Carman

English 11

Fall 2013

Memoir Book Clubs Dialectical Journal Assignment100 Points Due Tuesday, December 10 As you read, you will keep a dialectical journal of quotations from your book, and your reactions to, or analysis of, those quotations. You should compose this journal on your own paper, or you may type it, if you wish. Entries should be formatted like this: Page # Quotation or Reference Example: 8 But war made me more attractive I had no muscle to lose. Like the shrews that kept scavenging while the dinosaurs toppled around them, I was built for deprivation. Lev is saying that he is skinny and ugly. (This is not analysis. Level 2 or 3 question and answer, OR Text-to-text/world/self connection and explanation, OR Analysis of character, plot, symbol, word choice, imagery, tone, style, or theme.

This is just a rather skimpy summary. Analysis tells us not just what the author is saying, but why the author might be saying it. Analysis looks at the effect on the reader, or how this one small element fits into the book as a whole.)
Better Example:

Here we see that Lev is self-deprecating, but we also see how he can take a negative situation and turn it into a positive one. This must be a useful skill to have when you are living in a city besieged by the German army! I love that he compares himself to a shrew. Yes, dinosaurs are cooler, but dinosaurs are extinct, while shrews are survivors. I think Lev wants us to understand from the beginning that he may not be pretty, but hes a survivor.

You must complete 5 entries for each of the three sections of your book, for 15 TOTAL ENTRIES!

15 quotations = 15 points 15 analyses x 5 points each = 75 points Formatting/ Page #s = 5 points Spelling & Punctuation = 5 points Total = 100 points