Grading/Requirements

Course Requirements and Grading: 

The bulk of your work will consist of writing and reading. You will have readings each class, will write reading responses, and will write a journal; moreover, you will write three major essays, two minor essays, and complete a research web page project. All work must be completed on time. A late essay will be graded a grade lower for each business day it is late. All major essays must be submitted to receive course credit. The assignments are always due by 10:00 a.m. Near the end of the semester, you will be allowed to revise two of your assignments for completely new grades.

Essays

There are four major essays and two minor essays. The major essays are all based on the readings that lead up to them, so you must read the assignments and think deeply about the topics to write the essays. The minor essays are field projects, which means that you will need to go into the community to do in person research before you write your essay. The specific requirements for each can be found under the Assignments tab. 

Reading Posts

For each reading that we do, you need to provide a post of at least 100 words that summarizes, discusses main points, or agrees/disagrees with the reading. While I do not weigh the grammar heavily with these posts, I do count it as part of the grade. 

Journals                                           

Twice each week, you will write journal entries on topics that I post. The journal entries should be 250-500 words each. We will write one during class, and then you will have until Friday to write one online. 

Homework                                        

There will be several small homework assignments due.  They will range from correcting wordiness to writing letters. 

Quizzes

You will have a quiz each Thursday at the beginning of class. If you miss a quiz, you cannot make it up. Two quizzes will be dropped from your course grade at the end of the semester.

Grading Scale

Two small essays

15%

Four Essays

40%

Quizzes

10%

Reading Posts

10%

Journals

10%

Attendance/Participation

10%

Homework

5%

Total

100%

Grading rubrics will be provided as part of each essay so that you understand what is required to receive an A on the assingment.