It has not been that long since I was an undergraduate, nor has it been that long since I was single, so I know what goes on in your mind during spring semester, especially in the afternoon on Fridays. That does not change the fact that you are in this class to learn about literature, and the only way to to that is to read the books on the syllabus and to take part in the class activities. We meet a grand total of 45 times during this semester. At fifty minutes per meeting, that's a whopping total of 37.5 hours out of almost four months (or about 1% of your waking hours in the course of the semester) that you are required to be in English 24.I do not expect perfect attendance from everyone over the course of this time period, which is why you are allowed three absences, no questions asked, before your participation grade will begin to fall. HOWEVER, be aware that it is fully, 100%, completely your responsibility for getting notes, assignments and instructions for any day you miss that I don't know about in advance. I will not seek you out to tell you something about a class you've missed unless I know in advance (all it takes is an e-mail letting me know why you won't be in class...I don't need a note from a neurosurgeon...) that you have a good reason for not being there. You are adults now, and I plan to treat you that way, which means that you and only you are responsible for your performance in this class. I will do everything I can to help you learn as much as possible over the course of the semester, and all I ask for is an honest, good-faith effort on your part in return.
If you have to miss class for legitimate reasons, please try to talk with me about them beforehand or give me some notice as soon as you can. It throws both me and you off when you have to miss a week for the flu and I only find out about it when you return to class. Drag yourself to a computer and type out a brief e-mail or call the English Dept. office (962-5481) and leave a message to be given to me. It's not that hard and it will save both of us some hassle when you're ready to come back. I'm not going to hold it against you if you catch the flu or have to take care of family matters, but be aware that I also have a responsibility to you and the university to make sure that everyone is on equal footing in the class. Policy dictates that if you miss more than a quarter of the class meetings, for whatever reasons, then you cannot pass. If you're sick or have other extenuating circumstances, I'l be happy to help you get a medical withdrawal for the semester in such a situation, but if you have eleven absences in this class for any other reason, you will receive an "F". There are no incompletes given in this course--zero, nil, nada, zilch. Don't even ask.
Also, please don't make the mistake of thinking that if you aren't in class on the day that a paper or some other work is due, that it somehow isn't due for you. If you miss class because you haven't done the reading or the homework, you've essentially screwed up twice. I give each of you two "free pass" days over the course of the semester, meaning that twice during the semester you can tell me that you didn't get some reading done and I won't hold it against you. Note that this is two and only two such days (unexcused absences count against this number as well...if you aren't here, I assume you aren't prepared...). After the second time, it is going to affect your participation grade extensively if it is obvious that you haven't done the work. These free passes do not apply to papers...they are due for everyone on the same day, no matter what.
The only way this class can be effective is if everyone is prepared to contribute. The reading schedule is designed for you to read an average of 30-60 pages a night, which may seem like a lot, but which boils down to anywhere from 1-3 hours worth of reading in an evening. I encourage you to read ahead when you can, and to make notes, either in your book or (if you're like me and don't like writing in books) on a separate sheet of paper, so that you can recall what struck you as you were reading when we are discussing the work in class. I don't like lecturing any more than you like listening to lecture, but if the class is unprepared that's what we have to fall back on, so, please...come to class and come to class ready.
Because of the large number of students in the class, it is important that you get all papers to me on or before the date that they are due, in order that I can get them graded and back to you in a timely manner. I generally do not grant extensions on papers for the simple reason that it is not fair for one student to have longer to work on a project than another. Both of the paper assignments are posted as of the first day of class, so you should be thinking about what you want to write well in advance, even if you don't necesarily start writing until nearer the due date.I am happy to discuss paper ideas or read and discuss drafts, either via e-mail or in office hour, so please avail yourself of the opportunity to discuss your work well before the last minute. My years of experience have shown me that desperation can occasionally lead to good papers, but almost never leads to exceptional ones and quite regularly leads to disappointing ones. A little bit of planning and thinking ahead can lead to good results in this regard. My door, electronic or wooden version, is open to you, so please use it when you feel the need. The earlier you get to me with a question or concern, the faster I can get a useful answer back to you. The odds of getting any useful feedback at 1 a.m. the night before the paper is due is pretty slim (frankly, I'll probably be in bed, instead of checking my e-mail...).
All papers are due at the start of class on the date indicated in the assignment. For every day that a paper is late, I will deduct a full letter-grade. Unless I have cleared your excuse beforehand, do not assume that I will automatically grant you an extension. I will be spending spring break grading papers and I will be spending the first half of exam week grading papers, so you can imagine that the last thing I'll want to do is get one more paper in once I'm done with the whole stack. Save us both the trouble and follow the due dates. It's really one of my few inflexible areas.
This handout serves as a basic model for all papers that you turn in while you are in this class. Furthermore, the guidelines listed here will be valid for most of your subsequent classes as well (although you should heed any specific changes in style that other instructors request in their syllabi or assignments).Cover sheet: Not necessary--as far as I'm concerned this is a complete waste of paper.
Front Page: Put your name, the class (and section number), and the date that the assignment is due in the upper left-hand corner of the paper. The title (if your paper has one) should be in bold text and centered with a space between the last line of the title and the first line of the body of your paper.
Fonts, Line Spacing and Margins: Papers should be written in a 12-point typeface (that is, a font that looks like typewritten or newspaper text, not like frilly handwriting or a BAND Flyer) with all lines double-spaced. Use the usual default setting of campus word processors for the margins of your papers (1" at top and bottom, 1.25" at left and right).
Definition of a "Full Page": A full page is exactly what it implies, full. If an assignment asks for at least three full pages, four lines of text at the top of page three will not meet the requirements of the assignment. The page length of my assignments is neither difficult to meet nor arbitrary so take them seriously. If your last line of text is at the very bottom of page three in the above example, you're walking on somewhat thin ice, so don't even ask about two-and-a-half pages. I don't round when it comes to page length.
Page Numbers: If a paper is three or more pages long, you should use page numbers to keep the order of your essays together. On feeder assignments, informal writing exercises or papers less that three pages long, you don't need to use page numbers.
Staples or Paperclips: Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I will not be responsible for losing loose sheets of papers that are not fastened with a staple or a paperclip. If I lose a whole paper, then you can blame me, but loose sheets of a five-page paper can be lost much too easily. There are staplers and boxes of paper clips all over this campus. Same my sanity and use them. I absolutely will not take a paper with a hole punched in the corner and the tab bent in order to keep the pages together.
Logic: Use it, always and often. Don't assume that your audience automatically knows what you're talking about or agrees with your point of view when you write a paper. Keep playing devil's advocate with your own arguments as you write. If you are making a particular claim, you should try to anticipate and address the reasonable counter-arguments that might arise in your readers' minds. For example, if you write that "Cigarette smoking is bad for you," you need to not only be able do demonstrate why you believe this to be the case (using examples that back up your claim--i.e. "studies by the American Medical Association indicate that smoking directly leads to heart and lung disease") but also to pre-emptively deny the counter-arguments that may arise (i.e. "The studies that indicate otherwise were either conducted by or partially funded by tobacco companies, whose vested interest in the outcome of the studies casts considerable doubt upon their objectivity and validity"). This goes for every single claim you are making in a paper. Obviously you will have to defend 1+1=2 or the sky is blue a lot less than most other claims, but keep asking yourself why you believe something to be true until you feel like you could change someone's mind who disagreed with you. This takes hard work of the mental variety, so apply yourself accordingly. If you need an example of why this is good practice, think of how hard it was for Galileo to convince people of what we consider to be an obvious fact--that the Earth revolves around the sun and not vice-versa.