Course Policies
| ATTENDANCE: Repeated absences will not be tolerated; no more than three absences (situation pending, see below) will be excused. For each additional absence, one whole letter grade (10%) will be deducted from the final grade. It is the student's responsibility to discover what was missed in class and any assignments. The instructor can best be contacted in case of contingencies via email. Only work missed during an excused absence may be made up; quizzes cannot be made up for any reason. The only absenses that will be excused are hospital stays and doctor approved absenses, a family emergency, and natural disasters. All of these excuses, excluding natural disasters, must be accompanied by appropriate documentation or they will not be accepted. Only written excuses will be considered by the instructor when attempting to excuse an absence. Students are encouraged to write the instructor, including appropriate documentation, immediately upon returning to request an excused absence. Excuses will be refused if they arrive more than a week after the absence. This attendance policy is non-negotiable and will be strictly enforced. |
| CLASS TIME: Time in class will be spent on discussion of readings, student writing, and Internet activities. Quizzes, practice essays, and lectures are designed to benefit the entire group while personal problems and concerns should be handled during the instructor's office hours. |
| CONFERENCES: There will be a certain amount of time in the middle of the semester (see Syllabus) for mandatory student conferences. A sign-up sheet will be passed around class two weeks prior to scheduled conferences. You must prepare your Mid-term Self-Assessment Questionnaire befor attending your conference. |
| COURSE BOOKS: Course books, see below, are integral parts of the course and should be brought to class daily. When readings are assigned to be discussed in class, please bring a copy of the reading with your reading notes ready to discuss. |
| DEADLINES: Late work is not acceptable and will receive a zero. Allowing for a single contingency, one late assignment will be accepted with the penalty of losing a letter grade; this assignment cannot be more than a week late or it will not be accepted. Quizzes cannot be made up for any reason. Plan ahead and turn in your work on time. Late essays cannot, for any reson, be rewritten for a grade increase (see Rewrites below). |
| GRADES: Grading in this class will be based upon a simple point system. At the semester's end the top 10% of accrued points will earn an A; 11%-20% a B; 21%-30% a C; 31%-40% a D; 41% and lower an F. For explanation of grades, see Grade Descriptions. |
| PLAGIARISM: The Oxford English Dictionary defines plagiarism as "the wrongful appropriation or purloining, and publication as one's own, of the ideas, or the expression of the ideas (literary, artistic, musical, mechanical, etc.) of another," or "a purloined idea, design, passage, or work." Plagiarism will result in automatic failure of this class and will be pursued to incite the utmost penalty for such dishonesty. Academic falsehood, in any form, will constitute class failure. Since this class will be publishing on the Internet, please consult Janice Walker's essay "Intellectual Property for Dummies" for an excellent overview of legal considerations of electronic publications. |
| REWRITES: Rewrites are an integral part of the writing process, so they will be accepted and encouraged throughout the semester. Deadlines will be given for rewrites, but an essay may be rewritten as many times as the student desires within the alloted time frame. If the student chooses to rewrite an essay, an appointment must be made beforehand with the instructor to discuss strategies for rewriting. Rewrites will not be accepted without this mandatory consultation. A rewritten essay's grade will replace the previous grade, according to the instructor's discretion. |
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   | 11 December 1997 |