On the form:

Few of the questionnaires submitted are written in correct English.  A few are under the minimum length.  If your paper does not show a grade, that means that as it is, it does not earn credit.  You may resubmit it by October 27th. A resubmitted questionnaire will not earn the full grade but will have 15 points deducted.  If I indicate so on the last page of your paper, you need to go to the Writing Center, in room 9, basement of Agnes Arnold Hall.  I am sending to all the students on the discussion list the announcement I received that this center is open, with a description of the help they can provide.

Let us make this a learning experience.  I transcribe here, anonymously of course, some examples of the problems I found, and I suggest how to improve them.

1)  Subject and verb do not agree:

"The balance between home and state [were] vital".
was

2) Convoluted or faulty sentence structure:

"Nausicaa's action of deceit having Odysseus as a version of a male concubine she did not win his love."

There is here a wrong assumption that is beyond my understanding.  I read it in two or maybe three papers, so perhaps it has the same origin.  I will attempt to correct the form only, but please note that this makes no sense even after editing.

Nausicaa deceived Odysseus as if he were the male counterpart of a concubine.  Therefore, he did not become her husband.

"The fact for a goddess to intermingle with the mor<t>als tells me two things
about Hestia."

That, being a goddess, Hestia mingles with mortals, suggests two traits of her personality.

or, even more simply:

Hestia mingles with mortals.  This shows two aspects of the goddess.

3) Run-ons (Strings of dependent clauses depending on one another.  The thought branches out so many times that it is impossible to follow.)

"Given this information Oenoma<us> made a deal that the suitor may take his daughter on his chariot and ride off but to be chased by Oenoma<us> and be caught and killed but if he were to survive he may keep his daughter to be his wife."

When he learned the prediction of the oracle, Oenomaus made sure that his daughter would not marry.  He forced the suitors to run a race against him, and because his horses were a divine gift, they all lost and he killed them. He promised that, if any were to survive,  he would give him his daughter in marriage.

Verb tensesmust agree.  Speak in the present with reference to a story.  If you shift to the past, do not leap from present to past every other word.

To understand the abbreviations on your paper, please look up the link to Abbreviations, in the Tests and Questionnaires page.

On the content:

I believe most of the erroneous interpretations are the result of extremely hasty reading and writing.  For instance, a couple of students refer to Nausicaa as if she had wished to take advantage of Odysseus, helpless after his wreck.  One person wrote that she wanted to have him "as a concubine."  That term is used to refer to the female slaves that the Homeric heroes took captive.  A woman would never take a man as a slave.  Two goddesses, Calypso and Circe, are able to retain Odysseus in their palaces, by charming him with their magic powers.  Nausicaa is the obedient child of wonderful parents, and her behavior on the shore applies the duties of hospitality she has learned from them.

My main concerns, however, are, first, wordy and repetitive statements, contradictions from one paragaph to the next... all signs of careless composition.  Second, it worries me to see that some students are still confusing myth and history.