REQUIRED TEXTS

There are no required texts to purchase for this class. All readings and assignments will be posted on OpenLab, so all students are required to create a free OpenLab account.

 

GRADING

10% Preparation & Participation                               15% Essay #1

15% HWs                                                                              15% Essay #2

10% Midterm                                                                      20% Essay #3                     15% Final Exam

 

**You MUST pass the Final Exam in order to pass the course.**

 

ATTENDANCE

Although attendance is not graded on its own, your presence is crucial to being successful in this course. You are required to come to both the classroom and lab sessions. The readings and essays are only part of the course as the lectures, discussions, debates, and collaborations that occur during class time are essential to a full understanding of the material. The College Handbook states that “students who simply stop attending or are absent more than 10% of the hours the course meets will receive a WU (unofficial withdrawal). The WU counts as an F in the computation of the GPA” (22). This means having more than FOUR (4) absences will result in automatic failure. Being absent from lab is the same thing as being absent from class, both contribute to your maximum of four absences.

 

Arriving to class late is disruptive for the other students and the instructor, therefore being on time is very important. Attendance is taken at the start of each class session, and students who are not in their seats prepared to begin class will be marked late. For every three lates, you will be given one absence—unless you are more than 15 minutes late to class, in which case you will be marked absent.

 

NOTE: Please remember that an absence is NOT an excuse for being unprepared for the next class. If you miss class, be sure to be responsible about it—check in with your classmates, OpenLab, and me so that you can figure out what you have missed, and how to be prepared for the next class. It is your responsibility to be ready to participate immediately upon your return to class.

 

PREPARATION & PARTICIPATION

This grade is not based only on attendance (for you cannot participate if you do not attend), but rather coming to class with a copy of the reading, having done the reading, and prepared to be an active participant—this includes: contributing to class discussions, asking questions about readings and assignments, completing in-class writing assignments, as well as participating in peer reviews and other group activities.

 

Being more than five minutes late to class, leaving early, sleeping, emailing, facebooking, talking, doing work for other classes, and TEXTING during class are all examples of behavior that do NOT demonstrate preparation or participation and will result in deductions from your grade. To avoid temptation, I ask that all phones be placed on silent and put away as soon as class begins.

 

ESSAYS

You will be assigned three essays over the course of the semester. Essays will be between 2 and 7 pages in length and must conform to MLA standards. Each essay will have several stages, including drafts, brainstorms, etc. It is important to remember that ALL stages of the essay, including Peer and Self Reviews, will count towards your final grade for the assignment. For drafts, you will need to bring two printed, stapled copies of your work to class. Electronic versions of drafts will NOT be accepted. Late drafts will NOT be accepted. For final versions, you will need to submit the essay via OpenLab AND hand-in the drafts with my corrections at the beginning of class. Detailed assignment sheets with due dates for each essay will be posted on OpenLab.

 

HOMEWORKS [HWS]

HWs are intended to aid you in reading and preparing for class. HWs are to be handed in at the very beginning of class (with the exception of HWs #1, which will be submitted electronically before class) and will not be accepted more than ten minutes after class has started.  If you are absent or more than ten minutes late on the day a HW is due, you will receive a zero. There are NO opportunities to make up HWs.

 

MIDTERM EXAM

The Midterm Exam will be administered on Wednesday, 3/21 during regularly scheduled class time. You will be required to write a full five-paragraph essay on an article given to you the class before. You will have the entire class period to complete the assignment. You are allowed and encouraged to bring a non-electronic dictionary to assist you. More details will be given closer to the date of the exam. If you miss the Midterm Exam, you will NOT be allowed to make up the exam and will receive a zero.

 

FINAL EXAM

The Final Exam will be administered on Monday, 5/21 during regularly scheduled class time. The exam is the same format as the Midterm.  You are allowed and encouraged to bring a non-electronic dictionary to assist you.

If you miss the Final Exam, there is only ONE departmental make-up exam, date tbd.  ** NOTE: You MUST pass the Final Exam in order to pass the course. **

 

 

 

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Students and all others who work with information, ideas, texts, images, music, inventions, and other intellectual property owe their audience and sources accuracy and honesty in using, crediting, and citing sources. As a community of intellectual and professional workers, the College recognizes its responsibility for providing instruction in information literacy and academic integrity, offering models of good practice, and responding vigilantly and appropriately to infractions of academic integrity. Accordingly, academic dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and at New York City College of Technology and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion.

 

Plagiarism is simply the use of others’ words and/or ideas without clearly acknowledging their source. As students, you are learning about other people’s ideas in your course texts, your instructors’ lectures, in class discussions, and when doing your own research. When you incorporate those words and ideas into your own work (and many times you should), it is of the utmost importance that you give credit where it is due. To avoid plagiarism, you must give the original author credit whenever you use another person’s ideas, opinions, drawings, or theories as well as any facts or any other pieces of information that are not common knowledge. Additionally quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or a close paraphrasing of another person’s spoken or written words must also be referenced. Accurately citing all sources and putting direct quotations – of even a few key words – in quotation marks is required.