Exam Sample Questions |
Exams in this class involve three kinds of questions: quotation identification, short answer, and essay. As a rule, I give the essay as a take-home component of the class, so you will have the questions in advance and will be able to prepare for them outside of class. Quotation identification and short answer questions must be answered in class, however. I've included below both the directions and a set of sample questions for the exams in this course to help you prepare. Don't forget to review Suggestions for Taking Exams.
Quotation Identification |
Identify the source, including author and title, of the quotations given below. Explain briefly the context of the quotation, and then explain its significance. In other words, why is the quote important? Remember that significance weighs most heavily in quotation identification. (10 points per question)
- Also there was found more of their corn and of their beans of various colors; the corn and beans they brought away, purposing to give them full satisfaction when they should meet with any of them as, about some six months afterward they did, to their good content. . . . And here is to be noted a special providence of God, and a great mercy to this poor people, that here they got seed to plant them corn the next year, or else they might have starved.
Source: William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation
Context: Bradford is explaining here how the colonists of Plymouth Plantation survived their first winter in the new world; in this case, by taking the Indian's stores of food and using them for seed for crops the next year.
Significance: The quote illustrates the Puritan's attitude towards their settlement, the Indians, and God. Not only did they feel perfectly entitled to take the Indian's food without permission, but they felt it was an act of God's providence, a demonstration of his favoring of the Puritans. In this interpretation, they give no credit to the Indians, nor any opportunity for them to refuse to help, although to their credit they did at least come to some agreement with them about taking their seed later. God's providence provides the sole support of the Puritan mission in the new world.
To give you an idea of how each of these elements is evaluated: generally if a quotation identification question counts for 10 points, you receive 1 point for the correct identification of the author and 1 for the title, 3 points for the context, and 5 points for significance.
Short Answer |
Read each question carefully and answer it in complete sentences unless otherwise directed. Be sure to answer all parts of the question. (5-10 points per question)
- How does the idea of a Muse function in Bradstreet's "The Prologue"? When Bradstreet refers to her Muse as a "foolish, broken, blemished" one, what does she mean? (8 pts)
- Define secular humanism and give an example from any one of the texts we've studied. (10 pts)
Questions and answers for this type of question will vary significantly enough to make a sample answer here fairly unhelpful; the format of the question itself should be enough to allow you to prepare.
Homework |
Respond to the quote below as if you were answering a quotation identification exam question (use the directions above). This exercise will be due at our next class meeting.
Thou ill-form'd offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth did'st by my side remain,
Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true
Who thee abroad, expos'd to publick view;
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
This page copyright 2000-2007 by Lisa Hammond | last update 19 July 2005