Free
Journal: Bradstreet, Intro. to Poetry, & Puritanism
–2 paragraphs (300-400 words). If you want, you can make one paragraph “micro” (focus on a single quotation or paragraph) and one “macro” (focus on broader themes in the text or the course at large), but you’re free to structure your response in a different way, too.
–Make it clear that you have read the assigned reading by referring to it. You do NOT need to refer to everything, though. It’s not a quiz.
–Examples of what you might include:
summaries (as you put into your own words the main ideas of the readings);
connections (how do these ideas connect with, support, or disagree with other ideas from readings this week or in previous weeks),
reactions (are your own perspectives nurtured by the ideas you’re confronting? Challenged? Affronted? Expanded? Tempted?),
and questions about the texts or for your classmates.
–It’s totally fine to use the first-person “I” in your responses.