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A > 270; B 269-240; C 239-200; D 199-150; F < 150
Attendance is the responsibility of the student. Please note that this means that no excuse, including medical reasons, will be accepted for failure to comply with the class requirements. Papers and assignments may be rescheduled by prior arrangement. Papers must be turned in personally to the instructor. It is specifically forbidden to leave papers or other assignments in the instructor's mailbox, on his desk, or elsewhere in his office. Papers not turned in personally to the instructor will not be graded and earn a grade of F. Special arrangements will be made if the student is unable to meet with the instructor to turn in his/her paper. No rescheduling will be done for any reason after the due date. No make up or late assignments will be accepted (in such cases a grade of F is earned).
Dates when assignments are due will be announced in class without further notification. Please note that, while class attendance is free in general, attendance is mandatory to
The students will keep all graded papers and will turn them in, together with the final paper, on the last day of class. All papers not returned or not revised (as per instructions) will convert to a grade of F, regardless of their former grade. Exceptionally good revisions, agreed upon in conferences, may improve the original grade (and must be returned within 8 class hours of the date a paper is received).
Homework assignments are graded on a 3-point scale (+, V, -). A check is the average, neutral grade, a plus indicates above average performance and a minus indicates below average performance. All homework not turned in, or otherwise unacceptable, as per the syllabus rules on homework and papers, earns a grade of F (roughly comparable to 2 minuses).
Since some of the homework graded in this way is entrusted to classmates, it is the student's responsibility to make sure that all the peer editing sheets he/she has written have been returned and marked. If any part of the various pieces of homework is found to be missing the student should inform the instructor immediately (within the same class period in which the homework is returned). Failure to do so will entail that the student accepts a failing grade for the missing piece of homework. Failure to return another student's peer editing sheet may seriously affect the offending student's class grade.
Write three summaries of the piece assigned to you by Dr. Attardo. The summaries should be roughly 250, 100, and 25 words long. Note that articles, prepositions, etc. count as words.
Tips:When summarizing an article remember to state its main thesis and its most significant points. Do not waste space repeating the title and the author's name (these go in the title of your summary, anyway). Do not comment on the article or put your opinions in the summary. Limit yourself to what the article says.
Practical note:Turn in the three summaries on three separate pages (one summary per page). You will get a single grade for your overall performance on the three summaries, but each summary will be graded individually.
Annotated BibliographyGather more than five (5) academic, scientific sources on your topic. Prepare a bibliography using either MLA or APA styles (see Handbook, ch. 33) and attach to each entry a short (max 10 lines, min 5) summary or the source's contents. Feel free to add, after the summary, any annotations, comments, evaluations, personal codes, etc. that you may find useful. Mark these clearly as your comments (with a heading "Comments:"). These will not be graded, as they are personal, but their presence (or absence) will constitute evidence of performance in class.
Qualifying materials:Articles, chapters from books, books, and other publications meeting the criteria for academic publications discussed in class qualify as sources. Other publications, such as magazine articles, newspaper articles, etc. do not qualify (unless specifically authorized by Dr. Attardo in writing). If authorized by Dr. Attardo to use a non-academic article, e.g., a magazine article, you must attach the signed authorization to the article as you turn it in.
If using chapters from a book, articles from an edited book, or an anthology you may use up to two articles or chapters from any single book. Dr. Attardo may authorize in writing use of more than two articles from a signle source if material is particularly hard to locate, or under other extenuating circumstances.
Tips:start doing the gathering and annotating as soon as possible. This assignment cannot be rushed.
Practical note:you may wish to do your summarizing and annotating on index cards. Dr. Attardo will accept full-size, clear, readable photocopies of your cards in lieu of a typed assignment. Make sure that your handwriting is clear enough before turning in the assignment. Under no circumstance Dr. Attardo will accept original index cards.
Given the computer-intensive nature of the class it is strongly recommended that you transcribe your annotations in computer files. These can be organized as you like (one large file, several small ones, using a database program, etc.)
Short PointMake one, original, coherent point, related to your topic. This paper must have an original, descriptive title ("Short point Paper" will not do) and be 750 words long (three typed pages).
The paper should follow this structure:
Use sources to document your borrowings and to assist in making your point (from the annotated bibliography, and/or others). Provide a bibliography (use MLA or APA documentation style). On documentation style see below.
Tips:You may want to consider this a "dry run" of the research paper, and write this paper as a short version of the research paper, or you may want to write this paper to be a section of your research paper. Naturally, this presupposes that, by now, you have a fairly good idea of what your research paper will be about.
Research PaperWrite a research paper which makes one coherent, original and interesting point. The point must be stated explicitly in the first paragraph (cf. short point paper). The paper should be adequately supported by scientific/academic sources. All citations and paraphrases should be acknowledged. All the sources should be listed in the bibliography at the end of the paper. In-text citations and the bibliography should follow MLA or APA styles. The research paper must be at least 10 (ten) pp long (not counting the bibliography), but not more than 15 (fifteen) pp long. The research paper is due the day of the final, in Dr. Attardo's office, at the final's scheduled time. The research paper must be turned in in person.
Tips:You may want to divide your paper in sections, to help orienting the audience. Label sections clearly, with meaningful titles. Do not label the sections "Section 1."
The topic proposal should be turned in on the form in the Materials Workbook. It is due by the beginning of the second week. It requires only a brief statement of your topic (1 or 2 lines). Naturally, at this point you may be still undertain about what will be your final paper. That is OK, and you will have a chance to change your topic (until the short point paper is due).
Besides your topic you will have to specify your reasons for choosing it. I am not very interested in why you personally decided that that topic was interesting. On the contrary, I am very interested in academic reasons to pick that topic. For example, if you know that MAAG library carries a lot of sources on that topic that is a very good reason to work on that topic. So would be the fact that you know that a given topic has been the center of a lot of research.
I also want you to hint at what directions you plan to take your research: for example, what are you thinking to do with the topic, what do you want to say, where are you going to look for information, etc.
Finally, you will have to provide a list of available sources (checked out from the library, photocopied, owned, etc. Do not list materials you know exist but you haven't in your possession yet! Give author(s), title, publisher, place of publication and date [for books], and author(s), title, name of journal, date of publication, issue of the journal, and page numbers [for articles])
Do not address your audience directly (don't say "You must understand." or "We must do this and that") and avoid talking about yourself and talk about the subject matter (why say "I have read a book" when you can say "In this book.").
When you define something, define it right away, before the first time you use the term. For example: "An idiolect, i.e., the specific linguistic variety spoken by an individual speaker, may be quite unique." Do not do something like this: "An idiolect may be quite unique. An idiolect is the specific linguistic variety spoken by an individual speaker."
Do not try to be funny or ironical. It does not work.
Never have a one-sentence paragraph or a two-sentence paragraph. Like this one.
When reading your source material it is good to keep in mind the purpose of your taking notes from the text. In other words, what you are going to do with your notes dictates what kins of notes you will take (for example: should you copy verbatim a long quote? It depends.)
| Use: | When is this useful? | How do you do it? | What for in the paper? |
| Summary: | to shorten a text | write in your style |
|
| Paraphrase: | rewrite in your own words | give essential points |
|
| Direct quote: | very important or controversial material | copy exactly |
|
When taking notes from a source, always remember to gather the following information:
The following items will be turned in a in a manila folder, with the student's name on the flap:
The goal of peer editing is to provide the students with some feedback from a realistic audience. Attendance is mandatory to peer editing sessions. Peer editing sessions are normal class times, but students are particularly encouraged to be punctual to class, as being late may result in missing group assignment, and hence being unable to participate in the peer editing session.
Your instructor will divide you in groups. He will determine groups on the basis of the number of people present and the relative skills of the students. Please, do not discuss group assignments in class, as this may intrude on the privacy of your classmates. As for all personal matters, see your instructor in his office hours if you have any problem in this regard.
After you have been divided in groups you will exchange drafts with the other members of your group. You will then proceed to answer the questions and do the assignments in the peer editing sheets in this packet. Only at the end of the peer editing session will you give the peer editing sheet to the author of the rough draft. The goal of the peer editing is to give your classmates valuable feedback: patting people on the back, while pleasant, is also quite un- helpful. You do not want to be critical for the sake of it, but try to see how a good paper could be improved. It is never too early to try for an A+! Remember also that people's feeling are easily hurt: do not be judgemental and try to word your criticism nicely.
During the peer editing session it is important that you exchange information as quietly as possible with the members of your group (remember, there are other groups working as well). While informal, verbal discussion of the papers may be valuable, remember that your written input on the peer editing sheet will be evaluated as part of the homework/class participation grade. Not to mention that once you go home you will have forgotten what someone may have told you and therefore you will be unable to use that suggestion. With the comments in writing, this problem is avoided.
Once you have received your peer evaluation sheets you will have a wealth of comments and feedback on your paper. At this time you need to decide if the comments should lead you to rewrite parts of your paper. Often it is easy to decide (if you overlooked some part of the assignment, for example), but at time you may find yourself disagreeing with your peer reviewer. Discussing the issue with your instructor or a tutor at the writing lab is a good option. Using the handbook to determine who is right is also a possibility. Do not discard a suggestion only because you feel hurt that someone does not like your work: the other student is trying to help.
After you are done with the rewriting of your paper you are asked to comment on your peer reviews: these comments should not be done on the same sheet on which the peer editing was done, as this will be returned to the rewiever. The comments should be written on a separate piece of paper (provided in the Workbook). The comments will be kept strictly private, and will help the instructor decide on the class participation grade and on group assignments during other peer editing sessions.
All direct citations and references from your sources must be acknowledged using the proper citation format. You can use either MLA or APA styles. You may use another style if you are thoroughly familiar with it and you can demonstrate your familiarity.
In text reference (MLA style) to the book would look like this: "It is a widely acknowledged fact that the Principle of Cooperation (Grice, 24), etc."
The bibliographic entry at the end of the paper would look like this:
MLA:
Grice, Paul. Studies in the way of words. Cambridge: Harvard UP,
1989.
APA:
Grice, P. (1989). Studies in the way of words. Cambridge: Harvard UP.
American Journal of Sociology:
Grice, Paul. 1989. Studies in the way of words. Cambridge: Harvard
UP.
Chicago (14th):
Grice, Paul. Studies in the way of words. Cambridge: Harvard UP,
1989.
Journal of Special Education:
Grice, P. (1989). Studies in the way of words. Cambridge: Harvard UP.
Qualitative Sociology:
Grice, P. (1989). Studies in the way of words. Cambridge: Harvard UP.
Turabian:
1Paul Grice. Studies in the way of words (Cambridge: Harvard
UP, 1989).
Plagiarism is a serious matter that could have severe repercussions ranging from failing an assignment to failing the course (and possibly other academic or legal sanctions). Plagiarism can be intentional, as when a student copies someone else's paper and tries to pass it for his/her work, or unintentional, when a student (or an academic) forgets that he/she is quoting more or less verbatim someone else's words.
Unintentional plagiarism, while less serious than a deliberate attempt at misleading, is still reason enough for failing an assignment. The best ways to avoid unintentional plagiarism are
College of Arts and Sciences Computer Labs in DeBartolo Hall
Useful to find lab schedules and such.
Research Links
A good place to start your web research, on any topic. Stll under construction, in part.
Maag Library
The Library, the crucible of all knowledge...
The Purdue University Online Writing Lab
The Online Writing Lab provides guidance on all matters of writing, style, punctuation, spelling, etc. A good alternative when our local writing center is closed.
Research and Argument: Tools for Teachers and Students
Under Construction.