Caveat emptor: the fine print

What follows is a description of your general responsibilities and obligations for the course, and the consequences of not fulfilling them. You're expected to familiarize yourselves with these ground rules. Ignorance is no excuse!  (I don't mean to be hard-assed or condescending, but you'd be amazed by what, in my experience, can't be taken for granted.) All of these policies are outlined in the syllabus; I've gathered them, and occasionally amplified them, here to provide a quick reference.

Attendance:  It's not that every last class session will be scintillating or mind-blowing; I'm not that vain. But in a discussion- and workshop-oriented course, it's important that class members attend regularly. Everyone is entitled to miss four (4) classes--no explanations, no apologies necessary--to cover the contingencies of life: illness, family emergencies, busted alarm clocks, flood, fire, famine.  Miss more than four, and your course grade will suffer; the more you miss, the more it’ll hurt.  You can fail because you're gone excessively. If you miss more than six classes, you'll have blown off 20% of the course, and I may encourage you to withdraw, if it's still possible to do so. But there is no extra credit or community service you can perform to pay penance. 

It should go without saying that missing a class doesn’t excuse you from completing any assigned work for the next session; remember, such information will be available on the syllabus and/or the updates page, whether you made it to class or not.  If you know in advance that you must be absent when a major assignment is due, let me know; I'm usually open to granting extensions when the request is justified and I'm given sufficient notice.  Otherwise, routine absences should not include sessions when major assignments are due.  

I'll make an effort to let you know when you've used up your permitted absences, but the burden of keeping on top of this rests with you.  I'll have the attendance logs with me each class session; feel free to ask me what your standing is if you're unsure.  Please don’t expect me to make individual exceptions to this policy; I don’t want to be asked to judge the validity of other people’s priorities.  Ultimately, the decision to attend or to miss class is yours, so use your sanctioned absences conscientiously and wisely.  

Also: please make every effort to get to class on time. Sign-in logs will be passed around at the beginning of class; if you arrive late, it’s up to you to inform me that you were present so you’re not marked absent for the day. If I see a pattern of consistent lateness developing I’ll keep track of the time you’ve missed and add those minutes up into absences.

Updates: You're expected to monitor the website regularly, especially the updates page, where I'll keep you apprised of what you need to prepare for the next class session and/or any changes to the schedule (within reason, of course; I won't hold you responsible for any changes made with less than 24 hours notice). Missing class is not an excuse for being unprepared.

If you don't have access to the web at home, you'll have to plan on dropping by a computer lab several times a week to check the site.  Normally, I update this page no later than 9:00 in the evening of each class day.

Late work:  I usually try to be reasonable and sympathetic about granting minor extensions on major assignments, as long as you have a fairly compelling rationale and don't make a habit of it.  But I do insist that you request an extension at least 24 hours before the due date. If you simply grant yourself an extension without notifying me ahead of time, your grade on the assignment will suffer.

Keep in mind, however, that other people--not just me--will be depending upon you to make deadlines for the Poetry Project. And apart from the final due date, any deadlines for the final course paper are self-scheduled. As for discussion forum posts: unless they somehow pose an extraordinary hardship, those deadlines are firm. Post late, and it'll count against you.

Plagiarism: I take academic dishonesty very seriously. Representing someone else's words or ideas as your own will result—at the very least—in a failing grade for the assignment, and very likely for the course. Professors have a finely-tuned "ear" for prose that their students aren't really capable of producing. Even a close paraphrase of someone else's words (and this includes words from "anonymous" websites) can be construed as plagiarism, especially if you have not properly attributed the source. And while the Web has made it much easier to buy or steal work produced by someone else, it's also made it much easier to spot, thanks to plagiarism-detection websites and ever-improving search engines. The university definition of and policies regarding plagiarism and other types of academic dishonesty can be found online and in the HSU catalog; it's your responsibility to know these policies and to ask questions if you don't understand them. Please be aware that plagiarism and other forms of dishonesty can result in expulsion from the University.

Finally: In the end, I'm only asking you to be reasonably disciplined and reasonably responsible in your approach to this course.  The standard rule of thumb at the undergraduate level is that on average, you should plan to spend 2 to 3 hours per unit, per week, outside of class on each of your courses. (4 units x 3 hours = 12 hours per week, not counting the 3 hours spent in class.) Given the heavy reading load in a typical English class, that standard allocation may occasionally need to get bumped up. Please consider any and all obligations you have in addition to this class, then.  I strongly advise you not to commit to more than you can realistically accomplish in the next fifteen weeks (you're working 30 hours a week?  and you're on the volleyball team? and you're the choreographer for an upcoming production of The Sound of Music?  and you're carrying 20 units?--what're you, crazy?). But if you do, please recognize that you set your own priorities, and that I can't and won't cut private deals with you based on your individual circumstances--particularly if those circumstances are of your own making. (Medical emergencies that turn ugly and/or lengthy are a different kettle of fish; in such instances, I may be open to making special accommodations. But let's hope such situations simply don't arise for anyone in our midst!)