This course not only presents students with selected literary texts in terms of its three main genres-fiction, poetry, and drama-but also enables them to approach literature critically. Critical terms are introduced along with individual texts. Designed for the sophomores, this introductory course forms groundwork for students' further literary study. The respective quizzes prior to the in-class discussions ensure the majority of the students read the assigned texts before class. The after-class group discussions would be posted on the teaching blog website and require students to study in cooperation.
● Please go to the reversed side.
● Midterm exam
Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.
These lines end the story. Emily’s secret, finally revealed, solidifies her reputation in the town as an eccentric. Her precarious mental state has led her to perform a grotesque act that surpasses the townspeople’s wildest imaginings. Emily, although she deliberately sets up a solitary existence for herself, is unable to give up the men who have shaped her life, even after they have died. She hides her dead father for three days, then permanently hides Homer Barron’s body in the upstairs bedroom. In entombing her lover, Emily keeps her fantasy of marital bliss permanently intact. Identify the significance of the underlined phrases.
Answer: pun for the hair and coldness of an old women.
● goldilocks (-lock stands for curly)
● There are three major genres in literature, including fiction, poetry, and drama.
● The format of the response paper
The first page should include name, teacher’s name, course, date but without the page number.
The page number should be “last name+ page”.
How to write an E-mail to your instructor
● Writing for an academic journal: 10 tips
1) Have a strategy, make a plan
Having a writing strategy means making sure you have both external drivers – such as scoring points in research assessment or climbing the promotion ladder – and internal drivers – which means working out why writing for academic journals matters to you. This will help you maintain the motivation you'll need to write and publish over the long term. Since the time between submission and publication can be up to two years (though in some fields it's much less) you need to be clear about your motivation.
2) Analyse writing in journals in your field
Take a couple of journals in your field that you will target now or soon. Scan all the abstracts over the past few issues. Analyse them: look closely at all first and last sentences.
3) Do an outline and just write
When you sit down to write, what exactly are you doing:using writing to develop your ideas or writing to document your work? Are you using your outline as an agenda for writing sections of your article? Define your writing task by thinking about verbs – they define purpose: to summarise, overview, critique, define, introduce, conclude etc.
4) Get feedback from start to finish
Even at the earliest stages, discuss your idea for a paper with four or five people, get feedback on your draft abstract. It will only take them a couple of minutes to read it and respond. Do multiple revisions before you submit your article to the journal.
5) Set specific writing goals and sub-goals
Making your writing goals specific means defining the content, verb and word length for the section. Some people see this as too mechanical for academic writing, but it is a way of forcing yourself to make decisions about content, sequence and proportion for your article.
6) Write with others
Most people do several things at once, but this won't always work for regular journal article writing. At some point, it pays to privilege writing over all other tasks, for a defined period, such as 90 minutes, which is long enough to get something done on your paper, but not so long that it's impossible to find the time.
7) Do a warm up before you write
Once you have started writing your article, use a variation on this question as a warm up – what writing for this project have you done, and what do you want to do in the long, medium and short term? Top tip: end each session of writing with a 'writing instruction' for yourself to use in your next session, for example, 'on Monday from 9 to 10am, I will draft the conclusion section in 500 words'.
8) Analyse reviewers' feedback on your submission
Most feedback will help you improve your paper and, perhaps, your journal article writing, but sometimes it may seem overheated, personalised or even vindictive. Some of it may even seem unprofessional. Discuss reviewers' feedback – see what others think of it. You may find that other people – even eminent researchers – still get rejections and negative reviews; any non-rejection is a cause for celebration. Revise and resubmit as soon as you can.
9) Be persistent, thick-skinned and resilient
These are qualities that you may develop over time – or you may already have them. It may be easier to develop them in discussion with others who are writing for journals.
10) Take care of yourself
Writing for academic journals is highly competitive. It can be extremely stressful. Even making time to write can be stressful. And there are health risks in sitting for long periods, so try not to sit writing for more than an hour at a time. Finally, be sure to celebrate thoroughly when your article is accepted.
● Writing professional emails - Wegdan Rashad
● 30 tips for successful academic research and writing
Planning your research schedule
1. Choose something to research/write about that you are passionately interested in. In explaining it to myself I end up explaining it to others, hopefully in a new and interesting way that is worthy of publication.
2. Be organised – planning time use is essential when there are many demands on your time.
3. Make sure that you set aside one or more periods of time each week when you devote yourself to research and don’t let other demands impinge on this time.
4. So I can easily see what I need to do and by when, I use a white-board with a ‘to do’ list with tasks listed monthly and their deadlines. I rub off tasks as I complete them (usually with a great sense of accomplishment!). Very low tech, I know, but effective as a visual reminder.
5. Plan your research in chunks: this morning, today, this week, this month, next few months, this year, next three years. Have a clear idea for what you want to achieve in these time periods and try to stick to this as much as you can.
6. I don’t tend to think more than a year ahead when it comes to research outcomes I want to achieve, but I find it helpful to write up at least a one-year research plan at the beginning of each year. Some people may also want to prepare a 3- or 5-year research plan.
7. Be strategic about every bit of research time available. Think about the best use of your time. Difficult cognitive tasks requiring intense thought often need a lengthy period of time, so plan to do these when this is available to you. Easy or less time-intensive tasks such as correcting proofs, editing or formatting a journal article or chapter for submission or reading some materials and taking notes can be fitted in smaller periods of time.
Making a start
1. Use whatever research time you have to do something, however small the task.
2. Make a start. Once you have an idea for a piece of writing, create a file for it on your computer and write down anything, however rough and however brief, even if it is just a provisional title and some notes about possible content. It can always be polished and developed later or even discarded if you decide eventually not to go ahead with the idea.
3. Organise your writing into different computer files: articles in progress, submitted articles, accepted articles, conference papers, blog posts, book proposals, grant applications etc.
4. Organise your PDF journal article collection under topics in files on your computer.
5. If you are feeling unenthusiastic or have hit a wall – leave that piece of writing for a while and work on another piece of writing.
6. If no external deadline has been set, set yourself deadlines and try to meet these as much as you can, so that you can then move on to the next piece of writing.
Getting the most out of your writing
1. Use your writing in as many different ways as you can – conference papers, articles/chapters, books, blog posts. Turn the small (unrefereed) pieces into bigger (refereed) pieces whenever you can and vice versa. What starts out as a blog post can be later developed into an article, for example. Conversely some of the main arguments of an article can be used in one or more blog posts.
2. Never let a conference/seminar paper stay a conference/seminar paper – turn it into an article/book chapter as soon as you can. If there is simply not enough substance for a piece that is the length of a journal article or book chapter, consider polishing and referencing the paper appropriately. Once it is at a standard where you consider it ready to be available to others, publish it on your university’s e-repository as a working paper. That way, anyone will be able to access the paper digitally and reference it.
3. Decide on an appropriate journal as you are writing an article and tailor the argument/length to the journal’s requirements before you finish it.
4. Once you think that you have finished a piece of writing and are ready to submit it, put it aside for a least a day and come back and read it again with fresh eyes. You will most probably notice something that could be improved upon. Once you have done this and are feeling happy with the piece, go ahead and submit. As another commentator has argued, you need to conquer your fear and send your writing off into the world: ‘we owe it to the words we have written to send them away’.
5. Receiving feedback from academic referees on a writing piece or research proposal can sometimes be demoralising. Don’t let negative comments get you down for long. Grit your teeth and revise and resubmit as soon as you can, however tedious it feels. See this as an opportunity to make your piece the very best it can be. If the article has been rejected, take a good hard look at whether the referees’ comments are valid and if necessary, revise and then submit it to another journal. Remember that all successful academic writers have received negative feedback at times: that is simply part-and-parcel of academic writing and publishing.
6. Rather than simply deleting material when you are editing a piece of writing, make ‘edits’ computer files into which to ‘paste’ this material when you cut it (I make several edits files under topics). You never know when you may be able to use this material somewhere else.
7. Think about how one writing piece can lead to another as you are writing it.
8. Make sure that your abstract is well-written and will lead others to your work (see here for guidelines on writing an effective abstract).
9. Keep on top of the latest research published in the journals you use for your research. One easy way to do this is to sign up to email alerts with the publishers of the journals and you will be notified by them of the contents of each new issue.
Connect for inspiration
1. Inspiration for research can come from many places. Attending conferences and seminars and reading the latest academic literature in your field are all extremely important, but so are other strategies. As a sociologist, I have generated many ideas from listening to good quality radio programs, reading newspapers and my favourite online sites and blogs regularly and engaging in social media such as Twitter and Facebook with people interested in the topics I research
2. Connect, connect, connect. Publicise your research and make connections with other researchers as much as you can. Make contact with others working in areas related to your interests even if they are in different departments or in other universities. Join relevant research networks or start your own.
3. Strengthen your online presence. Think about using social and other digital media to promote your research, engage with the community and make academic connections. Set up a profile on Academia.edu at the barest minimum. Make sure your university webpage is kept up-to-date with your latest publications and research projects. Write blog posts (if you don’t want to commit to your own blog, do guest posts for others’ blogs or for online discussion forums), sign up to Twitter and relevant Facebook pages, put your PowerPoints on SlideShare, make Pinterest boards (see here for my introduction to social media for academics).
4. Use digital bookmarking sites such as Scoop.it, Pinterest, Delicious or Bundlr to save interesting material you have found on the web (see here for a discussion of using tools like these for academic work).
5. Use a computerised online reference manager such as Endnote, Zotero or Mendeley. Get in the habit of loading citations straight into this each time as soon as you come across them.
6. Think carefully about who you collaborate with on research before agreeing to do so. Good collaborators will add immensely to your own work: bad ones will make your life difficult and you won’t be happy with the outputs you produce.
7. Seek out the advice or mentorship of more experienced academics whose research you respect.
8. Take regular walks/runs/bike rides. This will not only keep you physically fit but will also provide a mental space to think through an argument or come up with new ideas. Some of my best ideas have come when I have been in motion and my thoughts are unencumbered.
● Vocabulary
look forward to something
definition: used at the end of a formal letter to say you hope to hear from or see someone soon, or that you expect something from them
look forward to seeing you soon
look forward to your response
ambi- /amphi- stand for both
e.g. ambiguous
para- stands for “at or to one side of”
e.g. parallel/ paraphrase/ paragraph
parallel parking
part of speech:
succeed/ success/ successful/ successfully
sarcasm (n.) [ˋsɑrkæzm]
definition: a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark
sentence: Her sarcasm searched the ranks of the officials with the deadly and unsparing precision of a machine-gun.
irony (n.) [ˋaɪrənɪ]
definition: the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning
sentence: But, by a curious irony, neither poverty nor the bottle impaired the tireless industry of the hacks.
mock (n.) [mɑk]
definition: to ridicule by mimicry of action or speech; mimic derisively.
sentence: In this way pranks can be a relatively nonthreatening way to mock bosses, leaders and others in charge.
opponent (n.) [əˋponənt]
definition: a person who is on an opposing side in a game, contest, controversy, or the like; adversary.
sentence: Historically, scoring for tournaments was based largely on if a knight could break his spear on his opponent.
dullish (adj.) [ˋdʌlɪʃ]
definition: somewhat dull; tending to be dull.
relic (n.) [ˋrɛlɪk]
definition: an object having interest by reason of its age or its association with the past
sentence: But one relic that is seldom discussed is the religious segregation that persists on university campuses throughout the country.
symbol (n.) [ˋsɪmb!]
definition: something used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object representing something, often something immaterial; emblem, token, or sign.
sentence: We use x as the symbol for an unknown quantity.
symbolic (adj.) [sɪmˋbɑlɪk]
definition: serving as a symbol of something
sentence: On the other hand, the House did manage to repeal Obamacare 33 times—knowing full well it was a symbolic gesture.
rationale (n.) [͵ræʃəˋnæl]
definition: the fundamental reason or reasons serving to account for something.
sentence: I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it.
stanza (n.) [ˋstænzə]
definition: an arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem.
sentence: And writers seem to get it a lot, the relationship between words and page and phrase and paragraph, or stanza.