Independent Reading Assignment

Now that you’ve finished reading your book, here’s what you need to do:

• Minimum two annotated pages from your text. Photocopy the pages, leaving ample room in the margins for your annotations.

• In a succinct paragraph, identify and describe the author’s primary purpose. After identifying the primary purpose, include any more specific, related points (2-4) the author makes. NOTE: This paragraph should cover the entire text, not any one particular section. For example, the sample below covers the entirety of MLK, Jr.’s essay:

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King’s primary purpose is to argue the necessity of civil disobedience as a means to overcome injustice. In doing so, he directly refutes the Alabama clergymen’s contention that he is an outsider. In fact, King makes the point that there can be no “outsiders” in the United States for “an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  Furthermore, King argues that racial segregation in Alabama is as much a religious issue as it is a legal one. (And so on…)

In the final sentence(s) of the paragraph, summarize the types of evidence the author uses to make his/her points.  For example,

King employs biblical allusions, deductive reasoning, contrasting imagery, patriotic appeals, and historical evidence, among other strategies, to advance his argument.

• Analyze 5 passages of significance from the text. Each passage should be anywhere from 1 to 3 or 4 paragraphs, depending on the length of the paragraphs.

Divide your document into two columns. Label the first column “What it Says.” In the first column, retype the passage and include the MLA page citation.

Label the second column “What it’s Doing and Why it’s Important.” In the second column, describe the purpose and effectiveness of the passage: what is the purpose of the passage, how does it relate to the overall purpose of the text, what strategies is the author using in this passage and why, etc. Be specific in your analysis. One or so well-developed paragraphs should suffice.

Click here to download a template for the double-entry journal:

Double Entry Journal Template: Current Word (Apple Pages users can use this version)

Double Entry Journal Template 97-2003 Version