Attendance
Attendance is required. The policy of the University Writing Program is that if a student misses more than six periods during a full-term semester, the student will fail the entire course. The UWP exempts from this policy only those absences involving university-sponsored events, such as athletics and band, and religious holidays. Absences related to university-sponsored events must be discussed with the instructor prior to the date that will be missed.Please Note: If students are absent, it is their responsibility to make themselves aware of all due dates. If absent due to a scheduled event, students are still responsible for turning assignments in on time.
Tardiness: If students enter class after roll has been called, they are late, which disrupts the entire class. Two instances of tardiness count as one absence.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious violation of the Student Honor Code. The Honor Code prohibits plagiarism and defines it as follows:Plagiarism. A student shall not represent as the student’s own work all or any portion of the work of another. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to:
1. Quoting oral or written materials including but not limited to those found on the internet, whether published or unpublished, without proper attribution.
2. Submitting a document or assignment which in whole or in part is identical or substantially identical to a document or assignment not authored by the student.
(University of Florida, Student Honor Code, 8 July 2011)
University of Florida students are responsible for reading, understanding, and abiding by the entire Student Honor Code.
Important Tip: You should never copy and paste something from the Internet without providing the exact location from which it came.
If a student plagiarizes all or any part of any assignment, they will be awarded a failing grade on the assignment. Additionally, University policy suggests that, as a MINIMUM, instructors should impose a course grade penalty and report any incident of academic dishonesty to the Office of the Dean of Students. Each student’s work may be tested for its originality against a wide variety of databases by anti-plagiarism sites to which the University subscribes, and negative reports from such sites may constitute proof of plagiarism. Other forms of academic dishonesty will also result in a failing grade on the assignment as a minimum penalty. Examples include cheating on a quiz or inaccurately citing sources or quotations.
Classroom Behavior
Please keep in mind that people come from diverse cultural, economic, and ethnic backgrounds. Some of the texts we will discuss and write about engage controversial topics and opinions. Diversified student backgrounds combined with provocative texts require that you demonstrate respect for ideas that may differ from your own. Disrespectful behavior will result in dismissal, and accordingly, absence, from the class.
In-Class Work & Paper Policies
Papers and drafts are due at the beginning of class or online by the assigned deadline. Late papers will not be accepted. Failure of technology is not an excuse.Participation is a crucial part of success in this class. Students will be expected to work in small groups and participate in group discussions, writing workshops, peer reviews, and other in-class activities. Be prepared for unannounced quizzes or activities on the readings or classroom discussion. Students must be present for all in-class activities to receive credit for them. In-class work cannot be made up. Writing workshops require that students provide constructive feedback about their peers’ writing.
Paper Maintenance Responsibilities
Students are responsible for maintaining duplicate copies of all work submitted in this course and retaining all returned, graded work until the semester is over. Should the need arise for a resubmission of papers or a review of graded papers it is the student’s responsibility to have and make this material available.
Mode of Submission
All papers must be submitted as MS Word (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rtf) documents to Turn It In and as hard copies on or before the day/time they are due. Turning in an electronic copy without a hard copy (or vice versa) is unacceptable. Both electronic and hard copies are due at the same time. If one or the other is not turned in, the paper will be subject to consequences defined by the late policy. Final drafts should be polished and presented in a professional manner.All papers must be in 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced with 1-inch margins and pages numbered following proper citation guidelines. Be sure to staple papers before submitting hard copies as unstapled papers will not be accepted. For selected assignments, students are required to submit the final draft along with peer review(s) and rough draft(s) in a 2-pocket folder. The left pocket should contain drafting materials and the right pocket will hold the final draft. The front of the folder should list the student’s name. The purpose of presenting papers in such a manner is two-fold: not only will the instructor be able to review the student’s writing process, but students will also have the opportunity to reflect on their writing process. Please see individual assignment sheets for further submission guidelines.
Technology in Class
Cell phones are only permitted in class if they are silent in order to receive emergency messages. If you have a personal emergency and must keep your phone on, please discuss it with the instructor before class. In the same regard, laptops and other computing devices (tablets, e-readers, etc.) will only be used in class during designated class activities unless otherwise discussed with the instructor. Surfing the web, tweeting, texting, etc. is not only distracting to yourself, but to fellow classmates. Please keep from using any of these electronics unless otherwise instructed to use them.
Late Work
Students are responsible for submitting assignments by their due dates. Papers are due at the time designated on the course schedule and in hard copy at the beginning of class on the assigned date. Papers that do not meet this requirement will not be accepted and will receive a failing grade. WR assignments will only be accepted in meeting word count, not point value. Part of working for a college education is to prepare for life outside of academia. As such, late work is almost never acceptable in the workplace and is thus not permitted in this class.
Readings
Reading assignments will be announced by the instructor within a timely manner before they are due either in class, posted on the course website, or via email. Therefore, it is necessary to consistently check with the course website (writinggothic.blogspot.com) and your email for reading assignments. While most readings will come directly from the textbook, there may also be assigned articles, journals, chapters, etc. that will be uploaded to the website or emailed to the class.
Conferences
Students are encouraged to come to office hours if there are questions about progress in the course, work underway, or any other course-related concerns. If a student does not attend a scheduled conference with the instructor, it will be counted as an absence.
Peer Reviews
Throughout the semester, we will be reviewing the work of our peers. Disrespectful comments on papers will not be tolerated. Likewise, any reviewer failing to point out areas of growth in the paper will be docked points for not respecting the importance of their role as an honest reviewer. Missed peer reviews cannot be made up.
