Greg Klotz

Work in Progress
English 104:
Policy Sheet

Writing Lab
Attendance
Academic Dishonesty
Deadlines
Paper Format Guidelines
Grading

Writing Lab
The Writing Lab can offer you additional help in writing your papers, so I recommend that you use this resource. They will give you additional ideas for ways to improve your papers.

Be sure to set up an appointment about a week in advance with the Writing Lab if you are going to go; their times fill up quickly. They are open:

Day	9:00am - 12:00pm	12:00pm - 8:00pm
Monday	Ross 418	Ross 418
Tuesday	Ross 418	Ross 418
Wednesday	Ross 418	Ross 418
Thursday	Ross 418	Ross 418
Friday	Ross 137	closed

Their phone number is 294-5411.

Attendance
What I have to teach you is important and difficult, and I guarantee that attending class will make learning the material easier. Therefore, I expect you to attend class regularly, and you will be allowed NO absences. And don't be late, either.

I strongly encourage you not to miss class because as much as you may think you'll want to skip class, you will be missing out on a lot of interesting information, so it will be much easier for both of us to simply attend class.

You will also lose participation points for any given day if you are:

• not prepared for class; e.g. you have not read the assignment for the day or you do not have your homework done for the day
• printing your paper during class; you must have it ready before class begins
• screwing around with the computers in the lab or checking your e-mail when you are not supposed to (there will be times when you are supposed to check your e-mail; I will let you know when)
• beating up on the kid next to you or stealing his/her lunch money

If you want credit for being in class, you must participate and get your work done. Do not skip class if you do not have your homework done. Talk to me before class, and we can come to an arrangement.

Academic Dishonesty
Write your own papers; that should be enough said.

We will be doing numerous group exercises in class that will provide us with external feedback about our papers, and I encourage you to work together outside of class as well. The more you discuss this material with other people, the more viewpoints and insight you will gain. Your papers will be different enough that you won't be able to "cheat" off one another, so help each other out, but don't copy.

When you argue a position, you are more credible if you support that argument with research. If you really want to convince me to agree with your position, I won't believe just you; you'll need to support your position with research, facts, expert endorsements, etc. When you do this, make sure to cite your sources. This way, not only do you support your argument, but you eliminate the possibility of plagiarizing as well.

Deadlines

Interviews	September 27th
Observation	October 25th
Analysis and Evaluation	November 15th
Argument Paper	December 6th
Revision	December 13th

In addition to writing four major papers, you must revise one of your major papers (I would recommend you revise a paper with a low grade or a paper that is worth a high percentage of your final grade). You must revise the paper, not edit—there is a difference, as described here.

Paper Format Guidelines
In order that I can easily read your papers, I have some guidelines for you to follow in formatting any Finished Paper. I will have to read over 50 papers each time you have to write 1, so I will require that your papers adhere to the following guidelines:

• use 8 ½" x 11" paper - you pretty much have to
• double-space your text - I need to be able to write comments between lines
• 12 point Times font - too small hurts my eyes—too big looks like a Dr. Seuss book
• not right justified - this makes reading the paper difficult
• no cover pages - this is a waste of paper; impress me with content, not fluff
• no printing during class - this is a major distraction; have it printed before you get here
• no dot-matrix papers - these printers have awful quality; I could write better in crayon

Do not alter any of these, especially to try to make your paper longer or shorter to fit within the paper length recommendations. The length recommendations are just that—recommendations; they are negotiable.

• If you need more pages to really make your point, then make the paper longer. Do not cut a good argument short.
• If you complete your argument short of the minimum page requirement, then end your paper. Do not fill in the remainder with crap.

If you turn in a quality paper, quantity will not matter, and your grade will not suffer. Please do not write your paper according to the length of the assignment; write it according to the purpose of the assignment. An incomplete argument or a full-o-crap argument will receive a lowered grade.

This does not mean that I want to read 200-page papers; make sure that everything in your paper is crucial and necessary to your argument. Nor do I want a paper short enough that I can finish reading it as you hand it in to me. Make sure that every angle of your argument is examined and fully explained.

Grading
Your final grade for the class will be composed of the following assignments and activities:

Interviews	20%
Observation	20%
Analysis and Evaluation	20%
Argument Paper	25%
Class Participation / Daily Work / Quizzes	5%
Final Exam	10%
Total	100%