Your final grade for this course will be based on your grade for your main project on writing and diversity. On the one hand, I understand how this might generate some anxiety. How can you know whether I’ll like your final project or not? But on the other hand, I’d like to assure that there’s little reason to worry. If you keep up with the week-to-week work of this course, and my responses to the developing drafts of your project seem positive, then you can feel sure that you’re doing fine.
Project on Writing and Diversity
I will give the final version of your main project a letter grade. This grade will reflect my sense of the ambition, interest, and quality of your writing. It is non-negotiable. While I can’t reduce this professional judgement to a simple numerical scale, I can say that I will consider your
- Project: your goal or aim in writing,
- Materials: your use of sources and experiences,
- Voice: the clarity and interest of your prose, and
- Professionalism: the care you take in editing and designing your document.
Responses, Comments, Drafts
Although only the final version of your main projects will receive a letter grade, you will be required to turn in some writing nearly every week for this course. These ungraded writings will include:
- Four responses to readings.
- Twelve comments (which will count as two responses).
- A proposal and two drafts of your final project.
- Participation on a class panel.
You will thus have a total of 10 ungraded writing assignments. I will use this system in keeping track of them:
| √ | On time, professional, thoughtful | 2 points |
| √– | Late, rushed, off target | 1 point |
| 0 | More than 24 hours late | 0 points |
Since there are 10 ungraded assignments over the semester, you can earn a total of 20 points. If you earn
- 19 to 20 points: Your base grade will be raised one step (say, from a B+ to an A–)
- 17 to 18 points: Your base grade will stay the same
- 15 to 16 points: Your base grade will be lowered one step (say, from a B+ to a B)
- 13 to 14 points: Your base grade will be lowered two steps (say, from a B+ to a B–)
If it looks at any time like there is some real possibility that you might earn less than 13 out of 20 points, I will speak to you as soon as I can, since that would suggest, frankly, that you were struggling to keep up with the work of the course
Work in Class
I expect you to participate as an active member of this seminar: to meet deadlines as a writer, to respond thoughtfully to the writing of your fellow students, and to make your voice heard in useful ways in our talk in class. I will ask you to do some writing during many of our class meetings and expect you to share that work from time to time. I reserve the right to raise or lower your semester grade by one step (for instance, from a B to a B+, or a B to a B-) to reflect the consistency and quality of your work in seminar.
Work Out of Class
The usual calculus is that you should work two hours out of class for each hour in class. That would mean about six hours of work out of class per week. Since this is a writing-centered course, I urge you to set aside one hour for your writing for this course four days per week. This will leave you another two hours to keep up with the readings for the week. Such a schedule will help you do well in this course. More important, it will put you in the habit of writing regularly—which is a key part of the work life of any serious writer.
Missed Work or Plagiarism
I expect you to complete all the work assigned for this course. Missing assignments will count as a ∅ or F. And I of course expect that all the work you do will be your own. If you plagiarize any of your work for this course, the penalty will be an F for the assignment, and possibly for the course. I am also obligated to report serious cases of plagiarism to the Office of Student Conduct.
I look forward to reading your work and talking about it with you! Good luck!
E367: Writing and Diversity 