What does Sarah Davies say about the intent and design of the personality cult? What was it meant to do? Why the fixation on Stalin rather than the larger Soviet project? The Bolshevik future?

Response papers reinforce the mastery of class reading and allow for an alternate form of self-expression and instructor feedback. Response papers are to be written on a single prompt from next class’s question set—the list of upcoming discussion prompts which are distributed in advance of most class meetings. These writing assignments should run approximately two double-spaced pages (550words).

Response papers often briefly restate the relevant parts of the assigned reading, but do much more than that. First, they analyze the reading in light of the chosen prompt, often reading in between the lines in order to highlight specific aspects of the reading. Second, they broaden this analysis, either integrating it with the student’s point of view or comparing the reading to other, earlier class readings. This analysis should be strengthened with the use of evidence and examples from the reading. Block quotes are discouraged, as brief quotations or paraphrasing should almost always function best in this genre of brief writing. Include page numbers when including direct quotations.

Include at the end of the response paper a “Works Cited” line with the sources used in the paper.

Writing Prompt:

What does Sarah Davies say about the intent and design of the personality cult? What was it meant to do? Why the fixation on Stalin rather than the larger Soviet project? The Bolshevik future?

Why, according to Davies, did Stalin periodically become frustrated with the cult? What was wrong with all the hallelujah?