Your Literary Response Journal should convince me that you have read and thought carefully about each assigned literary work.  If your understanding of the work is “wrong,” yet your journal clearly proves that you read (or misread) the work, you may well receive full credit.  Your grade is based on content – what you have to say, how well you say it, your thoughts and feelings about the literature, and your explanation of the logic that led to your interpretation.

Your grade is also based on following directions.  I will not penalize you for grammar and usage errors --  but to receive credit, you MUST include the following in every LRJ:

1. the literary work’s title in quotation marks
   

2. the writer’s name
   

3. three quotations from the literary work -- integrated with your own sentence, properly punctuated, and commented upon as necessary to show why you cited that particular passage.  No Quote Lumps!
   

4. specific references to the literary work
   

5. careful thought
   

After you’ve included the five MUSTs above, you may choose any of these MAYBEs to guide your response.  You may even choose the same one every time.  Consider the possibilities:

1. (1)an analysis of a major character -- flat/round, static/dynamic, internal / external conflicts, dominant traits, significant actions, personal relationships…
   

2. (2)a comparison / contrast of related characters -- protagonist / antagonist, foils,  doubles, stereotypes, stock characters…
   

3. (3)a discussion of the role(s) played by minor character(s)
   

4. (4)an analysis of elements of plot (exposition, narrative hook, rising action, climax / turning point, falling action, resolution) or plot patterns
   

5. (5)an analysis of the effect of the writer’s chosen point of view OR of the poem’s speaker or a story’s narrator
   

6. (6)an analysis of the effect of setting -- time, place, circumstances
   

7. (7)an explanation of symbolism in the work
   

8. (8)a discussion of the validity and development of the theme(s)
   

9. (9)a discussion of the title’s significance
   

10. (10)a detailed response to a specific word, phrase, line, sentence, passage, or scene
    

11. (11)a very limited or general comparison to another story, song, poem, play, movie…
    

12. (12)a close analysis of the writer’s style -- vocabulary, figurative language, imagery, sentence structure, specific word choices, dialogue / narration…
    

13. (13)an examination of poetic techniques used, such as simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, allusion…
    

14. (14)a re-telling of the work, adding an additional scene, or changing an element such as the ending, setting, point of view, tone…
    

15. (15)a transformation of the literary work to another form, such as a poem, a letter, a play, a news story, a commercial, a cartoon, a soap opera, a fable…
    

16. (16)an original poem developing in some way from the assigned work
    

17. (17)a discussion of the writer’s life and its relevance to the work
    

18. (18)a statement relating the literary work to your experience or ideas
    

19. (19)an explanation of problems you had in understanding the literary work
    

20. (20)your opinion of the work, good or bad, supported by specific references from the work