Class Policies


Really, my policies are simple: be respectful and work hard. If you do the both of these you will be sure to succeed. In case you want to know what I consider respect and hard work, I’ve outlined some of the high points below:

Assignments
• All assignments should be submitted on time. Late major assignments will be downgraded a letter grade per day late including weekend days (but not holidays).
• Specific criteria for each major assignment will be explained and developed in class. However, all writing you produce in this class should meet the following general criteria: (a) The writing meets the requirements and parameters for the assignment; (b) the writing is intelligent, well-informed, respectful of others, grammatically competent and stylistically fluent, well organized, and, most importantly, rhetorically effective for its purpose, audience, and context.


Attendance
Much of the learning in this class happens through “engaged learning” in class: via online inquiry activities, blogging assignments, online group discussion, etc. Class time will be highly interactive — requiring frequent participation, discussion, team work, blog writing, and responding to blogs. For this reason, attendance at all class sessions is expected. Life does happen and for that do have four absences. Each subsequent absence will lead to one full letter grade reduction. Six absences equals an F. Consult Section 1.9.A of the Student Handbook (2009-2010 edition) <http://www.units.muohio.edu/secretary/policies_guidelines/student_handbook/index.php> for detailed policies regarding attendance.

Academic Integrity/Plagiarism
Two key features of academic integrity are honesty and truthful representation of self. The assumption in all college classes is that the writing you submit is your own original writing — that is, produced originally for this class. The expectation is that you will appropriately identify that portion of your work which is collaborative with others, or which is borrowed from others, or which is your own work from other contexts. In other words, you should credit others’ contributions to your work. You should not claim, as your own, writing that is not your own. To do so is considered plagiarism, a serious violation of the principle of academic integrity.
To copy someone else’s writing without acknowledging that use is an act of academic as well as professional dishonesty, whether you borrow an entire report or a single sentence. The most serious forms of academic dishonesty are to “buy” an entire paper; or to have someone else write an assignment for you; or to turn in someone else’s entire paper (or significant portions of an existing piece of writing) and call it your own. These forms of dishonesty constitute serious breaches of academic integrity. If you have doubts about whether or not you are using your own or others’ writing ethically, ask the instructor.
For further details about Academic Integrity at Miami University — including a detailed list of examples of academic dishonesty and procedures and penalties for dealing with instances of academic dishonesty — see http://www.muohio.edu/integrity/undergrads.cfm.

Backing Up Your Work/File Formats
You are responsible for keeping copies of your written course work — at least two copies in two different locations — so that if you should have an MSF (massive system failure), you can recover your work. I recommend storing your work on Dropbox or Google docs so they can be accessed from a computer at your public library, local Kinko’s or a friend’s house. Platform compatibility, file transfer, and e-mail attachments are sometimes irritating, though rarely unsolvable, problems. In short, “My computer broke” is the 21st century equivalent to “My dog ate my homework.” It is not a valid excuse. It is your responsibility as sender/writer to submit files to your instructor and to your classmates in an accessible, readable format.


Grading Scale

A          100-94%
A-          93-90%
B+          89-87%
B          86-84%
B-          83-80%
C+          79-77%
C          76-74%
C-          73-70%
D+          69-67%
D          66-64%
D-          63-60%
F          59% and below

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