Requirements
Required Text Literature of the Western World, Volume II Wilkie and Hurt Ed.
Recommended: Dictionary
Assignments:
| Four Exams | 500 pts |
| Quizzes | 300 pts |
| Group Work | 200 pts |
| Attitude and Participation | 100 pts |
| Total | 1100 pts |
Attitude and Participation:
Although a lecture-heavy course, note that a full 10% of the grade is based on attitude and participation. Students are expected to not only show up for class but to show up prepared and willing to actively, respectfully engage in the course, with the professor, and with one another. This is a course in ideas and language; show up ready to think, voice your thoughts, and engage with the thoughts of others.
Attendance:
By taking this class you are agreeing to attend, on time. Either attend class regularly, accept the consequences of not attending, or take another class instead of this one.
All students are allowed one unexcused absence; after that, 3% (4% T,Th and Summer courses) is deducted from your overall grade for each unexcused absence.
You may be excused from classes for the following reasons:
In the first two cases, you should show your instructor an excuse in advance from the university department requiring your absence. When you are sick, you should show the instructor your excuse when you return to class and you should make an attempt to contact your instructor during the time that you are sick.
If you miss a class, you are responsible for knowing before the next class what you missed and what work is due the day you return. Please ask another student what you have missed, and not your instructor, or meet with the instructor during a conference. I will help you where and when I can, but your absences are your responsibility.
I take roll at the beginning of each class. If you are not present when I take roll, you are marked absent. If you wish to have your absence changed to a “tardy”, it is your responsibility to ask me to do so after class. Excessive tardies will lower your grade.
Quizzes:
Frequent quizzes will cover the assigned reading for that day. Generally, each semester we have 13 quizzes and I drop the lowest three scores. Quizzes will be brief, closed book, designed mainly to see who has or has not read the assignment, and administered at the beginning of class.
Tests:
Four, hour-long tests will cover both the assigned reading and lecture content. Tests are generally closed book and will include a mixture of quote matching/identification questions, short answer questions, and brief essay-style questions requiring students to place certain passages in the socio-historical etc. contexts covered in lectures. See the Rubric for clues into essay-style test questions. Group discussion questions will also frequently appear as test questions.
Group Work. Discussion Questions:
Toward the beginning of the semester I will divide the class into groups of five, and throughout the semester these groups will meet to complete the Group Discussion Questions listed on the schedule. Many of these questions will then re-appear on the tests, so the pragmatic purpose of working through these questions as a group is to prepare for the tests, as well as to better understand the texts, share your opinion about them, and break out of the lecture lecture lecture rut.
Each group will turn in typed answers to three sets of the questions, and these will be graded. Each group will decide which three sets they turn in. Each set is worth 50 pts., for a total of 150 pts. The remaining 50 group pts will be awarded to group members at the end of the semester by the other members of the group (you will grade each other's participation, contribution etc.). Due dates for each set of questions will be announced in class. I will generally, though perhaps not always, free up a class period to work on each set of questions.
Group Discussion Question Guidelines
Missed Tests and Quizzes:
Only those students with excused absences (see above) may make up tests and quizzes. These will be administered during office hours or at a mutually available time within one business week. Missing a class also does not excuse students from being prepared upon return; if you miss Monday, for example, you'd better find out from other students what Wednesday's quiz will cover because you will still need to take it on Wednesday. Tardy students will not be given extra time.
Extra Credit:
Throughout the semester I will give students opportunities to gain extra points by attending a relevant event, play, lecture, reading, debate etc. I will announce these in class and students are encouraged to mention to the class as a whole any events they think are relevant. To receive extra credit: check with me first, attend the event, take notes, and write up a one pg. minimum summary-context-response paper: summarize the event (who, what, where, when etc.), describe how it relates to what we've studied in class, and give me your subjective response. These are due within a week of attending your event, worth up to 20 pts each, and each student may complete up to three for the semester. (If you use sources in your paper, cite them; failure to do so is plagiarism. Lying about attending an event constitutes cheating.)
Plagiarism and Cheating:
Those caught cheating and/or plagiarizing in my class will be failed. Wandering eyes will be blinded...and then you'll be failed. If you don't know what cheating and plagiarizing are, it is worth your time and it is your responsibility to find out.
Assignment Guidelines:
Type all drafts that will be read by others. Format papers and cite sources using standard MLA conventions. Hand in all formal assignments in a two-pocket folder WITH ACCOMPANYING DRAFTS. THREE DRAFT POLICY: every formal assignment you want me to read and/or grade must be accompanied by at least two rough drafts; I am not at all interested in reading, helping with or evaluating any piece of writing its author has not carefully revised at least twice. Please also include any notes, outlines, etc. used to generate your papers. Staple your final draft and label it “Final Draft”.
Unless otherwise specified, all formal written assignments are due by 5:00 and may be turned in, on time, in my English office mailbox, Brink 201. DO NOT pin assignments to or slide them under my door; all assignments received in this manner will be counted one day late. Homework assignments are due in class.
Keep returned/graded papers, quizzes and tests so that you can keep track of your grade or in case I lose the copies you hand in. Also, I may ask for the graded copies later in the semester.
All students in this class are expected to read the complete syllabus and abide by its rules and guidelines. These policies will not change, so students not interested in agreeing to them should not remain in this class.