ASSIGNMENTS & dEADLINES
| Coursework and deadlines are identified on RAIDERWRITER. Any additional grammar exercises or supplemental readings will be assigned and distributed in class or made available at least one week prior to the due date. You are responsible for knowing about any additional requirements or changes to the current assignments given in oral announcements, e-mail announcements, and/or in RAIDERWRITER course instructor announcements.Deadlines for turning in your work are firm. Students are advised to submit assignments by 11:00 p.m. on the due date to avoid the RAIDERWRITER system congestion which occurs closer to midnight. Assignments for sections 003 and 009 are due on the Friday following our scheduled class meeting on Monday. For more information on assignments and due dates, please consult the Syllabus found on RAIDERWRITER. Major course assignments will be accepted late; HOWEVER, late course assignments will receive a 10-point per day deduction from the assigned grade. Late course assignments will be accepted up to 10 days beyond the due date. No late homework, quizzes, or in-class participation assignments will be accepted.
After you turn in an assignment, confirm that it has been received by checking your list of submitted assignments. Be sure you always keep an electronic copy of your work.
If RAIDERWRITER is down, you may e-mail your assignment to me no later than 11:30 p.m. This will ensure that I receive your work and will provide a time-stamped submission record. However, you remain responsible for submitting your assignment to RAIDER WRITER and must do so within 24 hours. If you follow these rules, I will remove any late penalty. |
Attendance and Decorum
Attendance
On-site attendance is required for this course. Students are required to sign a weekly attendance sheet to be counted as present. Any student who is tardy is responsible for signing in late. If you do not sign in, you will be counted absent. You must notify me at least ONE WEEK (7 DAYS) in advance–with a letter from the sponsoring department or unit–if you will miss class due to an official University activity. Please visit with me regarding your assignments BEFORE your departure.
Please DO NOT come to class if you are ill. Stay home, take care of yourself, and don’t share your germs. A doctor’s note will excuse your absence and will enable you to make up late assignments.
Proper documentation to excuse your absence MUST BE PROVIDED no later than 5:00 P.M. on the date of the next course session you attend following your absence. Documentation presented after this deadline will not be accepted.
After your second unexcused absence, 5% of your final grade will be deducted for each additional absence. Your Dean may be notified in accordance with University policies. Students arriving ten (10) minutes after our appointed start time, after 8:10 a.m. and 11:10 p.m. respectively, will be counted absent for the day. Excessive tardiness will warrant an official discussion with the Writing Program Director and/or Assistant Directors. If you leave class early, you will be counted absent for the class session in question.
Students are not permitted to attend other section courses for attendance or participation points.
Classroom Behavior
Active class participation is expected from all students during every class meeting. Points will be awarded for quizzes and other in-class activities during each session. Students may earn points for their participation on each class day, for a total of approximately 800 participation points over the semester. There will be no announcement as to which in-class activity will be considered for participation points. I may permit students who have an excused absence to make up missed participation points, depending on your past willingness to participate.
Cellular phones, pagers, laptops, MP3 players, and other unauthorized electronic devices are not permitted. Turn them off and put them away before coming into the classroom. Use of unauthorized electronic devices of any kind will result in an invitation to leave the room for the remainder of the class and you will be marked absent for the session.
Preparation for and participation in the day’s activities are your responsibility. I am happy to teach attentive students but have little sympathy for those who sleep, draw, or otherwise “tune out” during class. You will behave respectfully toward me, your classmates, and yourself. Belittling comments, aggressive speech, personal conversations, and other disrespectful conduct will earn you a dismissal from the session and an absence for the day. Prepare yourself to not only be physically present but mentally present as well.
Lastly, please do not begin to re-pack your personal items and belongings prior to my announcement that class is dismissed. Important instructions will be given at the end of class regarding assignments, readings, etc. and may be missed if students are inattentive. I will respect your time by dismissing class as scheduled.
RAIDERWRITER GRADING AND COMMENTS
| RAIDERWRITER provides an anonymous group-grading interface. Your assignments may be graded by me or by another Document Instructor in our grading group. Document Instructors cannot see the name of the student whose work they are grading, and students cannot see the name of the Document Instructor who has graded his or her work. This system is designed to familiarize students with writing for various graders and to promote impartial grading practices. Document Instructors (DIs) grading your assignments will provide written commentary on your work and will identify key grammatical or mechanical errors. Be aware that Document Instructors will notify you of repeated patterns of errors, typographical errors, etc., rather than marking every error. Please consider grading comments carefully and review your work for the errors observed.Brief assignments, peer critiques, and writing reviews are graded by a single instructor. A minimum of two DIs review and grade each Draft. The “resolved grade” on a draft assignment is the average of these multiple scores.
Students are encouraged to respond on RAIDERWRITER to comments entered there by the Document Instructor. Such responses must be courteous, respectful, coherent, and salient if you wish them to be taken seriously. Rudeness will not be rewarded, even if it includes valid concerns. Please be aware that the grading instructors have no mechanism for answering student responses, so questions about grading comments should be directed to me. |
Grading
Your final grade for the course will be calculated by dividing the number of points you have earned by the total weights of all assignments. You may check online throughout the course to see your accumulated grade totals.
Your course grade will be evaluated on a 5,900-point system. Assignment Weights with Participation for ENGL 1301 are as follows:
| Assignment Type |
Assignment |
Total Weight |
Assignment Points |
Total Points |
| Weight |
# |
| Brief Assignments and Diagnostic |
3 |
9 |
27 |
100 points |
2,700 |
| Peer Critiques |
2 |
2 |
4 |
400 |
| Writing Review |
4 |
1 |
4 |
400 |
| Essay Drafts |
8 |
2 |
16 |
1,600 |
| Participation |
4 |
2 |
8 |
800 |
| Total |
|
|
5,900 |
*For example, if you score an 85% on your Draft 1.1, then you have earned 680 points out of the 800 points possible for Draft 1.1.
Please review the grading rubric found in the Onsite Course policies section of your Writing in the Disciplines textbook on pages xxx and xxxi. If a supplemental rubric is to be implemented for a specific assignment, you will be provided a copy in advance of the assignment’s due date.
| Appeals for a grade change may be presented to me for consideration. If you feel your assignment has been unfairly or incorrectly evaluated, you may appeal the grade. There is a process by which to do this, and no appeals will be acknowledged outside of this process. Appealing through the correct channels does not guarantee a changed grade. Only a very few assignments are eligible candidates for changed grades. Please note that since Drafts are graded by multiple instructors, I am unlikely to consider grade appeals on draft assignments.The process:
1. Type an argument in favor of the grade you feel you earned on the assignment. The argument should include an honest evaluation of the assignment’s strengths and weaknesses, both in general and in regards to the assessment criteria. You must include direct quotations from the assignment criteria and instructions, the grading scale outlined in your textbook (pages xxx – xxxi), the grader’s commentary, and your own writing. Use these quotes to support an argument for a grade appeal.
2. Submit a copy of the argument to me within seven days of the document being graded. I will determine whether a grade change is in order.
Note: There is no re-appeal process. My decision is final, and as you can see, is reached only after careful consideration. All appeals for grade change must be made in a timely fashion; appeals will not be considered on assignments that have been graded for more than seven (7) days. Likewise, I will not review grade appeals for more than three (3) assignments per student throughout the semester.
I reserve the right to assess your work and assign the final grade for each assignment and overall course grade. I also reserve the right to review and change the grade of any assignment any time during the semester or within the timeframe after the course as allowable by TTU.
Extra credit is not permitted in this course – don’t ask. Likewise, there will be no grading curve at the end of the semester. |
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CONTACTING ME
Office Visits
| Students are encouraged to visit my office during the hours listed above. Those hours are reserved for answering your questions and concerns, and I invite you all to visit. If you wish to meet with me but are unavailable during my normal office hours, please schedule an appointment via e-mail. If you schedule an appointment outside of my posted office hours, please be courteous and notify me within one hour of the stated appointment time if you will not be able to attend as scheduled. Failure to notify me of your anticipated tardiness or your wish to reschedule at least one hour in advance of our scheduled meeting time will result in fifty (50) points being deducted from your total course participation points (800 points). |
e-Mail Etiquette
| Please address e-mail to my primary TTU e-mail address (carrie.line@ttu.edu). Please note that e-mail sent after noon on Friday will not be addressed until Sunday evening. Typically, I check e-mail periodically between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Likewise, I will respond to any emails that I receive over the weekend on Sunday evening.I expect students to use professional language and tone in all communication with me, including in email. E-mail messages should be sent with ENGL 1301, your section number, and your name in the subject line (ex: “ENGL 1301.003 – Donald Kerabatsos: BA 1 Diagnostic”). E-mail messages should begin with a greeting and should end with a “signature.” If you have missed a class meeting, please consult the announcement area within RAIDERWRITER, communicate with classmates regarding assignments, and/or consult your personal copy of the course syllabus before e-mailing questions to me. |
Academic Integrity
It is the aim of the faculty of Texas Tech University to foster a spirit of complete honesty and a high standard of integrity. The attempt of students to present as their own any work that they have not honestly performed is regarded by the faculty and administration as a serious offense and renders the offenders liable to serious consequences, possibly suspension. The instructor in a course is responsible for initiating action for dishonesty or plagiarism that occurs in his or her class. A Campus Incident Report will be filed with Student Judicial Programs.
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Plagiarism: Offering the work of another as one’s own, without proper acknowledgment, is plagiarism; therefore, any student who fails to give credit for quotations or essentially identical expression of material taken from books, encyclopedias, magazines, and other reference works, or from the themes, reports, or other writings of a fellow student, is guilty of plagiarism. |
Additional information may be found at: http://www.depts.ttu.edu/studentjudicialprograms/academicinteg.php |
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
University policy dictates that instructors must be provided a Letter of Accommodation before making special arrangements for a student who is temporarily or permanently disabled. Please contact Student Disability Services at 742-2405 or http://www.depts.ttu.edu/studentaffairs/sds/ to make the appropriate arrangements. |
