Summer Reading Assignment: English IV
YOU HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED A BOOK TO READ. YOU MAY NOT CHANGE YOUR BOOK. IF YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN YOUR ASSIGNED BOOK, EMAIL MS. HUNT at TO FIND OUT YOUR ASSIGNMENT.
The book above is your summer reading assignment. PURCHASE a copy of this book to read over the summer and to use during your senior year. Your summer reading assignment will be completed through the Turnitin.com website by uploading a Word document of the assignment below (use MLA format). The grade you receive on this assignment will be based on both the quality of your ideas and the quality of your writing. Take your time on this assignment. Your assignment must be submitted to turnitin.com by 8am on Monday, August 27th. If you have “computer issues” and are unable to upload your document, bring a hard copy on the first day of class. DO NOT USE INTERNET SOURCES, SPARKNOTES, OR ANY OTHER OUTSIDE SOURCES WHILE READING THE BOOK OR WHILE WORKING ON THIS ASSIGNMENT. Any student who is found to use outside sources will be given a zero. We want to see YOUR ideas only!
For your upcoming senior research paper, you will be crafting your OWN argument/thesis, which you will eventually be supporting through the use of scholarly secondary sources. For your summer assignment, you will read your assigned book carefully, keeping in mind the literary conventions you have become so familiar with over the last 3 years!
After reading your book, you will write 3 modified literary paragraphs of 8-12 sentences each. In each paragraph, you will explore a different idea that you might want to write your paper about. Begin with a question you have about your novel that you would be interested in researching for your paper. After each question, begin your response in the form of a literary paragraph. You can start each with a typical topic sentence. You should then follow that statement with your initial thoughts about your topic, based on your reading of the book. Use at least 3 examples with quotations from your book to answer your question and support your topic statement, and end with a concluding sentence that brings the paragraph “full circle.”
To help you imagine this, here are a few examples of questions that seniors asked last year about books that are no longer on the list:
--In Gone with the Wind, why are the other characters so angry that Scarlet does not act the way that women are meant to act?
--In Gone with the Wind, why are Scarlett's actions so controversial?
--In Bastard Out of Carolina, why does Bone's mother allow Glen to be so abusive to Bone?
--In Bastard Out of Carolina, how does Glen's abuse affect Bone, and why does it have such a big impact on her?
Once you have written your 3 paragraphs, you will combine them into ONE document and upload that single document on Turnitin.com.
· Students with last names beginning with A-L should sign up using the following information:
Class Title: Senior Summer Reading A-LClass ID: 5147156
Enrollment password: summer2012
· Students with last name beginning with M-Z should sign up using the following information:
Class Title: Senior Summer Reading M-ZClass ID: 5147163
Enrollment password: english2012
English Department Grammatical Points
Refer back to these rules for all future assignments until you have them memorized. You will be expected to abide by these rules (and graded accordingly) in your English classes throughout your time here at Seton.
· Book titles must be underlined or italicized (but NOT both). Titles of book chapters, short stories, articles and poems must be in “quotation marks.”
· Do not use any form of 2nd person (you, yourself, your, etc.) in formal, analytical writing unless it is inside a direct quotation.
· Do not use 1st person (I, we, us, our, etc.) in formal, analytical writing unless it is inside a direct quotation. ***On the rare occasion that an assignment allows for it, your English teacher will give specific instructions to use 1st person pronouns.***
· Do not use contractions (don’t, it’s, wouldn’t, etc.).
· Literature LIVES, so always use present tense verbs when writing about literature.
· Only proper nouns, titles, and the first letter of the first word of a sentence are capitalized. A doll’s house (a toy) does not get capital letters, but A Doll’s House (the play) does.
· Do not include “pg.” or “p” inside parenthetical citations.
· When using quotations, use the following format for periods and commas:
o “In English my name means hope” (10). (Use this format when you have a parenthetical citation.)
o In Graham Greene’s “The Destructors,” the gang destroys Mr. Thomas’ house. (Use this format when you have a parenthetical citation.)
· Do not use “this” or “that” as a subject of your sentence. If you feel tempted to do so, ask yourself what you are referring to with “this” or “that.”
o Wrong: The boys do not show remorse. This means the boys would destroy the house again if they got another chance.
o Right: The boys do not show remorse. This attitude means the boys would destroy the house again if they got another chance.
· When writing a formal assignment, you must use formal writing. Words such as “drama” (ie: This creates a lot of drama in Nora’s life) are informal and therefore not appropriate for written assignments.
· Be aware of commonly confused words:
o there = shows location, their = possessive pronoun, they’re = they are
o to = preposition, two = the number, too = meaning “also”
o your = possessive pronoun, you’re = you are
Elizabeth Seton Students: Summer Reading Instructions
Summer 2012
1) Make sure you are logged on to www.turnitin.com.
--Use your email address as your login name (you should have signed up
for Turnitin.com with your Seton email).
--Your password should be the same one you use to log on to your email. (You may have added a 1 to the end if necessary during registration.)
2) Once you are logged in, click on the link on the left-hand side of the screen that says “enroll in a class.”
3) When the next screen comes up, enter the class ID and enrollment password listed on the first page of your summer reading assignment, then click on “Submit.”
4) Senior Summer Reading A-L or M-Z should now appear as one of the classes in your class list. Click on this link.
5) You will utilize the assignment page to submit your Word Document.
6) To post your paper, click on “submit” next to the assignment you are submitting.
7) Next, enter your first and last name as your teacher usually sees it. Then, enter the title for your paper.
8) Last, just as you would attach a document to an e-mail, click on “Browse” and find the paper you are submitting. Then, click on “Open” in the “Choose file” window.
9) Last, click “upload.” Warning! Your paper has not been officially submitted yet until you take the next steps.
10) Read a few sentences to make sure you’ve uploaded the correct paper, then click on the “submit” button to upload your paper.
11) Your paper is not officially submitted until you see the following screen. This is your Turnitin.com receipt; some teachers may ask you to print this out and bring it in to class the day a paper is due.
12) You should now return to your “class portfolio” page (click on the circled link above) to view your originality report. Click on “show details” to see your originality report and Grademark report (this is where your teacher’s comments will be if he or she grades your paper online). If the originality report or Grademark report is grayed out, that means they are not yet available.