• Dr. Elisa Kay Sparks
• Office: Strode Tower 613
• Office Phone: 656-5410
• Office Hours: MW 1:00-2:00; 4:00–5:00. T/Th 9:00-10:00; 3:30-4:30. And by appointment.
• E-Mail: sparks@clemson.edu
• Home Page: http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~sparks
• My answering machine is on my home phoneat 646-6232.
• Please be courteous about when you call. 

  ---

• I expect you to be here; I will be taking attendance.
• I will allow four absences -- total -- overthe course of the semester
• An absence is an absence; it doesn’t matterif it is excused or not.
• After four absences, your grade with be droppedone letter per absence. If you have an A in the course, with 5 absences,it becomes a B, with 6 a C, with 7 a D. Anyone with eight absences willfail the course; with a B average you fail with 7 absences. Is this VERYclear?

  ---

Journal--250 wds (one page) per day, 2 days per week ( 500 words per week) forthe total of 15 weeks in the semester -- in which you respond to the assignedreadings. I will be setting up a Eudora listserv for the class and everyonewill do their journals on the listserve so we can be reading and writingto each other. Journals are due by midnight Friday on the listserv; however,I hope people will do them as two, 250-word entries most nights beforeor after class. Journals must be posted to the class listserv, not to CLEetc. In the rare case when you don’t want to share your journal with therest of the class or you can’t get the listserv to work, you can send itto me privately at sparks@clemson.edu.You’ll get an e-mail from me by the first Friday explaining how to do thelistserv. Tests--Therewill be three long-answer ID tests and a final essay exam.Before the first quiz, there will be a review during which I will discussstrategies for taking ID tests. I will hand out possible questions forthe essay portion of the final the last week of class, and you will havetime to choose your question and prepare your answer. The final will, however,be closed book. Paper--You will write one short, out-of class paper (6-8 pp.=1500-2000 wds. Due Friday, April 12). Writing this paper will involve readinga book (a novel or play or collection of poems) not covered in the class.Your paper will compare and contrast major themes in the outside work tothemes discussed in class. I will give you (and post on the web site) alist of supplemental readings with some possible paper topics, and willreview the basics of writing a literary analysis paper in class. You willhave to turn in a proposal for the paper, listing at least three or fourbases for comparison immediately after Spring Break. This paper will notrequire the use of library or web resources or reading of literary criticism;it will just be you thinking about reading. Ifyou plagiarize this paper I will fail you for the whole course; trust me—it’snot worth it.  For the computerliterate -- another option instead of the paper might be to do a websiteon an author or book relevant to the course. The paper for this optionwould be slightly shorter.

---

 Evaluation
Your grade for the course will be basedon:

• Journal = 20% (.5 points per class day= 15%+ 5% quality grade at end)
• Tests = 60% (15% x 4 3 ID + final essay)
• Research Project = 15% (3% Proposal 12% paper)
• Class participation/ Presence = 5%

  ---

BooksNeeded (in Order of Use) Purchase books atthe Clemson Newsstand

• Jan 15: SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Vonnegut
• Jan 31: STICKS AND BONES by David Rabe(Dramatis)
• Feb 14 : CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF byTennesse Williams
• Feb 28: ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST byKen Kesey
• Mar 7: Woman on the Edge of Time by MargePiercy
• Mar 28: WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? ByEdward Albee
• Apr 9: Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• Apr 16: Flyin’ West by Pearl Cleage (Dramatis)

  ---

ClassWeb Site

I have built a web site for the class. Youcan get to it from my home page or go directly to:
<http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~sparks/209index.html>It contains:

• The complete, accurate and updated daily syllabus.This is the definitive syllabus for the course, containing journal assignments,writing assignments, links to e-texts and other course materials.

• Policy Statement
• Chronologies of Contemporary American History
• Links to Related information on the Web (authorbios, pictures, study guides etc.)