Assessment and Grading

Your grade in this class is based on the quality of your participation and performance on written exams, essays, and in-class assignments. This course does not include extra credit opportunities. The ability to read, synthesize, and write cogent analyses of materials previously unfamiliar (i.e., culturally or historically disparate from personal experience) is critical to your success as both a student and a professional. I will evaluate your assignments from this perspective. Read (or view, if films) the assigned primary and secondary resources carefully and prepare your assignments professionally. Written work containing errors in spelling, grammar, and usage will suffer serious score reductions. You cannot pass this course without completing all essays and exams.

I will assign grades on the basis of a weighted average of all work completed in the course; I will then adjust individual averages as necessary according to penalties for excessive absences or missing work. Assignment weights are listed in the Assignments list below. The Grading Scale shows the point scores that determine letter grades. I use general standards and criteria to assess the class assignments and activities.

I will provide written feedback on all writing assignments completed for this class. Written comments will address matters of content, adherence to the assignment, and presentation. I expect you to apply feedback to the improvement of subsequent written work. You are responsible for preserving all work you do for this class until after the conclusion of the course. To receive a grade of C or better on any written work for this class, you must successfully meet all assignment criteria for content, length, format, presentation, research and proper source citation, and submission requirements including deadline. Your work should demonstrate careful attention to polish and should be mostly free of usage, grammar, and spelling errors. The work must demonstrate your careful reading of the assigned text under consideration. Submitted work that fails to meet any of the above-listed criteria earns a grade of D or F. Submitted work that exceeds at least several of the above-listed criteria earns a grade of B or A. More detailed Guidelines for each assignment and the criteria for identifying an A paper, a B paper, etc., are posted on Blackboard.

See here for an Assignment Breakdown with respective Course Grade Weights.

See here for a Grading Scale.

See here for the English Essay Grading Rubric.

See the Class Schedule for a list of all assignments and due dates.

Plagiarism

Cheating, even if unintended, will not be tolerated in this class. To be clear, plagiarism involves presenting someone else’s work as your own. In its most common form, plagiarism is lifting verbatim excerpts from any source (e.g., print media, the Internet, etc.) without providing appropriate acknowledgement or citation. Any student suspected of plagiarism will fail the course and the case will be remanded immediately to the Academic Integrity Board. Please note: once a case is submitted to this board, it is out of my hands. Please know that plagiarism is almost as easy to detect, as it is to commit. See me immediately with any questions about what kinds of source usage constitute plagiarism. (See the Student Handbook for details on violations and disciplinary actions, e.g., Article IV. Violations: Section 1. Cheating; Section 2: Plagiarism.)

Academic Honesty, the Honor Code

Shenandoah University adheres to principles and practices of the Academic Honor Code. The Honor Code is the system of conduct of the University that reflects the core of principles and values the University has established regarding individual responsibility and matters involving honorable conduct. The concept of honor may be defined in a variety of ways; however, at this university the code prohibits lying, stealing, and cheating.

Students attending the university are responsible for upholding the Honor Code and being aware of the university’s Honor Code procedures. Ignorance is not acceptable defense for failure to follow the Honor Code. Shenandoah University faculty members are also responsible for upholding the Honor Code, which includes putting an Honor Code statement on all course syllabi and being aware of the university’s Honor Code procedures. The Shenandoah University Academic Honor Code is published in the Student Handbook.

Submitting work constitutes your pledge of academic honesty.

Deadlines

Your scholarly and professional success depends on your ability to meet deadlines. In this class, all graded work is due before our class’s scheduled start time. Work submitted after the deadline earns a 0. If you do not understand any part of an assignment or run into any other sort of difficulty, see me before the deadline to arrange timely submission of your work. If you will be unable to submit your work on time, make arrangements with me before the deadline to submit it early. Expect problems and arrange to submit your work at least two hours before it is due. Work is considered submitted according to my inbox’s date stamp on your email, generated by Google Docs, alerting me that you have shared your document file with me.