Item	% of grade	Due date
Participation	20%	Ongoing
Philosophical Journals	20%	In-class writing assignment dates found under Schedule and Readings
Unit Exams (4X15% each)	60%	2/26, 3/24, 4/30, 5/26
TOTAL	100%

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTIONS

Class Participation

Class participation has two components: timely attendance and verbal participation. Students begin the semester with approximately 70% of this grade. They can lose points for being late or absent and gain points by engaging in verbal discussion.

Verbal discussion—such as taking and defending positions and asking or answering critical questions—is a vital part of the practice of philosophy. Consequently, the final grade for this class reflects this. Professor MacDougall takes note of student participation after class every day. Students must be present to participate, but for full credit must actively and verbally participate by asking critical questions, answering questions posed to the class, or volunteering ideas and thoughts relevant to class topics. Participation points can additionally be earned by contacting Dr. MacDougall by email or by arranging meetings during office hours. However, there is no way to get full credit for this segment of the class without active verbal participation. Exceptions may be granted in unusual circumstances by Dr. MacDougall if it is discussed at the beginning of the semester.

Philosophical Journal

Philosophical Journals consist of a standard blue book (or books, in the case a student fills more than one book) containing a student’s cumulative in-class writing for that unit. Students have an in-class writing assignment in 2-4 classes for each of the four units (writing days are indicated in the Schedule). Students are expected to come to class having carefully read and analyzed assigned readings. The schedule indicates what type of entry will be required that day: Personal Contemplation, Philosophical Reflection, or Analytical Outline. Students will be given the precise prompt for the day’s writing after class starts. 

Students then spend 30-45 minutes (or other, at the Professor’s discretion) responding to the prompt. Each student returns their Philosophical Journal to the professor at the end of the period. Students have access to their journals during the Unit Exam but do not take them out of the classroom at any point. Students may take pictures of their completed notebooks to take home with them when studying for the unit exam.

Journal entries are graded based on effort and completion (but not content) after each writing session. Judgments about effort and completion are based in part on the criteria discussed on the Philosophical Reflection and Analytical Outline Entries pages, respectively.  

Unit Exams

Other than the first unit exam (which is mostly objective), unit exams consist in a single in-class case analysis essay. Cases are chosen to require an analysis that makes use of all or almost all of the materials studied during that unit. Case analyses will need to draw on readings and lectures as well as the student’s own previous thoughts and outlines contained in their philosophical journals. The rubric and other details for this assignment is found on the Unit Exam page.