1. Your literary response paper should give ample evidence that you have read and understood the literary work Imagine your audience to be classmates who have not read the literary work. From your discussion they should be able to get a good idea of what the work is aboutthe general storyline, main characters and themeperhaps information about the author. While the summary is important, the primary focus should be on your connection to the literary work, on how the themes of the literary works (not necessarily the literal details) are embodied in your life. See sample essays and instructions below. As stated in the syllabus, you need to have a minimum of four direct quotations, both short and long (over forty words should be blocked in APA/MLA format) from the literary work with appropriate Works Cited or References. These need to be formatted correctly in either MLA 7th edition or APA style. A papers will probably exceed minimum requirements. 2. Occasional citations from sources other than the literary work are possible but unnecessary: stay focused on the literary work you have chosen. 3. Length: 1000 words or so.
