Dr. DeRochi

English 203

Passage Papers

Due before class begins, via turnitin.com (see course schedule).

As stated in the course syllabus, you will be writing 3 Passage Papers during the first half of the semester.  These assignments are intended to give you an opportunity to practice close reading of texts, which will in turn help develop your larger papers later in the semester.  Writing about texts in this manner will no doubt help you prepare for examinations as well.  In addition, given that I may call on you to discuss your passage paper, your analyses of the texts will often serve to stimulate our class discussion.

For this particular assignment, simply choose a lengthy passage from one of the works assigned for that specific class meeting (20-25 lines).  This may be a monologue, dialogue, description, narration, whatever.   Your paper will simply be a brief analysis of that passage.

In each 1-2 pages essay, begin with a brief (3 or 4 sentence) plot summary of the passage and where it occurs in the text--this will be your intro.  (NO NEED TO INCLUDE PASSAGE as intro to paper). Next, explain in 2 or 3 ways why the passage is significant as it relates to other moments in the text.  Be sure to use specifics here--quotes are always helpful. Finally, be sure to explain in figures of speech, allusions, metaphors etc, that are significant, again, as they contribute to the overall thematics or development of the text overall.

While the paper will of course need to be well-organized, void of grammatical errors, this assignment will be graded primarily on the content, the insights and depth of analysis applied toward the text.