Attendance and Participation:
You are an active participant in your education, not a passive consumer. Therefore you have to be here, in body and spirit. Listen attentively, and contribute your thoughts, opinions, and questions. The success of this class depends on how much you are willing to invest in it.
You have to be here to contribute to discussion and to learn from it. If you are absent more than three times, you’ll lose at least a full letter grade in the class. If you are late three times, it counts as an absence. I will take roll every day. Students are allowed one absence without penalty or explanation. Emergencies are handled at the instructors’ discretion.
Being prepared for the day’s discussion is vital—doing the reading, your homework, and bringing the day’s materials to class is crucial. Active listening is key. Please be aware that being prepared for class counts toward this portion of your grade. If you don’t bring your materials (the assigned reading, paper, pen) to class, I can only assume you are unprepared.
Learning Outcomes: 2, 3 and 4.
Blog participation:
To insure active class discussion and your ability to listen and contribute, prepare a weekly reading response of approximately 250 words to a question posted about the assigned texts or viewing. Questions will be posted on the course blog. Write your responses in the comment section of that post before each class meeting. Your response should conclude with a focused question (or questions), opening up discussion of a specific passage. Your goal with this response is to demonstrate a personal interest in and engagement with the week’s reading.
These writings should be informal, a way of processing the texts you’ve read to generate class discussion. The other writing you do for this class may grow out of these writings.
Learning Outcomes: 2, 3 and 4
Three essays, with revisions: This is a writing intensive course, which means that developing a regular writing and revision practice is at its heart. You will write three essays and revise them after receiving feedback. We recommend that you keep your drafts, together with notes, self and peer evaluations together in a folder; at the end of each assignment you’ll be asked to reflect on your revision process, and then at the end of the semester, you’ll be asked to reflect further on how your writing has developed. Here is a short description of the three essay assignments; more details are forthcoming as the assignments are due. All due dates are indicated in the calendar portion of the syllabus.
- A short review. This essay combines description and reasoned opinion.
- A critical, thesis-driven essay, combining your reasoned opinion plus analysis. Analysis asks why and how ideas inform your reasoned opinion.
- A research-thesis driven essay. For this essay, you will use the research process to develop a question and then develop your critical opinion based on further research. Then you will write a thesis-driven essay, in which the analysis of your research supports your argument.
Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
Annotated bibliography: This assignment is part of the writing and research process for the third essay you write in this course. An annotated bibliography contains a short summary of each entry. You’ll get more instruction on this later.
Learning Outcomes: 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
Information literacy quizzes: As part of every First Year Seminar, every student will
Learning Outcomes: 2, 3, 5 and 6
Writing portfolio and self-reflection: 15 points
Learning Outcomes: 1 and 2
Grades
Final grades are calculated on a 100 point scale
95-100: A
90-94: A-
87-89: B+
84-86: B
80-83: B-
77-79: C+
74-76: C
70-73: C-
67-69: D+
64-66: D
60-63: D-
59 and below: F