Feeder assignments are graded strictly on having fulfilled the requirements of the assignment, with no other qualitative assessment (basically, you either did it or you didn't, no worrying about A's, B's or C's on these papers). As these papers are usually designed to help you focus your thinking towards the unit papers, it is important that you do them on time and do them in full, as the class discussion is largely based around lessons learned from the feeders.

Unit papers (there will be three in all, one for each unit of the course) are graded by me on a scale of A to F (with + and - variations). In each unit, you will have a chance to turn in drafts of your final papers and submit them to a peer evaluation at least one week before the final draft is given to me. We will write a lot in this class (after all, it is a writing class) and it is impossible for me to grade and comment on every bit of writing you do, so one of the skills you will learn in the class is how to do critical evaluation (you may have heard it called "constructive criticism" but that's not quite the same thing), as well as how to incorporate the comments of others into revisions of your writing. You will be in a group with at least four of your classmates for the entire semester and that group will evaluate and comment on the vast majority of writing that you do over the course of the sixteen weeks that you are in this class. It is imperative that you turn in all drafts on time and come to class for paper evaluation days, as the hectic pace of a semester does not allow for time to go back and have your group review your papers if you've missed a day of class.

Regarding illness and other legitimate reasons for missing class...let me make it perfectly clear that I understand that there are days when coming to English class, especially one that's right before/after lunch, is about the last thing in the world you want to do. I also understand that listening to lectures on writing is not something that makes most people's mouths water with excitement--that's why I try to have full-class or group discussions more often than not...with the occasional necessary lecture to give background information on a new subject.

HOWEVER, this does not justify skipping class because you simply don't want to come. Because of the group-oriented nature of the class, it is not fair to your classmates to deprive them of your input and it will be extremely harmful to your understanding of the class if you miss class regularly.

If you are legitimately sick, fine...please DON'T COME TO CLASS AND GET US ALL SICK. But don't miss class and then show up a week later and ask "what did we do last Monday when I had...um, the flu...?" If you need to miss a class, for whatever reason, please send me an e-mail, prefereably before the class you have to miss and let me know ahead of time so we can figure something out to keep you up to speed. I won't count legitimate absences against you (that is, those that occur for good reasons and that you let me know about in a timely manner), but I do reserve the right to mark your final grade down for excessive unexplained absences. Hangovers, bad hair days, rainy days without umbrellas and tests in other classes are NOT good reasons to miss English class. And I'll warn you ahead of time, never play the "But I've Got A Lot of Other Work To Do" Game with a graduate student...It's only a fifty-minute investment of time to come to my class (remember, just last year you were locked in for seven hours a day, five days a week...) so don't blow it off.

Finally, the subject I hope never comes up, because nothing good can come of it. Plagiarism. We'll be doing some exercises to help you avoid unintentional plagiarism early in the year because this is an extremely serious subject. Whether or not it is intentional is largely irrelevant--taking someone else's ideas and claiming them as your own is NEVER allowable in academics. I may give you the benefit of the doubt initially, but I generally have little or no leniency where this topic is concerned, because we will go over ways to avoid plagiarism almost from day one. As far as intentional plagiarism is concerned, I implore you, DO NOT CHEAT ON YOUR PAPERS. It is too easy to catch and the consequences far outweigh the possible benefits to you. English 11 is not about making a grade for the sake of making a grade. The skills you learn in this class will help you in every subsequent course you take in college, and it does not help you to pass off someone else'w work as yours simply to make a better grade. Let this be the only warning you ever have to receive about plagiarism.