(for course requirements and a breakdown of each assignment's worth in your semester grade, see here)

GENERAL POLICIES

1)  LATENESS. Get to class on time.  A late arrival of five or more minutes counts as "late"; and three "lates" constitute an absence.  A late arrival of 15 minutes or more will also count as an absence

2)  ATTENDANCE You are allowed five absences in the class before receiving a failing grade. Given the generosity of that number, I will make no exceptions.

If you miss class, you must send your assignment to me by the start of class time. You should send me your work by blackboard's digital drop box (details on drop box here; details on logging on to blackboard here) Or e-mail it to me, if we have not yet gone over the Blackboard system in class.

3) Check your e-mail regularly.  I use e-mail to get announcements pertaining to the class out to everyone.  Accordingly, it is your responsibility to read any class related e-mail I distribute within twenty-four hours of my posting time, except on weekends, when you will have forty-eight hours to do so.

Paper/Paragraph Revising Policies

Any of the eligible (see below) papers/paragraphs turned in on time can be revised as many times as you wish to improve your grade. To revise a paper, however, you must:

A) Make an appointment with the writing tutor to go over your draft and my comments with her. No meeting with tutor = no revision possible

B) Turn in both the original and revised drafts to me WITHIN 3 WEEKS OF THE RECEIVING MY COMMENTS

Ineligible Papers/Paragraphs:

The following items may not be revised: Short Paper Option on Slave Trade, Final Paper

Reschedules

Every student has the option twice during the semester to reschedule the due date of an assignment with the following conditions: (A) you must notify me 7 days in advance of the original due date of the assignment (B) you must do some portion of the assignment by the original due date -- with the rest due by new deadline. This required portion of a rescheduled assignment and the new due date will vary by individual case.

NO EXCEPTIONS

Students with receive "A-" grades or above on 2 or more papers (not homeworks) will receive one additional reschedule for the semester.

The following items, however, can NOT be rescheduled: all quizzes, the second homework, the questions on Alan Taylor, the last homework, and ALL short/long papers.

LATE PAPERS

Do not tell me how your printer broke, or why the computer erased your paper. It is your responsibility to set aside enough time to compensate for unforeseen events with printing (and there often are), and to make back-up copies of your work (NOTE: if you don't have a good strategy for backing up your work, please come to me and I will help you out)   If your paper is late, I will deduct from your essay's grade according to the following schedule:

HERE IS NO PRIVATE WRITING IN THIS CLASS. You can expect that portions of your essays will be used in class.  In general, the students of this class will act as coaches and editors for each other

Formal Criteria and Format Policies for Papers