DOCUMENTS: Romeo and Juliet Study Questions Assignment Guide

STUDY QUESTION ASSIGNMENT: Drama Unit
(Pre-AP) English Honors I (2009-2010)/KNIGHT

LITERARY WORK FOR ANALYSIS: ROMEO AND JULIET BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

PREWRITING ASSIGNMENTS: Before you submit this study question assignment on the assigned due date, you must show evidence that you did the following:

1. FIRST silently read the assignment prompt in FULL. You must provide evidence that you have a clear understanding of the assignment’s main idea.
2. THEN, use the correct format (title, type specifications, length, etc.)
3. FINALLY, prepare to compose, organize, and phrase your responses correctly (phrase in complete statements)

MAIN IDEA: In your typed responses you are to clearly discuss the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

ASSIGNMENT: Use your knowledge of the elements of drama and your ability to respond to literature, and compose detailed typed responses to the questions in which you discuss the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

ALL RESPONSES MUST BE IN COMPLETE STATEMENTS. Your responses must seek to address each question in complete statements. These are DISCUSSION questions. Therefore, there MUST be a considerable amount of DISCUSSION. No explanation or elaboration of your answer will result in the loss of points. You must have at least EIGHT or more sentences in your responses (depending on the question).*

GENERAL COMPOSITION RULES: In your typed responses please discuss the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Also, please adhere to ALL of the following rules:

• Reponses must be IN COMPLETE STATEMENTS, and must clearly discuss the posed question. (-10)
• Your responses show evidence that you are writing for a particular audience
• Your responses show evidence of the construction of an overall purpose.
• Your responses shows evidence of examples from the play used to support your response.
• Your responses are ORIGINAL (not borrowed, copied, stolen, or collaborated on).
• Your writing should be publishable…you are not writing down random thoughts and ideas…they MUST be organized, easy to understand, logical, relevant to some degree, timely, etc.

CONTENT PROCEDURE: When composing your work, please adhere to the following steps:

1. Read each question one at a time and prepare to analyze. Using your knowledge of the text and the dramatic terms, answer each question. Define any words that you do not understand…do not skip over them!

2. All responses must be labeled with the number of the item. Your responses should be written in complete statements; meaning, I should be able to infer the question by simply reading your answer. Your responses MUST be at least EIGHT sentences. You may exceed this (up to ten) if you need to.

Sentences one and two should be a LEVEL ONE/assertion response; it should be underlined. Sentence three should be a LEVEL TWO/evidence response; it should be a “passage from the text” in quotation marks. Sentences four and five should be a LEVEL THREE/commentary #1 response. Sentences six, seven and eight should be a LEVEL FOUR/commentary #2 response.

In ALL responses there should be a “quoted” reference to the text (i.e. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare) through the use of LEVEL TWO quotes and examples.

3. Repeat the process for each question. DO NOT SKIP ANY QUESTIONS.

*FINAL NOTE: These are DISCUSSION questions. Therefore, there MUST be a considerable amount of DISCUSSION. No explanation or elaboration of your answer will result in the loss of points. You must have at least EIGHT or more sentences in your response (depending on the question). ALL RESPONSES MUST BE IN COMPLETE STATEMENTS. You must have fully discussed one question before moving to the next. ALL RESPONSES MUST BE SUPPORTED.

TYPING AND STYLE RULES: When I evaluate your work, I will be looking for substantial compliance of the following:

• Use this ALL CAPS/underlined/centered heading: STUDY QUESTION RESPONSES FOR ROMEO AND JULIET BY WILLIAM SHAKEPEARE
• Question responses must be phrased in COMPLETE STATEMENTS. (automatic -50 if this is not followed)
• Question responses must be SINGLE SPACED (add one space between each response)
• Question responses must follow the eight sentence format. (automatic -50 if this is not followed)
• Question responses must be numbered accordingly. (automatic -10 if this is not followed)
• Times New Roman and 12 point font ONLY! (automatic -10 if this is not followed)
• Margins should be 0.5” all around (i.e. Top, Bottom, Left, and Right). (-5)
• The main idea of each question response should be clear and concise. The overall gist (meaning) of your question responses, opinions, arguments, etc. should be clearly stated. (-2)
• Provide details adequate to support your response. Use examples from the play (act or scene) to support your response. (automatic -10 if this is not followed)
• Indicate knowledge of the subject (you did read the play or listen to our discussions…didn’t you?)
• Omit phrases like I think, in my opinion, it seems to me, or for one since a subjective response is already recognized as your opinion. (automatic -10 if this is not followed)
• DO NOT USE PERSONAL PRONOUN REFERENCES (I (-2), you (-2), us (-2), we (-2), my (-2), me (-2), our (-2))
• STIFF PENALTIES FOR SIMPLE GRAMMAR MISTAKES…PLEASE PROOFREAD YOUR WORK (-5 for sentence structure errors, -3 for grammatical errors, and -2 for spelling errors)
• DO NOT USE CONTRACTIONS (automatic -2 for each contraction)
• PROOFREAD YOUR PAPER CAREFULLY AND CORRECT YOUR ERRORS! I AM NOT YOUR PROOFREADER!
• Use ‘William Shakespeare,’ ‘Shakespeare,’ or ‘the author.’ DO NOT USE ‘WILLIAM’ OR ‘MR. SHAKESPEARE’…YOU AND THE AUTHOR ARE NOT ON A FIRST NAME BASIS!!!! (-10 if not present)
• Stick to the assigned main idea and purpose. Do not include any extraneous information that is not relevant to the topic of your question responses. If you deviate from the assignment I will deduct points.
• Your name and honor code MUST be written on the back of the last page only. If your name appears on the front, or if you scratch out your name you will lose points. (-10 if not present)
• Your final work must have THIS SHEET and the COPY OF THE QUESTIONS attached to the front. If you do not use the rubric you will not know how to earn an A paper. PLEASE CONSULT THE RUBRIC SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR AND EXPECTING. (-10 if not present)

OBJECTIVE: Students should be able to demonstrate their knowledge of dramatic literary elements, and their ability to produce LEVEL 2 objective (factual or provable) response and LEVEL 3 or 4 subjective (opinionated) responses. They will also be evaluated on their ability to make inferences and identify the main idea of specific passages, as well as their ability to participate in a group discussion.

STANDARDS: --- (for full description see course standards sheet)

DUE DATES: n/a FINAL COPY 6/9/10 @11:59 PM www.turnitin.com COPY

PLEASE READ THESE WARNINGS:

1. TAKE YOUR TIME AND REVIEW YOUR WORK. DO NOT INSULT YOURSELF OR ME BY TURNING IN WORK THAT REPRESENTS LITTLE TO NO EFFORT!!!!!

2. YOU MUST DO YOUR OWN WORK!!!!! ANY EVIDENCE OF COLLABORATION ON THIS ASSIGNMENT WILL RESULT IN SWIFT PUNISHMENT THAT WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN INTERGITY REFERRAL AND A ZERO.