Response paper 2: Othello
Due Date: Monday, 10/2, at the beginning of class.

Select one of the questions 23, 25, 28, or 29 on the list of questions I gave you for the play. Create a thesis that proposes an answer for the question and, in a 500-word, 2 page essay, defend the thesis with appropriate evidence in the form of quotes and brief summary of parts of the play. Please follow the format below, and do not neglect to submit a rough draft, significantly different from the second, revised draft that you wish to be considered for a grade. Also I remind you that your essay, like every essay submitted on the university level, must have a title that is not just a description of the assignment.

Format: Double-spaced, computer generated copy on white paper with my name and the course number, date, and response number in the top left corner. The title of the paper should be centered on the double space line beneath the heading. Your name (handwritten) should be on the back of the original and of the draft. The original and the draft should each be stapled and then paper-clipped together with the original in the front.

The Portfolio:
A final portfolio of your best writings from the term. In this class traditional grading of papers will be replaced with a portfolio system that enables you to be graded holistically on your total performance in the class instead of fragmentarily on each separate assignment. Portfolio building is a natural process: you write profusely and are graded on a selected few pieces of work-your "best" efforts-that you put in your final portfolio. This process is appropriate for this course because it parallels the composing methods used by authors such as the playwrights we have studied, many of whom wrote in large quantities and published selectively.
The portfolio should include 4 pieces in the following order:
1. An introduction of 750 words in which you reflect on how you have grown in appreciation for drama during the course of this semester, a description of the essays you have included in the portfolio to illustrate that growth, and a discussion of how and why you selected these pieces.
2, 3, 4. The three essays you have chosen for inclusion.

If you feel the introduction is a strong one, you may submit it to take the place of the final exam.