An occurrence at owl Creek Bridge: Ambrose Bierce

1-3 Short Paper: Beginning Your Reader's Notebook

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/375

Good readers often record their observations, ideas, and insights in a reader's notebook. To be useful, reader's notebooks need to be maintained diligently. You will find that a detailed reader's notebook can be an invaluable resource for writing papers later on.

First, write the name and author of the story. Then write a three-sentence summary of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Include setting (place and time), key characters, and what you see as the basic conflict of the story.

Think about how the author helps you to watch the development of Farquhar’s consciousness. Choose a pivotal moment in the story and write a paragraph that takes note of the descriptive words and phrases that emphasize Farquhar’s thoughts and feelings at that moment in the story.

Finally, write a two-sentence summary that describes what made the story meaningful to you as a reader.

For additional details, please refer to the Rubric for Reader's Notebook document in the Assignment Guidelines and Rubrics section of the course.

1-5 Short Paper: Reader's Notebook

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11231

Good readers often record their observations, ideas, and insights in a reader's notebook. To be useful, reader's notebooks need to be maintained diligently. You will find that a detailed reader's notebook can be an invaluable resource for writing papers later on.

First, write the title and author of the story. Then write a three-sentence summary of “Bartleby the Scrivener.”  Include setting (place and time), key characters, and what you see as the basic conflict of the story.

In a sense, “Bartleby the Scrivener” is a story about passive resistance. The taciturn scrivener challenges a society exemplified by the nameless narrator. What kind of change happens? Pay attention to the exchanges of dialogue between the two. Choose a pivotal moment in the story that shows Bartleby’s growing presence within the narrator’s consciousness. Write a paragraph that notes how dialogue illustrates the narrator’s development by that moment in the story.

Finally, write a two-sentence summary that describes what made the story meaningful to you as a reader.

For additional details, please refer to the Rubric for Reader's Notebook document in the Assignment Guidelines and Rubrics section of the course.