Departmental Grading Standards

Students and faculty recognize that the grade the instructor gives is a professional judgment of the quality of the student's submitted work and that grades are based on shared assumptions and expectations. At the most basic level, we expect that assignments will be submitted to the instructor on time. Submitted assignments are to be clearly focused and organized, with a discernible thesis statement. Generalizations and conclusions are to be adequately supported and, when appropriate, research documentation is to be well integrated and effectively presented. A formal writing style is required, along with proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling.  It's also important that students and faculty have shared expectations regarding the grading of assignments.

The grade of A reflects excellence. The A paper offers a well-focused and organized discussion appropriate to the instructor's assignment, reflects critical use of relevant materials, and demonstrates effective and formal writing requirements. Papers involving research and outside sources must demonstrate outstanding efforts to identify varied pertinent sources, to employ those materials critically in the text of the papers, and to provide error-free citations of those resources.

The grade of B represents an effort beyond satisfactory and indicates the paper was completed in an appropriate and competent manner and, in general, demonstrates a strong attempt at original and critical analysis, writing, and research. The B paper may contain a number of minor errors of grammar or citation, and its thesis or its conclusions may be undeveloped or too weakly supported.

The grade of C indicates that the paper was done in a satisfactory or appropriate fashion and represents the average work expected for university courses. The presentation is organized around a central idea with arguments supported by relevant examples. The paper is structured into correctly written paragraphs and sentences. Although fulfilling the assignment, the C paper may exhibit one or more weaknesses including, but not limited to, errors of punctuation and grammar, imprecise or incorrect word use, inaccurate or uncritical use of materials, occasional inconsistency of organization or development, and lack of direct relevance of the selected research materials to the topic.

The grade of D indicates that the paper may have a poorly defined topic or thesis, lack clear focus or organization, and contain unsupported generalizations or conclusions. Research support is inadequate, not clearly relevant, or improperly documented. A less-than-minimal research effort is evident. The paper may also suffer from numerous or major formal writing errors.

The grade of F indicates that the paper is not clearly relevant to the assignment and that its topic and thesis are poorly focused or defined. The paper may display inadequate organization or development, unsupported generalizations, and nonstandard formal features (including language usage, sentence structure, paragraphing, and so on). Research support is absent, inadequate, or irrelevant to the assignment.

Students are required to attend all scheduled class meetings and to participate in all classroom activities. In addition to this weighting of attendance, students are allowed only two absences (no questions asked, no excuse needed). However, each additional absence beyond the two allowed will result in the reduction in the final grade for the course by at least 5%. Students with more than five absences, beyond the two allowed, will automatically fail the course (receive a grade of F).  Students arriving at class after the class attendance has been taken will be counted as absent. Students arriving to class after the beginning of class, but before attendance has been taken, will be counted as late.  Two late arrivals will count as an absence. Please refer to the JCU catalog for the attendance and absence policies.

Classroom Behavior Policies

No electronic devices can be used during class (this includes iPads, iPods, eReaders, cell phones, personal digital devices, and lap top computers). Students are not allowed to leave the classroom during class time--please go to the toilet before class begins. Students are only allowed to speak during class when recognized to do so by the instructor.  Students who talk to each other or to the class without having been recognized by the instructor will be asked to leave the classroom and will be counted absent. Students are required to bring lined, loose-leaf paper (size A4), a pen, and a pencil with eraser to each class meeting.

Course Contract Statement

All class members are responsible for knowing all the information and adhering to all of the policies, procedures, and deadlines as outlined in the syllabus. Any and all changes to the syllabus will be made at the professor's sole discretion and announced in class.  Students are responsible for all the changes to the syllabus announced in class, even if they are absent on the day when an announcement is made.

Schedule

Tuesday, 17 January:  Course introduction. Writing exercise.

Thursday, 19 January:  In-class Writing Assignment.

Tuesday, 24 January:  Chapter 1 – Writing from Research

Thursday, 26 January: 

Tuesday, 31 January:  Chapter 2 – Finding a Topic

Thursday, 2 February: 

Tuesday, 7 February:  Chapter 3 – Organizing Ideas and Setting Goals

Thursday, 9 February:

Tuesday, 14 February:   Chapter 4 – Gathering Sources Online

Thursday, 16 February: 

Tuesday, 21 February:  Chapter 5 – Gathering Sources in the Library

Thursday, 23 February: 

Tuesday, 28 February:  Chapter 6 – Conducting Field Research

Thursday, 1 March: 

Tuesday, 6 March:  Chapter 7 – Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism

Thursday, 8 March: 

Tuesday, 13 March:  Chapter 8 – Reading and Evaluating Sources 

Thursday, 15 March: 

Tuesday, 20 March:  No class.  Spring Break.

Thursday, 22 March: No class.  Spring Break.

Tuesday, 27 March:  Chapter 9 – Writing Effective Notes and Creating Outlines

Thursday, 29 March: 

Tuesday, 3 April:  Chapter 10 – Drafting the Paper in an Academic Style

Thursday, 5 April: 

Tuesday, 10 April:  Chapter 11 – Blending Reference Material into Your Writing by Using MLA Style & Chapter 14 – Works Cited: MLA Style

Thursday, 12 April: 

Tuesday, 17 April:  Chapter 12 – Writing the Introduction, Body, and Conclusion

Thursday, 19 April:

Tuesday, 24 April:  Chapter 13 – Revising, Proofreading, and Formatting the Rough Draft

Thursday, 26 April:  Final class meeting.

Saturday – Friday, 28 April – 4 May:  Final exams.