Note:  Each of the three “Major Assignments” (essays) requires a first and final draft for which you will be paired with a peer partner.  There are no optional units, so you must complete first and final drafts for each of the three major assignments listed above in order to get any credit for this course; otherwise you will receive a 0.0.    

You are expected to choose a single narrowed topic early in the quarter, which will be the topic that you investigate for each of the three major essays.  The first two essays, in substantially revised form, will become significant sections in your Final Research Article.  Your topic and your narrowing of it may go through many changes in the quarter, and in some rare instances students may request to change their topics altogether.  Notwithstanding the level of change that your topic undergoes, the Final Research Article is expected to be a coherent whole with relevant background and literature review sections.  See Assignments page for more details.

Although you will not receive individual comments from me on all of your preparatory work and first drafts, you will receive comments and a grade on the final drafts of the first two major essays.  In revising your assignments from the preparatory to the final draft stage, it is your obligation to incorporate feedback from your peer review partners along with my general comments and suggestions to the class; you are also encouraged to seek clarification from me at any stage of the process and/or consult a tutor at the GRCC Writing Center (RLC 173).

Participation  y

While this is a writing course, a good deal of reading is required both from our texts and from your adventures in the library, electronic article databases, and the World Wide Web.  Therefore, make sure you schedule enough hours in the week to give yourself time to read, digest, reflect on, and re-read material as necessary.  Since this is an Internet based course, participation is "virtual" but crucial nevertheless. It is vital that you read all assigned texts critically and thoughtfully before you comment on them in the discussion forums or on classmates’ writing. Identify at least one passage/quotation and formulate at least one discussion question for each assigned reading.  Be prepared to present your passage and question, share your views, engage in dialogue with classmates, participate in group discussions, write thoughtfully, and enhance your and others’ perspectives and interpretations through this process. The discussion forum makes up a substantial portion of your grade (12.5 %). Discussion assignments will be announced for each week; you should expect to post messages between 2-3 times each week (with greater frequency in the summer quarter). 

All essays and assignments are due by midnight (11:59 p.m.) on the due date listed in the weekly class schedules. The three major assignments in this class each require a first and final draft.

Since you are required to write formal peer reviews for some assignments, it is especially imperative that your drafts are ready by their due times. A late first draft will mean that you will get a zero for the peer review component. However, you must still turn in all required assignments to get credit for the course, including first drafts when applicable.

For each day either the required first or final draft is late, your overall grade for the unit will be lowered by 1/3 a grade (so a B would turn into a B-, a B- into a C+, etc.). See Assignments section above to see how many points each major assignment is worth.  Peer reviews scores will be reduced by 5 points for each day they are late.  Forum postings will receive full credit if they are posted on time, half-credit if they are up to three days late, and no credit if they are three days or more late.  Note:  forum postings also may receive half or no credit if they are incomplete.

Contact me as far in advance of a due date as possible if you feel you have a legitimate exception to this policy.

You are bound by the Student Code of Conduct in the GRCC Student Handbook. This category includes having others do work for you, doing work for others, and plagiarism. Plagiarism is when you copy or use an outside source without properly referencing it, including ideas, paraphrasing, and outright reproduction of passages.  Save all materials, including rough drafts, short assignments, preparatory notes, and final versions; you may be required to submit these upon request. Students suspected of scholastic dishonesty will be referred to the Dean of Academic Education for further action, which may result in a failing grade for the assignment or for the entire course.

In this course you will be working in groups and by yourself. While you will get feedback from your cyber-classmates on early drafts, the final work must be your own. Do not have anyone else edit your work either for its style and language use or for mechanical errors.  The only authorized sources of outside help are the GRCC Writing Center (located in RLC 173; online consultation may be available; check hours during summer quarter) and the Tutoring and Resource Center (located on the second floor of the Holman Library). Keep a record of each visit and any drafts on which you have received comments and assistance.  

It is also possible to plagiarize yourself! If you submit work already completed for one course as original work for another, you are plagiarizing. However, if you wish to substantially revise or re-think a piece of writing you have already done, discuss your intentions and goals with me beforehand.

Green River uses a 4 point decimal grading system, which corresponds to the following point totals.  I assign letter grades for major assignments, which can be translated as the middle range of the corresponding letter (except an A, which gets calculated as a 4.0). For example, a B+ will be calculated as a 3.3. 

While specific assignments will have their own requirements, the following is a general guide to the grading criteria for what is considered A, B, C, D, and F levels of work.

Forum Grades:  The various assignments in the Weekly Discussion Forum are worth 5 points for each posting and 2 points for each required response.  Postings will receive full credit if they are adequate, half credit if they are late (up to 3 days) or incomplete or inadequate, and no credit if they are overly sloppy or more than three days late.  Since your overall Forum score is worth 12.5% of your course grade, and since you are ensured full credit simply for doing them adequately, I highly recommend that you do not miss these assignments.  Save copies of all of your forum posts, whether as properly labeled electronic files (that you can access later as needed) or as hard copies.

While this course is conducted on the Internet, we are still committed to establishing a community of learners, readers and writers. Respect for the diversity of perspectives, histories, experiences and identities that exists in any community is crucial for its productive functioning. This class may, to varying degrees, examine and have you produce writing relating to issues of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and disability, all of which can be controversial and generate impassioned and even confrontational positions. Since you are taking this course during a time of numerous unresolved international conflicts and tensions, it is also important that you are thoughtful and circumspect rather than disrespectful and hateful with regard to Middle Easterners, Muslims, Arabs, immigrants, soldiers or other relevant groups as various issues arise. 

In seeking to understand and engage in dialogue on any topic, we are interested in comprehensively and critically surveying the range of views available. In an academic environment (and hopefully elsewhere), our own engagement with these issues must not include demeaning remarks and insults, stereotypes, careless generalizations, or the refusal to allow people opportunities to present and develop their views publicly. Any environment that claims to encourage dialogue, as opposed to confrontation, is relatively fragile. The danger is not only that some participants may be offended or hurt, but also that they may be silenced.