Updated May 7, 2009
Daily Assignments
Blackboard Access
Course Enriching
Links
Daily Assignments
Blackboard Access
Course Enriching
Links
Office: 24B Wilkinson
Phones:
997-6754 (office) 923-9545
(home - please don't call after 9pm.)
E-Mail: ruppel@chapman.edu
Office Hours:
Tuesday & Thursday, 2:15-3:15pm; Wednesday 11am-12pm, and by appointment
Meetings:
Tuesday & Thursday-10-11:15, Beckman Hall 202
Course
Syllabus
(Revisit this page through
the semester to see changes & updates)
Fiction
Readings & Paper Due Dates
Week 1 (February 3-5): Introduction & "Fiction: Reading, Responding, Writing" (pages 1-56)
Week 2 (February 10-12): "Understanding the Text": Plot, Narration & Point of View (pages 57-118)
Week 3 (February 17-19): "Understanding the Text": Character, Setting, Symbol (pages 119-214)
Week 4 (February 24-26): "Understanding the Text": Theme (215-306)
Essay Preparation:
Topics discussed & cleared: February 24
Early Polished Drafts: March 3-5
Final Drafts: March 10
Poetry Readings and Paper Due Dates
Week 6 (March 10-12): "Poetry: Reading, Responding, Writing," “Understanding the Text”: Tone (pages 398-430)
Week 7 (March 17-19): “Understanding the Text”: Speaker, Situation & Setting, Language (pages 416-500)
Week 8 (March 24-26): Sounds, Internal Structure, External Form, The Whole Text (pages 501-570)
Essay Preparation:
Topics discussed & cleared: March 24
Early Polished Drafts: March 31-April 2
Final Drafts: April 16
Drama Readings and Paper Due Dates
Week 11 (April 21-23): "The Whole Text" (780-783): August Wilson, The Piano Lesson
Week 12 (April 28-30): Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman.
Week 13 (May 5-7): Henrik Ibsen, A Doll House.
Week 14 (May 12-14): Early polished drafts:
Essay Preparation:
Topics discussed & cleared: May 7
Early Polished Drafts discussed: May 12-14.
Final Drafts: May 19
Course and Paper Requirements
Daily assignments: To prepare you to write the formal essays, I will make frequent writing assignments. These will constitute an important part of your final grade, so turn these in and take your time with them.Communication: Please be sure all of your communication, both online and in class, is courteous. I'm happy to have email exchanges, but I receive a LOT of email. So when you send me a message, please include the course number (104), your last name, and your subject in the subject line.
Late Papers: If you anticipate having trouble getting a paper in on time, let me know in advance. Late papers will be penalized one grade per week. To pass this class, you must turn in all of the major essays.
Final drafts of your formal essays should be submitted in Microsoft Word format, following MLA style.
Grades:
Participation, including Discussion Board posts:
25%
Fiction essay: 25%
Poetry essay: 25%
Drama essay: 25%
Absences: You may miss four classes over the semester. Any absences after that will affect your grade, and students with more than seven absences will fail the course.
Early Polished Drafts: Each of you will be required to submit one of your papers to be critiqued by the whole class. You will need to make copies of these early drafts. (I call them “Early Polished Drafts" on the syllabus) for each member of the class. Due dates for the first Early Polished Drafts and for Final Drafts are noted above.
Revisions: You may revise one of your essays for a new grade. You must discuss that revision with me in a conference before you rewrite the essay.
Chapman University Academic Integrity Policy:
Chapman University is a community of scholars that emphasizes the mutual responsibility of all members to seek knowledge honestly and in good faith. Students are responsible for doing their own work, and academic dishonesty of any kind will be subject to sanction by the instructor and referral to the university's Academic Integrity Committee, which may impose additional sanctions up to and including dismissal. (See the Undergraduate Catalog for the full policy.)
Students with disabilities Policy: In compliance with ADA guidelines, students who have any condition, either permanent or temporary, that might affect their ability to perform in this class are encouraged to inform the instructor at the beginning of the term. The University, through the Center for Academic Success, will work with the appropriate faculty member who is asked to provide the accommodations for a student in determining what accommodations are suitable based on the documentation and the individual student needs. The granting of any accommodation will not be retroactive and cannot jeopardize the academic standards or integrity of the course.
For Thursday, February 5:
Read pages 1-36 in our anthology, and answer the
Blackboard discussion question by 9am Thursday.
For Tuesday, February 10:
Read pages 37-51 & 57-81 in our anthology. Answer
the Blackboard discussion question by 7pm Monday (February 9).
For Thursday, February 12:
Answer the Blackboard discussion question concerning the
tone of "The Country Husband" by 9pm Wednesday.
For Tuesday, February 17:
Read pages 81-108 (the short story, "Sonny's Blues," and
"Narration and Point of View") and 119-132 ("Character" and the story, "Why I
Live at the P.O."). Answer the Blackboard discussion question by 7pm
Monday.
For Thursday, February 19:
Read Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" (133-161) and
"Setting" (165-66) & "Symbol" (195-97).
For Tuesday, February 24:
Read the brief chapter on "Theme" (215-16) and Conrad's
"The Secret Sharer" (237-67). Send me your topic and thesis for essay 1 by
7pm Monday (February 23).
For Thursday, February 26:
I'll be at a conference, so we won't have class. Be
sure you've had confirmation - either oral or via email - of your thesis for
fiction essay.
For Tuesday, March 2:
Early polished drafts from Gelver, Shawnee, Raymond,
Peter, Corey, Andrew, and John H. are due March 1 by 7pm. Send them
directly to me as an email attachment in MSWord.
For Thursday, March 12: Read
pages 398-415 in our text. By 10pm Wednesday (March 11), write a one-paragraph
explication of one of the poems on our Discussion Board. (For a good
description of an explication, click on the link below.) No poem may be
explicated more than once, so choose a later poem in the text if you need to.
For Tuesday, March 17:
Read pages 416-445. Once again, by 10pm March 16, briefly explicate a poem that hasn't already
been explicated on the discussion board.
For Thursday, March 19: Read
pages 446-500 in our text. Bring one question and one comment about your reading
to class.
For Tuesday, March 31:
Remember that we won't meet March 24 or 26 - I'll
be at the Sigma Tau Delta convention in Minneapolis. Read "The Sounds of
Poetry," "Internal Structure," and "The Whole Text" (501-539 & 560-570).
By Thursday, 10pm March 26, briefly explicate a
poem that hasn't already been explicated on the discussion board. And briefly
respond to one of your colleague's explications, noting something in the poem
your colleague might have missed or offering an alternative interpretation of a
particular passage or the poem as a whole. And by
10pm Monday, March 30, develop (and post on Blackboard) a thesis for a
paper on one of the poems in our anthology. Hannah, Johnny, Sarah, Sean, Alana,
Ryan, and Sabrina should be ready to send me (via email, in Microsoft Word)
early polished drafts Wednesday, April 1.
For Thursday, April 2:
Hannah, Johnny, Sarah, Alana, Ryan, and Sabrina should
have early polished drafts to me by 7pm Wednesday (April 1). I'll
distribute them to everyone, and we'll begin our workshop Wednesday.
Please print each of the essays and bring them to class.
For Tuesday, April 14: Read through all the
early polished drafts and bring copies to class.
For Thursday, April 16: Your poetry essays
are due by 11:59pm Thursday (April 16) night. Read pages 650-675 in our
Anthology and respond to the Blackboard question by 10pm Wednesday (April 15)
night.
For Tuesday, April 21: Read August Wilson's
The Piano Lesson (716-778), and answer the question on Blackboard by 10pm
Monday (April 20).
For Thursday, April 23: By 10pm Thursday night,
refine and expand your thesis on The Piano Lesson in Blackboard or
respond to someone else's thesis with suggestions.
For Tuesday, April 28: Read Arthur Miller's
Death of a Salesman. Answer the two questions on Blackboard by
10pm, Monday, April 27.
For Thursday, April 30: Refine your thesis on
the play.
For Tuesday, May 5: Read A Doll House
and respond to the Blackboard question by 10pm Monday (May 4) night.
For Thursday, May 7:
On Blackboard, develop a thesis concerning Ibsen's A Doll House
(by 10pm Wednesday, May 6).
For Tuesday, May 12: Email your thesis to me before class, when
we'll have an early polished draft workshop. Lauren,
Samantha, Eric, Alexandra, Kendall, Dennis, Brandon, and Kylie should have their
essays to me by 7pm Monday, May 11.
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