Your first assignment is Your First Assignment. After that, every week you will need to complete either a Writing Project or a Lesson by the due date listed in the Course Schedule (see Schedule).
EVERY WEEK you submit:
2 Weekly Comment (WC) responses 2 pts/ea. = 4 pts
Replies to 2 students’ posts 0.5 pts/ea. = 1 pt. 5 points/week
-OR-
1 Writing Project (6 assignments, 5% each) 5 points/week
Your OVERALL GRADE in the class is based on:
Your First Assignment 2
9 Lessons (10 assignments, 5% each; *you skip one project!) 45 points
Writing Projects (6 assignments, 5% each; *you skip one project!) 25
Research Paper (Final Version) 28
TOTAL 100 points
There is no midterm or final exam. Instead, you will write a final 6-8 page (minimum 6 full pages) research paper.
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 65-69
F Below 65
Assignments are due every Saturday by 11 pm, except for exam weeks and unless otherwise noted in the class schedule (see Schedule for due dates).
Everyone may “miss” one Writing Project and one Lesson without penalty; only 9 out of 10 Lessons and 5 out of 6 Writing Projects are graded. Otherwise, late assignments are not accepted. If you think that you will not be able to hand in an assignment on time, contact me immediately to make an alternative arrangement. Note that you may do assignments ahead of time- just be sure to post at least 2 replies to other students’ posts, which may not be up until closer to the due date. If you miss two consecutive Lessons or Writing Projects, I will drop you from the class.
Plagiarized assignments and exams will receive a zero. Shared assignments and assignments copied from other students’ assignments will result in zeroes for all parties involved. If you are using ideas or phrases that are not your own, such as cutting and pasting from a website or textbook, you must cite the original author. When in doubt, it is always better to cite. See Plagiarism for examples of how to cite something correctly.
AI such as ChatGPT is not allowed in this course and students are urged to avoid using it. It is expected that all submitted work will be the student’s own, original work created without the aid of any artificial intelligence or other supports. If an assignment is flagged for AI content once, you will receive a zero on that assignment. If a second assignment is flagged as AI-generated, the assignment will be marked zero, a formal report will be sent to the Vice President of Student Services, and further penalties will apply.
Posting a blank, incomplete or nonsense response in an attempt to override the “post-first” system settings for the Discussions boards will result in a zero on the assignment. Posting your Weekly Comments in two posts instead of one may result in your assignment being marked down. If you are unsure what to write, contact your professor or refer to the “Grading Guidelines and Ideal Posts” document in Helpful Guides on Canvas.