Responses are short homework assignments, but collectively they form a significant component of the course and grade. To prepare for responses, students will read assigned course material. Responses will be submitted electronically, but also discussed in class, so students should have ready access to them. Some general tips for effective responses are appended below. 

• Save your responses in a separate program then copy and paste them into the submission form. This will allow you to keep copies of your submitted responses and prevent the loss of material if form submission fails.


• Post your response by the deadline. Responses should be posted before class time on the day that they are due.


• Hit the length requirement. Length requirements are somewhat arbitrary, but they encourage the kind of sustained engagement necessary for a good response.


• Make certain to account for the complete prompt. If the prompt asks you to include specific information or talk about a particular point, be sure to do that.


• Demonstrate your engagement with the material. One reason why we do responses is to ensure that everyone is keeping up with the material. Make sure that your response demonstrates that you are engaged with the material by making reference to specific elements from the readings and games.


• Engage critically. Connect the material with other works inside and outside of class (and differentiate it from same). Show how the material resonates with broader social & cultural issues. Examine its arguments and contradictions. Explore how it fits and resists genre classification.


• Use grammar and structure that is appropriate for a professional context. Sentence-level grammar is important, in part because it gives the response an appropriate ethos. Also, your response should be structured into a coherent statement with a beginning, middle, and end. Don't just collect random thoughts into one monolithic block. As writers, we are obliged to make our material appropriately comprehensible.