photo © 2009 Markus | more info (via: Wylio)In the syllabus for this course, there is a detailed description of what your blog posts should contain, and I specify that you should be recording some aspect of “literary analysis.” The analysis you bring to the text is part of the way you make meaning when reading a piece of literature. In class, we have started to model how to do this, what to look for, etc. However, if you haven’t done this before or don’t feel very confident in your abilities yet, I have a few ideas that I hope will jumpstart your writing process.
**See my next post for more specific ideas on writing about Naomi Shihab Nye’s poetry.**
Remember that there is no one right way to do literary analysis, but that doesn’t mean that there is no wrong way. You will need to show that you engaged with the text, understood what you read, read closely and carefully, and can support your analysis with specific examples from the text. Each blog post will be graded on the following items:
1) Clear Understanding of the Text and Accurate Summary, Description, etc.: (This shows that you read the book/piece and took time to understand it accurately.)
2) Original Ideas about the Text: (This shows that you are doing some independent thinking and not just summarizing the text or repeating what we said about it in class.)
3) Analysis and Interpretation: (Your post doesn’t just summarize the book or give your opinion on the book, but tries to make meaning of the subtleties presented in the literature.)
4) Direct Quotes to Support Your Ideas: (Every post you write needs to include at least one direct quote that ties in to your analysis. Be sure to also discuss in the post exactly what the quote shows.)
5) Clarity of Your Writing: (Your writing should be clear and easy to follow.)
Each blog post is worth 20 points total. Each one of these 5 items can earn 4 points each: 4=excellent, 3=good, 2=satisfactory, 1=weak, 0=not at all. Of course, you can also lose points if your post is shorter than the required length, and blogs submitted after the deadline will not earn any points.
I think you will get the hang of how this works after the first week, but feel free to ask questions and read other people’s blogs to see how they’re approaching the assignment.
