

Some of these pieces (and, yes, you are limited to this list) can be difficult to understand with only one reading. Allow yourself time to read each piece more than once, with additional time to fully consider the questions. If you prefer to finish during the early summer, rather than putting it off until the end, please review the pieces and assignment just prior to the first day of school in order to refresh your memory. While it is not required that you annotate the texts that you read, it is highly recommended that you do so. Should you need assistance in text annotation, please see Instructions for Annotating a Text.

Each set of questions (you will have a total of five sets: one set of "three general questions" that consider all four pieces, and one set of specific questions for each piece) should be word-processed using one-inch margins, double spaced, and 10, 11, or 12-point font ( Arial or Times New Roman).

You should not hesitate to utilize the talents, skills, and abilities possessed by your classmates in the field of literature. Each of you has already had such amazing training at interpreting literature that, I know, with a little "hashing-out-of-ideas" you will surely reach amazingly insightful conclusions.

SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENT DIRECTIONS: Please use complete sentences and thoughtful ideas to answer each of the following questions about each piece you choose. IMPORTANT: You are required to select one piece from each category

(1. Letters, 2. Speeches, 3. Excerpts, and 4. Essays).

NOTE: Your overall selection (the combination of all four pieces) MUST reflect a variation of time periods and authors – they must all be from different eras and written by different authors.

GENERAL QUESTIONS COVERING READING AND CONSIDERATION OF ALL TEXTS (only answer these three questions once, taking into consideration ALL four pieces read):

1. Of the four pieces you read, with which author’s point/argument do you most agree? Why?

2. Of the four pieces you read, with which author’s point/argument do you least agree? Why?

3. Did you find any of the writings particularly inspiring? Please fully explain your answer.

INDIVIDUAL QUESTIONS TO BE COMPLETELY ANSWERED (using complete sentences) FOR EACH OF THE FOUR CHOSEN TEXTS:

1.  What is the author's thesis (or unifying idea)? What evidence or arguments does the author advance to support the thesis? Is the thesis convincing? If not, why? Does the author rely on any basic but unstated assumptions?

2.  What is the author's tone? Select for analysis a passage you consider illustrative of the author's tone. Does the author maintain that tone consistently throughout the essay?

3.  How would you characterize the author's style? For example, are the syntax, length of sentences, and diction elevated and formal or familiar and informal?

4.  What rhetorical strategies does the author use? For example, can you identify the effective use of narration, description, classification, comparison and contrast, analogy, cause and effect, or definition? Note that one of these rhetorical strategies may constitute the unifying idea of the essay and the means of structuring it.

5. What are the major divisions in the essay, and how are they set off? Are the transitions between the divisions effective and easy to follow?

6. Analyze the author's opening paragraph. Is it effective in gaining the reader's attention? Does it clearly state the essay's thesis? If it does not, at what point does the author's thesis and purpose become clear?

7. On the first few days of the class I will ask you to provide a verbal analysis from one of these texts; therefore, please briefly explain, in writing, the following for each of your four choices:

- Writer's Attitude toward self or narrator

- Writer's Attitude toward life and existence

- Writer's Use of imagery to create tone

- Writer's Use of diction, word choice, to create tone

- Theme of each piece

- Writer's Use of Symbols: concrete objects representing abstract ideas

8. Please answer, in writing, the following for EACH of your four reading choices:

• What is the author’s SUBJECT?

• What is the OCCASION for the piece?

• Who is the intended AUDIENCE of the piece?

• What is the PURPOSE of the piece of writing? What does the author hope to accomplish through the publication of this piece? Please note that PURPOSE is NOT THESIS, so please give this question some thought.

• Who is the SPEAKER (what kind of person is the author, based on how he/she constucts the piece)?

• How does the piece of writing begin? (i.e. with an anecdote, or questions, or a description, etc.)

• How does the piece of writing end (please include devices and tone used)?

Available Choices to Read for Part II of Summer Assignment