GRADING SCALE
We use a 12-point scale for grading: 12=A, 11=A-, 10=B+, 9=B, 8=B-, 7=C+, 6=C, 5=C-,4=D+, 3=D, 2=D-, 1=F (but something turned in), 0=F (but not even attempted). Intermediate grades are sometimes assigned, e.g., a 10.5 would be a B+/A-. In the final analysis, grades will be rounded to the nearest integer, so a 10.5 average would be rounded to an 11 (A-).
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
You are expected to abide by the code of conduct of your College. Academic integrity entails avoiding any form of cheating or plagiarism, including the copying and/or purchase of material on the Internet. Plagiarism is the failure to give credit to scholarship assimilated into one’s work, whether verbatim (word-for-word) or through adoption of ideas, arguments, and criticisms. So in brief, any work that is submitted as your own but written in whole or in part by someone else is plagiarism. Also, any work that is your own, but was submitted to another class, counts as plagiarism. For the purposes of this class, any collection of 5 or more consecutive, unquoted words taken from another source will be considered plagiarism. It is your responsibility to give proper acknowledgment for indebted material. Any work containing plagiarized content will receive an automatic grade of F, and we reserve the right to assign an F in the course overall for such a breach of ethics. We will also follow your College’s policy concerning the reporting of academic dishonesty to your Dean; these policies often hold that violations of their codes of conduct are subject to further disciplinary action. If you have any questions about how you should handle something in one of your written assignments, or if you are ever unsure whether something is a violation of our academic integrity policy, please do not hesitate to reach out to us with your questions before you submit your work.
LATE WORK POLICY
Lateness is bad, very bad. Missing deadlines makes life more difficult for you and for us. We typically will not excuse late work unless circumstances are so serious as to require the attention of the Dean of Students or Monsour. Unexcused late work will have the grade docked at a rate of 1 point on the 12-point grading scale per 24 hours late. All work will be turned in via Sakai, which automatically notes the time of submission.
COURSE WORK COMPLETION POLICY
All assignments in the class must be completed for a non-failing grade in the class, except if explicitly waived by the instructors. That is, if you fail to turn in one of the assignments, even if it is only worth 8% of the overall grade, you will not receive a passing grade in the class.
ATTENDANCE POLICY
We do not take explicit attendance in the class on a day-to-day basis. That said, attending class regularly is part of what’s expected of students. If you miss a class here and there, for whatever reason, that is fine (and you need not ask for permission). Our policy is that if we notice an ongoing, unexplained attendance problem, we will first contact the student directly. We may notify the student and their advisor of the problem with attendance by submitting a Low Grade Notice. We reserve the right to lower a student’s final grade in the class if the attendance problem continues after the Low Grade Notice is given.