Writing Assignments

The table below lists each assignment’s week and due date; the sections that follow describe each non-thesis assignment in full. The calculus notebook is set up in Week 1 and then kept all year rather than falling due again. Thesis checkpoints have their own table and descriptions in the Senior Thesis part of this guide.

Wk	Date	Assignment
1	8/27	Create the calculus notebook — set up and kept through Week 29
2	9/3	Three accounts of origins — 600–900 word essay comparing Hesiod, Genesis 1–2, and Spielvogel Ch. 1
5	9/24	Paragraph #1 — the embassy to Achilles (Iliad Book 9)
6–7	10/1, 10/8	College application essays
10	11/5	Essay #1 — Iliad literary analysis, 1,200–1,500 words
11	11/12	Paragraph #2 — is Oedipus guilty?
13	12/3	Paragraph Defense (Paragraph #3) — one crafted paragraph on the Spielvogel–Theology interface, defended aloud
14	12/10	Paragraph #4 — Calypso and the refusal of immortality (Odyssey Book 5)
16	1/14	Interpretation Essay (Goldsworthy) — 800–1,000 word interpretive essay, plus a ~300-word response
18	1/28	Renaissance humanism debate (in-class)
20	2/11	Paragraph #5 — Orthodoxy, “The Ethics of Elfland”
22	2/25	Paragraph #6 — Dido and the cost of pietas (Aeneid Book 4)

The Calculus Notebook (Set Up in Week 1)

Created in Week 1, kept through Week 29

The calculus notebook records the student’s work through Calculus Made Easy. It collects the central ideas, notation, definitions, formulas, worked examples, and exercises worth keeping. Use a bound notebook rather than loose paper: the point is a single object that grows all year and can be read back at the end of it.

Setting it up. The notebook carries the student’s name on the front cover and a title page with the course title and name. It has a table of contents listing topics and page numbers, and page numbers at the foot of every page after the title page. Reserve three sections near the front and add to them throughout the year:

Notation — 4+ pages
Definition Glossary — 6+ pages
Formula Collection — 4+ pages

In Notation, record each symbol or form worth remembering: the symbol, how it is read aloud, what it means, and an example of its use. In the Definition Glossary, record important terms and their definitions — clear, brief, and in the student’s own words wherever possible. In the Formula Collection, record rules and formulas as they are introduced, with enough explanation to recover later what the formula does, what each symbol stands for, and when it may be used.

The body of the notebook is organized by the chapters of Calculus Made Easy. Label each new chapter clearly and add it to the table of contents. For each major topic, include:

The topic, given a clear name.
The central idea, explained briefly in the student’s own words. Focus on what the mathematics means, not only on the steps used to solve a problem.
New notation introduced in the topic, recorded and explained; anything important also goes to the Notation section at the front.
Worked examples — one or more, showing how the idea or method works, with enough work shown that the example is still intelligible on a return visit months later.
The assigned exercises, worked neatly with the important steps visible. Correct errors clearly rather than erasing all evidence of the original attempt; a visible correction is worth more than a clean page.

Keep the notebook organized, readable, and mathematically correct. Graphs, diagrams, tables, written explanation, and color are all welcome whenever they make an idea clearer, and a topic may take as many pages as it requires.

Three Accounts of Origins (Due Week 2)

600–900 words

Week 1’s readings put three accounts of origins side by side: Hesiod’s Theogony, Genesis 1–2, and the Mesopotamian and Egyptian religious material in Spielvogel Ch. 1. Write a 600–900 word comparison anchored in three questions: What exists first, and what does that imply about the divine? How does the world come to be ordered — by combat, by craft, by command? And what is man’s place in it? Quote each source at least once, citing by line (Hesiod), chapter and verse (Genesis), and page (Spielvogel).

The One-Page Paragraphs (Due Weeks 5, 11, 13, 14, 20, 22)

One page each — a single substantive paragraph

Six times across the year, an assignment of exactly one page: a single, fully developed expository paragraph of approximately 300 words that takes a position on a whether question and defends it. The form is deliberately small and strict, because it is the thesis in miniature: a student who can build one paragraph that carries an argument can build the twenty-five or thirty that carry the thesis. Each paragraph is due at the meeting of the week listed; the full instructions follow the prompts.

Paragraph #1 (Week 5). Iliad Book 9. Agamemnon offers Achilles treasure, honor, and a king’s daughter, and Achilles refuses. Is he right to refuse — and what, if anything, would be worth returning for?
Paragraph #2 (Week 11). Oedipus Rex. Is Oedipus guilty?
Paragraph #3 (Week 13). The Paragraph Defense, described below — written to the same standard as the others, and defended aloud under questioning.
Paragraph #4 (Week 14). Odyssey Book 5. Calypso offers Odysseus immortality, and he chooses the sea, an aging wife, and a mortal homecoming. Is his refusal wisdom or folly?
Paragraph #5 (Week 20). Orthodoxy, Ch. IV, “The Ethics of Elfland.” Chesterton claims the fairy tale sees the world more truly than the fatalist. Is he right — does wonder see the world more truly than fatalism does?
Paragraph #6 (Week 22). Aeneid Book 4. Aeneas leaves Dido at the command of the gods. Is his leaving virtue or cruelty — and what does pietas cost the person who practices it?

Writing an Expository Paragraph

The purpose of exposition is to explain a discovery, to persuade the reader of an order and meaning not obviously apparent. In all six single-paragraph assignments, your task will be to 1) examine the material carefully, 2) form a view, 3) state it as a thesis, 4) explain how it follows from the evidence, and 5) use enough of that evidence for convincing illustration. (Pretend that your paragraph comes from the body of an essay, and is framed by others — don’t make it a general introduction to the subject area.)

Basic points:

An expository paragraph can serve only one thesis, which should be clearly stated in a single sentence. The naming of the subject is not the thesis.
A good paragraph makes sure the reader is informed about crucial terms.
A paragraph moves the reader in an orderly way from one point to the next, providing transitions along the way. Every sentence exists to help prove the paragraph’s thesis.
Stating a point is not the same as explaining it; a paragraph must guide, keeping the reader’s needs in mind.
A good paragraph integrates the specific and general, making them serve each other. A series of generalizations can never make an effective exposition.
A good paragraph features a variety of sentence lengths and types.

Getting a thesis:

Read the question with care, and focus on what it asks you to consider.
Your thesis will not simply be a record of how you feel about a character, situation, etc. These assignments are not about your emotional temperature.
As you read, look for evidence that pertains to the specific issue at hand. This will be your “data,” and it will be a series of facts, moments, etc. You will not find the answer in a single sentence of the text. In virtually every case, there is no single correct answer, but you must synthesize an idea from the evidence.
Sift through your “data.” What tendencies can you find in it? Does it seem to hint at a proposition you are to consider? To create a thesis, you must have more than one element present — there should be some kind of problem, or tension, present. (For example, you might think that in the opening chapters of Les Misérables Jean Valjean is merely an evil criminal, but to conclude that is to ignore a great deal of information.)
Press yourself until you have stated your thesis in a single clear sentence: this is the proposition you want to communicate to your reader. If you merely cite what you noticed, your reader will ask, “So what?” Your paragraph must answer that question.
Decide where you want the thesis statement to appear in your paragraph (to begin, unless you feel exceptionally confident, the first sentence is recommended) and how you are going to persuade your reader of its merits. Stating an idea is not the same as explaining an idea. The reader was not inside your head to witness your own process of arranging and concluding from the “data.”
You might well find that in writing the paragraph, you change your mind about the conclusion you want to put forward. In that case, modify your thesis as you compose.

Common pitfalls:

Your musings might well produce two or three possible thesis statements. Eliminate all but one.
You are not writing an essay, so avoid general introductory remarks, apologies, mini-narratives of your progress in the work, etc. Your finished product should resemble a self-contained paragraph from within the body of an essay.
Do not summarize the events of the story. Retelling the narrative provides no logical support for your thesis.

The guidance in this section is adapted from handouts used in the literature courses of Dr. Kerry Ahearn of Oregon State University.

College Application Essays (Weeks 6–7)

Weeks 6 and 7 are cleared for college application work ahead of the November 1 early-application deadlines: reduced theology reading, no new history chapter in Week 6, and nothing due in either week. Use the time on application essays. Students who want feedback may bring drafts to the meetings.

Essay #1 — Iliad Literary Analysis (Due Week 10)

1,200–1,500 words

A literary analysis of the Iliad: take a contestable position on a question the poem itself raises — the anger of Achilles and what finally quiets it; honor and mortality; the gods and human responsibility; Hector and Achilles as rival images of excellence; what the meeting of Priam and Achilles does to the poem’s picture of war — and defend it from the text. Quote the Fagles translation and cite by book and line number. This is analysis, not summary: assume your reader knows the story, and spend your words on argument. The essay is also early practice for the thesis — a claim, evidence, and fair handling of complications, at small scale.

Paragraph Defense — The Spielvogel–Theology Interface (Due Week 13)

One paragraph — the third in the one-page paragraph series — defended aloud

Write one carefully crafted paragraph taking a position on a whether question at the interface between the Western Civilization reading so far (Spielvogel, Chs. 1–9) and the Theology strand. For example: whether the law of Sinai differs in kind from the Code of Hammurabi, or only in content; whether Israel’s demand for a king (1 Samuel 8) rejects God’s rule or fulfills His plan; whether the Roman Empire was the gospel’s chief obstacle or its providential road; whether the prophets and the historians explain the fall of Jerusalem in compatible ways. You may take one of these questions or craft your own of the same kind. At the meeting you will read the paragraph aloud and defend it in questioning, as practice for the thesis defense. Expect to be asked what evidence supports your claim, what would count against it, and how a thoughtful person might disagree.

Interpretation Essay — Goldsworthy Appendix C (Due Week 16)

800–1,000 words, plus a ~300-word response

Goldsworthy’s Appendix C sets ten Old Testament passages for interpretation and puts three questions to each: what did the text mean to the original writer; what does it mean in the light of the gospel; and what is its specific meaning to you or your hearers now. He then supplies his own notes on every passage, with the instruction not to read them until you have attempted your own answer. That instruction is the assignment.

Choose one passage from Appendix C — Deuteronomy 6:20–25; 1 Samuel 26; 1 Kings 18:17–40; Isaiah 2:1–4; Psalm 114; Amos 5:18–20; or, for the adventurous, Proverbs 3; 2 Samuel 23:1–7; Ezekiel 1; Malachi 4. Each student takes a different passage.

Write 800–1,000 words in three parts, answering Goldsworthy’s three questions in order, with the text itself as your primary evidence. Then — and only then — read his notes on your passage and add a fourth part of roughly 300 words: where does your reading differ from his, and which of you is right? Defend the answer.

The point is to interpret before consulting an authority, and then to be honest about the gap.

Renaissance Humanism Debate (Week 18, In Class)

In class

An in-class debate on the question: did Renaissance humanism serve or undermine Christian faith? The material is Spielvogel Ch. 12, read the previous week, together with the Renaissance documents read this week — Pico della Mirandola on the dignity of man, and Machiavelli set beside Erasmus. Sides are assigned at the meeting, so come knowing the chapter and the documents well enough to argue either position.