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Spr2001AmericanNovel
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The American Novel
Instructor: Dr. Deborah Chappel
Charles Brockden Brown, WielandCourse Requirements: (l) One 50-minute midterm examination. Short answer and essay. Open book, open note. Tests cover material from presentations, assigned reading, lecture, class discussion, and handouts. Midterm exam is 15% of course grade. (2) Final examination. Same format as first exam, but cumulative. 30% of course grade. (3) Presentation on one of the following: A. Author's biography and work as it relates to the assigned novel. Presentation would be scheduled for the first day of discussion on that author. At the beginning of your presentation you should distribute a handout to all class members which will provide them with helpful information about the author and work you are discussing. You can use the handout as the basis of your presentation or let the information be self-explanatory and use your presentation time to focus on something else that interests you about the author/work you are studying. The handout should include the following: i--Brief biography of author (about 1-2 pages) Include information you as a student of literature find interesting and should be expected to know about this author's life. Be selective--include especially anything you would like to use in discussing the literature. Good sources for this information include The Dictionary of Literary Biography (in the reference section of our library) and editions on the authors in the Twayne's U.S. Author Series (these are shelved in the regular circulating stacks--look them up in the online catalog--the book title will be the name of the author). ii--Brief critical history (about 2-3 pages). Briefly discuss how this work was reviewed when it was first published (you may want to include paragraph excerpts from early reviews here) and how the critical history has developed. Best source for this is Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism (in the reference section of our library), or for the later authors, Twentieth Century Literary Criticism; Twayne's U. S. Author Series, introductions to bibliographies, recent editions of the text, and recent collections of critical essays on that author or novel also sometimes contain good overviews of the critical history of that novel. Don't just give us facts about the author; relate the author's life and the critical history to the novel being studied. You may want to focus on a central question about the novel, or present your own thesis. What seems to be the question critics are asking about this work now? You may also want to do an MLA search to get the titles of recent articles written about this work. B. Presentation on a critical or theoretical articles concerning one
of the novels studied. At the start of your presentation you would
distribute a handout to all the class members containing the following:
(4) Paper on any of the works studied during the semester. 6-8
pages with at least two critical sources. MLA format. 25% of
grade for course.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES If any student has a disability or problem which requires accommodation in order for the student to succeed in the course, that student should contact me as soon as possible. Every effort will be made to meet that student's needs. PLAGIARISM Plagiarism is a serious offense which could result in failure for the paper, failure for the course, and expulsion from Arkansas State University. If students have questions concerning the nature of plagiarism, they should ask me. INCLEMENT WEATHER In the event of snow or ice or other inclement weather, if it's dangerous for you to travel to campus call me at home to discuss the situation. MAKEUP POLICY It is extremely difficult to make up missed presentations, as these are so tightly scheduled. If you see that you will not be able to give your presentation, it is important to contact me as soon as possible. If you fail to show up on time, there will be no opportunity to make the presentation up. If you contact me as soon as you know there is a problem, I will make every effort to work with you to reschedule. GRADING Anticipated percentages for grading are as follows:
COURSE OUTLINE
FINAL EXAM TO BE ANNOUNCED
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This site is maintained by Deborah Chappel, dchappel@astate.edu This page was updated 07/18/05 |