1020/ Engl Fall 2006 Dr. Susie Paul/ LA 357 [e-mail] 244-3402 (voice mail) Text: e FICTIONS. Eds. J. F. Trimmer, C. W. Jennings, A. Patterson. New York: Harcourt, 2002. Course Description and Goals: We will be writing analytical essays about works of literature and film, but the emphasis of the course is writing. Consequently, we will write primarily about stories and films we have discussed and analyzed as a class. We will also study and practice research and documentation. Requirements: One diagnostic, final, both in-class essays; two undocumented, out-ofclass essays; one undocumented in-class essay; one documented, out-of-class essay; one revision. You may revise only one essay for a grade; in fact, the grade will be averaged in with the original and stand as a separate grade. This revision must be clearly identified as such and turned in with the original as part of your complete writing folder on the day of your final exam essay. Of course, you may complete your revision earlier! By the way, a revision is not merely a corrected and edited version of the graded essay. Policies: 1. The English Department absence policy applies here: Any student who misses more than 5 classes may receive a grade of FAfailure due to absences, regardless of the reason. Three tardies will count as an absence, unless you have cleared a particular problem with me early on. If you find that an emergency situation arises that will keep you out of class for an extended period of time, kindly let me know and we will seek a withdrawal for you. Please come to class on time, entering quietly and courteously if you must be late. You are responsible for all work covered, due, or assigned during the time you are absent from class. Please take responsibility for your own education! 2. Papers are due at the beginning of the class period; papers that come in any time after that on the due-date may be docked a letter grade. Papers coming in the next or on subsequent days will receive a grade of F with no opportunity for revision. If you fail to turn the essay in at all, you will fail the class. You may have an extension of a day or two if you request one within a reasonable amount of time before the essay is due. Not being able to reach me by phone is no excuse. You can register your request on my voicemail or by email. 3. The grounds for failing this class are an inability to do passing work, of course; but also the failure to complete all major assignments and failure to write a term paper of passing quality. The term paper must demonstrate not only that you can write an effective analytical essay but also that you can integrate secondary material into that essay, documenting it correctly and completely. Papers that are incorrectly and/or inadequately documented will be assigned an F, and that will mean failure for the course. Such errors, however unintentional, are considered plagiarism.
Plagiarism is presenting materialwhether translated into your own words or offered word for wordas your own when it is not. For example, failure to use quotations marks when required, to provide internal documentation in the form of complete and accurate parenthetical notes, and to list all and only sources used on a works page cited all constitute plagiarism. The principle at work here is always to keep the reader aware of when he or she is reading your ideas and when he or she is reading the ideas and/or words of a source. Finally, contrary to the belief of many students, information taken from an Internet source must also be documented. Because material is available on the Internet does not mean that it is common knowledge. A common problem is that students go to Internet sources before or after reading a story, fail to take notes or keep a record of the site used; then, when that student writes about the story, those ideas, even remembered words and phrases slip into the students work without documentation. The student has committed plagiarism. Evaluation: All essays count once, including the in-class essay and the final exam essay, that is, all essays are weighted as equal. You must make at least a C in this course to graduate. Save all of your graded essays, including notes, Xeroxes, and drafts, in the folder I have provided you. You will find included a form on which you can keep up with your grades and absences. The grade for any essay that does not come back to me at the end of the semester will be an F. Classroom Decorum: Class begins when the teacher enters the room. It is inappropriate behavior to put your head down on your desk or to sleep while class is in progress. Newspapers, other homework, checkbooks, anything not pertinent to our class should be put away once class begins. You should treat your professor and classmates with respect. Listen to all, respond courteously when you are addressed, refrain from talking to others when a classmate or your professor is talking. Wait to pack up your stuff until you are dismissed. Turn your cell phone off or at least switch it to vibrate. Anyone who behaves in such a way as to distract me and other students from the serious business we do in the classroom will be tossed ...