REL 301 Ancient Near Eastern Religions and Cultures

How to Write Reading Responses

For the second day in every pair of class periods on a particular topic (that is, January 17, 24, 31, February 7, 14, 28, March 6, 20, 27, April 3, 10, 17, 29), students must turn in a reading response by 9 a.m. Reading responses should contain 50-150 words. They should not contain notes on the reading, but respond to some of the reading questions for that assignment by asking questions about and presenting reactions to the reading that show that the student has done the assignment. The reading questions for each assignment may be found on the online syllabus by clicking on that day's topic.

Notes should be taken and kept separately. Do not assume that once you are able to answer the reading questions, that you have therefore learned all that you need to know from that reading assignment! Tests may well ask about other issues in the readings.

Reaction papers will be graded on a “plus-check-minus” system, where a “check” means that this it is acceptable work, “plus” means that the student has shown very strong insight, and “minus” means that the next papers need to show greater awareness of the readings and diligence in doing the assignment.

They must be turned in electronically to Airen Hall, TA, either by e-mail attachment or by using the Digital Dropbox in the REL 301 section of Blackboard. (Give each assignment a unique name and remember to press the “Send” button! Select Airen Hall, the TA, as the recipient. To enroll in Blackboard and take the student tutorial on using the system, go to http://blackboard.syr.edu/.)