CCIV 272: Reading Roman Decadence
Molly Pasco-Pranger
e-mail: mpranger@wesleyan.edu |
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Response papers:
Definition, purposes, guidelines and suggestions
Over the course of this class you will write 5 short (1-2 page) "response papers". By response paper, I do not mean that you should put your first response to the text down on paper and hand it in.
A paper of this sort should define and explore some small issue raised by your reading, perhaps suggesting an interpretation of the issue. The paper should stay very closely tied to the text you are writing on: the problem or issue you are addressing should be clearly demonstrated by quotation or citation and discussion of the text, and any interpretive suggestions you make should likewise be supported from the text. Despite (and indeed, because of) their short length, response papers need to be well-structured-- you don’t have room to introduce irrelevant material, or to take your time getting to the point.
My purpose in assigning these papers is threefold:
• To give you a chance to become actively involved the texts we’re reading as early as possible. I expect that those of you who have written a response paper on a given text will bring the benefit of that added engagement to our class discussions.
• To allow me to assess your compositional skills early and to give you suggestions for improving them. Simultaneously, this will allow you to become familiar with my expectations for paper writing before you write a longer paper for me at the end of the semester.
• To help you work towards a topic for the final paper-- you may find that the topics you choose for your response papers help you clarify an interest in a particular aspect of the course topic.
Scheduling:
Response papers must be handed in before the in-class discussion of a given text. I.e., if Sallust's Conspiracy of Catiline is assigned for the September 18th class, any response papers on that text should be turned by the start of class that day.
Each student will write five response papers over the course of the term with the following distribution: one in Weeks 1-2, one in Weeks 3-5, one in Weeks 6-9, two in Weeks 10-15. I will periodically remind you of the existence of this assignment, but it is up to you to insure that you write the papers on schedule.
Topics:
It’s also up to you to find a topic you’re interested in writing on. While I am always happy to talk with you about papers, whether before you write them, or after, or both, the short time frame involved for response papers will sometimes make it difficult to arrange a meeting after you've done the reading but before you write the paper. You can e-mail me some ideas if you'd like, and I will try to respond promptly, but it's best if you learn to work independently in coming up with topics for these low-risk assignments.
Here are a few suggestions of ways to come up with a topic:
- Is there a line or two or a paragraph of the text that particularly clicked for you? You might explore what doors it opened up for you or what connections it led you to draw.
- Is there a particular image or topic that you noticed recurring in a number of places in the text? You might offer a suggestion as to why this image or topic keeps coming up.
- Is there a place in the text where you got really confused? Try to sort out why and to come to some suggestions as to what that piece of text means.
- Is there a character or figure in whom you are particularly interested? Explore the text’s characterization of that figure. A word of caution: be careful lest a project like this gets too big; you might make sure to choose a minor character.
- Does this text relate in fruitful ways to an earlier reading in the course? What interpretations or questions does that relationship raise?