Write about Genesis or Job and choose between the creative option and the personal connection option.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT #1
LENGTH: 2-3 double-spaced pages
DUE DATE: 11:59 pm on Thursday, October 7
Over the course of the semester, you’ll write three 2-3 page assignments. Each one will be written in a different genre (creative, personal, or argumentative) about a different text. For the first assignment, you will write about Genesis or Job and choose between the creative option and the personal connection option. Whatever option you choose this time, next time you’ll have to make a different choice. So if for example you pick the creative option now, you’ll pick the connection or analysis option next time when you’re writing about the ancient Greek texts. Here’s an explanation of your two options for WA#1.
CREATIVE OPTION (GENESIS “FANFICTION”)
Write a story inspired by a character or situation in Genesis. Ways to do this include rewriting an event in Genesis from an alternative perspective, writing a “missing scene” (something that wasn’t part of the original text, but could have been), transforming a plotline from Genesis so that it goes in a different direction, or creating a new version of a Genesis story set in modern times. Feel free to write from a particular character’s point of view (“in first person”) or from the perspective of a narrator as in the original text. To figure out what story to write, think about the characters or plots in Genesis that were most compelling or perhaps most unsatisfying to you. What would you have liked to know that the original text didn’t tell you? Whose perspective would you have liked to see? What if some key element of the story were altered or the characters made different decisions? Which stories would work out differently in the twenty-first century? Considering such questions may give you ideas for how to put a new spin on a character or situation from Genesis by writing your own story in your own words. Here are a few examples – but I encourage you to come up with an idea of your own!
a scene from Cain and Abel’s childhood
the story of Noah’s ark updated for the modern world
Hagar’s point of view on what it’s like to deal with Abraham and Sarah
a story where God asks Sarah, not Abraham, to sacrifice Isaac
PERSONAL CONNECTION OPTION (JOB OR GENESIS)
Write about a character or situation in one of these texts that connects with something you went through. To complete this assignment successfully, you’ll need to explain both the situation in the original text and how it connects to something similar that you experienced. Please analyze the connection in detail. In what ways does the text shed light on your own experience? How would you compare and contrast the character’s behavior and ideas to your own? Your goal is to write thoughtfully about your own specific experience while showing knowledge and insight about the text that you’re relating yourself to. Here are a few possible connections to explore –
but feel free to come up with your own!
Did you ever struggle to understand why you were suffering, like Job?
Did you every misinterpret someone else’s suffering, like Job’s friends did?
Did you ever get caught up in toxic jealousy, like Sarah or Cain did?
Did you ever negotiate with someone powerful to convince them to act fairly, like Abraham?
GUIDELINES FOR BOTH OPTIONS
Formatting: Use 12 point Times New Roman and one-inch margins. Double-space evenly throughout (without extra spacing between paragraphs) for two to three pages total. Don’t waste space. Your three-line heading should ONLY include your name, class section, and option chosen (Creative or Connection). Give your assignment an original title, centered above the text.
Using the Texts: Use only the assigned translations of Genesis or Job posted on Blackboard, without bringing in Bible stories or passages that weren’t assigned. If you use a quotation, cite chapter and verse numbers in parentheses, with a colon in between. Here’s an example: Job says his friends “wandered off, like water in a wadi” (6:15).
Submitting: Save your document with a filename that includes your last name. Using the SafeAssign link in the Submission Portals area, upload your file in MS Word or pdf format. If your original file is in another format, export your doc to Word or pdf before uploading it. Essays unreadable by SafeAssign will have to be resubmitted and will be marked late accordingly.
Note on Academic Honesty: No paper should include any unassigned sources or “outside research,” whether credited or uncredited. Don’t plagiarize. Plagiarism means using someone else’s words, work, ideas, and/or assistance without giving them credit. To avoid plagiarism, stick to the assigned readings. Examples of plagiarism include:
copying phrases and sentences from the Internet, from books, and/or from other students’ papers without acknowledging the source
copying phrases and sentences from introductions, notes, commentaries, and/or supplements to our texts without acknowledging the source
presenting ideas, papers, phrases, sentences, and/or paragraphs that you got from other people or online sources as your own
taking writing you found online, switching some words around, and putting it in your own assignment to make it seem like you came up with it yourself
having a friend, relative, or other informal tutor contribute some or all of your assignment
using an online tool such as a “plagiarism checker” to provide paraphrases for plagiarized material
If you submit work that contains plagiarism, blaming someone else (such as claiming that another person gave you the plagiarized material or advised you to use it) is not an excuse––the only person responsible for the work that you submit is you. If a “plagiarism checker” gives your assignment a clean scan, that doesn’t protect you from an F grade for plagiarism either. In fact, if you do your work with academic integrity, you will have zero need for a “plagiarism checker.”
A first incident of plagiarism, no matter how small, means a permanent F for that assignment or grading component, with no opportunity to revise, resubmit, or make up the plagiarized work. I will also report what happened to the Academic Integrity Office. A second incident of plagiarism means an F for the entire course and an additional report to the Academic Integrity Office.
Grading: This assignment is worth 16% of your final grade and will be given a simple letter grade of A, B, C, D, or F, based on the criteria for each option.
Creative Option Grading Criteria:
Did you write a story showing original thinking, style, and perspective?
Did your story substantively explore your creative concept, following the instructions for the
creative option?
Did your story show familiarity with and understanding of the original text and the class
meetings in which we discussed it?
Was your story written with clarity, using standard paragraph and sentence structure,
appropriate word choices, and correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization?
Did your story follow the assignment guidelines, including instructions as to length, heading,
font, title, spacing, margins, filename, text, and citations?
Personal Connection Option Grading Criteria:
Did you convincingly link your experience to the text in a way that sheds light on both?
Did your essay substantively explore the topic you chose, following the instructions for the
personal connection option?
Did your essay show familiarity with and understanding of the original text and the class
meetings in which we discussed it?
Was your essay written with clarity, using standard paragraph and sentence structure,
appropriate word choices, and correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization?
Did your essay follow the assignment guidelines, including instructions as to length, heading,
font, title, spacing, margins, filename, text, and citations?
TIPS FOR EACH OPTION
PERSONAL CONNECTION TIPS: Remember that your essay should show a thoughtful understanding of the original text and its nuances. Challenge yourself to go beyond the simple versions of these stories you may have encountered in pop culture. This can be especially tricky with the Book of Job, because it’s tempting to stick with the easy first couple of chapters and ignore or misinterpret the complicated stuff that comes next. But let me suggest that the first couple of chapters of Job are actually the LEAST relatable. It’s hard to make a convincing connection to being the Adversary and hanging out with God. It’s also hard to make a convincing connection to having a zillion camels. But lots of people can relate to how Job experiences, understands, and reacts to his suffering as the text continues, and lots of people can also relate to how Job’s friends interpret and react to his suffering. So if you’re writing about a personal connection to the book of Job, those are probably the most effective connections to explore in your paper. (And please ––don’t waste space summarizing the Adversary’s conversations with God or exactly how many of which kinds of livestock Job has.)
CREATIVE OPTION TIPS: The creative option can be confusing because not everyone has experience writing stories. But if you choose the creative option, you should be writing a work of fiction with characters and a plot. You are not writing a traditional essay. For example, look at the difference between these three passages. Only one of them represents the kind of creative writing I am looking for.
If Prof. Fried saw a lion on the subway, I think she would probably be really scared.
Usually the only wild animals New Yorkers see on the subway are pigeons and rats. In
this essay, I will prove my thesis that having a large carnivore in the subway instead would be disruptive to mass transit.
3. One day, Prof. Fried walked into the train station and was shocked to see a giant lion on the platform! She was about to run and hide in terror when the lion said politely, “Don’t worry, I’m vaccinated.”
“Awesome!” said Prof. Fried, who was still worried that the lion would eat her.
“I’m the new nursing instructor at York College,” explained the lion. “Do you know what train I need to take to get to Jamaica?”
Prof. Fried breathed a sign of relief. “Sure, just get on the E train with me,” she said. She and the lion traveled to school together.
With the first passage, someone is predicting how Prof. Fried might react if a weird thing happened––that’s NOT a story. With the second passage, someone is introducing an argumentative essay about animals on the subway––that’s NOT a story. With the third passage, someone is finally telling the STORY of the day Prof. Fried met a lion on the subway, as if it actually happened. That’s the kind of writing I am looking for in the creative option. If you are writing the creative option, make sure your Genesis fanfiction tells a story!

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