Double Entry Journals - Additional Info

In class we have covered our original DEJ Instructions.
There have been a few great questions asked that I wanted to answer for everyone:

1.) What exactly constitutes a quotation?

A quotation can be narration OR dialogue. You are NOT limited just to what the characters say.

2.) What kinds of quotations should I choose and what should I write about?

Find passages that you think help us better understand the author’s subject matter, characterizations, attitude, and especially THEMES (messages/”big ideas”). If you find yourself simply repeating what the quotation says, you might want to select a different quotation or reevaluate how you are approaching the response. NO SUMMARIES!

3.) How long should my responses be?

While I am more concerned with the depth of your thought, you need to stretch yourself and write a few sentences about each (at least three and possibly more).

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Example: To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 1

Quotations	Responses
“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow . . . (3). (My Note: I have not included the entire quotation to which I am referring. Instead, I use an ellipsis [ . . . ] to quote only the part that is most important to what I want to talk about.)	I remember breaking my foot before a choir concert. I was not feeling well and had to leave the risers before a concert. When I was hopping down from the third riser, I landed on the side of my foot and broke it. All I cared about when I was recovering was being able to walk without crutches or a walking cast again. This seems to be how Jem kind of feels. (Making a Connection)
Atticus, the lawyer, “knew his people, they knew him, and because of Simon Finch’s industry, Atticus was related by blood or marriage to nearly every family in the town” (5). (My Note: Instead of quoting the part about Atticus and his job immediately before this, I put it as a side note at the front before the quotation.)	Atticus seems to be a well-respected person in Maycomb, and since he is a lawyer, he also must be fairly   intelligent. Maycomb must be a relatively small town where everyone knows everyone if Atticus is indeed related to most of the people. I think Atticus most likely will play an important role in this book because of his position. (Interpeting/Making a Prediction)
“There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go . . . nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself” (7, 8). (My Note: Since my quotation wraps to the next page, I made a note of it by putting both pages numbers after the quotation. Notice that there is ALWAYS a page number after each quotation.)	Apparently Maycomb is also a very slow, sleepy town that is pretty isolated from everything else. This seems to be especially true since they only have a “vague” notion of FDR’s speech (an allusion to the Great Depression of the 1930s – must be the era in which the story takes place) and there is “nothing” outside of Maycomb County. I wonder why they see the world this way – maybe people don’t travel because of the Depression or because that’s just not what people did. (Interpreting/Asking a Question)
“The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb. . . .” (9). (My Note: In my response, I touched on one of the themes of the novel—prejudice—which is appearing in an atypical way.)	It seems that the town is a little closed minded in viewing the Radleys since they don’t go to church or do other things common in Maycomb. This seems to be a prejudice against their lifestyle since it seems that the town might not really know them and has become pretty superstitious about them. People often get suspicious about what they don’t understand or what seems strange to them. (Extending the Meaning)