Policies

Class Attendance

Students should attend all class meetings. You are allowed three unexcused absences. Upon the fourth unexcused absence, your grade for the course becomes "FA" (Failure because of Absences). Absences will be excused only with written verification with the legible signature and phone number of the proper authority. Acceptable excuses are generally limited to illness of the student or a member of the student’s immediate family, religious holidays, required court appearances, and required attendance at an Auburn University-sponsored activity. No verification will be accepted more than three class days after your return to class.  It is courteous to call or e-mail me before class when you know you will be absent. Any students with whom you are collaborating deserve this courtesy as well.

Attention: Class attendance means (1) that the student is in class on the hour and remains until class is dismissed; (2) that the student brings to class texts and other materials required for full participation in the day's activities; and (3) that the student is present mentally as well as physically and engaged in discussion and/or writing activities.

This course is based on a fifty-minute class period. Entering class late or leaving early is rude, and it distracts your classmates and your instructor. I recognize that emergencies do occur, but with few exceptions for extraordinary circumstances, each tardy or early departure will be counted as half an absence.  Any student more than twenty minutes late will be counted absent for the full class period.

Assigned Work

Students are expected to carry out all the assigned work in the course.

Make-up work for daily work will be accepted only from students with verified excused absences. An unexcused absence means a zero on any work missed.

Regardless of the reason for your absence, you are responsible for material covered in class, for any changes in assignments, and for adequate preparation for the day you return.

Late first and second drafts and late peer reviews will lower your grade by 10%; no writing folder will be graded if it contains fewer than the two preliminary drafts and a revision. A late writing project will lower your grade by 10% per day. No writing project will be accepted more than three class days after the due date. On the third class day after the due date, your grade for the project becomes a zero; your grade for the course becomes an F.

You will be required to turn in a folder for each writing project. All writing project materials should be placed in the folder; points will be deducted for any missing parts of the writing process.

Academic Honesty

All assignments turned in for a grade should be your own work. Any sources you use in your work must be properly documented. This includes direct copying, paraphrasing, and summarizing.  Failure to indicate directly quoted passages or ideas even while citing the work as a general source violates standards of academic integrity.  Any attempt to pass off the words or ideas of others as your own constitutes plagiarism, an offense that carries serious consequences. Please refer to the relevant sections of The Tiger Cub for more detailed information.

The Program for Students with Disabilities:  

Students who need accommodations are asked to arrange a meeting during office hours the first week of classes. If you have a conflict with my office hours, we will set up an appointment for another, mutually convenient time. You will need to bring a copy of your Accommodations Memo and Instructor Verification Form to the meeting. If you do not have an Accommodations Memo but need accommodations, make an appointment with The Program for Students with Disabilities, 1244 Haley Center, 844-2096.

Use of Cellular Phones and Pagers

Use of cell phones is prohibited during class. It is rude and disruptive to have your cell phone ring or pager signal during class. Turn the ringer off or use vibration mode during class. If you must take a call during class, leave the room and return when your call is finished. If you have a potential emergency situation that requires you to have your cell phone ringer on, notify me in advance.

Email

All students are required to have their Auburn University email address operating properly. That is the email address I will use to send out official class information. If you have that address forwarding to another email address, be sure that the forwarding works. You are solely responsible for ensuring that the email address you have on file is working. If that address is not configured properly, you will miss important course announcements.

The English Center

The Auburn University English Center, located in Haley Center 3183, is an excellent resource.  Expert writing tutors will meet with you one-on-one, for free, as often as you like. You can take assignments before you even start writing for help with brainstorming; you can take rough drafts; you can take later drafts.  Tutors can help you understand an assignment, brainstorm ideas, organize ideas, get started on a draft, reorganize a draft, check for sentence-level correctness, and more.  You can set the agenda, telling the tutor exactly what kind of help you want. (The only thing tutors won't do is "proofread" and edit papers for you.) Sharing your writing as you work on it is the habit of a good writer. You can drop in, but it’s better to call for an appointment at 844-5749.

Format for Writing Assignments

All drafts of writing project assignments must be typed, double-spaced, on 8 x 11" white paper with 1" margins on all sides See Student Guidelines (p. 6) for more information.

Students are also required to compose and maintain writing projects on disks. This practice will make multiple drafts easier and less time consuming. I will ask you to turn in the disk at the end of the semester. Because you are required to turn in a disk with all drafts, I request that you back up your work on a second disk. This process will be prudent throughout the semester, and it will assure you of having copies of your work once you turn in the original disk. Be sure to save your work to both disks; carelessness is not an excuse for late or missing work.

Drafts of Essays

You are expected to produce a minimum of three drafts for each of the four writing projects: a "zero” draft," a conference draft, and a revision of the conference draft.

Draft 1is the proverbial rough draft. I will check your folder to see that you have one, but this draft is really for you only. Your purpose is to get ideas on paper. You are free to use abbreviations symbols, idiosyncratic marks, etc. However, you must have a draft; notebook entries, outlines, lists, free writings, and other invention exercises will not suffice. Late drafts will result in a 10% deduction from your final grade.

Draft 2, a conference draft, must be a coherent, legible text that is near target length; it must be a draft that can be read and understood by your instructor and your peer group.

Any student who fails to bring to class on the designated date a conference draft that meets these criteria is subject to a penalty of 10% of the point value of the project. A student without a conference draft will also be ineligible to participate in peer review, thus losing valuable response and a peer review points. Only students with documented excuses will be exempt from these penalties. No revision will be accepted unless the instructor has seen a conference draft.

Draft 3, a revision of your conference draft, is far more than a corrected copy of your conference draft. As the word suggests, "revision" means "seeing again." In order to revise a draft, you must reconsider the purpose, focus, shape, and flow of your essay and make changes in content, structure, and style that emphasize the strengths of your paper and improve its weaknesses. The revision is the version of the essay that we will grade; a paper that is unrefined is a failing paper.

All drafts should be filed in your writing project folder.  Only complete folders will be graded.  Late projects will result in a grade penalty of 10% per class day.

Peer Groups

Groups of four to five students will be organized the first week of classes. These groups, who will work together throughout the semester, will meet together to read and discuss one another’s work in progress.

The work accomplished in peer groups is an important and integral part of the structure of this course. You are expected to treat group members with respect and to respond to assigned tasks clearly and substantively.

Conferences

Four times during the semester, regular class meetings will be canceled in order for you to meet with the instructor for an individual conference. You must bring to the conference your writing project folder; the folder should include all parts of the writing process that should have been completed by the conference date.

Please be prompt to your conference. A missed conference counts as an absence, so if illness or some other verifiable emergency makes it necessary for you to miss a conference, please notify the instructor as soon as possible. Conferences missed without excuse cannot be rescheduled.

Four conferences (one for each essay) are mandatory, but you may need to schedule additional conferences. I am always available during my posted office hours. If those times conflict with your course schedule, I will work with you to schedule a mutually convenient time. Remember that the tutors in the English Center are also available to help you.

Requirements

Students will read several hundred pages of professional writing and participate in small group and whole class discussions that focus on the rhetorical contexts and effectiveness of the assigned readings.

Students will complete daily writing assignments in which they will respond to rhetorical and interpretive issues, complete writing exercises, and generate ideas.

Students will produce four major writing projects that require invention, drafting, peer review, revision, and self-evaluation.

Students will meet individually with an instructor for a minimum of four conferences, one for each writing project.

Students will complete a final examination that tests their understanding and mastery of course objectives.

 Grading Weights

Any student who receives a passing grade in the course must attend class, complete all assigned essays, and complete at least 60 % of all other writing assignments.

Grading Scale

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