Texts and Materials:

· Attendance and Participation: I do not have an attendance policy for this class. However, students who do not make an effort to come to class every day that we meet will quickly find themselves lost, confused, and eventually frustrated to the point of giving up. Therefore, it essential to your success (and the effectiveness of class time) that you come to at least three class periods per week, and that you come PREPARED, having done all the reading and any pre-class homework assignments. Although I am perfectly willing to lecture straight from the reading and on-line material if that will help you to understand, it will be less frustrating, and more useful, for all of us if you come having read the material, perhaps with some specific questions in mind, prepared to test your understanding of the concepts with some in-class activity. You will always benefit more from attempting something yourself and getting feedback on your efforts than from staring glassy-eyed at the overhead screen while I read to you from the online material you should have read before class. In the end, not doing your homework prior to class will cost you more time and effort if you fail the class and have to re-take it because you have not understood some essential concept.

· Contacting the Instructor: The best way to contact me, at any time of day, is to email me at owensenglish@gmail.com

· I check this e-mail address several times a day and, if I am in front of my computer, I am alerted when an e-mail arrives.

· Therefore, responses to your e-mails can sometimes be instantaneous.

· At any reasonable time of day, you can usually get a response from me within two hours, if it is clear that a response is called for.

I usually check my campus e-mail a few times each week. It is not the best way to contact me or submit late assignments.

I check my campus mailbox only once a week, if I remember. Submitting assignments there is NOT a good idea. Please place hard copies of assignments on my desk, which is located in office 101A, just on the other side of the carpeted wall from the copy machine. Placed on the desk is a large plastic spider sitting in a Zen garden. Please don't disturb it.
During my office hours, I can be reached at 524 - 5153. At other times of day, you can leave a message at this number, but I usually only remember to check my messages once a week, so it is ALWAYS better to e-mail me a quick message at owensenglish@gmail.com

· Submitting Assignments: Even though this class is partially on-line, this does not mean you are free to complete the work at your own pace. Failure to submit assignments to my e-mail or during class time by the due date will result in a significantly reduced score and possibly a failing grade at the end of the quarter. You may submit any written assignments by e-mailing them to me at owensenglish@gmail.com. I will submit my feedback to you in the form of a MS Word document with review comments in the margin. Make sure you have your MS Word view set on "Print Layout" or "Normal" so that you can read the comments.

You may also submit assignments as a printout, but you will not receive feedback in as timely a manner, and comments will not be as legible or as extensive as an assignment submitted digitally. This isn't prejudice; it's just logistical.

· Weekly Quizzes: We will have 10 quizzes, worth 5 points each. The class schedule will give you some idea of the emphasis of each quiz and when it will open. In most cases these quizzes will require you to apply ideas from the course material and class discussion to demonstrate your understanding of them, so you may use your notes and the class internet resources on every quiz. I will mainly use quizzes to see how the class understands the concepts essential to research writing, and I will often review concepts the class is having trouble with. You will usually have three attempts at a quiz over an equal number of days, and you will receive feedback after each attempt telling you which questions you got right and wrong. It is to your advantage to attempt the quiz early and come back to it often. Treat it as a learning tool. Quizzes cannot be made up after they are given.

· Late Work: All readings should be done by 1 pm on the day they appear on the schedule. Assignments are due during class or in my e-mail in box by 5 pm on the days they appear on the schedule unless I make announcement stating a different due date or time. Major Assignments will lose 10 percent for every day they are late, starting with the hour after they are due. Assignments are also considered late if they are submitted in a form too incomplete to evaluate. I will not accept any assignment after I have handed the graded assignment back to the class. Missed quizzes may not be made up, but you may earn extra points on the final.

Keeping up with the class work and concepts in this class is essential because each step builds on the previous one. If you find yourself falling behind, or if you get less than 70 percent on any major assignment, please don’t let an entire week go by without e-mailing me or coming to see me. You will not succeed on the final research paper if you haven’t taken the steps to get to that level, so don’t expect that large grade to save you at the end of the quarter.

· Incompletes: No incompletes given unless 3/4 of the total course work is already completed. A request for an incomplete must be accompanied by a plan for completion.

· Disabilities Policy: If you have a disability and need accommodations, please see the instructor after class or contact Claudia Angus, Coordinator of Disability Support Services at 527-4262 or 527-4543.

· The Writing Center: The writing center is an invaluable resource. It is better to go there to get help with every aspect of the writing process before your instructor sees the need to send you there. You will mostly want their services for helping you proofread your papers, but they can also help you construct an argument, whip paragraphs into shape, help you avoid plagiarism and even evaluate sources. The Writing Center is located in the Library this quarter, to the left of the circulation desk.

Plagiarism is the submission of work for credit that includes materials copied or paraphrased from published or unpublished works without proper attribution or documentation. You are also committing plagiarism if you attribute your own words or ideas to someone else, or if you submit work previously submitted for another class as original work.

If I suspect a student of plagiarism, he or she will be called in to prove, through the use of notes, drafts and explanations, that they did not plagiarize. If I am not convinced, the paper will be sent up for academic review. If you are found guilty of academic dishonesty either by plagiarizing someone's work or allowing your own work to be misused by another, you will automatically fail English 102 and have to take the course again.

If I find evidence of plagiarism, or even extensive disregard for proper source documentation and attribution standards, on your final research paper, you will automatically fail English 102. It is your responsibility to use the tools I provide in class, your MLA style guide, and turnitin.com to make sure you do not violate these standards.

No final paper will be graded unless it is accompanied by a complete and organized sourcebook.

· Important Note: A failing grade on your final research paper for any reason will result in a failing grade for the class.

Reading and Assignment Schedule