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E220: American Science Fiction,
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GENERAL EXPECTATIONS
You will be expected to come to class having read and analyzed the material
assigned for that day. Be prepared to answer questions about and discuss
the works assigned when you come to class and take careful notes from the lectures provided on the material and from the class discussions we have.
Pay particular attention to quotes read and discussed in class.
QUIZZES
For information about quizzes, see the link for quizzes at Quizzes Link.
ATTENDANCE:
Roll is taken at the beginning of every class because attendance
is mandatory for success in this course. Students arriving late
will be counted absent. See my Attendance Policy.
DEADLINES:
Every assignment for this course is due at the beginning of the hour
of the due date on the syllabus. Assignments turned in after this
time are considered late and are given severe penalties.
Generally, assignments will be marked one letter grade lower for each
day they are late. No assignments are accepted after being four days
late.
FORMAT, LENGTH, STYLE, TONE AND AUDIENCE:
Every formal assignment is required to be written on a word processor. No handwritten
papers or typed pages are acceptable, other than rare in-class compositions. Each
page of the assignment should have one inch margins all around, be
left justified, and include a page number and the student's name.
All text should be double spaced and font and point sizes of the
text should yield around 250 words per page. All quoted and
paraphrased text must be documented according to MLA
documentation standards. All formal assignments must maintain a formal,
profession style and tone. Each should demonstrate the
student's ability to write, edit, revise and proofread on a
college level. Contractions and slang terms or phrases are not
considered elements of formal writing. Generally, for most papers try
to avoid using first and second person pronouns. The audiences
for all your papers will be, primarily, the instructor and your peers and, secondarily an educated, college level reader. As such, you should always consider
these audiences when you write. Avoid racist and sexist language
at all times. Avoid all common logical fallacies.
ELECTRONIC COPIES (Virtual):
In addition to hard copies of all assignments turned in to the instructor, you will also be required to attach electronic versions of all your assignments to an email note sent to me. Use Millikin University's email processor GroupWise to do this. My email address is: moconner@mail.millikin.edu
Names of electronic assignments should be consistent. They should include the assignment name (AP1) followed by three initials of your name (AP1mlo) then followed by the document word processor type. Since MS Word documents end with [.doc] your assignment written with Word would be titled AP1mlo.doc If for some reason you are using another word processor, you will need to save your electronic document as a TEXT (ASCII or DOS) file. This can be done under the FILE menu choosing the SAVE AS option. These files should be labeled ending with a .txt, hence the assignment would be called AP1mlo.txt
Here are important abbreviations:
Keep all of your assignments on a three and a half inch floppy disk, and back up this disk often. To submit the assignment to me attached to an email message, use GroupWise from a campus computer lab. Address the email to me as you normally would. For the subject line of the email message, use your assignment name (AP1mlo.doc) then click on the Attach button. Click onto your floppy disk, then onto the assignment your are sending. Then send me the email and the document will be attached--if properly done, an icon of the assignment will appear at the bottom of the email screen.
GRADING CRITERIA:
PRODUCT VERSUS EFFORT:
These descriptions in most cases should make clear the criteria
for the various grades that your work could receive. Keep in
mind that the English Department requires instructors to grade
the paper, not the effort. Spending many hours--indeed multiple
days--on a paper is the norm, not the exception, and the amount
of time you spend on a paper will be reflected in the grade you
receive only insofar as it is also reflected in the quality of
that paper.
PLAGIARISM POLICY:
Students who submit as their own work a paper (i.e., a thesis,
microtheme, draft, completed essay, or any other written work)
which is taken in whole or in part from another person's writing
without proper acknowledgment (that is, the use of quotation
marks and documentation for directly quoted work or some sort of
specific citation for paraphrased material) are guilty of
plagiarism. Students who allow another student to copy their
work are also guilty of cheating. Students who submit a
plagiarized paper or who allow another person to copy their work
are subject to any one or all of the following actions:
1. receiving a grade of zero for the paper
2. receiving an F for the course
3. being reported to the Dean for possible disciplinary
action
In brief, plagiarism is the borrowing of ideas, opinions,
examples, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or even
structure from another person, including professional writers and
other students, without acknowledgement. Note that plagiarism is
not restricted to the unacknowledged borrowing of specific
language; it includes as well unacknowledged paraphrasing
(restating another's ideas in your own language) and the
unacknowledged borrowing of ideas with or without direct
quotation or paraphrase. Whenever you borrow any concepts,
structures, or words from another person, you must include full
formal acknowledgement; when particular words are borrowed, you
must also include quotation marks around them. Failure to
provide complete documentation and, when applicable, quotation
marks, is plagiarism and will be subject to the disciplinary
actions outlined above.
E-Mail Posts and Responses
See instructions at Email Posts and Response Instructions
Letters of Recommendation
I am always glad to provide letters of recommendation for students who have completed any of my courses with a 93% or above.