On some occasions, you will be given a question or a topic to write about. On those days when no specific topic is assigned and you are asked to simply write a response to an article or to assigned pages from a book, follow the procedure outlined below:
1. Select one topic from any section of the reading assigned for the day.
2. Summarize the topic in your own words and indicate the page number and the text it comes from so that we can find it quickly in class.
3. Write a paragraph (or more, if specifically asked to) in which you weigh, analyze, or otherwise evaluate your topic. What is significant about it (what changes occurred because of the events or personalities you chose to write about? Was the course of world history altered because of what happened?) What do you think about your topic and why? What conclusions can you draw? When writing about historical events, your response should address WHAT happened, WHEN it happened, WHERE it happened, WHO was involved, and WHY or HOW it happened.
In addition, be sensitive to the following: Yale Historian Paul Kennedy (among others) defines History as the study of change over time. Therefore, it is appropriate for historians to study the present as well as the past. And, with the help of our imaginations and our reasoned analysis of the past and present, historians can also think about what the future may bring. The most important questions to ask yourself as you read and write, then, are, WHAT HAS CHANGED?, WHAT IS CHANGING?, and even, WHAT MAY CHANGE IN THE FUTURE? These questions may not all be appropriate at any given moment, but, you should train yourself to be sensitive to those occasions when they are applicable.
4. Type your Reading Responses and print one copy to hand in .
5. Save a copy to your Virtual Desktop.
6. Be prepared to read your piece out loud in class and discuss it.
Click here for key to frequently used paper editing symbols.