English 303Z
Fall, 1997
Instructor: Robert Yagelski
Course Requirements for English 303Z
The basic requirements in this course are straightforward:
- you'll write a total of three essays, a larger Inquiry Project, approximately fourteen commentaries, and critiques of your classmates' writing-in-progress;
- you'll read two books, a number of articles (see "Required Texts"), and a lot of your classmates' writing;
- you'll participate in one group presentation to the class;
- you'll participate in whole-class discussions, in small-group discussions, and in one-on-one conferences with me;
- you'll complete a course portfolio;
- and you'll come to class.
It will become clear, too, that learning to use the various computer technologies will be essential to meeting these requirements; this will not be difficult, but it may take some time--so be patient. If you do these things honestly and diligently, you should begin to improve as a writer and do well in this course.
Some Ground Rules
In meeting the requirements described above, you'll need to follow a few basic rules:
(1) Attendance is mandatory. This is basically a workshop class; you need to be here to benefit from it. (See "Grading" policies for more information about how attendance can affect your final grade.)
(2) Deadlines are final and inflexible. Time, as always, will be short, so we need to hold to deadlines. Meet these deadlines and we'll have no problems. Remember, late papers are basically missing papers. If you can't get to class on the day an assignment is due because of global warming, excessive frivolity, or a similar catastrophic event, make appropriate arrangements to submit your assignment on time. Although I will usually allow revisions after an essay is graded, we will move quickly in the course and each assignment builds upon the previous one. Thus, deadlines are crucial to the proper functioning of the class. (Keep in mind, too, that I've heard just about every conceivable excuse for late papers and missed classes, including constipation.)
(3) Plagiarism may result in your dismissal from this course. We'll talk about this a bit more; for now it's enough to remember that plagiarism is, to my mind, a crime. You should be familiar with University policies regarding plagiarism.
Additional Guidlines For Writing Assignments
In addition to the general rules listed above, there are three key guidelines for your written work in this class. PLEASE NOTE THESE:
- You must share at least one complete draft of each of the assigned essays and the inquiry project with the members of your response group. (Be sure to read "Responding to Your Classmates' Writing".)
- You must write brief critiques of the drafts written by the other members of your response group for each assignment. (Again, see "Responding to Your Classmates' Writing" for guidelines regarding these critiques. You should also review the portfolio guidelines, since the portfolio requires a minimum number of written critiques.)
- You must hold a conference with me for each of the assigned essays unless I indicate otherwise. It's your responsibility to arrange these.
These procedures are central to the way this class will work; if you fail to follow them, the class won't work well and you'll get less benefit from it.
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