Dr. Copeland's Discussion Bulletin

Proposed Student-Written Exam Questions

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:45:28 GMT

Click on "Reply" below this prompt and type in a possible exam question. I will respond to it over the weekend, and students may also respond by clicking "Reply" under the question. Do not write your question in the "Quick Reply" box, for quick replies do not have titles, and there will have to be titles, or responses to them cannot be identified, for the responses will be listed in the order in which they are posted, not grouped under the question they respond...

Advice on Taking Essay Examinations

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:44:11 GMT

1. In your first sentence, answer the question. Use the rest of the time you have budgeted to show that your answer is correct. If you work your way up to the answer and depend on your conclusion to provide it, you risk not finishing the test because you are bogged down in an essay. In timed tests, always expect to be unable to finish an essay, and arrange your material so that this will not mean utter disaster.
2. If you find that you are retelling great chunks of the plot, you are...

Responses to "Suggestions for Writing" on Chaps. 9-12 of UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:59:46 GMT

Below are the writing prompts. Find the one in which you have interest. To post your own response to the prompt, click on "Reply" in the lower right corner of the screen displaying the writing prompt, block your reply in whatever word processing program you use, and paste it into the box provided. Others can benefit from your sharing. You will need to identify yourself somehow to complete the posting procedure, but you may use a nom...

Hello wear for you

feeds@yuku.com (Unregistered(d)) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 03:59:16 GMT

with laugh, is he blind. blind have gave over trap, some eyes, dark remove skirts from women just his were little and a but who coeds in jeans stripping in petted really from uprooting him the stop for Roly lives the who is of garden and the Roly-Poly catch know. the Porter set "Or it him mean catch while, spoiling his...

Study Questions on OEDIPUS THE KING

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:51:04 GMT

1. Summarize Oedipus's life history from his birth to the moment the play begins.

2. What were the motives for his crimes? Is his suffering just?

3. What trait(s) of Oedipus's character make(s) him a successful detective? Can you prove that he has demonstrated this trait before the play's beginning?

4. Examine the opening scene. What signs are there that Oedipus is a good king? What signs, if any, are there of hubris (pride), supposedly present in a tragic figure...

Study Questions on THE DEATH OF IVAN ILYICH

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:29:24 GMT

1. What various reactions to Ivan Ilyich's death can you find among his family and friends? What do their reactions tell us about their philosophy of life?
2. Find examples of the narrator's pointing out that someone does something because it is polite, correct, or conventional rather than because it is what he or she wants to do. A complete list will try your patience.
3. If you resent Ivan's family and friends, how do you feel towards him? If your response to him changes as you...

How to Write a Character Analysis

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 06:05:42 GMT

Character means personality, that unique combination of attitudes, dispositions, skills, and other traits that constitutes a human soul. You are to analyze the personality (the character) of a literary figure (a character) the character of a character. By "analyze is meant divide into parts: You are to identify those traits which combine to make the character what she is. What qualities, faculties, and propensities does she have? What drives and values (aims, ideals, morals,...

How to Handle Indeterminacy

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 06:47:38 GMT

Any work of literature will leave many factual questions unanswered. To what sins does Hamlet allude when he entreats Ophelia, Nymph, in thine orisons be all my sins remembered? When Eilert Loevborg tells Hedda he wants to end it all, is he telling the truth or is he secretly hoping to retrieve his manuscript even before he is given the pistol that (as he imagines) will enable him get it back?

Although one can speculate plausibly about such matters, the results will still be short of...

Responsibilites of Teachers and Students

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 05:40:58 GMT

A Teachers Responsibilities:

1. Find out what each individual student needs to know.
2. Present this material in a form that will enable the student to learn it.
3. Test to see if it has been learned.

A Students Responsibilities:

1. Learn it.
2. Remember it.
3. Apply it.

Basics of Classroom Behavior

1. Come to class.
2. Be on time.
3. Have all appropriate reading and writing materials (and homework to be...

Dulcinea's Enchantment

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 09:43:16 GMT

Click here. to play a reading of a missing episode of Don Quixote: the only face-to-face meeting between Don Quixote and [the enchanted] Dulcinea.

Study Questions on DON QUIXOTE, pp. 1202-end

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:45:27 GMT

1. What are some of the "rules" of chivalry that DQ obeys? He explains some of them to others in the course of his adventures. Consider food and lodging as well as duties. Add these to the answer to question 4 to fill out the portrait of "the perfect knight-errant."

2. You will notice two scenes of violence involving muleteers. Between them is another scene of violence. Don Quixote is in all three scenes but in different roles. First he is an...

Excerpts from Medieval Romances

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:30:46 GMT

Below are exciting snippets taken from two medieval romances, Don Quixote's favorite reading material.

Study Questions on DON QUIXOTE, pp. 1181-1202

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:21:03 GMT

Please note that these qurstions are only to give you interesting things to consider as you read. The answers need not be written out.

1. Can you think of any modern popular culture counterparts of DQ?

2. What equipment does he require for his new role (not only hardware)?

3. Study the first paragraph sentence by sentence to discover signs of the narrator's implied attitude toward his hero. Compare this to his attitude toward his story as expressed...

Study Questions on Robbe-Grillet's "Secret Room"

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:57:24 GMT

1. The setting of a story consists of the physical surroundingseverything except the people and the action. What setting is described in this work?

2. What is suspense? Define the term by saying what it does to you; for instance, what does suspense do to readers of a mystery novel? Do you find any suspense in "The Secret Room"?

3. The author dedicates this piece to a painter named Moreau, who preferred particularly lurid subjects. A reader...

What Teachers Have Told You about Writing

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:10:59 GMT

I will reply below to some of the warnings you have received in the past.

Criteria for Evaluating Interpretations of Literature

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:53:43 GMT

1. Consistency: Is the interpretation contradicted by any fact in the work itself? Do any parts of the interpretation conflict with each other? Contradictions are a sure sign of a problem. Think of the interpretation as a way of putting together a jigsaw puzzle. If you have inserted a piece of the correct shape but of the wrong color, there is clearly a problem.

2. Completeness: Does the interpretation offer an explanation for every aspect of the work? Incompleteness does not mean...

Beer Street and Gin Lane

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 07:31:21 GMT

By clicking on the word "reply" to the left of this post (not the button above), you will reach a screen where you may post an idea or question about Hogarth's woodcuts. Anyone who wishes to reply to your post should then click on "Reply" to the left of your post (not mine, here). This will ensure that the reply is threaded beneath the post it responds to, no matter when it is posted.

Data about the Earthquake of 1906

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 20:32:17 GMT

If this site is to be useful, you must keep it organized. Nobody is to use those big buttons "New Topic" and "Add Reply" that you see in the upper right. Enter your posts by first clicking on one of the posts below this one, inviting you to make a contribution to one of the various topics. To the left of the text of that invitation is the word "Reply," underlined. Click on that link, and it will tale you to a screen where you may identify yourself, summarize...

Descriptive Paper

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:06:47 GMT

Please read these instructions and follow them. I have had to move some posts to where they belong because some students did not follow the instructions.

Please click on the underlined word "Reply" to the left of this window. It must be THIS window if you are replying to this post. Every post has a "Reply" link, and you may reply to other posts later, but to start with please click to the left of this one. Please do not click on the "New Topic" button...

An Essay with Examples: Click here to start.

feeds@yuku.com (pyrocles) — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 06:11:29 GMT

Click on the underlined link "Reply" to the left of this window, and briefly identify the topic of your next paper (one of the topics suggested on pp. 77-78 of the reader). Identify the kind of examples you expect to use: personal experience, other people (e.g., interviews), books, the Internet. Other students are strongly encouraged to reply to your post with suggestions about material you might include and where to find it.

After posting your topic, close this window and...