Short-essay Responses Each response should be as complete as possible, meaning short-essay. This course emphasizes composition, which means “writing.” You should refer to the literary pieces to support your answers with a balance of quotes and/or paraphrased details. You do not need to have a works cited page or indicate the page location of your quotes, but you should put direct quotes in quotation marks in a clear context of the literature and credit your sources. Be sure to credit your sources in an informal MLA format (as you might in a classroom exam), but do not limit your answer to a cited reference. Remember, this is your opportunity to show what you know and how well you can express what you have learned, so put some time and effort into all the questions.

In general, an answer that shows a loose knowledge of the work and an elementary understanding of what the passage and the work are about but with little detail and no engagement with the issues of the passage will get a “C” of some sort. Answers showing good detail and posing a solid general thesis in response to the specific passage will get a “B.” “A” will be reserved for answers that make a sophisticated case using precise detail from the work, beyond the literal text. Remember, this is your opportunity to show what you know and how well you can express what you have learned, so put some time and effort into all the questions. The expectations for your answers are higher than those for study questions, so some answers may not score as high in the exam as they might in the study questions.

It is not to your advantage to answer more questions than requested in the directions; for example, if you answer four questions when only three are requested, your first three responses will be the ones scored unless there is some indication that a particular response should not be graded. This indication must be clear as I will not debate the issue and will grade only what are clearly your intended responses.