Grading

How your coursework is weighted

Grades are weighted; that means certain types of assignments count for different percentages of your overall grade.

Quizzes and Surveys = 5%

• Quizzes: In each module, is a short quiz to reinforce the writing tips, tips that should set you up to write a strong paper. No trick questions! If you studied the pages and watched the videos you should get 100%.

• Surveys: Throughout the semester, you will have opportunities to reflect on your writing and to give the professor feedback on the course. You will earn points for completing these class and self-assessments. The surveys should enable you and me to create a better learning environment.

Online Discussions & Writing Posts = 20%

Each week you will participate in the discussion area by posting about the literature, by replying to classmates' posts, by practicing discrete writing tasks, and by posting drafts of your papers. These posts fall into two categories:

• • Online discussions, which are an excellent way to test out or explore your own thinking about the literature, to share ideas with other students, to get new insights, and even to start drafting ideas for papers.

  • Writing posts, which cover conventions of writing about literature or strong academic writing in general; these will help you prepare and polish your writing for papers.

Essays = 75%

You will write four essays, one paper for each literary genre. You will get lots of preparation for papers by posting in the discussion area, by brainstorming and prewriting, by participating in peer review, and by getting feedback from me and/or from tutors.
NOTE: You must write four papers; however, only the highest three out of the four grades counts toward your final course grade. That way you can feel free to take some risks with your writing--or have a "bad day"--and not jeopardize your overall grade.

• • • Short Story paper

    • Drama paper

    • Poetry paper

    • Novel paper

Rewrite policy

You may revise one of the first three essays in the semester for a higher grade. However, this must be an essay that was submitted on time, and the revised paper must be resubmitted within one week of the essay being returned with a score and comments. Please let me know right away if you want to revise a paper; I can help you do so!

Late policy

You may turn in one of the first three essays late. However, your paper will not be accepted if it is more than a week past the due date. Due dates for all assignments are posted at the start of the semester: it's best to plan accordingly and keep up with the work. Please let me know if you will submit a paper after the deadline.

Essay grades

A student must have at least a 70% average on the essays. A student with an essay grade average of less than 70% will NOT pass the class.