Reading Journal Overview

The Things They Carried Journal Assignment

Overview:  Tim O’Brien’s honest and perspective-changing novel, The Things They Carried, reads like a memoir about the Vietnam War, although it is in fact a work of fiction.  On the copyright page of the novel appears the following: "This is a work of fiction. Except for a few details regarding the author's own life, all the incidents, names, and characters are imaginary."  Although Tim O’Brien did serve as a foot soldier in the Vietnam War and a character named Tim O’Brien appears in the novel, the author invents soldiers, places, and events to get to the truth of the Vietnam War as he knows it.  A stunningly realistic tribute to the soldiers’ experience of Vietnam, The Things They Carried was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Directions:  Create a blog on Blogger that will become the platform for your reading journal. As you read the novel, your blog/journal will become a record of your thoughts, ideas, impressions, and questions about each reading assignment.  Writing about what you've read has several benefits: it enables you to remember what you've read; it exposes weaknesses in your understanding; it raises questions you might not otherwise think about; it stimulates observations you might not otherwise have made; it helps you keep a record of characters, events, and themes and thereby helps in studying and reviewing material.

Your reading journal will include:

1. One entry for each reading section and additional entries as assigned in class. (See list on next blog post.)
2. A heading for each entry, which includes the reading assignment you’re responding to.
3. Your own reading notes, ideas and questions about each reading assignment.  These notes should contain frequent page-numbered references. General comments that aren’t supported with quotes or retellings of the story that don’t contain questions or comments are not acceptable.
4. Responses to questions and/or writing prompts assigned in class.

Format:

• Length:  each journal entry should be between 250 and 300 words.
• While the journal does not need to be written in a formal style, correcting all mechanical errors before you submit each entry is expected.

Grading:

• Each journal entry will be assessed based on the following criteria:
• Quality of Ideas:  Entry shows evidence of deep engagement with the text. Comments are insightful. (5 points)
• Development of Ideas:  Ideas are fully developed with commentary and supported with concrete details from the text. Response meets length requirement. (10 points)
• Presentation:  Entries are neat, titled, and edited. (5 points)