Category Archives: Assignments

In groups of three, peer review the texts below. Use the second draft guide to shape your review. Be sure you address each question thoroughly. The Mystery of Intimacy I keep all my memories in neat little envelopes.  I keep … Continue reading →

By 3:00 on Friday, 7 June 2013, send me at email at stephen(dot)gibson(at)uvu(dot)edu. In the email, narrate your experience doing research in support of your next draft. Be specific; mention titles and authors. Don’t write more than 500 words. The … Continue reading →

Contrast the research you did while working on the last two essay assignments. How did differences in the assignments change the way you worked on each of them? Which was more difficult? Why? Which of the classroom activities gave you … Continue reading →

This PDF contains the first set of poems we’ll workshop this semester. They’re in the order I received them. This is the second set of poems. Here is the third.

Remember, you need to bring an electronic version of your notes on these fragments. I suggest using the fiction criteria on the course syllabus in the writing of your notes.

From Richard Gray’s A History of American Literature: “Brown is exploring the two prevailing systems of thought in early America: respectively, the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the mysticism of Christianity. He is also casting both into doubt” (97-98). What … Continue reading →

How do we move from an exterior to the inner life of a character when writing in a third-person limited point of view? This is one method. Write: at least three sentences that are exterior descriptions of the character and … Continue reading →

Which of the objections (generated by either you or a peer) to your thesis or supporting points are most likely to be presented by your audience? Of these, which do you want to refute or concede? How can you directly … Continue reading →

What worked well as you wrote poems for class this semester? What could have been better? If you had another week to finish this assignment, how would you use that time? Describe the process of assembling the portfolio: what did … Continue reading →

Let’s follow the directions Graff and Birkenstien give on page 90, but replace the paragraph they provide with the following, from Ruland and Bradbury’s From Puritanism to Postmodernism: Because of such exclusions, much later American writing, and some would say the American imagination itself, … Continue reading →